Comfort Foods

#7 Mikan


Oh the wonderful sweetness of Mandarin Oranges! Starting in October, we're able to enjoy fresh mikan for months. We probably overindulge. But it's fruit, and it's healthy! So...it's okay, right? Besides, we can definitely use whatever vitamins we can get--we've both been feeling under the weather for the last couple weeks (hence the lack of updates!).

Hope you're staying healthy and happy!

Walking Along I Saw...

...a very whimsical garden!

Aren't all the little touches adorable?

Snow Day...

Except...we still had to work! We woke up this morning to this:

And this:

And then trudged through it all to get to the nearest station (a little over 10 minutes on foot from our apartment depending on how you hit the traffic lights). We were only going to Kuwana, a train commute that usually takes about 12 minutes from Yokkaichi, but all of the trains were delayed.

What should have been a quick journey ended up taking over an hour and a half (not including our run through the snow to get to work after finally reaching Kuwana station!).

Keeping positive despite our shivers!

It's still really coming down outside, and the forecast isn't looking to change tomorrow. Considering last year it only snowed once in our area, this is quite surprising weather! Funny enough, it's making us homesick for Michigan snow :-)

We saw this cute snow bunny on our way home from work!

Now we're snuggling up in the warmth of our apartment with tea, hot chocolate, and good books.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Happy New Year!

Took a little break from updates while we were in Michigan, but now that we're settled back into our routine in Japan we'd like to wish you a very happy 2011!

One activity we were happy to get back to in Yokkaichi was going for walks together. We almost always stop by a local temple during our strolls, and on our latest visit we could see bits of tradition surrounding New Year's.

Firstly, we saw kadomatsu, decorations placed in pairs outside temples, shrines and homes around the New Year. These decorations are meant to welcome ancestors, bring good luck for the year's harvest, and even temporarily house Japanese spirits or gods.


Next we took a look at the ema, or prayer cards. These cards are filled out with goals, hopes and prayers for the year (these ones were still from 2010).


Next we came to a little tree in a fire pit. The papers tied around the limbs are fortunes for 2011. These fortunes are drawn at the temple, read, and tied around the tree (whether good or bad).


The kadomatsu, ema, and tree will all be burned together within a matter of days. The kadomatsu: to release and appease the spirits; the ema: to let go of changed goals, bad things, memories and things not yet achieved; the tree and fortunes: to erase the bad luck and make the good luck come true. It's very symbolic of what many of us do every year. We embrace what was good, try to let go of what was bad, and hope for the best in the New Year.

Hope you can Let Go and Embrace Hope, Happiness and Love in 2011.