The 4th Edition

Remember Food-spotting v.3? I talked about typical Japanese cuisine, the simplest being ichijū-issai (一汁一菜; "one soup, one side" or "one dish meal"); soup, rice and pickles, and one accompanying dish. Here we have breakfast at the Fujioka house. What we see is consistent with the traditional Japanese breakfast (miso soup, rice, a pickled vegetable and grilled fish). You can imagine how such a breakfast would be very filling and last you throughout the hours! We also observe the chopsticks placed at the very front of the tray near the diner, pointed ends facing left, and supported by a chopstick holder, or hashioki (箸置き). Also, notice the more modern style of serving the food.

^_^

On a non-foodie, still-Ouran note, Éclair makes a comment about the Host Club members being very close and Tamaki says of course, they are like family. She remarks that this game of pretend families is called mamagoto, is it not? I don't know too much about this but what I've managed to unearth was that mamagoto, or mamagoto-asobi, is a sort of educational game of 'playing house', where children emulate the behaviours of their parents while entertaining their friends. Apparently, there are lots of play dolls involved, ranging from actual dolls to little kitchen sets! Sound familiar?;) Well, funnily enough, most of the descriptions I came across indicated that this was a more...feminine pastime. Having said that, there was a Boy's Day, a festival in May that boasted it's own elaborate display of fierce warrior dolls so I guess it could be manly;) Nowadays, it's just the more renowned Hina Matsuri or Doll's Festival celebrated on March 3rd, going by the Western calendar. In the case of the Host Club, though, I guess it just appears to Éclair that they seem to be playing house, what with Tamaki calling Haruhi his daughter and all that. Ahh well, if *you* know much more about mamagoto, drop me a line;)