hatsubon

Over the weekend BIL had a service for MIL's hatsubon.

If you are interested as to what hatsubon is please look here.

Since everyone's case numbers have been going up, plus it is so miserable and hot, BIL said that we didn't have to come.

I think we should've gone, but Satoshi said "if BIL said no need then no need go" (well he didn't say it in pidgin...)

The only reason I am relieved that we didn't go is because Satoshi always eats and drinks too much whenever we all get together which is not good.

Since BIL held the service at his home, we sent some Japanese sweets to give as offering.

And the other night for dinner we had unagi, which is MIL's favorite.

I hope to get some flowers to place in front of her photo today.

Missing you MIL.

hilo

Over the weekend, I visited Hilo with my Aunties.

The weather wasn't forecast to be nice, so we often got caught in passing showers....

I was able to get my hands on some lychee from the Farmer's Market...so good!

We got to try some fruit mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen (Rainier Cherry (top), Mandarin Cutie (middle) and Saturn Peach (below))...all so good!

We were impressed with the rainier cherry, as the stem was still attached to the cherry but the seed had been pitted! The flesh of the cherry wasn't disturbed...amazing pitting technique!

I tried two different loco moco (for Satoshi)...a keiki moco (top) from Ken's Pancakes...meh! the patty was hard.as.rock. And Cafe 100's loco moco...

Cafe 100 apparently created the loco moco, so you know their version had to be good! (and it was! and it was only $3.50!)

Brought flowers to the family graves...

And visited with friends and relatives.

our main reason for visiting Hilo was to attend the hatsubon service for my Grandma, if you remember, she passed away last December.

I've written about hatsubon before here.

I also picked up some omiyage (souvenirs) for Satoshi and I to try when I get back to Japan.

Despite the off and on rain, it was nice to visit Hilo and reconnect with family and friends.

Thanks Aunty M for inviting me.

hatsubon

Earlier this month marked the one year anniversary of my mom's passing.

There was a hatsubon service at her church for all members who had passed away since the hatsubon service that was held last year. This meant that even members who had died just a month ago were included in this service.

I wrote about hatsubon in Japan here.

Over the weekend, we also held a small service for family.

The food was catered and I cleaned the house as best as I could to get it ready for guests.

I hope everyone had enough to eat and it was nice to see both sides of our family get together.

I must say that there is still a big void without her here.

Missing you Mom.

hatsubon

It is Obon here. Obon is the time of year that we welcome our ancestor's spirits back to "our world". Every year about this time, we visit our ancestor's graves, give it a good cleaning, pray and thank them for watching over us over the past year.

Some companies have the week off, but not Satoshi's. Many people return to their hometowns during their week off which is the cause for traffic jams and packed trains.

Since my FIL passed away this year, it is his first obon or hatsubon as they call it.

During this time of year, most of the priests are very busy. They go around to various congregation member's homes to pray for the member's ancestors. Yesterday, the priest from Sennyuji came to the house to pray for my FIL and our family ancestors. It was also the 17th memorial of my FIL's father's death, so we also had special prayers said for him also. This time not many relatives came, just us, BIL, MIL and FIL's younger sister.

It wasn't as stressful as the other memorial services. Since there were less people, there wasn't the need to serve lots of tea. On top of that, we didn't need to wear black. But that didn't mean you could wear hot pink or some bright color, we still had to dress subdued.

Satoshi's mom gave us some chagashi (sweets for tea). These are from Yuuzuki, a little wagashi (Japanese confection) shop down the street. I had seen them the two times we passed in the taxi on our way to the wake and funeral.

This is their usuyaki (literally thin bake). It is a thin wafer, like the ice cream cones that get soggy. And inside is a sugary cream. She gave us matcha and caramel.

Both were very good, not too sweet and the wafer very crisp.

Hope you have a great week.

Yuuzuki
64 Gotodamachi, Murasakinonishi
Kita-ku, Kyoto
Phone: 075.415.7088
Open 10:00-18:00
Closed Sundays