Those stinking shoes

Many moons ago, when I taught English as a foreign language in Osaka public schools, I thought uwabaki were so cute. The cloth white shoes were part of the Japanese school uniform - regardless of the school. All children wore them while they were inside school buildings because outdoor shoes are not worn inside in Japan.

But after 2 years of kindergarten and almost 1 year of grade school, my opinion has changed. Every Friday (or Saturday, if there is Saturday school), my son brings these shoes home. It is expected (by Japanese society) that the shoes will be washed and returned on Monday in pristine condition. So, every weekend I scrub those darn shoes. And every weekend I curse the person who decided that CHILDREN should wear WHITE shoes. Whomever thought this was a good idea obviously didn't have children of their own (or at least didn't do the the laundry in their household).

Of course, I have had my son wash them several times. But he is seven. While he does the best he can, it isn't the same. After a couple weeks, the shoes are once again mom's responsibility for returning to their former glory.

While I could ask my husband to do it, I'd honestly much rather he keep washing all our dishes, taking out the garbage, and keeping our bathroom scrubbed. When we divided duties, I took on the laundry and I really don't want to swap him! (Although I do have to say, he also folds all our laundry... so I'm not doing it all by myself.)

I tried tossing the shoes in the washing machine, much to the horror of any Japanese woman I have ever mentioned this to. Unfortunately, I learned my lesson quickly when the soles came off at a very rapid rate.

Uwabaki are very cheap - costing between ¥500 and ¥2,000 a pair ($4.75-$18.80 USD). But this doesn't mean I want to be replacing them all the time. I already have to buy between 2-3 pairs each year as my kid grows so quickly.

Keeping these shoes clean feels like a weird societal pressure. I especially felt this when my son was in kindergarten and all the moms (rarely a dad) would wait together to pick their kids up from school each day. It might just be in my head, but I felt it nonetheless.

I'm very thankful for my Utamaro soap! It seems to be the only thing that really gets them clean again.

So, if you wonder why I'm grumpy on Saturday morning, you can bet it is due to these stinking shoes!

Tall green stalks

I still remember sitting in a restaurant with my son when he was about 8 months old. He was enthusiastically enjoying his food while my husband and I enjoyed a nice conversation. A woman stopped by our table and inquired "how do you get your child to eat asparagus?" We just smiled and said "we offered it to him and he ate it." Now that response seems a little smug, but our son has always loved eating his vegetables.

Introducing new foods has never been a challenge for us. He always just ate (or gnawed on) whatever we were eating. Whenever we went to restaurants, we would order a side of steamed vegetables - whatever the kitchen had - knowing he would at least enjoy snacking on those.

As he grew, we always had him "helping in our garden". It nurtured a love of vegetables within him. As early as 2 years old, if we said we grew something on his plate, it was the first thing to disappear.

When we moved to Japan, we left behind our huge garden and easy access to our favorite vegetables. It has been a struggle buying tiny quantities, almost always wrapped in plastic, at the grocery store. Transitioning to a farm delivery service has been wonderful for our family. Yet, we still feel disconnected from our food chain. Being able to go to u-pick farms has pacified this yearning.

When my husband found information about harvesting asparagus, we didn't hesitate. We knew we wanted to go.

The farm was just 20 minutes from our home, making it a lovely Sunday morning bike ride for our family. After parking our bikes, we were shown a short video about proper harvesting techniques. Each spear needed to be measured to ensure it was tall enough for harvesting using a bamboo skewer with a red line clearly marked on it. It should be cut near the soil, avoiding an baby asparagus that might be hiding around it. Once the video finished, we were let into the large greenhouse where to asparagus grew.

At first glance, the greenhouse appeared rather empty. There were simple frames creating rows, and lots of dirt. Asparagus does not have leaves or other adornment, just simple stems growing straight up from the ground (except when it is left to complete its lifecycle, when it gets very tall and feathery at the top).

Our son picked a row and we eagerly got to cutting. It was a simple process. Find a tall spear, measure it, and cut. Soon we had a nice bundle in our plastic bin provided by the farm. A quick stop by the scales told us we had harvested 1 kilogram or 2.2 pounds.

We paid ¥3,000 ($28.50 USD) for our bundle and headed home. We were instructed to store the asparagus upright in a small amount of water to maintain freshness.

As we biked away, my husband inquired how I was going to cook the asparagus. I wanted to enjoy the simplicity of this wonderful early spring vegetable. We quickly agreed the best route to take would be simply roasting the asparagus for a short time (so it was tender, but still crisp) and top it with a poached egg and parmesan cheese.

When my family sat down to our simple dinner of asparagus and egg, with a side of rice, I heard groans of appreciation. The asparagus was sweet and flavorful. It exceeded expectations and made our mouths incredibly happy.

We might not live in a place where we have easy access to homegrown vegetables. But u-pick definitely gives us a fun family adventure and a bit of wonder produce fresh from the field. Someday, when we do have that garden again, I would bet my vegetable eating son would love to grow some asparagus of his very own.

A solid foundation

It has been a weird week. I actually forgot what day it was multiple times. My son was sick and stayed home from school for the first time. Plus, we had a holiday mid-week.

National Foundation Day, or Kenkoku Kinen no Hi, is a day celebrating the ascension of Jimmu (the first Emperor of Japan) to the throne in 660 BC. Like many other national holidays in Japan, this day isn't met with many traditions or fanfare. I heard there is a small celebration at Meiji Shrine, but otherwise is mostly just a day off work.

My husband celebrated the day by doing our Japanese taxes, which is always a joyful experience. Just kidding. It's just as painful as doing taxes anywhere else in the world.

I swung by a shopping center to pick up food for our household. While there, I noticed a bank of arcade games (still very popular around Japan). The games had hand sanitizer stations at either end of the row as well as big plastic dividers secured between each machine. A pandemic isn't going to stop dedicated gamers from getting their fix!

Tomorrow, my son will attend another Saturday school, causing even further confusion on what day of the week it is. Hopefully next week will be more "normal".

Time to find a project

As the State of Emergency in Tokyo continues (it was extended this week until March 7), I remain at home. Since the beginning of January, I have spent my days reading and cooking delicious meals for my family and doing little else. While I have loved this quiet time, I know I need more to stimulate my mind and hands. So, I pulled out my fabric box and decided I had ample fabric to make a quilt.

Instead of a regular quilt with a top, batting, and backing, I decided I would make a comforter cover using a pieced together quilt top. This would appease my aesthetics as well as my husband’s desire to sleep under a comforter.

The most common bed covering in Japan is the comforter. Many people (40% of people in Japan according to one study I saw) still sleep on a futon mattress, placed out on the floor at night, but tucked away into a closet during the day. These mattresses are thick and dense. But on top is a fluffy comforter that really traps the heat into the cocoon of bedding. We typically sleep on futons when we stay at small hotels.

Regardless if they sleep with a futon or a western style bed underneath them, the comforter is typically on top. Even in the hot summer months, there are “cool” comforters that help people not overheat during the night.

Over the past 16.5 years of marriage, my husband and I have had more than a few debates over bedding. While I prefer quilts, he prefers comforters. At some point I gave up trying to lure him to my side and relinquished myself to sleeping under a comforter - with my feet sticking out to not overheat.

Similar to most people who sew, I have collected fabrics from all over the place. I have a special fondness for fabrics with Japanese themes or traditional patterns. Over the past three and a half years, I have acquired a pretty nice collection.

After looking at everything in my fabric box, I went online and found a pattern that would show off the various fabrics. I had to alter the pattern just a bit to fit the queen sized comforter, but it wasn't too much hassle.

The next few days were spent cutting and sewing pieces together. It was a nice change of pace, as my hands found the rhythm of piecing together the pattern of squares and rectangles. I found myself smiling often as I was able to use several fabrics that I squirreled away a long time ago, knowing someday I would find the perfect project to use it in.

Since I wasn’t actually quilting this project, I decided to secure the top with some interfacing.

I still need to attach the backing. It should be a quick step since I am only attaching the two pieces of fabric along the edges in order to make a pocket for the comforter to slide into. I will also secure snaps on short tabs in the corners to hold the comforter securely in place, just like the store bought ones have.

For me, the hardest part about making a quilt is when I am all done. I find myself wanting to make more and more quilts, as I love the process as well as the joy the finished project brings. I wonder if any of my friends are in need of a quilt...