Cold Remedy

As I have mentioned before, I seldom encounter new aspects of Japanese culture these days. Every once in a while, though, I uncover a gem. :)

I ate lunch with a Japanese colleague today, and I mentioned to him what Kern had said about Japanese people believing it's not good to eat oranges when they have a cold. He said he had never heard of this, but then.. leaning closer and speaking in a lower voice, he asked me, "but have you heard of using negi as a cold remedy?"

I believe negi is equivalent, or very close to, the term "scallion" or "spring onion" in English. Needless to say, I had never heard of the use of a scallion as a cold remedy, and I told him so.

"This is a part of old, traditional Japanese culture, and I think it's not so common today."

"Ok, so what do you do with the negi? Is it cooked? How do you prepare it?" I asked.

"You don't need to prepare it. You just insert it... rectally."

I just gawked for a moment.

"um... really?"

"Yes."

"Wow. So... how, um, long do you do this for? Like, for a few minutes, or do you walk around with it in there all day?"

"I think you are supposed to put it in before you go to sleep, and leave it in all night."

"Have you ever done this?"

"No, it's a part of old Japanese culture. But I think they still do it in Tohoku." (Tohoku is the northeastern part of Honshu, and is generally considered to be a bit on the backwoods hillbilly side, not unlike my hometown.)

"Wow... Japanese culture is ... interesting," I said.

"Yeah, isn't it? What I've always wondered is, who decided to even try that in the first place?"