Home remedies

I was in Japan to see my family and friends. Then a friend from Spain who happened to be in Japan with her boyfriend found out that I was in Japan (thanks to Facebook I must say). They wanted to see me next day but she caught a cold. Immediately I told her to buy some ginger, lemon and a leek. Then I gave her instruction, which made her laugh.

 

Ginger, lemon and honey tea is good to warm you up to stat with but actually this combination is the bomb. This is a remedy against a myriad of ailments.  This elixir will relieve many of the symptoms that accompany flu, cold, infection and inflammation.

But I guess this is a quite common flu remedy in many parts of the world. If you don´t like ginger, bad luck but this is a medicine.

Then I told her to burn a leek well, wrap it with a kitchen cloth or a similar stuff without burning her fingers and wrap it around the neck. My friend made a strange sound, something like in between "eh", "what", "que" and "qui". I said to her that was a old Japanese home remedy that my father used to do when I got flu. She just said she was going to ask the family whom she was staying with.

Leeks are good for soar throat. Apparently the slimy part of the leek helps to heal the inflammation of the throat. Next day, my friend was a little better but she told me that the family mother didn´t know about burned leek. Perhaps my father is super old fashion…

Another thing my father would make me drink was a tea with burned Umeboshi (pickled plum). As a child, it was a terrible stuff. Since my father wasn´t a delicate chef, he actually burned Umeboshi and ashy pieces were floating on the surface of the tea. Also it was salty, which I still don´t like. Every sip I had to remove black thing from my lips and yet it came into my mouth, eek.

He insisted that I had to have it all. Apparently Burned Umeboshi and green tea is good for a soar throat and a feeling of cold. It warms you up and makes you sweat easily, which means you are unloading the fever inside.

I know there are people who put a kid who has a fever into a cold water bath to low the temperature. But my father believed that you have to get rid of the fever from inside, means to sweat it out. Of course you need to change your T-shirt or pajama frequently. I was a sicky kid when I was little and because of this method, it had never been so serious.

  

Umeboshi has sterilizing power, at least that´s what my father often said and is true. Ancient Japanese people put this pickle in Onigiri in order to avoid any food poisoning. Japan is a subtropic country and in summer Obento can go off easily. But then you put an Umeboshi, you are likely to be able to avoid any intoxication. Hinomaru bentou isn´t just an imitation of Japanese flag but for practical and logical reasons. 

Listen to old people.

Actually last night while I was writing this, I´d noticed an irritation of the throat and a little chill inside the body. I made myself an Umeboshi tea. This morning, My nose´s stopped running and my throat is a little better. See? It works.

In Japan, foods are often considered as medicine. Even in this modernization, Japanese people haven´t given up their sense of connecting to the nature. Japanese home remedy is something you may want to take a note.