Little Red

Look what I found!

This plant growing on the side of the road. I've no idea what it is but it looks very Christmas-y, don't you think?

I Wanna Scoop Baby

Have you ever tried to catch a fish with paper?

This was one of the booths at the Hanazono Shrine. "Kingyo Sukui (金魚すくい)," as we call it in Japan, means "scoop goldfish," and that is what we literally do...with a paper scooper-upper (not the official name, obviously).

The point of this game is to cleverly use the paper scooper-upper (which is actually called Poi (ポイ) in Japanese) and scoop the tiny goldfish into your bowl. When the paper breaks and you no longer can use it, that's when the game is over.

You can see the little boy going for a fish in the photo...but this is a pretty hard game and not very many people at these festivals can scoop the goldfish. The little boy didn't have any luck either and the paper on the Poi broke when he enthusiastically tried to scoop a goldfish out of the water. But they gave him one goldfish anyways, just for trying!

If you're interested, there is actually a National Goldfish Scooping Tournament every year in Japan. I know, it's practically a national sport! haha.

This year over 1800 people participated and the person with the record scooped a total of 87 goldfish in just 3 minutes! How about that!

Rake 'Em In

Is this colorful or what?

These are the various Kuma-de (熊手), decorative rakes, which is said to "rake in" wealth and good fortune. Things that are known to bring luck in Japan, like cranes and face masks, are glued on to the rakes for people to place in their stores or houses.

They better bring in good fortune because the Kuma-de actually cost a fortune. Anything from 3,000 yen (smallest Kuma-de) to 100,000 yen (largest Kuma-de, bigger than the ones in the photo above.) is sold in these stalls during this festival.

There were many people roaming the stalls and it was definitely fun to see. Although I didn't buy one for myself, I probably will if I ever start my own boutique or some other retail, just for luck!

What do you think about having something like this in your shop or entrance hall?

Swaying Lanterns

The entrance to Hanazono Shrine (花園神社) looked like this a couple of weeks ago.

The decorative lanterns, which have the names of various people and companies that have donated to the shrine written on them, can only mean one thing...MATSURI!!! (That means "festival" in Japanese.)

The Otori Matsuri (大酉祭) is an annual festival in November. Many people come to pray and enjoy the various food stalls set up but the main highlight of the festival is the Tori-no-Ichi (酉の市). It is called "Rake Fair" by some as many stalls selling various types of Kuma-de (熊手), a decorated rake made out of bamboo, for "raking in" wealth and good fortune. We really like these word games here in Japan.

The Tori-no-Ichi is always held in November on the days of the Rooster according to the Oriental Zodiac, which means that we have 2 or some years 3 days to enjoy this festival. I went on the 26th of November, which is called "San-no-Tori (三の酉)," the third and last day of the Rooster on the calendar.

I'll have more photos of the Kuma-de for you tomorrow!

Mum's the Word

Hi friends. How are you?

In case you haven't notice, I have been away from this blog for a bit. Changes at work have kept me busy since October and I've guess I needed a little time to settle into the new routine of having a new additional position while maintaining the old one. Good thing I love the new position.

Also, my grandpa passed away the weekend before Thanksgiving. It's always hard to lose family. I flew down to Okinawa to attend the funeral and spend a few days with the family. He was the absolute best grandpa ever and I'll always remember his smile and the energetic way he would talk.

So...that was a little personal news from me. I'm back on my feet now and hope to keep up with the daily posts from now on. I'm very sorry I haven't been by to comment on all your posts...give me a few days and I will catch up in no time!

Regarding the flowers in the photo, they are called Kiku (菊) in Japanese. They are a type of Chrysanthemum. It's a flower that the Japanese hold very dear as it is also connected to the Emperor of Japan (his imperial seal is a chrysanthemum).

Many people love to grow this flower and we often see them being exhibited, like in the photos here. This was the exhibit at the Shinjuku City Hall. It was really interesting seeing the huge flowers...some how they remind me of the onion fries you can get at Outback!

What do you think of these funny looking...I mean, pretty flowers?