Mount Fuji Area, Introduction

Actually, I moved from Nagoya to Fuji-yoshida in April, 2014. I started to work as a researcher at Mount Fuji Research Institute of Yanamashi Prefecture, Japan. I have been very busy since I moved to Mt. Fuji area and I have not reported yet about this region.

Mt. Fuji from from the coast of Lake Kawaguchi-ko.

Mt. Fuji from a shrine gate "Kanadorii"

Our institute is at the north foot of Mt. Fuji. So I live in the town in the north region. Near my house, we can see Mt. Fuji from everywhere. One example is from "Kanadorii" which is a gate of the shrine "Sengen-jinja".

Mt. Fuji from a family restaurant "Gusto".

I often go to a family restaurant to have a breakfast (as it is cheap and I can read a newspaper there). From the restaurant, I can see Mt. Fuji so well.

Mt. Fuji from the 5th station in the end of April.

Mt. Fuji from the parking lot of 5th station in the beginning of July.

Mt. Fuji is often painted with snow on top,but it melts in summer.You can see the difference in scenery  of April and July.

Volcanic ejecta found around 4th station of Mt. Fuji.

I would like to add one comment that Mt. Fuji is a volcano. It's recent activity was in 1707 and the seismic activity was detected in the deep side of the mountain around 2000. So this mountain still has a possibility to erupt (active volcano!). This is a reason why we, volcanologists are employed to study volcanic activity of Mt. Fuji.

Atsuta Jingu

Atsuta Jingu is one of the most famous shrine in Japan. It is in Nagoya city but I haven't visited this place before. My friend visit Nagoya and so we went there together. Actually, our first aim to go to Atsuta is to eat Hitsumabushi. "Hitsu" means a wooden container of rice. And "Mabushi" means...? I am not sure. In some region (such as Kansai district) they call it also "Mamushi". I guess its origin is "Mammeshi" which means rice with eel. Yes, Histumabushi is rice with grilled eel on top.

A set of Hitsumabushi lunch! by Atsuta Houraiken

 There are three steps to eat this Histumabushi. 1st, Eat rice and eel simply. 2nd, Eat rice and eel with spices. 3rd Eat rice, eel and spice with hot soup called "Dashi".　Dashi is soup of fish or seaweed (In red pot of the photo above), often used for Japanese cuisine.

Next step is to visit the shrine. I was impressed with a gate of Atsuta Jingu because it was very big but not too shiny.

The gate (Torii) of Atsuta Jingu

With some woods around, it looked literally awesome. Especially,it looked nice on such pleasant day.

Hongu (Principle palace) of Atsuta Jingu

Here is a Hongu which means a principle palace. We pray just at the entrance of Hongu but we couldn't enter inside.

The entrance of Hongu where people bow and pray

We crap hands twice and bow. Then we pray putting hands together for a while. I am not religious person but I like this moment because I can be very quiet and calm. I often think about my family and someone who is very precious for me but not together right at the moment. I hope my wish reaches to the god and good things come true.

Inside of Hongu entrance

We cannot enter inside of Hongu. This makes us to feel the god of Hongu is so sacred. I imagine what is inside while it stays mysterious forever like this...

Ume (plum) tree with a lot of flowers.

Spring is the best season in Japan (I think). We can enjoy seeing flowers. It was too early to see cherry blossoms but we could enjoy plum flowers. I prefer plum as a symbol of my elementary school was plum. Plum is called "Ume" in Japan. Ume stays in cold weather during the winter and when the spring comes, they start to bloom at once. So with such cold winter, Ume can be beautiful. That was a way of teaching how to endure hard occasion to Japanese elementary students... When I was a child, I am honestly impressed with this story. I started to like Ume. In fact, the aroma of Ume is much better and stronger than cherry blossoms.

We see a couple just married by accident. They looked very happy and beautiful in the spring sunshine!

Just married couple

Then, at last... Sweets! This is a Japanese parfait with Marcha (green tea) ice cream, Dango (rice cake with a stick) and Anko (red bean paste). Also, there were some grains of rice at the bottom.

Dango parfait in Osu.

We had moved to Osu town in the center of Nagoya city from Atsuta. In Osu area, we can find many sweets shops and funny stores. It is very fun to walk around. I think Nagoyan (people in Nagoya) like Japanese sweets. I could find many sweets shops not only in Osu area but all over Nagoya.

Oh, I will stay in Nagoya only two weeks more. Next destination is not a bad place, but maybe I will miss Nagoya a little bit. A reason is... yes... Japanese sweets!

New Year's Custom in Japan (Part 2)

I would like to introduce some more events for a new year.

Hatsumoude （初詣）is to go to the shrine/temple for the first time of a year.

Iseyama Koutai Jinguu (Yokohama, Japan) on January 3rd

It is a custom for our family to go to the shrine near our house. I don't know the reason why my parents chose this shrine but it is quite big and many people comes. This year, I went there on new year's day and January 3rd. The picture above is the shrine on 3rd. So it was not too crowded. On new year's day, there are so many people that we can't move quickly.

Why did I go there twice? because... I needed a special pray for my Yakudoshi. Yakudoshi is bad/unlucky year and we have to be careful during the year. And so we try to remove bad luck which is called "Yaku" in Japanese. Yakudoshi is defined by the age (please refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakudoshi). For me, this year is "Ato-yaku" which means unlucky year after the mainly unlucky year "Hon-yaku". In the shrine, "Kan-nushi"(priest of Shintoism) gives us a special pray called "Suzu-harae/harai" or simply "Harae". It is purification by removing bad things around me. I couldn't take a picture of this ceremony, but it is not too complicated. We were just standing in front of the god and bowing. The priest (Kan-nushi) say something (Norito) and did the action of cleaning us with white tool looks like a duster or broom. After the harai, we got a Ofuda (plate of lucky charm or bad-luck removing charm) with each name.There are some stalls for selling lucky charms. It is fun to see such colorful luck charms with various shapes. Some of them are in the shape of farming tool.

My Yakuyoke fuda (Ofuda)

Stall for selling lucky charms

 Another thing we always do in the shrine is to buy "Omikuji". It is a piece of paper with some words for predicting things in a year. There are some kinds; "Dai-kichi", "Chu-kichi","Sho-kichi", "Kichi", "Sue-kichi","Kyo" (from good to bad). This year, I got a "Kichi" which means good. Even with Atoyaku, I maybe have a nice year!!

Nanakusa-gayu （七草粥）
I ate a Nanakusa-gayu, this morning because it was January 7th. "Nanakusa" means seven herbs or weed. We memorize seven kinds as "Seri, Nazuna, Gogyo, Hakobera, Hotokenoza, Suzuna, Suzushiro" Haru-no Nanakusa. It is like a poem. "Haru-no nanakusa" means seven herbs in Spring because we also have "Nanakusa" in autumn. I thought we eat this as our stomach is so tired with many big meals during a new year's holiday. However, it seems that there is another meaning. Nonetheless we do not know the original meaning exactly.

Nanakusa-gayu which I cooked by myself

Mochi-tsuki （餅つき）
Mochi (Sticky rice cake) is indispensable for our new year's holidays and so we often have this event of making Mochi before the new year. Anyway, we had Mochi-tsuki in the campus of our university on 8th January. We could try beating Mochi with a Kiné (a big wood hammer). This hammer is heavy and so we need young power for making Mochi! In this event, we ate Mochi just after we made. Mochi is very soft and delicious when it has been just made. We ate with Kinako (powder of soy bean), Anko (red bean paste) and Oroshi (ground radish with soy sauce). I like sweet taste of Kinako and Anko. Oroshi was  also good with Mochi.

Mochi-tsuki of a girl

Mochi-tsuki of a young guy! We need  power for Mochi tsuki. 

New Year's Custom in Japan (Part 1)

Kagami-mochi

Flower at the entrance hall

New year's preparation starts from cleaning the house. Then, we decorate in our house with Kagami-mochi (rice cake) and flower arrangement.  We oftern include Senryo (red fruit plant) and Matsu (pine tree) in the flower arrangement.

Then, the biggest work is cooking Osechi which is new year's meal. For us, three days of new year are holidays. And so, we try not to cook at home for three days. Especially, it is meanigful for housewives, that they can have holidays only this period in a year. However... it is a big work!!
Although it is common to buy the Osechi from the department store or restaurant, my mom and I make Osechi as much as possible because it is a traditional cooking of Japanese cuisine, we think.
Here are some photos of preparation of Osechi.

Kuri-kinton

Namasu

Tazukuri

First one is Kuri-kinton which is chestnut and paste of sweet potato. This means financial good luck because the pronunciation of "Kin" is also for gold and money in Japanese. Namasu is vinegared white radish and carrots. As red and white is celebration color in Japan, this color contrast of Namasu means good luck in general. Tazukuri is small fishes with sweet sauce. It is also called Gomame. This is for wishing a rich harvest of rice.  Actually, sardins were good fertilizer of rice field.

New year's table with Osechi, Ozouni and Otoso

Oseshi foods are put into a box called Oju which is a red lacquered box. Oju consists of three boxes. We call Ichi-no-Ju, Ni-no-Ju and San-no-Ju.  There is a rule of putting foods into these three boxes but my family do not think too much about it. So I put them together without following strict rule. (please refer wikipedia or somewhere else about this rule). New year's meal is not only Osechi but also we have Ozouni or simply Zouni. Zouni is a soup with Mochi (rice cake). This soup and ingredients vary with location and family. Each family has each tradition. For my family, it is a soup of Dashi (soup of fish and seaweed) with chicken, carrots, Shiitake mashrooms and spinach. Yes, my mom put boiled egg for making it colorful! Then, the first thing we put into mouth on new year's day is Otoso.  Otoso is actually Japanese Sake (alcohol) with Toso-san. Toso-san is medical spices.This is for wishing good health.

 

As you see, there are many meanigs of new year's meal. I will tell you another custom for new year's day in a next blog...

For now,

Happy New Year!!

to you.