a may daytrip

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today is the last day of our long long weekend: so-called “golden week”

consisting of 4 national holidays over a weekend.

(no wonder, it is worth "gold" for hard-working japanese people!)

everyone is entitled to have fun!

and, today is kids’ day.
kids are treasure when japan sees the birthrate declining.
to celebrate the day, traditionally, carp streamers are put up outside.
usually, early may weather should be perfect for that.


the day before yesterday,

i went out to see lush mountainous areas in kyoto.

my brother wanted to show me the breathtaking scenery as you now see,
although he was too ill to take a walk there.
i truly rejoiced in sharing the day with my long-ailing brother.

only a few more days to go before this weekend,
hang in there, my global friends!

manjusaka 曼珠沙華

during 彼岸 higan, which is the equinoctial week, we japanese would visit our family graves because of the buddhist tradition. so i, too, went up to kyoto and visited our family temple where my father and my mother’s ancestors all lie at rest, today. as the temple is situated in the mountainous area and the grave yard overlooks the valley, people, both deceased and alive, can enjoy the spectacular view. it was too hot (the temperature rose above 30 degree celsius!) to appreciate it in the sun today, though.

after coming back home, i was a bit tired and had a nap. then, i went out to the park with my camera to look for 彼岸花 higanbana (manjusaka in sanskrit; spider lily in english), which only blooms during the equinoctial week. in the woodlands, i could find the blood-colour flowers here and there. they looked mystic, but beautiful. and, i wandered about in search of on something more mystic: white spider lily. there should be some in the park. i at last found a white mass near a serene pond just in time for the sunset. i felt something mystic like zen!

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biscuit tins

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this time, i’m going to talk about nothing to do with weather or floras. well, it’ true that the most enjoyable part of my life is associated with seasonal changes of nature. but, my artsy side seems never to be influenced by seasons or even bad weathers. (oh, it’s another fine summer’s day; ideal for an italian white wine here in osaka.) matter of fact, i’m pretty design-conscious. i can be fussy or crazy about colours, patterns and shapes of end products that some talented persons have created. for this reason, i have a tendency to fall for things that can be my collectibles.

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meanwhile, i tell my mother, who can’t throw anything away without feeling guilty, to stop accumulating rubbish. in her drawers and cupboard, i’ve been seeing a host of strings, rubber bands and shopping bags sit still over these years. i do understand that any woman of my mother’s generation experienced the times when anyone simply could not afford to waste anything because of the war. i, however, say to her mercilessly: “mother, do you really need a dozen of empty plastic yogurt tubs?” it’s no joke.

on the other hand, when it comes to pretty things like ribbons, boxes and biscuit (or tea, coffee, cocoa power?) tins, i am not in a position to tell my mother to get rid of that stuff. actually, i used to have way too many tins. i still keep some in spite of frequent relocations of my base crossing the seas, back and forth, in the past. my old biscuit tins all look ravishingly beautiful. in fact, years back, when i jumped off a double-decker i’d taken from piccadilly after shopping at fortnum & mason, i left my handbag. i was totally carried away with a gorgeous lazzaroni biscuit tin i’d just bought there. i know i’m sometimes such a comic. * **

pic 1
maker-unidentified french bonbons tin: i don’t really remember this … probably i bought this in london since the tin charmed me, while i clearly remember the bonbons were not so tasty. this tin now contains my sawing kit.

pic 2, 3
lazzaroni amaretti cookies tin: this is quite ubiqitous. i used to have all three sizes. the tall one is a perfect size for spaghetti. this spicy macaroon’s tissue wrapper is beautiful, too. design-wise, i prefer retro to modern, by the way.

pic 4
another lazzaroni biscuits tin: i eventually bought this after several visits to fortnum mason. this is the tin that cost me my handbag. several months later i received a letter from the london transport lost property office, telling me to collect my handbag. a good world? but, i had to pay for restoring charge.

pic 5
ladyfingers (french sponge type biscuits) tin: i think i bought this when i lived in 横浜 yokohama. i was going to make a charlotte with these biscuits, but i ate them all before making one. threads, buttons and beads are crammed in there now.

pic 6
末富 suetomi japanese biscuits tins: my new numbers. in my opinion, these minimalistic tins are the best designed confectionery tins in japan. 末富 suetomi, an well-established confectionery in 京都 kyoto, does have its own aesthetics not only for confectioneries but for packaging as well.

pic 7
(additionally) whiteman’s sampler box: i bought this in new york last year. it is not a tin as you see. and it is a bit girly, you might think. still, this nostalgic feel makes me so hard to throw away when empty.

have a beautiful sunday, everyone!
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sakura #2

the japanese have a thing about 桜 sakura (cherry blossoms). i missed the best season of 桜 in 京都 kyoto this yea, though. i don’t feel quite up to making my way through the crowd. everywhere you go you’ll only find streets thick with people in 東山 higashiyama, 京都, this time of year. instead, i upload my best 桜 pictures i took there a couple years back. they can refresh my memories of the beauty of 京都 in 桜 season, which was speechless. i did need no words to appreciate it, but i got tired of the crush and congestion in town, really.

so, spring has come to all over japan. not exactly -- it’s already summer out here. the temperature went up as high as 28 degree centigrade in 大阪 osaka yesterday: it was a bit too hot for お花見 o-hanami (sakura picnic). i saw many people having a party under the blossoms, however. the best blooms are clearly gone, while our お花見 mode is still in full swing. everyone enjoys power-pink 桜吹雪 sakura-fubuki (cherry blossom confetti) as an unseasonable summer breeze kisses the cherry blossoms. we japanese are terribly, unbearably fond of 桜. do you know why? because, 桜 is short-lived: the bloom makes us feel like such a fool if we missed it: the blossom goes with grace, no hesitation.


i heard one 鶯 uguisu (bush-warbler) singing somewhere yesterday morning. it’s springtime no doubt. and, the climate is mediterranean's at the moment. for me, it was perfect a saturday evening doing nothing but cooking linguine con le vongole with crushed chili and chopped parsley (from my mother’s kitchen garden) and sipping argentine white plonk. i am happily idling away my time at weekend, as i’ve been working full time for a project for my last two weeks now in an office in 京橋 kyobashi, 大阪, weekend has become something special (and allows me to eat lots of garlic) to me.


on the other hand, it is an good opportunity for me to discover 大阪. i don’t know much about the city even though i’ve been one of osakans for several years; i haven’t really been fair towards 大阪, you know. the office is located in the tower 21, overlooking 大阪城 osaka-jo (osaka castle), so naturally, the view is breathtaking, while the “project x” (that's the name, actually) i now work on as a translator is just painstaking. one morning, i looked at 大阪城 from the office windows. i noticed blue plastic sheets spread out under the cherry blossoms along the river near 大阪城. then i noticed people sitting and having お花見 on the plastic-sheets when i was about to leave my office.

traditionally, poor freshmen would have to go and find an ideal place for お花見 to seize it by spreading plastic sheets early in the morning before their colleagues go to work. when a hard-working day is over, it is a party time. they rush to the place all together. this is a typical way for office workers to enjoy their “after 5” in 桜 season. they are lucky to work near 大阪城, which is famous for 桜. i’m not particularly attracted to samurai culture or castles themselves. still, i am loving the majestic view of 大阪城, with fresh green and powder pink patches and surrounded moats as the project is reaching the peak.

the green tea city

shion, my daughter, left me yesterday. so my life is now back to normal, but my flat felts empty. she stayed with me for the whole last week and got what she (or i) planned done while she was here. for instance, with her help, we completed a project that we moved my bed and antique chest of drawers from the biggest room in my flat, where they had occupied, to the next room i had used as my study until we changed it. the next day, we went to ikea to get some stuff for a finishing touch and she bought me a duvet cover as a belated birthday gift. anyway, my former bed room, being reborn as a proper living room, is looking pretty good.


whenever shion is here, she’d go out to the park for an hour-walk every morning. and she did that in spite of having started suffering hay fever (and so have i, caused by cider pollen). we also had meals with my mother a couple of times at her home and paid a visit to my brother in his hospital together. but the high light of her stay was, like always, to become tourists visiting some historic place in 京都 kyoto. we chose 宇治 uji city in the kyoto prefecture this time. the city actually boasts two unesco world heritage sites located on the right and left banks of the uji river: 平等院 byodo-in (temple) and 宇治上神社 ujigami-jinja (shrine).


we made it on friday. although we were hoping that it’d be a sunny day, it turned out to be cloudy, even raining sometimes, certainly not a nice day for a day-out. yet, it was pleasantly a quiet day since there was no big tourist-crowd at all. 平等院 byodo-in, built in the mid 11th century, is so familiar as it appears on our every 10 yen coin. in fact, we both had visited uji before, definitely the temple, but we barely remembered what it was really like. 鳳凰堂 phoenix hall with the ornaments of phoenix on the rooftop stood magnificently. in particular, i loved the statues of bodhisattvas with musical instruments on clouds – all national treasures.


when we walked out of the gate, it was already 3 o’clock. it was time for hungry tourists to have a break for sure. we found a cosy eatery nearby and had a 3-course meal of 湯葉 yuba, tofu-skin, which kyoto is also famous for. while 豆腐 tofu has been a global food now, 湯葉 yuba is still almost unknown for european and american gourmet people. my brother took me to a popular 湯葉 yuba restaurant in kyoto before his second hospitalisation for surgery, actually. we then had an 10-course meal that every dish was made with soybeans as ingredients like meat, cheese and milk. no wonder, it’s very healthy.


after the late lunch, we crossed the foot bridges and headed for our other destination, 宇治上神社 ujigami-jinja. well, from an economical point of view, shrines are better for tourists than temples and i’ll tell you why. shrines won’t charge you for just viewing the site, while you will always have to pay some entrance fee to view renowned temples. shion and i were simply happy to go through the austere gate of 宇治上神社 ujigami-jinja free. but yet, the ancient shrine looked demure, divine and impressive enough to remember. it is different from other ordinary shrines. it’s moderately decorated, which is quite unusual for shinto shrines.


as a matter of fact, 宇治 uji is one of the main green tea producers in japan. so, if you visit kyoto, you will see green tea flavoured sweet things like cake and ice cream wherever you go. and shion couldn’t resist them. when she went up to the central part of kyoto for shopping on her own on thursday, she brought me her favourite green tea baumkuchen. we enjoyed a huge piece of it. and she was planning to eat it all before leaving for tokyo where she lives. but the thing is, she couldn’t. because she had too much sushi that her grandma offered when we visited her again.

now my sweet daughter’s gone. i am finishing the rest of it... green tea bliss!