Tai Yaki.... and Dosojin

Today Aunt Masako left to go back home.  It will be a 14 hour flight to Washington, D.C.!

We spent the morning running some last minute errands in our neighborhood, Azabu Juban.  Masako loved this place that is famous for a type of Japanese treat... maybe the same way that Kimball's is well known for icecream:).  They make "Tai Yaki".  Yaki means grilled, and Tai is a sort of sea bream that's red (lucky).  So the name refers to the shape of the sweet (a fish), and the color red refers not to seafood but to the beans that fill the sweets.  (Most Japanese sweet are based on...  beans!).

It was hard to say goodbye to Masako.  I am reminded of the "Dosojin" figures so common around her hometown of Matsumoto.  The stones are always rounded, and depict a man and a woman, sometimes holding hands.  They are the "gods" who protect travelers.

Ishiyaki Imo

Another sound we sometimes hear outside is a plaintive, slow, sing-song, chant, "shi..... yaaaaa kiiiii... iiii mo..o...o..." which is difficult to describe but you know it when you hear it!  It is played over a loudspeaker from a truck moving very slowly down the street.  I guess you could compare it to an icecream truck in the United States.  There seem to be at least several in our neighborhood, and they appear in the afternoon and evenings.

Mmmm... but does this look like an icecream truck?

Look closely and notice the fire burning in the back!

The driver is selling not icecream, but.... sweet potatoes!    This is an Ishiyaki Imo truck.


Ishi (stone), yaki (grilled), imo (sweet potato). The potatoes are cooked right in the back of the truck.

The other day on my way home from errands, I stopped at one truck to get Kaela an after-school snack:

The woman lifted up the lid of the roaster to reveal the delicious potatoes.  The potatoes you see on the little shelf are for demonstration only - to show the two types available.

I chose my type of potato, she showed it to me for my approval, weighed it, and put it into a paper bag.    

 Add a little brown sugar, and... yum!

Setsubun

Setsubun marks the day before the official start of spring.  It is recognized on February 3rd by...  bean-throwing!

In shops and homes, people toss roasted soybeans into the air while chanting "Out with evil, in with good fortune!"  The idea is to chase away bad things and invite good things in.

In a family with young children, the father may wear a Devil or Goblin mask while the children throw beans at him - just for fun of course!

Some of the shops in our neighborhood had window displays, such as this one at a shop called Blue and White:

 The display features depictions of goblins: 

It is said that, after tossing the beans in your home, you should eat the number of beans that corresponds with your age, to invite good health for the coming year.

Friday morning in my neighborhood, shops were busy preparing for Setsubun.  I bought some roasted soybeans - we enjoyed them but I confess we didn't keep careful count of how many we ate!

I sent some beans to Noelle in college, but I wonder how she'll feel about the idea of tossing beans up in the air in her dorm room! 

Another mysterious sound...

Last time I posted about a sound we hear outside each night - the fire prevention volunteers.

There's another sound that was a mystery until recently, when one of Tommy's school friends explained it.

Every evening at 5:00 pm we hear a short (maybe 10 seconds) instrumental tune being played, from a loudspeaker.  It sounds a bit like the music on a carousel, but it's slower and gentler.

It turns out that the tune is a signal for children in the neighborhood to go home (presumably for dinner).

Children of all ages here freely walk around, play in the park, and take trains or busses home alone to and from school.  It is not unusual for me to be on a bus and see just one young child traveling alone.  This is perfectly natural here and not considered unsafe.

So, the 5:00 pm broadcasted song indicates a sort of curfew.  I imagine that Japanese Moms are home cooking and they know that when the song is played, their children will hear it and immediately get home.  Sounds like a great system to me!

Oosouji - "big cleaning"

In Japan, New Year's is also a time to spruce up, polish up, clean out, and clean up.  It is a time to clear out the clutter and dust from the old year, in order to start the new year fresh.  It is considered unlucky to ring in the New Year with clutter or dust from the old year.  It is also considered good luck to completely empty one drawer or closet shelf for the start of the New Year.  Lots of cleaning-related tasks happen in the weeks leading up to "oshogatsu" (New Year's).

When I came across these window washers last month, I couldn't help but imagine the excitement on the other side of the windows - this is an international preschool!   Can you imagine window washers suddenly appearing outside your classroom window at Russell Street?

Last month we had a "fire and pipe inspection" in the apartment.  Uniformed workers came to the apartment, and checked to see whether we were properly cleaning the bathroom drains (it's complicated and we wouldn't have known how to do it if a friend hadn't shown us!) and the kitchen sink drains (also somewhat complicated).  They also inspected our fire alarms and the hose from our washing machine.  They came in quietly and were in and out within five minutes, but it was nerve wracking!

Walking home from errands yesterday morning, I happened to come across our garbage collectors.  They pick up our garbage faithfully each Wednesday and Saturday, and we are grateful!  This was the first garbage pickup day in our neighborhood since the New Year's week when businesses were closed and services suspended, so there was more garbage than usual piled up along the streets in the neighborhood.

We follow very strict rules for recycling and garbage removal, and everything needs to be put out in clear bags (so that officials can check to make sure we aren't cheating!).  We have five (!) garbage cans/bags in our tiny kitchen, for:
1.  Regular garbage, which goes out twice a week.
2.  Miscellaneous plastics, including baggies, packaging, etc.  We are amazed at how much plastic we throw away!
3.  Paper products - also amazing how much paper we use and throw away!
4.  Cans/ glass bottles/PET bottles.   We further sort them into separate piles when we put them out for pickup.
5.  Unburnable garbage (old junk like a flower pot or a broken pair of scissors).
 
This makes recycling at the Transfer Station in Littleton seem like a piece of cake!

We refer to this chart to make sure we are doing the right thing: 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Russell Street!  This photo shows a "kadomatsu" - a decoration that you see everywhere around New Year's here.  Some are fancier than others, but they all have two elements in common - Pine (which represents the "dwelling place" for the god that brings good luck),and Bamboo (which grows straight, representing consistency and integrity).  I had big plans for some great photos for this blog - but I waited too long!  I took a walk on New Year's Day, to take photos of all the various "Kadomatsu" in our neighborhood, but they had almost all been taken down already, right on schedule. 

New Year's is a very quiet at-home type of holiday in Japan, a time to gather with extended family.  People visit Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, and they may travel very long distances to their home towns.  The trains are packed and travel is difficult at this time.  For 4 or 5 days virtually all businesses close.  Foreigners like us are advised to stock up on food and hunker down at home during this time - and so we did!  Our neighborhood felt like a ghost town for a few days.
 
While New Year's is a quiet family holiday here, Christmas is a secular "party" occasion for most Japanese.  It is mainly for couples, perhaps like Valentine's Day in the U.S.  However, we got a kick out of the fact that Christmas music - both secular and religious - was played in all the stores and train stations, throughout the month.  I hope I didn't receive too many strange looks as I sang along under my breath:).

We met this happy couple on Christmas Eve in Kyoto.  They are wearing their best "night on the town" traditional clothes.  I will post more photos from Kyoto soon!

Minami-Azabu - our neighborhood

I have been here in Tokyo for almost a week now, and I'm starting to learn my neighborhood, "Minami-Azabu."  This area is full of apartment buildings and small shops.  Our apartment building is tucked away in a quiet area.  Small streets are not marked, and finding your way around can be very difficult!  We have learned to use landmarks, like the red mailbox in the photo below, to help us know where to turn.  This morning I walked to the fruit stand and grocery store, and on the way I took a few photos to show you. 

This red mailbox is a landmark for us - we know to turn down this street to our apartment.    There are vending machines on every corner.  Sadly, cigarettes are sold in vending machines, and many people in Japan still smoke. 

Cars are still a luxury for most people in Tokyo.  Biking is the way to go - walking also works!

Many people hang their bedding outside their windows in the sun for a few hours during the day.

There are convenience stores (pronounced "cone-bee-nee") everywhere - almost on every corner.  Convenience stores stock really good, fresh, prepared food as well as various necessities and snack foods.  You can see the three recycling containers outside the store.  Japanese people take recycling very seriously.

"100 Yen" stores (just like dollar stores) are very common, too. 

This fruit stand is a 7 minute walk from our apartment.  Peaches will be out of season soon and we are sure enjoying them while we can!  People are somewhat concerned about continuing radiation problems from the Fukushima nuclear plant, and so shopkeepers are anxious to let us know that their produce was grown in "safe" areas.

Here is a small Yakitori (meat on a stick) shop that Mr. Nanto nicknamed "Pops" because it seems like a real "Mom and Pop" type place. 

Mmmm.... what kind of milk do you think I should buy?  We will experiment until we figure out what we like best.  Milk comes in these small 1000 ml containers only.  Japanese people are not big milk drinkers!

Stay tuned for photos of a fall festival our neighborhood celebrated this past weekend.  Hello to everyone at Russell Street - I miss you!