Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
Or be whoever else you want! Hello Kitty, Ompanwan (bottom left—Japanese kids LOVE him), Thomas the Train…all fair game! Part of the mame maki fun was getting to wear a scary mask, so I’m not sure if these are a holiday-specific derivative of that, or if they’re just part of general festivity. Either way, so…
Ah, the Japanese fine art of flower arranging. There are Ikebana classes nearby a couple times a month and I went for the first time this week. These cherry blossom stalks just appeared at local florists and featured in our lovely arrangements. The teacher encouraged us to return because each class is different, using whatever…
Any excuse for Chinatown. We came, we lunched, we watched the parade, which was heralded by smoke and firecrackers. Everyone was ox-cited to usher in the New Year in style!! Fortunately, I did not make that joke up. The first time I celebrated Chinese New Year in February was at Texas A&M University with my…
Photos of the Bean-Tossing Festival at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura How often do you get to throw beans at your dad? Roasted soybeans will be tossed at fathers and older brothers alike to attract good luck and celebrate the approach of spring with mame maki, or bean-throwing ceremonies, Tuesday, February 3. Tossing beans indiscriminately…
Chris has been suuuuuuuper busy since we moved here. I’m proud of him, of course, I just hate sharing him with his mistress, the Navy. Sigh. Anywho, we manage to have quite the adventures tromping around Japan, and I wanted to post some of my favorite recent photos of him. I thought they deserved their…
Meiji Shrine, Meiji Shrine,You honor kingdoms in their primeRulers thought to be divineLiving aloof and sublimeAbove the daily grimeHaunting from a distant timeMeiji Shrine! “Let us but be gentle, honest —Though we lack the worldly greatness,In the bamboo-grove of life,To tower over all.”— Empress Shoken — That’s one of 30,000 little waka poems, 31 syllables…
The Machida Shrine Sale…whispered in a hush, shrines sales are supposed to be these huge scavenge fests, but no one seems to have any straight information on them. Like the Holy Grail, it’s something everyone’s heard of and nobody’s seen. The Japanese girls I know say they never go—just a bunch of old junk. Even…
