Welcome to the Xmas and New Year Special Edition

As most of you will be aware, there aren’t many Christians in Japan, so Xmas here has very little to do with religion here. What it does have a lot to do with is decorations, presents, cards, food and fun. So, yes, it is celebrated here mainly in a commercial way and with friends. Xmas day is not a public holiday.

The decorations not only include upside down snowmen, but also reindeer, Santa-san, trees and lots of lights. A lot of effort is put into decorating areas with lights – lots and lots of fairy lights and other lighting effects. It is called “irumineshon” (long e). People go out in their thousands to see the irumineshon. I personally didn’t go out because it would have involved me travelling around by myself at night. So, unfortunately I didn’t see any of it this time. I plan to do this for Xmas later this year. The photos below are examples of the kind of lighting they do.

Retailers push the sales of gifts and cards, just as they do in Australia and elsewhere. The biggest difference lies in the food. The Japanese love cake and desserts just as much as anyone else, and they have a specific cake for Xmas but it is a sponge cake decorated mainly with strawberries and cream, ie red and white. For Xmas I bought a matcha (green tea) sponge cake wedge (yes, not the whole cake!) with cream and a little strawberry conserve decoration. This is mainly because I love matcha cakes and desserts and I thought that green was suitable for Xmas. Also, I am not a huge fan of vanilla sponge cake.

The other food many Japanese eat at Xmas is fried chicken, with the big winner here being KFC. Apparently it started in the 70s when KFC had a big advertising campaign about eating KFC for Xmas. Obviously it was a stunning success for them and they make up special buckets, etc just for Xmas every year. I made mushroom pasta for my dinner, which is completely different to anything I would normally have for xmas, but it involved some slightly more expensive items such as Blue Castello, and I had to find wheat flour and cream, which I did. It was very nice (even if I do say so myself) and I had it with some French bubbles (of course).

Once Xmas is over, and I mean immediately, the decorations come down. Then up go decorations for new year. This involves not only retail areas, but also private dwellings where many people put up special New Year decorations. I put one up as well (see photo below). The decorations are for protection, to ward off bad spirits, and for good luck for the coming year.

Interestingly, there has been much made of it being the end of the year of the monkey and the upcoming year of the rooster. As you can see, my decoration has a little chook on it. It seems that New Year in terms of the lunar calendar festivities is celebrated as much on 1 January as it is at actual lunar new year here. The changeover to using the Gregorian calendar happened in Japan in the 1800s, so the date of new year was changed to 1 January at that time along with the celebration.

New Year is a much more important celebration than Xmas, and tends to be the time family gets together to celebrate. It is about the death or passing of the old year and the birth of the new year. This is all intertwined with both Buddhist (relating to death and passing) and Shinto (relating to life and the future) aspects.

Again I celebrated with French bubbles…

On the night, I set my alarm to wake me at 11:45 so I could hear the temple bells being rung. I know, I know, but as most of you who know me will realise I am hopeless at staying awake late. Also, I hadn’t decided if I would go outside to listen or just stay in the warmth! Anyway, the alarm went off and already I could hear the bell at the local temple being rung. It is a VERY large bell, larger than most you see at temples, hence quite loud. So, with my interest piqued I decided to get up, put my puffy jacket on, tidy my hair and go downstairs.

Surprisingly it wasn’t as cold as I expected – my hands didn’t immediately feel painful! The local shrine and temple are at one place nearby, less than 10 minutes walk from the flat. It is a Toyokuni shrine, to commemorate Toyotomi Hideyoshi (predecessor of the Tokugawa shogunate, who lived in the 1500s). As I’m standing outside I notice lots of people heading up towards the shrine, so, on an impulse, I decide to go up too. It just seemed right and I felt quite safe.

There were many people at the shrine and temple, with a very large queue leading to the bell because they were allowing the people to ring the bell. The bell (see photo above) has a very large pole held vertically on chains and rope which is used to strike the bell. For this bell, the striker is the size of a tree – although it doesn’t look like that in the photo. Remember the striker is at least at shoulder height when you strike the bell. I doubt I could have swung it enough to make much noise. There were groups going up to ring it together. It was quite lovely, actually. Just after I got there, the crowd applauded, not because I was there and in my jammies, but for midnight. There was no yelling, no fireworks, just applause.

I stayed a little longer then left and passed the massive queue lining up to go into the shrine itself to say their greetings to Kami and to pick up some items, including their fortune for the year. I decided against lining up, in part because I was in my jammies and in part because I hadn’t brought any money to offer Kami.

On Monday I did go back, hoping the crowds wouldn’t be so large, to pay my respects to Kami and ask for a good year. There was a queue but it was much smaller and I was actually dressed appropriately!

Unfortunately there was no snow on either Xmas day or for New Year, however, there was some snow on the 28^th. There wasn’t much and it rained a bit as well – at the same time. So both were falling together. I hadn’t seen or heard of that before, so something new for me. It was very exciting when I saw the snow falling outside my window that morning! Nothing since…

The final photo below is one Craig sent me which shows that they do indeed have fireworks for New Year in some places in Japan.

Cheers for now…

…and now we return to our normal transmission…

Yes, I’m back! It has been a dark time, the world has seemed somewhat more remote over the last three weeks. I am amazed at how frustrated and isolated I felt without access to what I would call normal wifi and, thereby, the internet. How reliant I have become on having it just always available. The world without Mr Google!

So, given I have missed three weeks, there is a reasonable amount to catch up on. I won’t talk about the recently passed Xmas and New Year’s Eve – they will have their very own Special Edition.

When I left you last, I think I had just announced we had found a suitable block of land and the contract signing was imminent. Well, it still hasn’t happened, thanks to issues with transferring money here and with signing. Our agent was concerned that Craig wouldn’t be here to sign as well, so that his name would be on the title – with good reason, because there is a very hefty gift tax here (and I mean very hefty – up to 50% as I recall). So, you can’t just change the title after the event without incurring this tax. It doesn’t function at all like the capital gains tax and there is no reduction over time or if the property is a personal residence.

Luckily there is a way that somebody (me in this case, because I have Craig’s inkan) can be proxy for another person. This, however, has caused delays because Craig had to go to a Notary and have an Apostille drawn up. He was trying to find one in the week before xmas. You can imagine how well that went.

Anyway, the result of all this is that the contract is being signed on the 10^th and settlement is on the 20^th. I think the owner has been very patient in all this.

So onto other news; I finally found a bank that would allow me to open an account even though my current visa is for only 4 months. The Bank of Kyoto…bless them. So, now we transfer money from Australia to our own account. Now, when I say our account, it is in my name only. It seems you cannot open an account here in 2 personal names, unless there is a corporate structure around them. So, for the first time since we became partners, we will have separate accounts.

The kids arrived!!!!! They were dropped off here on the afternoon of the 22^nd of December. It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant arrival – their cages had quite a bit of fluid in them, so much so that their tails and back ends were literally dripping wet. Something I didn’t expect when I opened the cages to let them out – and it stank. So, when they left their cages (Ziggy straight away off to explore; Zowie a little slower but also had a bit of a look around; Serena ran straight under a bed and didn’t emerge for over 24 hours) they spread the smell around the flat. Luckily I had had the forethought to close the door to the tatami room before they arrived.

I had thought Ziggy would be the most traumatised, with Zowie slightly worried and Serena would be fine. How wrong I was. Anyway, they have all now settled in and even Zowie is getting used to being inside in a smallish area. It has helped a lot to have them here. I now have some company and they keep me busy with feeding and cleaning.

The other thing that I have spent some time doing is watching tv at night. I have found it is a very good way to listen to people talking and to learn new words. Also they actually write on screen what the topics are and what people are saying in the news. So I get to read the kana and kanji as well.

As you can imagine, Japanese tv is somewhat different to Australian tv, particularly in certain areas. Yes, there is a lot of kawaii stuff, especially in the commercials (see above – yes, Japan is actually a cat and a kitten and tv here does have quite a few cats on it). There is another stand out difference and that is the number of trannies on tv – both transgender and transvestite. I didn’t think about it at first, but it sort of struck me one night. There are quite a few celebrities who are trans, but you also see cross dressing of those who are normally not trans, just for specific things (these are mostly men). I wondered if this is related to the long history of Kabuki, so that it is quite accepted here.

The other standout for me is how many of the programs involve humour – whether they be panel shows just talking and being funny, or shows which go to different places in Japan, with comedians just walking around looking at things and eating, or game style shows. Which brings me to the show below. It was new year’s eve, I am by myself and needed a laugh, Well, I have to say I haven’t laughed as much at a show as this one – I was pretty much crying. The 5 contestants (all celebs) were taken to a number of different places, where situations occurred. The thing is they weren’t allowed to laugh, no matter how funny the situation. If they did, they were called out (literally) and then a guy, or some guys, in camo fatigues with balaclavas and red berets would come long and hit them on the back-side with a long, rubber truncheon. The person(s) called out would have to stand up, turn round and present their back-sides to the “soldiers”. This happened many, many times during the show.

(note that one of the celebs is dressed as a woman – BTW the statue is Einstein who seems to be the hero of the show)

My photo of the week(s) is taken from tv, and is not so much kawaii as what the…? I had just turned on the tv and caught the end of a story with a journo talking on a bridge during the news. I didn’t notice the creature in the water at first, then it was a what the…? moment. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch where it was or what for, but you can have a look for yourself. Funnily enough, I didn’t even notice the figures in the background until I checked the photo later to see if it came out ok.

…and here is a bonus photo of the week, with a competition to provide the best explanation for the creature at the bottom left hand side of the photo.

Finally, for this episode, I want to send blessings to the person or persons who invented the heated toilet seat. In the middle of the night, on these cold nights (and I do heat a little, because we are talking under 5 degrees at night,) when I sit down and the seat is not freezing cold, I always thank those concerned, including Toto (not the dog, the company which made the toilet in our flat).

So, that’s all for now folks, but I will now commence work on the Special Edition…I know you can’t wait!!

Today I walked up to OUR new block – ok, I haven’t signed for it yet, but that is scheduled to happen on Tuesday, 20 December, with settlement on 10 January. When I say up, it is in the foothills of Higashiyama:

For those of you who have been to our flat, this map will mean something, otherwise, the top left-hand marker is where our flat is and the other marker is where the block is – about a 20 minute walk. So, very convenient once building starts.

Here are some lovely photos of the block, currently a disused car park. They are front on, to the left and to the right:

It is about 288sqm – though it doesn’t look it in the photos! There is a lovely old stone wall at the back, yes with an old house on top, but I like the wall:

It is on a short, narrow road, which ends about 3 houses up from our block. It is an older area, by which I mean that most of the nearby residents appear to be older. Certainly the ones I have seen and spoken to are older.

The above are our road – the first looking east, the other two going west. Small and narrow, as I said, probably a bit over 100m long.

So, there it is – what will happen as we continue on…the block????

Welcome to the summary of my second week in Kyoto. First up I have to send a big thank you to the authorities for designing and installing a display which is so perfect as the headline photograph for my blog! I’m not sure I could have designed anything much better – although, I haven’t seen it lit up, so not sure whether there are any colours involved. I would, of course, pick purple as one highlight colour.

Onto the week just gone. It has not been quite so eventful as week 1, but I have still had many firsts. The two main firsts were registering my inkan with the council (who knew you had to do that??) and opening a bank account, during which the aforementioned inkan was used as part of the signing process. What is an inkan, you ask? Mine is a cylindrical tube, about 6-7cms long, with a stamp at one end, which is your ‘mark’. Mine says Addams H.J. We had to have them made when we bought the flat, applying them multiple times to the contract, in various places, sort of replacing initialling I suppose.

I opened the bank account with Japan Post after researching via the online oracle – google. Seemed sensible; there are many post offices so good access to ATMs and there is a very large post office around the corner from our flat.

Also, this week I made two bits of furniture – a small side table/shelf and a cat scratching tower. The table/shelf actually involved using dowels and glue! Of course all the instructions were in Japanese, but still simpler to follow than some Ikea instructions…Similarly with the cat tower, which involved bolts and an Allen key and instructions in Japanese. I was very pleased with myself when I finished them, I must say.

My big reconnaissance journey this week was to find a pet store which had a large range of pet products and paraphernalia, not just pets (ie very cute little puppies and kittens which cost a small fortune). I decided to try the store in Aeon Mall, which was the closest possibility to the flat. I think it was around 2.5km walk to get there (again, according to google). It was a pleasant walk, and was very fruitful, not only because it was a great pet store, with everything I needed, but also because the journey provided me with another photo of the week (see below)!!!! I bought quite a bit and they offered to deliver the lot, next day, for free!

Anyway, the photo covered both criteria: unexpected and kawaii. So, instead of those giant plastic barriers that are used for roadworks in Australia, the Japanese use small(ish) plastic animals. I have to admit to seeing some before, during one of our more recent journeys here. That time the animals were yellow ducklings. Here you see pink rabbits and further down the road were green frogs (of course).

I did take some other photos, of course, and I’m sure they will come in handy in later editions. There is so much to talk about in the unexpected and kawaii categories. There is, however, one photo I just can’t resist adding in. Not sure what to say about it except it is a xmas wear item for dogs…

Would you put this on your dog?

The last things I feel are noteworthy, are that I managed to get a sneaky photo of one of the singing trucks (see below) and that on Wednesday night, just after I had turned out the light, I heard a voice singing a song that at once sounded familiar. I use the term singing loosely – my singing is better and I am banned from public singing (for public safety reasons). Not sure if it was male or female, or how old, but they were singing YMCA, in a Japanese fashion – shi instead of c, etc – and only the chorus. Lovely – I nearly opened the window to join in, but then I realised I couldn’t remember all of the words.

…and on that note…

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! It looks like we may be buying the block of land in Higashiyama! They accepted my offer (around $30,000 less than advertised). \(^O^)/

It has been an eventful first week; moved countries, registered as ‘alien’ (gaijin), organised national health insurance and the whole “all by myself” thing started settling in. Also, I now have a phone number. It has been cool – around 14 average maximum – but some days, like today, are lovely and sunny, just cool. I am doing a lot of walking, as you’d expect when I don’t have a car. Not a bad thing – you get to see more of the surroundings that way. It also means carrying shopping back from the supa (Japanese for supermarket), but I have bought a trolley which makes this much easier.

Have bought a few things for the flat, to make it more like home –2 zaisu (legless chairs for tatami rooms), a rug and under rug heater (for the kids (cats) when they arrive…) and today, a spice grinder (repurposed coffee grinder). Speaking of my outing today, I took the first ‘photo of the week’, which is attached. I consulted an oracle about the contents of the photo and I am told it has to do with being in the northern hemisphere and water going down the drain in a different direction. Thank you ‘oracle’.

To the B&B front, I was feeling somewhat despondent about the dearth of suitable land/houses here, when yesterday our real estate agent came up with what appears to be a very suitable block of land. It is currently disposed as a carpark (flat and bitumenised (is that a word?)). It is in Higashiyama, about 20 minutes walk from the flat. Right zoning, right size and close to right price. What is not so good is that it is not close to a train station or many shops. It is, however, about 10 minutes walk to a number of buses which go in many directions and to touristy places. Importantly, there is a bottle shop just around the corner and a pizzeria just down the road!

A couple of interesting things about being in Japan – as I sit at my table writing emails, eating, etc, I hear many things outside. Two things of interest yesterday were what sounded like nursery rhyme music along with a child-like female recorded voice, which was coming towards me, and a whistle, which sounded like a Puffing Billy* whistle (steam trains here, I thought???). Had to go downstairs to see what and where this music was coming from. Turns out it was a truck…possibly a rubbish truck, but like many trucks here it was quite small. And guess what, as I’m sitting here typing this, there’s another lot of music coming towards the flat, this time sounds like singing children?

Ah, but then this is one of the reasons I love this place, expect the unexpected and especially lots of kawaii (cute) things.

Signing off on that note (haha)

* (Australian reference – small steam train mainly for children)

Well, here I am sitting in my flat in lovely Kyoto, by myself, in winter. How did this happen? Why am I here? How far back should I go without boring everyone to tears?

Let’s just say I love Japan and I am a long term vegetarian. These don’t necessarily mix well. The first time we (my husband and I…!) came to Japan, we had very little Japanese language to speak of (haha, I know). This was back in 2007. The only Japanese food phrase we knew basically indicated we didn’t eat meat. What we found very quickly is that Japanese people don’t include fish as meat, so we had to expand our phrase to include both fish and meat. The next problem we found was that dashi stock (fish stock made with bonito fish) is ubiquitous. So, consequently we both lost a lot of weight on that trip.

Our resolve to visit and explore Japan was not quelled, but we made sure we were better prepared for subsequent trips. We often did a large part of our own catering, buying bowls and chopsticks early on and then stocking up on items that could easily be prepared with boiling water and, if we were lucky, a microwave oven. We also brought with us a vegan version of dashi.

The other part of this story, is our love of cooking and catering for others. So, the idea was born of a wish to live in Japan, Kyoto in particular, and to provide a lifestyle for ourselves, while helping others like us (ie vegans and vegetarians) to visit and enjoy this lovely country without sacrificing their appetites and having to buy a new wardrobe.

This blog, then, will be about the joys, and maybe some pain, in setting up our business, as  well as everyday life as a vegetarian in Kyoto, Japan.