jizobon & gangara fire festival

Yesterday was Jizobon, where people give thanks to Ojizoson, who watches over the children.

I noticed all the tiny shrines around our shopping arcade decorated with chochin (paper lanterns) and offerings. There were also some priests sitting in front of some of the shrines saying prayers.

This was my first time seeing this and I had to look online to figure what it was. (learned something new!)

Satoshi said that when he was a child, Jizobon was celebrated at the furoya-san (public bath), dunno if they have tiny shrines, next door to MIL's. When I asked him what they did, he said they just played games and ate candy...

Last night was also the Gangara Fire Festival, which I've written about before, here.

Summer seems to be coming to a close with all these events, but the weather dude says that the heat & humidity will continue to linger awhile.

odds & ends

Every 24th of August is the Gangara Fire Festival (Gangara Himatsuri or Gangarabi)--Ikeda's most traditional annual event. Ikeda is a city in Osaka prefecture and is one train station away from us.


A torchlight procession goes up to Atago Shrine on Mt. Satsuki. There are also 2 fires that are lit called Daimonji and Dai-ichimonji. The Daimonji is lit on the west side and the Dai-ichimonji is lit on the south side of Mt. Satsuki. These fires are considered sacred and are the symbols of prayers for inner satisfaction and world peace. I could see the Daimonji from the entryway of our apartment.

Today was beads class, this was a necklace that I finished using the netting stitch.

You know that grape flavoring that is used for candies and sodas?

That's what these grapes, called Delaware, taste like.

In Japan, most people do not eat the skins of fruits because it is thought that many farms use a LOT of pesticides in order to perfect their fruits. If you ask me, a lot of times the skins are very bitter and hard.

This 99% cacao is made by Vernost Kachestvu, a Russian confectionery. I bought it to try 99% dark chocolate. I'm glad there are only 6 pieces, it is very chalky in taste, really salty and doesn't taste anything like the chocolate I love!