Japanicked

Lessons in Hiragana and Homemaking

[japanicked]

Sumida-gawa Hanabi

Japanese Word of the Day: Hanabi - fireworks

K’s birthday falls on the weekend of a huge fireworks festival in Tokyo. And by huge I mean HUGE. Nearly 1 million people line the banks of the Sumida River and surrounding streets in Tokyo to watch two groups of fireworks experts launch their best and brightest.

We went last year while my mom was visiting and wound up rained out, huddled together with a bunch of strangers under a parking garage awning for an hour or so before making our way into what remains the most packed subway station I have Ever seen.

This year we thought we had it down. I knew that people showed up early in the day to mark their spots with tarps and tape. You see here, even in an enormous and populous city like Tokyo, there’s no “move your feet lose your seat” policy. You marked your place, you can leave for the rest of the day and come back to find your area unmolested. Bearing that in mind, we made reservations in Tokyo for the night before and I woke up at 4:30am to head down to the river to mark our spot. 

Now we had acquired an enormous tarp just for this purpose but of course I forgot it at home and was forced to run around the night before trying to track down an acceptable replacement. In the hotel gift shop I found noren or Japanese style hanging curtain panels. I got the cheapest pair available. They were decorated with a huge Lucky Cat. Curtains in hand I went down to the river and wandered around for an hour in the already 85 degree heat with 80% humidity (real feel 93 degrees according to my phone) at 5am! Many of the spots had been marked off the night before and there were a fair number of people who had camped out and made a party of it the night before. Nonetheless, I found the perfect spot, taped my curtains to the ground and returned to the hotel to sleep.

Secure in the knowledge that we had our spot already reserved we let the kids swim all day and generally just hung around the hotel. Around five we headed for the river. Now there were two subway stations pretty close to where I had laid out our spot.The station we headed to was on the opposite side of the river but even with crossing the bridge it was still going to be closer. Good plan right?

Yeah, they close the bridges a few hours before the show starts. So there we are wandering around the streets; hot, sweaty and miserable; completely cut off from the spot that I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to claim. I’m going to be honest with you…I was in tears. It was a disaster.

We ended up following the crowd down the street catching little bits of the fireworks over the tops of the buildings as they started to go off. At some point the crowd came to a stop, completely clogging the street and blocking our way. Some people sitting on a huge tarp nearby kept eying us and then one of the women jumped up and came over to ask us to join them. We politely declined but they insisted. They welcomed us into their group. We all shared snacks and wound up with a picnic of chips, cheese sticks, edamame and cake. It was a perfect spot, we got a fantastic view of the fireworks right in between a couple of buildings. K cracked everyone up by screaming and cheering and clapping at all of the fireworks, and wandering around trying to steal everyones food.

It turned out to be a pretty fun night. Hooray for the kindness of strangers! I hope whoever found and eventually took home our curtains feels the same way. 

The next post is going to be awhile in coming. I’m in the process of moving my little blog over to a location that I think it will be easier for family and friends to get to. Hope you guys like the upcoming changes!

[japanicked]

Handmade in Japan Fes

Japanese word of the day - Tedzukuri: hand made or hand crafted

This past weekend I heard about a Handmade Japan Festival taking place down in Odaiba at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center and knew I just had to go. Can you imagine how many amazing and kawaii things would be at something like that? I went for inspiration for my sewing projects…not to buy stuff.

Definitely not to buy stuff.

Oh My Gosh You Guys Look At This Stuff!!

It’s a very good thing I did not inherit my mom’s jewelry obsession because I’d say about 70% of it was adorable Japanese style, dainty, geometric jewelry. All of which I absolutely loved.

But I did not go to buy stuff.

Cutesy taxidermy is big. There were at least three stands specializing in it.

How gorgeous are these? Pretty sure I’ll never have the skill to accomplish them myself.

But I did not go to buy stuff.

All the things kooky and kawaii.

Bread lamps

Pandwiches (see what I did there?!?)

And on and on! But I did not go to buy stuff.

Gorgeous works of art.

(I want this as a fabric so Badly)

There were even artists creating large scale works live over the course of the weekend! It was amazing!

So I may have bought some stuff…

I mean who could resist?!? I think I actually exercised some pretty good self control all things considered.

Oh and the whole thing was put on by Creema which is basically Japanese Etsy so if you want some handcrafted Japanese art and goods, now you know where to find them. :)

[japanicked]

Tokyo Banana

Japanese word of the day: miyagegashi- signature souvenir sweet. Many areas or major cities have their own signature omiyage. 

Our big weekend of exploring Tokyo and taking in a Lantern Festival involved a trip to Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station is a twisty underground maze of a mall filled with shops, restaurants and this thing:

"Dude I said back off!"

While researching things to eat we came across a bunch of online chatter about Tokyo bananas. We have lived in Tokyo for almost Two Years now and this was the first we’d heard of them. They’re the signature sweet of Tokyo and certain Tokyo landmarks have their own versions that are only available at that landmark. The basic Tokyo banana is basically a super yummy banana pudding stuffed, banana shaped twinky. 

Official!

We got the basic banana but Tokyo Station has it’s own version that involves caramel and Sky Tree has one with chocolate. Expect to see more pictures of these things soon.

We are on a mission…

[japanicked]

Noryo No Yube

Japanese word of the day: Chōchin - paper lantern

Last weekend I read about a paper lantern festival taking place in the moat of the Imperial palace. Sounded like a cool experience so we booked a hotel, loaded up the kids and headed to Tokyo. The first night we got in we went and explored Yoyogi park, the Mejiji shrine and Harajuku. The next day we went Akihabara which is the tech, gaming and anime district of Tokyo. Jay and I took turns exploring some very entertaining anime shops. One of us generally had to be outside with the kids because of “great” things like this:

And this is a relatively tame item.

We also stumbled across this absurd giant wearable Panda head which the kids found hilarious so we bought it. Then the kids took turns wearing it around Tokyo and basically making everyone’s day.

Everyone kept shouting "Panda san" and waving.

Next it was off to Tokyo station where we were looking for sweet treats. Took us two years but we finally tried Tokyo bananas. I’ll tell you all about that in the next post though.

Finally we headed over to the Imperial Palace moat for the lantern show and of course by that time the camera died. My poor phone tried valiantly to step in but it just wasn't the same. Still, here are some pictures of the night. 

I may not have gotten any good shots but it was pretty surreal to see people in traditional Japanese dress floating chōchin on the Imperial Palace moat. A little slice of the past displaced and on display for us right there in Tokyo.

I really love living here.

[japanicked]

Crazy busy week! We've been in Tokyo 4 out the past 5 days! Promise to get a post done soon. In the meantime, this is definitely my favorite public service poster ever. And what a freakin smart concept. Why have these not always been around?

[japanicked]

Picnic in the Park Part 3

Japanese word of the day: suraido (pronounced srido) - here’s another one of those katakana words that is essentially an English word with a Japanese pronunciation. Can you guess it? 

Slide!

The park we visited this last weekend is informally called the obstacle course park by everyone on base. It’s made up of a bunch of wood and rope climbing equipment. There’s even a kid sized zip line. It’s basically a great place to take your kids to tire them out. Or tire yourself out. The various playgrounds sit atop their own individual, very steep hills. You repeatedly climb up and down massive staircases built into the hills to access anything you want to do. I told J beforehand that it was good practice for Fuji and he laughed at me. Then we got there and he wasn’t laughing anymore. 

One of the best features of this park (other than the built in workout) is the slide. The designers made use of the hilly terrain and built the slide so that it twists and turns all the way down one of the big hills. 

Again, great for tiring your kids out. Or yourself if, say, your toddler insists you ride down with her and then you feel the need to carry her back up so she doesn’t fall down the stairs and break her neck. And she loves it so she asks you do it approximately 20 times. I stopped counting when I lost the ability to feel my feet.

It is crazy fun though. I managed to get some great pictures of Little J & E while taking a breather halfway up on one of my trips with K. Side note, I have a sneaking suspicion I’m not ready for Fuji this year…

E the daredevil.

Little J the ever so graceful.

And K and Mommy.

[japanicked]

Picnic at the Park Part 2

Japanese word of the day: edamame - soybean

I’ve recently been Hulu binging on the Mindy Project and there’s this great scene in the second season where Danny and Mindy are on a double date (with other people) at a Japanese restaurant. She says something about the edamame and he snaps at her “They’re called soybeans. They’re from Iowa.”

Well not these soybeans! These are 100% edamame, straight from Japan, brought to you by your neighborhood... 7-11….

7-11 brand edamame. Yup.

The best part about our picnics here are the food. Stop at any gas station/convenience store (which are amazingly/suspiciously always organized the exact same way, even when it comes to different chains) for a fun assortment of little Japanese treats. 

Aside from your bagged edamame you’ve also got your onigiri or rice balls. Usually they’re stuffed with yummy things though on this trip we had one that was simply soaked in soy sauce. Did you know there’s no Japanese word for sodium? OK I’m making that up but I feel like they couldn’t possibly know of its existence or they’d worry about it more. We went in looking for yakiniku (remember that?) onigiri but settled for this one filled with miso veggies which turned out to be completely amazing.

Other common treats include sandwich rolls stuffed with yakisoba or fried noodles. Yes, that’s right, fried noodle sandwiches. There’s also fried chicken and various other fried things. Did you know there’s no Japanese word for calorie? Yeah ok made that up again. Then on to the various carbonated drinks.

I bought this drink because…

I mean come on. Look at what it’s called. You would’ve bought it too. It’s actually carbonated orange juice and man was it yummy. They also have a carbonated milk soda type thing called calpis (sounds like cow piss, I kid you not) which is quite tasty as well. I’ll get you guys some pictures of it soon. 

So these are the treats we stocked up on before heading out to the park where the kids and I had a blast on this giant slide that’s built all the way down the side of a mountain. I’ve got some great pictures of the kids on that but you’ll have to come back next time for them.

Hey guys, did you know there’s no Japanese word for carb?

[japanicked]

Picnic at the Park Part 1

Japanese word of the day: kabutomushi- rhinoceros beetle or horned beetle

Have I talked about the really weird, freaky, terrifying bugs that we run into here in Japan? I did not know it before I moved out here but Japan is pretty high up there on the list of creepy critters. They come out in full force during the spring and summer. We are constantly inundated with nasty tiger mosquitos that don’t leave little bites, they leave huge welts and from what I’ve read are generally nastier than most other mosquito varieties.

Then there are the extremely poisonous Japanese hornets which…let me just let one of my favorite web cartoonists, The Oatmeal, take this one:

Then there is this guy. We ran into him at a nearby park on Sunday. 

And here’s a picture from the internet taken by someone who likely did not have a baby strapped to their chest and a toddler pulling their arm (just guessing).

I don’t think he’s particularly scary as I’ve seen them for sale in pet stores. Wikipedia says they’re used in epic battles where two males try to shove each other off a log. Because nothing screams virility like a shoving match. This guy was mostly trying to get a speared leaf off his horn. Considering the difficulty he was having with that task I don’t think I would put any money on him in the great log battles. 

I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for more fun friends but seriously, now that you’ve seen some of the weird, gross insects out here, doesn’t Mothra make so much more sense? 

I have a bunch of pictures of our picnic at the park going up soon so keep an eye out!

[japanicked]

Happy Fourth of July!

Japanese word of the day: Tsuyu- plum rain, the early summer rainy season here in Japan, so named because it coincides with plum season.

Well our Fourth of July was not exactly as planned. J got called into work so it was just me and the kiddos soaking up the...drizzly wetness. Not that they minded. J and E ran around with their friends playing all the games and filling up the diaper bag with prizes and K ran around being K. She splashed in puddles, she spent about an hour laughing at the "wacky tube man" by one of the stands and proudly carried around a little red balloon. That is until she saw one of the event guys carrying off a giant parade float type balloon, dropped hers on the ground and ran after him shouting "Up! Balloon! Up!"

Any guess what her favorite movie is right now? I'll give you three guesses. The first two don't count. 

It was quite a momentous day for me though. You see back when I first took up crochet I also took up sewing. I thought it would be something I could sit on the couch at night and do while I watched tv. Then I realized that hand sewing is kind of a pain in the butt. Christmas rolled around and Santa brought me a sewing machine! I used it to finish sewing up this pillow case dress that I had started (using my hand sewing method) roughly 6 months prior and never finished. Then it sort of sat for a little while until I found a group of ladies on base who sew and do swaps. I joined in on one swap and was so proud of my (actually pretty sad) little mug rug that I was hooked. In the last few months I’ve made a passport cover for one of my Japanese students who loves to travel, a quilted wine tote bag for me (because it is too terrible to actually give to anyone else), and a skirt that was supposed to be for K but I’m pretty sure the online tutorial I followed was a lie because if she planned to actually move her legs the thing would’ve had to come off. So I put it on baby A instead which actually kind of worked. 

It’s just come to me that it’s possible that is the point of the skirt. Put your wayward toddler in a too tight skirt instead of leashing them. I may try that skirt on K again…

While I was in the states I got the idea in my head that I was going to try to complete one sewing project a week once I got home. The first week back we did absolutely nothing. The kids were waking up at 4am daily and I was a toothbrush-less zombie thanks to my suitcase’s decision to take a solo trip around the world. Over the last two weeks though I got my hands on some cute patriotic fabric and decided I was going to make 4th of July outfits for the girls. 

And I did!!

It’s a pretty big deal that I actually got them finished in time for the 4th. Of July. Of this year! Just ask my half-completed, crocheted bell Christmas ornaments that have been sitting on my nightstand since last August. So here they are in action:

Circle skirts for K and E. Twirly!

Made using this tutorial from Dana Made It

I also made a dress for baby A but there aren't really pictures of it because she spent the entire time in the baby carrier with a cover over her head to keep her dry.

My stateside family and friends are probably all getting ready for fireworks shows right about now so I'll leave you with the words of K actually seeing her first fireworks show:

"Look! Mommy! Look! SPARKLY!"

Happy Independence Day!! 

[japanicked]

Back At It

Has it really been 11 months since I've written something on here? Whoops!

Japanese Phrase of the Day: Oshiri fuki - wipes

We’ve been home from our trip to the states for about three weeks now and a few things have become quite apparent since our return. The first being, you people broke my baby! She used to be this super chill, happy, not fussy little lump of smiling chub but after being held and cuddled for a month straight by all of our family and friends she refuses to sit and hang out by herself now. She has to be held. All the time. I really do blame you guys.  Ok that might be the only thing but it’s a very big one!

Since we’ve been back it’s been right back into the swing of things. Baby A had an audition for a baby wipes commercial or ad our first week back so I hopped on a train to Tokyo with her strapped to me. The look on her face when she saw her first train approaching was pretty hilarious. Wish I’d thought to be ready to record it.  She of course had a giant booty blow out on the confined, air circulating subway car and that was when I realized that I didn’t have any wipes in the diaper bag. On the way to an audition for wipes. What if they wanted to see her butt? I freaked out about this all the way to my stop and hightailed it into a FamilyMart looking for wipes. This is easier said than done. 

I walked around the store grabbing various packages of what I assumed were wipes or tissues or various paper products  and then walking up to strangers I motioned to my babies butt asking “wet wipe?” Apparently my judgement on these sorts of things is terrible because they kept indicating no and finally someone took me over to a shelf of small plastic animals. She handed me a pig whose snout opened and sure enough, they were wipes. Why is everything so much cuter in Japan?

Piggy wipes in their natural habitat.

Gesundheit!

The people at the audition did not end up asking to see A’s butt, but if they had it would have been sparkling and fresh smelling! Much to our disappointment she also didn’t end up getting the job. I’m pretty sure it went to that blonde baby. On a completely unrelated note, what’s the earliest age you can safely die an infants hair? Just out of curiosity…

We’re pretty excited to be home though and I’m pretty excited to go back to sharing tales of our weird little life here in the land of the rising sun and animal shaped baby wipes packaging.

[japanicked]

Green tea crunch bar!! I love finding the Japanese versions of common US candies. KitKats be craycray.

[japanicked]

F*#% Fuji: The Sad Soggy Story Part 2

On Fuji there is an up path. It goes straight up the mountain. It's fast and involves a lot of scrambling up rocks and boulders. There's a windy, dirt, down path once you reach the top. This limits the congestion on the mountain and makes it a little easier for tired hikers to get back to their cars. As the guys continued climbing they started to run into people climbing down the up path. They tried to ask what was going on but no one spoke English. 

Almost at the top, they ran into a British couple who let them know that the top was closed and you couldn't really see anything due to the weather but if they wanted to at least say they climbed Fuji they only had ten more minutes to go. Five minutes later they ran into a lone stoner from the states. J said he looked and acted just like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. He repeated that everything was closed up there and when they asked why he was coming down the wrong path his explanation was the best thing ever.

"Maaan I was on the path and it was like woooooooaaahhhh, I'm going oooover! The wind, it's like, got a mind of its own. It was trying to get me!"  He asked if they were going to keep heading up and decided to tag along. J and his friends with Shaggy in tow finally reached the summit. They were met with spectacular views of their head lamps bouncing off the fog, the gravel and hail being blown into their faces and the unceasing, driving rain. 

They approached the down path but Shaggy was right; the wind was insane on the more exposed dirt path. There was no way they were going to make it down without someone blowing over. They decided to take shelter so they tried to go in the hut with beds, and tables but the Japanese employees wouldn't let them in. At this point everyone was shivering and probably close to hypothermia but J and one other guy were pretty bad in particular. They were turning blue and shaking violently.

One of the guys realized they needed to get inside so he went looking for something, anything.

There were a few locked wooden shacks that looked like they were used for storage. One of the locks was rusty so he kicked the door open, collected everyone and they huddled inside the drafty shack, thankful to at least be out of the rain.

Just then, there was a weak knock on the door.  They opened it to a waterlogged, blue lipped American couple asking if they could share their shelter. The couple  had also been turned away from the heated hut and couldn't make it down the mountain so they'd been huddled up against a rock waiting for the wind to die down. 

Out of the rain but still freezing no one was improving much and our hero from earlier realized they needed heat. They needed to be in that hut. He went up and pounded on the door nonstop until a guy opened it a crack to repeat "No no no. No come in." And started shutting the door. J's friend shoved his walking stick the door crack and forced it open. 

"We have sick people! We are coming in or people are going to die out there!" He yelled.

Whether they understood him or not, they finally understood the urgency and nodded that the climbers could come in. He gathered everyone up again, got everyone in the hut and wrapped in blankets. Everyone dried out and stopped shivering enough to eat and drink something. They recovered in the hut hoping the weather would clear up enough to see something and make it safer to head down the mountain. Never happened. After an hour the sky was significantly lighter; sunrise on Fuji! 

Exhausted and fed up they picked their moment of lighter winds and decided to run down the mountain. When strong gusts of wind buffeted them they grabbed each other and laid down on the ground to keep from going over. They made it off the mountain with no pictures, no views, no stamps, basically nothing to show for it but soggy ruined gear and night terrors. 

So, who's ready to come visit and do it with us?! :)

[japanicked]

F*&# Fuji: The Sad Soggy Story pt.1

The bus left around 7pm with about 25 airmen and significant others. Two hours later they were part way up the famed volcano at station 5, the starting point for their climb. The plan was to climb through the night, in the dark, and be at the summit to see the sunrise by 4:30am. They bought souvenir walking sticks, got them stamped with the official station 5 brand and started up. The party naturally split into small groups of friends, people with similar speed and strength and people who thought yoga pants and tank tops were appropriate mountaineering gear. 

J lives on a steady diet of Lucky Charms and Mountain Dew. Despite this (or maybe because of, must do scientific research) he was in the second group making their way quickly up the mountain. They reached station 6 in very little time, got their stamps and pressed on. Just past station 6 it started to rain. It came down as a fine sprinkle at first but before they reached 7 it was pouring. 

They stopped at the souvenir/stamp shop at station 7 but were refused stamps because they had allowed their sticks to get wet during the unrelenting storm.

They wouldn't get any more stamps during the climb. They decided to press on figuring the weather couldn't get much worse, it was tolerable and they were making good time. By station 8 the rain was torrential and the temperature had dropped significantly. The winds had picked up as well so they decided to look for shelter and wait out the storm a little bit. 

After searching around in the dark and rain they found some bathrooms; they were paid entry but it was the best they could find. One of the bathrooms was huge, the size of a locker room so they all fed in some coins and headed inside where they ran into more of their group. These guys had been faster up the mountain but also tried to wait out to rain. After half an hour the weather hadn't improved but some mountain employee came in and started yelling at them to get out. They found the souvenir hut and got directions to the Fujisan hotel, further up the mountain at the original 8th station. 

By the time they reached the hotel everyone was soaked through and shivering, thrilled to take shelter but the hotel was not exactly what they expected. It was a two room log cabin. One room had rows of bunk beds and the other rows of long tables. It was $10 an hour to sit at the tables, in assigned seats, and $50 if you wanted a bunk. They forked over their cash to get out of the rain but as they waited they watched groups of wet shivering people turned away because they didn't have enough yen to come in and sit down. 

Their hour of sitting was up at 3:40, they checked the temperature on the way out; below freezing. The rain was still coming down, or coming sideways, the winds had hit 80mph but at this point the climb back down the up path seemed more treacherous. With less than an hour left they charged up the mountain hoping it would all be worth it once they reached the top and the sun came out. 

All footage of the climb provided by J and his friends...or http://tlotrgifs.tumblr.com

yeah...that seems more likely. 

[japanicked]

F*#% Fuji

So on the 4th of July J climbed Fuji and it was epic in that the whole group almost died. So while I write out his whole story to share with you guys enjoy these awesome Japanese commercials I found.

[japanicked]

Fruits of Fancy

Japanese word of the day: Omiyage - souvenirs or gift giving. Gift giving, to include bringing something back from trips is considered a social obligation in Japan. These gifts are rarely permanent nicknacks (there's generally not space for that kind of thing in Japanese homes) but fruit or sake, things that can be consumed and enjoyed. 

I have this little produce market I frequent off base for its fresh food and super reasonable prices.  Way better than shopping on base.  I get bags and bags of produce and never walk out having spent more than 20 bucks. So you can imagine my surprise when right next to the 6 dollar cantaloupes I found these clearly superior cantaloupes. 

With the sinking exchange rate these bad boys are almost 20 bucks a piece.  Then there were these superior-er cantaloupes:

at Over Forty Dollars Each!

These guys are special cantaloupes meant to be given as gifts.  Extra care is taken in raising and selecting them.  The real kicker, these are dirt cheap. Comparatively.

Those better be some amazing cantaloupes, ridiculously delicious cantaloupes, freaking orgasmic cantaloupes for $160 bucks a piece. Of course I will never know.  The only time I spend over $100 bucks on fruit is when it's Apple.  

[allaboutami]

Aren’t these Super Bunnies AMAZING?  If they look vaguely familiar, it’s because they were made using my "Spring Bunnies" pattern!  Cathrine Johansson originally from Norway and currently living in London, England adapted my pattern to make these heroes including Super Bunny, Spider Bunny, Bat Bunny and Robin Bunny!  When I first saw her work on Instagram (@kittycatknit), I squealed with delight and told her that I HAD to feature them on my blog since they were so amazing!

Cathrine has been crocheting for 6-7 years, but she only started making amigurumi earlier this year.  She found out about my blog through my feature in the magazine "Simply Crochet" and has already made my Dragon and Teddy Ornaments.  Cathrine loves superhero films, and she was watching “The Amazing Spiderman" when she was working on a Spring Bunny.  This gave her the inspiration to try and make some little Super Bunnies!  I love how creative Cathrine was with the colour changes and felt shapes, and it really shows how you can adapt a pattern to make it your own!  Cathrine says that she plans on making the Avengers sometime in the future too!  

Please follow Cathrine on Instagram @kittycatknit to see more of her work, and don’t forget to tag me (@AllAboutAmi) and use the hashtag #AllAboutAmi to show me your crocheted creations using my patterns!  I love seeing them and featuring them on my blog :)  See the free Spring Bunnies pattern that these Super Bunnies were based on HERE!

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Can't wait till I move up to amigurumi!!

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Don’t eat me! Love me!

I swear the French/Japanese (or is it Japanese/French?) pastry shop makes the cutest little cakes! Clearly I need to go get them more often so I can post more pictures. Oh the sacrifices I am willing to make for my beloved readers (aka mom)!