The Painted Roof

The painters are now finished and all the scaffolding is gone. The color of the roof is called coconut shell brown. It reminds me of a Malaysian saying "like a frog under a coconut shell." It describes a person who hasn't seen or experienced much. So here we are, living under a coconut shell in Japan!

P.S. Little Brother thinks the roof looks purple. It does look different at different times of the day.

A view of our house from the street.

The Box in the Garden

The painters brought this box with them.

Can you tell what is in it?

Playing for Papa

Playing for Papa was written by Suzanne Kamata and Yuko Hamano. It was published by a publisher in Spain called Topka. The book is in English and Spanish. Check out their website here.

As you can tell by the cover, the story is about playing baseball. The book features a Japanese Papa who is a high school baseball coach. I like this story! I'm going to order it for Christmas.

Getting the Closets Ready for Winter

These are hung in the closet to protect wool clothes.

The one on top is an old one. In the orange rectangle, the word "owari" is written in white letters, hiragana. That means that it is "finished" or used. It needs to be replaced with a new one.

In Memory

Of those who died or were injured at Pearl Harbor on Sunday December 7, 1941.

Wrapped Tree

Click on the photo to enlarge it. It looks like a Halloween decoration. This persimmon tree is wrapped. Any idea why?

Linked

Two cables are linked together with this ceramic piece. This picture was taken yesterday under blue skies. Look around your neighborhood. How are wires and cables connected?

That's a telephone pole on the left. In the background, there's a pine tree.

Fences

These fences are along a small road in our neighborhood in Tokyo. Those are autumn vegetables. Click to enlarge the picture.

These look like old bed posts. Could they be old hospital bed posts?

In the Leek Patch

What is that?

Click to enlarge the picture. There is a basket in front of a chair on wheels. I couldn't get a picture from a better angle because the leeks were in the way. The farmer must go down the row sitting in this small chair, pulling leeks, and putting them in the basket.

Finally

I took a picture of this when it had just sprouted. Click here to read that post. We've been waiting for it to be ready.

It has been ready for a while. He cuts some every day but it sells out fast, so I've been buying it from the store down the street.

Finally we got to buy one of his! I thought we'd have to reserve one. Click here to see a young broccoli plant.

Tea Sweets & Tea from Kyoto

Big Sister went on a school trip to Kyoto recently. She brought these tea sweets to us. They have autumn decorations on them; a gingko leaf, a cosmos, a maple leaf, and a rabbit. I'm late posting them. We ate them a week or so ago. They are like gumdrops, but you're supposed to nibble on them while sipping tea. Tea sweets are really sweet. Maybe because the tea used in the ceremony can be a bit bitter.

Chrysanthemums

This photo was taken at the competition at Jindai Botanical Garden. I forgot to look to see which flower won. This one looks like a winner to me!

Most of the chrysanthemums were tall.

Some were short.

This photo was taken in front of someone's garage.

Click on the label below to see the photos of a chrysanthemum festival in Niigata.

Fried Fish Patties on Sticks

This stall was at the ichou (gingko tree) festival.

This is called iwashi genkotsu. The fish is not a whole piece of fish. It is a patty made of ground fish, but the texture is not like ground beef. It's really tasty. Look, this stall keeper keeps his change in a dish.

A steamer.

More Stuff on Sticks

At this stall, there was chicken on sticks, beef on sticks, corn cobs on sticks and

rectangles of vegetable gelatin on sticks. Yum! They are soaking in hot water. The sticks are pointing upward. She's putting a sauce on one before serving it to a customer.

Day of Thanksgiving in Japan

November 23 is a day of Thanksgiving in Japan. Read about it at Kids Web Japan by clicking on the link below. Big Sister and Little Brother had a day off from school. The postman and the garbage men were at work today. Stores were open in our neighborhood.

Kids Web Japan-- Labor Thanksgiving Day

Gohei mochi

This was one of the food stalls at the ichou festival.

He's putting miso on the grilled mochi (glutinous white rice.)

Little Brother chose the one with red miso on it.

Gingko Trees in Aoyama

Many streets in Tokyo are lined with gingko trees. There is a festival for viewing ichou or gingko trees in Aoyama, Tokyo. I'll post pictures of the stalls of food tomorrow.

We came here in December 2006 and the trees were completely yellow. Click on the link below to see other posts about gingko trees.

The trees here are still very green, so if you're in the Tokyo area and want to visit this festival you may want to wait a little longer.