Wakame Snack

This is a wakame snack. It comes in its own little plastic tray. There is also a moisture absorber pack with it. Who wants soggy wakame?! The strips are chewy like gummy bears. It's a little sweet, but I think it smells like pickles.

This is the package. It's small. It is only 10 x 14 cm. This wakame is ume flavored. Packages are on display near the register at my grocery store. This snack can also be found at convenience stores in the candy section.

A toothpick is included on the back of the package. You use it to pick up and eat the strips.

Holly Thompson and Kazumi Wilds have a new picture book coming out called The Wakame Gatherers. It is published by Shen's Books. Check back in the next weeks to find out more about wakame. The author and illustrator may post something here!

A Dozen Eggs

Usually cartons of 6 or 10 eggs are available. In celebration of Value Plus' 25th anniversary, the company is selling a carton of 12 eggs.

This company puts a sticker with the packaging date on each egg.

Red Feather Community Chest Campaign

Passing through the station last Sunday, we saw a group of Boy Scouts with donation boxes. One boy was handing out red feathers to people who gave a donation. There is a pin on the end so that it can worn on a shirt or jacket. Click on the link below to read more about the red feather campaign in Japan. Have you ever seen this?

Kids Web Japan--Red FeatherCommunity Chest Campaign

Quick & Easy Cooking

Now at our grocery store, we can buy pre-packaged meals. This is an aluminum pan full of cut cabbage, mushrooms, leeks and carrots along with a packet of sauce. All we had to do was boil a cup of water in a pot and add the vegetables and sauce packet. Quick and easy.

The carrots are cut in the shape of a maple leaf.

Parking Lot

This parking lot was down the street from a shopping area. This is the machine where you pay for your parking space.

There is a number and a guard on each space.

After you park your car, this guard rises preventing you from leaving without paying. After you pay, the guard lowers.

Note: The triangular sign is a stop sign. It says tomare in Japanese. The first symbol is written in kanji. Then "ma" and "re" are in hiragana. Some words are a combination of both kanji and hiragana.

Sports Day

The official Sports Day is the second Monday of October, but some schools have their Sports Day events in May. Little Brother had his in May. Big Sister had hers on the first weekend of this month. Check the label below for more posts about Sports Day.

Kids Web Japan--Sports Day

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Our neighborhood mikoshi. Kids and adults dress up in happi coats and carry this through the streets of the neighborhood. Some neighborhoods have really big mikoshi. Check the October archives for last year's post.

Footsteps in the Field

I have to admit it's tempting to walk out onto the fields behind our house after they are prepared for planting. Kids do it. I'm sure it's like walking out on first snow.

I was on the roof and saw a boy riding by on his bicycle. A ball fell from his basket and bounced out into the field. He had to go out to get it. He did his best not to make a big mess--he backtracked through his footsteps.

Hardware Shop Demolition

The hardware shop on the right is being prepared for demolition. The shop on the right is a drugstore. The red lettering says kusuri in hiragana. It means "medicine".

This is the old hardware store.

Some old buildings need to be demolished. See the big crack in the middle? It looks like the building has been weakened. Still, it's sad to see it go.

Preparing the Hardware Shop

See all of those metal shutters? When the shop was open, the shutters were opened for business.
These ladies walked into my picture. They are wearing funeral clothes.

For the demolition, poles were placed around the shop. Workers will hang pieces of canvas from the poles.

First, they drilled holes into the concrete walk around the shop for the poles.

Details of the Hardware Shop

Cornerstone covered in tiles.

Click on the picture to enlarge. This is an awning to shade the shop's windows. It is opened and closed by pulling the chains on the left. What is that reflected in the window?

Roof tiles.

Window guards on the upstairs living area.

Making Taiyaki

I bought three custard taiyaki at the new shop and asked if I could take a picture through the window. They were making some. The worker on the right is making okonomi taiyaki (see post below). She is closing the iron mold (actually it looks like Teflon).

The worker on the left is squirting batter into a mold. She has already squirted batter into one side of the mold. She will then squirt custard or adzuki beans onto one side. She will close the mold when the outside of the cake is browned. Then she will flip the closed mold from one side to the other on top of the stove.

The cooked taiyaki are placed in a rack in the window. The sign says "custard 130 yen".

Taiyaki

This is a taiyaki. This one is filled with custard. The other side looks like this, too. When it stops raining, I'll try to get a picture of them being made.

Shop Opening

A new shop opened in our neighborhood on the 29th. It makes and sells taiyaki. A pancake-like snack shaped like a fish. This shop sells them filled with the usual azuki beans, but also with custard. there is also one called okonomi taiyaki that is filled with cabbage, carrots, bacon and mayonnaise.

Too bad it was raining on their opening days, but people were still lining up to buy them.

Well wishers send big bouquets of flowers for a shop's opening day. On the third day after the grand opening, the arrangements were separated into small bouquets and put in pails outside the shop. A salesclerk was handing them out to customers.

This is the shop's sign. The blue fish on the left is holding a real bamboo fishing pole. In Japanese, it says yume aru machi no taiyakiya san. Big Sister translated it as "A Taiyaki Shop in a City that has a Dream". Papa called it "Dreamland Taiyaki Shop". That doesn't really mean the same thing, does it?

Steve King from Pearson Longman

Steve King did a presentation for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Tokyo chapter. He talked about how to make a book proposal. His presentation was interesting and useful.

This book, Side by Side, was published by Pearson Longman. I used to use it when I taught English to international students in the United States. Pearson Longman has other great materials for teaching ESL and EFL, English as a Foreign Language, as well as other subjects.

Policemen on Bikes

Click on picture to enlarge.