From the Hills of the West to the Edge of the Far East: April 2014

Yes, we are still enjoying spring in Tokyo. Life is good when you can go outside and feel the nice warm sun shining on your face as you sit under the Sakura (Cherry Blossoms).

There are different varieties of Sakura, early ones and later ones. This is a later variety. Beautiful, right?

I love seeing the people outside enjoying nature

and taking pictures of one another. I especially like seeing the older generation out and about. They are so cute!

Many bus tours with older people came to the park in our neighborhood last week and walked around the park as well as,

people with dogs,

people with smiles! and on bikes,

younger people,

and even younger people still,

religious people,

people talking to religious people,

sleeping people (Hey buddy, someone might walk off with some of your plants that you are wanting to sell! Well, maybe no one in Japan would do that. People are rather respectful and usually don't steal.)

The Sakura trees are quite large.

So what are the blue tarps on the ground for?

And what is this tarp for?

Well, what do you know!! People sit on them.

The city puts out the tarps each year for people to come and sit under the Sakura trees to eat lunch.

It is a tradition and I'm sure there is a Japanese word for this activity, but I haven't heard it yet.

People were everywhere in the park sitting under the Sakura trees.

As one of our "spring activities", we went to a 70's dance party at our church. We ate dinner there and had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, salads, and cookies. Just like in the states!! One would have not known they were in Japan! There were a lot of people who knows Rachelle and wanted me to give her their love.

The Cannons

The Frosts

The band who were waaaaayyy good. Yes, they were the real deal! They played great, classic 70's hits all night long. A mighty fine looking bunch of people, right? Ha!

Cleaning up the gym getting ready for the dance.

The dance is in action and the band is doing it's thing on stage! So fun!

Yes, I tried to dress up with the limited clothing that I have here and Dad/Kent didn't bother. I tried to straighten my hair, and it didn't work out too well because my hair does what ever it wants to do in this now becoming humid city.

One evening after a long day, we decided to go to a restaurant that we had been hoping to go to for quite some time. Try and guess what kind of restaurant this is.....

More hints??......

More??......

That looks like a paint!

So what is this dude doing?

It is a lightly breaded asparagus stick with a yummy sauce on it. That still doesn't explain the paint.

Delicious!!

Ok, I'll tell you what it is. This is Kushikatsu. It is lightly breaded veggies, meat, or seafood. Notice the tray up on the black shelf. There are 5 sections and then there are 5 different sauces (not paint) that you dip it in. The chef puts what ever he is cooking for you on the tray in the section of whatever sauce he wants you to dip it in. For example, he put one item in the first section which means you dip it in the brown sauce and he put another item in the 4th section and you dip it in the white sauce (which was a special yummy salt). So all evening he would make things and put it in the different sections and whatever section he put it in is what sauce we dipped it in. It was so good. Fresh veggies and cabbage accompanied the meal. So good!! We'll definitely go back.

These are some kind of beans.

This is bamboo shoot.

This is what was inside of the bamboo shoot skin. So artistic!

This is soft shelled shrimp. You eat everything. Yes, eyes, legs and tail. Did I eat it all? Uh, no. I let Kent eat the head. I just couldn't handle those eyes looking at me!

This was something that I can't even explain. It was so good though and beautiful!

This was two shrimp balls.

This was the first time I had ever tasted abalone. Hey, the way the chef made it, it was way good!

Here we have something called Konyaku on the left and baby corn on the right.

This was a piece deep fried fish with a sauce on it.

You'll never guess what this is. Beet! It is beet! Japanese don't eat many beets so we were surprised to get it. So good!

At the end of our meal, we had Sakura ice cream. It was the mildest, creamiest, pleasant tasting ice cream ever! I hope to go back for more. I didn't take pictures of all of the pieces of food since we had about 20 pieces each!

This is the kitchen/restaurant.

Okay, enough already with the food.....

Let's move on to Mashiko City, a famous pottery town in Japan, where I went with a group of ladies. We (the LDS women) went with the women's group of the Tokyo Union Church. We rented a bus and filled every seat on the bus. We first stopped at this rest stop.

This vending area is only a small part of the rest stop.

You could buy anything from food to clothing to toys at this place. Rest stops here puts ours U.S. rest stops to shame!

Eating area.

Shopping area.

snacks,

more snacks,

and more snacks. Notice the interesting wrapping on each of the items. Very detailed.

Every kind of Kit Kat that you can think of is here.

Toys,

good luck wishes tied on this display,

outside food vendors

This is a shot of us on the bus.

Yes, this bus full of gabby ladies!! So fun!

Mashiko is about a 2 1/2 hour ride outside of Tokyo and I just had to take pictures of area without skyscrapers. The Sakura here are so beautiful.

Farmland.

This flag is up for boys day which is May 5. They hang these carp flags in remembrance of their boys.

We got to Mashiko and started our rather quick shopping spree.

The jolly ole Buddha greeted us at the door.

So many dishes!!!

Where do we start?

So pretty!

Delicate.

Hand painted rice bowls that are......

never ending.

Beautiful plates on shelves and on,

walls outside.

This dude has a nick name from us which I won't share with you right now. But he is the "god" of fertility, if you can't tell. Really? Come on, really?

Another jolly ole Buddha with everything hangin' out!

Vases and

more vases.

Well, who are those cute girls?

Plates from many different artists.

This famous pottery making place store that sells beautiful works of art from the master potter, Shoji Hamada (1894 - 1978).

He was a potter representative of the modern era and one of the founding members of the "Mingei" art movement, he was active both nationally and internationally. He worked and lived as a potter in this town of Mashiko in Tochigi Prefecture. He was designated the first "Important Intangible Cultural Property" (National Living Treasure) in 1955. In 1968 he received the "Order of Culture".

This building was built as an extension next to the main building.

Beautiful!

These use a special dark dirt that is from the Mashiko area to make the dark pottery.

I am standing next to the present main designer that is a descendant of Hamada.

Kilns

kilns and raw pottery,

more raw pottery and wood piles. They use the wood in the kilns.

Tools.

One of Japan's other famous pottery makers. I don't know his name.

The road to the Hamada clay makers kilns.

Their emblem in on the front of the store.

This wood is used in the kilns.

Good luck dolls.

The good luck dolls in their "shrine". They seem to be working since this place has been in business for so many years!

This is a place where indigo blue is made and has been made here for 100's of years.

Notice the thatched roof.

Some of the indigo blue items for sale.

Indigo vats where they dip the cloth or thread to dye it.

A close-up of indigo vats.

An indigo purse.

This is the floor of the indigo store.

Interesting, huh....!? It is hard, dried mud.

Indigo is traditional Japanese fabric.

These are tools used to make designs in the fabric.

Here are a few of us! Brenda Bohn, Nori Mason, Carolyn Robison, me, and Mary Murray. We are standing in front of the entryway to the Shoji Hamada museum which is about a half mile from the store. This museum is where he use to live and create his work. The following pictures are taken from this home/museum.

Such beautiful pieces of pottery that he made.

Inside of his shop.

These kilns were built some 150 years ago. This type of kiln is called the Daiseikama Kilns which are built on an incline. Because of the difficulty to obtain the Japanese red pine used to fuel most of the kilns, the number of climbing kilns in Mashiko has been decreasing in recent years and they have become very rare. However, the Daiseikama Kiln Potters believe that continuing to use a climbing kiln is essential to maintaining the warmth, vigor, and passion found in the traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.