Plum blossoms start blooming in February in Japan.  (Please read my plum post for more information.)  In Japanese poems, February is already spring, but just now it sure doesn’t feel like that in DC.  Here is a 10^th century Japanese poem that reflects how I feel:

　梅が枝に                                branch of plum

　  きゐるうぐひす                     warbler is hidden

　　 春かけて                              spring premonition

　 鳴けども今だ                      although singing

   　　 雪は降りつつ               　   snow is falling

Yukimizake means to drink Japanese sake while you enjoy watching snow falling.  The word breaks down as follows: yuki = snow, mi = watch & zake = sake.  According to the rules that govern haiku poetry writing, spring begins in February when the plum trees blossom.  But we are still having snow days in Washington DC.  So I guess it’s all right to raise the topic of yukimizake in spite of the date.  Stay warm!

俳句の世界ではもう春。東京も暖かくなってきているようですね。ワシントンDCはまだまだ寒く、この間の大雪も残っているし、時々雪がちらつく日もあります。という理由で、雪見酒でした～。

 The kotatsu is a wooden table with an attached heater inside and covered with a blanket.  It’s a common way to keep us warm in winter In Japan.  Nowadays the heater is electric, but charcoal was used for the original kotatsu in early 1900’s.  The electric version was invented in the 1950’s.

One disadvantage of the kotatsu is that once you get in it, you don’t want to get out.  People turn into snails…see?

It’s so common that people even make food out of this image.  lol

“Mountain Moon after Rain” or “雨後の山月　時致” by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka (月岡芳年) 1885

This is one of Ukiyo-e.  Please read my Ukiyo-e post for more details.  This theme is the revenge of Soga siblings (曾我兄弟の仇討ち).  It is one of three major (historically famous) revenges in Japan.  This picture is the younger brother, Tokimune before he goes for the revenge for his father.

“Happy New Year” is “Akemashite Omedetō Gozaimasu” (あけまして おめでとう ございます) in Japanese.

New Year’s Eve is called “Ōmisoka (大晦日)” in Japanese.  Through the ages Japanese people have believed that the Shinto God, Toshigami will visit each household on New Year’s Day.  Therefore, in Japan we clean the entire house thoroughly by Ōmisoka.  Traditionally on Ōmisoka in Japan we prepare Osechi for New Year’s, and we eat Toshikoshi soba for dinner (please click on the links to read more about these)

It’s a Japanese tradition to eat noodles on New Year’s Eve.  Noodles are long, so they symbolize long life and family good fortune.  Therefore, to Japanese people, eating noodles is like wishing people good luck.  Especially soba noodle are said to be good because they are so easy to cut.  People relate the breakable texture of soba to cutting off bad luck.

Very Japanese!!!  メリークリスマス！

In Japan we celebrate Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

Since ancient times, the main religions in Japan have been Shinto and Buddhism, and many Japanese are not too familiar with the Christian Bible. The typical images of Christmas that we know in Japan are gifts and Santa Claus. As a result, we have developed our own Christmas traditions. We don’t celebrate Christmas Day much. Instead, we celebrate Christmas Eve with family or special friends. When we spend it with our family, chicken from KFC is THE traditional food. We usually have a cute cake with it. Anyone who has a sweetheart or “significant other” typically likes to spend Christmas Eve with that person. It’s a lot like Valentine’s Day in America. Couples may go out to an amusement park, a museum, a theater, a romantic restaurant, etc., but Japanese guys have to make plans and reservations months in advance. 😉

Christmas is almost here!

This is a Baskin Robbins Christmas Cake from Japan – 3600 yen (about $30)

By the way, Baskin Robbins is called “Thirty One” in Japan. 🙂

There is a new kind of café with an interesting concept in Japan.  It is called an “Aiseki café”.  Aiseki means “sharing a table” in Japanese, and in an Aiseki café customers share a table speed dating style.  Every customer has to switch tables a few times every hour according to the café policy.  The first one opened in June, 2015 in Kurume, Fukuoka, and another in August, 2015 in Ginza, Tokyo.  There may be more, but these are what I found online.  More Aiseki cafés are coming soon.  There are Aiseki bars & Aiseki restaurants also.

In 1954, Toho Production Company made the first Godzilla movie, and since then Toho has made 28 more Godzilla films.  As I mentioned in my Shin Godzilla post, Toho is now at work on a new Godzilla movie for summer 2016.  Toho also opened the Toho Building (unofficially known as the “Godzilla Building”) in Tokyo in April, 2015.  This building features a huge Godzilla and offers hotel rooms from which you can see Godzilla just outside your window.  Although it has been more than 11 years since their last Godzilla movie, Toho is successfully drawing Japanese people’s attentions to Godzilla once again.

These amazing body paint art pieces are done by Chooo-san or Hikaru Cho.  Some of them were done when she was only a college student 19 years old.  Now she is 22 and has been on many TV shows and held many art exhibits in Japan.  She says that she does not use any computer graphics, and her paintings are all done with acrylic paint only.

Parasyte is the title of a SF manga written by Hitoshi Iwaaki (岩明 均) (b. 1960) between 1988 and 1995. In this story parasites come to earth and start taking over the brains of humans.  The story raises questions such as “Why do we exist?” “How should different species coexist?” “Is it right to kill other species?” and characters explore the meaning of our existence throughout the story.  Although the manga version of Parasyte was very popular, the anime version was only made in 2014.  It took almost 20 years because the production rights to Parasyte were bought by an American company, but they never made use of them.  It took 15 years for these rights to expire.  Anyway, the anime is awesome!  I love it.  I have watched it about 20 times.  lol  (There is also a live-action movie version, but personally I don’t recommend it.)

Japanese people say they have “autumn appetite.”  It means that you feel hungrier in the fall than in any other season.  This could be from the fact that many crops are harvested in the fall so that food is abundant then, and also the fact that people recover their appetites once the summer heat has ended and their bodies begin to prepare for the cold winter ahead.  I have noticed that I have been putting up many food posts recently, but that must be quite normal for this season.

There are many Starbucks stores in Japan, and some of the items they sell are the same as the Starbucks in the U.S., but also you see different menu items.  As I mentioned last month, chestnuts are very popular in Japan.  (Please read Chestnuts & Mont Blanc for more details.)  One item found in Japanese Starbucks at this time of year is “Roast Nutty Chestnut”, which sounds like a drinkable version of a Mont Blanc.  Yummmm!

In Japan, Mont Blanc is a very popular cake made with chestnut paste.  It came from Europe originally in 1933, but has since been modified to Japanese people’s taste.  It is called Mont Blanc because it’s supposed to resemble the appearance of Mont Blanc in the Alps.  A classic Mont Blanc cake is a cupcake with whipped cream & chestnut paste on top, but today there are many fashionable variations, too, such as a Mont Blanc pie, tart, Swiss roll, etc.