Recap of June

June marked the official ending of another school year. The kids successfully completed kindergarten and 2nd grade at Hiroshima International School. Julia loved Mr. B as her teacher and Luke (and his teachers) survived all-day kindergarten. June marked 11 months of our expat assignment in Japan. And all I can say to that is "Wow we came a long way in one year!".  

 

 

June also marks the beginning of the matsuri season (summer festivals) in Japan. Every local shrine has a summer or autumn festival. Often the festivals include processions of elaborate floats, food stalls, hanabi (fireworks), games (scoop the goldfish), taiko drum concerts, or kagura (Japanese traditional theatrical performance). At the beginning of June Hiroshima holds the Tokasan Yukata festival. the festival is said to have begun over 400 years ago, Tōkasan signals the start of summer. It has come to be known as yukata festival as locals take this early opportunity to give their colorful yukata summer kimono their first airing of the year. We bought a yukata for Julia and had a fun time exploring the festival.

 



 

*Yukata festival, Cam playing baseball with a Japanese Kendo (martial arts) stick, & Cam riding his favorite Japanese cartoon character: An Pan Man (bread head man!)

Here is a recap of April & May:

 

At the end of April we traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii and met Grammy & Papa (the Dickens grandparents) for a week long vacation. Hawaii happened to be the midway point between Japan and New York! We had a great time snorkeling with the turtles, playing at the beach & pool, and visiting the Hawaii Volcano National Park.

It was our first time back to the States after living in Japan almost a whole year and we quickly realized that we had grown accustomed to Japan way more that we had originally thought. My kids wanted to talk to every Asian person they saw and ask them if they were from Japan. If they found out that they were from Japan they used the few phrases of Japanese they knew and told them that we lived in Hiroshima, how long we had lived there for, and what school they went too.

Also, Mike and I went on a Manta Ray night snorkeling trip and ended up snorkeling right next to the only 2 Japanese tourists on the boat. The whole time we could hear them screaming through their snorkel gear "segoi" (wow!) & "omoshiroi" (interesting) every time a manta ray came close. Finally Mike and I replied back: "segoi desu ne". The Japanese tourists popped their heads out of the water, looked at us, and started jabbering away in Japanese. None of this seemed to surprising to us!

In May Julia turned 8 years old. I think May was the greatest month of her life. She had a birthday party, her baptism and baptism luncheon, and lots playdates with friends outside as the weather became warm and sunny.

 

 

 

*Luke at Sports Day at Hiroshima International School, Julia with favorite friends, Cameron with Nishikarabara San (Cam's most favorite babysitter when I take my Japanese lessons)

Say what?

Some of the funniest moments I have had while living in Japan can be attributed to the language barrier. Here are just 2 for example:

• About a month ago I went to the internist's office for the first time. I approached the receptionist area and said in my very poor Japanese "I am a new  patient". Here is how the rest of our conversation went:

                                       Receptionist: Do you speak Japanese?
                                       Me: Just a little. Do you speak English?
                                       Receptionist:  No. Do you speak Spanish?
                                       Me: No. Do you speak Spanish?
                                       Receptionist: No.

All I could do was laugh! We established that I spoke little Japanese, she spoke no English, and neither one of us could speak Spanish. I was stumped on why she asked the Spanish language questions. Maybe I looked Spanish to her but it was still not going to help us!

• When we first arrived last summer in Japan, I needed to take the kids to the pediatrician's office to have them receive the Japanese Encephalitis vaccination. I found  a pediatrician that spoke a bit of English. We met the doctor first time and he was this tiny, older gentlemen (just a bit bigger than Julia) and was wearing a full face plastic shield with a microphone attached to the shield. Even with the microphone it was still difficult to hear him clearly. Needless to say, the kids wouldn't go near him!  

When we began the visit he examined the entire children's body and would report on the status of that area with this script, "I have examined the tonsils and the tonsils are not enlarged. I will now examine the lungs by listening to your child breath." With 3 children it took a while for all of them to complete the examination! After all 3 children were examined and administered the vaccination the doctor looks at me and says to me (or what I thought he said to me), "In 5-10 minutes your children will develop a fever. Then they will develop a rash all over their bodies. You will need to give them a children's pain reliever. When this happens please come to the office. Do you have any pain reliever?"
I was shocked! Usually in the USA they shuffle you into the room, the nurse pokes your kid with a needle, puts a band aid on it, gives them a lollipop and you are on your way.
So I asked him, "Should I not leave the office then?" and he said, "No you can go".
What I soon realized was that he was telling me all of the possible side-effects that could happen from the vaccination and that it wasn't 5-10 minutes but only 5% of the children experience these side-effects.  Needless to say we walked out of the doctor's office 2 hours later exhausted!!

These pictures of the kids reminded me today of the expression that is on my face half of the time living in foreign country and not being able to speak the language. Lots laughs and lots of memories!!

Shukkeien Garden's Sakura Night Display

During the cherry blossom season the Shukkeien Garden hosts a nightly illumination their cherry blossoms. The blossoms and other parts of the gardens are illuminated. It is a beautiful display of pinks, purples, and red blossoms against a quaint Japanese garden. Here are some pictures from our recent visit.

Sakura season!

We experienced our 1st Sakura, cherry blossom, season here in Japan and it was amazing. When you arrive in Japan everyone tells you that the most beautiful season in Japan is the cherry blossom season and they are right! Local residents rave about the beauty of the cherry blossoms and I didn't quite believe them until I finally witnessed them for myself.

The sakura blossomed late march/ early April each year. The Japanese people turn out in large numbers at parks, shrines, and temples with family and friends to hold flower-viewing parties, called "Hanami" parties. Many Hanami festivals are held to celebrate the beauty of the cherry blossom and for many are a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view. The custom of "Hanami" dates back many centuries in Japan.

We are very lucky to have cherry blossoms right outside of our windows at our apartment. One Saturday we decided we would hike around Hijiyama park and view all the cherry blossoms.

 

Typical Hanami party set-up!

 

A picture of a typical Japanese cemetery.

Trip to Fukuoka and a few random pictures

Just a normal meal for Cameron- Batman headphones, Batman bowl, juice, jammies, and Mickey chicken nuggets!

A picture from a lunch out with some ladies from church. They are always so kind to let me try to practice my Japanese! 

The kids had a week off from school at the beginning of March and we decided to take a long weekend and drive down to Fukuoka.  Fukuoka is a city on the Japan island of Kyushu. On our way we stopped in Yamaguchi and visited the Akiyoshidai caves. The limestone caves were a great way to escape the rainy day!  

In Fukuoka we spent the 1st day visiting Uminonakamichi Seaside park. The park was huge with a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, go-carts, water obstacle course, a zoo, 3 huge playgrounds, miniature golf, and a huge cloud jumping pillow. We practically had the park to ourselves since we visited on a Friday. The park was so huge you could take a train to visit each part of the park.

We also visited Robosquare later in the day and saw Japan's fascination with robots come alive!

Mike and I were able to attend endowment sessions at the Fukuoka LDS temple during our trip and on Sunday after church we took the kids to see the temple. Land is so scarce and precious in Japan that the Fukuoka temple has no grounds surrounding it. It is also right next to the zoo so a huge Coco-Cola billboard blocks some of it's view from the road. Needless to say though, it was still beautiful inside and out. When you enter it is hard to believe you are still in a large busy city because it is so peaceful!

 

Spring time happenings

Early in the spring-time we spent a Sunday afternoon and hiked Hiroshima's Silver Peace Pagoda. The pagoda is on top of Mt. Futaba-yama just north of Hiroshima station. You spend about 40 minutes hiking to the top and are greeted with amazing views of Hiroshima Bay and views of the city. On your way up to the top you visit two shines; the Tōshō-gū Shrine and the Kinkō Inari Shrine. It was a great way to get all of the kids' energy out after 3 hours of church!

The day before Luke participated in a baseball clinic featuring Kenta Kurihara, a 1st baseman for the professional Japanese league Hiroshima Carp baseball team. Luke was the only "Gaijin" (foreigner) to attend. He had no idea who Kurihara San was but all the other kids went crazy when he arrived and participated in the some training skills with the kids.

Bentos

I recently took a class at the Hiroshima YMCA on bento box making. Bentos are popular in Japan as a single portion take-out meal from a restaurant or a home-packed meal. All the Japanese children in L & J's school classes bring one every day and now they want me to send one with them too. The funny thing is that I doubt L& J would really eat anything in the bento boxes.  Bento boxes usually included rice, fish or meat, and pickled or cooked vegetables.

Here is a picture of typical bento box an adult would buy from a restaurant:

 

(Thank you to justbento.com for the picture)

 

 Here is a picture of a more American child friendly bento:

This is super cute and the kids would eat this. I just don't know if I want to get up even earlier to cut shapes out of cheese!

 

Here is the bento I made at my class:

Our bento boxes included sushi, cooked egg, pickled radish and carrot, sweet beans, grapes,  tomatoes, and cooked meat.

 

I have now found one thing that I want to take back to the USA and that is a jubako box. A jubako box  refers to a box consisting of two to five stacked sub-boxes, in which food is stored. We had a Japanese family over to our house for dinner and the mother brought her food in a jubako wrapped in a furoshiki (scarf). It was beautiful!!!

Here is an example of a jubako box that you can buy on ebay (they are a little bit nicer here though):

 



Luke's birthday!

Luke is officially 6 years old!

On his officially birthday we headed to an indoor playground afterschool and stopped by McDonalds afterwards. In the USA the kids hated McDonalds, but here in Japan they love it due to the happy meals or "Hapi Setto" as they say here. The happy meals here include these Japanese toys the kids love and there is a choice of a pancakes for a meal- so Luke is sold!

Luke decided to have a Ninjago-lego themed birthday party and he invited 6 children from his school class, since he was turning 6 years old. It was quite the international birthday with friends from Japan, Mexico, USA, and Ukraine!



Happy New Years!

Happy Year of the Horse!

The Japanese New Year celebration, Oshugatsu, is the biggest holiday in Japan. The New Year celebration often lasts an entire week somewhere around December 28th-January 6th. Leading up to New Year’s Eve, all the Japanese housewives spend their time "osoji" (cleaning) as part of the Oshogatsu ritual—a Japanese equivalent of “spring cleaning.”  The Japanese believe this is a good time to “purify” one’s environment—allowing for a fresh start for the coming twelve months. After cleaning is completed then it is on to cooking large amounts of food that can be easily stored for the Japanese housewives. The intention behind this custom is that once January 1st comes everyone can rest for 3 days. I asked a lady at church if she was getting ready for the new year and she just moaned.  I might have to agree with her- it sounds exhausting!

Celebrating the new year in Japan also means paying special attention to the first time something is done in the new year. Hatsuhinode is the first sunrise of the year. Before sunrise on January 1, people often drive to the coast or climb a mountain so that they can see the first sunrise of the new year. Many people in Hiroshima drive or hike up to the silver peace pagoda on the top of Mt. Futaba-yama. 

 

View of Hiroshima from Mt. Futaba-yama (thanks to ja.japantourist.jp- since we were too lazy!)

Hatsumōde is the first trip to a shrine or temple.

Many people visit a shrine after midnight on December 31 or sometime during the day on January 1. If the weather is good, people often dress up or wear kimonos. Since we have small children we skipped seeing the first sunrise but did venture out to Hiroshima Gokoku Jinja Shrine next to the Hiroshima Castle. As you can tell it was very busy! We ventured out with our expat friends and had a good time sampling the food booths as we waiting in line to enter the shrine, toured the grounds of the Hiroshima Castle, and enjoying the decorated shrine.

 Our friends, The Gepford family waiting patiently!

 

Here is a picture of our decorated lobby. In the middle is the traditional kagami-mochi decoration, 2 mochi (boiled rice cakes) stacked with a tangerine on top. You will also see kadomatsu decorations everywhere too. Our apartment complex had a picture of one posted, but every department store, train station, school, sometimes even 7-elevens had real ones placed out in front of their buildings.

Kadomatsu Decoration