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