Autumn in Japan

Colorful leaves (koyo) are to the Japanese autumn what cherry blossoms are to spring. The viewing of autumn leaves has been a popular activity in Japan for centuries and today draws large numbers of travelers to famous koyo spots both in the mountains and in the cities.

Each year, starting in mid September, the "koyo front" slowly moves southwards from the northern island of Hokkaido until it reaches the lower elevations of central and southern Japan towards the end of November. Some trees around Tokyo and Kyoto remain colorful into early December.

The season starts around mid September in the highest mountains of Hokkaido and then gradually moves into lower elevations and more southern latitudes until reaching Tokyo and Kyoto in the second half of November. In some locations colors can be enjoyed into December.

Depending on temperatures during the preceding months and weeks, the timing of the autumn leaf season can vary by a few days to one or two weeks from year to year. The map and the list of popular autumn leaf destinations below show the approximate best timing for seeing the leaves in the average year.

Autumn leaves can be enjoyed in various ways. During the early phase of the season, the colors are mostly found in the mountains where entire slopes turn orange, yellow and red, and provide some of the most amazing seasonal sceneries. Hiking is the most rewarding way to see the colorful leaves in the mountains, but many spots can also be conveniently reached by train, bus or ropeway. 

In the second phase of the autumn leaf season, the colors descend into Japan's cities, where they can be viewed in parks and gardens. Among the highlights are the autumn colors in the temples gardens of Kyoto where they beautifully complement with the buildings' elegant architecture. Almost surreal is the sight of the trees during evening illuminations, which are held at selected gardens and temples.

Bathing With Friends

Sentō is a type of Japanese communal bath house where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bath houses have been quite easy to use, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, and on both sides, usually a minimum of lined up faucets and a single large bath for the already washed bathers to sit in among others. Since the second half of the 20th century, these communal bath houses have been decreasing in numbers as more and more Japanese residences now have baths. Some Japanese find social importance in going to public baths, out of the theory that physical proximity brings emotional intimacy, which is termed skinship in pseudo-English Japanese. Others go to a sentō because they live in a small housing facility without a private bath or to enjoy bathing in a spacious room and to relax in saunas or jet baths that often accompany new or renovated sentōs.

Another type of Japanese public bath is onsen, which uses hot water from a natural hot spring. They are not exclusive: A sentō can be called an onsen if it derives its bath water from naturally heated hot springs. A legal definition exists that can classify a public bathing facility as sentō.

There are many different looks for a Japanese sentō, or public bath. Most traditional sentō, however, have an entrance from the outside looks somewhat similar to a temple, with a Japanese curtain across the entrance.  The men's and the women's side are very similar and differ only slightly.

A public bathing facility in Japan typically has one of two kinds of entrances. One is the front desk variety, where a person in charge sits at a front desk, abbreviated as "front." The other entrance variety is the bandai style. In Tokyo,  sentō facilities have a "front"-type entrance, while only 315 still have the more traditional bandai-style entrance.

The dressing room also often has access to a very small Japanese garden with a pond, and a Japanese-style toilet. There are a number of tables and chairs, including some coin-operated massage chairs. Usually there is also a scale to measure weight, and sometimes height. Local business often advertises in the sentō. The women's side usually has some baby beds, and may have more mirrors. 

Taking a bath at a public sentō requires at a bare minimum a small towel and some soap/shampoo. Attendants usually sell these items for 100-200 yen. Many people bring two towels; a handtowel for drying and a handtowel or washcloth for washing. A nylon scrubbing cloth or scrub brush with liquid soap is normally used for washing. Other body hygiene products may include a pumice stone, toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving equipment, combs, shower caps, pomade, make up products, powder, creams, etc. Some regular customers store their bucket of bathing equipment on open shelves in the dressing room.

The Boy Who Drew Cats Part II

Welcome back to the Boy Who Drew Cats 

Part II

“That’s strange,” said Joji. “Why isn’t anyone here?”

He lit a lamp by the door. Then he saw something that made him clap. All around the big room were folding screens with empty rice-paper panels.

Joji got out his writing box and made some ink. Then he dipped in his brush and started to draw. And what Joji drew was just one thing.

Cats.

Cats, cats, and more cats. Small cats, big cats, thin cats, fat cats. Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats.

The screen he drew on last was almost as long as the room. Joji covered it with one gigantic cat—the biggest and most beautiful cat he had ever drawn.

Now Joji was tired. He started to lie down. But something about the big room bothered him.

“I’ll find someplace smaller.”

He found a cozy closet and settled inside. Then he slid shut the panel door and went to sleep.

Late that night, Joji awoke in fright.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It sounded like a large, fierce animal in the temple! Now he knew why no one was there. He wished he wasn’t there either!

He heard the thing sniff around the big room. It halted right in front of the closet. Then all at once . . .

Yowl!

There was a sound of struggling, and a roar of surprise and pain. Then a huge thud that shook the floor.

Then a soft padding sound. Then silence.

Joji lay trembling in the dark. He stayed there for hours, afraid to look out of the closet.

At last, daylight showed at the edge of the door. Joji carefully slid the door open and peered out.

In the middle of the room lay a monster rat—a rat as big as a cow! It lay dead, as if something had smashed it to the floor.

Joji looked around the room. No one and nothing else was there—just the screens with the cats. Then Joji looked again at the one gigantic cat.

“Didn’t I draw the head to the left and the tail to the right?”

Yes, he was sure of it. But now the cat faced the other way—as if it had come down off the screen and then gone back up.

“The cat!” said Joji. His eyes grew wide. Then he pressed his palms together and bowed to the screen.

“Thank you, honorable cat. You have saved me. For as long as I live, no one will stop me from drawing cats.”

* * *

When the villagers learned that the monster rat was dead, Joji became a hero. The village priest let him live in the temple as long as he liked.

But Joji did not become a priest. And he did not become a farmer.

He became an artist. A great artist. An artist honored through all the country. An artist who drew just one thing.

Cats!

The Boy Who Drew Cats Part I

This is a Japanese fairy tale called The Boy Who Drew Cats

Once there was a boy who loved to draw. His name was Joji.

Joji grew up on a farm with lots of brothers and sisters. The others were a big help to their father and mother. But not Joji!

He did nothing for hours but draw in the dirt with a stick. And what Joji drew was just one thing.

Cats.

Cats, cats, and more cats. Small cats, big cats, thin cats, fat cats. Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats.

“Joji,” his father told him, “you must stop drawing all those cats! How will you ever be a farmer?”

“I’m sorry, Father. I’ll try to stop.”

And he did try. But whenever Joji saw one of the farm cats go by, he forgot about his chores and drew another cat.

“Joji will never make a farmer,” said the farmer sadly to his wife.

“Maybe he could be a priest,” she told him. “Why don’t you take him to the temple?”

So the farmer brought Joji to the priest at the village temple. The priest said, “I will gladly teach him.”

From then on, Joji lived at the temple. The priest gave him lessons in reading and writing. Joji had his own box of writing tools, with a brush and an ink stick and a stone.

Joji loved to make the ink. He poured water in the hollow of the stone. He dipped the ink stick in the water. Then he rubbed the stick on the stone. And there was the ink for his brush!

Now, the other students worked hard at their writing. But not Joji! With his brush and rice paper, he did nothing for hours but draw. And what Joji drew was just one thing.

Cats.

Cats, cats, and more cats. Small cats, big cats, thin cats, fat cats. Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats.

“Joji,” the priest told him, “you must stop drawing all those cats! How will you ever be a priest?”

“I’m sorry, honorable sir. I’ll try to stop.”

And he did try. But whenever Joji saw one of the temple cats go by, he forgot about his writing and drew another cat.

That was bad enough. Then Joji started drawing on the folding screens of the temple. Soon there were cats on all the rice-paper panels. They were everywhere!

“Joji, you’ll never make a priest,” the priest told him sadly. “You’ll just have to go home.”

Joji went to his room and packed his things. But he was afraid to go home. He knew his father would be angry.

Then he remembered another temple in a village nearby. “Maybe I can stay with the priest there.”

Joji started out walking. It was already night when he got to the other village.

Melon Pan

While in Japan I experienced some of the most diverse food is ever had. Something that crossed my taste buds was Melon bread (メロンパン meron pan). It is so delicious that I thought I'd find out how to make it and show you! Pan means bread in Japanese. They are actually bread buns covered with a layer of pastry, or cookie-like dough.

Each dough is left for second proofing after the pastry layer is wrapped around it. The inner bread dough will rise and cause the outer pastry layer to crack.

It's called melon bread because the cracked surface resembles a melon. Melon extract is also used to add fragrance. No filling is added to standard melon pan. The buns are sugary and taste wonderful. The hard outer shell compliments the soft bread layer.

Different patterns and fillings, like chocolate chips, can be added. 

Japanese Melon Pan

Ingredients:

(makes about 12 buns)

Bread Dough:

300g bread flour

6g instant yeast

36g caster sugar

5g salt

6g skim milk powder (I used my boy's milk powder)

200g warm water (37~38 degC) (I didn't bother, just made sure water is not cold)

30g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)

Pastry layer

80g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)

90g caster sugar

80g egg, lightly beaten (oh, I hate weighing eggs!)

200g cake flour

2g baking powder

some melon extract (I leave this out as I don't have this)

some caster sugar for dusting/coating

How I made them:

1. Sift bread flour, caster sugar, salt, milk powder into a mixing bowl. Add in instant yeast and mix the powdered mixture a little.
2. Add in warm water. DO NOT add in all the water at one go, leave a little bit so as to adjust the texture of the dough.
3. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a dough. Add the remaining water if it is too dry.
4. Transfer dough to work surface. Knead until the dough longer sticks to the work surface. This should take about less than 5 mins.
5. Flatten the dough and add in the butter. Continue to knead. Initially, the dough will be very oily, after a few kneads, the butter will be absorbed by the dough. Continue to knead until the dough no longer feel sticky to your hand and will not stick to the work surface. This should take about 15 to 20 mins.
6. Place dough in a lightly greased (with butter) bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
7. While the dough is proofing, prepare the pastry layer. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until mixture turns pale.
8. Add in a few drops of melon extract if desired.
9. Add in lightly beaten eggs in 3 addition. Beat well after each addition.
10. Sift over cake flour and baking powder. Mix with a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporate. Divide into 12 portions, about 35~40g each. For the chocolate chips version, wrapped some chocolate chips into each pastry dough. Place in a tray and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
11. Punch out the gas in the bread dough and divide into 12 portion, about 45g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the dough relax for 10mins.
12. Remove chilled pastry dough from the fridge. Roll out each dough in between 2 layers of cling wraps (I used clear plastic bags). Roll the bread dough again into rounds again. Remove the top layer of the cling wrap and place the bread dough onto the pastry dough. With the bottom layer of the cling wrap still intact, wrap the pastry dough around the bread dough. Carefully remove the bottom layer of the cling wrap, at the same time, smoothing the edges of the pastry dough. NOTE: DO NOT cover the Entire bread dough with the pastry dough. Leave the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. The dough needs the space to expand, otherwise the pastry dough will burst and the resulting appearance will not be very pleasing.
13. Coat the exterior with caster sugar, stamp patterns on the surface with cookie cutters or decorate as desired. Leave doughs to proof for the second time for about 40 ~ 50mins.
14. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C (I set mine as 180 deg C) for 10 ~ 12 mins. Note: mine took 20mins to brown!

Recipe source: 酥皮麵包大集合by 佐藤律子

Health and Sports Day

Health and Sports Day October 14, 2013

体育の日 Taiiku no hi

Health and Sports Day is a national holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday in October. It commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics being held in Tokyo, and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle.

The first Health and Sports Day was held on October 10, 1966, two years after the 1964 Summer Olympics. October was chosen for the unusually late Summer Olympics to avoid the Japanese rainy season. As Health and Sports Day is a day to promote sports and physical and mental health, many schools and businesses choose this day to hold their annual Field Day, or sports day. This typically consists of a range of physical events ranging from more traditional track-and-field events such as the 100 meters or the 4x100m relay to more uncommon events such as the tug of war Most communities and schools across Japan celebrate Sports Day with a sports festival which is similar to a mini Olympics. These festivals include many of the traditional track and field events, such as 4 x 100m relay, 100m sprinting, and long jump, as well as many other events. Some of the events include: ball toss, tug-o-war, rugby-ball dribbling races, and sack races. The festival usually begins around 8:30 am with a parade featuring all the different teams that will be participating: it could be divided by neighbourhood, class, geographic area, or school. There is sometimes a local marching band providing music. Once the parade has gone around the field and lined up in the middle, the band will play Kimogayo and the Japanese flag will be raised. Local officials will make speeches welcoming everyone. Often everyone will spread out across the grounds for group stretching (this stretching routine was developed by the government and is done daily by many Japanese people; the stretching routine music is broadcast daily on the radio and TV). Then it is time to start the events. Every event has prizes for the winners, usually something useful for around the house such as boxes of tissues, laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, saran wrap, wax paper, or even cooking oil. Around noon, the events will take a pause for lunch and sometimes traditional dancing. Lunch is usually a Bentō (lunchbox), typically including rice, fish, stewed vegetables, sushi, rice balls, and other small Japanese treats. As with the Olympics, the final event of the day is the 4 x 100m relay or 100m sprint. Following this, the point totals are tallied and the ending ceremony involves congratulatory speeches by local officials and the handing out of prizes to the top teams. 

Fujisan

Mount Fuji, or Fujisan as known by the Japanese, is located on Honshu island and is the highest mountain in japan at 12,389 feet tall. An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707 and lies 60 miles south west of Tokyo. It can even be seen from Tokyo on a clear day!

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow capped a lot of the time during the year, it a well known symbol of japan and it is frequently depicted in art and pictures as well as frequently visited by sightseers, tourists,a nod climbers. It is one of Japan's "Three Holy mountains" along with Mount Tate and Mount Haki and it is a special place to view Japan's scenic beauty as well as a historic site. 

A lot of tourists and the Japanese as we'll like to climb Fujisan. July and August are the official climbing season. During these two months the mountain is usually free of snow, the weather is relatively mild, access by public transportation is easy and the mountain huts are open. Everybody without much hiking experience is advised to tackle the mountain during the official climbing season.

There are five iconic lakes that surround Fujisan and are known as a lake resort area, where hiking, camping, fishing and snow sports are among the popular outdoor activities that can be enjoyed. There are also plenty of hot springs and museums found in the area, along with Fuji Q Highland, one of Japan's most popular amusement parks with record breaking roller coasters.

My Travels in Fukushima

July 7, 2012

Today many of kids on the trip a got an early start with a walk or jog around the lake. 

I was out there around six with a few friends from Washington. After breakfast we found out that there was a newspaper article about last night’s reception that included a picture of Emily Arkenberg, Cameron, and our teacher.  

Our first stop today was a small hot spring village called Yunomoto, a place as far off the beaten path in Japan as you can get.  Our local guide, Hoshi-san,

showed us the mountain temple and shrine as well as some of the farming areas around the town. 

The arrows are kept around the temple to ward off evil spirits.

At one point we stopped in at a hot spring inn to refill our water bottles and April showed Japanese curtesy by offering candy to a roomful of older women who had gathered for tea and a chat.  They came back with some Japanese  tsukemono (pickles) and we became instant friends. 

We then proceeded to the community gym where we were introduced to the skill of mochi making.  Mochi is a gooey rice cake made by lots and lots of pounding.  Emily M was the first in our group to try to make it and several others tried as well.  When the mochi was made, it was prepared traditionally and we feasted. 

When we finished eating we traveled to Shirakawa city to see some of the temporary homes that evacuees from Futaba City are living in after the great earthquake and tsunami.  Futaba city is where the nuclear plant that melted down is located.  One of the cities former residents read us a poem that he wrote after he had to evacuate his home.  He is 91, and it is clear that he loves Futaba, telling us about  the distinct beauty each season provided in the years he lived there.  Futaba, unfortunately cannot be entered at the present time and he informed us as he started to tear up, that the town will be off-limits for the next 30 years, and he won’t be able to return to his home until he is 121 years old.   We also heard from a volunteer at the temporary housing complex.  Most of the people living there are in their 70’s and 80’s, and many of them live alone as the housing units are cramped even by Japanese standards and other family members need to be in other places for work or school.  In small groups we had an opportunity to talk with some of the residents about their experiences in the quake and adjusting to life as an evacuee.  Residents of Futaba in many cases moved seven times in the first few months after the disaster.  This reminded me of when our house was flooded in the Flood of 2008 and we had to move around about half a dozen times. 

The victims that we met today are the people who survived World War Two, and in its aftermath worked hard to build Japan into an economic superpower.  As bad as what they are going through now is, what they survived in their youth was far more challenging.  Still, as tough as they have proven themselves to be, they deserve to have some peace and stability.  Unfortunately, they won’t get that for a while.  There is a two year limit on the temporary housing they are living in.  They will have to move at least one more time.

The Naked Sushi

Japan is notable for its many bizarre, Technicolor commercials. In this one we see a commercial for Sushi. As you can see, it is quite bizarre. A man and a woman meet for the first time and it is love at first sight... Immediately they begin to strip off their clothing as if they can't wait to be intimate anymore. The woman covers herself in white paint and crouches down into a yoga move called the Child's Pose. The man then proceeds to run at her at full speeds, covered in salmon colored paint. He lands upon the woman, with his stomach to her back. This then fades into a picture of sushi. As you can see, this is an extremely bizarre, unnatural commercial.

Another bizarre commercial is one for dog treats. In this we see a lonely boy that had come home from school with a broken heart. His human companion, literally, starts to cheer him up. The boy finds his love with a little girl and the dog gets sad. His owner has disowned him for a girl!! The dog then feels hurt and abandoned and turns to food, in depression, and eats the treats. The treats make the dog feel better. This commercial has had many gifs made of it because of the funny qualities that the dog shows as an effort to cheer his pal up. It is impossible not to smile or feel good after watching this video.

In this next commercial, we see a compilation of advertisements for gummy sours. Each commercial has the theme song of the candy. This commercial has a very catchy theme song and is played during the whole commercial. The bizarre nature of Japan is shown as a giant human-turtle chases kids around and giving them these gummy sours to eat. This commercial is especially popular among the kids. The kids see their peers enjoying the sours and having fun. It ends with a satisfied kid with a big smile on his face. The sours are now known for their theme song and the giant human turtle.

This last commercial shows an advertisement for gum. (http://youtu.be/W0X0cmQAdSE) Again we have the catchy theme music that so many Japanese commercials contain. The gum is recognized from its song and the image of the smiling teen afterwards. 

The trends with bizarre Japanese commercials are very distinguishable. There seems to be a target audience and a picture with one of those audience members with a smile on their face. Also, there tends to be a theme song within the commercials. The final "trend" is that there is a quirky character or scene that makes the advertisement stick. The colors used in the commercials are also very fruity and Technicolored. When I was in Japan, I liked to watch television just for these crazy, bizarre, funny commercials.