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Yesterday, on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Katsuura, to check out their big hinamatsuri.

If you remember, Kat went last year, her adventure is here.

We still missed the morning market because it takes almost 4 hours to get there by train.

FYI: The trains do not run too often in this area, so it was miss a connection to use the restroom then wait an hour for the next train or “keep going” until Katsuura.

We chose the latter and thankfully there was a toilet on the train on the last leg to Katsuura…whew!

Lunch was at Ocean, a tiny shop serving all sorts of things.

Satoshi tried their katsuo zuke don...1400 yen (tax included)

(This area is known for their large catches of katsuo.)

Raw katsuo (bonito) is marinated then placed on top of rice...he said he enjoyed this.

Kat tried the Katsuura Tan Tan men...950 yen (tax included)

This tan tan men is unlike the types with sesame paste in the broth, Katsuura style uses chili oil, large pieces of onion and minced pork.

The onion gets super soft and sweet when simmered in the broth, and amazingly the chili oil was not too spicy.

Mix everything well, so you aren’t just drinking a layer of oil 

Apparently, this dish was created to "warm" up the fishermen and ama (female divers) after a day in the cold ocean.

Loved the thin noodles!

You can find several shops in the area serving their own versions of Katsuura Tan Tan Men.

Unlike the weekday that Kat visited, this was a Sunday, so there was a line to see the hinamatsuri at Tomisaki Shrine.

Kat just took a photo from afar

After a 6 year hiatus, they brought back the large display of dolls at Kuste, the local culture center.

Since I had heard there was a slope/hill to be climbed to get to the center, I kinda didn’t want to see this display, but I’m glad I did, it was amazing to see! 

an auditorium full of dolls!

Many many dolls and many many people too.

500 yen entrance fee at Kuste, but free if you came by train and received one of their free tickets! luckily we received a free ticket.

A small sign that Spring is coming...

I'm glad Satoshi was finally able to experience this event.

Ocean

701-4 Tona

Katsuura, Chiba

Hours: 9:00-20:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 11:00-20:00 (Saturdays & Sundays)

katsuura big hinamatsuri

Not sure if it was when we were living in Osaka or after we moved to Tokyo when I bookmarked this to see, and then the pandemic hit…on the spur of the moment I went on Thursday.

I left the house at 8:45 and with the combination of super poor planning and also getting lost inside of Tokyo station, I arrived in Katsuura at 12:00-ish

There are 3 main areas where the dolls are displayed: A big display at an intersection

Tomisaki shrine : there are about 1800 dolls here and they are put up and taken down every day! (if rain is in the forecast, they don't put the dolls up, just a panel photo of it in its place)

Kakuoji temple

This event started in 2001 and apparently 7000 dolls were brought in from areas of Japan with the same name, Katsuura.

Many shops have dolls displayed, even the post office!

Unfortunately, arriving at lunch time, I missed checking out the morning market.

Still, I'm glad I made it out this way.

The event runs from February 23rd until March 3rd, check their website for more details

If you'd like to see more photos/videos, please look here

Hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as I did

Happy Girls Day

this and that

Tuesday, the weather was rainy and windy.

So windy, I thought we were in the midst of a typhoon.

Wednesday was Hinamatsuri (Girl's Day).

You could see many dolls displayed here and there.

Huge jinchoge (daphne) bush (left) and jade plant (right) in front of someone's home.

I love the fragrance of daphne, it is kind of strong like tuberose.

I passed by this door and window shop and they had this homemade door made from all sorts of pieces of wood.

I bought us some sakura mochi from Okuniya for Girl's Day.

The "bumpy" looking one is made from Domyoji-ko and is Kansai style (West Japan).

The smooth looking one is Kanto style (East Japan).

I've written about this before here.

Dinner was sushi...I bought these temarizushi (balls of sushi).

It looks like Tokyo's state of emergency will be extended since our numbers have not gone lower than 300.

The temperature has flip-flopped from very warm to very fahreezing.

Stay safe and have a nice weekend.

hinaningyo

Hinamatsuri is coming up so I took out my collection of hinaningyo (dolls).

I recently discovered that Kansai (West Japan), namely Kyoto, has a different placement of the Obina (Emperor (male) doll).

When looking at the display, he is seated on the right because they feel "the most important person" should be seated on the right.

Kanto (East Japan) places their Obina on the left.

And in case you were wondering the Empress (female) doll is called Mebina.

(photo taken at Inatori, Shizuoka)

hinamatsuri

Today is Hinamatsuri of Momo no Sekku.

In Hawaii, we call it Girl's Day.

I took out my set of dolls.

While I was cleaning out my parent's house last summer I found another set of dolls and added it to my collection, can you tell which one is "new"?

Yesterday we had rain and today the sun is out so I'm trying to do lots of laundry.

Cyclamen is blooming...

kaisen chirashizushi

Last night for dinner I made a kaisen chirashizushi. This is a type of sushi that is topped with seafood.

In recent years I've seen this version especially for hinamatsuri (Girl's Day).

I adlibbed.

After cooking some rice, I mixed in some denpu (a type of "meat floss" made from fish that is sweetened), if I am not mistaken, Japan uses tara (cod). I also mixed in some sesame seeds and snow peas.

On the bottom of my plate I sprinkled some shiso (perilla) that I cut up thinly.

I added the rice mixture.

Topped it with more shiso and snow peas.

I sprinkled on a little thinly slice omelette.

And then I put on some sashimi (katsuo (bonito), salmon & amaebi (sweet shrimp).

Drizzled some denpu here and there.

And also drizzled some ikura that was soaked in shoyu.

I drizzled a little shoyu over everything before eating.

Super easy dinner, well, once I got everything together.

I had this with Hoegaarden's rosée.

Oh and can I talk a little about this plate that I served it on?

I think my mom gave me this from her stash when we moved from Hawaii (pre-blog)...

It has ume (apricot) flowers on it, but it isn't microwave friendly (there is a metal rim as well as some metal on the plate), so I don't use to very often.

Anyway, I hope you had a nice Girl's Day, if you celebrated.

Have a nice weekend.

customer service

The other day, I went to 7-eleven to get something for snack.

I ordered a caramel doughnut at the register paid and then went home.

When I opened the package there was a kinako doughnut in there instead.

Man, was I bummed.

After eating the doughnut (which was good), I called 7-eleven because I noticed that the price on my receipt was no where near what a kinako doughnut costs (the kinako costs less).

The lady I spoke to said that they would need to check up on it.

She then asked me for my address and telephone number.

At the time, I thought it was kinda weird that they needed my address...

So a couple minutes later, the manager called to apologize.

She offered to DELIVER a caramel doughnut to me (probable reason for needing my address), as well as to refund my money.

I told her that it was not necessary to bring the doughnut over (especially since I already ate one) and that I would go to pick up my refund the next day.

So the next morning, I went to 7-eleven and told them who I was.

They apologized and refunded my money.

I offered to pay for the kinako doughnut because even though it was their mistake for giving me the wrong item, I still ate the kinako one.

But they wouldn't hear of it and refused my money.

Customer service at its finest.

p.s. keeping with the doughnut theme...

today is Girl's Day...we're celebrating with some doughnuts from Donuts Dept, so cute! (and delicious)

happy girl's day

Thought I'd share some of the Girl's Day decorations I have collected over the years.

When I was in Hawaii last summer, I brought them back to Japan with me.

If you're interested in knowing more about Hinamatsuri, I've written about it in detail here.

Hope you have a nice Girl's Day.

p.s. the anonymous spam was getting kinda ridiculous, so I'm sorry but I have to stop allowing anonymous comments.

belated girl's day

How was your weekend?

Satoshi had to work on Girl's Day and then had a party with his university baseball team alumni, so we celebrated Girl's Day on Sunday.

Breakfast was at a neighborhood cafe, Ferdinand.

And since the weather was supposed to be rainy from lunchtime, we picked up some bento and then provisions for dinner.

For dinner, I made these salmon rolls: nori, rice, salmon, avocado, cucumber, red bell pepper, a little lettuce and a little mayo.

The "goodies" weren't perfectly in the center, but tasted great together.

Satoshi ate these with some wasabi and shoyu, I just ate them as is.

We also had some "poke", this was the leftover salmon, avocado, cucumber, red bell pepper, a leaf of lettuce, some maguro and a mayo-shoyu dressing.

I also made some tako sunomono.

Dessert was a brownie by Wittamer, chocolatey with lots of different nuts.

This was nice with a glass of red wine.

Even though the weather was dreary, we still had a nice day.

Have a nice week.

kusama world

On Thursday, I met up with Tamakikat, she wanted to check out the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the National Museum.

You can read more about the artist here.

The majority of pieces that were on display were "polka-dotty" but there were also intricate pieces too (which we couldn't photograph).

The weather was overcast and it was nice to catch up with Tamakikat as well as check out this exhibit.

Thanks for a great day!

p.s. Happy Girl's Day!

belated hinamatsuri

On the last weekend of February, Satoshi went to Kyoto, which I talked about yesterday.

MIL sent him home with this...Hinamatsuri kamaboko (fish cake).

The male character (left) is called O-dairisama & the female (right) is called O-hinasama. Both are supposed to represent the Emperor and Empress of the Heian court.

While I appreciate her sending this home with Satoshi, I wasn't sure how or when we would eat it.

It turned out that we ended up eating it after Hinamatsuri passed, but before the expiry date...whew!

We had this with some udon. I usually make my own tsuyu (soup/sauce) for noodles, the recipe is here. I don't strain the katsuo bushi (bonito flakes) before using the tsuyu, I serve it.

I also cut some green onion (from our lanai) and added a pinch of tororo kombu (thinly shaved kelp). We also sprinkled some shichimi togarashi (mixture of red pepper and 6 Japanese spices).

It was a great lunch on a cold, rainy day.

hinamatsuri

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. The wind was quite strong and nippy but overall a beautiful day.

I went to pick up a Hinamatsuri (Girl's Day) bento at the nearby department store. This one had assorted nigiri (rice balls)...735 yen (about US$7.35).

The top two nigiri are supposed to look like members of the Heian court, with the nori (laver) and egg used to resemble their kimono (Japanese formal wear).

I thought it wouldn't be too filling because it was small, but it was just right for lunch.

I also went to check out Kotobuki manju in our shopping arcade.

They had a new flavor, sakura (cherry blossom)...130 yen (about US$1.30)

This had cherry blossom flavored an (sweet bean paste) and a salted blossom on top.

Both were perfect with some green tea.

When I go on my walks, there is a huge tree with yellow flowers and a huge tree with pink flowers that is in full bloom.

Every time I've gone past though, it has been overcast and kind of dark, not good photo conditions, especially for my iPhone which cannot zoom (and it doesn't have a flash either).

When I went past yesterday, it was clear and sunny, perfect! I had brought my point and shoot, so I was able to zoom.

I googled around and found out that the tree with the yellow flowers is an Acacia Dealbata (Silver Wattle) and I think the tree with the pink flowers is either ume (apricot) or momo (peach).

There is an order as to which blooms first in Japanese (ume or momo), but I can't seem to remember it (nor can Satoshi!)

patisserie hare

It is Girl's Day today. I want to share with you some sweets we recently enjoyed.

Awhile back, I read about Patisserie Hare (ha-ray) on a Japanese blog.

It is near where we live, but without a car, it is quite out of the way.

Since Satoshi had the day off last Thursday, we decided to check out the shop. From where we were at the time, it was a good 20 minute walk (one way).

I was surprised that Satoshi chose this cute bear. It was a tart crust with some cake, raspberry puree, custard cream and cocoa powder.

I chose this caramel slice. Caramel cream, caramelized pecans, crispies and chocolate. This was rich and good!

Of course, we didn't walk over there just for two desserts, we also chose two more.

I chose the Uji Daifuku. A slice of cake topped with matcha (green tea) cream gelatin, topped with cream, black beans and mochi (rice cake).

Satoshi chose the sesame blanc manger. A slice of roll cake covered with a sesame cream sauce topped with sweet bean paste and shiratama (rice flour dumpling).

Though a little out of the way, I'm glad we got to try their sweets. They were all delicious!

Patisserie Hare
1-3-29 Midorigaoka
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.754.4180
Days off varies : take out only

Happy Girl's Day!

my middle name is...

Do you have a middle name? I'm sure most of you do. Native Japanese do not and are surprised that we, Japanese Americans do.

Most Japanese American first names are English and their middle names are Japanese and come directly from their grandparents, or is a combination of both grandparents names, or a Japanese name that their parents like.

Some Japanese Americans that I know don't have Japanese middle names but English or Hawaiian middle names...I guess it all depends on what your parents, grandparents decide.

Anyway, today is Girl's Day in Japan, but in Hawaii it is the memorial of my Grandpa's passing. I can't believe that it is 9 years since he's been gone and I wanted to share with you a little story.

When I was in elementary, my cousin and I were at her neighbor's house (I can't remember why we was there but I think her neighbor was watching us) and she made us tuna with kim chee sandwiches for lunch.

She toasted the bread, spread the tuna on and then added the won bok kim chee. At first I thought, this is a weird combination (I was a picky eater back then), but when I tasted it, it was delicious.

A few months later, when I visited my grandparents, we were having tuna sandwiches for lunch. I told my grandpa he should add some kim chee to his sandwich, so he did. After one bite, he said, "your middle name must be "eat""...I guess he liked it too.

Miss you Grandpa!

palisades drive-inn

Sunday started off with this beautiful sunrise. Loved how it lit up the sky. The birds were chirping. It was the making of a beautiful but hot Hawaiian day.

Lunch was from Palisades Drive-Inn. This is just up the street from where I grew up.

I think these are the original owners of the restaurant, though I'm not too sure (there was a burger place here previously during my elementary years).

Dad had the mini shrimp curry. Lots of shrimp and big veggies. The curry wasn't too spicy, but just right.

I had the mini sweet-sour spareribs. These spareribs were more fatty than I'm used to, and the sauce was a little more gingery. I guess when your mom and grandma makes "the best" spareribs, nothing can really come close.

Anyway, we were both rather disappointed because the rice was really mushy and it wasn't because there was gravy on it either. Oh well, for US $9.84 tax included for the two plates, I guess you cannot really complain. Plus, service was at the speed of light.

Palisades Drive-Inn
2321 Auhuhu Street
Pearl City, Oahu
Phone: 808.456.4888
Monday-Saturday 10:00-20:30, Sunday 8:30-20:30

p.s. Happy Girl's Day!

sunny day = laundry

It's funny, now that I am a housewife (sengyo-shufu = full-time housewife...does this mean I qualify for retirement someday?), a sunny day during the week isn't means for outings. Oh, sure, I do go for longer walks on my way to the grocers. But in essence, a sunny day during the week means laundry day. I love to hang our clothes/towels outside (especially when the other neighbors on the other floors aren't smoking on their lanais(we call them lanais in hawaii, in Japan these are called verandas, in other countries they are probably called balconies...) And feel a bit confined when I have to hang them inside because of rain, cloudy weather or the smokers.

I'm not too sure if I told you or not, but the washing machines here in Japan only have cold water washing. This means during the winter you are basically swishing your clothes around in ice water and hoping they come clean...there is also a hose that connects from the washing machine to the furo (bathtub). This is so that you can re-cycle the bath water and use it to wash your clothes. What it does is suck up the bath water, and filter the water as it transfers it to the washing machine. Still, I usually try to wash our towels or sheets with this water. The washing machine also doesn't have the agitator in the middle or the holes in the basket to drain (this is to prevent mold from forming on the outside of the basket (the areas you can't see), as mold is thought to be one of the causes of atopic dermatitis (atopi) here). The load takes about an hour (if you are adding softeners...so be prepared to spend some time doing a load or two...)

Another thing you'll see is that there are a LOT of detergents, softeners and stain remover products on the market. There is even a product that boasts not having to iron if you add it to your wash. I think I tried most of them. Although, I know our clothes aren't as clean as they could be if we used American detergents, the water is hard here and the detergents are made to "protect" the environment, and with all the mixtures of chemicals, I'm sure they aren't doing much for our skin.

Oh, and when hanging your clothes outside, don't drop them, the lanais are so dirty with this greyish dust probably from pollution, that you have to re-rinse or re-wash whatever you drop! (trust me, I've done this several times...)We don't have a clothes line instead we have these l-o-n-g metal poles called monohoshizao (poles to dry things on), so I usually put the clothes onto hangers and then use these big clips to keep them from flying off the poles (the crows also like to steal hangers so that's another reason for the clips). If I'm hanging towels, I usually have to wipe down the poles before doing so because of the dust. And I'm sure we must be breathing in that dust too (probably a reason why some people have asthma (zensoku) here too). Still with all these cons on washing clothes, I still enjoy a sunny day to do laundry, and if our washer should ever "die" (knock on wood) I have my eyes on a washer that has a dryer built in...

Changing the subject, we got this dekopon from a member of Satoshi's staff. (I decided to take a photo of it next to a kiwi so you could see how big these dekopon are.) Dekopon is a cross between a kiyomi orange and a ponkan. Ponkan is a citrus fruit originally from an area called Poona in India. The Japanese took the Pon from Poona and kan from the Japanese word for citrus, kankitsu and made up their own word for this citrus fruit, which is similar to an orange, and called it ponkan. So, why is it called dekopon? Deko means bump. I think when they crossbred it the new fruit had a little bump at the top, so they named it dekopon. I combined it with some other fruits for a fruit salad.

I also wanted to share with you what Satoshi gave to me for Girl's Day. A hinamatsuri card and also these sweet treats called "Gaufre" (I think it is short for Gaufrettes) These thin wafer-like cookies have flavored cream in the middle. In a package, there is strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Made by Kobe Fugetsudo , they are sold in these colorful tins(so the cookies don't break). They often have different themes decorating their tins.

hair cut

Today I went to have my hair cut. 

I dread this because I don't know the right words to get the cut or look that I want.

And I cringe when I want to get a perm (this is why I haven't had one in months!).

Even bringing in a picture of the style that I want has left me with a hairstyle that I don't particularly care for. 

Most of the stylists don't like to be left up to the task of creating a look for you either. 

Most like to be told. 

They do sometimes take things into their own hands and that's when I end up with a cut/perm that I didn't request. 

One technique they do on their own is thinning the hair. 

They put a scissor that cuts only in a couple of areas at a time to "thin" out your hair. 

I don't like when they do this because after a month or two my hair looks like a bush (because it grows back to the volume it was). 

So, I think to remedy this layered hair, I may have to stay away from the salons for a year or two!

Other than that, it was a very nice sunny day (for the morning part anyway). 

I wanted to share with you, our cyclamen plant. 

This plant is very hearty. 

It looks like it's dead during the summer, but come autumn, the leaves start to sprout and gets to be very leafy and bushy. 

I was amazed at this plant. 

I mean, look how many blooms it has! 

I've seen other cyclamen plants around in the area, but they don't have as many flowers as ours does.

Actually, this plant has a little story behind it. 

About 4 years ago, we bought it for Satoshi's grandma, when she was in the hospital. 

We were so happy with it, because it had some blooms and looked very cheery. 

But after Satoshi's mom saw it, she said, "You can't give her that." I asked, "Why?", but didn't get an answer. And we ended up buying her a bouquet of cut flowers.

The reason why you shouldn't give a person in the hospital a potted plant is because it has roots. 

In Japanese, this is called "ne-tsuke". 

It is a play-on words but they believe that if you receive a potted plant, you will "root" yourself in bed. In other words, you'll be in the hospital for a LONG time.

This year, I cut back the leaves a little too much, so it looked bald until the flowers started to bloom. 

The golden crest tree in the background is our Christmas tree (since they don't sell real cut ones here at Christmastime), it is the second one since we've lived here.

The other plants were bought at the dollar store (100 yen shop). I've found that these plants are the most heartiest and if it dies, it was only a dollar, right??

Well, enough rambling. 

I wanted to share with you another food item of Hinamatsuri, it's called Hina-arare (Girl's Day rice crackers). 

They are colored in the pink, white and green, the chocolate ones are arare covered with chocolate. 

The hina-arare and mochi were bought at the following shop:
Matsuyahonpo
Hankyu Ishibashi shopping arcade
Phone: 072-761-8168

I also bought this pastry at a bakery, Taro pan, in our shopping arcade. 

It's name is Caramel almond. 

It is puff pastry with a dollop of cake batter baked in the middle, caramel and almonds cover the bottom. 

They display it upside down with the caramel side up. 

It was really good, and it wasn't really sweet. 

It really went well with green tea.

Hope you have a great weekend.