Sakura

The beginning of April is cherry blossom time, sakura, here in Japan.  The cherry blossoms are so beautiful!  I have been looking forward to seeing sakura all year!  I was able to get out and get some pictures which I will share with you in this post.  Unfortunately the during the sakura season we had some yucky weather, so we weren't able to see as much as I had hoped.

One evening we went to Hikone Castle and after we got out of the car we heard some beautiful violin music.  We thought they had speakers somewhere playing music, but once we got closer to the sakura, we found a man sitting under the trees playing his violin!  It was a great experience, very classy. 

You can't see him in this picture, but he is sitting under the tree, above the swan.  I thought it was pretty nice for the swan to swim by as well, so I took a picture!

We took a few family pictures under the trees while the music played.

The cherry blossoms are so popular they are featured on the 100 yen coin.

The cherry blossoms around town bloomed at different times.  The trees around Hikone Castle were some of the first ones we saw.  This also meant they were the first to go too.  The pictures below are the ones I took around Hikone Castle.  There were many visitors to the castle during this time.  Everyone was out to see the cherry blossoms!

You can go on a boat ride around the moat as you can see in this picture.

There are swans, ducks, and turtles that live in the water that are fun to watch.

When the trees lose their blossoms they fall into the water which is also very pretty.  When the wind blows and the cherry blossoms fall, it looks like it is snowing.  I've seen some parents shake the trees so the blossoms fall and their kids dance in the petals as they fall, very cute!

These people brought food and drinks to have a picnic under the blooming sakura, known as hanami.  Hanami is a custom that has been celebrated for centuries.  The practice of hanami began during the Nara period (710-794) and was restricted to the elite of the Imperial Court.  Over time however, the custom spread to include everyone.  As far as I could tell everyone seemed to be having a great time!

Here is a picture of the sakura in the evening at a park we go to.

 I found some sakura along a river still in bloom after Hikone Castle was done. Here are some pictures of those.

It's a short walk from our house so I was able to take the kids to see it during the day while Jeff was at work.  It is a bit of a hike for the kids to walk to Hikone Castle so we wait for Jeff and the car to visit it. 

There's a little waterfall along the side of the river and there are flowers planted under the trees too. You can also see all the white cherry blossoms that have fallen in the water.

Here are some of the different types of sakura I have seen, all very beautiful!

The timeline to view the cherry blossoms is very short.  They last only a few weeks before the flowers fall off and the leaves come in.  Cherry blossoms symbolize mortality in the Japanese culture, very beautiful, but also very short lived.

Japanese pilots going on suicide missions would often paint cherry blossoms on the sides of their planes.  The image was meant to represent the intensity and shortness of life.  It was believed fallen soliders were reincarnated in the cherry blossoms.

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about sakura and viewing the pictures.  Perhaps we will plant some cherry trees around our new house to remind us of our time in Japan!

 

 

Winter in Japan

Hikone Castle

Winters in Hikone, Japan are much more mild than the winters in Michigan.    The average high for December is the upper 40's and for January and February is the low 40's.  The coldest it gets is usually the low 30's.  We have had quite a few nice snowfalls so far, typically around 4-5 inches each time.  From what I understand from the neighbors, they usually don't get much snow.  This year they have had more snow than normal.   

The rice field and garden behind our house

Most of the snow seems to come during the night.  It won't be snowing when we go to bed, just overcast.  A few times we have been woken up in the middle of the night with the longest rolls of thunder I have ever heard!  When we woke up in the morning we were all very surprised to see lots and lots of snow!  We were expecting rain!

We have had 4 or 5 really good snows.  When it does snow, it really comes down and accumulates fast!  It's also great packing snow.  The kids and I had a great time making snowmen, something we weren't able to do last year in MI! 

The snow doesn't stop the kids from playing on the slide and swing set.  Katherine and Killian love going down the slide in the snow because they go super fast!  Chloe thinks it's too fast for her, she prefers to swing! 

When it snows, everyone is outside shovelling their sidewalks and cement area where they park their car(s).  They will also shovel the snow in the street in front of their house. 

There are not many houses with garages.  Some houses have a covered parking area for their car.  Doesn't seem like it did much good for this car!

Since cars are parked outside, typically not covered by anything, drivers put their windshield wipers up when it is supposed to snow.  It's a great idea and I did it to our car when we came home at Christmastime!

At the beginning of December, we got a new car from Jeff's work that has snow tires on it.  Our neighbors were switching out their tires at the end of November for the snow tires.  I don't know what the difference between the tires is, but everyone seems to switch them.  I am curious to find out when they switch them back in the springtime.  I also wonder if we will be getting a different car this spring.  Many houses don't have much of a back yard (or front for that matter), just a few feet behind their house and that is where they keep their out of season tires.

We were getting on the expressway during this winter and we passed the snowplows.  I had to take a picture, they look like they mean business!  When driving, we also noticed bags of salt (I am guessing) on the side of the road near the off ramps and over bridges.

I saw some of the most beautiful snow covered mountains on our drives on the expressway.  The pictures don't do the mountains justice.

On our trip to Kyoto in February we went to the Heian Shrine.  There is a tree in front of it that is protected in it's own little house.  It was not like this in the summertime when we visited.  I am interested to know what kind of tree it is and why it's the only one that is sheltered like this. 

I took a walk to the downtown area next to Hikone Castle one morning after a nice snow.  Most of the sidewalks were being cleared by the employees of the stores.  A few stores had a water sprinkler running to get rid of the snow.  This surprised me because I thought it would turn to ice.  However, it must not be the case.

Whenever it does snow, it usually melts within a day or two.  It doesn't stay cold long enough for the snow to stay.   

So now you know about wintertime outside in Japan, let me tell you about what it's like inside during the winter.

First off, the house we live in is not insulated!  The only traditional houses in Japan that have insulation are in the far north where it gets colder.  Why this is, I have no idea.  Supposedly the newer houses are now being insulated, but the typical traditional houses do not.

The Japanese have the mindset of "heat the person, not the space".  We have an air conditioning/heating unit in each bedroom, the main living room and the tatami room.  The laundry and shower area, the toilet room, and the hallways do not have heaters and are far from the heaters in the house.  We keep the bedroom doors shut to keep the heat in.  We keep the doors in the living room and tatami room shut too, it would cost way too much money to heat the whole house, plus it's what the Japanese do. 

We put a thermometer in the hallway by the bathroom and it's usually somewhere in the low to mid 50's, depending on the weather outside.  When it's windy, it's usually the low 50's. We keep our heated rooms at 22 degrees Celsius (around 70 Fahrenheit).  However, when it's in the low 30's and windy outside, it feels much cooler than 70.  Thankfully we brought two space heaters with us, which help out a lot!

When it's in the low 30's we will put a space heater by the bathroom in the hallway.  Trust me, it's a real shock to your system to go from 70 to 50!  I am telling you this, but you really probably won't understand it until you experience it.  My mom came back in January to visit and we warned her about how cold it would be.  She didn't realize what we meant until she got here.  She was very surprised at how cold it gets inside and that it's considered normal over here. 

When taking a shower, you need to get the hot water running for a few minutes just to warm up the room!  The floor by the tub is freezing.  I have to jump from foot to foot when getting ready for the shower or else my feet hurt from the cold.  I do have the space heater set up by the washing machine, just outside the bathtub, so when I get out of the shower it's not completely freezing.  I used to not like getting out of the shower in a heated house because it felt cold, I will never complain about that again!  You do get used to it though and it's really not too bad.

The area next to the washing machine also has the sink we use to brush our teeth.  Like I mentioned before, we typically don't heat the space because we are in there for only a few minutes at a time and it's not worth it to heat it constantly.  When standing in front of the mirror brushing, I can actually feel the heat from the lights over the mirror!  Yes, it's that chilly!

I have never felt such cold water from a sink before coming to Japan.  It is like ice water.  My hands hurt if I try washing them before the water heats up (which takes a little time).  When brushing my teeth, the water hurts my teeth  too because it is so cold!  On the flip side, the water was never really cold in the summertime, it was always warm.  I guess the temperature of the water is greatly influenced by the temperature outside.   

Jeff and I were very thankful we each got a new robe for Christmas.  Our other robes had been packed up and put in storage when we moved.  Slippers are a must too!  We are just on a cement slab and your feet get very cold on the hardwood floor without slippers.  We ended up buying some slippers in late November, we couldn't wait for Christmas.

Since the Japanese believe in heating the person, not the space, they have come up with some interesting ways of staying warm.

My favorite is the heated seat when going to the bathroom!  I can't imagine what it would be like without the heated seat!  I have a much better understanding for what it would be like to use an outhouse, especially in the winter!  It is rough in the middle of the night to go into the unheated hallway to use the bathroom.  Oh well, at least I know a part of me will be warm!  (On the same note, I thought I was going to melt this past summer because we didn't know how to turn the heated seat off, and it was 90 degrees or more with high humidity).

Another example of heating the person not the space is with these kotatsu tables.  The picture is the underside of the table.  You can see the electric heater in the center of the table.  These tables are low to the ground and can be used for eating.  The table top separates from the legs of the table so that blankets can be added for the wintertime. 

These are two examples of blankets that cover the kotatsu table.  The blankets can be warmed from the heated table.  The Japanese people will sit around the table with the blankets on their laps to stay warm.  Our neighbors will also sit around the table with the blankets on to watch television. 

There are a few different ways to heat your house in the winter.  There are the wall units that we have.  You can see it in the picture above over the couch.

There are also space heaters, we brought ours from home, but I saw this device at the store.  It's a tube you can hook up to your heater to direct the heat to a specific place, your feet, for example, when in the kitchen. 

You can also have a kerosene heater in your house.  They sell the gas for them at the gas stations.  Our neighbors keep their gas right by the front door of their house.  There are several different types of kerosene heaters for the home.  Some have features that automatically shut off after a few hours to protect the sleeping home owners from carbon monoxide poisoning.  Other features include automatic shut off of the fire and stopping the fuel supply if shaken (in the event of an earthquake or an accident).  Thank goodness we don't have these heaters in our house, it would make me nervous with the kids always running around!  They do keep the house nice and toasty though, we visited our neighbors and it was nice and warm inside.  (Granted it was a pretty nice day outside too).

Another aspect of life in Japan that has changed in the wintertime is the laundry.  Clothes take much longer to dry in the cooler weather, no matter if they are hung inside or outside.  It was frustrating at first because I wanted to get the laundry done and put away, but it was still damp.  I couldn't wash more clothes because I didn't have space to hang them!  It can take up to two days for some of the clothes to dry.  I even have them in front of the space heater and fan.

If it was a sunny day I would still hang the laundry outside to dry.  I figured if my neighbors do it, why shouldn't I? I did however notice there were a lot more birds outside than usual in January. They left me all kinds of little presents on the balcony, so I decided to move the laundry indoors! 

When it's snowy or rainy I obviously have to move the laundry hanging indoors.  I have limited space to hang the clothes, but I do the best I can.  I know I will be doing this during rainy season as well (it rains everyday!).   Towels are tricky because they take up so much space and take a while to dry.  Our neighbors have a second curtain rod over each window to hang laundry on.  They also have little tension rods around the house to hang up more laundry.  I check out all this stuff whenever we go inside our neighbors house, I try not to be obvious, but I am so curious how they do things!

That about wraps things up with living in Japan during the winter!  Hope you learned a few things and enjoy living in your heated house!

Valentine's Day in Japan

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th in Japan, however it is different from the States.  Valentine's Day is all about chocolate, not going out for dinner, flowers or cards.  In fact, during this time of year, Japanese chocolate companies make half of their annual sales.

The even bigger difference is the fact that only the girls/women give chocolates to boys/men on Valentine's Day.  Apparently there was a translation error when Valentine's Day was introduced to Japan and so only the women gave chocolates!  However, in the 1980's the Japanese National Confectionary Industry Association decided to create a day for the men to return the favor to the women, White Day.  White Day is celebrated on March 14th and is named after the color of the chocolates.  There was an attempt to make White Day about giving marshmallows, but that failed.  So chocolates it is!  Men may also give other gifts, such as jewelry, clothes and accessories.  It is expected for the men to give gifts or chocolate to the women that are at least 2 or 3 times the value of what they received.

Jeff and I went to the mall recently and there was a large section devoted to Valentine's Day.  Within that section, there was an area to make your own chocolates.  Women may make their own chocolates and decorate them or buy ones already made.  What a selection of chocolates!  They have chocolates from all over the world.  There was a large price range for the different chocolates too! 

There are displays of the chocolates over the boxes so you know what is inside each box. This is a picture of the fancier chocolates, it was also very expensive. It's almost too pretty to eat, so I just took a picture.  The large red "x" over the sign means it is sold out.

We brought some candy with us from the States to give to our neighbor friends for Valentine's Day.  When we were delivering them, our neighbors gave us some chocolate candy in return.

One of our neighbors made their own chocolates.  Here is their work of art!

We decided to celebrate like we do in the States, so we all bought chocolates for each other.  (Killian was happy with his marshmallows and chocolate chips from home!)

We picked these up for Katherine and Chloe.  They are chocolates filled with honey or strawberries.  Yum yum!

Chloe is waiting patiently to try some baumkuchen ring, it's very popular here all year round.

I bought Jeff some fancy chocolates made at a hotel in Tokyo.  I figured I will only be in Japan for Valentine's Day once, so live it up and get the good stuff.  Apparently these chocolates have liquor in them, I didn't figure this out until we tried them.  (I also bought chocolates like these for my Mom!)  I was very curious to know what the green one tastes like.  Turns out it is green tea flavored, no big surprise there!

These are the chocolates Jeff got for me.  Some of my favorites from back home so I didn't miss a thing!

Recognize this chocolate?

It's a Wonka bar, but unfortunately, there was no golden ticket inside!

I hope you enjoyed reading about Valentine's Day.  I will be on the lookout for White Day chocolates and try to post pictures when I find them!

Until next time!