fukagawa ennichi

On the 1st, 15th and 28th of each month, the Monzennakacho area has a temple festival called Fukagawa Ennichi.

In the area there are several temples...the Naritasan Fudo-do (a branch of the Naritasan temple in Chiba)

Cool statue in front of Koiso's Ivory

Even though it was a temple festival, there weren't too many vendors.

Another temple is Tomioka Hachimangu.

At this temple they were having a little flea market.

There was a yokozuna monument, but I only learned about it afterwards, will need to go back...

I stood in line for baby castella from Nakazawa Seika.

35 for 1000 yen (tax included)...AND they actually gave me 3 extra...

Baby castella is so hard to find in Tokyo, I'm glad I got to try this.

And stuck the bulk of this into the freezer, so we can enjoy this another day.

There was also a botan (peony) park nearby, but nothing was blooming.

Crossed the Kurofune Bridge

This area has many cherry blossom trees along the Oyoko River.

Monzennakacho Fire Watch Tower.

 

I'm glad I got to explore this area a little and hope to come back when the peonies or cherry blossoms are blooming.

tamago senbei

Tamago senbei or tamagosen for short is a type of b-kyu gurume that is often seen at matsuri (festivals).

Satoshi said that growing up he and his friends would go to a dagashiya (candy shop) to buy snacks after school.

Using their kozukai (pocket money) they would buy ebisen (shrimp crackers) topped with okonomiyaki sauce.

I asked him about takosen (shrimp crackers topped with takoyaki).

He said that takosen was too expensive for the amount of  pocket money he normally had which was about 100 yen (like $1).

I don't remember ever trying this, so I made some for our lunch yesterday.

I juilienned some cabbage and then wilted it in a non-stick pan.

I also squeezed out as much liquid as I could from the wilted cabbage.

Then I pan fried an egg for each of us.

Topped the ebisen (shrimp crackers) with cabbage, the egg and then drizzled some okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bubu arare (since I didn't have tempura bits) and some aonori.

Messy to eat but so so good!

I think the egg needed to be cooked a little longer so that it wasn't oozy when eaten.

I loved how crispy the shrimp crackers stayed even with all the toppings.

And the sweet salty combo from the okonomiyaki sauce with the shrimp crackers is so so addicting.

Since it will be awhile before festivals are allowed again, I will definitely make this again when I am in a pinch to make something for lunch.

o-eshiki

The founder of the Nichiren sect died around the 2nd week of October in Ikegami.

Since Ikegami Honmonji is the largest temple for the Nichiren sect, they have a 3-day "celebration" for him.

Food stalls lined almost every street around the temple (they even block actual shops on these streets! don't look at their food prep hygiene, you will not want to eat from them...eep!)

Worshippers on the left, Mando (floats that are lit up and decorated with paper flowers) on the right.

Go up these stairs to pay your respects.

The temple area was decorated for the celebration.

Groups from all over Japan came.

Each group was escorted up to the main temple to give their offerings and prayers.

This is a picture of the mando.

I didn't want to fight the crowds so I didn't go to see the final procession on the 13th but was able to view parts of it on local television, it was quite a large gathering.

Have a nice weekend.

gion matsuri

Was doing a little cleaning yesterday and came across this furoshiki that I think we received from a friend of the Gion Matsuri.

The Gion Matsuri is a festival that occurs during the month of July in Kyoto.

I remember the first (and last) time we saw the Gion Matsuri.

It was 2001, our first year in Japan.

I was not used to the summer temps and it was so hot and humid that I got heatstroke...

Not to say that I am anywhere near "used to" the summer temps here.

Anyway, I will gladly watch the parade from my tv (with a/c), but if you are brave enough though, I'm sure it would be something worth checking out...here's the schedule.

foodie festivals

There were many festivals over the past weekend. Luckily the weather was cooperative.

We started out at the Sweet Onion Festival. This was on the grounds of the Aloun Farms.

$2 per adult to enter and then everything had to be paid for in scrips (50-cents per scrip).

For $32 in scrips, we picked up a seedless Thai watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew melon, dozen corn, green beans, (5) sweet potato (purple kind) and lots of onions (40 to be exact)!

We shared a lot of these fruits and veggies with Mom's friends.

Afterwards, we checked out the Portuguese Festa.

It was small in comparison to the Sweet Onion Festival.

My brother had a Vinha D'Alhos (pickled pork) sandwich and I picked up some malasadas.

The malasadas were fluffy and kept their shape even after they were cool. I would say they are 2nd to Champions (which is saying a lot).

Before heading home, we picked up lunch from Leeward Drive-Inn.

It was my first time ordering from this place, even though they've been around since 1964 (it says so on their sign).

I ordered their BBQ hamburger with cheese...this was a quarter pound and I enjoyed the teriyaki sauce that was on the burger. I thought it was a nice balance of sweet and salty.

Mom had their fried noodles. I think she enjoyed this one even though their portion is massive and she only ate a fourth of it.

My brother said the mochiko chicken had too much coating on it...

All in all, great weather and lots of good food.

Leeward Drive-Inn
94-209 Pupukahi Street
Waipahu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.671.7323

danjiri matsuri

Danjiri matsuri (wooden cart festival) is one of the more famous festivals in Osaka.

This is held in Kishiwada city to be exact.

The more famous festival for this city was held in September (actually during the time we went to France). October's festival is not as popular, it is held on the outskirts of Kishiwada city and in my opinion, still very festive.

We left our house at 7-ish and got to Higashi-Kishiwada at about 9-ish.

When we arrived, a danjiri (wooden cart) was being taken to the neighborhood shrine for a prayer and blessing.

Most of the danjiri are very decorative and ornate with intricately carved deity figures and is in the shape of a shrine.

Many neighborhoods participate in this festival with danjiri representing their area.

There is one person who stands atop the danjiri, he is called "daiku-kata", and he jumps from side to side on the roof of the danjiri as the danjiri is moving.

One thing you will notice is that only men are atop the danjiri and some play the taiko drum, wooden flute and gong. Usually the higher ranking men of the neighborhood are standing on the front of the danjiri. While at the back of the danjiri, more men are there cheering on the runners/pullers.

I think the men on the sides of the danjiri are there to even the weight distribution, so that the danjiri will not topple over on a turn.

Like with most Japanese festivals, women are forbidden to participate and this one is no different, they are not allowed to stand on or touch the danjiri.

Though many young children (including girls) are allowed to pull the danjiri.

One story of how this festival started was an elite asked the lower class people to do something entertaining for him. This danjiri pulling is what they came up with.

Nowadays, I think the festival is held in hopes of a good harvest for the year.

The whole danjiri including the wheels and "brakes" are made of wood. (I think the only part that is metal is the axle.)

I say "brakes" because there is a huge wooden rod that is shoved at the wheel to make the danjiri stop, kinda like a huge go-cart.

There are no gears to make the wheels turn left or right, the whole thing has to be pulled with a great force and literally dragged on a turn.

This makes pulling the danjiri very dangerous, because the only control is handled by the runners in combination with the "brakes".

I got first hand while taking photos, of how the danjiri can go out of control, and had one of the runners fly into me...luckily neither of us got hurt. (top mosaic:bottom left photo)

Many of the electric poles and corners are padded, and any open rain ducts on the side of the roads are filled with sandbags, so that the danjiri nor the runners, will fall in and get stuck or hurt.

Since there was going to be an exhibition of the various neighborhood danjiri at 1-ish, we bought some food and went to hold a place to view the exhibition.

Most of the sidewalk area had been saved by the locals, and at the last minute the place we had chosen was deemed unsafe, so we wiggled our way into the locals area.

Apparently, the locals weren't supposed to be saving seats in the first place, but if one does it then everyone follows suit...sigh.

Actually most of the locals took the shady side of the street and we actually "baked" on the opposite side of the street. Luckily I had brought my sun umbrella.

Then at about 1-ish, we watched as 11 neighborhoods ran and flew through corners with their danjiri. (Apparently the festival in September had 30-something danjiri.)

It was quite exciting to watch. Some had lots of runners and we loved how each neighborhood had their own happi (coats). Many of the girls had intricately braided hair too.

Since the various danjiri were going round and round the block, we decided to leave after about an hour and walked about a mile to check out the Kishiwada castle.

This area is where the September festival is held and the shopping arcade is one of the areas where the danjiri pass.

Most stores in the arcade have balconies so that they can watch the danjiri pass by.

We spoke to one of the shop keepers in the arcade and she said that with the amount of people from outside the city who come to watch danjiri in September, you'll almost never get a seat nor be able to see it up close.

Hearing this, we were glad to be able to see part of the festival without the massive crowds.

It was a long day, we didn't get to experience any of the local foods, but the weather was beautiful, we got a little lot darker, and we got to experience a festival that has been going on for over 300 years.

If you'd like to see a video of a couple of danjiri on their practice runs, click here and or here and here. (NOTE: the last video was a little sketchy, I rotated it using a feature on YouTube so the beginning is sideways but the rest is okay, it shows how narrow a place this danjiri goes!)

Hope you enjoyed this as much as we did.

odds & ends

On Sunday when we went galavanting around Minoo Park, I saw a sign for the city's Nanokaichi. Actually, this "festival" is more of a get together for merchants to sell their wares around the Minoo station and in parts of the Minoo Park on the 7th day of each month. Since I had never gone to this, I decided to check it out yesterday.

To my disappointment though, there wasn't much happening. I guess with summer, it was too hot, plus the 7th fell on a weekday.

Oh well...since I was at the park already, I walked to the Insectarium and paid to check out the butterflies (again). I was shocked to see that many of them had wings that looked like they were ripped or eaten. Still, having them fly around was a nice feeling.

The Minoo river was quite high. We've been having heavy rains during the afternoons. It has been quite scary too, with loud booms of thunder and bolts of lightning. But, the downside to this is that even with all the rain, the humidity still lingers. This is one part of Japan's summer that I cannot get used to.

I noticed this big tile on top of a shrine. Scary, yet comical looking face with butterfly tiles "fluttering" around it.

Not many flowers during this time of year, though I found these portulaca (sp?) in pots along the path.

Since there wasn't much else to do, I decided to stop into my favorite cafe for a cappuccino. I actually debated as to whether I should go for an iced cappuccino. But, I didn't know if the iced version would have the cappuccino art...so I went for the hot cappuccino...I am so crazy! I think it was at least 35C (95F) outside with thick humidity...the crema was so good though, I scooped it up with the spoon like it was fluffy pudding.

Satoshi called me as I was enjoying my cappuccino. He needed a document from the city office for work. It was a good thing he caught me while I was still in the neighborhood. I popped into the office and showed them his text message. The city worker helped me fill out the form and within a couple of minutes I paid 200 yen (about US$2) for the document and was out of there.

As I walked to the train station, I noticed a railroad sign. Something I have never seen in Hawaii, though maybe they do have some around. I don't drive in Japan, but I think this sign is there to warn drivers that there is a railroad crossing ahead, though they aren't at all the railroad crossings.

Wednesday night, I made chirmol. I like this recipe, it tastes like a fresh salsa, mixed with the flavors of lomi lomi salmon (without the salmon). Anyway, I had bought a can of jalapenos and put one pepper into the chirmol. Delicious and there is a kick that leaves fire on your lips.

Thursday night, with the leftover chirmol, I made a taco salad for dinner and used the chirmol as salsa. I also tried a flatbread recipe, but I want to tweak it a bit before sharing. It was too salty and too sticky.

Here are the crumbs on mac nut ice cream. Actually, I think the shortbread would stand out more with vanilla ice cream. The mac nuts kind of overpowered everything. Ooh, and I actually found another big piece within the crumbs! (can you see it in the back of the ice cream mountain?)

Do you think these little plants are tomato or okra? I threw some tomato and okra into this pot and all of a sudden this is what has come up. I'm hoping for okra, though I have a feeling it is tomato.

Sorry for the rambling...It's Aloha Friday here...hope you have a great weekend!