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Cheese Day in Japan
Japan's Cheese Day, chosen in 1992 to recall so, a milk product the imperial court ordered made around the year 700.
Cheeses for Cheese Day in Japan
Japan's Cheese Day, Chīzu no Hi, was set in 1992 by the Cheese Promotion Council and the Japan Imported Cheese Promotion Association. The date recalls the year 700, when the court ordered that so, a dairy product of milk boiled down until solid, be made in the provinces; the order came in the tenth month of the old calendar, roughly November today. Cheese was largely absent from Japanese food for centuries afterwards, and most cheese is still imported, but farmhouse makers in Hokkaido and elsewhere now produce camembert-style and washed-rind cheeses. Bakeries and department stores mark the day with cheese tarts and cheesecakes.
The cheeses
Also part of it, and being written: So (The ancient court dairy food that gives the day its story.), Sakura cheese (A soft cheese made on a farm in Hokkaido.).
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "So (dairy product)" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Camembert: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source