Tondo-san

A couple of weeks ago our neighbourhood celebrated Tondo-san, marking the end of the New Year period. The day before, K and H took a walk to our local shrine to add our New Year decorations and good luck charms from last year to the growing bonfire...


Lately, especially with the building of a new house just beside the bonfire site, there has been concern about the risk of the fire spreading. This year then, instead of one mega-bonfire, three separate piles of things to burn were made. Only one was lit, and things from the others were gradually added to the bonfire as it burnt down. More sensible I suppose, but not anywhere near as much fun...

On the morning of Tondo-san, H and K got up before dawn to go and see the fire being lit at 7am.

T and I stayed in bed.

Once the fire was lit, a procession set off to take a portable shrine (o-mikoshi) around the parish boundary, stopping at various places along the way for blessings - and refreshments. The shrine looks like it should be carried on the shoulders of strapping young men, but is now pulled on wheels instead :-)

We caught up with the procession mid-morning at our local community centre. The shrine, and the drums accompanying it, was carried inside. Singing (mainly by H's dad), flute playing and drumming continued while the bearers ate and drank. Anyone who turned up was served with pork and vegetable soup and sake.

As well as the portable shrine and it's musical accompaniments, a shishimai (Chinese lion?) was also part of the parade. Being 'bitten' by the shishimai is supposed to bring good luck, especially for children. K was a bit wary of it, but T didn't seem bothered...

I realise now that this year's Tondo-san was the first one in several years where there was no snow on the ground. Although we've had a few snowy days this winter it has generally been very mild so far; keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way...

Happy New Year!

Hello there, remember me?

Yes, I am still here, even though I haven't actually been here for a month... Sorry. Is it too late to say Merry Christmas?

Somehow, December turned out to be quite a busy month. Funny that. There was a lot of festive fun which I wanted to share with you, but I just never quite got around to it. This week I will try to post a few Christmas photos, but please don't hold me to it.

At the best of times I find New Year in Japan to be a bit depressing. It's supposed to be the biggest holiday of the year, but nothing happens. There's nothing to look forward to or really enjoy for me. This year was far from the best. Since H's grandfather passed away last year, we didn't send or receive New Year cards, one of the few points of interest of the season. And then, at the end of the year, both H and I got sick. Luckily the boys were basically OK, so we sent K over to stay at H's parents for a couple of days so that we only had to muster enough energy between us to tend to one little boy.

Luckily all of that has passed now, and I feel much happier now that Normal Scheduling has been resumed.

Back to the usual routine

Tomorrow K and I will finally be getting back into our usual routine. H started back at work last Tuesday, but my 2 classes last week were cancelled due to the snow so I've been on extended holiday-mode. Tomorrow though, K will be off to preschool for the first time this year, and my usual schedule begins again tomorrow too.

With the heavy snow over the New Year we haven't really done anything of great interest lately. In fact, in a week I only left the house twice, both times on foot, to go to the supermarket and post office. The rest of the time I've been at home here with K.

So what did we actually do with all this free time? As always, I seem to have frittered it all away. K and I have been sleeping quite late in the mornings, although poor H has been getting up earlier than normal to take a train to work. Luckily the buses are now running so he should be back to normal tomorrow too.

We did manage to do some useful things over the holidays: I tidied up my office and filed class notes, we caught up on the mountain of laundry, got a new TV, shoveled snow...

Mainly though, there was a lot of lounging about at home. I crocheted a few more squares for the baby blanket, read an entire book (that's good going for me nowadays) and caught up on some blog reading.

Today was a public holiday so we had a three day weekend. Now that the roads are pretty much clear of snow, we went out! Two lunches out, a bit of shopping (including a diary for me - I love buying a new diary each year) and a little cinema date for H and I (Tron, my first 3D cinema experience). Today was Tondo-san, marking the official end of the New Year festivities, so it really is back to work for everyone now...

Happy New Year!

No sign of the garden wall, the compost bin or the patio

It may only be January 2nd, but already it's a year that people around here will remember - the year of the snow. It started to snow on the night of the 30th and continued throughout New Year's Eve Day, with biting winds sending the snow in horizontal sheets. By the morning of New Year's Day the wind had dropped and the snow lay deep and crisp and even.

Our bedroom window faces the direction the wind was blowing from, so the balcony was filled with snow up to the height of my waist.


K and the car demonstrating the depth of the snow

The previous night the electricity had gone off for a minute or so, and when I got up briefly with K at 5.30 I noticed that it was off again. We all slept in until about 9 o'clock, and we were still without power. Like a lot of the newer houses around here, our house relies entirely on electricity for heating, hot water and cooking as well as lighting and appliances. Luckily we do have a single table-top gas ring so I was able to make hot drinks for our breakfast.

An important part of New Year's Day morning is reading your New Year cards. The post office holds them all back until the big day and then delivers them all early in the morning on New Year's Day, hiring extra part-time workers to help deal with it all. This year though - nothing. I'm hoping they might come tomorrow...

H dug out a little path, just wide enough for us to walk out to the road. He didn't dig right down to ground level and even then the snow was deeper than K's waist. I guessed the total amount of snow to be close to K's height and the news today reports that there was indeed about 90cm.

In front of our house on New Year's Day

The plan was to spend New Year's Day at H's parents' house. They had a power cut too, but they also have one old-style kerosene heater so we headed over there once H had dug us out, leaving candles and torches on stand-by for our return. Their house is only a few minutes walk away, but we visited the local shrine on the way too.

Japanese people traditionally visit a shrine at the New Year, either just after midnight on New Year's Eve or in the first day or two of the year. The priest, a relative of H's, told us that he had only had about 20 people show up the previous night, while a man with a digger (also a relative) dug out the road for everyone.


At the shrine H and I each bought a fortune for the year and both got 'small luck' - better than plain old 'luck' and 'bottom-of-the-barrel luck', but still lagging behind 'medium' and 'big'. Oh well. There are also 'bad luck' fortunes but our local shrine, not wishing to disappoint, buys the boxes of fortunes which don't contain bad luck at all. We tied the slips of paper to trees around the shrine and went on our way again.

A stone lantern at the shrine

Announcements on the public address system told us that 28,000 homes in the city were without power, due to a fallen pylon. Today H found a picture of it on the news - eek!


At H's parents' we all stayed in the living room with the one heater, and for once I was glad of the traditional New Year's food, o-sechi. Made (or bought..) ahead of time so that no-one needs to cook over New Year, it isn't really my favourite but at least it was all ready to eat without the aid of any electricity...


After lunch the power came back on and H's mum rang round to see how everyone was doing. H's younger brother was planning to come over on his way back from a trip to Kyushu, but on hearing what it was like here he wisely decided to go straight home. We were all relieved when we heard that he'd got home safely, especially as the news was reporting a thousand cars stuck on the main road from Yonago to Tottori. A thousand!

A not-very-tropical palm tree

By late afternoon the falling snow was turning to light rain, which continued overnight. By morning a lot of snow had melted, but there's still a lot out there too. All the snow has gone from the car, but the roof is slightly dented from the weight. Overhead cables are hanging dangerously low, again due to the weight of the snow, and lots of trees have lost branches.

In front of our house this morning

The airport is closed, buses and branch-line trains are not running yet and H's cousin reports a queue for taxis at the main station 60 people long. H goes back to work on the 4th (Tuesday), so we're hoping the buses will be running again by then. Like most people we stocked up on food before the holidays, since a lot of supermarkets are closed until tomorrow or Tuesday, so I suppose we'll just carry on our hermit lifestyle for a few more days...

Broken branches at the shrine

Tondosan

Tondosan, or Tondoyaki, marks the end of the New Year period in Japan. People take their New Year decorations and various good luck items from the previous year to their local shrine where they are blessed and burnt.

By Sunday afternoon, the bonfire at our local shrine had become quite a pile (click on any of the pictures see them bigger):


In the photo below you can see a couple of arrows, typical items bought in the New Year to bring good luck and protect the household in the year ahead. They are decorated with pictures of cattle since last year was the year of the cow. Now that new, year of the tiger, arrows have been bought, these ones have come to the end of their usefulness.

Your intrepid reporter got up bright and early on Monday morning to go and see the bonfire before it all burnt away, and get some photos for you. I think it was lit at 7am, and I got there at about 10 past. As with bonfires all around the world, men with sticks stood around poking it.

The main event of the day was a small procession with a portable shrine, following the border of the oldest part of this area. It started at the mini community centre near our house and stopped off at another 4 or 5 en route. As an upstanding member of the community (and because I was asked) I went along to the community centre to help out. Men from the area actually took part in the parade, carrying the mikoshi (portable shrine), playing drums and flutes and singing. Children joined in too. On the whole, the women's role was to feed everyone!

In the picture below you can see the men involved with the parade, wearing white and pointy black hats. We gave them all a full meal (at 11am!) and plenty of sake. There was also food for the children, and hot soup and sake for anyone else who cared to turn up.

In the foreground you can see the mikoshi and men playing drums, and a man playing the role of the shishimai, similar to the lion-dog dragon you see in Chinese parades.

And here they are again. This whole side of the room was opened up to the outdoors so everyone could see what was going on and people could move in and out easily. And so that we could all share in the freezing weather.... Still it was better than last year, when there was a fair bit of snow on the ground.

After eating their fill, it was time for the off. The mikoshi was carried out onto a little wheeled trolley that would be pulled along. Traditionally it is actually carried the length of the procession, but this is of course the easier option :-)

Off they went to their next stop-off point for more food and sake, while we cleared up and then had lunch. I brought quite a lot of leftovers home too, enough for dinner for the boys that night and my lunch the next day...

A few hours later the procession came past our house on its final leg back to the shrine. When we heard the drums I nipped outside to get another couple of photos...

... and met the shishimai again. He did me the honour of biting my head (?), which will apparently make all my wishes come true in the coming year.

I followed the procession back to the shrine where it was unloaded and carried into one of the smaller shrines in the grounds.

Last year H took part in the procession, as one of those shrine-pulling chaps. The weather was terrible but it did look cool with all the snow about. If I can find it (and if I can be bothered... see previous post), I might put some photos from last year up too...

New Year Resolutions

Did you make any? Are you sticking to them? I don't usually make resolutions as such, but I do like to look back and take stock of the previous year and make a few goals or intentions for the year ahead.

2009 was the year I started this blog, and my Etsy shop. We didn't get to travel really, but we did have a visit from my parents and we all went to Himeji for a few days together. I went back to teaching part-time at the university in April, and I set up a new class at the local community centre in October. Of course it was also a year of big changes for K, who went from being a little baby to a very active toddler. And it was also the year that a very good friend of mine fought cancer. I look forward to seeing her, healthy and strong, again soon.

For 2010 I don't have any of the usual, negative, resolutions. Instead my resolves are more positive and are all focused on making the most of life:

• Go out with H (without K!) once a month, for a meal and a film or something like that. I can count on one hand the number of times we have done this in the almost 2 years since K was born, and it's just not enough.
• Spend one After-K-Has-Gone-To-Bed evening a week with H doing something fun. We tend to spend that time in front of the TV or on the computer or doing our own separate things. I think we can manage one screen-free night a week!
• Spend more money. I bet that one surprised you! Of course, my goal is not really to just spend. It's more about allowing myself to spend a little more on enjoyable things and treats without feeling guilty. Even though I'm earning more than I was a year ago (though not as much as 2 years ago), I still feel bad if I 'waste' money on myself. But I am putting money into savings each month and I can afford some pocket money. While it may be true that if you look after the pennies the pounds will look after themselves, and that money can't buy happiness, the occasional treat makes a big difference between just existing and really living. After all, what is money for if not for spending now and then, and why am I juggling work and childcare if I can't get a little reward occasionally (justify, justify)? And you know I'm hardly going to be splashing out on designer bags and expensive jewellry...

My other general intention is, well, be more like Mary Beth :-) Her beautiful blog, Salt and Chocolate, is a real inspiration to me. She makes the effort to celebrate the little things in life and is so mindful of the seasons and the changes in the world around her. Mary Beth takes (makes?) time to cook and bake and really spend time with her family, but never in an unobtainable, super-woman kind of way. She keeps thing simple, low-key and realistic. If I could just make a few steps in her direction...

While I'm mentioning other people and their websites, have a look at Gretchen's Happiness Project. It's full of useful ideas and practical tips on how to increase the happiness in your life, without being touchy-feely :-) It's another site which has been inspiring to me and has helped to shape my goals for this year. There's also some great advice on keeping your New Year Resolutions! Good luck...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 is a year filled with peace, health and happiness for you all.

On New Year's Day we went over to H's parents' house. There was about 10cm of snow on the ground but that didn't bother us, seeing as their place is only a couple of minutes walk from ours. Like many people, they had a traditional New Year decoration made of straw, fern-type leaves and an orange on the door. Some people even tie a smaller version to the front of their car! As it was a national holiday they were also flying the national flag, which is still reasonably common around here but less so than it once was.

Traditionally in Japan people spend the last few days of the old year giving their house a big clean, ready to greet the New Year, and cooking so that they won't have to on New Year's Day. The traditional New Years food, called o-sechi, mainly consists of various items which have been simmered in quite a sweet broth, all served cold. I'm not really a fan and I don't think that many young Japanese people are either really! Most people get theirs from a supermarket now instead of spending days in the kitchen. Here's what H's parents got for the 'bargain' price of 10,000 yen (click on the photo if you want to see a bigger version):

At the top, there is white Japanese radish, carrots and renkon (lotus root) and the yellow stuff is sweet potato mashed with chestnuts. Going clockwise there is a sea bream (tai), some simmered shiitake mushrooms and arrowhead bulbs (kuwai), some sazae shells ('turban shells' apparently) and semi-dried cod, and some black beans at the bottom. Then there are some little dried fishes and some Battenburg cake (no, sorry, it's some kind of processed fish stuff). Then some more processed fish 'sausage' (the pink and white stuff) and some sweet omelette, shrimps, bamboo shoots and scallops. In the centre there's some ikura (salmon roe), kazunoko (herring roe) and a little spiny lobster.

Personally I'd much rather just have some 'everyday' winter food, like a big nabe hotpot...

We brought along a bottle of sparkling wine, and K enjoyed playing wine steward:

Don't worry, the bottle was empty by then!

In the afternoon we wandered over to the little local shrine. Most people go to a (Shinto) shrine just after midnight on New Year's Eve or in the first few days of the year to pray for a good year and buy some good luck trinkets. There are no organised 'services' like you would find at a church; you simply throw a small coin in the offering box, ring the bell and clap to waken the gods and then put your hands together in a moments prayer.

The priest at this shrine is H's uncle. Usually the shrine is unattended (he has an unrelated full-time job) but this time of year is the shrine's busiest and he and his 'shrine maidens' (H's cousins) are there pretty much all the time for the first few days of the year, including the early hours of New Year's Day. The front of the building is completely open, so it's pretty cold...

Usually visitors don't actually go up into the shrine itself, but K gets special treatment, including having a go at the drum :-)

In the forefront of the picture you can see the various good luck charms for sale. We bought a wooden arrow (hamaya), and each picked a fortune from the box after dropping in our 10 yen. K is obviously the smartest of us all because he wanted to pick out the nice shiny coins instead of the paper fortunes...