[For Seniors] Never Run Out of Conversation Starters! A Collection of Fun Facts About April and Spring

There are nine colors of tulips that reach their peak viewing season in April.

Tulips are famous as spring flowers.

Thanks to a well-known children’s song, they’re likely a flower recognized by everyone from kids to adults.

Here’s a bit of trivia focusing on tulip colors.

When we think of tulips, we often picture red, white, and yellow, but tulips that are at their best in April are said to come in about nine different colors.

There are tulips in orange, green, purple, black, and many other hues.

If you have a chance to go out in spring, try looking for tulips in unusual colors.

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A bamboo shoot can grow about 30 centimeters in a single day.

Bamboo shoots are in season in spring.

Some older people may even have experience digging them up.

Did you know how fast bamboo shoots grow? In fact, they can grow as much as 30 centimeters in a single day.

Of course, it depends on the season and temperature, but it’s surprising, isn’t it? By the way, because they mature in as little as ten days, they’re said to become inedible after that.

How about enjoying some springtime bamboo shoot dishes and feeling the arrival of spring?

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The classic school backpack for elementary students, the randoseru, came from the Netherlands.

Randoseru, a staple item for Japanese elementary school students.

In fact, this randoseru originally came from the Netherlands.

At the end of the Edo period, when the shogunate introduced a military, they used backpacks received from the Dutch as part of their equipment.

In Dutch, a backpack worn on the back is called a “ransel,” and that ransel’s name gradually shifted to “randoseru” in Japanese.

It’s said that the use of the randoseru as a school bag was introduced by Gakushuin during the Meiji era.

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Spring cabbage refers to cabbage that was sown in autumn.

Neoruby SP, Suzusora, Ayari, Okina SP—do you know what they refer to? The answer is cabbage.

If you’ve always thought “Aren’t all cabbages the same?”, try looking them up and check out their colors and shapes.

What we commonly call “spring cabbage” actually refers to cabbage sown in autumn and grown over the winter.

Instead of a vivid green, it tends to be more yellowish-green, and its leaves are tender.

Stir-fry it with ham and cheese and it becomes a main-worthy side dish.

It’s also delicious raw with dressing!

Caterpillars eat cabbage, but they don’t eat lettuce.

When the topic turns to vegetables, the inevitable debate is “Team cabbage or team lettuce?” Which do you prefer? People who cook often tend to favor cabbage, since it’s handy whether you stir-fry it or simmer it.

But that fresh, crisp crunch of lettuce is irresistible too.

By the way, did you know that green caterpillars eat only cabbage and not lettuce? That’s because cabbage contains a lot of sinigrin, one of their favorite compounds.

Sinigrin is very bitter… There really are some peculiar insects out there, aren’t there?