A coloring page of a Japanese breakfast, drawn as eight separate items with the Japanese name written under each one. Four of them are the traditional side of the table — rice, miso soup, a rolled omelette and natto — and four are the Western side that sits beside it in most homes today: bread, sausages, banana and yogurt. The outlines are simple and well spaced, so it works for small hands and for anyone who wants a sheet that teaches a few words while it is being colored. Free to download and print, no registration needed.
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
Was breakfast at home Japanese-style or Western-style when you were a child?
Which breakfast did you look forward to most?
Do you still sit down to breakfast every morning?
Is there one breakfast you still remember clearly?
Why does breakfast get so much attention in Japan?
Because it is a national campaign, not just a family habit. Japanese schools and ministries have promoted the slogan “early to bed, early to rise, and breakfast” for years, and the annual national survey of pupils reports that children who eat breakfast tend to score higher on its tests. It is worth being careful with that finding: it is an association measured alongside everything else about a household — sleep, routine, income, how the morning runs — not evidence that the meal itself produced the marks. This is everyday kitchen talk rather than medical advice.
What are the eight items, and how do you read the labels?
Reading left to right, top row first: ごはん (gohan) is plain steamed rice, drawn in a footed bowl — leave it white and color only the bowl. みそしる (miso shiru) is miso soup, with steam rising off it; a soft tan is closer than brown. パン (pan) is bread — here two thick slices of the square white loaf Japanese bakeries sell. ウインナー (uinnaa) is a pair of small sausages. Bottom row: たまごやき (tamagoyaki) is the rolled, faintly sweet omelette, cut to show the layers. なっとう (nattō) is fermented soybeans in their little tub, the one item most visitors are warned about and the one Japanese breakfast would not be the same without — sticky, strong-smelling, eaten stirred with mustard over rice. バナナ (banana) and ヨーグルト (yōguruto) are the banana and the cup of yogurt. The labels are hiragana and katakana, so the sheet doubles as a first reading exercise: the two Western imports, パン and ウインナー, are the ones written in katakana.
Do people in Japan really eat a breakfast like this?
Some do, and plenty do not. Skipping breakfast is common among younger adults living alone, and the reasons given are the ordinary ones: no time, no appetite, or dieting. In the health ministry’s national nutrition survey the rate peaks in people’s twenties, and it differs sharply by sex — in the 2016 round it was about 37% of men and 23% of women in that age group. So treat this sheet as a picture of a good morning rather than an average one: a full spread of rice, soup, omelette and natto is more likely to appear in a household with children, or at an inn, than on a weekday desk.
