Setsubun (Bean Throwing Festival)

Setsubun is a bean throwing festival held every February 3^rd. It's the first day of spring according to the lunar calendar. Setsubun is about getting rid of evil and bringing in fortune. People throw beans out windows and doors of their homes and also go to shrines and temples. We went to Seto-Jinja Shrine to participate in the festivities. When we lived here from 2008-2010 I took the girls to Hasedera, a temple in Kamakura. It's not a national holiday, but it's celebrated throughout Japan. Even Google celebrated...see the screen capture from my computer below. 

We hopped on the train as soon as school was out and stopped at a convenience store to pick up oni (ogre or monster) masks and some beans. You’re supposed to eat the number of beans to match your age for good luck and fortune. As much as I love the roasted soy beans, I didn't eat 35…I did have eight though. The girls each ate their age in beans and were sure to count aloud while doing so.

We got to the shrine a few minutes after they had started but were still able to get a good spot to stand in. The girls were so excited to catch beans and after a few minutes remember doing it before. We went to a small shrine, but at the larger ones in Tokyo they'll have sumo wrestlers and celebrities throwing the beans. They're in little packages that fit in my palm. On some packages are stickers...if one you catch has a sticker you win a prize. We didn't win a prize, but, to be honest, it's about the experience and culture submersion for us. I think it's important. 

We didn't catch any beans during the first set. A gentleman in front of us gave the girls one packet each. So sweet and generous of him! There were bows all around and hugs too. While the priests and important members of the shrine were throwing beans the MC was yelling "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" That translates into Out with demons! In with fortune! You'll hear him if you watch the 45 second video below. If you subscribe and get the posts in your email you may need to click the link at the top of the message to view the video on the website. 

Making an offering & prayer

We were there for maybe 90 minutes and had a wonderful time. People were so kind and welcoming to us. A few even translated for us to let us know what would be happening, when and what it's meaning was. The later it got the more kids arrived. At the end the adults moved to the back and all the kids were in front. On the way out we bought the traditional Setsubun food, eho-maki. They're sold at grocery and convenience stores too. When people eat them they face the direction that's good luck for that particular year. This year it was west-southwest.   

Our beans, roll and masks at home

Baked Cheesecake Kit Kats

You read that right...bakeable Kit Kats! They're Bake 'n Tasty Mini Kit Kats to be exact. A kind stranger translated the package for me when I bought them. Last year they came out with bakeable custard pudding Kit Kats and I was sad to miss them. Fast forward to last Monday and I found the boxes with three mini packages at a convenience store for less than ¥150. I bought two boxes so we'd be able to taste test them "raw" and after they were in the oven.

We don't have a toaster oven so I put them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and under the broiler for a few minutes. They darkened fairly quickly so keep a close eye on them. There are instructions on the back...they don't do me much good, even with Google Translate, so I stood in front of the oven with my daughters diligently watching.

We let them cool for a minute or two, I snapped a picture and they were scarfed down! My younger daughter preferred them before they went into the oven and my older daughter and I loved them after. Not only did they taste like cheesecake, the texture was spot-on. The cookie inside wasn't crunchy...they were perfect! We'll be buying more if I can find them again...I looked in five or six stores (including grocery stores) before finding them.

I found the commercial for them on YouTube. If you subscribe to Pass the Chopsticks and receive it in your email you may need to visit this post directly in order to view the video.

It's Buu Buu, Not Oink Oink!

In Japan pigs don't say "Oink," they say "Buu!" It sounds like "boo" and then "u" which rhymes with to. The Hiragana says "Buu" on each foot.

I emailed my friend Mayumi and asked her about it and here's what she had to say:
Those letters are Hiragana. 『ぶ』 ( Bu ) and 『う』 ( U ). 『ぶう』 is the "sound" we would say
if we wanted to put a word explaining about pigs. Your other three toes have a pig on each, so, I guess they put the word.

I bought these toe socks in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo and they've become a big hit with the girls. Every time I wear them they don't stop with the "This Little Piggy" nursery rhyme.

This little piggy went to the market,
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef, This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy cried "Wee! Wee! Wee!" all the way home.

My friend Laurel teaches English to Japanese kids at a school nearby. She said they play this out once a week and the kids get excited yelling "Buta!" Buta is the Japanese word for pig, and that's how they ask her to do it. Instead of a piggy buying roast beef, in her version it buys pizza. At the end she'll chase them around during the "Wee! Wee! Wee!" part and they climb under the tables trying to hide from her!

Azuki Pepsi - It's Red and We Love It!

We've had a few different flavors of Pepsi released since we've been here, and the most recent flavor, Azuki, came out on Tuesday. Click here to see my post about those; Blue Hawaii, White Yogurt and Shiso.

I got a bottle at 7-11 down the street from our house for ¥125 (about $1.40 with the exchange rate) but didn't try it until Wednesday morning. I liked it a lot and Sydney did too, so once Keanna was off to school she and I headed out into town to buy some more. I wanted to get a couple of bottles for Bob too, since it won't be available by the time he comes home. It's actually written in Kanji that it's limited edition.

It's sweet and yummy and I have another bottle chilling in the fridge right now. The after taste was mostly like regular Pepsi, but there was still a little sweetness to it. Azuki is a red bean, and I've always seen it in a paste form inside breads. But I've seen it in one other form, Kit Kats! Almost a year ago there was a Kit Kat flavor that involved azuki beans; click here to see my post about it. According to Wikipedia, In East Asian cuisine the azuki bean is commonly eaten sweetened. In particular, it is often boiled with sugar, resulting in red bean paste (an), a very common ingredient in all of these cuisines; it is also common to add flavoring to the bean paste, such as chestnut.

At 3F, the store Sydney and I went to on Wednesday, I asked the clerk (and in Japanese, go me!) if she liked it. She answered (in Japanese and I understood!) that she likes it better in bread and that it was so-so in the Pepsi. After we walked out and tried it we walked back in and Sydney said, "Oishii desu," (it's delicious) and I told her (in Japanese) that I preferred it in the Pepsi over the bread. She chuckled, commended Sydney on her Japanese and even clapped, I bought a couple more bottles, the three of us bowed and we were on our way.

Have I mentioned how much I love living in this country?!

Things that Remind Me I Live in Japan

Here's a sampling of pictures I've taken over the last couple of months...it's the little things like these that make me smile, laugh, and sometimes wonder "What the heck are they thinking?!"

I prefer plain cheese pizza and I'm willing to try new things, but asparagus and pepper? We've all seen the info-mercials for ProActiv, but look at this ProActiv vending machine! It still doesn't beat my favorite Liquor Shop vending machine. Click here to see that!















Decisions, decisions....tuna pizza, German trio or Wafu pizza?












It's not just a big bowl of ramen, it's UFO BIG! Do you think men can/will eat this SHEs yogurt?












That's a jar of baby food...rice, fish and seaweed. Did you notice the ages it's appropriate for? 0-100. I don't like Oreos, but look, it's a banana Oreo bar!












This sign was hanging in the train. Who knew McDonalds sold hot dogs? And this is a sign we always see after leaving a construction zone. We've been here for 15 1/2 months and I still love the bowing! It's on signs everywhere and I always smile whenever I see it.

More Fun with Japanese Egg Molds

And what shape is it this time? Today I found a Hello Kitty egg mold (thanks Jessie!) and literally squeeled with excitement! I posted about using Japanese egg molds last month; if you want to see it, along with pictures, click here.

Hard boil the egg the way you normally would. I put it on the stove and when the water starts to boil I pull them off the heat and let them sit for 11 minutes. After that I put it in a bowl of cold water to help the peeling process.

The egg has to go into the egg mold while warm, and then into cold water once in the mold. So I peeled the egg, put it in warm water, into the mold, into a bowl of ice water, and about 20 minutes later I pulled it out and hoped for the best. She came out all right; next time I'll use a smaller egg. But so many details...she's even got whiskers!

Japanese Egg Molds

We love hard boiled eggs, and since Japan is home to the Bento, finding fun things to do with food is easy here. I found these six Japanese egg molds at a couple of different ¥100 stores near our house. I've only tried the heart and star before, but tonight wanted to try out the others. They come two in a pack for ¥100, so about $1 USD. I'm not a fan of the bento boxes, but when I saw these I couldn't pass them up!

All three packages I bought had an "L" on the label, so I assumed that meant for a large egg. I used large eggs in the four I did, but they were still a little too big, so next time I'm going to use medium eggs. Actually, I had two large eggs from Japan and two large eggs from the U.S. (bought at the commissary on base). The Japanese eggs were fine, the American eggs were too big.

Hard boil the eggs the way you normally would. I put them on the stove and when the water starts to boil I pull them off the heat and let them sit for 11 minutes. After that I put them in a bowl of cold water to help the peeling process. As you can see below it didn't do much good! I need more practice, but at least with the fish the scale design did a decent job of covering up my mistakes.

The directions were on the back of the package and entirely in Japanese. A friend of mine translated it for me. I didn't write it down but tried to remember what she said. The eggs have to go into the egg mold while warm, and then into cold water once in the mold. So I peeled the eggs, put them in warm water, into the mold, into a bowl of ice water, and about 20 minutes later I pulled them out and hoped for the best. It's easy to clean up the edges; I used a paring knife after they came out of the molds.

These could be used for more than just eggs; chocolate or Jell-o are the first two that come to mind. They wouldn't have the design on both sides, but a flat bottom would be nice for laying them on a dish or platter. Maybe add a little alcohol to the Jell-o making them fancier Jell-o shots?!

Japan's Junior Screen Magazine: Twilight Special

This is for the "Twilight" fans out there. I found this magazine late last week and scanned some of the pages and took pictures of the rest. I've included Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart's pages. Click on the images to enlarge them. There are also two fold-out posters, one of Rob and the other of Kristen.

I have more from this magazine and uploaded them to Flickr. Click here to see them all....I think 24 or 25 in all.

Check out my other post about "Twilight," and this includes the Japanese trailer, the 11 books and the illustrations inside.

Japanese Car Accident

April's Fool's Day is supposed to be funny. You're supposed to play a prank on someone, maybe even more than one person. I had a couple of ideas in mind but didn't get the chance to follow through. My April Fool's Day was anything but funny!

Have you ever been in a car accident? How about a car accident in a foreign country? How about a foreign country that doesn't speak English? On Wednesday I was driving the kids home from school and we were less than five minutes from the house when I saw a car pulling out of a parking lot. I swerved right (don't forget, we drive on the other side of the road) to avoid her, but it didn't work. She hit the passenger door (on the left side of the car), the back quarter panel and side of the bumper. She pulled out onto the road and turned right, only I was right there and she didn't see me. For you local readers, it happened on Route 24 almost across the street from Maruetsu. She pulled out of the parking lot that's behind the police officer.

The Japanese police were there in about three minutes! I pulled over and called the base police. We live in Ikego, not on the main base (Yokosuka), so I called the Ikego emergency number to have the MPs (military police) come out. After that I called my friend since I had her child in the car with me, and then I called Bob at work. I've never called him at work [here] before because we've never had an emergency. He was in a meeting and called me back about 10 minutes later. About 15 minutes after that he showed up. The MPs arrived a few minutes before Bob, and with them came the liaison. The liaison is bilingual and communicates/translates for everyone. The person driving behind me happened to be an American and she pulled off in front of me and stayed until the MPs arrived. So Kristen in Ikego, thank you very much! You helped calm my nerves and I truly appreciate you taking the time to stay with me. The woman that hit us came over to see if we were all right. She was very kind, didn't speak a word of English and was obviously shaken. She apologized saying "Gomenasai" a few times and I smiled and nodded my head. I wasn't sure exactly what to say or do because Japanese law is different than in the U.S.

I didn't need Bob to come out there. Everything was being handled, we were all fine and only a couple of minutes from home. The MPs were going to follow me back anyway, so him coming wouldn't be necessary. But he showed up anyway which ended up being a relief, and his command was very gracious. He didn't have to go back in to work and they even called a couple of times to check on us and make sure we were all right.

I always carry my little camera with me. It's a tiny thing that takes video and doesn't even have a view finder. It's not much bigger than a cell phone, and naturally I took pictures while we were waiting. My car and her car, then the Japanese police van and police officer. After we got home Bob asked me if I was going to blog about it. It hadn't occurred to me right away, my nerves were a bit rattled and my hands had just stopped shaking. When he saw me sorting through pictures and starting a rough draft he chuckled.

The ball is rolling with the insurance and all that jazz and now it's a waiting game to see if the car will be repaired or if we'll get another one. It's a 1997 Honda Odyssey and not worth a whole lot...just about all the Americans here drive junkers and they're passed down as people PCS. The passenger door in front (the driver door for you in the U.S.) won't open, the rear passenger door opens but feels like it'll fall off (and makes a creepy sounding noise) and the bumper on one side is kind of hanging off...but won't fall off. The bumper was also pushed up so it blocks the hatchback from opening.

We're all fine and that's what counts! The liaison from Security called this morning. She told me the woman that hit us called to ask about the kids and is worried about them. Oh, I forgot to mention that the woman's insurance company called Security the night of the accident to check up on the kids. Anyway, the woman wanted to bring something by Security for us and Security called and asked if that was all right. I reassured the liaison we're all fine and said it wasn't necessary, but the woman had already planned on coming. I asked if I should bring a thank you card down for her and she said it'd be nice. I asked what time she was coming because I wanted to go with the kids so she could see for herself that we're all fine and that the kids are running around and act as if nothing happened!

Shortly before we left I told the girls where we were going, what we were doing and who'd we be seeing. I told them the woman would be speaking Japanese and that we wouldn't understand her, but that someone would be there to translate for us. I also told them she would probably bow and apologize, and that they could bow back and give her a hug if they liked. We walked in and she immediately started bowing, Keanna bowed back, Sydney went to give her a hug and then Keanna joined in. It was a big group hug and the woman was clearly touched. We spent maybe five or six minutes there and had a nice translated chat. She has a two year old grandchild and felt terrible when she saw the kids in the car. She also brought us cookies, and cookies (the size of my hand!) help make everything better! I wrote a card which she opened and the liaison translated for her. I gave her an American card and she opened it backwards - we all chuckled at that. Japanese books, magazines, etc have the binding on the right side. She got a little teary eyed after hearing what the card said, bowed to me and I bowed back and gave her a hug.

And as for the cookies, they're delicious...and the 13"x9" tin came with 20 of them!