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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Koden - A Practical Tradition

I have always thought the custom of giving Koden, a monetary gift, at funerals is a very practical way to show a family support in a time of greiving.  The money is often used to pay for the funeral.  People provide envelopes with their address on them with the monetary gift so that the family can send them a thank you card.  People are assigned to collect the envelopes at the funeral, usually in a box, on a table. It is customary to give the same amount or more, than the person gave you,  if you attend a funeral for one of their family members.  Japanese-American funerals are typically big events and everyone attends.

I learned what to do with Koden from one of my uncles, who presided over the Koden process at many of our family funerals.  I remember the first time I was allowed to sit at the table and participate in the process.   After the service and the meal that we always have,  my uncle brought the Koden envelopes, filed in the boxes by family name, to the table.  We were assigned jobs.  We separated checks into a pile to be deposited later and the cash in another pile.  We had some people addressing envelopes and putting on stamps on the envelopes.  At the end of the evening, the gifts were recorded, the checks were ready to be deposited, all the thank you cards had been written and envelopes stamped and ready to be mailed.  The efficiency in which my uncle ran this process was impressive and I'll always remember how he led us.  He has since passed away but that is a memory I will always have of him.

Shoe Etiquette

In Japan,  you normally have different types of shoes to go to the restroom, to drive in your car, to go outside of your house, to go inside your house, for Japanese dancing.  The trick is to know which shoes go with which activity and when not to wear shoes.  For example, you should not wear shoes in a dressing room in Japan.  I learned that when a Japanese sales person began yelling at me when she saw me wearing shoes in a dressing room.

In the United States, in many Japanese American homes,  people take off their shoes before walking inside the house. Many families have slippers by the front door to wear inside the house.  It does keep the carpet cleaner.

San Jose Taiko

The San Jose Taiko Drummers are really cool!  I have seen them perform at Japanese festivals.  This is a really great video that shows the history of the group, which started in 1973 in San Jose, California, and also discusses the Japantown in San Jose.  I think it is really interesting how they blend rhythms and include instruments from other countries in their music.

Jan Ken Po

Jan Ken Po stands for Rock, Paper, Scissor which is a game that was invented in Japan.  If you are Japanese American, you have probably played this game since you were a child.  It's a great game to play that only requires your hands and 2 or more players. 
photo source: wikipedia

• Rock is represented by a fist.
• Paper is represented by an open hand. 
• Scissors is represented by the index and middle fingers extended and separated.

The objective of the game is to defeat your opponent by these rules:

• Rock breaks scissors: rock wins.
• Scissors cut paper: scissors win.
• Paper covers rock: paper wins.

The way you play: Each person makes one fist and raises it up and says "Jan Ken Po". When you say "Po", everyone drops their fists down into one of the hand gestures of Rock, Scissors, Paper and then you determine the winner.

Sometimes this game is used to settle disputes, but I just play it with my friends and family to see who wins. You often hear after the first game, "ok, let's do 3 out of 5".

Chopstick (Ohashi) Etiquette

There are 2 Rules my mom told me about chopsticks when I was growing up.

1) Never put chopsticks sticking straight up in a bowl of rice or any food you are serving guests.  Food served like that is only for the dead.  I always wondered why they were serving food to the dead.

2) With forks, knives and spoons, you wash them and then reuse them.  This is the same with chopsticks except you are never supposed to give used chopsticks to guests.  This is why Japanese American homes always have an abundance of wooden or bamboo chopsticks.