El Niño
El Niño is a Spanish term that means "the child of God", which originally referred to the end of the fishing season when the sea water warmed with the fading of trade wind around Christmas every year.
Normally, this phenomenon disappears after two-three months, however once every few years, it occurs on a large scale and remains for a long period of time. In meteorology, this large scale occurrence is called El Niño.
During an El Niño in the 1970's when the supply of anchovy used for feed for livestock dried up, and soybeans were used for feed instead, causing the international price for soybeans to rise and the price of Tofu in Japan to increase, El Niño became generally known in Japan.