Imagination - An Aircraft Carrier

If you can, imagine this construction of magna tiles is actually an aircraft carrier. According to Roo it carries “warrior airplanes” and is always out to sea, except when it comes back to shore for gas. The tall part, official name “the island”, is the command station from where the carrier is driven.

Cheese comes home

Or as it’s pronounced in Japanese chi · zu. Cheese is the loyal dog friend of Anpanman, Japan’s popular anime super hero character for small children. Roo has a collection of the characters, each about 2cm tall. While we’ve managed to retain most of the complete set, a few have gone missing. Because they are small and easy to clean, they often accompany us to restaurants. There is a restaurant near our home called Burger Mania where you can enjoy a juicy American style “humbaga” . We go there often, but I wouldn’t call us regulars. Prior to our visit last night, we probably hadn’t eaten there in three or four months. So last night as Roo and I were leaving, I was surprised when one of the staff presented us with a 2cm plastic puppy and asked if we might have left it behind on an earlier visit. Why yes, in fact we are missing Cheese! I felt humbled by the thoughtfulness. Seriously, would that happen anywhere else in a major city in the world? Most restaurants cramped for space would probably pitch the plastic, or less intentionally, not remember which customer amongst many left it behind. And, as we were leaving the staff took a picture of Roo wearing his explorer hard hat with the miner’s light on top. We had pretended the trek was an exploration. I guess he looked kawaii (cute).

An Early Valentine

Since next week is mid term break, Roo came home from school on Friday with an early valentine. I believe it’s the first in which we can read his writing clearly and comprehend the “I LUV U”. Once again, his creative teachers managed to capture the children in a sprightly mood of silliness. Paired with a friend and wearing pink or red, everyone posed for a photo, the gift for their lovesome parents.

Photo of flowers

This is the beautiful display of flowers in our lobby that greeted me this morning when I left the apartment. Thank you Mrs. Okazaki for this splash of spring!

Artist Yayoi Kusama

During January the theme for study in Roo’s classroom was Japanese culture. He missed much because of his surgery, but was present when the children were introduced to the work of artist Yayoi Kusama. She is one of Japan’s most noted contemporary artists and her work is easy to spot because it’s filled with spots, or more correctly, dots. She struggles with mental illness and has communicated that her work is a product of hallucinations. Her storied life makes her achievement as the living female artist who’s work sold for a top record figure of $5,100,000, impressive. At Roo’s school, the children created a collage for the classroom inspired by her work, and they had the opportunity to create a room full of dots on the computer by visiting this LINK. In the collage below, Roo’s is the mushroom below the photo of the artist sporting blue hair.

Setsubun

Today, the 3rd of February, is Setsubun (literally meaning "sectional separation"). It is the eve before the last day of cold weather, or the first day of spring as noted in the Japanese Lunar calendar. On this night households partake in a ceremony called mame-maki, or soybean throwing. Someone, usually the papa of the family, wears a scary oni mask. While he’s pelted with the soybeans, other shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" meaning something like "Out with the oni and in with fortune to our home!" Oni, a demon of evil, highly resembles the caricature of the devil in Christianity. I find this oddly coincidental and someday will do the research to understand how traditions that were historically separated ended up with similar faces for evil. Anyway, at school this day Roo will get a chance to throw soybeans at the oni. If Ryan makes it home before bedtime, to be part of the custom, we may toss beans. However, I must admit last year it felt awkward. I couldn’t get my mind off the vacuuming and the fear of finding soybeans ground into the carpet, months later.

International Buddhist Congregation

Today I attended Sunday service of the International Buddhist Congregation. What led me to this event was my interest in meeting and listening to Dr. Gene Reeves, a Unitarian minister. As I’ve come to discover, he’s one of few Unitarians residing in Tokyo. The group was small and indescribably kind. I think the potential of my attendance must have been communicated prior to my arrival. The lovely woman welcoming me, who I had communicated with via email, introduced me only as “Darla-san” . The members quick response of recognition led me to believe “Darla-san” had been discussed. This group shares their Buddhist faith in English for the benefit of foreigners, regardless of nationality or religion. Their intent is one of knowledge sharing, rather than conversion per say. They’ve invited me back for Sutra discussion, which I will likely attend towards the end of this month. I’ll also comment of my discovery regarding a topic unrelated to Sutra, feet. As I'd expect, shoes must be removed before entering the worship space. For comparison, imagine leaving your shoes in the vestibule prior to nearing the sanctuary. I realized I had yet to be in a situation where I saw so many Japanese feet at once. Very small feet! I mentioned to Ryan later that I have a better understanding of why his clients are surprised by his big feet (size 14). The secretary at the client he goes to this week once did research to find a “big foot” store for him to buy a pair of slippers. He’s found slippers, but fat chance on finding shoes!