Christmas in Japan

I'm back in Japan now. One of the funny customs we have in Japan that I didn't realize until I moved out is "Christmas boots filled with snacks".

You can find them at grocery stores anywhere in the month of December. There are all kinds of sizes and price, and the inside varries depending on what you choose.

When I was a child, I LOVED them so much and I used to wear them to play around (even if I had only one boot!) until I lost the soles. I wonder who invented them but they obviously came from the idea of Christomas stockings.

Another custom I must mention is that Japanese eat "Christmas cakes" to celebrate Christmas.They are not anything like puddings or pies, but they are a whole cake beautifully decorated. I must get pictures of them sometime but fancy ones are so beautiful and expensive, and you need to order it in advance if you want to get one of those special ones. I always took it for granted but found out it was not the way to celebrate by the real Christians. For some reason, Japanese eat a cake for Jesus's birthday!

If you don't care for those fancy ones, you can always buy one of those in a box piled up at the front of the stores, and they go on sale at the end of the 25th. There used to be a way to describe women who didn't get married by the age of 25 - they were called "leftover Christmas cake". As more and more women choose to stay single even after 25 nowadays, this is not used any more, I hope! If not, I was a mold Christmas cake when I finally got married at the age of 30!

Here are some samples of fancy Christmas cakes!

People lined up to purchase a cake for the special day!

Lavender field in Hokkaido, Japan

Furano, Hokkaido is famous for their lavender fields. My parents live a couple of hours away from this area. 　From right: Lavendar, California Poppy, Sweet William Catchfly, Spearminnt, Barley, Baby's Breath, Peppermint and Poppy.

Photo by my Mom at Farm Tomita

Unplanned trip to Japan

I had a short trip to Japan last month and stayed there for 10 days. It happened so quickly that I had to pack up and leave panicingly.

Approaching Oita Airport, in Kyushu. The moment I realized what a beautiful island country Japan is.



Guess what they are lined up for - A long queue to get into a famous sushi restaurant in Tokyo! The purpose of every single person in this photo has is sushi. You have to get there one hour in advance if you want to sit down when they open at 11am.


It was actually nice to see the younger generation working behind the sushi bar. Sushi restaurants used to be a kind of scary place for me when there was a quiet old man making sushi without any eye contact, and I got even more nervous when the check came as many places didn't have the price written anywhere!



Well, this is the reason people line up in front of this restaurant. Huge fish with a tiny bit of rice underneath! You can barely see the rice.



Beautiful shrimps - but they got caught in the tank behind the sushi chef right before they were cooked, and in fact, they were still slightly moving when they were served... yikes!

What I can't miss while I am in Japan...

During summer time, Japanese enjoy jello-like sweets. This is a red bean paste wrapped in kuzu mochi, and wrapped again in a bamboo leave.


Matcha jello with mochi and ice cream - yum! I can go to this cafe everyday...


You can find beautiful French-like pastries and cakes anywhere you go. In fact, a lot of patissiers go to France to learn how to bake.



This is what cake shops look like in Japan, and I miss them soooooo much!

Tokyo at glance

One of the most exciting, fasionable, fast paced cities in the world, and this is where I have spent most of my life.

PRADA building - They make a fortune in Japan

CARTIER - Same as above. Right next to Prada.

ROPPONGI MIDTOWN - 6.1 milion sq. ft mixed-use development opened last year. $3 billion project includes office, residential, commercial, hotel, and leisure space.



KANDA YABUSOBA - A buckwheat noodle shop which has been serving noodles since 1880.

KAPPABASHI - A kitchen equipment district in Tokyo. This is the place to go if you want to buy Japanese dishes for bargain price.

KABUKI-CHO - An entertaining and red-light district in Shinjuku. A location of many hostess bars, host bars, love hotels, restaurants, shops and nightclubs. Often called "Sleepless Town" and "Lost in translation" was filmed here. It was almost midnight when I took this photo.

South Boulder Peak

The first Sunday in June - this gourgeous weather must have made people haed to the hiking trails in the mountains. The parking lot was quite full when we got ther little after 8am.

Something we rarely see in Colorado

It reminded me of the humid weather back in Japan but the sky I was used to see was not this big! When I took Asha out for a short walk around 10:30pm, I saw lightning in the clounds. It was pitch black without moon and didn't hear anything - I bet it was miles away but looked close as the clouds were so huge.

Happy?

Asha is still shedding but much less now! (Whew!)

Time to start gardening

We've been having such an unusual weather in Colorado this year. We've had so many gray days as if we were in the northwestern States - it was even snowed a bit last week Tuesday. We complain if it's cloudy two days in a row here. We are supposed to have more than 300 days of sunshine in this state! To contrast, I would wonder what was going on if we had sunny days three days in a row when I lived in London...

Shades of purple for the shady spot by the entrance

Anyway, the temperature all the sudden went up to 80s during the weekend, which was a quite jump from freezing, and it's finally time for gardening as we don't have to worry about the temperature dropping under 30s any more. This is my 4th year of a container gardening here in our townhouse without yard.

Flowers that love sun for the back deck

Snowstorm bacopa is great for containers. Its creeping stems with flowers will drape gracefully

Fuchsia has been one of my favorite flowers since London

All kinds of daisies for small pots on the steps by the gate

Vegetables in the Earthboxes - can't wait to have our own organic veggies!