Making Mochi in Ichikawa

I went to Ichikawa "city center" today to meet a friend for lunch. When I stepped out of the bank I noticed a crowd down the pedestrian Ai Ai Road. Upon closer inspection I saw that there was a group of people and all sorts of equipment more or less under a marquee. Several of the people were of a rather large size and dressed in yukata  (are they real sumo san, or wannabes, I don't know).

They were using a large wooden mallet to pound cooked glutinous rice into mochi. When it's finished it's a sticky white mass that is used in all sorts of traditional sweets. This is the time of year for mochi making and all sorts of confections featuring mochi are available in stores.

Of course mochi can be preserved and is available year round in blocks that can be softened by heating in toaster ovens or microwaves or under the gas grill. Mochi is also an ingredient in the traditional New Year's soup called zoni. Every year people are reminded to be careful when eating mochi. It is so difficult to bite a small bit off the mass of mochi to be chewed and swallowed that a person often gets more than they bargained for. It's quite easy to choke on it!

These sweet sisters were enjoying their treat as were many others.

Christmas Dinner 2010

Hosted by the Aylings and gathering in family and friends from here and there...

featuring a beautifully done turkey and Christmas pudding.

Thanks for a lovely Christmas day!

Today was bright and sunny...

The Sky Tree on the right. Fuji san
dimly center horizon

It's the National Holiday that starts our winter break to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. A typical winter day in the Tokyo area. It's also the unofficial beginning of the Mt Fuji viewing season. I went into the station area this afternoon and thought it was a great day to go to the top of the I-Link building with the observation area at the top. I was surprised to see the stairway up one more level open as it has been closed on my previous visits. With the bright sun and the glass, picture taking was difficult, but I gave it a try. Here's one shot. Hopefully I can get the rest on to the slide show at the right.

What a Lovely Day!

This beautiful sunny Sunday morning I headed off to Omote-sando to attend the Worship Service at Tokyo Union Church. I had been wanting to see what it's like and found out from my friend Julie that the choir was going to do Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. I really enjoyed the service. TUC calls itself an ecumenical and international congregation of English-speaking Christians. To me it seemed to blend a bit of Presbyterian with some Baptist and a touch of Anglican. Mostly though it has the feel of "church" and is all in English.

Julie was more than pleased to see me. I got to meet her husband, and we went to lunch together. What a lovely day!

Oh yes, I guess I did break them then

I went to my local Japanese doctor this morning. I needed new prescriptions for my regular medications and I needed to collect the results of recent tests. As part of the Japanese Health Care System people as old as me (actually anyone over 40) are invited to go to the Doctor once a year for some tests. Since I need to get blood tests every three months because of taking cholesterol lowering medication, I had the tests done this time under the annual invitation. I also had other statistics taken like height and weight, had an EKG and a chest x-ray. I can also have other tests done like an upper GI if I go to clinic with the needed equipment.

So as I said, I visited my Dr. He had all the reports in front of him and my chest x-ray on the usual lighted panel. The first thing he said was, "You had broken ribs." I looked at the x-ray and saw whiter, more solid looking areas on three ribs on the left side. I explained to the doctor that at the time I took the fall (June 2008) doctors couldn't say for sure that they were broken. Well, now they could I'm sure, but who cares?

Personally I feel vindicated because I knew that I really did hurt whether or not the reason could be proven at the time.

For those of you who know about my recent health concerns, the numbers are improving - Hallelujah!

Yokohama Quilt Week 2010

You might notice a new slide show running to the right.  These are pictures of  yesterday's trip to Yokohama for the annual quilt show sponsored by Patchwork Tsushin magazine. My quilting sensei tells me that this show is older than the Tokyo Dome show and before the Dome Show was the biggest in Japan. Why it's called a week when it's only held for three days only seems to trouble native English speakers.

The trip by train from Ichikawa takes around an hour. The venue was  where the APEC Conference was held recently - a huge Convention Center complete with a view of the harbor, shopping mall and amusement park rides. Everything looks really neat and clean - lots of glass and stainless steel.

Many of the quilts were unavailable for photographs, but I was able to shoot some quilts that really caught my eye. I also got photos of a couple vendors that attracted my attention. One was the booth of Su Designs which has materials for Korean Pojagi and embroidery. I had a nice chat with the proprietress, and saw examples of some amazing work.

Another area was set aside for the work of women on an island in the Philippines where a Japanese woman has gone to teach them to quilt. She brings their work to shows like this and sells the quilts and returns the money to the quilters.

Japanese quilters are truly amazing.

If you would like to see the pictures one at a time with captions, all you need to do is put your mouse pointer on the picture and click. This should take you to Picasa where my photos are stored. You can view my other pictures as well.  Click around on the tabs and see where it takes you. Happy viewing.

Comments are always welcome!

A Clever Cat and Discovery at Daiei

You may remember Stubby chan, the Guest Home Cat. She's lived at the GH longer than anyone else. Since Gareth and Ruth are away, Stubby and I are taking care of the GH this week. My primary responsibility in Stubby's estimation is to ensure she has food in her bowl at quite regular intervals. On Saturday, my day off, the upstairs neighbor was asked to perform the feeding duties. Today I was about a half hour later than usual. After filling Stubby chan's bowl I saw the neighbor coming out of the office next door. She asked if I had fed the cat. Sometime earlier she had come out the front door of her apartment and there was Stubby waiting on her doorstep as if to say, "Georgia's probably not coming today, are you going to feed me?" Stubby is in her late teens, and looks more like an 'old cat' all the time, but where food is concerned, she doesn't miss a trick.

After making sure Stubby had an adequate lunch I walked into the town center to the Daiei Department store's food floors to get ground coffee and something for lunch. Coming up the escalator I saw that the display at the top had a definite "Christmas" theme. There was a small display of Christmas cards in the corner. To my delight I found 4 different cards that had an evening snow scene that included a church with a cross on the spire, and no mention of the new year inside! The cards are from the Sanrio company (Hello Kitty's Company).

Thanksgiving Sunday

One of the National Holidays in the month of November in Japan is Labor Thanksgiving day.  This year it falls on the 23rd, this coming Tuesday.  The church I attend has a celebration on the Sunday before (today) and as in the States, mention is made of things for which we are thankful and prayer is offered to God for his goodness and generosity toward us.  We also have a pot luck lunch with everyone bringing something to share. The weather is just warm enough to eat outside, which is great because we don't have enough room inside to set up the food and to have people sit. Someone always brings Japanese curry and in recent years someone brings everything for Okonomiyaki. If you are not familiar with this dish it is usually made with a meat like thin sliced pork and then a mixture of chopped cabbage and a little batter made with flour and egg so it is sort of like a thick pancake. This is cooked on both sides on a griddle and when cooked through it is topped with a dark sauce, that's kind of sweet and sour and some mayonnaise and katsuoboshi (shaved dried bonito). Yum! Really!

To see photos of this event you can visit the Church's web site at http://omfthechapelofadoration.org  I took a couple of pictures, but will be a bit slow to get them uploaded this time because I didn't bring the correct cable with me to the office 0.O !

A definition of Shinto

A mini shrine being carried
in a culture day parade

"...though it's indefineable, Shinto is the essence of Japan and the Japanese,  and though it posesses neither theology nor Godhead nor faith nor system of ethics it is our justification for existence. Shinto is a nature cult of myths and legends in which no one believes wholeheartedly, yet everyone venerates totally. A person is Shinto in the same way he is born Japanese."
                            -  James Clavell Shogun

Mama Chari

 That's a kind of Japanglish term for the kind of bike I have - Mother's Chariot. The characteristics of this kind of bike are the front and back baskets and the stable kick stand. Unless you want more features, the price is pretty reasonable (US 150). For traveling around Ichikwa it's great. Many streets are narrow, so you don't get much car traffic.

This morning I left the house for the early service at church with my handbag and a sweater that needed to go to the cleaners in the baskets. After church, I first went to the cleaner's shop near my apartment and parked just outside the front door. After depositing my sweater and getting the ticket to pick it up on Wednesday (US $12), I went to the fruit and vegetable shop a couple blocks away. I was able to park the bike in the alley beside the open air shop while I got bananas, tangerines, avocado, small green and red peppers, carrots, yellow onions, small white potatoes and sweet potatoes ($13.50). That bag went into the back basket. Then I walked across the street, leaving the bike parked in the alley, to the drug store to get toilet paper ($4.75). That went into the front basket with my purse. I then cycled about a block and a half  to a Circle K where I got a small salad and a pizza-mon ($4.85) for my lunch and while I was there, paid my monthly Health Insurance premium ($20) and my water bill ($31). The bike with the shopping in the baskets sat outside the front door. Then I cycled three blocks home.

The weather is kind of dreary and damp, rain is predicted for this evening, so after I took all my things out of the baskets, on went the cover. The bike sits just at the bottom of the stairs to my second floor apartment. I do lock it when I leave it anywhere. The locks are usually built in to the back fender assembly here. Occasionally bikes are stolen,or picked up by the city if they are left somewhere for too long or in a no bike parking zone. When I bought the bike I registered it with the city, so if it does disappear, I can check for it at the city impound lot.

All in all, unless it's raining more than a sprinkle, I'm happy for the convenience of a bike in Ichikawa. On top of all that, I get a little exercise too.

Santa Doll Class

Yesterday I went to a special class held at my quilting teacher's house. She had a visiting American friend hold  three classes (one in Karuizawa and two in Ichikawa) making Santa Dolls. I'm not all that thrilled with Santa in general but figured I might learn something in the process, and always have an interesting time with these ladies from quilting.

The teacher, Mary Anne Eckert, from Boulder, Colorado, had really great kits made up for us so we were able to finish in the one day class. I usually think of dolls as something kids can play with, but this is actually one that is meant to sit somewhere as a Christmas decoration.

At lunchtime we all went into Sensei's dining room and managed to squeeze twelve people around the table. (I'm on one of the left hand corners.)

As always we had lots of food and good conversation. Several of the other students understand and/or speak some English. Sandwiches were accompanied by potato chips, pickles, tangerines, sweets with anco and macha flavored mochi, and chocolate croissant bread.

After lunch we went back to work and in no time an army of small Santas were assembled. We had the most fun, I think, with the beards. Mine is the one in front with the very long moustaches. Later I was able to curl them up a bit for a slightly different look.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the doll, but will treasure the time spent with Japanese friends in the craft classroom setting.

Mitsukoshi Quilt Exhibition 2010

My quilting teacher was asked to make a quilt for the Mitsukoshi Department Store Exhibition this year. Today, she and her husband and another visiting American friend and I will go to see the exhibition. She will also be doing some kind of presentation there and wants to introduce Mary Ann (the other American) who is a doll maker to everyone there.

I just got a phone call from Sensei saying she wants to take my wall hanging and introduce me as well. She sees me and it as some type of International cooperation which she would like to promote.

A Dutiful Daughter

I am a believer in consulting your elders when making large decisions in life.  I tried to remember to run things by my father when he was still living, and was sometimes surprised by his responses. Most often though I was struck by the fact that he had some respect for the person I was becoming.

I have a sweet young Japanese friend who recently shared with me that she was starting a relationship with a young man she worked with this summer.  In Japan it is pretty traditional to inform your parents of your plans when it involves something important.  Her father's response to the young man was "Unacceptable!" I was a little surprised at my friends reaction to her father.  She said, "He makes me laugh!"

This young couple has put their future in the hands of God. So even though it was proper to tell her father, I think she looks to a higher authority.

Volunteering - A sure way to get into trouble.

Now that I think about it, volunteering is how I got to Japan in the first place, but that's a whole other story.

A year ago April I answered a call from the OMF Headquarters office in Singapore asking for people who would be willing to work on a sewing project for the remodeled office.  By the time everyone got their ideas together a year had gone by and there were two of us signed on for the sewing job.  The finished product is to be 5 banners - each 210cm long and 60cm wide. The graphics for each banner were done in Thailand and then the pieces were sent to me to put together and machine quilt and finish. There have been little aggravating problems all along the way - not enough letters cut out, the batik pieces being a bit different in size to one another, pieces sewn together crookedly. On top of all that, I have difficulty finding blocks of time to work on the project, and I really wasn't pleased with the color of fabric chosen for the backs of the banners.

All that said, the work is getting done. Maybe not as fast as originally anticipated, but step by step, I might make it.

You Must Be Very Strong!

This was the comment of a Japanese friend when she saw me in a short sleeved shirt on a mid-October morning several years ago. The first of October is the day everyone thinks about switching to long sleeves here in Tokyo. The school kids wearing uniforms change over on this day. I had an American friend who worked a while for IBM in Tokyo who was adamant that long sleeves were required as of October first when working there.

Of course, I didn't grow up in Japan, but in America, where everyone is supposed to read the weather forcast or stick their head outside before dressing for the day. Establishing a day to change over goes against the grain of our independent spirit.

My friend's comment really stopped me for a minute, trying to equate strength and short sleeves. I guess it still does.

Quick Change

On Tuesday this week I suffered, along with all the other folks in this part of Japan, through the lingering summer heat and humidity. I think I heard the temperature was 33 degrees Celsius. In any case, too hot for the second half of September. Yesterday, compliments of a passing typhoon, the temperature dropped under ominous skies to a low last night of 13! I almost had to get another blanket out. It rained again, cats and dogs, as I taught my quilt classmates. This afternoon the sun broke through and my guess is that if I went up on the roof of the building or down to the levee by the river, I'd be able to see Mt. Fuji, like last year when I took the picture I use as my Facebook profile. I expect that the weather will get warm again before we have real autumn, but it is nice now for a day or two after the scorchers earlier in the week.

2010 Summer Holiday

No, it's not Christmas in August, or an early Labor Day. The British Language influence on my daily life continues unabated!

Today, I leave for my summer vacation. As I did last year, I am headed for the cool mountains West of Tokyo to stay in the town of Karuizawa.

Life slows down here a wee bit in August. In Ichikawa it's been almost too hot to move in any case. No, it's not hotter than Florida, but instead of getting in my car just outside my house and driving in air conditioned comfort to the air conditioned mall, I get on the very warm seat of my bicycle and propel myself up the street to the small shops, many of which are open to the outside air. Or to church which in our case is air conditioned, but when you've cycled there you sweat a while even in the A/C.

In a couple of hours I'm due to board the Shinkansen at Tokyo station and travel about an hour and 15 minutes to beautiful Karuizawa.

I hope to have some times of total seclusion to refresh my mind, body and spirit. However, when you are a Christian in a non-Christian country (world?) you can't take a break from the duties of being salt and light.

Quilt Exhibit

The day has finally come! We have arranged and hung our work, waiting for tomorrow's opening of our quilt exhibit. An editor from Quilt Tsushin Magazine is supposed to come. I have to give a talk on Sunday afternoon. I'm so tired from all the activity of the past few weeks. It's been fun but I'll be happy when the merry-go-round grinds to a halt

The Annual IVIS Bus Tour

Ichikawa Volunteer Interpreters' Society sponsors a bus tour every year and as one of the itinerant foreigners in their circle (I'm not a member, because I am not fluent in two languages) I was invited again this year. The trip was to two attractions in Chiba Prefecture. First, the Kikkoman Soy Sauce factory and second to Mt Nyotai. As you can see from the picture, they gave us samples at Kikkoman. It was really quite interesting to observe the process for making this staple seasoning.

I was also interested to meet a family who are from the Philippines working with Navigators here in the Tokyo area. It's indeed a small world.

It was a good tour. While sitting in the restaurant at lunchtime on the side of the mountain we experienced a small earthquake. I thought it a particularly apt place to be. One could just picture the whole building just sliding down the mountainside into those lovely rice fields below.

Learning to Quilt

In American English we speak of making quilts. The Japanese talk about patchwork. It's really both - you piece the patches together for the top, add batting and backing, then you quilt. Quilting is the stitching you do to connect the layers.

Stitching, of course, in the quilts of long ago was done by hand. Many modern day quilts are stitched by machine. Since my patches were hand stitched my teacher said that machine quilting would not be appropriate. So, I've spent a lot of time in the last two weeks hand quilting my Japanese Memory Quilt. My finger tips are tender in spite of using a thimble and a special finger cap. Some days I have to give it a rest.

It needs to be finished by about June 20th, my teacher has scheduled an exhibition for her students' work. Yikes!

There are some "in process" pictures on Picasa. Click on a picture on the right. I'll post new ones when I finish.

Another Busy Season

Does your life continue to get busier? Mine has been pretty busy lately with getting ready for summer teams in Serve Japan, regular duties at the Guest Home and visitors. The weather has had some wet and cool spells, but the last two weeks were filled with sightseeing and visiting with an old friend, and today another couple is in Ichikawa and we may be able to get some time to chat before they head back north tomorrow evening.

The picture is of a door at Meji Shrine featuring a carving of the kamon of the Kiri or Paulowina flower.

If you haven't seen enough cherry blossom pictures, here's one from Hakone in the mountains with the bright clear sky behind it. Japan is certainly a beautiful place to be in the spring.

Late Bloomers

Did your mother tell her friends that you were a late bloomer? The cherry trees out here on the east side of Tokyo are taking their own sweet time coming to full bloom this year. We had a lot of cold days and nights and several days of rain, but today the trees along the river seemed exceptionaly fluffy, and there was only a small amount falling petals in the occasional breeze.

The great number of blossoms in the clusters made me think what it would be like if these were fruit trees and not ornamentals. We'd be looking forward to a great crop this year!

So, spring has come for sure, next will be the Fuji Hanna (wisteria) and then rainy season and summer. The full bloom of the cherries may have taken a while this year, but it won't stop the flow of the seasons.

Japanesy

This is the kind of thing that makes you hit your forehead and say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Of course you have to like the combination.

Don't look now, but...

February is all but over for 2010. Sometimes time really gets away from me.

So, the first week of March - here in Japan - Hina Matsuri is celebrated on the third. This is a holiday just for girls, it's Doll festival. Little girls display their collection of dolls representing the Emperor and Emperess and their court. Doting parents and grandparents buy dolls for the collection. These are not to be played with, but are just for "pretty" and are to be admired.

On the third I will be joining a group of women from OMF and other Missions for the JEMA Ladies Retreat in my favorite place to go in Japan - Karuizawa.

I need a Blue Dentist?

I was all set to show you a couple pictures I took the other day, of an ingenious Japanese condiment dispenser. I took the pictures with my cell phone. In the past I was able to transfer pictures easily to my leg top with Bluetooth. It seems that tonight the cell phone and computer aren't speaking to each other. I'm at a loss.

So, instead, here's a picture for my friend, Ed. In England they call them bollards. What do we call them in the U. S.?

Snow People

It snowed a little last night, as predicted. An inch or two of slushy stuff greeted me as I took the trash out before 8am. I needed to take a short term worker to the train and then to the express train to the airport and then was on my way back to the office. Walking by a newish house, lovely two story in yellow brick with a wall and lovely gate I saw through the gate that someone was building snow people in the yard. So I got my camera out and called in Japanese, "Excuse me, may I take a picture?" She laughed and said "Dozo."

After I took a picture she came to the gate and unlocked it and invited me in to take a closer shot, and while I was fussing with the camera she started asking me questions in Japanese and English, finding out where I was from, my name and where I worked, how long was I in Japan, etc. I answered in as much Japanese as possible, and then English.

Turns out she invited me for tea. I felt that it was a bit quick to accept right away, so I said, certainly, I would love to come sometime. This led to exchange of phone numbers and then to her telling me that she teaches a class in making sushi, and invited me to the next class two and a half weeks from now.

Always something new and exciting here in Japan, all from admiration of some snow people.

Re - make

One of my co-workers gave me a sweater a while ago that her daughter made as a first knitting project for her father. She didn't have the gauge concept mastered yet so the sleeves were rather long, and the sweater was very big for a Japanese person. My friend suggested that I either pick it apart for the yarn or wear it with elastic bands to hold the sleeves above my hands.

I was so impressed that this person started knitting with a sweater with cables that I felt impelled to make it work for me. I took the sleeves and neckband off and repaired one shoulder that was put together a bit crookedly, then using the yarn from one sleeve, I crocheted around the neck and around the armholes. It makes a great vest, I think, and my friend was quite pleased that I was able to wear the finished product.

There was this one thread that I forgot to secure, however...

You know when you've let your blog go too long...

when even your own sister stops checking to see if there's anything new!