Lotus Leaves

This is how they were planted at Jindai Botanical Gardens. There were no blooms. See that big light near the top of the picture. They must have lit the blooms at night. Got to remember to try to catch that next year! To see a bloom click on the label "lotus" below.

Crumbling Lotus Leaves

Thinking of Galveston

Here are some early morning pictures of the coast of Galveston. Little Brother and I went there with Aunt Carol in early August. We've been thinking about Galveston and wish everyone there well.

This is one of the staircases that goes down the sea wall to the beach.

Water Lilies at Jindai Botanical Gardens

These pictures were taken on the the 10th.

There are eyes all around

These signs are on the back of trucks, on buses, taxis, etc. It says something like "We're not going to overlook crime. " In other words, we're watching you!

This sign was on the back of this vehicle.

See the man on the bike in the upper right hand corner? Click to enlarge the picture. There is a sign on his basket. It is for the "Mama Patrol". Mamas patrol the area after school. He must be somebody's grandpa. Jiji, our grandpa, used to be part of the "Mama Patrol". I don't ride a bike. I patrolled, but I didn't wear a sign.

Bats

I've been watching the skies for bats on clear evenings. We've been haing lots of electrical storms lately. There aren't as many bats as there were last year. I think I say that every year.

I tried taking pictures from the street on Sunday evening. It was impossible! This evening I stood in the roof garden. They're too fast and I'm still too slow. I did get one, though. Can you find it? It's below the smudge (speck) and to the left.

A Gift for Attending

Papa attended his boss's dance class performance on Saturday. She performed the tango. I watched the video. It was great! But I'm wondering...how does she have time to practice?

Anyway, she gave nicely wrapped boxes of "New Style Stick Donuts" to her friends and employees who attended. They all paid (a big ticket fee) to go, but it included dinner. It was a fancy dinner show. See the "Best Wishes" sticker at the top?

There was another fancy embossed label on the back. It was used to tape the paper together. Fuji Bambi is the name of the shop.

In the past, store clerks used only one piece of tape when wrapping packages. (Everything was wrapped back then.) This package had tape on both ends and that label on the back.

It sprouted already!

The vegetable man planted this row on August 27th.

Any idea what it is? Click to enlarge the picture. Sorry it's blurry! I'll try to get a clearer picture.

Tabi

Big Sister had to buy tabi to wear when she performs the tea ceremony at her high school festival. Only members of her club will perform. They will wear yukata (summer kimono).

This is the bottom of the tabi. There is a fitted toe so that she can wear geta (wooden sandals) with them. Of course, she will only wear the tabi on tatami (straw mats) during the performance. (We never wear shoes or slippers on tatami.)

The package actually has instructions on how to put on the tabi.

Young Broccoli

Tabi Detail

Big Sister asked me this morning if I wanted to take the tabi out of the package to take pictures of them. Of course! Why didn't I think of that?! I quickly scanned these details. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. These are made of thick cotton. The cotton on the soles have a texture and pattern.

This is how the tabi are fastened. There are flat metal hooks, but no metal eyes. The hooks hook into double threads.

Here are the metal hooks. Note the little man engraved on the top two hooks. He is on bended knees bowing to us.

Tabi Package

The bowing man is on the package, too.

This is on the front of the package. It indicates that these tabi have metal hooks or clasps.

This is the company information. There is a telephone number there for those of you living in Japan.

Watermelon KitKat

KitKat had another seasonal flavor. This summer, it was watermelon, suika.

The chocolate is brown and not pink like the sakura KitKat. Click on the label below to see other flavors. There was a berry flavored KitKat at he beginning of summer but I forgot to post it.

Happy Birthday in Kanji

Baba, grandmother, had her 81st birthday on August 31st. This chocolate piece was on her cake. I posted one of these a long time ago. It is the most popular HTJ blog post. At least ten people a week do a google search to find out how to say "Happy Birthday" in Japanese.

In that picture, "Happy Birthday " is written in hiragana. Here, "Birthday" or otanjoubi is written in kanji on the first line. The second line omedetou is written in hiragana. The third line says "baba" in hiragana. It was all chocolate. Little Brother ate it. Big Sister was still in the States with Papa. (They usually share chocolate cake decorations.)

We all missed Papa's birthday cake today on September 1st. He was too jet-lagged to celebrate his birthday. His cake from 31 (Baskin Robbins) is in the freezer.


Check out Kids Web Japan for more information about the Japanese writing systems. The Kids Web Japan site is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kids Web Japan--language
Kids Web Japan--hiragana
Kids Web Japan--greeting cards

Earthquake Drills

September 1st is the first day kids go back to school after the summer holiday. (The first day of school is in April). This is the anniversary of the big Kanto earthquake so students usually have to do earthquake drills. Click on the label below for other posts about earthquakes.