Posted August 24th, 2010 in Japan | No Comments »
I had a very relaxing morning today.
It was just a normal day - get up early and get ready for work-, but somehow I felt so relaxed on the way to the office. Maybe it’s because of the song my husband was listening to from his iPod, or the cloudy weather with white sky; as if it was just about to rain.
aa
To tell the truth, I was kind of having struggling 6 months since the beginning of this year. I knew the reason, but I didn’t know what to do. But, one day, I realised - what is the most important thing in my life? It’s certainly not the money. SInce I was little, I’ve always wanted to do something which I liked, I wanted to get a job which I enjoy - not for money. I actually wanted to go to Africa by myself to live with wildlife by looking after them!
I think I was losing myself while this 6 months. Now, I’m so glad that I’m Ume again. I always loved my unique and weird personality.
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I read many books during this 6 months, and I leant that the most important thing to lead a happy life is “be a happy person”. If you are not happy, you can’t be nice to others. You won’t even have a minutes to worry and care about people. But, when you are happy, you can do all of them. You’ll have a big heart and can share it with others.
aa
I am now thankful that all my family is fine and healthy. That’s all the matters, I don’t really care about other stuff!
aa
Oh, last weekend I talked to my mum, dad and bro on skype. We’re all not phone-type of people and couldn’t talk too long, but it was really nice that we did. My mum lives bit far away from my house and she doesn’t usually come to the house, so it’s great that I could talk to three of them at the same time. I wish I was there!
© Librairie Seizan of KYOTO
This time of the year in Japan is Obon : a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one’s ancestors. They wanted to go to the Jizo-bon festival - a festival for children held in especially Western Japan - near my house, but it’s customary to have the Jizo-bon on both August 23 and 24 to coincide with the Jizo Bosatsu fair. This year, 23 and 24 are Monday and Tuesday, so they couldn’t. On Sunday they went to the place anyway, but the festival wasn’t started yet, and mum couldn’t go to the alter of many jizo statues to light the candles. Mum asked the monks to light three candles for bro, me and one more once the festival starts.
aa
I love the festival.. When I was little, I didn’t know much of the meaning of the festival - just enjoying the stall food such as takoyaki, snow cones, Hiroshima-yaki and crapes. It’s a long way to the jizo alter, and on the way there’re many stalls selling food and toys, and also people enjoying karaoke on the stage. We all head to the alter, and inside we light on the candle and come out, then return back the way we came.
aa
I hope I can be there next year. I’m really starting to think that I should be flying to Japan during summer next time.
Posted July 17th, 2010 in Japan | 4 Comments »
It’s been a rather stressful three weeks… I was trying to sell my car privately, and all the games between buyers and me were… crazy (><) I mean, I understand that they want to buy the car cheaper, but I want to sell it more expensive.
Although my car had no major problem I had to accept the negotiation and reduce the price, but I think it’s fare. If I were looking to buy an used car, I would also want to make sure if nothing is wrong with the car.
aa
And, there is something else happened around me recently. I will write about it some other time
aa
The storm has gone, and I feel the sunny days are back. The forecast says that we are having another cold morning starting from this Sunday, but I always thought the mornings are always cold in winter. My hometown, Shiga had a strong rain for the last few days, and I contacted my dad to see if everything was ok.
It must be hot and humid over there. Normally the rainy season in Japan is around June, but this year things started slower than usual.
aa
While staying in Perth I sometimes forget that summer is the rainy season in Japan. In Perth, we hardly get any rain in summer.
I haven’t been back to Japan in summer for 7 years now. It’s because I’ve been avoiding this season, as I don’t like the humid climate. Almost every shops and buildings are air conditioned, but because of the temperature difference on outside and inside the buildings many people get summer cold in Japan this time of the year.
aa
There are things that I miss about Japan’s summer, such as fireworks, summer festivals, summer food and dessert, going swimming (well, I can do it here in Perth)… Fireworks is the biggest event in summer.
aa
Many people wear yukata on this day and gather around the shore to enjoy the beautiful sky entertainment and the delicious food from the stalls.
Summer festivals are held at many places across Japan, almost at every suburb. In my town, we have a small festival at the beginning of August every year, and we enjoy the food, games (eg: kingyo-sukui = goldfish scooping), and bon fire and dancing! I have a friend who is learning Yosakoi dance, and she is always excited about this festival each year. Just let you know, Yosakoi is not like other dancing you see on tv (hip-hop, jazz, etc) The style of Yosakoi dance is highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music.
aa
I used to go to the festivals in the neighboring towns (just 10 minutes by bicycle) too, and they have different theme and sometimes karaoke. But, there are always delicious food (I love stall food) and that’s the biggest reason I enjoy the festivals so much.
aa
Posted March 3rd, 2010 in Japan | No Comments »
March 3 is Hinamatsuri Day in Japan. It is also called “girl’s day”, and families with girl(s) celebrate this day with a display of ornamental dolls (Hina-ningyo).
It is one of Japanese traditional event, and my house also used to display a set of Hina-ningyo on the day of Hinamatsuri. Since this display set is pretty huge, it takes few hours to set up the stairs and dolls on the right position. (which is like setting up a Christmas tree) And, on the day of Hinamatsuri we turn on the light called bon-bori and run the music of Hinamatsuri song.
Nowadays people don’t set up the traditional display (which is kinda shame), but substitute with something different…
Posted February 14th, 2010 in Eat out in Perth | No Comments »
As you may know, this Chinese New Year is the same date as Valentine’s Day. We, Japanese, don’t celebrate Chinese New Year (as our New Year Day is the 1st of January), but I attended the dinner with in-laws last night at a Chinese restaurant in East Perth, called Han Palace. The outside and interior of this restaurant is just about what I imagine of “China”
We had a course meal, which contains 13 dishes.
Yu Sang - Prosperity Raw Fish Salad
Shark Fin and Crab Meat Soup
Ginger and Shallot Western Rock Lobster with Yee Meen
etc etc.
The food was …. to me, not really special. Maybe it’s because those food are special New Year’s food, I don’t know. Well, I did enjoyed the atmosphere though. There was a big screen of tv showing a New Year’s event show, and we started the course meal by mixing up the Yu Sang together while yelling “Happy New Year”.
While we were about halfway through the course meal, it started … - dragon dance!
Two dragon started to look for ang pows (red envelop with money) and all the customers in the restaurants were feeding ang pow to those dancing dragon.
Dragon must get the ang pows : a customer stood on a chair and held an ang pows in high position, and dragon also has to stand up and get the ang pows.
It was a fun night. I didn’t eat much, but the service was great.
Posted February 3rd, 2010 in Japan | No Comments »
Today 03/Feb is Setsubun in Japan. Setsubun literally means “seasonal division”, and we do bean-throwing ceremony. Yes, people in Japan throw beans on this day, since long long time ago (even before samurai era).
Temples, schools, city halls, families etc held this bean-throwing ceremony. We use roasted soybeans, and these beans are edible. (yummy!)
If you do this ceremony at home, usually father wears an oni (demon or ogre) mask and other family members throw the beans towards the “oni” while chanting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” which roughly translate to ”Demons out! Luck in!”
The purpose of this ceremony is to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. When I was little, however, I just enjoyed throwing beans away everywhere around the house, toilets, school and temples, screaming ”Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” :)
Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat these beans, one for each year of one’s life for bringing good luck for the year to come. If you are age 10, you will need to eat 10 beans.
Of course, the house gets very messy after this ceremony and needs to be cleaned up. But cleaning is also fun part, try to find tiny beans around the house :) If you have a pet it maybe easier.
And, on Setsubun, we eat a sushi roll called “Eho Maki”. ”Eho Maki” roughly means ”lucky direction roll” and it contains 7 lucky ingredients including eel, dashi-maki (omelet) etc. There are few rules to eat this sushi roll!
It has to be eaten without pause or chatter, while facing the auspicious direction of the year (the yearly lucky compass direction, determined by the zodiac symbol of that year)
Remember not to say “delicious” while eating. You have to eat all without speaking! Oh, and one more thing. You can’t slice the sushi roll. You have to move the whole long piece into your mouth and eat just like that. That’s why “Eho Maki” in convenience stores are all not cut. Usually “Eho Maki” is thick roll, so you have to open your mouth very wide
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