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Happy Setsubun!
Today (February 3rd) is Setsubun in Japan, the day of the national bean-throwing festival. On this day around the country, people throw roasted soy beans out the window or around the house to expel “demons” of sickness and misfortune. While doing so they yell “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!” (demons out, good fortune in) Then you’re supposed to eat a number of beans equal to your age in order to cement this good fortune.
From a western perspective, this is kind of strange, but the roots of this custom are quite interesting. There is also a lot of symbolic meaning behind it that makes a lot of sense when you look closely at it. According to “Japan from A to Z” by James and Michiko Vardaman, this festival originated in the imperial court of China on the last day of the year in order to prepare for a new year of good luck. When it came over to Japan, this custom became an expression of hopes for good weather and a plentiful harvest in rural, agrarian Japan. These days a lot of people observe it. You can find news on TV of people (especially kids) throwing beans, eating special sushi made with beans, or sumo wrestlers performing special ceremonies.
Last Saturday, I went to Max’s kindergarten for a parent-student event. Parents and their kids spent the morning doing an arts & crafts project, namely to make oni (demon) masks out of an old paper bag and some string. You can see from the pictures above that we had a nice time. These oni masks were then used during the Setsubun celebration today at the school.
Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!
Here’s hoping you have a year filled with good fortune!
Favorite Family Photos: Max under a cherry tree
Max’s grandfather took this one of her in the spring of 2011, as the cherry blossoms were blooming in our neighborhood. It came out really well and brings up one of the things I love best about our neighborhood- the plentiful presence of cherry trees. There are a bunch right in front of our house and hundreds more that line a bike path around the park in front of our home. They usually bloom in the first week of April. That is a really really beautiful time of the year.
Note: Color effects done with Colorsplash on my iPad.
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If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Max playing in the snow
Max loves playing in the snow during the winter. Here’s a lovely shot of her outside our house during the winter-for-the-ages 2010-11. She especially loved sledding on a little hill of snow I piled up and making snowmen. It took a lot of prep to get her ready to go outside, so we only did this a few times, when the conditions and weather permitted. Still, those were fun times!
Note: Color effects done with Colorsplash on my iPad.
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Max’s 1st time sledding
Here’s a favorite shot from the winter of 2010-11: our daughter Max sledding for the first time. The snow was so high that it reached nearly over her head. I piled it up to make a mini-slope and then dug out a pit for her to slide into. It was a total blast. Max had a great time, as you can see from this video. I grew up in upstate NY, and I have memories of playing in snow above my head. I hope Max will remember this experience as fondly as I remember my days of playing in the snow as a kid.
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Running Through a Field of Green
Taken from that same park outing in the fall of 2010, this shot features Max running across a deep green lawn. I just love green open spaces (they are relatively rare here in Japan), so this shot just sits very right with me in a minimalist way.
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Pensive Max
Took this one in the fall of 2010 at a park in Toyama City. I really like it for several reasons: one, Max is not posing, which she normally does when I point the camera at her. Second, I like the expression on her face. What was she thinking? Finally, the photo came out nice- good composition, focus, light, etc.
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Max’s big eyes
Max began to walk after about a year, and she would often come up to me as I sat at the dining table and look at me with her big brown eyes. This shot really captures that cute look!
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Favorite Family Photos: Max close-up
I love this photo of our just born daughter Max. I couldn’t stop looking at her face… It was a miracle she was with us, especially after what Shinobu had gone through with her heart attack. But she was adamant about having another child, and here she was! Too amazing for words.
__________
If something bad happened and you could only save a handful of your photo collection, which ones would choose? That’s the question guiding this series of blog posts I’m dubbing “Favorite Family Photos”. It’s a chance to look back at the past 10 years and revisit special moments in our family’s history. These are our best and most precious memories.
Max checks out the 1st big snow of the season
In mid-December 2011 we woke up to this very sweet scene, the first big snowfall of the season. It had snowed previously, but not so much. I love Max’s “morning hair”!
This collage was made with a new iPad app: Photo Collage HD. Very nice! It’s easy to make these sorts of collages and post them to this blog. I’ll be doing a lot of these, I’m sure.
TFiJ41: Max’s 4th Birthday Photo Shoot
Max turned four on March 7th, 2011. To celebrate we went to our favorite restaurant in Yatuso, Erbaccia. It’s an Italian place run by a friend of ours. Great pizza and gorgonzola cheese pasta… Anyway, the following morning we did what we always do with the kids on or near their birthday each year: go to a photo studio for getting their portrait taken. We’re collecting these professionally done photos on our bedroom wall, and it was time to add to our Max collection! This year was even more fun than usual, not only because Max is older and cuter than ever, but also because the studio we always patronize had moved into a larger building. It was great! Tons of space and an even wider selection of costumes awaited our little candy girl. Max too her time picking out a few dresses to wear. They all looked good to Shinobu and I (except for the Buzz Lightyear one!), but Max was in major “ya-da” (no way!) mode. She refused everything we put in front of her until FINALLY she settled on a couple of very cute numbers. They have a big dressing room where they doll up the kids before taking their photos. It’s quite the production! The staff woman was a pro and transformed Max into heights of cuteness that left me dizzy! She had her hair done, make-up put on, and then was outfitted in this amazing dress. The photo taking was a blast, too. They had several different set-up. There were three staff ladies working together to take care of Max. One would shoot photos, the other would attend to her positioning, and the other took care of the backdrops and props. Great teamwork! It was quite the production. This short video captures this fun annual experience. If you go back to a similar one I made when Max turned two, you can see how much she has grown. The new photo (the one featured above) is now sitting pretty on our bedroom wall…
