Of lights and mochi

Hi everyone. I wanted to share a video with you from the Nagoya Train Station, but it doesn't seem like it'll work. If you have my Facebook or know someone who does, please watch it there under my account. I'm really sorry.

Anyways! Onto my real post.

Christmas here is more about Christmas Eve and the sales. It's all about the couples and the cake and the ridiculous amount of American and British influence. Most of Japan is enveloped in western culture and everything changes to reflect American culture so much so, that I feel back home when out shopping; on Black Friday that is. I was worried that there was no part of Japan left in the holiday season, despite the fact that I knew there was in the past.

That's when I got the text message from my family a little while back asking me to go out with them to pound mochi. Mochi is basically rice pounded so much and so hard that it turns into goo. It's really squishy and stretchy and tastes horrible alone, which is why they put stuff on it or in it and then it tastes great! I was extremely excited as I knew the pounding of mochi was still a very treasured tradition in Japan, despite the changing times.

So Tuesday morning I rolled out of bed at 7 to be with my host family at 9. I wasn't in a great mood because some of my friends had left for good, having only stayed for a semester. But I didn't let that get to me. I was wrapped up in my very heavy 50s style jacket, had a scarf, gloves, and a beanie on, but I was STILL freezing! We were at a small park near my host family's house. I knew some of the people, like the grandmother, because I had met them previously, so it wasn't long before most of the people present knew my name and knew where I hailed from. I was surprised by how many older people were there at first, but it eventually leveled out to new families with young children, though I never saw any teenagers. I was the old "child" there, if you want to put me in that category.

We did the "Japanese morning stretches" which were really cute and (of course) had a song to go along with it (every thing in Japan has a song associated with it... It works! Everyone remembers everything because of it). I was lost and laughed, but my host mom told me what to do and made sure I was okay. My host dad was taking a bajillion photos of me. He thought it was adorable to see me doing the stretch.

That was when the men brought out this giant wooden bowl, who's name I've forgotten, and the wooden mallets. There were three sizes: kid size, woman's size, man's size. First the men lightly kneaded the rice with the mallets and moved around the bowl to get all sides. A lady on the side was there with constant wet hands to move the rice so that it was always moving, 'lest it got stuck on the sides. Then it was time for the men to swing the mallets to get it nice and mixed. My host dad is a rather large man, so he REALLY nailed that mochi. Then it was time for the kids, but first...they spotted the only American and pulled me into the fray. I was given the woman's mallet and I swung 10 times.

That was when...I became the bee's knees. EVERYONE and their mother (literally) ran up to me and constantly talked to me about America (where I was from, how long I had known Japanese, what America was like, etc.). They were AMAZED when I told them I had only known Japanese for two years and had only been in the country 4 months (my God...it's been 4 months...). My host mom kept telling everyone, "pera pera" which means fluent and I had to violently deny this. I'm nowhere near that level, but then my host mom said, "You're good enough after only two years and 4 months, so stop that". She then dragged me around to ever jii-san (granpa) and baa-chan (granma) in the area and showed me off. It was great. My host dad thought it was hysterical. My host brother and sister were running around with their friends, but my host sister fell and hurt her wrist, so she stuck by my side after that. It was sweet and I ran around and played with her and some of her friends to keep her spirits up. She wanted to pound mochi, but her wrist...

The first batch was eventually ready to eat and all the Japanese people ran up to me with a plate and green tea. They were anxious for me to eat it. The plate had 5 variations of mochi on it. The first three were GREAT, but I hated the last two (almost choked on one) and my host dad laughed seeing my reaction to the last one. He told me most foreigners hate it, but that it was okay because most Japanese hate it too. Right as he said that, my host brother nearly chocked on that same version. Haha!

Then the second batch came around. By this time, everyone knew my name and there were far more people there than before. It was starting to get cold from me sitting too long, so my host parents pulled me over to the new mochi batch. My host mom was now the one with wet hands who moved the mochi. It was cute to see her husband swinging the mallet to pound the mochi and then see her move in to move the mochi. I wish I had taken a picture of that.

That was when the jii-san's moved in on me. They handed me the man mallet saying, "YOU HAVE AMERICAN STRENGTH! DO IT!!!" Almost everyone gathered around and started doing a chant to help me along saying, "GANBATTE AMERICA!" or "YOSH! YOSH! YOSH!" which are both ways of saying, "GOOD LUCK!" and "YOU CAN DO IT!". It was really sweet of them and I was overcome, but I started laughing so hard because they kept calling me America and I just thought that was so great. I did it, like, 20 times before my time was finished. Man my arms hurt today from it...

After all the mochi batches had been made and I had eaten them all, it was time for three students from a university near me to perform some Christmas music. They had bassoons! It was cool because they even explained what a bassoon was. Hell...I had no idea it was from Italy... In any case, it was sweet, but I was FREEZING! So we went home.

After I warmed up under their kotatsu back home, my host family then took me to a hip hop dance show going on. It had their friends in it. It was...eerie to see how much they were like American hip hop dancers... I was really amazed because for awhile, I couldn't even tell they were Japanese and felt right back at home. Then the lights came back on and I remembered where I was. After that, it was off to dinner.

We went to SUSHI! Oh man...I love sushi. I tried some new stuff and found SCALLOPS! And there was a special on crap, so I had some. That and TONS of eel. Love that stuff. My host family was amazed I adored eel. Unfortunately, this dug me my grave as they ordered me tons of eel. I thought I was going to die.

My host parents asked if I see what they call "illumination" back home in America and I told them I used to when I was young. So they drove me around to look at all the lights on the houses. That's when I told them "illumination" isn't something we call this in America, it's something from England. I also told them that the Christmas cakes they adore isn't from America either, it's also from England. My host dad then said, "well if it's from an English speaking country, IT'S FROM AMERICA! No one cares that much about England, except for its flag design. That's fashionable." I thought I was going to die of laughter so I told him, "it's like that in America. If you're Asian, you're Chinese or Japanese, though in California and my area, if you're Asian, you're Japanese." My host dad was having such a fit of laughter.

We went home and I gave them their Christmas gifts to which they gave me theirs. We started watching t.v. and I was glad to know annoying commercials that I see so often in America are VERY common in Japan, though they put forth a lot more effort in making it look pretty and cool. But the anime my little host brother watched was amazingly stupid, so I chatted with my host mother. She told me my Japanese had improved ten fold in the past two months she had known me. I was extremely grateful to her words...

It was then time to go home. I was very sad, but also excited. I had just had one of the best days since getting to Japan. On Sunday I leave for Tokyo, so once my adventure there is over, I'll post about it, but it might come in sections. I won't be back until after New Years, so until then! The mallets. The biggest is the man's, smallest is the kid's The giant bowl the mochi sits and we pound into it Some of the people coming in. It would get very crowded later My host dad swingin' that mallet away This little wooden container is where the mochi is then put to make it all nice and squishy BASSOONS! TIME TO EAT! The chopsticks. My little host brother remembered how I have a black cat and love cats in general and searched for these. I was so touched! CHRISTMAS CAKE! My host mom also made me cocoa And finally, the illumination I liked the most. A lot of them looked just like from home in the States, so I was always surprised to see them so similar.

Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and I hope everyone has a GREAT New Years! For everyone on my Facebook, keep in touch with me there. I'll be posting more pictures of my time in Tokyo there (especially COMIKET!), so if anyone wants to know how I'm doing until I return, I'll be there. Stay warm everyone!

~星子☆

水族館

it's time for ANOTHER late update! this one's also a week old and i really am sorry, but it was finals week. i passed all my tests, though my big test i didn't do terribly well. i'll be studying my butt off whenever i'm resting from all my upcoming adventures this vacation. these are some of the upcoming entries i'll have up:

my x-mas here at the dorms
MOCHI MAKING WITH MY HOST FAMILY (so excited)
TOKYO
COMIKET
TOKYO
new years
TOKYO
and last but not least, TOKYO DISNEYLAND!

but that last one will come in january. once january starts, i'll be back in school for three weeks and then i'm off for three months! i'm REALLY excited!

anyways! on to my post here. the title says "aquarium" in japanese and that's exactly where me and my friends went. one of my friends had NEVER been to the ocean OR an aquarium so she was VERY excited and i was spazzing for her sake, getting her very pumped up talking about my times with friends back home at our amazing aquarium.

so we get to the place around 2 and have lunch and get all excited to see the ocean. it was so beautiful. and the port we were at was all decked out in holiday stuff. it was exciting! it was sweet because i didn't know we got a discount for something, but my friend did and told me to come back. the lady realized i was with my friend and gave me my money back as well as give us all discounts. it was really nice :)

once inside, we walk right into the dolphin area. there was a show getting ready to start and we were under it. it looked like there were a lot of people upstairs, so we stayed downstairs to watch the show on the t.v. and see the dolphins splash back down into the water. i was all giddy to see dolphins, but to see my friend look like a little kid on x-mas morning. it was so funny and i poked fun with her for it the rest of the day. it was great!

we then moved and saw a baluga whale and switched buildings to walk into the GIANT tank section where there were tropical fish, sting rays, sharks, tuna, and TURTLES! the best part was, at EVERY single section, i kid you not, every japanese person was saying (in japanese) "IT LOOKS SO GOOD!" or "I WANT TO EAT IT!" and certain displays actually showed what that fish looked like when turned into sushi or what not. it was HYSTERICAL! my friends and i laughed about it the entire time.

we then stumbled upon the fish of the past section and the section of "protect our environment". it was cool because the fish of the past part had HOLOGRAMS! and most everything was in japanese and english, so it was easy to understand. we found another section of turtles and right above was a food court where they sold turtle soup. my friends laughed, but i was sad. it just wasn't right...

the next section was a GREAT part of australia with the UGLIEST looking turtles ever. like, oh my god...pig snouts and long necks and just, ugh! so gross. we laughed until the aquarium said it was closing. we moved to the last part which was the penguin part. my friend, AGAIN, freaked out because she had never seen penguins. it was great and we named them for her enjoyment. we called the big tall one russia and the fat loud one america. those two were constantly trying to be the center of attention. then one of them, we named after a guy we don't like here at the dorm, and said it was funny because all the other penguins picked on him, including america, so we laughed and said, "THAT'S RIGHT! TAKE THAT! FEEL THE WRATH OF AMERICAAAA!!!!" so many japanese moved away, haha! that's ok, front row to the penguin exhibit. haha!

once we bought souvenirs, we headed outside to see the entire port COVERED in lights. it was beautiful. and there was a ferris wheel nearby (japan is OBSESSED with ferris wheels....it's the big date "thing" as well as the perfect thing to light up the night with) that just covered the area in these really pretty lights. it was so wonderful and we even went around the port area to look at the x-mas lights on some of the buildings and houses. (just for you dad, i said, "oh der's one")

in any case, here are some photos. all are on facebook.

PIG SNOUTED AUSSIE TURTLE! so weird...

it snowed today and i kind of got a white x-mas, but by 9 am (when i woke up) it was already all melted. i was REALLY sad...but hopefully it'll snow again.

either way, stay warm everyone!

~星子☆

そば

so this article is all about one of my favorite meals out here in japan: soba. i LOVE soba sooooo much (not as much as udon, though). it's buckwheat noodles and is really good for the skin and has a lot of vitamins. last week we got the awesome fortune of making soba! (yeah, another rather late post. sorry. finals)

we were taken to gifu (a prefecture that's rather far away) and the ladies there spoke NO english, but they were so kind and patient with us and told us that no matter what, because we're there and we're doing what so many japanese don't even do, we're already awesome.

yeah right. i was at a table with three other perfectionists aside from me. haha!

so we go in and the room has many tables with big wooden bowls on top with a giant rolling pin (i mean, almost longer than me giant) sitting under it. three much smaller bowls were on the top filled with flour, buckwheat flour, and bread flour. i shall now show the steps with the pictures :3

so here we have the bowl of the three stuff to mix it.
because i mixed it, i didn't get a picture of me actually mixing it or what it looked like while in the bowl, but it was REALLY thick and hard to mix once it got the hot water in. we have to mix the two in the bowl together, pour 100cm of hot water in, put more of the mixture on it, pour more hot water in, and mix until "it's the thickness of an earlobe". the little on the right is just flour to powder the table for a later step

here's the mixture just before we pour in the water. once it was thick enough, we got to throw it all one at a time into the bowl REALLY hard. that was the part i had the most fun at :)

rolling out the "dough". so that rolling pin is different (as you can see). you spread your hands across it to keep it rolling, that way there's even pressure on it. when i did it, i didn't do it correctly and it kind of went...odd. needless to say, once i did it, i didn't do it again. this step literally took up most of our time... UGH

once it's 1cm thick, we fold it over on top of itself and use this SUPER sharp knife to cut up the dough. the thinner, the better. it was tedious, so i went and washed while it the others cut it up

here they are after. that little piece after wards is the part i messed up on and fell off. but that's a lot of noodles :)
おいしそう！
(looks good!)

while waiting, i had tea! :)
see the little blue bowls in the background? we poured special sauce into them and would dump green onions and the soba noodles in there and eat them. was SO good. i tried it without the sauce and it tasted so...gross... yuck. with the sauce, is soooo good!

the end result! IT WAS REALLY GOOD! and because they were so thin and long, we were told we did a GREAT job and that even most japanese people when first starting out don't do that well. i was so happy.

sorry for the late update. as always, check my facebook and to my friends/family back home, please remember when commenting not to write my real name.

to wrap things up, i will include my lovely engrish on clothing special:
the other day, i saw a boy wearing an awfully nice attire, but then when i saw his pants (i was behind him), i saw he was not only wearing sweat pants (a rare sight in japan during the day), but that there were golden angel wings going down from his butt to the back of his calf. pretty, right? couldn't help but look at the butt and then i noticed there was writing right at the top of his butt. it read:
ABSOLUTE EXPLOSION

light a match, boy

STAY WARM!

~星子☆

茶道

this is a little late, but i've found that i'm starting to get busier with school work and with socializing. in any case, it's here now.

so last friday i got to go to a tea ceremony (that's what it says at the top, by the way) and it was one of the many things i wanted to do before i came to japan. i was extremely excited. the entire process of the tea ceremony is to be stiff and know all the rules of formality. why does this sound exciting? i know this kind of stuff isn't for everyone, but as loud and obnoxious and crazy as i am, i love the formal stuff. i can't get enough of being all dressed up, doing the high class stuff, and just calming down. in sadou it's all about nature and the sounds. the sounds in sadou are horribly important.

for instance, the sound of boiling water is very soothing and an essential part of the process. there are many steps in making the tea and it takes decades to be considered a master of the tea. it's rare to see a male tea master as it is more of a woman's "place" to do something like this.

when we went, we found out that it's an extremely historical site of a battle that took place in nagoya over 400 years ago back when tokugawa was taking over japan. we even got to visit the place where he planned out military strategies, but more on that later.

after going inside we were split up into groups. group one would make the tea, group two would go to drink from a master, and group three would drink the tea made by group one. i started in group one. making the tea is hard because no matter what i did, i was wrong, but i've come to accept that no matter what i do in japan...i'll always be wrong (because i'm a foreigner [but that's ok because i get away with a lot for the same reason]). luckily my teacher was really nice to me.

so i had to sit in the traditional style and first wash the bowl. these bowls are over 100 years old and handmade and can't be replaced. i didn't wanna hold this bowl for very long or else bad things would happen. cleaning the bowl is special. you have to first dip the wooden ladle into the boiling bowl before you, move your hand back to you, pour it into the bowl, wait until the last drop falls, move your hand back to you, put the ladle back on the boiling bowl VERY carefully (almost like it's too heavy for you), and then swirl the water very slowly around the bowl. you then pour the rest of the water into a side bowl. then you pull out your towel (my teacher had one for me), and carefully clean it by spinning the bowel clockwise in your hand.

you then put the green powder that is the tea into the bowl. apparently it's really important that you lightly hit the bowel once with the spoon after it's hit since sound is really crucial here. you then finally pour the water in (i'm skipping steps for time sake) and stir it making sure it gets a lot of bubbles (more important sound things here). the most important step is to spin the bowel around in your hand three times clockwise so that the design is facing out to the drinkers.

after i was done, i was shooed outside where i met a lady from the culture festival i had met a few weeks prior. she surprised me by speaking all english and saying, "yup, i knew english, but i wanted to see if you knew japanese" and laughed. i then got to take some pictures of the area around, but they'll be at the end like always.

me and the group was then taken into the small house in the back where the master was. she prepared us a tea and we were told how to drink the tea which was it's own ritual on its own. we were first given soft candy that changes with each season. it was so good. the lady with us spoke really good english and explained certain historical facts about sadou, such as tokugawa loved the art of tea ceremonies which was why it became so big in the first place and why it made so much sense to have a tea ceremony house on a battle field where he once was. in any case, after the tea (that was SO good), i was taken back to the room where i made the tea and given tea made by someone else.

to drink the tea is where the formality comes from. the candy comes your way and you have to pick the plate up, holding it slightly above your face, bow to the tea master, and say...something. i forgot that part cuz i did it wrong anyways. then you put it back down, take one, put it on your napkin in front of you, then take another. you then slide it to the person next to you. after you eat the candy, the tea is ready. you take the bowl and place it directly your knees, making SURE that you turn the bowl around in your hand clockwise three times so that the design is now facing out (since before it was facing you). that's when you bow to the master and say, "ちょうだいしつれします。" (please excuse for drinking before you). you then turn to the person next to you and give a small bow saying, "おさきにちょうだいしつれします。" (meaning the same thing, but of a higher level of politeness). then you drink (after saying "いただきます" of course). you're not supposed to chug or move your head a lot when drinking. when done you use your index finger and thumb to go across the bowl where your mouth was. you do it once forward and then again backwards. you then wipe your fingers on the edge of your napkin. VERY IMPORTANT is you turn the bowl back around in your hand counter clockwise so that the design is facing you again. you place is down on the tatami mat and look at the design once on the right, once on the left, again on the right, and once more on the left. you then thank the master.

that's all just to drink the damn thing that takes about three or four sips to finish off. but it's so much fun and i enjoyed it immensely! now onto the pictures! (don't forget to click on them to enlarge them!)


the changing leaves are so beautiful
SOUND IS IMPORTANT
this nice japanese lady took my camera while i was drinking the tea to take tons of photos during the ceremony
decoration in the tatami room
CANDY
i asked (in japanese) if i could take her picture. she had such a pretty kimono!
all of the lovely ladies that were at the house. they've been doing it all together for 15 years
a flower picked fresh from the garden that day
the entire tea set
the sky was so beautiful...
looking out across the land. there was a terrible battle here that killed over 3,000 japanese men
the thin stone that's standing up is where tokugawa sat and drew out military maps
the man himself. an engraving near the house depicting the battle.

unfortunately, there isn't anything planned for a few weeks as it's almost finals time (4 more weeks of school) and i'm mainly going to be going christmas shopping, but i'll have a few status updates and my lovely engrish shirt updates! thursday we're celebrating thanksgiving here at the dorms and i'll update a small bit about it, but pictures will mainly be on my facebook. (there will also be more pictures from the tea ceremony on facebook as well). also, i saw my host family again and i might be seeing them over new years. i'll be sure to have information then!

until then, stay warm!

~星子☆

hiroshima

sorry for the long delay. many of you know that i went to hiroshima this past weekend and i've been due to update you all with pictures and lovely history and what-not.

WELL TOO BAD!

you have to read through miyajima first! that place was were i visited first and (no offense) i liked it more.

so not far from hiroshima is this beautiful island called miyajima. it's famous for it's japanese maple trees and deer (shika) that just walk around freely in the town. but it's most famous for its torii (red shrine entryway) that's in the water. it's ENORMOUS and faces the ocean; almost like it's either having japan enter the world or the world is entering japan. either way, it's amazing. (click on the picture to make it bigger if you so wish)

here it is with the tide almost fully up. i eventually went down to it (almost right up to it) once the tide went out.

there we go. it's so large, i love it.

not only was there this torii, but there was a 5 story pagoda which is a narrow building with chinese designs. it's a pretty stereotypical aspect of japanese culture.

i loved this thing and constantly talked about going the entire trip. SO AWESOME! sadly, by the time we arrived, we couldn't go inside. i bet it was amazing in there, though...

in any case, the area around was just gorgeous. again, the pictures will be at the bottom since there are quite a few. as always, there are more on my facebook.

all right, onto hiroshima. this didn't make it on my facebook because...well let's face it. what does everyone know hiroshima by? not the beautiful and sprawling city it's become or the culture that's there, but instead, the A-Bomb. even the japanese think of it that way before anything else.

we had spent the night in hiroshima the evening before after being in miyajima and went awfully early. i was very nervous and prepping myself to be extremely sad. i had been to the holocaust museum in washington d.c. back in the States and now i was going to the A-Bomb museum. last on my list is the pearl harbor museum and i'm pretty set in WW2 areas (unless there's some fascists museum i don't know about).

anyways! so we get there and right off the bat i feel a lump in my throat at seeing the atomic dome. for those who don't know what that is or don't know enough, the atomic dome is basically the only remaining building still standing from when the bomb was dropped. it was hit by the blast only a few miles away and because of that, most of the structure stood. it burned for an entire day before anyone was able to put it out and another day to go inside. it used to be a building for city officials to use (not quite like city hall or anything).

here it is before

pretty beautiful, huh? at the time, it was considered an achievement to modern architecture.

here it is now


around this time, 15 high schools came along. i got even more nervous and knew things would end badly if i got too close. i already felt horrible that it had happened, but the fact that i was a foreigner at the area made it all the worse

so next we moved towards the museum across the river. we came across the children's peace monument. children from all across japan were inspired by a girl in japan who, when 2, was hit by the blast. she didn't suffer any injury and she seemed fine. she grew up healthy and strong until she was 10 when she developed lukemia and slowly began to die. by 13, she had passed away, but not before making over 1000 paper cranes. there's an old legend in japanese culture that if one makes 1000 paper cranes, their wish will come true. she kept wishing to be healed (even though they never told her that she was dying, she kept records that she hid under her bed showing that she knew something was up with her blood) and eventually made the tiniest paper cranes ever.
once she died, kids all over japan made the cranes wishing for world peace and complete destruction of nukes or bombs of any kind.


once done, we passed by the flame of hope and the tomb of all those dead. the middle schoolers had stopped there to put down flowers and do a simultaneous bow. it was a bit touching, so i quickly moved away. i was already feeling really sad.

we then moved inside. i'm not gonna show too many pictures because some are just so sad...

the time of when the bomb hit

pretty much all that's left of a 3 year old

a person used to be there in that darker area. that's all that remains of them- their shadow

before
after

WELL NOW! with that lovely stuff out of the way! i'll end with a few pictures and my fav. picture is at the end

DEER
bambi and his mom!
view from the top of a small shrine in the town
the leaves are changing colors. such pretty japanese maples

and finally, my favorite picture which really made me cry at the end of the hiroshima museum
(please enlarge and read the message. it's inspiring)



needless to say i cried at this place, but it was worse because around me where middle schoolers crying and old people looking ready to faint. one middle school girl glared at me which made me feel god awful. but when i saw the shadow on the ground, a little old lady who came up to me and asked if i was okay (in japanese). i replied that i'm trying not to cry. she pat me on the shoulder and said, "it wasn't you who did it". i looked at her and she gave me such a sweet smile and pat my hand.

~星子☆