Saijiki: touji

As we hurtle towards Christmas with the stress of bonenkai (end of year parties), presents to buy and nengajo (New Year’s cards) to send, not to mention the stress of Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas” on endless repeat, it’s no surprise that we’ve entered flu season. I’ve managed to avoid a cold up till now this year, but the cold, dry weather, plus the sardine can atmosphere (in crowdedness and sometimes in smell) of the commuter trains, means I finally succumbed last week.

When I first visited Japan and saw people in paper surgical masks, I thought it was bizarre. Then, when I noticed that people with colds basically contained those coughs and sneezes inside their masks, I started to appreciate them. Now, if someone starts hacking up a lung on the subway without a mask, I tend to give them the evil eye, along with the rest of the passengers (coughing quietly into your hanky is borderline acceptable). But I swore I’d never use one. Even when the whole country was freaking out about swine flu, I refused to wear one. Then I got a bad cold and my husband urged me to wear a mask – when sleeping. Crazy! It felt hot and uncomfortable and with a stuffy nose, it seemed even harder to breathe. A doctor friend explained that cold viruses thrive in cold, dry places – which is why they live long and prosper on metal grab bars and plastic handles in trains and buses. By wearing a mask, you keep your nose and throat warm and moist, and inhospitable for cold bugs. This year I’ve become a convert. And I’ve noticed I cough less, as my throat doesn’t get so dry and scratchy. It also keeps your face warm on a frosty day, and lazy friends tell me its a great way to cover up if you couldn’t be bothered with makeup or have a cold sore or....shhhh... pash rash. So now I look like a freaky Halloween nurse. Laugh all you want, but I beat this cold in 4 days.

Unicharm's latest commercial for face masks.

Another weapon against colds is yuzu. It’s a rather rough and lumpy looking citrus fruit, that’s become quite trendy around the world. You might know it from such hit products as 'ponzu'. It tastes like something between what we’d call a bush lemon in Australia, a grapefruit and a lime. A lot of yuzu trees only get fruit every other year, so it’s a bit expensive. It comes into its rich yellow colour at the end of autumn, so it tastes great right now. Like any citrus fruit, it has plenty of vitamin C. It tastes a bit milder than lemon, so it’s great in sore-throat drinks and a popular flavour for "nodo ame" or throat lozenges. For a drink, mix yuzu juice and grated peel, ginger, honey and hot water. Or, use yuzu marmalade. I got a jar from a friend from Miyazaki; it’s a specialty of her hometown. She told me to stir a big teaspoonful into hot water or even black tea, to make a good throat soother. Of course, it's also nice on toast!

Ripe yuzu

Delicious! Makes a great sweetener for tea.

Yuzurin is a mascot in Gifu-ken, which grows a lot of yuzu.

Yuzu is also used in the bath in winter, to ward off colds (and the smell of a bath full of yuzu is very uplifting). It’s traditional to make a yuzu bath on December 21^st (touji), the longest day of the year (the bath is called touji yu). Most public baths and onsen offer a yuzu bath around this time. Of course, you can throw a few in the bathwater at home, or use one of the many yuzu-scented bath salts. It's also traditional to eat pumpkin on touji, for good luck, along with other vegetables with the letter 'n' (pumpkin - kabocha can also be written as nankin), like daikon and ninjin. A lot of people also eat azuki gayu, or rice porridge with azuki beans to protect them from evil spirits on touji. I think the bottom line is: take a nice hot bath and eat lots of healthy vegetables in winter! Sounds good to me. Now that I'm over my cold, I intend to enjoy other yuzu treats like yuzushu - yuzu liqueur! Since I can't get my hands on any of my grandma's homemade kumquat brandy over here, yuzushu is the next best thing.