The present study examined the attitudes and behaviors towards wagashi, or Japanese confectionery, among young people. The wagashi food preferences of 444 junior high school students were surveyed, including 225 males and 219 females. The following results were obtained. When food preferences regarding four types of confectionery, namely western-style cake, wagashi, snack food, and rice crackers, were compared, the males liked a western-style cake and snack food better than wagashi. A majority of females highly preferred western-style cake to wagashi. Regarding wagashi, palatability was very high, while frequency of eating was low. In many cases, the junior high school students ate wagashi on days of hare (the sacred-profane dichotomy) such as rites and festivals. The various properties of wagashi, such as taste, color, appearance, a sense of the season, artistry, and tradition, seemed to fascinate the females in contrast to the males. The students showed high interest in making wagashi with their friends and families, or with Japanese-sweets craftsmen. It is expected that studying wagashi through the five senses will make students more interested in learning food culture.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the eating habits and feeding of breast-milk or formula-milk (the regular-type powdered milk or follow-up milk) or cows’ milk based on health examinations of infants.
We verified the eruption of deciduous teeth based on observations of 502 infants at health examinations for fourteen-month-old infants, and performed a questionnaire survey regarding their eating habits.
The numbers of infants who were fed breast-milk, formula-milk, and cows’ milk were 226 (45.0%), 200 (39.8%), and 238 (47.4%), respectively. In the daytime, the average number of times for feeding breast-milk, formula-milk, and cows’ milk was 3.3 (min.1∼max.15), 1.9 (1∼5), and 1.6 (1∼4), respectively. The percentage of infants who were fed breast-milk during the night was 88.5% in the breast-milk-feeding group, and the average number of times for feeding breast-milk during the night was 2.4. The percentage of infants who were fed formula-milk during the night was 15.2% of the formula-milk feeding group, and the percentage of infants who were fed cows’ milk during the night was 1.3% of the cows’ milk- feeding group.
The percentage of mothers who cooked meals to an appropriate “hardness to crush with the infant’s gums” was higher in the breast-milk group (22.6%) compared with the non-breast-milk group (15.6%). The percentage of mothers who cooked the same meals for infants as they did for adults regarding the hardness of food was 6.2% in the breast-milk feeding group and 16.7% in the non-breast-milk-feeding-group, with a significant difference between them (p＝0.001). There was no significant difference in the hardness of food regarding whether with or without formula-milk, and with or without cows’ milk.
The percentage of mothers who worried about unbalanced kinds of food was significantly higher in the breast-milk-feeding group (54.7%) compared with the non-breast-milk feeding group (p＝0.004). Moreover, the percentage of mothers who felt that cooking of the infant’s meal is troublesome was significantly higher in the formula-milk-feeding group (18.1%) compared with the non-breast-milk feeding group (p<0.001).
In the present study, we obtained valuable data for nutritional education on the relationship between the eating habits and feeding of breast- or formula-milk or cows’ milk.

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We conducted a survey on children’s dietary habits involving mothers of children who use a children’s playroom located in a local exchange facility. As the results, mothers who responded “I add a smaller amount of seasoning to my child’s foods compared to those in adult’s foods” accounted for 56.4% in a group with children aged 1-2 years and 33.3% in a group with children aged 3-6 years. Those who responded “I feed my child foods that taste the same as those for adults” accounted for 38.5% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 62.5% in the group with children aged 3-6 years. Regarding the question on “matters of concern about a child’s diet”, mothers who responded “I feed bland foods to my child” accounted for 53.8% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 32.0% in the group with children aged 3-6 years, being lower in the latter group. On the other hand, mothers who care about “table manners” accounted for 28.3% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 52.0% in the group with children aged 3-6 years, being significantly higher in the latter (p<0.05).
Concerning “problems with preparing a child’s foods”, the percentage of mothers who responded “I don’t know the appropriate amount of seasoning” was significantly lower in the group with children aged 3-6 years (0%) compared to that with children aged 1-2 years (15.4%) (p<0.05). The percentage of mothers who stated that there were “no particular problems” was significantly higher in the group with children aged 3-6 years (44.0%) compared to that with children aged 1-2 years (7.7%) (p<0.001).
Concerning the sources of information on a child’s diet, the percentage of mothers who responded “friends/acquaintances” was 46.2% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 48.0% in the group with children aged 3-6 years, which accounted for the most of the mothers, followed by “child-raising magazines” (46.2% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 36.0% in the group with children aged 3-6 years). The percentage of mothers who responded “local child-raising support center” accounted for 12.8% in the group with children aged 1-2 years, and 0% in the group with children aged 3-6 years. We must proactively offer information to mothers using this playroom, such as on the way of using various foods and examples of appropriate volume and amounts of seasoning, and promote food and nutrition education, so guardians may recognize the local playroom as one of the main information sources.

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Less than half of the children who participated in the hands-on activity and answered the questionnaire regularly had green tea prepared in a tea pot at home. This led to our concern over the inheritance of green tea culture and led us to postulate that the habit of drinking green tea while relaxing and chatting with family members plays a major role in the inheritance of green tea culture.
Reasons for not drinking green tea at home may include a preference for beverages other than green tea and no habit of drinking hot beverages. The hands-on experience of preparing good green tea and tasting it was very effective at teaching children about green tea and cultivating interest in having green tea prepared with a tea pot at home.
Older children and those who more frequently drank green tea at home were more likely to recognize words like kyusu (green tea pot), yunomi (green tea cup) and chataku (saucer). Exposure to tea tools at home increased interest and the extent of their knowledge was influenced by the eating and drinking habits of their households. We also believe shokuiku is more effective the younger the child is.
Older children and those who more frequently drank green tea at home were also more likely to know how to prepare green tea using a kyusu. Children in the 5^th grade and higher who learned how to prepare and serve green tea in homemaking classes were especially knowledgeable. Clearly, education at school plays an important role in inheriting food culture.
Significantly, over 90% of children who attended the hands-on activity said the event was fun, they would like to drink green tea prepared using a kyusu, or they would like to attend an activity again if the opportunity arises. This indicates the activity was effective at interesting kids in drinking kyusu-prepared green tea at home.
Such results suggest that nutrition educators like ourselves should keep hosting effective shokuiku hands-on activities and strive to promote shokuiku even more.

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