Foundation Day 2008

I actually remembered to go take a picture of this house that has a flag raised on Foundation Day. It's the only house that has one out. This is not a very good picture again this year. There was no wind, so the flag was not flying. In addition, the time of day made a glare. Ah, well, I will try again next year!

Kids Web Japan--Foundation Day

Green Day

Today is Green Day. Click on the Kids Web Japan link below to find out more about it. This is a sign at Jindai Botanical Garden. It says "Green Adventure" in katakana, the script used for foreign words. Follow the arrow and you'll have a green adventure, I guess. Though this is one of the biggest cities in the world, there is much greenery. And lots of "many colored" adventures!


Kids Web Japan-- Green Day

Golden Week

It's Golden Week, a week of holidays!

Kids Web Japan--Golden Week

And the jasmine is blooming!

Hina Matsuri Dolls at TOYS "R" US (more pictures added,03-03)

Tomorrow, March 3, is hina matsuri. Since the middle of February, department stores have been selling sets of dolls. Even the TOYS "R" US in Fuchu had them. (There is another one in Machida.)

The set on the right is a full set of dolls. On the top shelves to the left, there are sets with just the Emperor and Empress. The one on the top shelf is quite small.

A set of dolls is bought after a baby girl is born. She has to be at least three months old before it is bought. Many years ago when Jiji and Baba bought Big Sister's dolls, the clerk at the shop told us "small apartment-size" sets were being introduced. A set of dolls takes up a lot of space, but the storage boxes take up even more closet space! So, smaller sets have become available.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Here is a three-tier set. Ume and citrus trees are part of the set, but those are sakura blossoms on the paper above the set. This set includes ladies of the court and decorative mochi. On the lower tier are trees, guardsand utensils for the tea ceremony. Click to enlarge.

Over the years, sets of just the Emperor and the Empress have become more common.
Here is a two-tier set.

Here is just one tier.

Sometimes one doll like this one is given by grandparents or aunts and uncles when they visit on hina matsuri.

Note the prices. Can you figure how much these dolls cost in your country's currency? The prices at this store are low. Some sets cost much much more at department stores and specialty shops.


Kids Web Japan--hina matsuri

Foundation Day

Another awful picture! We saw this flag on our way home from shopping. It was dusk and there wasn't much light so the picture is fuzzy. Can you even see the flag up on the balcony? Today was Foundation Day. Tomorrow is a school and work holiday. Japan started giving three-day weekends in recent years. So, though Foundation Day is really on the 11th, the day-off is tomorrow. Maybe they'll have their flag out again tomorrow. If so, I'll replace the picture.

Next day: Nope. I'll have to wait another year for another picture. By the way, that's an ume tree in the garden. Dark fushia blossoms.

Kids Web Japan--Foundation Day

Coming-of-Age Day

Everyone was on the way home when I went out to take pictures. I snapped this in a hurry as people sped by. Everyone disappeared except the young woman in the kimono. Click to enlarge the picture and you will see at least three people who aren't there.

The drummers were on their way home, too. All the drums were wrapped and waiting to be loaded onto the truck.

Kids Web Japan--Coming-of-Age Day

Kids Web Japan--kimono.

Mail Man's Motorbike

The holiday goes on. New Year's is just around the corner. In Japan, sending New Year's cards is a very big deal. Everyone does it. The mail service of the first three days of the new year is devoted to their delivery. Everyone anticipates the mail man's visit. It's sort of like waiting for Santa.

From November Fields

Since today was Thanksgiving I thought I would show the fall vegetables growing in the field behind our house. Spinach, daikon and onions in the background.



Daikon

Cabbages



The vegetable stand near our house is still open for business even though today was a holiday. It was Thanksgiving in Japan, too. It was a day of giving thanks to workers. Children had a holiday from school. Most workers, too.

Papa had to work so we had our American Thanksgiving meal yesterday evening. We had ordered a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and sparkling cider from Foreign Buyer's Club, an import service. I even made a pumpkin pie. Canned pumpkin and evaporated milk can actually be found at some food sections of department stores.

Kids Web Japan--Thanksgiving in Japan

Entering the Shrine

This is the path to the shrine. The tall concrete structure is a tori. It is decorated for shichi-go-san. There are stalls of food along the way. The two women in the middle of the picture are wearing kimono with its traditional jacket.



There are lanterns overhead. The names of sponsors are on the lanterns.



This little girl was walking toward me. She is in the picture above. Her mother said I could take her picture. She is three years old. You can tell by her size but also by her kimono. She's wearing a vest instead of an obi, sash.

Here is another three-year-old girl wearing a kimono.



This is the back of the lanterns.

Kids Web Japan-- shichi-go-san

Kids Web Japan--kimono

The Shrine

After washing your hands at Okunitama Shrine, you go through another gate. See the boy in the black and silver outfit? He is wearing a haori jacket. There is a hawk on the back. He is wearing hakama trousers, too. They are dificult to see. The trousers have wide legs so they look sort of like a skirt.

This is the main building. Weddings, ceremonies for babies, and ceremonies for shichi-go-san, etc, are held here in a large washitsu, room with (grass) mats. Actually, this is where Papa and I were married, where we had ceremonies for Big Sister and Little Brother, and where they had shichi-go-san. Funerals are not held here. They are held at temples.

Here is a detail of the roof.



Money is thrown in this big wooden box before you clap your hands and pray. That is a chrysanthemum on the front.

These were set here for shichi-go-san. There is another lantern on the other side. They have the chrysanthemum crest on them, too.

This poster was near the shop. Sorry there's so much glare. The sun wasn't even out!


To the right was a small shop. A small wooden tori leads to another building. There were displays of chrysanthemums today, too.

The shop sold these things. Silk prayer pouches for different purposes. Some are for good luck. Some are for good health. Some are for safe travels. Some are for bicycle safety.



Chrysanthemum displays.

Fire hydrants. Click on the label below to see other fire hydrants.

Fortunes can be bought at that little shop. They are folded and tied here.

Those are wooden prayer plaques called enma on the right side of the picture. People write their wishes on them and hang them there.

Vendors

Yes, that's octopus (tako in Japanese.)

A small piece of octopus is put inside some batter. A round puff is made. Some people call them "octopus balls" in English. I just thought of calling them "octopus puffs".

Here they are served in a paper tray in a plastic box. A sauce is drizzled over them. Toppings are put on them, too. Salty smoked tuna flakes are scattered over them, too. Sometimes mayonaise is squirted on them, too. I don't know what the yellow stuff is. I didn't notice it until I downloaded the pictures. It looks like scrambled eggs, doesn't it? The pink stuff is pickled ginger. We like octopus puffs.

At this stall, she was serving them with small eggs on top. The vendors here didn't want their pictures taken but were happy to let me take pictures of their wares.

This is a choco banana stand.

Bananas dipped in chocolate. Then sprinkled. These had cookies stuck on them. Never have seen that.

These are bags of cotton candy. Someone is in the background praying at a small shrine.

Frankfurters on sticks. They were sizzling. That's grease around the two on the left. It's not a very good picture.



This stall was selling masks.

There were several stalls that were closed. Maybe they opened later when school was out. Shichi-go-san isn't a holiday from school.

Christmas Has Been Coming

Christmas decorations appeared in our area stores on the weekend before Halloween this year. Can you tell what this snowman is made of? It was made out of something left over from Halloween.

Two pumpkins! This snowman was made out of two pumpkins that were painted white. It was outside a cake shop. The sign advertises a cake set for 600 yen. These pictures were taken two weeks ago, so the snowman is probably gone now.

A whole scaffold was built to put these decorations up. Two men were putting up lights under a covered walkway. It leads to a department store from a train station.

The decorations get bigger and brighter every year. Now they are everywhere, too. Our house used to be the only one in our neighborhood decorated with lights. About five years ago, we were a little late putting them out. The neighbors started asking about them. Big Sister came in from school and said her friend's mother was waiting for our lights.

A girl from Little Brother's class lives across the street in an apartment building. She told Little Brother that she and her mother like to sit and have tea and look at our lights. We try to put them up at the beginning of December. In recent years, there are several houses in our neighborhood that decorate with lights. They put them up much earlier than we do, but they haven't started to decorate yet this year.