Winter travel

One night after Eikaiwa class we played three traditional Japanese games:  1.  Fukuwarai (literally: happy laughing) where a blindfolded person puts features on a paper face; 2. Kendama – a toy with a handle and a ball attached with a string.  You try to catch the ball with the handle.  There are four ways to catch it.  I surprised myself by catching the ball once (the easiest way); 3.  Hanetsuki – a little like badminton.  They were all quite fun.

Our ward Relief Society had a cooking class.  I was hoping to learn Japanese cooking--but they cooked Italian food!  It was still fun.

 

One Saturday we went to the Ueno Park Zoo.  It is a nice zoo.  The Pandas were quite entertaining and they munched on their bamboo.  But the little children were about the cutest things there!

 

 

We went on our first out-of-town trip and took the monorail (and two other trains) to the airport.  These pictures shows the old and the new buildings of Tokyo and some of the waterways.

 

We attended 2 days of zone conferences in Sapporo (on Hokkaido--the large northern island) and gave health training to the missionaries.  Our emphasis was on how to stay healthy and what to do it you get sick.  We really enjoyed being with the young missionaries.

Lunch was "donburi" which means "rice with something on it."

 

 Obihiro and Odori Zones

Sisters

 

 

Elders

 

We were privileged to also be in Sapporo during the "Yuki Matsuri" or Snow Festival.  There are snow sculptures and ice sculptures.  Some are as large as buildings.  People come from all over the world to see these sculptures.  They were pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 Our favorite show sculpture below has a legend attached to it.

 

 

 This is an ice sculpture with colored lighting.

 

 After the Snow Festival we went to a "kaitenzushi" or sushi restaurant with a rotating belt that allowed different types of sushi to come by.  We could just take a plate and try it.  At the end they count the number of plates you have to figure your bill. 

 We never thought we would eat sushi (since we always tell the missionaries not to eat raw meat).  But it is a big part of the culture here, so we decided to try it.  We didn't get sick and we liked it!

 

Birthday missionaries.

 

The mission president and his wife with us.

 

 

 
 After the lunch the missionaries all sing to the cooks and then shake hands and greet each of them.

 

 

We love the missionaries!

 

 

Our favorite thing this month, however, happened in Wyoming with the addition of our 29th grandchild!  He joins 3 brothers and 6 sisters.

Mochitsuki videos

 

Happy New Year!

New Years is a very important Holiday in Japan.  It begins right after Christmas and goes on for at least a week.  I understand that in Japanese households, they do a large cleaning of their homes around Christmas for several days, then they cook for at least a day, and then they enjoy New Year's shopping.

We began to notice arrangements like this one all over town.  Theyt always included bamboo, evergreens, and circular arrangements of rope. 

In the mall near our house, they had traditional entertainments.  These women are playing the "koto."

  The one in the back is playing a "shamisen."

 

Because workers were on vacation all week, our office was closed.  We had time to go see some things.  We visited the Tokyo National Museum and saw many interesting things including a mummy and some interesting armor.  There was a lot we didn't get to see yet.

Shopping is an important part of their New Year's celebration.  We visited this street with lots of little shops.  It was crowded with lots of people.

 An American woman was baptized in our ward.  There is always a special feeling at a baptism.  (Unfortunately the hot water was not working that day, so she had to brave the cold water.)

Monday, January 14, was "Seijin no Hi" or a special day for people who are turning 20.  That is the official age of becoming an adult.  We were invited to a party called "Mochi Ttsuki" - making mochi.  It was a long train ride from our home and then we walked another distance. 

 It began to snow on our way and snowed all day. Snow is very unusual in Tokyo so the children were having fun playing in it.  There were lots of problems with transportation.  Our train home stopped for about 30 minutes while they cleared snow off the tracks. 

Making mochi is done by cooking rice, then kneading it in a large wooden bowl with medium sized mallets, then pounding it with a large wooden mallet. This is all done to a rhythm. Since one person has to reach in and turn the dough between each blow of the mallet, the rhythm is quiet important. I kept hoping no one got their hand hit. Here is Clair taking a whack at it and another man turning the dough..

 

Meanwhile, the women shape the very sticky, chewy mass into small balls.  Some are wrapped around balls of sweet read bean paste, others are mixed with "natto" or put into soup.  Some are rolled in flavored powder.

Above you will see "natto."  Natto is made by fermenting soy beans for about a month.  It is considered very tasty by most Japanese.  They mixed the natto with "kim chi" (very spicy) or chestnuts and balls of mochi.

Pictures above are bowls of seaweed and pressed fish cakes (Kamaboko).  Over these they pour a broth and make a very good soup.

 Here are the four couples of "seniors", our missionary sister, some members of the ward, and a family from Peru.  We all had a wonderful time and learned a lot of Japanese customs

December ends....

I have been struggling to add photos to this blog for a couple of weeks.  It was so easy last time! It doesn't help when the directions come up in Japanese! My apologies!

We visited the Tokyo Edo Museum.  (Thanks to those who told me how to spell "Tokyo.")
This was a display about the Japanese drama style, "Kabuki."  We hope to see a "Kabuki" play sometime.

We learned about the Tokyo area during the time of the Shogunates (1601-1868) and the Meiji period (1868 to 1912)  There was a little about the Bombing of Tokyo and these hot-air balloons they used to send bombs to the US when they were running out of fuel.  (I had never heard about this before.)

Our museum guide with us.  It was nice to hear about the history in English!

Christmas Even in our apartment with some of our friends. 
Left is Christmas morning.  We even had a few gifts to open!

 

We visited the Meiji Shrine.  A Shrine is a Shinto structure.  They always have these large "Torii" or gates.  Part of the New Year's celebration is to go to the Shrine on New Year's Eve and help ring the bell 108 times.  Each of those times is to help remove one of the 108 human weaknesses we all have.  The next day (New Year's Day), people go to the Shrine to pray the first prayer of the new year.  A Shinto Shrine
is less ornate and has more muted colors than a Buddhist Temple. 

When they arrive at the place to pray, they bow twice, then clap twice (to get the Gods’ attention), then bow again.

This cute little girl had on her traditional kimono with the obi tied in the back.  She let me take a picture with her.