red shoes

Was at a party the other day with a bunch of college students and I thought my fashionista friends back home would appreciate some of the outfits represented among the youth of Japan today.

Last time I lived here no one of any age would have been caught dead wearing red, and it's not exactly a color you see splashed all over clothing now, but I did catch this daring glimpse of a red shoe at the party.

But even more interesting is the current fasion of wearing dresses or skirts with pants. This fashion trendsetter had her own take on the fad with nylon, lace-trimmed leggings and a very long tunic top. I just don't "get" the attraction of wearing jeans with dresses or skirts, but this look is something I could get into.
If only I were a about 30+ years younger.
And had a Japanese body.

sigh

Kyoto -- cultural icon of Nippon

During the spring"Golden Week" -- so called because there are three national holidays in the same week -- we visited Kyoto. OF COURSE! I had been there many times before when I lived in Japan for six years in the late 1990s, but I couldn't imagine leaving Japan without my seven-year-old daughter seeing this icon of culture. And besides my friend from America was visiting and a trip to Kyoto is de rigeur (I know that is French, but I don't know how to say it in Japanese and even if I did, would you understand it? I didn't think so!). Anyway, among the obvious stuff -- girls dressed in kimono, a shinto wedding at a shrine, Buddhist priests begging in the streets, charming pools of Japanese koi (gold fish), gardens overflowing with spring blooms, I snapped a picture of something you could only see in Kyoto, Japan. The no bicycle sign (in itself, something you wouldn't see in most major cities in North America) with the silhouetted geisha under it. And to make it even more interesting -- if you could read the Japanese, you would see that the warning is written in the local Kyoto dialect rather than standard Japanese. Gotta love this city.

Concrete Grace

Man, I wish I didn't have that rule about having to use my cell phone for these pix! Oh well. This is a water basin in Korakuen Garden, officially known as "one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan." I don't know who comes up with these official designations, but there are three most beautiful gardens in Japan -- everyone knows that! And Korakuen is one of them. I'm lucky because this famous garden is located right in downtown Okayama, the prefecture I live in. In fact, without Korakuen, I doubt if Okayama would be more than a stop on the shinkansen line for people going from Osaka to Hiroshima. But I digress . . . On our visit to this garden, we saw quaint water basins like this everywhere. This one was about the size of a doggie bathtub with the esthetic bamboo laid "casually" across the top and the curving water cup placed at an angle on top of it. The cup is made of bamboo and this picture really doesn't do it justice. The handle arcs back like a ballerina's arm -- delicate grace combined with sturdy rock. It's such a quintessential Japanese picture, I just had to snap it with my cell phone and share it with you.

Wish Me Luck

In Japan, people don't carry four-leaf clovers or rabbits' feet. They don't cross their fingers and they seem unafraid of ladders. They do, however, throw stones to the top of tori gates for good luck. Snapped this picture at an ancient gate in Kyoto when were were there last weekend. If you look closely, you can see the stones that have been tossed up for good luck. The trick is that you can't simply place the stones on the tori, but you have to skillfully toss them so they land on the narrow cross piece. This is easier said than done, considering how high these tori gates can be. Also, remember that you have to toss it so it flies slightly above the desired target before gently settling down, not hitting the stone on top or dislodging anyone else's lucky tosses. In my opinion, if you can do all of this, you already ARE a lucky person -- but there's no such thing as too much good fortune, I guess.

Another day, another kimono

We went to the grocery store the other day and found these guys outside. As far as I could tell they were publicizing something inside. The only word I can read on the sign is "Fair." Why they were dressed up like actors in a Samurai drama, playing music from that period in time, I have no idea. The cool thing was that my friend was visiting from America and this was her first day in Japan. I'm sure she thinks this is quite a romantic place where people just walk around the grocery stores dressed this way! Soon after we took their picture they disappeared and we never did find out what their deal was . . .

Groovin to the beat

One of my favorite things to do when I'm stressed is pounding it out on a "Taiko" drum. This is a picture of my daughter and a friend beating the taiko at a game center.

After you put your money in, you get to choose whether you want an easy "kantan", medium "futsu" or hard "muzukashii" song. You make your selection by beating the sides of the drum to move the cursor and hitting the drum in the middle to choose. Then you get to pick the song. We only know one song so far, "Anpanman." This is a cute little character in the shape of a sweet-bean-paste-stuffed rice ball.

The song bellows out and you follow a little bouncing drum on the screen that shows you if you are supposed to hit the middle of the drum in time to the music, hit the top of the drum, hit it with both sticks (that is a picture of a BIG drum) or perform a drum roll. You get points based on how accurate you are and how many times you hit the drum during the rolls. We can usually get enough points for a free play. I absolutely LOVE to play the taiko drum at the game centers. Sometimes you can see real taiko players strutting their stuff with the "muzukashii" songs, but usually it's kids just like this. I have never seen a gaijin, other than myself, try this and I usually attract quite a crowd when I play. As far as I'm concerned, that's all part of the fun. But it embarrases the heck out of my seven-year-old daughter. Tee Hee.