A tiny gift for you

Whenever someone travels in Japan, they are expected to bring back small trinkets to everyone they left behind.  So, when we travelled to Korea, my husband brought back cookies for his co-workers and I brought back facemasks for the park moms. 

Although the word "omiyage" (oh-me-ah-gay) translates to "souvenir," it actually represents so much more than that.  It is an obligatory little something to say "I thought of you and thank you for holding down the fort while I was gone."

Omiyage featuring chestnuts - a seasonal treat.

There are 4 basic rules a person should follow when buying omiyage:

1. It represents the place you traveled to.
2. The packaging is attractive.
3. It can be shared easily.
4. There is plenty to go around.

Sweet potato "cakes"

Traditional omiyage is a small edible treat that is individually wrapped.  This type of omiyage easily follows all 4 rules.  Since the gift should not be something that they have to keep or store for a long time, unless you are giving it to a very good friend or family member, edible is the way to go. 

Rice crackers in fun boxes.

The treat should represent something the area is known for, like something apple flavored or containing apples from Tohoku since Tohoku apples are really famous.  If it doesn't have a local flavor, a seasonal item will also do.  Sometimes, it a treat that is commonly associated with the area you visited.  Maybe it is made there or is shaped like a famous monument from the area.  At Tokyo Tower there are cookies shaped like the tower and in Asakusa there are rice crackers that look like paper lanterns.  If you decide to buy the local flavor of Kit Kats, you should get the box of them, not the bag.  Even though the inside wrapper is the same, it is all about presentation!

Omiage is so popular here that there are stores entirely dedicated to selling the beautiful boxes.  The box is always wrapped in extra paper for aesthetics.  Train stations often have several of these shops, but the streets of touristy areas are also filled with them.  Although, technically, omiyage should not be an afterthought, there is always a place to buy a last-minute omiyage as you hurry to get on your way home.

Very fancy rice crackers.

Special seaweed used to wrap around rice balls.

My family is currently packing up to go on a trip to the US.  We will spend Halloween doing what we love - celebrating with friends, getting dressed up, going trick-or-treating, and eating tons of fall-themed foods.  I will bring omiyage for our friends and family as a way of telling them "we think of you!"

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I will be taking a break from writing while I am away.  I'll be back at the computer as soon as I return to Japan.  Until then... Matane (maw-ta-neigh) or See you later.

Orange beauty

Each fall persimmons abound in the stores and at produce stands.  Fuyu persimmons are the most popular variety of persimmon in Japan.  They are short and squat, almost like a tomato.  They are meant to be eaten while the fruit is still firm, almost pear-like in texture.  (There is also the hachiya persimmon that is meant to be dried into hoshigaki - but they are totally different.)

I was first introduced to fuyu persimmons when I was teaching in Osaka.  I worked in a school near the edge of town where some of the families had small yards, enough for a persimmon tree in their yard.  The families would bring boxes full of persimmons to the school for the teachers.  The school nurse would cut them up and put them on the teacher's desks.  From the first bite, I was hooked.

Simply peel and eat the fruit.  I don't like to eat the peel even though it can be consumed.  Some persimmons have seeds (large brown ones), but not all. 

I love their special orange color and the gentle flavor.  I usually have at least 3 or 4 on my counter at any given time in the fall. 

When I moved back to the US, I couldn't find them.  But slowly, they started appearing in the stores.  I even saw them at Costco in the last couple years.  However, they never had the same amount of flavor as the same fruit at other stores like Uwajimaya,  PCC, and more.  Even though they made it to "Costco status", they are not as common or beloved in the US as in Japan.  But at least those that enjoy persimmons are not left without anymore.

Persimmons are one of the things that I love about Japan.  There is a connection between the first bite of the fruit, and being here that is so strong for me.  Of course, it is filled with all the happy thoughts of being here and fun memories of being adventurous. 

If you haven't had a chance to try this delightful fruit, I highly recommend it!

The real stuff

Honey, the sweet nectar of life, is a beloved treat in Japan.  However only 5 percent of what is consumed here is domestic. 

I was recently introduced to domestic honey from the Japanese honeybee.  Only 10 percent of domestically created honey is made by Japanese honeybees.  Meaning 1/2 of one percent (0.5%) of all honey sold in Japan is made by Japanese honeybees.

These special little bees are a subspecies of the Asian honeybee that is native to Japan.  While most honeybees focus on pollinating one type of flower, Japanese honeybees go from flower to flower pollinating hundreds of different varieties of plants.  The honey is actually collected only once a year, unlike honey from other bees that is collected after each flower is done blooming.

The honey is rich and multidimensional because it matures slowly.  It actually has more medicinal properties than other honeys because it has been aged naturally. 

I picked up a jar at a festival after tasting it.  My husband raised his eyebrows at the price, but after learning a bit about the bees he understood the higher cost.  I loved the flavor.  It was so complex and deep.  I like that in a honey - tons of flavor.

Right now it is sitting in my cupboard waiting to be used.  Once I see fresh yuzu (one of the most popular citrus fruits in Japan) in the stores, I will zest the fruit and let it sit in the honey.  Whenever we get sore throats in the winter, we will drink hot water with a spoonful of the yuzu honey.  It is one of my favorite home remedies.  I think it will be improved with this special honey from some very special bees.

That's so sweet

My son gets to go on some pretty interesting field trips.  They are not particularly fancy.  In fact, the kids typically walk to their destination, which blows me away. 

I must admit that I was a bit envious of today's field trip.  The students walked to a local farm and harvested sweet potatoes.  To prepare for the trip, we taped two plastic bags together and wrote his class name and his name on the outside bag. 

When the time came (as reported to me by my son), the kids walked through the park to the farm.  Upon arrival, they stood along a temporary fence and each child pulled two sweet potato plants up from the ground.  They grabbed all the potatoes from the roots and put them into their reinforced bags.  The kids then put their bags into a wagon that the teachers pulled back to the school while they walked back.

When I picked him up from school, I couldn't believe how heavy his bag was.  Inside there were 13 sweet potatoes of varying sizes.  He was so excited to share his experience with me.  He loves to harvest anything from the garden.  We've grown potatoes in our garden, but never sweet potatoes (which doesn't grow in the short, cool northwest US summers).

I promised him that we would make a traditional Japanese dish of sweet potato rice.  It was a popular dish during World War II because there was a rice shortage and the potatoes helped to extend the rice.  When I told some of the moms what we were planning on cooking with the potatoes, several of them told me I was an old woman.  I guess a lot of grandmothers make this dish, but not a lot of young mothers.  My husband always made sweet potato rice after harvesting the spuds with his kindergarten class.

I didn't care what they said.  My son was super excited to make the sweet potato rice. 

Once we got home, my son scrubbed three small potatoes while I washed three cups of rice.  I put the rice in the rice cooker along with one and a half tablespoons of both sake and mirin, as well as one and a half teaspoons of salt and enough water to cook the rice.  He cut the sweet potatoes into bite size pieces and put them on top of the rice.

We ran the rice cooker on it's regular cycle.  57 minutes later, the rice cooker sang its song to let us know the rice was finished.  I stirred in 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (traditionally black sesame seeds would be stirred in, but I only had brown).  Our carbohydrate was ready for dinner.

It was delicious and everyone exclaimed how yummy it was.  My son was so proud of the dinner he helped to create. 

I am so impressed with the topics covered at my son's school.  Teaching kids where food comes from is an important life lesson.  Today, he got to see how sweet potatoes grow firsthand and he will remember it because it was real and not just a story.

Let them play

As part of yesterday's excursion, we visited Gunma Children's Land.  It was quite possibly the best children's park I have ever been to.

After picking our pear, the bus took us to Gunma Children's Land for lunch and playtime.  There were a lot of kids in our group, so a stop at the park made perfect sense.  Mostly one parent with one or more children, but also kids by themselves.  Kids that were in 4th grade or older could go on this day trip by themselves.  Early independence is a very different concept in Japan than in the US.  There were lots of chaperones on this trip.  They weren't keeping an eagle eye on the kids, but were there if needed.

We got off the bus and walked over to a grassy area where we spread out big blue tarps and ate bento.  The simple bento contained karaage (fried chicken), yakisoba, vegetables, an orange slice, and rice.  My son did not want to eat.  He was ready to play.  I made him eat half of his food and then let him loose.

He immediately bee-lined to the 2 bouncy mounds.  He ripped off his socks and shoes and hopped right on.  He loves to jump.  So much so that he has a trampoline in his bedroom.  I love watching his face light up as he jumps.  He rolled down the hill several times, which made him laugh uncontrollably.  Such joy without abandon is a pleasure to witness. 

While he was jumping, I was able to get a good look around the park.  Right in front of me was a series of very physical climbing structures.  I got a huge chuckle when the thought occurred to me - this was a ninja training facility.  I called my son over and asked him if he was ready to play on something else.  He was ready, so he threw on his socks and shoes and embarked onto another adventure. 

He and his buddy, who's mom had invited us onto this trip, spotted the huge play structure with an epic slide.  They bolted over to it.  By the time I arrived, they were halfway up the first set of stairs.  I decided to let them go.  I watched them as they went up, up, up, without stopping once.  This play structure goes up a hillside.  It is incredibly high.  And they just kept going.  When they reached the top, I could not see them for a bit.  But suddenly they appeared on the long slide coming down.  They laughed all the way down.  As soon as their feet hit the ground, they headed back up again.

It turns out that there is a large rope-style trampoline at the top that the boys would stop to enjoy before going down the slide each and every time.  After four trips up and down, they were ready to try something new.

The time had come for them to test their ninja skills and see if they could transform themselves.  There were challenged with 10 structures that required balance, agility, and focus to complete.  The boys approached ropes that they had to climb and wobbly boards they had to cross.  With focus and determination, they completed each and every one. 

We did as much as we could in the 2 and a half hours that we were allotted.  We could have spent a lot more time there.  There were other play structures as well as a "summer bobsled" that we didn't get around to.  In the last few minutes, I checked the map because I really didn't know where we were.  Unfortunately I discovered that we would not be going to this park again.  It was an hour and a half drive (which really doesn't mean anything since we don't own a car) or a 3 hour mass transit journey. 

I was so impressed with this park.  My son could have spent days here and never tire of it.  I only wish it was closer.

Pick a pear

A few weeks ago, I was going to meet a friend.  She explained that she might be a little bit late because she was signing up to go pick nashi (Asian pears).  I asked for more information and then quickly invited myself on her excursion.

The city of Nerima sponsors a farm visit event each year in the fall.  For a fee of ¥3,000 for adults and ¥2,500 for children ($27/$22), we could join an all day excursion.  My husband was on call for his job and needed to stay near a Wi-Fi connection, so our son and I decided to join my friend and go without him.  He didn't mind because he could binge-watch Netflix shows all day that I don't want to watch.  We all need a break once in a while.

The excursion included: a visit to an Asian pear farm to pick a pear, a bento lunch in a park, and a stop at a sweets factory, all aboard a tour bus.

We met at the bus station at 8 am in the morning.  My friend beat us there.  She confirmed a couple details of the day with my husband and then he left us as we got on the bus.  I was impressed that there were 3 buses filled to capacity.  We all had assigned seats to make everything easier for the staff to keep track of us throughout the day.

After an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the Asian pear farm.  They actually grow lots of produce and rice on the property.  We saw rice patties, strawberry plants, and vineyards with the last of this year's grapes in addition to the small grove of Asian pear trees.  Each type of produce was covered in some manner - by plastic tarps to make a greenhouse or blue netting to keep out a variety of pests.  While it doesn't make for beautiful scenery, it is a popular farming practice in Japan.

We walked to a blue net wrapped group of trees and walked through the large entrance.  I had to duck just a bit, otherwise my head hit the low hanging fruit.  At 5'6", I was shorter than the ceiling of plastic hardwire cloth, but did not miss the fruit.

We were instructed that the person who picked the largest Asian pear would win something extra.  Then we were let loose to find our one precious pear to pick.  My son immediately started pointing and shouting "that one momma, that one!"  I distracted him for a little bit with samples of the fruit that were offered on tables in several locations.  But soon I just had to bite the bullet and let him pick his pear. 

He picked a large one and I lifted him up to get it.  When he was twisting his pear, he knocked a second one to the ground.  So, that was mine...

We weighed our pears.  His came in at 1016 grams (2.2 lbs) while mine was 953 grams (2.1 lbs).  While we waited for other people to weigh their pears, we learned that the pear crop this year is much smaller than most years.  The Asian pears hate the August heat almost as much as I do!  Last year, the heaviest pear was 1.8 kilograms (4 lbs!).  Since I felt like I was decimated in the summer weather, I completely understood the plight of the pears.

Once we had all weighed our pears, we walked back toward the bus.  There was a large shop filled with various types of produce, gifts, and prepared foods for purchase.  I bought a couple more pears and 2 bags of mushrooms that will be delicious in dinner later this week.

We then hopped back on the bus to head toward our next destination.

To be continued...

Random sights

There are still so many things that I see that stop me in my tracks.  Sometimes the things make sense - why isn't this more popular?  Other times it is just weird and makes me wonder what someone was thinking.  Here is just a couple of those things that not only made my stop in my tracks, but also grab my phone and snap a photo.

My son's favorite color is pink.  So, I was not in the least bit surprised when he grabbed a box containing pink boots and exclaimed his delight in them.  Pink sheepskin boots are not my style, but they are right up his alley.  I told him he could try them on.  After all trying them on does not mean they are coming home with us.  As soon as he had them on his feet, I burst out laughing.  The tops were not just a fluffy cuff.  They were bunny ears and a tail!  Japanese fashion can be a bit over the top (in my opinion), but wow... these were incredibly... creative.

Shopping carts continue to impress me.  While most have lovely hooks to hang your bag, kid's coat, or umbrella on; this cart had a magnifying glass!  Such a simple attachment that is so incredibly useful. 

My most interesting find today was "Halloween Eggs".  I really don't think egging houses (or TPing them) is a thing here, but since every Halloween growing up we heard about instances of stores refusing to sell eggs to teenagers for fear of this horrible action, the special labels really surprised me.  I quickly grabbed my husband's arm and asked "what are Halloween Eggs?"  He had no clue either so we took a closer look.  It seems that they are just brown eggs and white eggs (5 of each per package - have I mentioned that eggs come in 10 packs and not dozens here?) with a little Halloween sticker on each one.  That's it.  Special stickers and packaging and now they can charge more for the exact same eggs.

Insert eye roll here.

Monja

There are some edible textures that are, well, an acquired taste.  I used to not really believe this, until I moved to the land of slimy foods.  Okra, and nagaimo, and so many other slimy foods are popular here.  I do not care for slimy textures.  I learned this a very long time ago.  But every once in a while, I just need to double check.  After all, sometimes opinions change.

When my husband suggested we could eat monja for dinner, I agreed.  It is a slimy food, in it's own way.  My husband describes it as "edible puke."  Frankly, it is what it looks like.  Monja is made with finely chopped vegetables, specifically cabbage but it can also contain other vegetables as well.  There is a batter and a number of "mix-ins" that can change the flavor.  You eat it when it is cooked, but still feels uncooked because it never fully thickens into any particular shape or form.  It is almost like eating a thick sauce on Chinese food without the chunks of meat or vegetables.

The restaurant we chose is located in the Tsukishima district, where monja was first invented.  Why someone had the idea to throw thin batter on a grill with some vegetables and people thought it was a good idea to buy it and eat it, I'll never understand.  But they did and there we were eating it, too.

We ordered and they brought the raw ingredients to the table.  First they tossed the meat and vegetables on the hot griddle to start cooking.  Once the meat was browned, the cook/waiter moved everything into a circle and filled the center with the thin batter.  It sizzled for a bit and then they began to mix everything together.  As it continued to cook, the batter got thicker and thicker. 

Once they reported it was fully cooked, I would beg to differ, but went with their directions; we dug in with our tiny little spatulas that are the official monja eating utensil.  We would scoop it up and blow on it profusely (since it is coming directly off the hot griddle into our mouths) before eating it. 

For me, it tasted like yakisoba without the noodles, or okonomiyaki without any texture.  I tried it and tried to eat my share.  Unfortunately, I found that I still just don't care for it.  It isn't horribly slimy.  Monja is just not my cup of tea.  But since there was a long line outside the restaurant, I know that lots of people love it. 

Since in our family, we at least try the local foods (like the tempura we ate in Asakusa) - that is what I did.  My husband and son were much bigger fans than me.  It was interesting to eat monja where it was first created.  Now that it is checked off, I don't have to do it again.

Pumpkins for sale

I was so surprised to find orange pumpkins at the store today for sale.  They are such a rarity here.  Last year I found the little jack-be-little-pumpkins to put around the house.  The little guys were expensive, but not bank-breaking. 

The pumpkins I saw today were small, but still full size pumpkins.  The price tag was unfortunately not surprising - ¥3758 ($34).

While orange pumpkins decorate all sorts of packaging this time of year, the real thing is still a rarity.  Halloween is just different here.  It is still forming in Japan and it is just super different.  Just a couple years ago, Halloween was limited to Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan.  Each year it gets more and more popular.

This year as part of a community of moms, I am seeing more American standards of Halloween.  Trick-or-treating still isn't a concept here, but there are more costumes and parties.  You just need to know the right people with the right information. 

We still won't be getting a pumpkin this year.  I just can't pay that much for a pumpkin.  I can deal with the fact that Halloween is different here because I am well away I don't currently live in the US.  It's just hard emotionally because I feel like I'm missing those special holidays with my son.  There are really only 10 Halloweens with parents and kids.  After those 10, kids want to hang out with friends, not parents.  They want store bought scary costumes, not homemade cute ones.  My sadness stems from feeling like I'm missing a special thing with my child that I thought I would have.  It is an adjustment, a trade.  I'm giving him access to his Japanese culture, but neglecting American culture. 

Finding a balance is an ongoing challenge.  We often focus on his language development, making sure he has support and encouragement for both English and Japanese.  But we don't always pay attention to culture.  The longer I live here, the more I should be focusing on it.  In the US, we made sure to celebrate Japanese holidays.  In Japan, I should be putting more effort into American holidays - sharing the joy of traditions that I grew up with.

So, maybe we won't carve a pumpkin this year.  But I do have something special in store for him.