This week, Feb 3 was Setsubun. The day marks the transition of seasons. Winter to spring. Along with the transition of seasons it is also tradition to throw beans (mame maki) around the house and outside while shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" This roughly means evil out, good things in. You have to make sure a window is open a little, otherwise the evil can't get out. One of the parents end up wearing the Oni mask and thus is pelted with beans. Once the bean throwing is finished you eat the number of beans you are old +1 for good luck. Since I am 37 I had to eat 38 beans. The reason for the extra bean stems from the original way of counting your age. Many years ago you were considered to be 1 year old on your actual birthday. The explanation given to me about the tradition is as follows: An evil being was going to attack a village. A holy person had a vision that beans would chase the evil being away. The towns people gathered beans and when the evil approached they hit him in the face and eyes. They were successful in chasing him away.
Just before the bean pelting...
Liam decided that he wanted to give the Oni mask a go.
And the bean aftermath. We also got some sugar coated beans from Sachiko san. They were a little tastier than the plain beans to eat, and Kate had to eat plenty...
Something interesting I found here. Jack(father in law) told me that this happens in the US, but I had never seen it before. Our front yard consists of a section of gravel and a strip of dirt. During the winter the dirt always looks freshly tilled. It took me a while to figure out what was going on.
In the day the temperature is usually between 45-50 degrees. At night the temperature drops below 0. The ground has quite a bit of moisture in it. As the temperature drops, the water in the ground freezes and pushes the top layer of dirt up about 1.5 inches. Then during the day it thaws and the dirt settles. The ground is constantly churning itself. I found out in the morning when the children were stepping on the dirt, it would crunch and expose the ice straws. In Japanese this is called しもばしら shima bashira or "frost pillars". Below is a picture after I stepped on the surface in the morning.
Since we arrived and got our yellow diva we have joked that there are only two yellow cars in Japan, our Diva, and the Cao's Fit. The car is always easy to find in any of the parking lots we frequent. Below is a picture from Wonder Goo. It is a book, CD, DVD, etc. store. It is a little challenging, but see if you can spot our car in the picture below.
This is a picture of the sign to show I didn't make up the store name....Wonder Goo it is.
As we drove around today I saw a car that caught me off guard. In Takanezawa, at one of the apartment buildings, was a left hand drive Dodge Challenger. I have no idea how they got it here, but it must have been a pretty penny. This guy has to be the mack daddy with this thing.
Liam has started taking Karate, Colleen and Kate have started hip hop dance class (For anyone familiar with Utsunomiya, no the dance class is not on the second floor of 宇都宮駅 Utsunomiya station.) Currently I don't have pictures of the dance class, but I was able to get a few from Karate. I will ask Kate to get pictures later of the dance class.
With the economy slowing I decided to pick up a second job. 宮崎さん Miyazaki san, has recommended a few to me, like working at the 7/11 serving Oden (food at the counter in a boiling vat) think hotdogs at a truck stop only in liquid and not hotdogs. Anyway I joked with him that I tried, but that the Oden smelled so good that I ate it (bobbing for apples style) and the customers became angry. After that he recommended daikon driver, etc.... Anyway I decided I should become a Pizza Hut delivery driver. Here is a picture from a test run.
Unfortunately the pizza I was delivering was a clam chowder pizza. It smelled so good that I had to try it. The customer was not happy, so my search goes on....
Of course I am joking, but the pizza actually is a clam chowder pizza. Pretty tasty too.
The family has grown fond of the vending machines in Japan. They are located all over, some of them even out in the middle of nowhere. Here is a picture of Kate preparing for a purchase while Liam drools over the options.
Have a good week.
4 comments:
Thanks for your note at my blog. I remember the first time I heard people throwing beans at the Oni, I thought they were saying Oni wa kiyotsukete! Or, Mr. Monster, please be careful!
I found your blog in my daily automated google search on mashiko AND pottery. I get to meet all sorts of folks who visit Mashiko through the search.
If you get back to Mashiko, try to visit the Hamada museum, the Sankokan. This is the webpage, Japanese only: http://www.mashiko-sankokan.net/
I know exactly what you are saying. For about three months I was confused about what my neighbor was saying to me when I left for work. I only see her every once in a while. First I thought she was saying irashimase, so I just looked at her confused and repeated it back to her. "can I help you?" Then I thought she said itarashai (actually correct) but I was still confused so I just repeated it back to her "no you go and come back safely". Finally it clicked and I can answer itekimas. Thanks for the two recommendations. I will have to check in to both. Have a good day.
Yesterday was Buddha's Parinirvana. Kind of a Buddhist Easter. My wife Jean went around to 4 or 5 different temples where she lives in Tochigi, to see if there were any celebrations. There were none. It isn't a celebration that the Japanese observe. We are always amazed at the old temples in the countryside, many established in to 800s and how they are virtually abandoned today.
I am surprised that there were not celebrations. I have seen many Buddhist temples and that is one of the major religions. We also have really enjoyed seeing the different temples and shrines. Later this year we will trek to Kyoto, I understand there are many nice ones there.
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