Fireworks

I’m sure many people went down to City area to watch the fireworks last night.  I thought there were fireworks on the New Years Day too in Perth, but apparently only on Australian Day.  

I didn’t go to watch fireworks but I could see and hear a bit of it from my sister’s house in Mt Lawley.  I’ve been to South Perth to see the fireworks once, I think it was 5 years ago :p  I remember there’re so many people (drunk) and many police officers…  

Watching the fireworks last night recalled a memory of summer in Japan.  I haven’t been able to watch fireworks in Japan for 7 years now.  I’m sure every prefecture has its own fireworks events every summer, and some of them are pretty big, but I always go to the one near my house.  

Shiga has few cities which do fireworks, and the one in Otsu city (capital city in Shiga) is apparently the biggest one among those cities.  I don’t go to Otsu, but go to Hikone city which is the closest to my house 🙂  

from http://www.biwako-visitors.jp/hanabi/

Because there is Biwa Lake in Shiga, the biggest lake in Japan, they ignite the fireworks on the boat floating on the lake.  Even though it’s just Hikone city’s fireworks, it’s really beautiful and usually it keeps going for 2~3 hours.  In Perth the fireworks is just for half an hour?  

There are many stalls selling food at the fireworks area.  Takoyaki, Kakigori (shaved ice with syrup), yaki-ika (grilled squid) etc etc.  People wear yukata (Japan’s summer wear, casual kimono) and watch the fireworks while enjoying those food 🙂

Aaaaaaaa writing this really makes me want to watch the fireworks in Hikone!  I wish I could go back to Japan during summer around August, but I don’t think I can this year 🙁  Hopefully next year…

What Japanese People Do in December

Like other countries, December is the busiest month in a year in Japan.  New Year’s Day is the biggest event, followed by New Year’s Eve and Christmas.  On December, school kids start to get excited for the winter holiday, couples get excited for the romantic Christmas dates, and families get excited for a gathering with all the relatives and family.   

We have several things to get done before New Year’s Day in Japan.  One is cleaning!  We clean our houses, offices, gardens, and even public toilets.  This cleaning is called “Nenmatsu- Oh-souji” (the end of the year cleaning).  When I was a kid all my family get busy… wipe tatami mats, clean light bulbs, change paper on shoji (window made with Japanese paper and wood) , wash doggy’s house etc.  The idea of this “Nenmatsu- Oh-souji” is that we clean up all the mess we made in the year and welcome a New Year with clean and new atmosphere –  a new life.

Another one is … parties!  We do “bounen-kai” , “shinnen-kai” and sometimes Christmas party with colleagues, friends, and family.  “Bounen-kai” is a party (mostly drinking at Izakaya) before New Year’s Day, and it’s for “to forget about this year”.  Whatever you did, any mistakes and regrets in the year,  you have to forget after attending this party.  On the other hand, “Shinnen-kai” is a party after New Year’s Day.  This is just a party to welcome New Year.  Sometimes you get to attend those parties almost everyday in December, for example, with friends from high school, with friends from college, with friends from office, with office members, with kid’s play group members etc.  Very busy!  But fun 🙂

My mum emailed me saying that her company was having “Bounen-kai” lastnight, and everyone was working super fast and finished 2 hours early!  So funny…  They are so ready to drink some beer and sho-chu!

I’m having a small gathering party (kind of “Bounen-kai”) with my friends this Saturday.  This’s organised by my friend and we are gonna just relax and do nothing but eat & drink!  Can’t wait!

Hyogo Cultural Christmas Party

Today I went to Hyogo Prefecture Government Cultural Centre in City Beach to attend their Christmas party. It was my first time to sell my bagels and sweets in public and it was fun!

When I arrived this place everyone was so kind and speaking Japanese.  It was a nice cozy atmosphere.  People started to gather up around 3pm, including kids wearing yukata.  They enjoyed chatting and playing with Japanese toys until the special guest Camellia Cha (aka Anne Norman) started to play shakuhachi.  The sound of shakuhachi was so beautiful that everyone shut their mouths and listen to its music.

After the shakuhachi, she started to read her book, “Curiosi-tea”.  I was amazed by her story, about teas around the world, history of Japan..  It was really interesting.  She used to stay in Hyogo 23 years ago and then visited around the famous tea factories and tea field throughout Japan, includes Uji in Kyoto and Shizuoka.  She speaks Japanese very well too.  

I brought some bagels, New York style cheese cake, green tea cake, almond fingers and macadamia cantuccini.  I was with Chigusa, from Wasabi & Green Tea, and she sold many kinds of tea, including sakura black tea, kamairi-cha (pan-roasted tea), and ginseng tea.  She was doing free tasting as well, and everyone enjoyed it very much.  I really loved the kamairi-cha, which the tea leaf is made in Japan by a Japanese person, in Chinese-tea way.  Hearing about all the good stuff about tea, I really thought I should drink tea regularly! 

I sold out all the bagels (because it was a Japanese event, green tea flavor sold very quickly) and more than half of the sweets I brought.  I should have brought more bagels!  Thank you very much and I enjoyed this event from the beginning to the end 🙂

Tea Party for Tea Lovers

Do you like tea?  Do you like chatting with strangers? Are you interested in something Japanese?  If so, you may be interested in joining this Christmas tea party at Hyogo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre on 12th December, Saturday.  

Apparently Hyogo Prefecture and Western Australia have been sister states since 1981!  Hyogo is very close to Shiga, and the capital city of Hyogo is Kobe city – a famous for its international port, and being expensive and high class city.  Now I feel that Perth and I are closer 🙂 

“Chatterbox Christmas Par-tea” – a tea party is held at 3pm to 5pm at the cultural centre.  There are going to be a writer, Anne Norman, reading her book, and someone playing shakuhachi – a Japanese musical instrument.  Not only that, but also a demonstration of Japanese tea ceremony, free tasting etc.  If you like tea and want to know more about Japan / Japanese tea, this gathering may be interesting to you.

And!  I’m going to be there with a lady who is planning to do a simple tea party.  Actually I’m interested to see how to prepare Japanese tea.  I don’t think I know the proper way to do…  I will be displaying some Bagelier food there as well, and of course people can buy those 🙂