The words that came to my mind first when I thought about words that begin with そ were そーめん/somen and ぞうさん/zousan.
image from misaki.rdy.jp
Somen is a summer staple in Japan! I start craving these cold noodles as soon as the weather gets above 80 degrees. They are delicious, easy, a big hit with kids, and refreshing on a hot summer day. The basic ingredients you need are somen noodles and dipping sauce. Then you can add your favorite toppings, such as:
shiso leaves
chopped green onions
myouga
sesame seeds
grated daikon radish
mandarin oranges
Check out this page by oisiso.com for inspiration :)
There’s also something called nagashi-somen, which translates to flowing-somen. Somen is sent down on a “waterslide” made out of bamboo trees while people sit on either side and pick up the flowing noodles with their chopsticks. Not sure how sanitary this is, but it looks fun! You can buy an electric somen machine for your home too :)
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Did you know that elephants say “Pao~／パオ〜” in Japanese? Cute.
Here is an elephant coloring page, and video+lyrics of the famous zousan song:
ぞうさん ぞうさん
おはなが ながいのね
そうよ かあさんも
ながいのよ
ぞうさん ぞうさん
だれが すきなの
あのね かあさんが
すきなのよ
One of the first Japanese television shows I ever watched was Trick, with Nakama Yukie. There is an episode where she comes home to her apartment to find her landlady and the landlady’s husband and kids eating noodles sliding down a tube of bamboo. I was so confused until I found out what nagashi somen was 8-)
I haven’t heard of that show, I’ll have to look it up!
Oh, it’s very good! Nakama Yukie is a street magician, Abe Hiroshi is a professor and together they investigate weird cases that appear to be supernatural, but are able to disprove them in the end. The two work so well together, it’s funny and mysterious and odd. There were three seasons, two specials, and three movies–the most recent movie just came out last summer.