Friday Field Notes--The Park of One Hundred Blossoms

Plum blossoms washed by a morning rain...

The plum blossoms are most of the way out--my favorite of the flowering trees because of their elegant, faintly cinnamon scent.

White plum and lichen...

...this morning I had to wait 'til the rain stopped before going to take a couple of pictures of my favorite weeping plums up the road...

bonsai..

...taking a detour on the way home, I discovered that one of the neighbors had  a lovely weeping plum bonsai out front (beside which a pair of cats sat growling at one another, for what reason I was at a loss to understand)...

But, as I mentioned last week, Mr. Harris who lives up in Tokyo invited us to visit a beautiful park filled with plum trees near his home.  So, after some checking of optimal viewing days and scheduling around baseball games and such, we took the Keio Line to Mogusaen--a park named "Hundred Blossom Park". 

the entrance to Mogusaen

This park is situated on a steep hillside--infinitely more enchanting than the flat, spread out "park" I had imagined, and well-suited, somehow, to displaying the plum trees. 

...stone steps and narrow, twisting paths that echo the fantastically twisting branches of the trees...

plum blossoms and blue sky

In spite of snow two days earlier and rain the day before, we were lucky to have a gorgeous bright blue day on Sunday...

...I notice that I keep taking the same picture;-))  Bright pink blossoms against a brilliant blue winter sky...

This particular tree is a good example of the severe pruning plum trees are subjected to in order to achieve those curling shapes...

Roubai...Wintersweet...Chimonanthus praecox

As a matter of fact, Mogusaen has quite a variety of trees and flowers, though the ume are the main draw.  At the top of the stone steps at the entrance, I was attracted to a small tree with interesting waxy yellow flowers that I've seen elsewhere without knowing what they were called (I just can't stand not knowing what things are called...).  It's called "Roubai", literally "Wax Plum",  and it has a heavenly sweet scent.  My mother-in-law has some in her garden, and often has a bouquet of the branches in a large vase in her genkan, which makes the whole genkan smell wonderful...

A great many of the plum trees in the park are very old, so the larger branches have wooden supports  lashed in place with rope beneath the cantilevered branches...

...like this tree--so old, that half the trunk had rotted away.  This one, too, had several supports under branches that were too heavy, as well as under the main trunk--hollowed out, covered in a thick layer of moss, twisted like a moebius strip...

They had an unusual winter-blooming iris as well.  It's name in Japanese was, appropriately, "Kanzakiayame",
(pictured below)

Iris unguicularis

...which means simply "Cold Blooming Iris".  It reminded me a little of the beautiful purple bearded irises my mom grew in Indiana.  I wonder if I'll be able to surprise my mother with this one..?

If the winter iris doesn't do it, the vining pine trees surely will.  Japanese gardeners can get any plant to do anything they want--they can even, with various clever tricks, make a pine tree grow like a morning glory.  A sturdy pole and an umbrella of neatly tied off ropes, and voila! ...a vining pine tree...

Adonis ramosa...Pheasant's eye

In the center of the garden, under the oldest and biggest tree in the park were blooming cheerful yellow flowers I'd never seen before:  Fukujusou, whose name is composed of the kanji 福　( fuku: fortune, blessing, prosperity, happiness, wealth), and 寿　(ju: longevity, celebration, felicitation).  I certainly felt fortunate to see golden flowers blooming on a cold day in February...;-))

Fortunate, indeed--there was even a hybrid bonsai ume with special bi-color blossoms that everybody was taking pictures of.  Kawaii desu, ne!






But by far the most amazing thing in the park was the gigantic ancient plum tree in the center...

click to enlarge

...words fail me to describe this tree, and photos nearly fail at the job as well...

If this licorice-twisted branch didn't grow this way naturally, how was this accomplished?  By horticulturalists who moonlight as shamans?

...pale, delicate blossoms grace moss-covered curves...

Prunus mume

I hold no supernatural beliefs--but gazing for any length of time at a tree this gnarled, this mossy, this contorted , you expect elves...or gnomes...or Totoro at least to step out of the base and give you a wink.


...It was nearly time to go.  That is, everybody else was ready to go home.  Except for mama--who had to tear herself away from pink-and-white cinnamon-scented blossoms ("you don't *really* need dinner, do you?")...

Looking down on the park from the top of the hill...

...Kohaku-- white against red...

...the darkest pink-red blossoms in the park...

 

...the Main Gate--made of bamboo, held together with ropes and moss and ferns...                                       

   Even the train station was decorated with plum branches...

Mogusaen-- Sayonara...

Beyond Plain Rice--A Recipe for Shiitake Gohan

Ichi Go... One "Go" of rice in a wooden "masu" (also used for drinking sake)

Don't think I'm dissing plain rice--we eat it nearly every day, and I would hardly know how to cook any more without my Suihanki (rice cooker).  But sometimes it nice to gussy it up a little...

We had Shiitake Gohan for dinner yesterday--which everybody loves, especially the rice along the sides of the rice cooker that get a little extra brown...

If you have soy sauce, sake, mirin (sweet cooking sake), some powdered Hon Dashi (stock), 3 pieces of Aburage (fried bean curd--the light yellow stuff at bottom left in the photo), and 300g of shiitake... then you can make Shiitake Gohan!

Wash 3 "go" of rice, and set aside to drain...

Slice the aburage in half lengthwise and width wise, then into thin strips.  Pull the stems off the shiitake and slice the caps thin.

Soup:

600ml dashi (= 1 tsp dashi powder into simmering water)
3Tbls soy sauce
1Tbls each sake and mirin

Dump the rice into the rice cooker Kama (the inside thing--no idea what that's called in English).  Dump the sliced aburage and shiitake on top of the rice, and pour the warm soup on top of all that.  Mix it up a little.  close the lid and push the Cook button!

Dekiagari!  Oishiiii, ne!  Daisuki na Shiitake Gohan!

Give it a try next time you're tired of plain rice:-))  Leftovers are no problem--this rice makes great onigiri, too!

Enjoy!

Mata asobou, ne!

Favorite Anime Songs-- MushiKing Opening Song by Kiroro

Koshi's first year in Yochien (kindergarten)... *mercy* that's already seven years ago!... was the year the MushiKing (King of Beetles) phenomenon hit Japan which I've written about before.  About a year later, when Koshi was four, the animated series began on Wednesday nights.... which we duly watched every Wednesday night as long as everybody was fed, bathed, and properly jammied.  I was immediately smitten by the opening song by Kiroro (who sings Cici's favorite song "Best Friend").  I sat down with the kids to watch a beetle anime just to listen to this song every week:-))  It's called "Ikite Koso", translation below.




While we live*

Mama, on the day I was born What was the colour of the sky?
Papa, on the day I was born How did you feel?

Since then, I began to pick up words My own
Liking, and my means to seek affection Became an inseparable part of me

While we live While we live Now, beginning from this moment
While we live While we live Our lives expand, and connect

Mama, when you first embraced me in your arms How did you feel?
Papa, the day I was born Were you overjoyed?

Since then, miracles recur... My own
Liking, and encounters I look forward as they continue to nurture

While we live While we live
The dream to keep flapping our wings forever
While we live While we live
The roots grow deep thick and strong

While we live While we live Now, beginning from this moment
While we live While we live Our lives expand, and connect

While we live While we live
The dream to keep flapping our wings forever
While we live While we live
The roots grow deep thick and strong

The roots grow deep thick and strong

ah(e-) Flapping the wings...
While we live [Ah~]

When you have kids, it doesn't take much to pull the heartstrings...  Little Cici was only one when this show was on--she was scared of dolls whose eyes opened and closed.  But she *loved* her brothers' big beetles (and Ultraman monsters... go figure).

That's the music video, not the opening sequence to the show (which doesn't seem to be available online...).  But here's the commercial for the MushiKing movie that came out toward the end of that year to give you an idea of what the show looked like if you've never seen it--fanciful, but the beetles are well-drawn and there's a wide variety of them.  My kids picked up a fair amount of geography and entomology learning beetle names and where they were from!   Heracules Ookabutomushi is from Brazil, Caucasus Ookabutomushi is from Indonesia and Malaysia...and so on.



Enjoy!

Mata asobou, ne!

Land of Cute--Cici's Notepaper

"This town is a happy!"

Just when I think things can't possibly get any cuter...my daughter has a birthday and gets presents from her friends.

...she got adorable notepaper.  "Lucky Animal" and "This Town is a Happy!"  How is it that they are able to draw small characters that are simultaneously innocently cute and well-drawn? 

...she also got some stationery-- "Moco Moco Sweets", sweets falling under the more general rubric of Cute...

But cakes and sundaes and doughnuts alone aren't enough--not nearly enough...

...I mean, pink and white strawberry cakes are cute, but they're so much cuter if they're also sparkly and decorated with rhinestone-encrusted bows!

Sparkles, and rhinestones, and paste jewels shaped like cherries...

Dazzling pave bows, diamond-trimmed sundae cups, glowing hearts and twinkles... and--

What's that?  You've lost your appetite?  Well, I can see how that might happen...;-))

Happy Valentine's Day-- Part I

Pokemon chocolate hearts for the kids :-)

Valentine's Day-- yes, there is one in Japan-- is a rather different holiday than the one westerners are accustomed to. 

"hand-made Valentine!"

...it's all about chocolates, first of all.  Hand-made chocolates if you can manage it.  Gambare! (do your best!)  Specifically, chocolates from girls to boys.  Our doorbell rang this evening--one of the girls from Koshi's class (he's in 4th grade) bringing him handmade chocolates in a cute bag.   I said, "Ooh, look Koshi!  You got chocolates from (X)!  Did you get any other chocolates today?"  At which point his big-mouth younger brother piped up and shouted, "Koshi got chocolates from (Y), too!!"... prompting an involuntary smile and pink cheeks from Koshi ;-))

...Valentine's neckties...

...Valentine's hankies...

...Valentine's belts...









...Valentine's underwear (you wanted Hello Kitty boxer shorts, right?  Yeah--I thought so:-))







Have you noticed anything about these Valentine's gifts yet?   Exactly--they're all for men.  With the exception of the chocolates (we'll come back to those in  a moment), all of those presents are for men--boyfriend, spouse (less common than boyfriend)...

And the ladies? What do they get on Valentine's Day?  Short answer-- nothing. (there's a longer answer--more on that below). 

Have you peeled your eyebrows off the ceiling and pasted them back where they go?  Yes, that's right.  Ladies get...nothing.  Ladies buy, or make, chocolates for boyfriends, spouses, a boy at school they like, bosses and male coworkers.  Yes-- so-called "Office Ladies" (OL's) giving chocolates to their bosses and coworkers probably accounts for the majority of revenues generated on Valentine's Day for chocolate companies.  Granted, bosses don't get the "honmei" (real love-- usually handmade) chocolates that boyfriends or spouses get--they get what is called "Giri-choco", inexpensive purchased chocolates.  It literally means "obligation chocolate".  Most working women I know think that particular tradition is just a pain and would rather not participate, but... well, you know about the Nail That Sticks Up already.

preparation...molds, boxes, ribbons, foil cups...

Bosses and coworkers may get the 88Yen bars of Meiji Chocolate, but boyfriends (or not-yet-boyfriends-but-maybe-if-I-give-him-chocolates...) and spouses get the expensive Godiva or Morozoff or original handmade treats (sometimes ridiculously expensive--I've seen tiny boxes of Godiva going for $30 to $40, and that's not in Tokyo.  I can just imagine what that stuff would cost to buy in Ginza...)

a Kitty-chan box for that special guy...

So...the ladies?  (trembling lip...)  Don't we get *anything*?  Yes--but not for a month yet.  Japanese chocolate companies, in their infinite wisdom, came up with (literally-- in the late 70's a bunch of CEO's dreamed this up) White Day.  March 14th was then duly christened White Day--a day for men to buy white chocolate (or other treat) for the lady in their life.  Lately, though (possibly hearing the sorts of things that western ladies get for Valentine's Day), wives and girlfriends are expecting more than chocolate on White Day--as in the west, jewelery, flowers, and brand-name handbags are the things hoped for...  All the things, in fact, that I used to tell my female English students about 12 or 13 years ago.  Their jaws would drop, and an almost involuntary "iiii naaaa..." escaped their lips.  A Time Magazine article I just found also says that those sorts of presents have gotten more popular recently. 

So stay tuned-- Part II will be March 14th.  I'll let you know what I get... ;-))

Mata asobou, ne!

Weekend Origami-- Valentine's Hearts

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share a few Origami Valentine's hearts!  Three hearts, in fact--from Very Easy to Medium Easy to A Little Bit Harder.

This first one uses just 1/3 of a sheet of origami paper (a 5 x 15cm strip from a 15x15cm square), so of course you could make three hearts from one sheet if you wanted to.  I'm folding in the video below, and Koshi is camera-man (please excuse the bobbling--Koshi was trying to get Teddy to be quite.  It's Teddy you can hear at the end suddenly saying "Barentine!"... much giggling then ensued....)



How was that?  Dekita, ka na?  Were you able to fold that one?  Here's one that is just a wee bit more complicated (but not much).  This one uses a whole sheet of paper:



Dekimashita ka?  Did you fold that one, too?  It's not too difficult.  Here's one more that uses the "hiraite-tsubusu"  ("open out- and- smush flat") maneuver.  My daughter (first grade) can do this, but she started doing origami in kindergarten.  Even still, I think most kids from 7 or 8 can probably do this.  If you're just starting out, try the easier hearts first before folding this one.  The move I just mentioned ("open out-and-smush") means basically folding a triangle, then opening the triangle up and flattening it into a diamond shape.  It's a move used in origami a *lot*.  Give it a go!


Happy Valentine's Day!

Mata asobou, ne!

On Design--Recycling in McDonald's

This is where you throw away trash and put your tray at a McDonald's in Japan.  I have never seen a trash bin like this in the US, and I'd love to know--why not?! 

Paper trash on the left,...

...plastic on the right. 









There's even a drain (see it? above the plastic side in the top photo?) to dump out left-over drinks before throwing out your cup (paper), lid (plastic), and straw (plastic).  This became automatic for me almost immediately--and it drives me absolutely bonkers when I go home not to be able to recycle stuff in McDonald's... 

The no-smoking sticker on the door of the trash bin reminds me of a story...

A very dear Somebody, who shall remain nameless, was eating in a McDonald's during a first or second trip to Japan.  Small McDonald's with seating on different floors of an urban building often designate one of the floors smoking, and another non-smoking.  Somebody happened to be sitting on a smoking floor, so there were ashtrays on the tables and a stack of extra ashtrays on top of the garbage bin just behind the drink drain.  There was also a special drain/bin to dump ashtrays in.  It was labeled with a helpful diagram showing an ashtray with cigarette butts in it being put into the hole for such waste.  Only Somebody thought it was a drawing of French Fries...and, mystified, began obediently stuffing French Fries down the hole.  At that point another customer walked up to throw away his trash and empty his ashtray.  In that instant, Somebody realized that the diagram was of cigarettes going down the hole, not Fries...and locked eyes briefly with the customer behind her, French Fry held aloft, ready to be shoved down what she now knew to be the cigarette disposal hole.

"Gomen nasai!!"  What else can you do but say "I'm sorry!" and make an attempt to rectify the situation by throwing away the rest of your trash, carefully sorting it out, and leaving as quickly as possible!

Friday Field Notes--Stalking the Kawasemi

The weeping plum begins to bloom....

I noticed the scent before I noticed the flowers, riding by on my bicycle.  I was stopped by the scent--faintly cinnamon, a sweet, elegant fragrance...  We'll go up to Mogusaen soon to visit Mr. Harris who comments here.  "Mogusaen" means "Park of the Hundred Blossoms"--I can hardly wait to be surrounded by hundreds of plum trees...  As long as the weather is good, next week's field notes will be entirely given over to plum blossoms, if nobody minds;-))

I felt like walking the other day-- walking and not stopping.  Walking and following whatever I saw.  Walking beside the kids on the way to school in the morning, I'd already discovered Tsugumi....

Turdus naumanii... Nauman's Thrush

...down in the river having a bath.  He flew up to the rail, preening and shaking himself like a dog...

Kawasemi...

This morning, though, it was Kawasemi I was determined to find if I could...




 Can you see him, in amongst the leaves?  I took that photo back in September--he only sat still long enough for me to take one clear photo, and in spite of his brilliant colors, it's a little hard to make him out...

The first time I ever saw Kawasemi was on a day trip down to Kamakura with my husband and mother-in-law.  We'd gone down from Tokyo to see the June Hydrangeas at Meigetsu-in.  As we were walking by a small pond, I caught my breath, touched my mother-in-law's hand, and said "Kawasemi!"...Kingfisher!

a flash of azure...

There is simply no mistaking him--even if you've only ever seen him in pictures before.  That long beak, that tiny, streamlined body, squared tail, and those jeweled feathers a Pharaoh would envy.

ooh!  I see a fish riiiight...there!

 It wasn't until we moved to Yokohama that I began to see Kawasemi from time to time in our river.  It surprised me, in fact, to see him in our river, since there is so much bus and truck traffic up and down the road right next to it and kids walking along it every day on the way to school.
 

Alcedo atthis bengalensi

He was so exotic to me--so different from the Belted Kingfisher I grew up with in Indiana.  I couldn't fathom why he was called the  "Common Kingfisher".  A reference, no doubt, to the breadth of his range from England, across Europe and Asia and into Japan, but....really, how does a bird who looks as though he's made of lapis lazuli, carnelian, and turquoise merit an epithet like "common"?

Be that as it may, Kingfishers have a worldwide distribution, occupying a wide variety of habitats, although the greatest diversity of species is to be found in the tropics.  Europe and North America have one common kingfisher each and a couple of uncommon or local species--but The Gambia in Africa boasts eight resident species in its tiny 120 by 20mile area.  That falls in nicely under Rapoport's Rule (named for Argentine ecologist Eduardo Rapoport, who suggested it in 1975), which I've just been reading about in E.O. Wilson's lovely book The Diversity of Life.  Here's the bit that explains to me the distribution of kingfishers:

"Because animal and plant species of cold climates are therefore adapted to a greater breadth of local environments, they also occupy larger geographical ranges.  In particular, they are distributed across a wider range of latitudes. ...(Rapoport's rule)...means that as you travel southward down North America or northward up temperate South America, the ranges of individual species shrink steadily the closer you come to the equator.....Higher energy, greater biomass production, the narrowing of geographical ranges within a less varying environment--all these properties elevate the level of biodiversity in the tropics over long stretches of evolutionary time....Stable climates with muted seasons allow more kinds of organisms to specialize on narrower pieces of the environment...Species are packed more tightly."
                                             (Wilson, Diversity of Life, pp 200-1)

Fishing in Maioka River, 25 Nov 2010

For the longest time, it seemed I only ever saw my beloved Kawasemi whenever I was without a camera.  His name in Japanese means "River Cicada", because he flies that fast, in a flash of azure zipping downriver...  there's just no photographing him when he's moving unless you have professional equipment.  I, clearly, do not--as the video below will amply demonstrate.  All the photos above of Kawasemi sitting on the concrete river embankment were taken one afternoon when I *did* have a charged-up camera with me.  No tripod, of course--I was on my bicycle, which I was forced to hold between my legs to keep it from falling over (which it nearly did--hence all the bobbling of the video--that's me trying not to fall down...).  I was so excited to see him when he couldn't see *me*, you see (I was partially hidden by the guard rail over the bridge), that I just grabbed the camera without getting off my bike.  I was afraid that if I moved too much, he'd notice me and zip away.  That afternoon was the first time I'd ever gotten to watch him actually fishing...



Five times I watched him plunge straight down that steep embankment into that shallow river...without smacking his head on the bottom of the pool.  These birds are *serious* divers.  When they dive, they are moving fast, and they must surely hit that water hard.  I wondered whether they had some adaption for that, the way woodpeckers have special shock-absorbers so their brains don't get pulverized while they hammer and special covers so their eyeballs don't pop out.  Kingfishers sport a similar adaption (from Wiki)--

"They also have nictitating membranes that cover the eyes when they hit the water in order to protect them; in the Pied Kingfisher has a bony plate which slides across the eye when the bird hits the water.<sup>[2]"

Here's the video where I almost fall down while trying to zoom:</sup>

a bright, cool morning in Maioka Park

 ^{As thrilled as I was to get some closeup photos and video of Kawasemi for my mom, I *had* hoped to capture him in a somewhat more natural setting than the concrete river embankment behind the bus depot.  So one chilly morning last week, I started walking--following the river into Maioka Park where I was sure he'd come from.}

^{I followed the river 'til the water was so clear that the Koi appeared to be swimming in the trees...}

^{...Brown-eared Bulbul squealed from a branch, "hiiiii-yo! hiiiii-yo!" ...I could hear him, but had to search to find him since his muted colors blend nicely with winter trees and dried grasses.}

Scolopax rusticola... Yamashigi... The Eurasian Woodcock

^{I stopped to squint at Yamashigi--the Eurasian Woodcock, who was being ogled by other birdwatchers with enormous cameras with telescope lenses mounted on tripods.  You can see him there, in the middle of the fallen leaves, right? ;-)} 

^{I was ready to give up and go home, convinced that my little Kawasemi was probably fishing at the other end of the river.  I walked a little further up the path, past a small pond surrounded by dried reeds and trees with low-hanging branches... and the glint of lapis and carnelian caught my eye...}

^{...he fished from a twig, wee feet wrapped tightly around its narrow diameter...}

^{...wee feet...}

<sup>...an azure flash...









 

...amongst the reeds...</sup>

Alcedo atthis... the scintillating River Cicada

Nabe--The Simplest Dish

Nabe is almost my favorite thing ever to eat in the winter.  A warm, simple dish with a simple name--"Nabe" just means "pot". 

...assemble some vegetables, tofu, and protein (chicken meatballs, here, and later I put crab legs in so the soup would taste good).

Clockwise from top left corner--Hakusai (napa cabbage), naga negi ("long" onion, like a leek), carrots, shimeji mushrooms, kinu tofu (silken), chicken meatballs, maitake mushrooms...

Put about two cups of water in the pot, add all the ingredients (cutting carrots into fancy flower shapes optional), turn on pot... simmer 'til cooked.

...Ponzu (soy sauce with citron) is optional, but I love to add a little to my bowl.

The nice thing about Nabe is the way it makes the whole room warm while it's simmering, and also the minimal cleanup (one bowl per person, one pair of o-hashi). 

...pick out the bits you like and put them in your bowl!  This is a nice, shared family meal.  Everybody eating together out of the pot...(though it's customary to use a ladle, if you use your own chopsticks to get something, it's nice manners to turn them around and use the end you haven't been eating off of to get the bite you want...).

There was soup leftover since my husband got home very late--so we just kept it 'til morning, reheated it, added rice from the rice cooker and two beaten eggs.  Let the egg cook for a minute--and ladle into bowls!  A drizzle of soy sauce tastes nice, too.  A nice, warm breakfast on a pretty cold day (our weather forecast says maybe a little snow tomorrow...kids are *so* excited!).

Itadakima---su!

Mata ryouri shiou, ne!

Favorite Japanese Music-- Dreams Come True

One of my favorite J-Pop bands since coming to Japan is Dreams Come True--lead singer Miwa has a powerful voice, as well as good range and expression.  I like to listen to her sing most anything, but my favorite song of theirs is "Asa Ga Mata Kuru"..."Morning Will Come Again".  Great vocals, and you just can't help but move to it!

I had the actual video of this song bookmarked, but, alas, it appears to have been whisked away by the Copyright Gods...so I've substituted below the album version accompanied by Scenes of Tokyo and Other Random Images.  There are several live versions which are fun, and which give you a feel for Miwa's live singing ability, and also her ever-changing hair, but of course at concerts she is occasionally holding the mike out to the audience for them to sing along. 



La, la, la...la, la, la...that bit'll get stuck in your head.  But in a good way!


Enjoy!
Mata asobou, ne!