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Tweet of the Week #95: Japanese Government Recommends Eating One Ice Cream a Day

As the saying goes, an ice cream a day keeps the doctor away. 😋🍦

By 3 min read

We can all agree that Japanese summer is hell, with scorching heat that will make you crawl back home and humidity levels that have you changing clothes twice if not more, a day. But there is a silver lining. Boiling temperatures give us a good excuse to indulge in cold sweet treats to cool off and replenish our energy.

Because the novel coronavirus hit Japanese dairy farmers particularly hard, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is now encouraging us to stay cool by indulging in one ice cream per day. Amen to that!

くに1日いちにち1個いっこのアイスべることを推奨すいしょうしている!!

=

“The country recommends eating one ice cream a day!”

The tweet features a screenshot of the MAFF website itself. In a move to encourage dairy consumption, MAFF’s “Plus One Project” aims to increase folks’ daily consumption of cheese, yogurt, and ice cream!

Say no more

For once, Twitter peeps are fully ready to back up the government.

1日1個のアイスは国民こくみん義務ぎむです

※義務ではなくあくまで推奨です

=

“One ice cream a day is a civic duty.

*It is not mandatory but recommended”

Of course, we’re all ready to sacrifice our waistlines to help out dairy farmers.

国が1日1個アイスを食べろってうから仕方しかたなく食べます✨

酪農家らくのうかさんたちのためにもね…仕方ないんだよ

=

“I have no choice but to eat it since the country tells us to eat one ice cream per day

It’s for dairy farmers, so it can’t be helped!”

Tough choice

We’re all for an ice cream a day, but exactly how much counts as “one ice cream”?

https://twitter.com/nano_macoron/status/1297176053752819718?s=20

ワシいつも2リットルのファミリアアイスうんだけど、1日1個食べないとダメなの…?

=

“I always buy the 2 liter Familia (family) ice cream, but I have to eat one per day…?”

Honestly, is that even up for debate?

https://twitter.com/fishcat515/status/1296099280885694466?s=20

なつあついからアイス1日2個にこまで食べていいって勝手かって自分じぶんなかめてるんやけど、100円ひゃくえんくらいのアイスを1日2個食べるか200円強にひゃくえんきょうのハーゲンダッツを1日1個だけ食べるかでどちらがより幸福度こうふくどられるかずっとかんがえてる

わら

=

“It’s hot in summer, so I’ve decided on my own to eat two ice creams a day, but I’m wondering which one will give more happiness between eating two ¥100 each ice creams or eating one ¥200 over Haagen-Dazs”

Dairy-free ice cream options in Japan

The one ice cream a day campaign is good and all, but we know not everyone can (or wants to) indulge in cow milk products. Luckily, Japan has some delicious no-milk (牛乳不使用ぎゅうにゅうふしよう) ice cream options for you.

(Psst, Glico’s Sunao series, advertised as soy-based ice-cream, does contain dairy!)

How to use こと to make gerunds in Japanese

The word こと, which roughly translates “thing”, is used in a lot of grammatical phrases. One of こと‘s main function is to allow us to use verbs as nouns (to turn a verbal phrase into a nominal phrase). This process called “nominalization”, gave こと it’s nickname “nominalizer”.

Sounds a bit obscure, right? Well, you do this very naturally in English, every time you end a verb with the gerund “ing”.

Take for instance the verb “食べる” to eat. If you want to say “Japan recommends eating one ice cream per day”, you’ll have to change “eat”, into “eating”. こと is here to help you do just that:

アイス食べることを推奨する = recommend eating ice cream

本を読むことが好きです = I like reading books

料理することは、ジョンの趣味です = Cooking is John’s hobby

Keep in mind to always use verbs’ plain form when you combine them with こと.

Vocabulary

Japanese Romaji English
推奨すいしょうする suishyou suru recommend
国民こくみん義務ぎむ kokumin no gimu civic duty
あくまで akumade only, just
酪農家らくのうか rakunouka dairy farm
仕方しかた(が)ない shikata(ga)nai it can’t be helped
200円強にひゃくえんきょう ni hyaku en kyou a little over 200 yen
幸福度こうふくど
koufukudo Happiness level
牛乳不使用ぎゅうにゅうふしよう gyuunyuu fushiyou Without dairy

 

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