Summer Night Festival

~Circling the Gates~

~Pretty in Purple~

OCTOPUS...Its actually yum yum! Chewy!

~Love for Paper Lanterns~

I have never seen this kind of priest before,
but this looks like some ceremonial clothing.

Here they come!

Now that is how you grill chicken!

SO I have been called a "cheeseball" but
I had never seen or eaten one!
A yummy one at that!


Going Home~ Ja Ne! Peace!

Japanese Summer

How I love the summers in Japan. From the festivals to the fireworks, I think summer is Japan's most festive season. Some Japanese think that fireworks were invented in Japan. There is certainly a different culture around fireworks here. There will be fireworks just to celebrate summer. and throughout the year just for fun. people dress up in traditional garb and come out to "eww and ahhh", only they cheer instead. This year I taught my Japanese friends the way to "eww" as the fireworks shoot up and "ahh" as they come down. They loved it!

This is when you say "EWWW"

This is when you say "AHHH"

For the first time this year I put on my
summer kimono and tied the obi all by myself!

Also for the first time this year I participated in a festival. People from my workplace formed a team of dancers. The festival was a paper lantern festival, but the paper lanterns are huge!! It takes a lot of men and power to turn them around and around in one direction and then the other. The dancers dance down the street, then the papers lanterns are twirled around and this repeats up and down the two major cross roads of the city. Check out the pictures to get a better idea.

Me before the action!
Holding the official camera pose, the peace sign.
Im rocking the double peace sign.

First the teams of dancers and lantern twirlers
gather in a parking lot with the lanterns surrounding us.

This is the areal view of the gathering.
That tall building in the background is where I work.

The twirlers in action. Since I was part of the action I didnt get any pictures. These are contest winning pictures from last year. The team above is the team from my workplace last year.

More twirlers in action. Their garb is some kind of traditional festival wear.

Celebrity Look Alikes

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Regis (above)

Japanese "Regis" Minomonta-san (below)

Zach Braff (above)
Japanese "Zach Braff" Tokui-san (below)

Jim Carrey (above)
Japanese "Jim Carrey" Harada Taizo (below)

Sometimes I find myself so amazed by how these celebrities look alike AND have similiar roles. Like Regis and his look alike are both the hosts of "Who Wants to be a Millionare". I suppose that is deliberate but Jim Carrey's look-alike, is also a comedian at heart but with particular wisdom. Zach Braff's look-alike, also plays a doctor in ads for job advertising. These kinds of resemblances really make nationality seem like a non-issue. Its funny to me when Japanese people think "foreigners" look sooo different, when they have the potential to look and act sooo the same.

Making Japanese Plum Wine

This is now brewing in my closet: Japanese plums sweet and sour, sugar rocks, and wine....ready to drink in a few months time!

Hiking Haiku

a hiking haiku

summer flowers in mid bloom

the day before june

It begins with a pen ~

Today I went to a trial "pen calligraphy class". I had taken a calligraphy class in Tokyo and really enjoyed it but there was so much that I didnt know about the characters themselves that after learning to hold the brush, and create the ink from a kind of incense flavored stick, I couldnt accomplish much in just 5 classes. Thats why I decided to take a "pen calligraphy" class. Thats the name of the class I went to tonight but when I got there everyone was practicing the chinese characters used in Japan, called kanji, with brushes just like a normal calligraphy class. On top of that the teacher had come in while I was registering at the front desk and didnt seem too happy to have me joining the class.

Writing calligraphy is a kind of meditation so that when we entered the room everyone was already silently practicing their characters. But i expected at least a greeting from the teacher. not to be had. so i sat silently in the front for a few minutes thinking about how to get out of the class because it clearly wasnt what I was looking for and the teacher didnt have enough decency to make me feel welcome. he shoved a paper with hand painted characters on it, and asked

"can you read this?"

it was really hard and I couldnt read more than a few words. so I read what I could and let him figure me out. then he asked

"have you ever held a brush?"

I said yeah but he was expecting a no so he said

"no?"
and I said
"yes I have held a brush".

then he went away again, allowing me to fume for a few minutes. finally when he was in my vicinity again, i pulled out the list of classes offered by the culture center (conveniently across the hall from where I work on Thursdays) and said

"I thought this was a pen writing class, which is what I am looking for. I have taken brush calligraphy before but I want to do pen calligraphy."

He said

"you can use whatever you want. You want to do something like this?"

then he handed me a pen-written poem about being one with nature. i didnt know it till then but that is exactly what i want. i am interested in writing poetry and i would like to graduate from writing like a 1st grader. two birds with one stone! i got psyched and told him after reading it about ten times

"this is good".

he asked

"dont you have a pen?"

well they told me not to bring anything since it was a trial class. so no.
a nice classmate gave me paper and he gave me a pen. and this is where my new hobby begins...

Nothing Beats Cheap Easy Eats

boneless filet of salmon, sold to be eaten raw for about 250yen ($2.50). its great as sashimi, or raw fish, but its even better grilled with a little garlic-yuzu flavored mayo (thats garlic~lime mayo, trust me its good!). and it only takes about 4 minutes to grill through. to accompany it is some spinach salad with sesame dressing. and some lotus root. in total this meal cost about $6. super yummy. and super healthy.
i dont even consider this a japanese meal, just a meal in japan and something that definately couldnt be accomplished as cheap or easily in the states.