Connotation of そのまま?

Japanese Language Questions
#1

hi everyone! i received my hobonichi techo for the year (a japanese planner / notebook), and this year’s notebook came with a complementary pair of “food dice.” you roll the dice and they tell you what to make for dinner. one die says things like “fried, steamed, baked, etc” while the other says “fish, chicken, beef, etc.”

one option on the preparation die says “raw” in english with “そのまま” as the japanese below it. does this really mean raw, and will my dice recommend that i eat raw chicken, beef or pork for dinner? or is there a connotation for そのまま that makes sense with meats that certainly cannot be eaten raw?

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#2

そのまま means “as is” or “without doing anything” so basically raw. Meats can be eaten raw as well, including chicken, in Japan.

Edit: that’s not to say eating raw chicken is a good idea necessarily, just that people do do that.

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#3

そのまま (as Jisho describes it) translates as “as it is” or “without change”, so eating it as is would mean (presumably) eating it raw. I don’t believe it has anything to do with any particular meat. I’d guess if you rolled “raw” on something like chicken or pork, you’d just re-roll.

If you’re wondering about the breakdown of the term, it simply comes from まま meaning “condition” and その
meaning “that”. Literally, it’s “that condition”. You can think of it as someone pointing at the meat, saying “eat the meat in that condition”, so unchanged.

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#4

You can get chicken sashimi in Japan. Dunno about pork.

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#5

I actually had it once at a Japanese restaurant here in America. I didn’t like it very much.

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#6

Raw chicken so good. Too bad your dice don’t have horse on them.

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#7

Isn’t pork cutlet pretty common there though? I wouldn’t know since I don’t live in Japan, but I’ve heard people like occasionally eating pork with ramen.

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#8

Pork is everywhere here. Pork sashimi though? Never heard of that, personally.

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#9

I didn’t even know pork could be made into a sashimi. Huh.

Anyways, most of the results I find when googling for it show mostly homemade as opposed to sold, so my guess is that only select, specific shops sell it if at all.

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#10

That’s what the topic is about… That we don’t think it should.

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#11

My friend just spent most of Shōgatsu (JP new year) in bed after eating chicken sashimi together with his colleagues. He got the カンピロバクター (campylobacteriosis) which I had never heard of but seems like Japanese people know about. For those who can read, see warning and explanation from Kyoto city below :mask::
http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/hokenfukushi/page/0000026563.html

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#12

While it’s not like sashimi, a regular sandwich item here in Germany is Mettbrötchen ~ raw minced pork that has been seasoned and is served openfaced on a half roll with onions. Really yummy! :smile:

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#13

thanks for the replies, everyone! i think i’ll treat the “raw” option as “soup.” i don’t trust my own ability to make chicken sashimi without killing myself, but i do like soup ^-^

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#14

There is a French dish called steak tartare which consists of raw ground beef (and it’s delicious).

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#15

As someone earlier mentioned raw horse, I figured I might as well chime in. In Japan they have a propensity to eat things more raw than people in the states (and perhaps other western countries) do. For example, when eating at yakiniku (can be likened to Korean bbq) every American I’ve seen likes their meat fully cooked, but the Japanese will often leave a bit raw. They also still eat raw horse which I had when I visited over the holidays, which is supposedly okay since horse meat is really clean or something, but imo it doesn’t taste like much. They used to eat raw beef as well from what I heard from my full-blooded mother and (half)sister, but I guess it’s not as common anymore as they got more educated about the dangers of consuming raw beef. I will say, it surprises me that anyone would eat raw chicken though, but I guess some people do it?

#16

I used そのままでいいです、when in shops to request no plastic bag.

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#17

Chicken Sashimi is a weird way to spell Salmonella.

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#18

They make salmonella out to be so scary. They never tell you how good it tastes. It’s probably a government conspiracy.

#19

I’ve never seen pork sashimi - but you do sometimes get raw pork liver being served.

It’s an interesting experience. I’m perfectly comfortable with raw chicken / beef / horse / eggs etc., but eating raw pork liver was a major conflict between my mouth going “hey this is actually pretty good” and my brain going “stop stop for the love of god this is the worst idea you’ve ever had”…

#20

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