Every year, our class gets the wonderful opportunity to visit a local Japanese elementary school. Cultural exchanges like this are just one of the bonuses of living on an overseas base, and the students (both American and Japanese) look forward to them! The focus of our visits usually centers around the process of planting, harvesting, and cooking rice so that students are able to see the entire process.
Our partner school has a wonderful relationship with local farmers and other adults in the community who volunteer their time (and rice) for this opportunity.
In October, we visited the school to learn how to thresh rice after it's been harvested from a nearby field. The students who attend our partner school actually took part in the planting of this rice earlier in the year. Our hosts talked about and showed us a variety of different tools used throughout history for threshing, and then gave us an opportunity to try it ourselves. The kids, both Japanese and American, had a great time using the machinery and separating the grains from the plants.
In November, we visited again. This time, our focus was on cooking the rice we had previously threshed. We learned how to cook the rice and then pound it, roll it out, and slice it to make mochi. The students were then able to eat the mochi in a broth-based soup and as a sweet dish with red bean paste.
While there, we were also taught how to make spinners (tops) out of cardboard cartons as well as samurai hats from newspaper. Even with the language barrier, our students were able to communicate and play with their new Japanese friends. They taught each other their favorite games and variations on games they all played (like Rock-Paper-Scissors/Janken).
We look forward to inviting our partner students to our school later in the school year to reciprocate their kindness and to share a bit of our culture with them!
As we prepare for our third Christmas in Japan, we are remembering traditions that we grew up with and reflecting on some of the Japanese holiday customs as well. Doing this, I realized that I've never written a blog about how the Japanese celebrate this traditionally-western holiday! So here are some of the similarities and differences between Christmas in America and クリスマス in Japan.
The first thing we tell our American friends about Christmas in Japan is the KFC phenomenon. Years ago, KFC launched a campaign to sell fried chicken for Christmas dinner. Not only did this take off as a popular annual delight, but most of the Japanese we have become friends with believe that this is an American tradition. They were heartbroken to find that most Americans do not, in fact, get KFC for Christmas dinner. Starting in November throughout Japan, you can find Colonel Sanders decked out in Santa attire, and the lines for Christmas chicken can be hours long.
Colonel Santa draws customers into KFC for Christmas
One similarity between Christmas in America and in Japan is the music. American holiday music can be found in shopping malls starting in November. In most areas of Japan, there are city-wide speaker systems to alert the public in case of earthquakes, fires, and other emergencies. During the Christmas season, our town uses the speaker systems in the city center area to play holiday music in the evenings. There is nothing more beautiful than taking a stroll through downtown in the snow, looking at the lights and listening to Bing Crosby croon a classic Christmas tune.
On that note, Christmas decorations are also popular here in Japan. You won't find many houses decked out with lights or inflatable snowmen, but the town centers and shopping malls often have Christmas trees and lights all over. Our town center usually has a large Christmas display with a huge tree and beautiful lights. Bigger cities have Illuminations, entire streets covered with lights and music.
Ben at American Park at Christmas in Misawa
Musashino Illuminations in Tokyo
Roppongi Illuminations in Tokyo
Shinjuku Illuminations in Tokyo
Christmas Eve is the perfect evening to view a city or town's Illuminations or town center festivities. Christmas Eve is a time for families and couples. In fact, Christmas Eve is the real holiday in Japan - Christmas Day is usually spent at work just like a normal day. There is no mention of a manger or Jesus or church visiting. There are no cookies left out, visits from Santa, or presents to open. On Christmas Eve, though, you'll see couples (often hand-in-hand - it's one of the few times in Japan you will actually see some PDA. Usually it's kind of frowned upon...) and families spending time together and enjoying the lights, music, and companionship.
Couple holding hands at Shinjuku Illuminations in Tokyo
For a country that really doesn't celebrate Christmas, you can easily find Christmas decorations, lights, and Christmas themed food and drink just about anywhere. Bakeries will often have Santa or Christmas-themed pastries, which are always adorable!
The Japanese don't typically exchange gifts for Christmas, but often give gifts and letters/cards for the New Year. Gift exchanging is not done frequently in Japan, so when it is done, it's not something to be taken lightly. Where in America, we wrap gifts in a decorative paper bag or paper wrapping that is later discarded, gift wrapping in Japan is typically just as important as the gift itself. Often, gifts are wrapped furoshiki style, which is a large decorative piece of cloth. Wrapping a gift in Japan is like tying a scarf - everyone has their own personal and artistic way of doing it. The cloth can be used again for many different things.
Various gifts wrapped with summery furoshiki
All in all, we love being able to share our Christmas traditions with our Japanese friends and to learn how they like to celebrate as well. It's one of the many wonderful things about being able to travel and live in another country!
We want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas (or Merii Kurisumasu) and a happy new year!
We've arrived! I know this blog post has the cliche Seattle title, but jet lag makes your brain fuzzy and I haven't slept much over the last few days!
Our trip to Seattle, overall, was great compared to our travel to Japan two years ago!
We decided that it would be easier to take the Patriot (military flight) directly from our base to Seattle rather than flying commercially, which would mean a flight to Tokyo, a change in airports, and then a 14 hour flight to the states. This way, we only had a 10 hour flight, plus 4 hours in the muggy (non-air-conditioned) flight terminal. Way better than 28 hours non-stop, like last time!
The plane ride only moderately comfortable, but better than was expected. We entertained ourselves with iPad games and the in-flight movies (which consisted of The Matrix and National Lampoon's Vacation...random much?)
Landing in Seattle was more arduous than expected, though. We didn't feel much of the expected culture shock when we arrived in Japan, but we definitely felt it coming back.
The chaos and disorganization going through customs were overwhelming. After grabbing our luggage from 4 different carousels, we made it down to the rental car terminal and made our way to the nearest grocery store with a Starbucks to use wi-fi.
Driving on the right side again (and actually having traffic lanes to drive through) was crazy! And then we arrived. Just a random Safeway, but we both stopped for a full thirty seconds in the entrance. Bombarded with a florist, banking services, a Starbucks kiosk, a movie store, and a bakery before even entering the grocery section reminded us we were not in Kansas Japan any longer! No more small markets for us! The Wal Mart was even crazier. It's amazing how two years can change your perspective so much, with things any American completely takes for granted. I can only imagine how it must feel for a foreigner to come to America for the first time.
We got ourselves set up with a T-Mobile hotspot so we could use our Japanese phones, and headed back to the airport. We had found out a week earlier that my bestie, May, was flying back from South Africa only hours after we arrived! It was a loud and celebratory reunion and it was great to know we were both back on American soil together.
We then headed to a 100% gluten free bakery I had researched (Haley's Corner Bakery - see the review here if you're interested!) and had our first American meal: deep dish pizza. It was delicious! We then made our way up to Everett to find Bethel's house.
Long day, but we're so excited to be here in Seattle!
Ah, the business (or shall I say, busy-ness) of life.
I had such good intentions of blogging at least once a week, and I actually did it for part of the year! Maybe with the snow, came the inability to multi-task. Or maybe, I haven't felt the need to post because we haven't done very many exciting things this winter.
We have played in the snow (we have gotten just as must as last year, though everyone assures me that this is a fluke and never happens), I finished my year-end-photobook (yeah, in March. But in all fairness, we did so much last year that the book was twice as big as previous years' books!), and we have done all our daily/monthly/weekly routines. Work, bowling league, book club, JAFC, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary or adventurous.
Not that our intentions weren't good. I think Japan has decided that we both need to rest.
For the past few weeks, we have wanted to go up to the gorge and photograph the (hopefully) frozen waterfalls. And each week has been the same: Thursday rolls around, and is snow-less. We get excited. Friday comes, with sunshine and warmer (42 degrees = warmer) weather. The anticipation becomes unbearable: finally, we can go explore! But then Saturday morning comes, with blizzards and wind and white-out conditions. Roads are closed (of course, the very roads we wanted to take) and traffic is awful.
And so, with this humdrum weather, we stay at home.
Spring will come soon, and we will start traveling and adventuring once again. For now, though, we rest.
With school looming on the horizon, life is getting more hectic and busy by the second. This week, I practically lived at the airport, waiting to pick up and welcome the various new staff members to Misawa. It was great getting to meet them all and being able to help them out during this transition time. It didn't hurt that they all seem like great people so far!
Usually, I avoid airports like the plague. I really love that the Misawa airport is so small though. One terminal, two flights in and out each day. It was sweet getting to see all the happy reunions, and each time I went, I saw people I knew and was able to catch up with them as well!
34. Sweet reunion hugs and kisses.
35. Sunsets that greet me as I finish my grocery shopping.
36. Finding spots around town that have gluten free options. (Pepper Lunch at Shimoda Mall)
37. The giggly-little-kid-joy of snow cones!
38. Beach photo sessions!
39. Rainy summer afternoons!
As always feel free to follow along on instagram, my username is kari_f and I'm using #1000gifts as my hashtag.
Golden Week is one of the most celebrated holiday times in Japan. Many schools and businesses close their doors for the entire week as everyone spends time outdoors with their family and friends. The week is made up of several holidays and festivals, some of which include the Emperor's birthday, Constitution Memorial Day, and Children's Day. In every park you see the fish flags flying and families picnicking.
Our first Golden Week in Japan was pink with all the newly-blossomed sakura trees populating the city. The week was also overcast and rainy for the most part, so we took full advantage of the few times the sun came out in full force.
One of these days happened to be a Saturday, so we started the morning off by visiting Statue of Liberty Park. We had visited this park earlier, but it was covered in about 20 feet of snow and was basically inaccessible. We took pictures of the statue from the parking lot and made our merry way. This time, the park was in full bloom and full of celebrating families. We hopped out and went to join in the fun.
The park was quite a bit bigger than we had thought when we visited in the winter. (Twenty feet of snow cover will make just about anything look like a barren field!) The park had a pond and a mill, several sport fields, a playground, and of course, the Statue of Libery replica.
At the park, we watched and took part in some of the activities. Devon joined in on the group jump rope tournament and we all had fun wandering and watching the festivities.
After the park we headed toward our next destination, which was the tulip festival in Karumai. We had heard excellent things about this festival and were excited to see all the brightly colored flowers. We arrived and were immediately taken in by the fields of flowers and the Holland-replicated working windmill. The whole event reminded Ben and I of Apple Hill in the fall. It was beautifully reminiscent and we were excited to be a part of it.
Also on the grounds was a huge, red suspension bridge. It looked quite a bit like a walking-bridge version of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and we were excited to cross it and see the gorge below.
As we were on our way back across the bridge, Devon and I noticed that the sky was quickly turning black. This does not mean dark. The sky was literally turning black before our eyes, and we quickly ran to get off the bridge. I'm glad we did, because the lightning and thunder started within seconds of hitting solid ground. We decided to make our way back up toward the car in case it started to rain. Well, we didn't quite make it. The bridge was a good five to six minutes away from the car, and three minutes after leaving the bridge, the sky exploded.
We got rain, hail, fog, and crazy wind simultaneously. We ran for it and found shelter on the wraparound porch outside the restroom facilities with about 25 other people. Another minute later and the entire parking lot was flooding because of the huge downpour and typhoon-strength winds. This was definitely the fastest-forming storms I've ever encountered, and definitely one of the coolest!
We waited under the overhang for another fifteen minutes, until there seemed to be a break in the weather. All 25 people ran toward their cars, hoping to make it before the hail and rain started up again. We made it most of the way there before it started again, and were soaked and full of adrenaline by the time we piled into the car.
After that, we decided to call it a day so we drove back to the house, changed into warm pj's, and watched movies while drinking hot tea.
One thing about moving to Japan that we've been excited to experience is the festivals. Winter and Spring seem to be the times with the most festivals up here in the Tohoku region, so we haven't really gotten to experience any thus yet. We just missed the Chrysanthemum festival (it was the weekend we arrived so we were beyond jetlagged) and the salmon festival just happened to be the same day we had already planned to go to Aomori to visit the aquarium. Then came Christmas, which is more of a western holiday; and New Year's, which Japanese families spend at home. We are extremely excited about the upcoming Snow Lantern Festival at Hirosaki, but it's not until next month! Our time in Misawa has been relatively festival-less. So when we heard about a Ramen festival, we were excited!
Now, some have asked if events (or even school) is delayed when there is snow on the ground. In Misawa, nothing is cancelled unless there is a fluke dump of snow that measures in several feet. So even though we have received 24 inches of snow over the last 48 hours, nothing was keeping us indoors!
We bundled up and drove (carefully) to American Park. We got pretty good parking and only had to walk a few blocks to get there. On the way, we had some fun playing in the snow. At some places, it was up to our knees!
We got to the festival and were excited to see several ramen booths open. For those of you who have never had real ramen, there is pretty much nothing better to warm you up on a cold day. We love trying new ramen and this was the perfect place to find it!
We wandered around, watching people make ramen and eat ramen and try to stay warm in the freezing snow. It was a great time to people-watch! People huddled around to keep warm, and others congregated around the space heaters that were set up.
Finally, we chose our ramen. I went to a booth that made yakisoba (mmmm) and then put it in broth to make yakisoba ramen, which is something I'd never seen before.
We crowded around the space heater and enjoyed our ramen. The local news crew came by to cover the event and there was even a magician who had shows to entertain the kids.
While this was no Sapporo Snow Festival or anything as huge as that, we had a lot of fun watching and participating in the Japanese love of all things ramen.
We are loving all of the "firsts" we are having here in Misawa. This week, we experienced our first snow and sushi in Japan. Ah, which one to start with...they were both so much fun!
Now, you know I'm really not the biggest fan of either snow OR sushi. I don't the combination of wet and cold that snow often brings, and I don't like to partake in much of what comes from the sea. So me telling you that I enjoyed both of these must say something about where we are!
The snow was crazy. It wasn't just that we received real snow for the first time since we left Reno several years ago, but it was the fact that it was bright and sunny for most of the day. The snow seemed to come out of nowhere, and then it just kept going. And going. And, wait for it, going. For about 24 hours, it snowed continuously. It was only overcast and cloudy for a small portion of that day. At times, it would snow lightly, with huge, puffy flakes. Then were the times that it felt like it was being dumped all at once. Either way, it was a pretty entertaining day just to watch the weather. Needless to say, my students had a hard time concentrating since we have an excellent view out our window. They had a blast playing in the snow at recess.
Like the snow, the sushi was crazy. We went to Kappa Sushi after hearing about how great it is from a friend as well as a Japanese local.
What we didn't know was that it would be more the experience than the food that made the night so much fun. When you sit down, there are several sites to take in. First, the food comes out on a conveyor belt. There are plates of sushi that are pre-made, and you can take the plate right off the belt if it looks like something you want. Second, there is a touch-screen where you can order something specific to be brought to you. Third, there is a track above the conveyor belt that holds the bullet train. Yes, the bullet train. Any food you order from the touch-screen is brought to you on a little yellow shinkansen that beeps to let you know it's coming. We had an immense amount of fun ordering our dinner!
So to sum it up, we've had snow and we've had sushi, but we've never had it quite like we got to have it here in Misawa.
