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...

December days

Not surprisingly, the times I have lots to tell you about are the times when I'm too busy to post. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that December was busy. I composed lots of blog posts in my head, usually in the shower, but never actually got around to writing anything. So here's the Reader's Digest version, just to give you a little taste of the days leading up to Christmas here in the Monkey household.

The month started like this...


... and went on to cover things like this...

...and increasing amounts of this:

One of our advent calendars this year was made up of activities to do with K, such as this...

and this:

There was quite a lot of this sort of thing...

...and this too:

We made flowers for the concert guests...

...and then it was finally time to hang up the stockings:

There were lots of things that didn't make the photographic cut too, like our annual potluck party (topping last year's, with 42 attendees), a couple of Christmas concerts and school parties.

And of course Christmas Day itself, and the all important concert; but they are stories for another day.

First snow

No, not here in town, but on the top of nearby Mount Daisen. Last night we had a tremendous storm with howling wind, lashing rain and deafening thunder, said to herald snow. Sure enough, the mountain was white this morning.

Temperatures have dropped too; after an unseasonably warm autumn, I put the heating on for the first time this evening. I can't complain though, not when Vicky in Hokkaido reported their first 24-hours-below-freezing the other day, with a high of -1.9 and a low of -7 degrees...

The cold weather and sudden drop in humidity is playing predictable havoc with my skin. My hands have overnight turned into those of an elderly washerwoman, complete with gaping splits on the knuckles. Ever since K was born, my hands have been so painfully dry and chapped in the winter. Last year H bought me some clear, plasticky stuff to paint over the cut bits; it looks and smells rather like clear nail varnish and feels like it too when you apply it...

Yet another post about snow...

In short, there's still a fair bit of it about. After close to a metre of snow at New Year, we got down to this year's least-amount-of-snow-on-the-ground-so-far on the 14th:


But over that weekend it returned to this...

Again, it gradually started to disappear, only to be topped up again last weekend too. Luckily it hasn't really inconvenienced us too much; H has been taking an earlier bus to work everyday (but still managed to be late once), and I am getting braver and braver about driving in it. My reluctance to drive with even the slightest bit of snow on the ground is often laughed at, and I almost kept K home from school one day, but in the end it wasn't really a problem at all. The weather gods have been kind to me though, keeping Wednesdays, the day I go to university, virtually snow-free (on the roads that is). If the weather is really bad I can get there by train, but it's a bit of a pain: 20 minute walk to the station, 12 minute train ride, change trains, another 40 minute train ride and then a 15 minute bus ride, plus time for all those connections; not ideal when class starts at 8.30! I've got one more class next week, and then term ends; keep your fingers crossed for me...

There have been some lovely bright days though and, now that the snow doesn't come up to his neck, K has been enjoying playing in it. Making looping tracks through the snow is one favourite...

... and another is very gentle sledging down the little slope in our garden, using a multi-purpose seat/spinning/ who-knows-what toy that H's brother gave him for Christmas:

We had a bit more snow just the other day and, guess what? More is predicted for the weekend. I'm doing more kids' interviews on Sunday, this time in Tottori, which originally was supposed to entail somehow getting to the mainline train station before 7am... However, due to the potential snow, the company has asked me (and will pay for me) to go the day before and stay overnight. Is it really bad that I'm actually quite looking forward to a night in a hotel, all by myself, with no little people climbing over me with picture books in their hands at 5am, and with several consecutive meals eaten in peace? Maybe the snow is not such a bad thing after all...

Still snowy

We haven't had any more snow since the 1st, but it's still causing problems. Snow ploughs have been out clearing the roads; the fact that H had never seen one before shows you how unusual that is! Ploughed roads are now clear enough to drive on easily, but there's one slight snag; the snow ploughs create big banks of snow at the sides of the roads, making already narrow roads even narrower. The road in front of our house now poses no problems at all for a single car, but when 2 meet someone has to reverse a long way or everyone leaps out with their shovels and starts digging out a passing place...


Yesterday I ventured out on foot to our second-nearest supermarket. We weren't in desperate need of supplies but it was H's last day off work and I realised that if I didn't go then I would have to go today or tomorrow - with K...

It was a good chance to see what was going on too. Next to the supermarket is one of the biggest roads around here, with 2 lanes each way. Traffic was moving easily, but again the road was significantly narrowed:

Smaller roads were clear just in the tyre tracks - 4 tracks if you were lucky, 3 tracks on narrower roads and here, where a car had been abandoned, it went down to just 2:

The very smallest roads though were still pretty much impassable. Believe it or not, this next one is actually usually used by cars; look very closely and you'll see a car parked at the end of it:

Today was the first working day of the year for a lot of people, including H. He usually goes to work by bus but the buses still weren't running today, due I suppose to the narrowed roads. So poor old H set off on foot, a distance of 5 or 6 kilometres. He returned home tonight with stories of downed electric cables and a collapsed car port, a blister or two and, of course, photographic evidence of his adventure. Here's the route he would normally take if walking into town...

... and here's the less snowy option he chose today. This is the road his bus would have taken too, if it had been running...

Even in the centre of the city, where the traffic was moving steadily, it was still tough for pedestrians. The pavements were pretty deep in snow and crossing the road meant navigating your way over huge mounds of snow at the edges of the road:

Apparently the buses still won't be running tomorrow, although rubbish collection will be. H's planning to try the train tomorrow; by the time he walks to the station, waits for the train and then walks from the station to his office, it won't really save him any time, but hopefully it'll give his feet a bit of a rest...

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

Snowy days

As I wrote in the last post, it was quite a snowy New Year here. We had strong winds and snow overnight on the 30th and throughout the day on New Year's Eve. During a lull in the weather we took K outside for his first proper play in the snow. It was lovely and powdery, perfect for throwing around, and dry enough to sit down in without getting all soggy...

After more wind and snow though the night, New Year's Day was still and peaceful, if grey and cold!

I love the way that the wind left the snow on the sides of the trees and torii (shrine gate), rather than on the top.


January 2nd was bright and sunny, and the snow quickly began to melt. There was still time to get out and play in it again though...

...and build a rather lopsided snowman.

K has been keeping an eye on him from the living room for the last few days...

...but I'm sad to report that he is now just a couple of green sticks lying on the grass.

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...