In old Japanese, December is called shiwasu, which
mean, “even teachers have to run (because it is a busy
month for everyone).” As days get shorter and the year
end approaches, we cannot but feel rushed and
restless. It can also be the most stressful month of the
year, when we need something that would calm us
down and make us relax.
However, when we try to get rid of all the stress just by
drinking, we tend to drink too much. December is also
the season for year-end parties -　- another reason to
drink over the limit. But true sake-lovers don’t drink too
much to get rid of stress -- you cannot possibly do so if
you really want to enjoy and appreciate good sake.
There are some flowers that bloom even in the cold
year-end month -　- white loquat flower, scarlet camellias
and yellow Japanese silver leaf, just to name a few.
Decorating table with those flowers should help you
relax as you drink.
One cold front after another comes down south as the
seasonal high-pressure system stretches over Japan
from China. Days are short, sunlight is weak, wind is
chilling and the air is dry - you can easily catch cold
this time of the year. We need a lot of vitamin, especially
Vitamin A (or beta carotene), which protects your
skin and helps you prevent catching cold. It’s a good
idea to serve side dishes rich in Vitamin A with sake.
A traditional dish for the year-end season in Japan is
soba noodle. In the old days, when a customer at a
soba noodle shop ordered sake, the waiter would shout
“One soba-mae!” or “One anti-soba!” to the kitchen.
The kitchen would then know that the customer
ordered for a bottle of sake before soba. Then the
waiter would bring the customer a warm bottle with a
little antipasto, like soba-miso. Somehow, sake served
at a soba shop prior to the noodle dish tastes especially
good.

Yuzu is a citrus fruit native to East Asia that ripens in the
middle of winter. The golden fruits found amid dark
green leaves under the clear winter sky are high in
acidity (9%) and has a strong aroma. Fresh-squeezed
yuzu juice is often used to add flavor to Japanese-style
dishes like broiled fish and steamed chicken.
Japanese cooks would shave thin strips off yuzu skin
and sprinkle them over suimono clear soup or chawanmushi
unsweetened custard-pudding-like dish. You can
also put a strip of yuzu skin in the cup before you pour
sake and enjoy the flavor.
The Midwinter day, when the day is the shortest and the
night is the longest, is called “Toji” in Japanese. It is a
Japanese tradition to bathe in hot water flavored with
yuzu fruits on the Midwinter day for good luck. There is
also an old saying that you can you’re your hip warm if
you rub your skin with yuzu fruits. Yuzu-flavored midwinter
sake served after a hot bath would surely warm you
up further. After that, a traditional midwinter meal with
boiled and seasoned pumpkins, and rice and adzuki
beans porridge flavored with another kind of citrus,
kinkan, should bring a perfect ending to your Midwinter
day.

Toshikoshi-zake, Sake on New Year’s Eve
It is always nice to have soba noodle with your family
on the New Year’s Eve, after getting everything ready
for the New Year’s Day. A hot bowl of soba is welcome
on a cold winter night, but a sake-lover might prefer
soba served cold with hot tempura deep-fried shrimp
and vegetables. Chilled but not too cold ginjo-shu
(Choice-Draft), or warm but not too hot junmai-shu
(100%-Rice Brewage) to go with soba will complete a
New Year’s Eve traditional Japanese-style, as you listen
to the bells tolled at Buddhist temples before midnight.

『Oyster』
　 Winter is also the season for oysters. Unlike many
other kinds of fish, wild oysters are rather rare and most
of the oysters we eat are raised in farms. Recently it
became relatively easy to buy fresh oysters in shell.
Baked oyster is a juicy and tasty treat of winter. Oyster is
often called “the Sea Milk,” because it is rich in vitamins
and minerals, especially iodine and iron. It is one of a
few seashells that are easy to digest and goes really
well along sake.