Making Umeshu

'Tis the season in Japan! The season to make umeshu and umeboshi, that is. Early summer is when green plums (ume) are unripened, yet ripe for the picking so they can be pickled or soaked in booze to produce tasty concoctions that will be ready months down the road. 

This time of year, the grocery stores set up whole displays devoted to the do-it-yourselfers in Japan. They sell all the necessary items for making umeshu and umeboshi - liquor, rock sugar, glass containers, pickling containers, salt, and akashiso (perilla). My Facebook was full of proud posts by moonshine making English teachers. Naturally I had to get in on the action.

This year I have tried making two kinds of umeshu, aka plum wine (or fruit liqueur): one without sugar (not sure how this will work or taste...) and one with some sugar. Both batches will be flavoured and coloured with akashiso leaves. I must admit that I'm not very good at following recipes. I immediately begin to alter them as I read them. So in the case of my plum wine, they loosely followed recipes. Well the sugared one loosely followed a recipe, the sugarless one, not so much. So it remains a mystery as to whether they will work.

To make your own umeshu you need approximately 1 kg of unripened green plums, they recommend approximately 500 g of rock sugar, approximately 1.8 L white liquor (any tasteless one will do - usually it's vodka or shochu, I used 35% shochu that was sold right beside the plums), a 3-4 L airtight glass vessel, and anything else you want to throw in. I threw in akashiso as well. First you must sterilize your container, I did it with boiling water... The jury is out on whether it actually sterilized the thing. I should have just taken the easy route and used the liquor to sterilize it, but I digress. Also, you must remove the stems from the ume, they are "innie" rather than "outie" stems, so you need something small and pointed to help dig them out. I used a tiny fork. You also must wash and dry the plums taking care not to use any blemished plums. At this point I washed and dried my akashiso as well. 

** warning ** apparently you shouldn't eat the unripened plums because they are acutely toxic. I found out the hard way. They are very astringent little buggers. They will most definitely cause you to feel as though  your intestines are drying up and dying. I assure you the discomfort is temporary and not too bad. It just hurt. Perhaps if I had eaten more, I would be in worse shape. Anyway, now you know.

Having prepped the vessel and the fruit, it is time to layer the ume in the vessel. Since I didn't use sugar the first time, I layered plums with akashiso until the vessel was half full. Then I poured the liquor on it until it was an inch (2.54 cm) above the fruit. With the second batch I did add some sugar, so I alternated plums, akashiso, and rock sugar. Then after pouring seal the vessel and hide somewhere dark and cool for 2-3 months (longer is better, especially if lower sugar was used... I think I'll have to age the sugarless one a year or two).

Of course after I did all of that, I had to post it on Facebook ;) Hopefully my experiments will workout. We shall see in at least 6 months!

It's worth noting that most households make their own umeshu and umeboshi. I didn't bother with umeboshi because it is more intricate and much more can go wrong with it. Plus I haven't ever eaten umeboshi before, I don't even know if I like 'em! Umeshu on the other hand... The nectar of the gods. It's delicious. This is all part of the curious drinking culture that Japan has. Often it seems that people cannot show their true selves or say what they really think unless they are drinking. Work places all have enkais (work parties), girls have joshikais (girls' night parties), and at Christmas or New Year, there are extra fancy enkais called bonenkais. In addition there are welcome parties, goodbye parties, transfer parties, etc. And at each party there are second or third parties. It's nuts. I've seen fights break out at enkais, apparently it's normal because this is the only time that people will address their problems or frustrations. The next day, no one talks about it. What goes on at an enkai and its afterparties is sacred and it seems to serve as a release for people. I've also heard that if a boy wants to confess his love for a girl, they have to go drinking together, so the true feelings can come out. Crazy. Umeshu is ever present during these frequent yet special occasions. :)

Happy Father's Day

Dear Dad,

Another Father's Day has come. I think this is the first one we've ever been apart for. I wish I could be there, but I can't. It sounds like you spending the day well, any way.

I want to thank you for everything. You're always there for me, always willing to walk with me, always making sure the fridge is well stocked for me, beating me up in karate... I appreciate everything you do and I miss you a lot!!

I especially miss you when I go for walks by myself or run out of food ;) 

Happy Father's Day Dad, and thanks for everything you do. I really appreciate it.

I'm thinking of you on this day and remembering all our times together :) I'm also remembering your funny smile, crazy accents, and silly jokes. I also miss your BBQ prowess!

Love you!! 

XOXO

What I've been doing.

The past couple of weeks have thankfully been busy. Two weeks ago I played in a soccer tournament and last week I went hiking with my students. It's left me a bit tuckered out.

On my birthday I went out for lunch with my friend and her boyfriend and then headed into Utsunomiya for some hanabi, or fireworks. It was a nice quiet way to spend the day. The next day my friend, who plays in a community orchestra, was performing, so I went to see her. There was a soprano soloist for the first half of the program. She was excellent. She sang selections from various Italian operas. The concert was in honour of Italian music. The latter half of the performance was just the orchestra. They did very well, although if you asked my friend, she would say the opposite. 

The next weekend I joined the Saitama Saiborgs for a football tourney in Nagano. There was both a boys and a girls team, naturally I played for the girls and I got some friends to come along and play for the boys. My friends and I rented a car (a hybrid Toyota Prius) and drove up instead of getting the Shinkansen. It was a little far to drive in one evening so we stopped at a place in the mountains called Sakudaira and stayed at an onsen. My friend failed to tell me that there were no rooms nor beds. Where we slept was a common room. We slept on recliners! I'm pretty sure I was the only girl in that room, amongst snoring men. Hahaha. I didn't mind. Before we went to sleep we got to soak in a hot spring.... It feels sooooooo good, even if you have to be naked. The next day we had a full day playing games. The girls played 3 games, with 6 people per side. The boys got to play 4 games with a full team. We tied our first game, won our second game and lost our third. We should have won the last game, but we had no ball luck. I had 3 beautiful shots: 2 hit the corner post and cross bar and one hit the cross bar. It was a frustrating loss... The boys lost all of their games. They unfortunately had to play some very serious teams that belong to various metro leagues. After the games, we went back to our hotel for another much needed onsen soak. The second night we stayed at a real hotel and there was a dance with all the players. It was fun. I got really sunburned despite all the sun cream I put on. I guess I sweated it off. The next day I was really sore. Everyone was really sore. We had no subs for the girls. Luckily we just played one game. I also refereed in between playing and cheering for the boys. After Saitama had definitively lost, we headed back home, though not before I tried driving in Japan! Success! No one died!

The next weekend on Saturday I went for a long hike with the "wondafogill" club, aka mountain climbing club. We hiked 4 mountains, 25 km, total ascent of 1400 m. It was gorgeous and really fun. Every time the mountain climbing teacher sees me he talks about my debut with the club.... They were very surprised at my agility. It's quite embarrassing because now the whole school knows. During the hike we have an assigned formation, Taguchi-sensei leads, followed by the 1st graders, then my coworker and her boyfriend, then the 3rd graders, then the 2nd graders, and finally, me. He put me last!! I guess it's a compliment, but it was painfully slow at the back :p. the last mountain we climbed was a well known local mountain in tokyo, Mount Takao. It was a very steep walk down. On the way down, you can visit the temple and shrine of Tengu, a mountain god. He was originally a bird of prey, so some statues of Tengu are men with wings and beaks, and other statues are of a man with a long nose instead of a beak. Tengu used to be thought of as a disruptive demon and a harbinger of war, but now he is a god of the mountain or forest. He can be dangerous, but is generally protective. 

The next day my friend took me to the ocean! I haven't seen the ocean in months! We went to a town called Ōarai. It is a beautiful seaside town. The first thing we did was wade in the ocean. There were lots of surfers out.... Definitely gotta go back! I also managed to drop my iPhone into the ocean. As a result, I bought my first ever bag of rice. When I got home, I didn't have any rice, so I stuck the phone in a bag of quinoa. The next day I bought some rice and left it in there for a few days. Luckily it still works!! Not perfectly, the volume controls seem to be out of order, but the rest of the phone works like a charm. I'm so lucky. After wading in the sea we went to the aquarium, which is famous for having the most number of sharks in Japan. There were hammerhead sharks! I really enjoyed the aquarium, it was very fun. I saw a capybara for the first time. It's a large animal that looks like a guinea pig (a giant one) and likes to swim. It's from the Amazon river area. We also watched the dolphin and sea lion show. It was great. They had four dolphins and a pair of seal lions. All of them were very talented. After the aquarium we went for a little exploration on the beach. I found a bracelet that once belonged to Ayaka and a little glove filled with sand. The water is very clean in Ōarai and it isn't too crowded. Can't wait to go back. On our way back, we stopped at "Mentai Park", a fish egg factory that appeared on TV and is now a destination. Mentaiko (明太子) is essentially an eggbsack from walleyed cod that is flavored with Mentai spice. They had free samples at the factory, so I tried some and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite delicious! I didn't buy any though... 

So that's my update. Next week I'm off to go surfing, hopefully. I'll be visiting Itō city, a coastal town with lots of onsen. Yay. Also, the rainy season (梅雨) has started :( It is very, very, very muggy. Bleh!

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Mom,

As I get older, more and more I recognize the difficulty of raising children. When I was younger, I didn't see us 4 kids as too much of a challenge. Boy was I wrong. I can't even imagine doing what you did, raising 4 children to be independent, free thinking, well-educated and contributing members of society.

As they say in Japan, いつもありがとうママ！itsumo arigato mama - pretty much means thanks for everything, past present and future.

Though it may not be enough, every year older I become, the more I appreciate everything you have done for me and continue to do. I suspect that this trend will continue, my eyes will open wider and wider. I think this is a sign that you've done a superb job in parenting. When I was little, you made everything look like a breeze, now I see the sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears of it all. Thanks mom!!

Today/yesterday have been the hardest days for me in Japan, I think. The reason is because I wanted to be with you, especially on this day, to show my love and appreciation for everything you've done. Moving to Japan hasn't been easy, what with the deaths, illnesses and general out of the loopiness, but it's the hardest when I'm not able to show my love and support when I feel it's needed.

Anyway, know that I Iove you and miss you and have been thinking about you nonstop for both Mother's Days, the Japanese and the Canadian one. Of course this isn't the only time you're in my thoughts though :)

Do you recognize the picture? In my last post I said I would elaborate on the latest flower arrangement in the next post. Do you know what it is? It's supposed to be a poodle, for Mother's Day. Yesterday when I was at the grocery store there were tonnes of poodles made out of carnations. I suppose the reason is that toy poodles are sickeningly popular here. So of course mothers would like carnation poodles. It is cute, but if you ask me, a bouquet of wild flowers is the best. As a side note, carnations are more expensive than other flowers here. It's the opposite at home. Don't really know why, just one of those Japan things.

So happy Mother's Day mom!! Please enjoy the picture of the carnation poodle Mother's Day arrangement. I wish I could've sent it, but I don't think it would have survived.

I love you and miss you soooooo much!! (You too Dad!)

Love,

Wendy

PS happy Mother's Day to all the other moms I know <3

Ikebana - Japanese Flower Arrangement

Ikebana would usually be defined as the art of Japanese flower arrangement. This idea is nothing new as my prowess (or lack thereof) for the art has been posted in picture form for all to see. I feel as though I should redefine it for myself: ikebana - the art of having your flower arrangement rearranged ever so slightly by the sensei to look a million times better. My new definition aptly describes what happens in Ikebana club even though I'm now a sempai!!

*a sempai is the elder, experienced person in a Japanese organization. The sempai-kouhai relationship is a well respected and time honored tradition everywhere - schools, clubs, jobs, and life in general. The kouhai is the newbie - the inexperienced person who looks up to the sempai as a role model. These relationships are not taken lightly. At graduation, the sempais get gifts from their kouhais and the kouhais honour them with performances and thank you speeches. Also, at drinking parties (nomikais), sometimes the kouhais pay for the sempai and the kouhais make sure the sempai's cup is always full. Very serious indeed.

So this post is actually supposed to be an ikebana update, as I haven't done one in awhile. I'm not actually a sempai in the club, that doesn't happen because I'm a teacher. It's a position that puts me ahead of the sempais... Awkward. Anyway, my esteemed position and status doesn't get me anywhere with ikebana. If only...

First up, a flower arrangement that uses a cross made out of wood to separate the vase into 4 quarters. This occurred sometime in December I think. Note the sunset in the background... At about 4-4:30 pm. Sigh.

2nd: This is our Christmas flower arrangement. It's not ikebana, just flower arranging. The sensei liked the way I used the star garland and wrapped it around. I think she showed the class and probably remarked something about those crazy western esthetics. It took me quite awhile to understand that being different and designing my own arrangement is a no-no. We're supposed to copy the sensei's pretty much exactly. You know the old saying, "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Yes, yes, yes. It's exactly true. Though with this particular arrangement we were given more freedom to do as we pleased, hence my peculiar application of the star garland.

3rd: This flower arrangement was in January. It served as a reminder that spring was on its way. Not really though, as I bet I was wearing 2 pairs of pants, and 5 shirts on that day. I'm not sure what kind of blossoms were on the branches. They and the tulips are symbols of spring.

4th: This arrangement was fun because we used the grid again (see #1) and we also manipulated the flowers to our will by bending the stalks, but not breaking them. This arrangement was in honour of setsubun, a topic I was going to blog about but then failed to do so. The pussy willows are supposed to represent beans, which are thrown at the devil on setsubun to cast him out of your home. Setsubun is February 3, is the day before spring starts in Japan. In fact, setsubun means seasonal division. On setsubun, you cast the bad spirits (onni) out of your home and bring the good ones in. Beans are thrown as well as eaten. You must eat your age +1 beans on setsubun for good health and long life. Also on this day, long uncut sushi called ehomaki are eaten, while facing the lucky direction (this year it was SSE I think). The holly in the arrangement is also representative of Setsubun. Traditionally, holly and fish heads were hung at the front doors of houses to keep the onni away. When I went riding about on Setsubun, I was disappointed to discover that no one does this anymore, even though it sounds unpleasant.

5th: This arrangement is a springy one, blossoms and irises. Like #1 and #4 it uses the grid for placement. I had a string of bad luck with my arranging materials, in this one you can see there are only 2 sticks... Not supposed to be the case in ikebana. There should be three, but sadly my branches were terrible and only 2 could be made. Poor, poor flower arrangement.

6th: This arrangement is not traditional ikebana, but it is in honour of a traditional festival. Hinamatsuri (March 3), or Girls' Festival, is a festival where girls are honored and good health, fertility, etc are wished for. Hinamatsuri is marked by large, often expensive displays of dolls meant to be the emperor, empress and their attendants. The tulips in the arrangement are meant to be dolls dressed in kimono. The red tulip is the empress doll and the yellow is the emperor doll. Behind them there are ume blossoms (Japanese plum).

7th: This was the first activity of the new school year. I was pleased to get back to barebones ikebana. This is basic ikebana at its finest - my favourite type because it is so simple, sparse, and somehow esthetically pleasing to me. The basic tenets of this style of ikebana are the branches: the tallest is 2 x the length of the vase, the middle is 1.5 x the length of the vase (or 3/4 the length of the tall branch), and the small branch is 1 x the length if the vase (or half the length of the talk branch). Then the spaces are filled with flowers, in this case, carnations. Quick and easy.

Last: My most recent arrangement. Can you guess what this is supposed to be? More on this arrangement at a later date. Hopefully the suspense won't get to you! He he he.

Golden Week

Golden Week is a smattering of National holidays that occur very close together at the end of April and the beginning of May. During this time, many Japanese people go on trips, so the cities empty and the destinations fill up. JETs, taking their cues from their coworkers, usually go off gallivanting as well. I know people that went to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Egypt, etc. I however, didn't go anywhere. I had a staycation.

During golden week we had a 3 day weekend followed by a 4 day weekend. For the three day weekend I did some cleaning. I'm still not finished cleaning, hopefully that will happen this weekend. Over the 4 day weekend I was in two dance battles, went to practice, went shopping and became a Costco member.

The first battle I entered was with my Saitama boys. It was a 4 vs 4 battle in Kisarazu, Chiba. Very far away. There were only 12 crews signed up and 3 of them were professional (I think the ¥500,000 prize was the reason). I was sick with nerves. The day of the battle, I couldn't eat anything! Luckily my friends were very supportive and I met some new people. Naturally, we didn't get past the first round, but it was a learning experience.

Below are the links to the battles between the pros:

This video is Found Nation Crew vs Floorriorz. I think Found Nation should have won... But the judges decided differently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4-AdoRK50&sns=em

This video is the final battle, Floorriorz vs TFZ (also Floorriorz... I don't like this...).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIWFcjOYJIQ&sns=em

After the battle, we went to the outlets in Chiba, but we only had a very short time to go shopping. I just saw the adidas and Nike outlet. I bought some running shorts from adidas. Interestingly enough, there were no outlets in Japan until about 5 years ago. Now outlet malls are popping up everywhere. It's crazy.

The next day, I lazed around and slept in. I went to Utsunomiya in the evening for battle number 2. This event was much smaller and friendlier. It was a 2 vs 2 allstyles battle. I really enjoyed it, the venue was a nice little night club with a live DJ. As it happened, my Saitama Bboys showed up to battle too. I was a lot less nervous with this battle but it didn't stop me from panicking as soon as it was my turn to dance. My friend and I did not advance past the first round :( I stayed afterwards and many people were talking to me in Japanese. I guess my Japanese is improving, because it wasn't too hard for me, though it was just basic Japanese.

In Japan I seem to get way more nervous and panicked about battles than in Canada. I think it's because I cannot hide. I'm the whitey that you can't help but look at... The pressure is magnified because there are very few girls in break dance and a foreign bgirl is the rarest specimen of all (I've met foreign Bboys, but no foreign bgirls, just me). I feel like everyone is watching me and I want to just hide! I want to be the wallflower that nobody notices!

So that was my dancing golden weekend. The next day, Sunday, I ran, biked, and practiced. I ran sooo fast! I haven't run in months and this run was great, except I had a nosebleed afterward. I don't remember ever having a nosebleed in my entire life!

On Monday, I went shopping. I bought a dress, shoes, and a rain jacket. I also became a real Costco member :) hurrah! Now I can shop at costco whenever I feel like it, within the hours of operation of course :)

Hanami and Kawaii Culture

I know I haven't written in forever... Sorry!! Let's just say I've been unmotivated.

Having just come back from a hanami party, I'm full of motivation. Hanami is flower viewing. In Japan the existence of seasons is much celebrated. Each season has it's own special dishes, candy, drinks, festivals, clothing, bedding, you name it. Personally I like winter the best so far. It came with nabe- yummmmmm! Nabe is a soup-like dish that everyone enjoys in the winter. It comes in many varieties. How it works on a basic level is you have some sort of soup base, in it you cook meat and vegetables, then you eat it. Easy, delicious, nutritious and warm.

Spring has its charms too. For one thing the spring equinox was a holiday! Hurrah! On that day I went to a soccer game with some pals. It was fun. Another nice thing about spring is cheaper produce and lots of delicious strawberries!! Yay! None of the things I have mentioned is what the Japanese go gaga over. A national spring past time in Japan is hanami, aka cherry blossom (Sakura) viewing. Starbucks comes out with special Sakura flavored drinks and Sakura decorated paper cups and tumblers, stores everywhere sell Sakura flavoured confections and candies, alcohol comes in Sakura flavour and is neatly packed, all ready to go for hanami parties. Everyone and everything is Sakura themed at this time of year. There is even a Sakura forecast to let everyone know when Sakura will come to their town.

Today I went to my first hanami party. Hanami parties are groups of people that get together and have a picnic in the park while looking at the Sakura. These parties usually involve consuming copious amounts of alcohol and eating delicious food. I'm happy to report that the cherry blossoms were out and there was tonnes of food and alcohol at the party. What I couldn't have imagined was the sheer volume of people doing the same thing. Thousands upon thousands of people packed into Yoyogi park today to view the Sakura. It was great! I was with my Tokyo dancing friends so we danced, there were people dressed up, and there was even a man with a portable pole... Why? For pole dancing of course!!

Though today was my first party, it wasn't my first hanami experience. Earlier this week I went for a walk with my neighbour and we got some early hanami in. On Friday, at school, a teacher and I had a hanami lunch. See pictures below.

That's enough about hanami for now... Recently, my coworker and I dressed up in Kasujo uniforms and had a little fun. We rolled up our skirts and visited with some third years (who were about to graduate) and then we unrolled them, for fear of punishment if the teachers caught us, and went on tour of the school. We pretended to be new international students and went to greet the other teachers. I didn't think it would work... But it did. We tricked a good amount of teachers, including Takahashi sensei, our supervisor! It took him about a minute to recognize us. Hahaha.

What does this have to do with kawaii culture (cute culture)? Well, when I posted the photos on Facebook, everyone liked them. Especially the boys. What makes wearing a uniform so darn cute and desirable? That's for another post.

On a related note, at the year end assembly, it was reported that 6 students had run-ins with chikan (perverts). So the students were warned to keep their skirts long and to take care. Ugh. Why this obsession with school girls?