7-5-3 Shichi-go-san

For information about shichi-go-san check out Kids Web Japan. Click on the label below, too.

Scaffolding

Workmen have been putting scaffolding around our house for the past two days. They will put cloth on it. Then they will wash the house before they paint it.

A Roof with a View

If you look closely (with a telephoto lens) you'll see,

Mt. Fuji! Our view has gotten more crowded over the years. Click on the label below to see more views of Mt. Fuji. Note the picture taken in October. There was no snow on it.

Close-ups

We can never pass up the chance to take a picture of a praying mantis. They are part of our garden family. This picture was taken on the 7th. This may be the same praying mantis we saw climbing the palm tree earlier in the day. She was in a big hurry, and she looked a lot fatter.

She was not in hurry as she made her way across the picnic table. She paused to wash her face. Look at those black prickly things on her front legs. I've never noticed those before.

Check the label below for more pictures of other praying mantises. Click on these pictures to enlarge them.

Linda Gerber's Now and Zen

Linda Gerber was in Tokyo on the 18th of October. She gave a workshop on SCBWI's Writers' Day. She has written several books. Here's one that is set in Japan. It is for young adults so you may want to put it on your list of "books for future reading."
It's worth the wait!

Kids Web Japan--Book Week

Author/Illustrator Keiko Kasza

Author-illustrator Keiko Kasza had lunch with us yesterday, too. Check this link to see her books.

Kids Web Japan--Book Week

Author Kierin Meehan

Australian author Kierin Meehan is visiting Nagoya for several months. She was in Tokyo today. Some SCBWI Tokyo members and international school librarians met her for lunch at Fujimamas in Omotesando. It's a great restaurant.

Ms. Meehan's first book, Hannah's Winter, is coming out in the United States in March 2009. Check out her other books here.

Kids Web Japan--Book Week

Yuzu KitKat

Another KitKat! What flavor will they think of next? This mini size cost 45 yen.

Tanya Robyn Batt

Tanya Robyn Batt, author of The Princess and the Bear King (a Sakura Medal 2006 nominee) told us stories at the SCBWI Writers' Day on October 18th. She is a great storyteller. Click on the book title in blue to link into her website. She does school visits and workshops. I bought this book for her to sign. It's a great story and the illustrations are lovely.

Click here to find the list for the Sakura Medal picture book nominees for 2009. The Wakame Gatherers by Holly Thompson, SCBWI Tokyo Advisor, is on the list!

It's still Book Week here in Japan.

Kids Web Japan--Book Week

Culture Day

Today was a national holiday. Big Sister and I went shopping for her high school trip next week. She is going to Kyoto. We didn't see any festivities, but we heard the end of three opera singers perform in the lobby of a shopping area. It was great! Maybe they will be the Japanese El Divo.

For information about Culture Day check the following link:
Kids Web Japan--Culture Day/Constitution Day

Halloween Party Treats 2008

Pumpkin flavored marshmallows! Made in Japan.

This cookie-covered chocolate is available year round, but it had Halloween decorations on the box this month.

This big bag of candy was bought in the States. Little Brother was going to give it to his friends for souvenirs, but couldn't give it away at school. He made treat bags to give away.

You've probably seen these before. Instead of gummi bears, there were Halloween shaped gummis.

Pumpkin Hunt

We usually order a pumpkin from FBC (Foreign Buyer's Club) for our Halloween party. The pumpkins are grown by Japanese farmers and then FBC delivers them. This year I forgot! A few flower shops and food departments in department stores have one or two pumpkins for sale in October. This year I had to go on a pumpkin hunt. I found one at a flower shop several stops from our station. I had to carry it home in my shopping bag. I sat on the train with this big round bag on my lap. It was really heavy! I almost had to roll it home! I had to carry it with both hands because I was afraid the straps would break. We wouldn't want to eat pumpkin pie for Halloween! People noticed me. They looked and smiled when they saw the orange pumpkin sticking out the top of my bag. My neighbor said, "Oh, it's Halloween." Japan has changed a lot.

It's the biggest pumpkin we've ever had in Japan. I put a deck of American playing cards next to it so you could tell how big it is. The flower shop clerk decorated it with black tape. The "X" near the top means that this pumpkin was hit over the head. An "X" is used in cartoons, too.

I bought these cookies for Little Brother and Big Sister's snack. The party is tomorrow. The cookies are from Viet Nam.

Out to Dry

That's taro on the other side of the fence. This fence and field are next to a parking lot of an apartment building.

This is the apartment building. The umbrellas are hanging from the kitchen window bars. That's the front door on the right and the gas meter on the left.

Digging Potatoes

Children from Big Sister and Little Brother's old kindergarten were digging potatoes today. I couldn't take a picture of them because of privacy issues, so I dug out their old school shovel. The big one was Jiji's, Grandpa's. The children wore their gym clothes and rain boots when they dug potatoes. They took home a bag of potatoes. We made a curry and stew with ours.

Here are the tops of the potato plants. See the crow? He is heading toward the holes where the children dug. Maybe he'll dig around for some small potatoes.

Here is the farmer digging and preparing another field. This is not the field behind our house and he is not our vegetable man.

Irene Smalls

Today marks the first day of Book Week here in Japan. SCBWI Tokyo had a Writers' Day on the 18th. Several writers held workshops. This week I will post about their books.

Irene Smalls is an author, teacher, and presenter. She talked to us about using all of our senses while creating and writing. Look at her website for more information about her workshops, presentations, and books.

I ordered her book Don't Say Ain't from http://www.amazon.co.jp/ before the workshop. What I really like about the book is that a young girl, Dana, lives in two worlds. One is her neighborhood and home where she's herself, and the other a school where she feels she has to speak and act differently. The author does a good job of showing us both worlds especially in the language differences. We (Little Brother, Big Sister, and I) can understand how Dana feels.

And there's jump roping! Jump roping is part of kindergarten and elementary school life here. It's part of the curriculum. You have to count and record how many times you jump.

Kids Web Japan-- Book Week

In Tokyo until December 14th

Big Sister finished exams and had a day off today. (She's in high school.) We went to this exhibition at The National Center of Art, Tokyo. It is located in Roppongi. This is a free handbill. There was a shop at the exit of the exhibition. We bought postcards and bookmarks. We also bought a package of New Year's money envelopes. They have different Picasso paintings on them. There was also a shop downstairs. There were several coffee shops. It was an interesting building. Check the website.

It was nice to see some of his work again. Little Brother went with us when we went 10 years ago. He was only two, but he enjoyed it. He picked out several postcards to buy.

He was quite heavy as I remember. I had to hold him up so he could see the paintings and drawings. You're never too young to enjoy art!

Sakura Leaves

Cherry tree leaves are falling now. This leaf was on the sidewalk. It was beside a door in the sidewalk. I didn't photograph the door and didn't really notice it in this picture until now. It was probably for workers to open to work on pipes.

Grape KitKat

Another KitKat! This one tastes like Muscat of Alexandria. That's a fancy sounding grape. It tasted like plain old grape to us.

KitKat is sold in small cardboard boxes. Inside the box, there are two small packages. Little Brother tore into his package from the opposite end. Packages here sometimes tell you where to open them. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

It's best to follow instructions, but this package easily ripped along the opposite edge so he was able to get the candy out without trouble. By the way, the candy coating was a light green. We ate it up before I could get a picture of it.

Fish Heads & Cages

We rescued four stray kittens from our neighbor's garden last fall. We caught their mother. We took her to the vet to be spayed so she won't have more kittens. This fall, a young cat is coming to our garden. We're trying to catch it to take it to the vet. There are many stray cats in our area. Feeding a stray cat without having it spayed or neutered is prohibited. There is a volunteer group that is trying to catch all the cats. They want to spay and neuter them and then release them. They lent us this cage.

The young cat is very clever. We've been trying to catch it for more than a week. The vet suggested tying a fish head in the cage. I tried that, but I caught the big Papa cat instead. We took him to the vet. I had to buy another fish head but couldn't find one. I bought this piece of fish instead. I hope we catch the young cat!

P.S. I caught another cat instead! A big tomcat. Then after a big effort I caught the young cat. Yikes, this is expensive!

Halloween at Disneyland

 

Aunt went to Disneyland for an office trip. She brought back souvenirs for us. This is the seasonal shopping bag. We went at Halloween many years ago. Young children dressed up in costumes. The park and the rides were decorated. There were many Halloween souvenirs. Click here to find out about Halloween at Disneyland.

Click here to find out about seasonal events at Disney Resort.