Thank you, Japan. Thank you from Japan.

Out for an appointment this week in Tokyo, I noticed something new on the front of the bus.

It's been one year since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Click on the photo to enlarge it. The sign says in English, "Japan. Thank you." Perhaps what is meant is "Thank you from Japan."

Anyway, thank you Japan for being a symbol of strength and dignity through this year! And thank you, World, for supporting Japan through this difficult time!

This sign appeared on a neighborhood yaki niku restaurant right after March 11th. It says, "Ganbarou Nihon." Some people translate it as, "Be strong Japan." Some say, "Hang in there, Japan." Others say, "Try to do your best, Japan."

This sign was on the shinkasen Big Sister and I took to Hakone in May, 2011. Ganbarou Nihon!

I saw signs everywhere. Keep it up Japan! And keep it up, World. Japan still needs our support!

N.B. The Japanese phrase is transliterated phonetically.

Girls' Day

March 3 is Girls' Day in Japan. Big Sister is now in college in the U.S. Here she is at age 9 with her hina matsuri dolls and Little Brother (5) and our dog, May. This is her first Girls' Day away from home.

And this is the first picture I've posted of Big Sister and Little Brother. I never posted any photos of them on the internet because Papa warned me about security. He always told me that we are easy to find. But now, those guys don't look like that at all. Except for the dog. She looks the same. Maybe a little fatter.

Kids Web Japan-- Hina Matsuri

March 10th-- Launch of TOMO to Benefit Teens Affected by the 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters

Saturday, March 10, 2012
Tomo Anthology Launch:

An Evening of Readings, Discussion and Reflection

Time: Saturday, March 10, 2012, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Place: Tokyo Women's Plaza, Conference Room 1

5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

(by the Children's Castle and United Nations University).
For a map see www.scbwi.jp/map.htm

Fee: Attendance only: 500 yen SCBWI members; 800 yen nonmembers

Attendance and Tomo book: 1,200 yen SCBWI members; 1,500 yen nonmembers

Reservations: Please send an email to contact (at) scbwi (dot) jp by Friday, March 9

This event will be in English.

March 10, 2012, is publication day for Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories (Stone Bridge Press). One year after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, this collection of short fiction brings teens worldwide closer to Japan and contributes to long-term relief efforts in Tohoku. Join us for this Tokyo Tomo launch event, which will feature readings by various Tomo authors, as well as panel discussion and reflection on this project.

Tomo (meaning "friend" in Japanese) is an anthology of young adult short fiction in prose, verse and graphic art set in or related to Japan. Edited and with a foreword by Holly Thompson, this collection for readers age 12 and up features thirty-six stories—including ten in translation—contributed by authors and artists from around the world, all of whom share a connection to Japan. Tomo includes a wide variety of unique stories, including tales of friendship, mystery, fantasy, science fiction and history. By sharing "friendship through fiction," Tomo aims to bring Japan stories to readers worldwide, and in so doing, to help support young people affected or displaced by the March 11, 2011, Japan earthquake and tsunami disasters. Proceeds from the sales of this book will go toward long-term relief efforts for teens in Tohoku. To begin with, Tomo fund donations will go to the Japan-based NPO Hope for Tomorrow (hope-tomorrow.jp), which in addition to providing educational expenses (including university entrance exam fees, travel costs to exam centers, etc.) also provides mentoring, tutoring, and foreign language support to high school students in hard-hit areas of Tohoku. Visit the Tomo Blog at http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com for interviews with contributors and more information about Tomo.

Setsubun and Mame-Maki Bean Options 2012

February 3 is setsubun, the day the season changes from winter to spring. Beans are thrown to scare away bad spirits and invite good ones into the house. Masks are also included with a bag of beans. These are bags of beans sold with a small plastic mask. Click on the photo to enlarge it. There is a link at the end of this post for more information about setsubun.

This is a display at a cake shop in Foris at Isetan a department store in Fuchu.

These were other options in the grocery store section of Isetan. One year, I bought a set like the ones in the basket at the bottom right of the photo. Click here to see what it was like.

This year I bought this little box of beans. The box is called a masu and is usually made of wood. This one is made out of cardboard. No one wears a mask around here anymore. Click on the labels below to see other posts about setsubun and bean throwing.

Kids Web Japan--Setsubun and Bean Throwing

Apple Protection

I usually don't take photos of people.

"People aren't scenery," Big Sister told me when I started this blog. Papa, teachers and parents were worried about privacy and safety. And he reminded me, "You are easily found."

But I had to document this. Sorry the photo is blurry. It was taken in a hurry with the iphone. You can't really see what this grocery store clerk is doing. I was trying to protect her identity.

She's putting those little pink plastic skirts on the apples. I thought the apples were shipped that way to protect them. So, no, after making their way to the store the apples are protected from people bruising them while picking over them and taking them home!

But, wait, note the comment section below. A reader suggested that the skirts are for hygiene purposes. I'd never thought of that! Probably because I take the skirts off to look at the bottom of the fruit to check to see how green it is at the base. I've never noticed anyone else do that. Even though there was a time when they stopped using the skirts and there were some bad apples in the bunch (bin). So, they're either protecting the apples from bruises or germs.


A bag of pink plastic skirts.

I've noticed apples and grapefruit wear pink plastic skirts. Green apples, pears and nashi wear green plastic skirts. Click on the labels below for more posts.

Check out the comment section, too.

Holly Thompson wins APALA Award for Her YA Novel!!!

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) awarded their Young Adult Literature Award to Holly Thompson's novel Orchards. Holly is our SCBWI Tokyo chapter advisor and editor of our newsletter Carp Tales. Congratulations!

Click here to see other APALA award winning books.

Snow!

Mt. Fuji has been snow-capped since November.

Today, Tokyo was capped in snow.

The snow highlighted the mountains to the west. I could actually see them this morning.

Look closely through the wires and beyond.

Funny, no birds were sitting on the wires this morning.

Snow Curls

Later in the day, the snow on our roof began to curl...

because of the snow guards.

Click on the photos to enlarge them. Click on the label "roof" below to see a post about our neighbor's roof guards.

Dragon in the West

Papa says it may have been some debris from the Russian satellite returning to earth. It could have been an earthquake cloud. I think it's a lone dragon cloud like the ones I saw in November. I noticed it as I was walking to the store. I took this photo at 4:53 today with my iphone.

Back to School After the Holidays

Little Brother went back to school today after the winter break. His high school is far from our house so he has to get up early. When he left the house at 6:00, the moon was still high in the sky in the west. I took this photo later when the sun was rising.

Seven Herbs of Spring

Another year, another post. Check here for more information.

First Visit of the Year

We go to Fugakusan-Shoraku-in Jindaiji (we call it Jindaiji) on the third day of every new year. I hang out there and in the botanical gardens throughout the year. It is only a 15 minute bus ride away. It is just one of many places in the area where we can be surrounded by nature.

In Memoriam

We lost our friend Ivy Terasaka and her young family at Phuket, Thailand in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. That Grecian horse was a housewarming gift from her.



The tragedy of that tsunami was far-reaching. We made 1000 cranes to deal with the sadness and grief and had them blessed at a shrine. The cranes hung in our house for many years. We hoped to take them somewhere.

After the March 11, 2011 East Japan tsunami, Students Rebuild offered to donate money to Japan for every crane mailed to them. They made their quota early but continued to accept cranes.

I cut a string of 100 cranes from the 1000. Then we made 100 new cranes for Japan and strung it with the rest of the cranes that honored the Indian Ocean victims. I had to separate the string of 1000 cranes to fit them in two boxes. Big Sister and I mailed them to Students Rebuild. At the time it made sense. We are united in grief.

Students Rebuild-- Japan Challenge

poster

100,000 cranes came to Japan! Check here.

P.S. I will add photos later.

Motorcycle Santas in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Papa saw 100 Santas on motorcycles in Shinjuku Tokyo tonight!

Click on the labels below for more posts about Christmas in Japan.

Christmas at Isetan Fuchu 2011

The view from Starbucks.

Christmas 2011 ad campaign.

Amazing mural on the floor. It's like a big sticker, I'm sure, but it doesn't look like it at all. It looks like part of the floor.

Yuzu Treats

This freeze-dried yuzu tea has been available all month. Just add hot water. The steamed cake has pieces of sweetened dried yuzu peel on top. I don't have them together, but I could. The tea is sweeter than the cake.

I make my own yuzu tea from scratch, too.

This Year's Yuzu Options for the Winter Solstice

Three yuzu fruit are placed in the bath on the winter solstice. The cloth bag of yuzu and the packaged bag of yuzu peel is from Tokyu department store. It was sold in the vegetable section of their basement food department.

The net bag of yuzu is from our neighborhood grocery store. It was sold in the fruit section along with the paper of explanation. Kabocha or Japanese pumpkin is eaten on the winter solstice.

Here are the displays at Tokyu Department Store:

Yuzu bath products. Sorry, fuzzy photo.

Shishiyuzu

Yuzu in cloth bags for the bath.

Cut kabocha. I have never seen it sold like this. I like it! Kabocha is very hard to cut. Kabocha is rock hard!

Sample of a recipe with kabocha and adzuki beans.

Click on the labels below for more posts. Especially yuzu.

University of California--yuzu