Entertaining Way to Explain Airline Safety Instructions

Check out Cebu Pacific Airlines unique way of explaining airline safety instructions.

Japanese American Museum of San Jose is OPENING!

The Japanese American Museum of San Jose is opening October 16, 2010.  There will be a ceremony at 1pm and then the museum will open at 2pm.  Just for Saturday they request people to sign up if they want to see the museum.   There is no fee for admission the opening weekend.

Memorial wall honors displaced Japanese-Americans

In Seattle, Washington, a Memorial wall is being created to honor displaced Japanese-Americans due to the internment.  In Los Angeles, California at the Japanese-American National Museum on the steps as you enter the museum, there are engraved names.  Many of my relatives children's names are now engraved on those steps.  I think it is a cool legacy.  At the time the steps were being built the children were babies, but now the older ones are in high school.  I think one day when they get older, they will realize the signaficance.

Nisei Week Japanese Festival - August 14-22, 2010

In Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, the annual Nisei Week Festival is going on.   It's the 70th year of the festival. My mom grew up in LA and Nisei week was always a really fun festival to go to when I was growing up. We went sometimes if we were in LA for vacation. Tons of Japanese food, music, games, dancing. One of the highlights, is the selection of the Nisei week Queen. My mom told me my Aunt, her younger sister, was asked to run for Nisei week Queen years ago, but my Grandfather wouldn't allow it. My sisters and I would tease my mom, that she wasn't asked, and she would just laugh and laugh. I have such fond memories of going to that festival.

Green Tea Lattes

My sister told me one of her favorite drinks now is a Green Tea Latte.  Check out how to make one.

Green Tea Kit Kat Bars!

Whenever my cousin comes to visit me once a year, I always try to have a new fun food to share with her.  She always knows the latest on candy.  I consider her a candy connoisseur. So this year, I found this bag of mini Kit Kat Candy bars that came in regular Milk Chocolate, but also Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate.  I really liked the White Chocolate ones so when my cousin came to my house, I was excited to show her my new finding.  Alas, she had already seen the candy and then she told me about Green Tea Kit Kat Bars that I didn't even know existed.  So now I have got to try those!

US joins Hiroshima A-bomb memorial for 1st time

On Saturday, the San Jose Mercury News, reported that a US representative attended the Hiroshima A-bomb Memorial for the 1st time.  When I lived in Japan, many of the Japanese people I met felt the bombing made them pacifists.  Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be a lot of anger, just deep sadness for the horror that the war and bombing brought to Japan. When I went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, it was very sad to see what had happened.  There were parts of the museum, that I honestly couldn't bear to look at.

San Jose's Japantown Bucks the Recession

Today in the San Jose Mercury News cool article on San Jose Japantown bucking the recession with nice slide show.  Grew up going there all the time and especially love the tofu featured in the slide show.

Possible Movie about the 442nd Regiment directed by Ken Watanabe!

I remember my parents telling me about the 442nd when I was in elementary school and I was fascinated to learn about the 442nd as this was never covered in my regular schooling.  The 442nd Regiment was comprised of Japanese Americans who fought in Europe during World War II.  The families of many of its soldiers were in internment camps in America. The motto of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was “go for broke.” The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military!  In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts , 21 Medals of Honor and eight Presidential Unit Citations.

I have such admiration for the 442nd. They suffered huge casualties fighting in a war for a country that had interned their families.  They brought honor to their families.

There is buzz that Ken Watanabe, the actor, may be directing his first movie about the 442nd.  I think this story would be a great movie.

Picture: Go For Broke National Education Center

Asian American - Too Broad A Term?

There was an interesting story in the Sacramento Bee Newspaper about the term "Asian American" now fading since more and more people want to be more closely identified with their ethnicity.  For example, instead of Asian American, specifically Japanese American.  On forms now, there are more choices to declare your ethnicity.  For me personally, I have always felt it weird to have to list my ethnicity.  I did find it somewhat humorous when I traveled in Asia, wherever I went, people seemed to think I was a native of that country, in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia etc.  I also get asked for directions when I go to Hawaii and I am not from Hawaii!

Sushi Poppers

Well,  I have to say, I have not seen anything like this before.  Sushi Poppers.  Looks like you can order them frozen as well.  Not sure how good it would taste after being defrosted.  I am used to eating Sushi freshly made, but gotta love the fact that anyone can market their own idea.
 

Who Inspires You?

I have recently been thru a series of tragic experiences in a very short amount of time.  As I sometimes get into the "woe is me" state of mind, I think about a person who truly inspires me.  My cousin was recently diagnosed with a very serious illness. I have always thought of my cousin as a religious person, but only now do I really see what true faith is.  She has faced her situation with total faith in God and His plan for her and her family and with a sense of humor!  Not only is she an inspiration to me, but to her friends and family as well.  In an interesting way, she has inspired thousands with her faith and trust in God.  It's as if God is working thru her, to show what true faith is.  I often wondered what type of person, thru all adversity, would continue to honor God like Job did and now I know.

Cute Panda Sneezing

I have always found Pandas to be so cute!

Pepsi Commercial - Check It Out

Maneki Neko

Whenever my friends start a new business, I give them as a present a Maneki Neko.  This is a ceramic or wooden or  papier-mâché cat with its paw raised. There doesn't seem to be a clear explanation on what it means when the left paw is raised versus the right paw.  Mostly it seems though, the left paw raised will bring in customers to a business, that is the Maneki Neko that I give to my friends.  The right paw is just in general for good luck.  However, I have heard some people think it is the other way around.  Not sure when I learned about these cats.  They were always in Japanese stores I went to but I never really thought about it until I got older and then learned why they were in the stores.

Daruma

I don't remember when I learned about "Daruma" but I think it is an interesting concept.  When you first buy the Daruma, both eyes are blank.  The Daruma is very light weight and is made of papier-mâché and is hollow.  You make a wish and color in the "left eye" as you face the doll.  When the wish comes true, then you color in the other eye.  I have one little Daruma that I have colored in both eyes and a bigger one, still waiting for that wish to come true!  There are also Daruma festivals that are meant to celebrate good luck and they sell Daruma all over the place.  I think having the one eye colored in  is to remind you of the wish or goal.

OIOI

One of my favorite department stores in Japan has a big sign that looks like "OIOI".  I thought the name of the store was pronounced "Oh E, Oh E".  I mentioned that one day to a Japanese friend and she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever heard!  The store's name is Marui which means circle, so the "O" s are to represent the circles.  Well live and learn...

It Just Fits

One thing about Japan, I really do love is that many things just fit me.  When I rode on the trains the rings that hang down so you can hold on when the train moves around, are just the right height for me.  When I tried on jewelry, the rings and bracelets just fit.  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't need to re-size things.  The one thing that I really remember is that the shoes fit.  I have a really hard time finding shoes in the United States, especially sandals.  They just don't fit right.  Every shoe I tried on in Japan in my size fit.  It was just amazing.  Even now, I have dreams sometimes that I went to Japan and came back with tons of shoes.  Clothes, though, I seemed to be so big.  In the U.S. I can wear the smaller or medium sizes, there I needed to wear large.  Oh Well... guess you can't have everything!

OODS

I went to Japanese School every Saturday when I was in elementary school.  I can honestly say I felt it was a total injustice that I had to go to school on a SATURDAY.  However, I did have some memorable experiences.  I was sitting in class one Saturday and the teacher was teaching us some Kanji and new Japanese words.  He started talking about "oods" and then he wrote in Japanese what that was.  I turned to the girl sitting next to me, who was from Japan, and I said, "oods? what is that?".  She said, "you know oods".  I looked at the blackboard and saw in English, the teacher had written the letters "oods" on the board.  I was quite perplexed because everyone else seemed to understand what he meant.  Finally, the girl sitting in front of me moved her head slightly and I saw he had written, the word "woods" on the board. 

How to Use a Dressing Room in Japan

I went to a Japanese department store and saw some clothes I wanted to try on.  In the center of the clothing department was a little dressing room with a curtain that you pulled once you stepped on the platform.  There was a mirror in the room and looked just like a dressing room you would see in the United States.  Once I was in the room, I heard this commotion.  There was a woman yelling at me.  I wasn't sure what she was saying so I just poked my head out from behind the curtain to see what she wanted.  She seemed distressed.  I then saw her pointing to my feet and saying "kutsu, kutsu".  I then realized she wanted me to take off my shoes before entering the dressing room.  She had a very infuriated look on her face, so I was sure to say in English, "I am sorry, what is the problem?"  She was taken aback as she was so sure I was Japanese and just being rude.  I told her I was American.  She instantly became kinder and then pointed for me to take off my shoes.  I apologized, took off my shoes and thought, I better remember that!

Shinkansen - Be on TIME!

When my sister came to visit me when I was living in Japan, we decided to take a trip to Kyoto from Tokyo.  The quickest way to get there is by Shinkansen,  often referred to as the "bullet train" because it goes so fast.  It is a marvel to see how precise the Japanese are in ensuring their bullet trains leave exactly on time.  We got to the train station early because we knew that we needed to be exactly on time.  We grabbed some lunch and then had a little time to do some shopping.  If you have ever been in an underground train station in Japan, you will notice that everything starts looking the same after awhile.  Well, it was getting time to catch the train,  since there were no definite landmarks, I kind of got lost.  I finally remembered a store that was in the right direction we were to head and told my sister to RUN.  We were carrying our bags, since when you travel on the bullet trains there isn't very much space to store anything.  We RAN as fast as we could and jumped on the bullet train and just then, the doors closed.  I turned to my sister and happily said, "we made it".  Well, my sister was quite mad at me, her glasses were askew and her bag was wrapped awkwardly around her body.  That was her first experience riding on a Shinkansen.

Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of arranging flowers.  My mother enjoyed doing Ikebana on occasion and I would have to say she had a really good eye at doing that.  Her flower arrangements were clean and simple, not as ornate as some I have seen, so I preferred the style she did.  I attended an Ikebana class with her once just to see how it was done and thought I may want to take up Ikebana.  The Japanese teacher stood at the head of the class and instructed us on how to do the design.  The students then worked on their own arranagements and the teacher would walk by and help to point out how to make it look a little bit better.  She was like the "Tim Gunn" of flower arranging.  Well there I was, thinking I had done the right thing with the 3 levels of flowers, representing heaven, earth and man.  The teacher came by and said to me, "Beautiful, just beautiful," but as she was saying that she started re-arranging my flowers until it turned into a completely different arrangement then I had done.  I do admit it looked way better then what I had done but that day I decided, this was going to be my last Ikebana class.

Kinokuniya - Cool Book Store

Kinokuniya is a really cool Japanese book store.  Since I don't read Japanese well enough to read novels, the books aren't really why I go there.  They have the most fascinating stationary products.  Erasers shaped like sushi and little animals and the widest variety of pens I have ever seen.  They also carry beautiful Japanese paper and fun little toys.  I sometimes go there just to browse as they always have interesting items.

Translator

When my sister came to visit me in Japan, it was towards the end of my stay so I had picked up some Japanese, albeit, not a lot.  I thought I would be able to translate a little.  While we were out and about, I began to realize that what I was translating was not Japanese, but the English that was being spoken with Japanese accents.

The good news is that my sister was teaching English as a second language in the United States so was actually pretty good at understanding what people were saying.  Since she knew some Japanese the interspersed English and Japanese, didn't throw her too much.

Things my mother taught me

There are some things my mother taught me and I never got a clear explanation to why,  but I just do them.  In honor of Mother's day here are a few them:

• Always dip the shamoji (rice paddle to serve rice) twice when serving rice or you will have bad luck.  Her mother, my grandmother taught her that.
• You must eat ozoni (fish soup on New Year's) before you eat anything else to have good luck on New Year's Day and the rest of the year.  This was taught to her by her father, my grandfather.
• Duct tape and cardboard fixes everything.
• Scoop out about a tablespoon of Mayonnaise at the top of the jar, when you open a new jar as it tastes funny.
• You can never have enough ziploc bags and plastic containers to give food away.

For my mom on Mother's day

In honor of my mom on Mother's Day here is her favorite song from her church. This is sung at the end of every church service at Wesley United Methodist Church.

Go now in peace, never be afraid,
God will go with you each hour of every day
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true
Know He will guide you in all you do
Go now in love and show you believe
Reach out to others so all the world can see
You're not alone; God is leading you
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
Amen. Amen.

Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Pocky

When I was growing up,  I only remember one kind of Pocky.   It was a pretzel stick dipped in chocolate.  Japanese candy tends to not be as sweet as American candy but this was one treat I did like because the chocolate was sweet.

My cousin, a connoisseur of candy and sweet treats, brought over to my house one day, a ton of different kinds of Pocky.  I was amazed at all the variations they have now: almond and chocolate, strawberry, white chocolate, bitter sweet chocolate.  We tried them all and had a blast.  In Japan, they have even more flavors.  Who would have thought all the flavors you can put on a pretzel stick?

If you want to try this out, they sell these in Japanese markets like Mitsuwa and Marukai.

Know Your Japanese Part II

Although, I lived in Japan for a year, I can't say I can speak fluent Japanese at all.  Towards the end of my stay, my sister came to visit me for a month and we had great adventures.   The first night she arrived we went to a small Japanese restaurant near my apartment.  We could read the menu and my sister said the spinach dish looked really good, so I told the waitress I would like to get 1 order of the spinach dish.  She said something in Japanese to us and then I looked at the menu and thought that looks really good, so I changed my request to two orders.  The waitress gave me a very strange look and spoke in Japanese again.  I then realized what she had said originally, was they were out of the spinach dish and I had just said, "ok, I'll take two orders".

Along those lines,  my sister and I went to a restaurant and sat down in a booth.  We looked at the menus and were ready to order.  A woman came over and I gave our order.  She said something to me in Japanese.  I then restated my orders and she gave me this odd look.  I finally realized she was telling us we needed to pay first and then we could be seated!

Know your Japanese

A woman I know who doesn't speak Japanese very well, saw a really cute Japanese baby sitting in a stoller.  She heard the mother speaking Japanese, so she thought she would speak to the mother in Japanese to be polite.  She asked the mother, in Japanese, "how old is your baby?"  To her surprise, the mother's face turned white and she quickly pushed the stroller away.  The woman's friend burst out laughing and told the woman, "you just asked the mother, how much does the baby cost?"

On a similar note, my cousin went to Japan to visit her friend, who was living in Japan with her Aunt for a year.  It is customary, when someone asks if you would like more to drink, you politely say, no thank you or "Kekko desu."  Well, my cousin was perplexed whenever her friend's Aunt offered her more to drink and she said no thank you in Japanese, her friend's Aunt got a weird look on her face.  One day, my cousin's friend burst out laughing when she heard my cousin say "Kekkon desu" after her Aunt offered my cousin more to drink.  My cousin had been saying, "I'm married" whenever the Aunt offered her more to drink and my cousin wasn't married at the time!

Cute Green Tea Caterpillar Commercial

I speak English Well

I lived in Japan for one year, teaching English, years ago.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  While I was there,  I met one of my cousin's Asian friends who was also living in Japan for a year.  She said she used to mess with people on the trains.  She and her Asian friend from the U.S., they both looked Japanese, would say, "Let's practice our English" and then they would proceed to have an entire conversation in English, but of course their English was fantastic since they spoke in English all the time in the United States.  They would get major stares of admiration on those trains!

Wooden Back Scratchers - A versatile tool

For as long as I can remember, we always had bamboo back scratchers at home when I was growing up.  Now that I have my own home,  I have mutliple back scratcher in my house now too.  They are really handy, not just for relieving back itches you can't reach with your hand, but you can use them to grab other things as well.  My mom told me once that she said the back scratcher was one of her favorite tools ever!

Double Eyelids

If you are Japanese-American or for that matter Asian,  I bet you know about double eyelid surgery.  I don't remember when I first heard about it.  I think in high school or possibly college.  Many Asian eyelids are called single eyelids since there isn't that crease in the eyelid, where all fashion magazines show how beautiful eyes can look by putting eye make up in that crease.  I remember wishing when I was younger that I could have that crease in my eyelids, but I never entertained the idea of having surgery to create it, especially after I saw people who had that surgery done.  In some cases it looks bizarre to me and in other cases it looks ok but for me personally, I just can't imagine cutting my eyelid in that way.   As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Know your Seaweed

I always remember eating onori (seaweed) so I can't even say when the first time was that I ate it.  I grew up eating Japanese onori with plain rice (all children seem to like this) and onori plain or in sushi.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I was introduced to Korean seaweed.  Now,  I would say I prefer the Korean seawood to eat just plain or with just white rice.  It is a bit more oily and more seasoned with salt. There is a particular kind of Korean seaweed, my family likes to eat because it comes in bite size sheets that can wrap around small balls of white rice and the serving size is great to pass out to kids.

Rodger Young Village

My mom often would refer to Rodger Young Village in Los Angeles, California, when she talked about growing up.  Her brother fought in World War II and so after the war,  my mom's family was provided temporary housing at Rodger Young Village.  She always mentioned she lived in a Quonset Hut so finally, one day, I looked it up and saw what they looked like.  Recently,  I was curious to know more about who Rodger Young was.  I learned he was only 28 years old when he died and was awarded the medal of honor because he was responsible for several enemy casualties and enabled his platoon to withdraw without loss before he was killed.  It is interesting to me how my mom's life is so tied to major historical events.

How Am I Related to You?

On my mother's side of the family, we know several generations of relatives.  I can't say I really know how I am related to all my cousins, aunts and uncles.  As I grew older, I began to realize that some of my cousins I call Auntie and Uncle are actually not my Auntie and Uncle.  I was just told to call them that because they were adults when I was a child.  I have one Auntie/Cousin who I think actually understands how we are all related.  She says things like, "he is your cousin once removed" (which I don't really know what that means).  I remember at one of my cousin's weddings, when I was a child, I met some distant cousins, around my age, and their father was Mexican-American.  I was so intrigued by that.  I ran to my mother and yelled out, "I have Mexican cousins!".  She later told me when I was an adult, she was embarrassed, but she said she didn't scold me for yelling since she said I was so thrilled at the discovery.

Taking Pictures - How many can you take?

I know it is stereotypical to say Japanese people take a lot of pictures, but, I do confess that in my family picture taking is just a part of our lives.  Every family event, or sports event involving family, the cameras come out.  We always joke that we take pictures of every possible combination of our family at our parties.  I have noticed though, that there are some family members, who shall remain nameless, that take the most pictures and ask us to pose and take a zillion pictures, but quite honestly, I never see their pictures.  I am not sure why they feel the need to take all those pictures they never show anyone.  I will say, one day, I did laugh out loud, when I received an email from one of the "picture takers"  of pictures from about two years ago and those are the only pictures I ever did see,  just that one time.  Oh well, I bet every family has one of those "picture takers".

Post on Jan 17th

Not sure if you all saw the Post on Jan 17th "How to Deal: H.A. Style" as it got posted late.  Well written post by HappaExperience95.  check it out.

Nikkei Matsuri - April 25th

Every year the Nikkei Matsuri Festival is held in San Jose, California in Japan Town.  When I was growing up we would go almost every year and I plan to go this year.  It is the 33rd year of the festival in San Jose and will be held on April 25, 2010.

The Nikkei Matsuri-San Jose Japantown  (Japanese-American Festival) embraces the local community's love and appreciation of Japanese-American Culture and Heritage.

In 1976, as part of America's Bicentennial celebration, the City of San Jose encouraged local ethnic communities to sponsor festivals to share their culture.  The Japanese-American community responded with a successful festival which is now, the Nikkei Matsuri-San Jose Japantown.

They have great Japanese food, love the tempura, and arts and crafts and Japanese music.  Check it out!

Packets in Japanese Food

Just a friendly word of advice,  often in Japanese food like, onori (seaweed), there is a little packet that contains a dry powdery or grainy substance that is often in a gray or white packet that is used to keep the food dry.  This packet is not food and should not be opened or eaten.

When you eat Japanese noodles, the packages often contain a packet of dry seasoning that you open and put on noodles that have been boiled in water and the seasoning creates the noodle broth.

Well, one day, a relative of mine told me that a person, who shall remain nameless, ate a bowl of noodles but commented that the seasoning tasted a little weird. Well, my relative realized that the "person" put one of the packets used to keep food dry on the noodles. So my relative got excited and called poison control and was told it was okay, but that you really are not supposed to eat that stuff!  Just so you know...

Slurp Noodles!!!

I couldn't believe it when I was told you can loudly slurp noodles when you eat them in Japan.  In fact, the louder you slurp the better, since the slurping means you think the noodles are absolutely delicious.  Next time you eat a bowl of Japanese noodles slurp away, it is a compliment.

Don't Pour Your Own Drink in Japan

I think it is an interesting custom in Japan to never pour your own drink if you are sharing a bottle of sake or tea when out eating with friends or family.  It is considered very rude.  If you want more to drink, like Sake for example, you ask those with only a little Sake in their cup, if they would like more and they, in turn, should then check to see if you would like more. It is a roundabout way to get what you want, but it does ensure you are looking out for others as well.

I went out to lunch with a friend at a Japanese restaurant the other day and I found myself pouring tea for myself and it felt weird for a moment, but then I remembered I was in the United States, phew!

Chocolate Omochi - Sweet Treat!

One of my favorite treats is freshly-made chocolate omochi. My cousin makes this at his store Fugetsu-Do.  The chocolate is so rich and creamy and the omochi (rice cake) is so soft.  I have yet to meet a person that didn't like it.  If you are a chocolate lover, you must try this!  I think it is so sweet that my cousin named this omochi after his son. He calls it "Korey's Mochi".

How to Deal: H.A. style

If you're not Japanese American, think about the last funeral you went to. There was probably a lot of crying and black. Lots and lots of black. Black dresses, black coats, black slacks. Mostly black. Along with the black clothes, you pobably saw black metaphorically as well. The black cloud that hung over the church (or wherever the ceremony had been held) and dark expressions on the faces of each attendee. Darkness. The unknown. That is part of what makes death so frightening. What will happen next? We as humans are programmed to feel fear.

If you are Japanese American, I would like you to picture the last funeral you attended (Hawaiians too). When you think about it, what do you see? Do you see black? Do you see anguish? Unless you are a very strange H.A., you probably see more colors. Bright colors. Flowers and different colored mochi. You might see your grandmother smiling with the deceased's spouse.

When you first see the contrast between the two, you may think of Japanese Americans as heartless people who do not respect death. I like to think of us as a step ahead. We see death as peace. We don't see anguish and defeat, we see the love and joy the deceased had lived . We see good times and our loved ones finally at peace. Through death we don't see pain or defeat or agony.

We see peace.

Bunny making Mochi in the Moon

One night, when I was a child, I remember being in a car with my family when we noticed there was a full moon.  My sisters and I were all gazing at the moon and my mom then asked us if we saw a bunny making mochi when we looked at the moon.  I had never been asked that before.  I had only been asked if I saw the man in the moon.  My mom said if we looked closely we could see the bunny pounding the rice and making mochi. I believe I did see that bunny making mochi (rice cakes) that night.   Source of picture above: Wikipedia                                        

My mom told me that Fugetsu-Do, the Japanese Confectionery store owned by my relatives has the logo of a bunny in the moon.  I thought that was cool!

Happy New Year! - Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!

Happy New Year! For Japanese Americans this is one of the most important days of the year. There are many traditions we follow and special foods we eat.

In my family, we have a tradition of eating a special soup before we eat anything else on New Year's day.  The soup is called Ozoni.   There are different varieties.  This is a fish stock soup with mizuna (green vegetable) and omochi (white rice cake).  At the Japanese American church my sister goes to they have Mochitsuki in December - an event where the omochi is made.  Toasted omochi with shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar is also delicious.  Sometimes though, we will just microwave the omochi.   We drink the soup to have good luck in the New Year.

Bacon and Chopsticks

"How many chopsticks does it take for a Japanese American to change a light bulb?" Well I don't know about that but I do know that my mother can cook anything with chopsticks. So can my grandma. And my aunties. Chopsticks are THE most essential part of Japanese American cooking. Maybe because Japanese cooking is "fussy". Maybe it's because we have small, skinny fingers. Whatever the reason, I know chopsticks, or ohashi, are the most important part of cooking.