Hughes Family in Japan: Toy Helicopters and Various Foods..

We have been on the go for a number of weeks now so we decided not to plan anything for this week. On Saturday we did go to one of the community centers to make helicopters. (The kind you spin with your hands.) Some of the people helping out participated in the book shelf activity Kate and the children did previously so it was nice to see them again. We each made 2 helicopters, one from a wooden spoon (similar to the kind that came with ice cream cups at camp only bigger), and the other from bamboo.

For making the wooden spoon helicopter the first step is to mark the center of gravity on the spoon. To do that we balanced them on allen keys and marked them with a pen.

After marking an electric drill was used to make a hole for the shaft to fit into. For the children it was their first time using a drill but they were able to do it.

Next a heat gun was used to make the spoons pliable. Once heated we bent them to make them into a propellor shape.

After they were shaped we glued the bamboo shaft in place.

While we waited for the spoon helicopters to dry we moved on to making the bamboo ones. For them we started with blocks of bamboo that had been ruff cut into a propellor shape.

Everyone was then given a knife to shave off the edges of the rough cut. This proved too much for the children and they finally ended up using a file for most of their shaping. A bit scary for us to watch. We made sure they were using the knives safely.

After the main shaping was finished sand paper was used to finish smoothing and shaping the blade. The final step was to balance them and attach the shaft.

As we waited for them to dry we were given yakiimo to snack on. Everyone ate them like ice cream cones. They are still very tasty and way more healthy than ice cream for us.

And the finished product...

We had a great time getting out and creating fun toys. It is nice to see the joy everyone gets in sharing their knowledge and helping to create things. After we got home we continued playing with the helicopters in the house.

At the same time we were participating in this activity there was another festival going on in the same building. We decided to walk around and ended up eating lunch there. We had tempura udon and tempura soba. Basically various fried and battered food on top of different noodles. It was very good.

In the main gymnasium there were a number of displays. Pottery, kado (flower arrangements) paintings, decorative gourds, etc. Most were display only, but some was for sale. At the gourd booth the gentlemen insisted the children pick 2 gourds each and gave them as gifts. We stayed and talked for a while in both Japanese and English. In the end we decided to buy a gourd for ourselves.

There were also children's activities. Kate participated in the rice cracker bowl transfer with a straw race.

That was our main activity for the week.

Blog filler time...GO!!

Of course everyone knows Japan has Sushi, but actually there are a number of other foods besides Sushi that are quite common.

A few examples:

One day when driving in the mountains (about 2 months ago) we came across a stand on the side of the road. They were selling boiled Daikon (a type of radish) and Miso soup. The Daikon had a paste on top and the Miso had a number of things in it for flavor like cabbage, onions, etc. Both were very good. We have found a number of good Japanese dishes by just stopping and trying things at different stands that we stumble onto.

In Utsunomiya Gyoza is very popular. Gyoza is a dumpling with various fillings. You can get them boiled, pan fried, or deep fried. There are many places that serve Gyoza, but one that we like is by the train station. I don't know the kanji yet so we just call it the happy gyoza guy place. It has a statue out front with a smiling gyoza man. The meal I got had gyoza, rice, and ramen in a set.

There are also many Ramen shops. One place we like is Kazan. The kanji for it are 火山 I knew these kanji so I thought I could say the name. 火 is ka and means fire. 山 is yama and means mountain or together fire mountain. So I figured it was Kayama, but the two kanji together change form and it becomes Kazan, even though I knew the kanji I had the name wrong. Kazan means volcano which would be a fire mountain.

The menu's can still challenge us. I can read Katakana and Hirigana, but I have limited Kanji. If we end up at a restaurant with a menu I can't understand and no pictures I just ask for their recommendation. This is the menu from Kazan. Some pictures, but mostly not. It has a mix of kanji and hirigana. They also serve gyoza, you can see it in the upper right corner of the menu.

Another interesting fact: brown nosing in Japan is called goma suri which is grinding the sesame seeds. I have not figure out exactly were it comes from, but my thinking is that it takes a lot of work to grind the seeds, so if someone else did it for you it would be like kissing up. Anyway, here are the children grinding sesame seeds for our ramen at Kazan. (brown nozers)

The finished product is very tasty and the one I like is actually pretty spicy. The red in the picture is from pepper. It comes in a large stone bowl that is too hot to touch when it comes out. Kazan has other options that come out boiling. They request that you hold the placemat in front of you to prevent the boiling ramen from splashing on you. I want to learn how to make good ramen before we return because I don't know any good shops in Columbus for it. If anyone does know of any let me know..and not the kind you eat in college that is a solid brick and cost $0.25.

I will have to get other pictures in the future when we try new foods, there are actually many other options other than what I have shown above. I have tried raw horse meat, raw beef sashimi, and raw chopped beef with a raw egg on top among many other things. My basic rule is "if other people are eating it, I will give it a try and then decide if I like it." I should get some tips from Generosa on how to take pictures of food for better documentation.

Last week we received a flat Stanley from one of Colleen's friends Sydney. He was smashed flat by a bulletin board. Typically a bad thing, but Stanley takes advantage of it in the form of cheap travel. He gets mailed from place to place. Since he is flat he can travel that way. We will have to get some pictures of him in various places before sending him back on his way..