All good things must come to an end, and our lives in Japan were no exception. On May 13th — two years, one month, and 18 days after Matthew arrived in Japan — we moved back to the U.S.
Let's Sharing, too, is at its end. It was created to share our lives in Japan with our friends and family back home. We didn't expect our little blog would be a big hit, but it turned into a great success with more than 31,000 hits over its two-year run. For that, we want to thank all of our readers. The web site and archives will remain, but it will no longer be updated.
... an adventure begins
So, what's next for us? We're going back to our lives in America, but we like to think that our experiences in Japan have trained us to view our world with eyes and ears more open than before. In the same spirit as Let's Sharing, we'll be writing a new blog, Hokui 39 Do, to share American life with our friends in Japan. We'll write most of it in Japanese, but there will be some posts in English and lots of pictures. So if you enjoyed Let's Sharing, you may find Hokui 39 Do interesting, too.]]>Children's Day
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090505-054429
Children's Day in Japan. Children's Day used to be called Boys' Day, the day on which families celebrated the lives of their male children. Girls' Day, you might remember, is celebrated on March 3.
There are special symbols associated with Children's Day. The most common one is probably koinobori, the carp streamers. Less well known are the displays of kabuto, traditional Japanese military helmets.
You can also see some small koinobori to the right of the helmet in this display at a local restaurant.
]]>Food or Norse God?
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090427-005129
oden was in order.
Oden is a winter dish made by simmering ingredients in a dashi stock flavored with soy sauce and other seasonings. Common ingredients are hard-boiled eggs, kamaboko (fish paste), tofu, konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly), bamboo shoots, and slices of daikon radish. At this shop, each ingredient gets cooked in its own little compartment of the stock vat. You choose what you want from the vat, or tell Mama-san to serve up one of everything, and eat it with swipes of spicy mustard from the lip of the dish.
Clockwise from the mustard, we had a hard-boiled egg, konbu-maki (rolled kelp), gobou-maki (burdock root wrapped in fish paste), konnyaku, bamboo shoot, ganmodoki (deep-fried ball of tofu mixed with shredded vegetables and seaweed), kamaboko, and daikon. Oden is great with either sake or beer.]]>Sakura Shrine
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090420-042410
torii gate at Suwa-jinja in downtown Kitakami.
]]>Night Train to the Stars
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090418-161710
Miyazawa Kenji was born in Hanamaki, just north of Kitakami. Hanamaki is full of public art that references his works, including this mural of his best-known story, "Night Train to the Stars". The mural is painted in invisible UV-reflective paint, and illuminated by blacklight at night. So what appears to be an ordinary retaining wall by day transforms into a glowing image of trains and planets after dark.
]]>The Temple of Bloom
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090417-013648
]]>Underfoot
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Of course, many of these grates and grills are simple grids of steel. But if you've seen the manhole covers we've posted about, you might not be surprised to learn that some are more decorative.
The most common decorative design seems to use a honeycomb grid and the city logo in the center.
There are some still around with an old city logo, too.
This logo is the prefectural symbol of Iwate.
The logo doesn't have to be on a honeycomb, either. Here's one with a slanted grid.
The maze-like pattern on this one evokes ancient western cultures.
Not all of them are just a logo. Some feature the city's official flower, the white lily.
The largest and most extravagant ones — with white lilies, again — are along the main street running away from the station.
Inaniwa udon is a specialty of neighboring Akita Prefecture. Unlike the more common fat, roundish udon, Inaniwa udon is very thin and flat. It has a very slippery texture, which makes it kind of tricky to eat.]]>River Crossing
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Sangobashi is the bridge connecting central Kitakami to the other side of the Kitakami River. Hayachine-san, visible only on the clearest of days, rises in the background.]]>The Long Goodbye
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090402-010632
This year, we're the ones saying goodbye. In about six weeks, we will leave Kitakami to return to Washington, ending our life in Japan. We're starting to clear out the house and think about what we'll take back with us (kotatsu!). We've taught some of our classes for the last time as they are transitioned to new teachers. And we're visiting old favorite places, keenly aware that (in many cases) that visit will be the last. To be sure, we still have many good times ahead. There will be lots of opportunities to visit with our friends and students before we leave and days to walk in the park with the dogs. There will be cherry blossoms and festivals and new experiences. Such is the plight of the leaver: torn between the sadness of making necessary departure arrangements and the joy of making the most of every moment in a beloved place.
Our life in Kitakami is a good one, which makes it hard to leave. All we can do is embrace our remaining time here, knowing that the things that make leaving difficult — good times, good friends, and good memories — are the same things that will make returning to our life in America easier.]]>Prelude
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]]>Tax Time
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Or it may be because the instruction booklet includes a cute cartoon lady to guide you through the process.
Actually, it's probably because the tax system itself is fairly straightforward. In fact, it's so simple that most people don't even have to file. Instead, employers just withhold the correct amount. But what about deductions, you ask? You tell your employer about them in December, and they make an adjustment on your last paycheck.]]>Distant Views
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Geto Ski Area, where the unusually clear skies afforded long range views in all directions. The summit is usually shrouded in fog, so it seemed like a special treat.
To the east, we could see Mt. Hayachine, about 65 kilometers away in the central mountains of Iwate.
To the west, we could see Mt. Chokai, straddling the border between Akita and Yamagata, near the Sea of Japan, a little over 70 kilometers away.
And to the north, Mt. Iwate was barely visible, also about 70 kilometers distant. (We posted a closer view of Mt. Iwate last year.)
Finally, here's a map showing these mountains and Geto in relation to Kitakami and the east and west coasts of Japan.
]]>Hina Matsuri
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good ear health. It's also the day of Hina Matsuri, or Girls' Day. Families with daughters celebrate the day to ensure their future happiness. The most recognizable feature of the celebration is an elaborate display of dolls (hina ningyo).
The dolls represent the emperor, empress, and members of their court. I believe the flowers are peach blossoms, which represent the traits of composure and tranquility. ]]>National Ear Health Day
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090303-052348
mimi, and "three" is mi, so 3/3 is "ear".
It's a day to pay careful attention to ear health, and how better to do that than with a licensed Toy Story ear-shovel (mimi-kaki) to clean the wax out? I was raised to "never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear," but in Japan, ear-shovels are popular souvenir items. This one was a gift from one of my students who went to Tokyo Disneyland, and the alien is actually a bobble-head toy.
A heavy overnight snow made the tetrapods in the Waga River near Kunenbashi look like pairs of seaweed-wrapped rice balls.]]>Project Kimono
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obi (belt), and all of the various accoutrements can start at $3,000. If you can find one to your liking, a used kimono is a fraction of the cost. With this in mind, on Sunday we visited a local secondhand store known to sell used kimono.
The shop had one whole corner dedicated to kimono and kimono accessories. We got down to business, searching through shelves of kimono to find ones that might work. Because of my Western build, few had any chance of fitting, and we were able to quickly whittle those few down to one: a dark red kimono with simple prints of pastel birds around the hem and on the sleeves. It seemed to fit, but because we really didn't know what we were doing and knew we'd also need to choose an obi, Matthew called a local friend to come help us out.
While we were waiting, a stranger who had been watching us commented on the kimono. She started wrapping and folding it as if we were actually putting it on. Our friend showed up a few minutes later, and the two of them started talking to each other about the fit. I soon filled the role of a tall, curiously-shaped mannequin, with nothing to do other than listen to the "Theme from Shaft" over the PA system and shoot quizzical looks over their heads at Matthew as the women consulted in rapid-fire Japanese. They apparently decided that it would work, because they then moved on to choosing an obi for me.
We joined them in sorting through the large selection of obi. Serendipity was on our side, and we found the perfect match in a pale, silvery mocha obi woven with a cherry blossom pattern. We agreed that we'd chosen well and sealed the deal. I still have to get some accessories to complete the look, but I'm pleased with the kimono and grateful for the generous guidance of people who know what they're doing.]]>Amazake
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090203-063416
Amazake is sweet, non-alcoholic, fermented rice. It's served in winter as a traditional hot drink. Nowadays, it's usually made by dissolving kasu — rice pulp filtered out during sake production — in hot water. But "real" amazake is not a by-product of sake production, it's its own fermented product.
Real amazake is less widely available than kasu in stores, but in my opinion, it's a vastly superior product. Although only a few grocery stores seem to have real amazake, many offer packages of moldy rice. Covered with the koji mold needed to make amazake (or sake, for that matter), it's used as a "starter" for making real amazake at home.
So, here's a close-up of the moldy rice we bought last week.
Making the amazake is fairly easy, but takes about 6 or 7 hours. In the end, it was worth it: some of the best amazake we've had!]]>Lost and Sold
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Not today. Today, a large banner stood in the center of the display announcing the nature of the items for sale: JR Wasuremono. Literally "JR Forgotten Things," they were from Japan Rail's collection of belongings left behind on trains. It's an unusual, if very sensible, solution to the problem created by collecting lost items ¡½ by selling them, JR makes money and gets them off of their hands. Perhaps it's an idea to take back to Washington and pitch to Metro.]]>Acceptance
http://www.houseofflameandglass.com/letssharing/index.php?entry=entry090119-042219
gaijin — literally means "outside person". Even people who have obtained Japanese citizenship find that they can't be fully accepted.
On the other hand, it's possible to be a part of the community, even if you aren't fully accepted. In that spirit, we eagerly participate in community activities from undoukai to yakudoshi. We always check the kairan-ban (traveling bulletin board) for new events, and ask questions when we need to.
After we'd been here a year and a half, one day our neighborhood leader approached me at the recycling collection point. Surrounded by stacks of newspaper and bags of plastic, he produced the neighborhood's address book. He explained that we weren't in it because we were foreigners, but he'd been thinking we should be in it. It meant joining the neighborhood association, which is 300 yen a month.
I politely said yes, then went home feeling like we'd been accepted to some extent. It was a small gesture (and it would cost us money), but we were now officially part of the community. A few days later someone dropped by to collect our membership fee and recorded our payment under our names, newly written in the book.
Then, about two weeks later, someone else came by and left us the address book and the kairan-ban, declaring that it was our "duty month". "Our what?" Each household is responsible for distributing neighborhood information and collecting association dues for a month. "Oh."
So it wasn't just a small fee and our names in a book. We were no longer guests in our community, and we were expected to help out. With no idea what to do, we imposed on our most helpful neighbor to explain things to us, then got to work — hearts lightened with the knowledge that, if only a little bit, we were being accepted.]]>