Happy Thanksgiving

A Happy Belated Thanksgiving! We shared the holiday (on Sunday) with friends and enjoyed a tasty spread of good ole American Thanksgiving food. A Honeysuckle White Turkey thanks to Costco and Libby’s pumpkin pie! There was a slight glitch in plans in the minutes leading up to the feast as Roo developed a high temperature and fell asleep on the couch. Comfortable that his condition is likely due to his enormous tonsils that were scheduled to be taken out on Tuesday but won’t be now that he has a fever, and not due to a contagious germ, our friends came to our house instead of us going to theirs. Hence, the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy took a ride in the child stroller. I’m feeling thankful for easy going and flexible friends who arrive at the door with a cooked turkey, complete with sharpened knives!

Ishi Yaki Imo

Now that there is a chill in the air, I see this truck around the neighborhood almost everyday at about 3pm. You can hear it coming because the speakers project an eerie cadence of “ishi-yaki-imo, yaki-imo”. One day I took a closer look and realized the red box in the back contains an actual fire. You can see the flames from a short distance. My first reaction was towards safety as I thought of the gasoline tank below. The vendor is selling slow stone grilled sweet potatoes. I haven’t purchased one yet, but will because I hear they are delicious. I’ve noticed advertisements revering the sweet potato by picturing a beautiful young woman with her lips softly parted as she’s preparing to take a bite of the steaming potato flesh. I tend to imagine this sort of advertisement for chocolate mousse, not a vegetable. But then again, the Japanese transform beans into a sweet treat, so why not the potato too?

Book Review: The Boat

by Nam Le. Wow! This collection of short stories is powerful. It can take your breath away. Each story is from a different part of the world and provides insight into the people. Insight that transcends trite cultural characteristic but instead exposes the raw feelings associated with an event. The extraordinary talent of the author is quickly realized as you experience the deepness of emotion present in each story. If I had to recommend one book as an absolute read in the genre of ethnic fiction, it would be this. I look forward to reading more stories by this young author in the future.

Egypt

Hieroglyphics. Roo’s spoken this at least 50 times this evening. A grand word for a four year old, I think. This month’s theme at preschool was Egypt and the children showcased their knowledge to the parents today. Costumed in Egyptian warrior garb, they sang songs and spoke about Egypt. Roo’s token line said in tandem with one other child was “four dessert foxes” as he proudly held high a poster on a stick containing golden foxes. This morning before school Roo asked Ryan if he could look up on the computer the temperature in Egypt today. He likes to explain that the Nile is the LONGEST river in the world and that pyramids are really BIG. Maxima seems to be the most effective way to impress a four year old. He’s intrigued by anything that’s the “most“. I’m not sure I knew the Nile was the longest river in the world until college. In fact, when he first brought the subject up I had to think “is the Nile the longest or the Amazon, hmmm?”. Hey, at least I do know it’s not the Mississippi. Anyway, it was a cute show today.

Roo's Rocket

We put boxes from a shipment to good use and made a rocket ship! The red stuff in the back is fire but as Roo likes to point out, "it isn't going the right way". No school Monday, it's a holiday, so more play time with Daddy and friends are coming over.

Cooking Fish Class

Yesterday I attended a Japanese cooking class given by Elizabeth Andoh, founder of A Taste of Culture and author of “Washoku”. I always enjoy her classes because it’s a small group of 7 students, informative, hands-on, and we all leave with full bellies. In this class titled “Just Fish” we learned several options for preparing fish. Including the bits and pieces (e.g. the chunks left over after filleting such as the head) that we simmered with burdock root, kombu and the standard subjects of sake, sugar, mirin and soy sauce. Beginning with the rice located at the most honored position on the bottom left and working clockwise we enjoyed:

*Rice with mixed grains
*Pickles
*Salmon steamed with mushrooms
*Ginger infused soy stewed fish & burdock root
*Chrysanthemum greens tossed in creamy tofu sauce
*Shimiji clams in miso soup
*Air-dried sama fish with sudachi lime

Salmon with mushrooms

Step 1 Prepare

Step 2 Wrap for steaming

Step 3 Enjoy!

Stewing pits and pieces

Shimiji clams after cooking

Shintoism

Today I visited Meiji Shrine to learn more about Japanese Shintoism. I attended with ladies from an organization called College Woman’s Association of Japan, of which I‘ve recently joined. We took part in a purification ceremony, toured the museum and shrine buildings, and learned more about the history from the visiting researcher in residence at the shrine. Shintoism is ancient, indigenous to Japan, and deeply rooted in the spiritual culture. It’s not really accurate to use the word “religion” to describe since there is no doctrine, no holy book, no creed or any concept of religious conversion. Fundamentally, Shintoism believes that “kami”, or a “divine spirit” is present in everything and everywhere. Therefore, achievement of harmony with all things is of great value. Buddhism, Shintoism, and to a lesser extent Christianity influence the culture in Japan and many people practice components of each. Unlike in most of the west, there is overlap. For example, a person may have a Shinto celebration of a birth, a Christian style wedding, and a Buddhist funeral. Yet, as we learned today, when surveyed 63% of Japanese will claim “no religion”. My understanding of what explains this disconnect is that the prescriptive aspects inherent in a “religion” is not the purpose. In other words people are not seeking a set of beliefs by which to explain anything, but rather seek a way of life to live more harmoniously. That was my take away. We’ll certainly be back to Meiji Jingu and I’m certain today’s information will enrich my future visits!

The shrine is host of many festive occasions. This weekend there is a harvest festival. Displays of chrysanthemums and vegetables have been prepared.

A young girl at the shrine celebrating her shichi-go-san.

Cold Cereal

For our experience living abroad, we tend to think of ourselves as doing a reasonably good job living like a local and adapting to local customs. We eat more fish than we ever did living in the United States, a rice cooker is a standard appliance on my kitchen counter, I’ve grown accustom to the grocery store not opening until 10am, Ryan doesn’t drive a car to work and Roo sings the equivalent of the alphabet (sa, shi, su, se, so) song in Japanese more readily than A, B, C, etc. But one habit we just can’t (or don’t want to) break is COLD CEREAL. We love cold cereal! All three of us. Often we eat it for breakfast, sometimes a late night snack, and occasionally supper if we’re off schedule. And, we’ve become spoiled by the variety available in America. Sure we always have a box of cheerios on hand, but we like variety, too. Oat squares, Lucky Charms, Life and of course, Golden Grahams. The selection here, even in the stores catering to foreigners, is pretty limited. I’ve picked up the feeling that cold cereal consumption on a daily basis is exclusively American. Not even the Europeans purchase a 20 oz box of cereal. In fact, they seem to be buying the gargantuan bags of granola. The first time Roo brought out a 20 oz box of cheerios when our Japanese teacher was visiting her eyes got big and all she said was “wow”. I realize cold cereal is the epitome of processed food, something I try steer clear of. But for now it’s one vice we haven’t conquered. We’re happy to have Expat Express shipping and the 23 boxes that arrived yesterday from America!

ASIJ

Today Ryan and I visited the American School in Japan. It's a good 55 minute train ride from our home and in an area of Tokyo that offers more green space. Ryan was ogling over the ginormous artificial turf field. And we learned about the massive busing system that is executed with a level of safety precautions that could rival the operation procedures to prevent a reactor meltdown at a nuclear power plant. The school is attended by 1200 students daily in grades K-12. My roots in a small town school cause me to choke when I hear that, but students are contained within the elementary, middle or high school sections. The kindergartners aren't introduced to the elementary play area until later in the year as they have their own space attached to the classrooms. And, we witnessed the kinder kids collecting their lunch trays in the cafeteria and carrying to their classroom, instead of dining in the cafeteria with the other elementary students. At one point in the tour my mind flashed back to first grade as I remembered the 4th grade tormentor who would steal my hat on the playground in the middle of a Minnesota winter. Or ,the fear that gripped when you thought you might be coerced into playing the game "king of the hill". About this time Ryan's making a comment that "all the open space is impressive". My reply, "yah, but I'm not sure a big playground is always a good thing". All in all, it's a nice school. Very American. But, too far from our home for a five year old and besides, he'll have the rest of his life to hang out with Americans.

By the way, here's how we summarized Ted's visit. Roo reported that he DID stand up in front of the class to tell his friends about Ted's visit.

The brother request

Roo keeps asking for a big brother. A lot. At least once a week. Or, sometimes it’s that he wants to be a big brother. He’s even told me he would share his toys. For this afternoon we had arranged a play date with his best buddy from school. When I picked them up they were so happy. They walked the entire way home holding hands. When we were leaving school a couple moms commented, “oh,you have a play date, how fun”. Roo explained that this was his friend, not his brother. The young woman that occasionally watches Roo is expecting a baby due in January. One time when she was over I was explaining to Roo that she has a baby boy in her tummy. He pulled me aside and quietly whispered “does this mean I’ll be a big brother?”.

Introducing Ted

This is Ted. He’ll be spending the weekend with us in our home. He’s from Roo’s school, and each weekend Ted travels home with one of the children. We get to write, draw or paste photos in “Ted’s Adventure Journal”. He returns to school on Monday where Roo will have a chance to tell his friends about Ted‘s weekend with our family.

Elderly Japanese

This woman is not bending, she’s permanently hunched over. We see this all the time. Little old ladies, (and I mean little, Roo is almost taller) walking down the uneven sidewalk with their roller cart and hand bag draped elegantly in the bend of their elbow. When we visited rural Sado Island both Ryan and I were amazed each time we saw an arthritic looking elderly woman walking along the rural road, probably to the market, some with a walker or cane, and of course, their handbag. Japanese woman have the longest life expectancy in the world and have held this position for the past few decades. Per news reports, a centurion in Japan is not uncommon. Most information on the topic tends to credit this longevity to a diet low in fat, devoid of red meat, and high in fish. I don’t quite buy that explanation. It’s true, there isn’t much red meat and there are a lot of creatures from the sea in Japanese food. However, it doesn’t seem low fat to me. In fact, “fry” is one of the five ways of preparation necessary to engage all the senses and achieve “wa” or “harmony” at the table. Abura age (fried tofu), fatty chicken skin, tonkatsu (fried breaded pork), and tempura are just a few that quickly come to mind. And, there’s plenty of refined carbohydrate consumption as white rice, noodles, or both are enjoyed at most meals, including breakfast. Even with the fat and refined carbs, I imagine variety from land and sea, portion control, and a decent amount of enzyme rich foods promote their achievement of old age. But, I can’t help think there must be more to it than food. The determination it must take for these elderly woman with their bent bodies to walk to the market, buy their daikon, cabbage, tofu, and then walk home and fix food! In my western mind I catch myself thinking “can’t someone give her a ride?” or “where is meals on wheels?”, but….., I guess that’s why they live to 100. They keep moving their legs and using their skills. And they and their roller cart will cut you off in line at the vendor stall if they want first look at the cabbages, bless their heart!

Bento Boxes

I’ve developed a fascination for Japanese bentos and books with pictures of bentos. I can’t pass up browsing all the related accessories when I shop. One of my favorite household stores named “Tadaima”, literally meaning ‘I’m home, now”, carries a collection of the most fun containers. And, while much is plastic, you can find things easily that are made in Japan, not China. To explain simply, a bento is a boxed lunch. However, Japanese mothers take the concept of a boxed lunch to a whole different level and children learn early on to eat with their eyes as well as their mouth. Once on a picnic with Roo’s class at school I caught a glimpse of an actual bento prepared by a Japanese mother and I learned it’s for real, the lunches are as immaculate as the pictures. It’s sort of embarrassing to unwrap your smashed sandwich and pop open a bag of chips. I’ve started a collection of bento books to feed my obsession and lurk on many websites relating to the topic. To be clear, I don’t actually prepare fancy bento boxes. It’s one down side of having the world’s pickiest eater. My pediatrician back home once suggested, only half jokingly, that I should start a support group for mother’s of picky eaters. So, unfortunately, my bentos are usually homogenous in color, mostly carbohydrates, and contain no embellishments (e.g. no black sesame for the eyes on rice molded in the shape of a teddy bear). Not a lot to work with. Along the way I’ve also discovered Japanese cookbooks that are mostly pictures showing step by step how to chop and plate. The detail in the presentation is half the fun of making and enjoying the food. Last spring I took a class on preparing the bento type foods for the activity of picnicking under the cherry blossoms in the spring. Here's a photo of my "hana mi bento" from class:

Book Review - All She was Worth

by Miyuki Miyabe
This book is a suspense novel about a young woman who vanishes while living in Tokyo. It won best mystery and best novel of the year in Japan. I read it because it was selected for a book club I attended this evening. The book was written during the time of the economic bubble of the 90’s in Japan. The author appears to have been trying to capitalize on the emotion surrounding this to make a social statement about credit misuse and the perils of a borrowed existence. While the book was ok as a light read, it’s really hard to imagine how it won “best” of anything. I imagine it has to do with the translation to English. Obviously something was lost and unfortunately at times the writing reads a little corny. New characters sloppily pop up to contribute one small action within the plot. The ending feels rushed but yet little closure. I’d probably put this one on the back burner and only read in the event little else is available.

Shichi-go-san

Above is a photo of Roo with our Japanese language teacher, Morita san. He is holding “chitoseame” that she gave to him in celebration of shichi-go-san festival on November 15. Shichi-go-san is a right of passage into middle childhood for children ages 7-5-3. Wearing kimono, Girls celebrate at ages five and three, and boys, wearing hakama, celebrate at ages seven and five. The translation for “chitoseame” is “thousand year candy” and the red and white candy is packaged in a long stick or envelope to signify wishes for a long life full of sweetness. Roo's envelope came with a bell attached, which right now is hanging from his wooden doll house because it's the firehouse bell for the firefighters that live in the "doll/fire" house. So, between Halloween, Guy Fawke’s Night, and shichi-go-san, Roo’s received his fill of candy this week! This weekend we’ll get to see many adorably dressed children walking to the Shinto shrine to have prayers offered by a priest and partake in what’s probably the most anticipated photo opportunity in the young child‘s life.

Obama, Japan

The Japan Times today did an article on the celebration in Obama, Japan. Obama is a small fishing town, not much above 30,000 residents, in Fukui prefecture, about two hours from Kyoto. The word “obama” in Japanese means “little beach”. There are many clips on You Tube of a musical group singing a tribute song titled “Obama is Beautiful”. I must warn, it’s quite bad, but as they say, it’s the thought that counts. I am feeling a sense of pride today that’s been missing. I smiled tonight when I got an email from a French person we’ve come to know because he manages wine tasting events in Tokyo. The email was titled “Congratulations…we fall again in love for USA!”. Reading the news, listening to the television, hearing people talk, the hope in America the results of this election have restored seems mammoth. For me, it’s a renewed faith in the American progressive spirit that has me smiling.
Japan Times Article:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081106a3.html

Photo from the day

That's Roo on the left painting at school.

Guy Fawkes Night

Today at school Roo will be celebrating Guy Fawkes Night. Also known as bonfire, cracker, sparkle or fireworks night, this celebration is apparently wildly popular in England, but not anywhere else in the world. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London. The customs have morphed a bit and in modern day England the celebration somewhat mirrors American halloween mixed with fourth of July. Hence the little girl in a princess dress and a little boy in a top gun flight suit complete with blow up motorcycle at school today. Roo’s comment: “it isn’t Halloween”. In celebration, at school today in Roo’s class, the tech teacher will lead a media experiment using contemporary conceptual art projecting fireworks onto paper while the children throw paint at the moving image. Sounds fun to me!

Turf tumble

Roo took a spill on the school rooftop playground today. The teacher said it was a shame because he was having so much fun and then crash, flat on his face. The wound looks worse than it is. Not a deep cut but more a turf burn. After school we went to his favorite place for a snack, Donut Planet. His spirit’s aren’t compromised and he was his usual chatty self on the walk home. He was explaining how there is a book at school from a movie he can’t watch because it has too many guns. It’s called Star Wars. While he’s a big fan of sword fighting and superheroes, he avoids guns. He went on to explain how superheroes don’t use guns like police officers because superheroes have “powers”. And when he’s big he wants to be something that requires him to wear a helmet, like the firefighters or police officers from his Lego sets. And, kangaroos box and boxing is a kind of fighting. And, calling someone a “silly billy” is a funny way to say silly ‘person”. And on and on and on. Endless chatter and if you’re not paying attention you’ll get lost in the transition from how a super hero poses to everything you’ve ever wanted to know about helmets.
This coming week will be eventful for our family. On Monday we check Roo into a Children’s hospital to have surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids on Tuesday. A procedure that in the United States would be outpatient for a four year old will entail a four to seven day hospital stay in Japan. We’ve requested a private room and parents can stay overnight. I am very thankful because a Japanese friend spent a couple hours with me today reading the information booklet and completing paperwork. Much about the hospital feels similar but certainly there will be differences. For example, I need to bring several pairs of button down the front pajamas and indoor shoes. More on this journey to come!

Celeriac

Celeriac. My first encounter in the US with this strange looking root vegetable was when it arrived in our CSA box the first year. I recall being turned off by it’s appearance and wishing for carrots or potatoes instead. Like many things in our CSA box that were new to me, I learned to enjoy celeriac and would even seek it out in the grocery store once my CSA allotment had been consumed. My favorite dish to prepare was a celeriac and carrot slaw. So, this afternoon when I visited the grocery store that caters to foreigners I became excited when I noticed celeriac bulbs on the shelf. Until I saw the price. One bulb equivalent to 1.2 pounds was priced at $14.40 US dollars! Despite my cravings I decided to pass. Instead, tomorrow I’ll try cooking with a vegetable called “satoimo”, also know as taro. It’s a starch vegetable, high in fiber, and lower in calories than a white potato. The Japanese recipes I’ve seen for satoimo are either boiled in a dashi liquid or simmered as nimono. I’m planning to add it to a basic American beef stew. This is not without risk. I have read that Westerners sometimes categorize satoimo as slimy. However, the slimy factor is suppose to dissipate with stewing. Sliminess is the one food texture that sharply divides the east and west. In the west many of us abhor sliminess. In Japan, it’s more of a love affair.

The above is a photo of matsutake mushrooms, a HUGE beautiful Asian pear, and satoimo. Matsutake is a speciality mushroom that only appears in the stores in the fall. It's a seasonal treat and may be given as a gift, hence the presentation in the packaging.