Thar She Glows! Wild Fireflies Making a Comeback Not Far From Tsukuba Center (revisited)
Getting around Tsukuba ON FOOT can sometimes pay off. Even at night, when its raining! Two years ago, after having been stood up for an appointment near Tsukuba University, I headed for home on foot. There was a slight drizzle which soon turned into a steady shower. I was heading East, and the narrow rice-paddied valley along the banks of the Hanamuro River is almost completely shielded from any light. It was like walking into a bygone age. I crossed the river and the croaking of the frogs turned from a hum into an almost deafening roar. I realized that the farmers must be making rice for THEIR OWN CONSUMPTION on this side of the valley and using LESS PESTICIDES. Thus the abundance of LIVING CREATURES. Turning southward along the field I was startled by a delicate streak of dancing light! I stopped in my tracks even though I was getting wetter by the minute. A spot of light and then more streaks here and there filled me with the thrill of discovering a species long thought extinct. There were wild fireflies (hotaru,蛍) here!
Two summers LATER, the shiny critters can surprisingly still be seen at the same spot. The reason it is surprising is that ther has been some home construction in the area and I was worried that the purity of the area had been disturbed. Last night, cycling back home I found myself passing through a gentle swirl of streaking lights. I stopped for a while to enjoy and will surely be back, at night, several times before the season is over!
Older Japanese fondly remember the abundant fireflies, which before the widespread use of agricultural chemicals (especially those sprayed from helicopters by local governments), would delight them each rainy season. Catching fireflies in a jar was once one of the most popular and memorable childhood games of summer. Now children have to be taken to special parks or institutes which artificially breed the light-making insects. Fees are charged and large crowds make the setting highly commercialized.
There are two main types of fireflies in Japan. The larger type is the Genji-botaru and the smaller one the Heike-botaru (they are named after the two warring clans of the late Heian Period which in English we refer to as the Minamoto and the Taira).To tell the truth,Im not sure which types the ones I found are.
There are dozens of great poems inspired by the firefly with many going back to the Manyoshu, the great collection of poems compiled in the Nara and Early Heian Periods.
Of course, it is possible to see wild fireflies at a few places in Japan and even in Tsukuba City (on Mt Tsukuba for instance). It was exciting however to find that the little love sick bugs might be making a comeback with walking distance of Tsukuba Center.
If you’d like more details about where to go Hotaru viewing, contact me. I will try to get a map with details posted soon.
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What’s SHUN (旬) in Summer?
A taste of the season- cherries at a supermarket in Tsukuba ( June 2010)
For a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, as well as a way of making your life in Japan more enjoyable, you should always be aware of the succession of KISETSU NO MONO (季節の物, things representative of the season), and always try to find out what fruits, vegetables and fish are SHUN (旬), or AT THEIR BEST.
As you have probably heard before, to be Japanese is to be sensitive to the continual flux of the seasons, and this is reflected in eating habits, dress, poetry, letterwriting, etc. Do not imagine that, in MODERN Japan, it is only at expensive restaurants and traditional tea ceremony parties where such season-consciousness lives on. A visit to any Japanese supermarket, bakery (!) or convenience store (conbini) also reveals how strong the traditional awareness still is with many of the goods on display being or containing KISETSU NO MONO and much of the produce being SHUN. This is in recognition of the fact that to this day many Japanese celebrate or acknowledge the time of year by eating in-season foods, decorating their homes with seasonal decorations, or doing season-linked activities.
As a foreign visitor you would want to use the word SHUN while at a sushi shop. ( the U here is proumounced as the OU is in the words SHOULD or COULD)
Ima wa nani ga shun desu ka?
What fish is in season?
Or at a Japanese sweet shop (wagashiya) you might want to ask for a KISETSU NO MONO — ima no kisetsu no mono wa nan desu ka? — since shun only refers to produce and not processed foods.
It is summer now in Japan so there is an abundance of things which are SHUN at the supermarket. Familiar to westerners are potatoes, cherries, watermelons, eggplants, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, etc.
Ao-ume ( under-ripe plums) on a tree in Ami Town Ibaraki ( June 2010)
In addition to these, there are now (in the middle of June) certain items which are SHUN which foreigners might not be familiar with and which for the Japanese are IMPORTANT symbols of the season. I will mention three of them here — ao ume (青梅, green plum), loquats (枇杷, biwa), and goya (bitter gourd).
Ao ume (pronounced something like awoome), is a powerful symbol of the season and if you don’t hurry to the supermarket you might not be able to find them as they are quickly snapped up by housewives bent on making a batch of sweet plum liquor (梅酒, ume shu), plum juice or the ubiquitous UME BOSHI (梅干し, salted plums).
These green plums, which are slightly smaller than ping-pong balls, are SO representative of the season that the character for plum (梅) is used for writing the word tsuyu (梅雨), Japan’s June rainy-season.
If you visit a Japanese family’s house this week you will very likely find a box of ao ume waiting to be salted or made into liquor. The plums have to be used before they ripen and turn yellow. You might be confused by the use of the character ao (青） which you have surely learnt means BLUE. In this case ao ume can best be translated as YOUNG UME, or UNDER-RIPE UME. Another baffling use of the word ao is in ao shingo, meaning green light. I guess in this case the ao is referring to the color of the plums!! Speaking of Shingo, the proprietor of the pub Gold Rush ( near Doho Park in Tsukuba) always has some interesting ume shu on hand with Zuisen from Okinawa being the most interesting, being made from awamori and Okinawan brown sugar.
Another fruit in season not very familiar to foreigners (sorry for being so Euro-Ameri-centric, as I realize that this might not be true for many non-western foreigners in Tsukuba), is the loquat, which is called biwa in Japanese, as its shape is suggestive of the biwa, or lute. Though most Japanese friends of mine say that they don’t really like biwa THAT much, they still usually buy a box every year to celebrate the season. If you want to try them be careful of the pits, as they will fill your mouth up more than the meat of the fruit! The number one loquat production areas in Japan are Nagasaki Prefecture and Boso Peninsula in Chiba, our neighbor to the south. Many Ibarakians also have them growing in their gardens. Mayumi Kamiyama, a friend of mine who grew up in Hojo (part of Tsukuba), told me an interesting story. She said that she has always heard that if you planted a loquat tree in your garden you would end up poor.
The reason for this is the generosity of Ibaraki farmers (a proud prefectural trait) who insist on giving away their vegetables. Since the leaves of the biwa tree are known for their medicinal powers (good for colds, sore throats, etc.) sick people would come far distances to get some leaves from your tree. Naturally you couldn’t let such a visitor from afar go away empty handed. You would have to supply them with plenty of omiyage (gifts) for the road. A procession of such guests would surely bankrupt any kind-hearted farmer!
A tree full of biwa ( loquats) in Tsukuba ( June 2010)
Boxes of biwa are selling for about 300 yen at local stores, but you can pick up luxury boxes, much juicier-looking specimens usually purchased as an expensive summer gift, at Seibu Department Store for 3000 yen.
One more SHUN product currently available at stores around town is a newcomer. The goya, or bitter gourd is a popular vegetable in Okinawa. One reason it has gained popularity in the main Islands is that Okinawa has the highest life-expectancy in Japan (and in the world?) and the gourd, being a major part of the islanders diet has led to increased interest in its health-giving qualities. It is quite bitter and thus disliked by many, but perseverance will lead to an acquirement of its unique taste. There are many ways to prepare it, including the Okinawan way, in champuru or as chips and fritters.
Since Ibaraki is famous for its melons, you might want to pick one up too, as it is very SHUN at the moment.
Something else that has caught my eye this ye at convenience stores are the advertisements for a type of cherry called SATO-NISHIKI ( 佐藤錦). This very tasty ( sweet and sour) and beautiful variety was apparently developed by a Mr. Sato in Yamagata Prefecture in North-Eastern Japan from where they can now be ordered for about 4000 Yen per 600 grams!. And though imported ( and reasonably priced) cherries can be found at any supermarket it seems that there are still those who prefer fruit that is GROWN IN JAPAN no matter what the price. ( I have once tasted Sato Nishiki cherries I had recieved as a gift from Yamagata and found them delightful. Still, I would never fork out the forty bucks for a small box of them on my own.
An ad inviting people to order Sato- Nishiki cherries from Yamagata Prefecture for nearly 4000 yen a kilo!
As I said you can find plenty of alluring cherries at your local supermarket.
Enjoy your food shopping-and remember — always stay in tune with the season!
And for those interested, I have written a song inspired by the Japanese summer. Its called Mio Mine, and was recorded by The TenGooz. Have a listen here:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/12853
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Make the Summer Solstice Meaningful (revisited)
Though the vernal and autumnal equinoxes have been designated national holidays in Japan (it is around these days that it is customary to visit and clean the family graves), the winter and especially the summer solstices usually go by without any notice. Those with this year’s Japanese calender might notice the characters 夏至 (geshi, summer solstice) on the square marking June 21st, and that is about it. This contrasts sharply with the countries of Europe (especially the northern ones), which host a variety of festivals and ceremonies marking the day with the longest daylight hours of the year. This situation seems curious indeed for a country and a nation which pays such close attention to the flow of the seasons and the progression of natural phenomena.
One reason for this might be that the GESHI falls smack in the middle of the rainy season (梅雨, tsuyu), and is marred almost every year by gloomy, overcast weather. In fact, though there is almost a five hour difference in the length of daytime between the GESHI and the 冬至 (touji, winter solstice) in the Tsukuba area, the sun SHINES unobscured for many more hours on average on the shortest day of the year!
There is now a way to make your summer solstice MEANINGFUL, and certainly more fun than it has ever been for you in Japan before. For several years a movement has been growing which promotes turning the summer solstice into CANDLE NIGHT. As a way to promote energy conservation and environmental awareness, people around the world are asked to refrain from using electricity between 8 and 10pm. There are many ways life can be enjoyed without the help of the Tokyo Electric Power Company. You should try it!
For more information and plenty of ideas check out :
www.candle-night.org/english/
Of course you should conserve energy EVERY DAY ! This festive way of living without electricity for a few hours is a good place to start, especially for giving awareness to kids.
Have a happy 夏至. Enjoy the daylight! IT ONLY GETS SHORTER FROM TOMORROW!
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Faces For Fathers Day ( revisited)- and a bit on the history of that special day as it is celebrated in Japan!
A wallet, necktie or new set of golf clubs are fine Father’s Day gifts. But nothing brings a bigger smile to a dad’s face than his portrait executed in crayon by his own toddler. And what better subject is there for all the budding young Hiroshiges and Sharakus out there than that big face, which all googly-eyed, has been cootchy-cooing at them since their eyes have started to focus?
Seibu Department Store has been displaying hundreds of such Father’s Day portraits as part of its Chichi-no-Hi (父の日, Father’s Day) campaign. They are sure to bring a smile to ANYONE who goes up to the 6th floor to check them out. Though these works lack polish and technique (they are by 3 year-olds!), they exude color, love and joy of life — and what could be better than that? And though we are grown up now, we STILL can’t escape those images of the big faces which peered down at US when WE were in OUR cribs. This exhibition will bring back a flood of memories and feelings.
Father’s Day was introduced to Japan after WWll and is held on the 3rd Sunday in June. Though at first completely overshadowed by Mother’s Day in terms of gift giving and spending, Dad’s Day has been slowly but surely catching up as family dynamics have been changing (more time spent with papa) and advertising campaigns have started to sink in.
The 6th floor of Seibu often has special events which are worth checking out. This month they will be having summer gifts (o-chugen) on display, and even if you don’t plan on sending these beautifully packaged and very over-priced boxes of juice, salad oil etc. to YOUR boss, in-laws, professor, or go-between (nakodo), many Japanese people do, and it is interesting to see all the different gifts and the lines of customers doing their duty.
The 6th floor events that I most look forward to are the Eki-Ben Fairs which bring together all the famous train station boxed lunches from around Japan, and the regional food fair which gives you a chance to taste and purchase delicacies for various prefectures, both far and near.
Oh!- and here are two versions of a song I wrote about the joys of fatherhood! They were recorded byThe TenGooz !
Enjoy:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/116593
and
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/569922
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Enjoy the Moss, Get Rid of the Mould! (again)
Most days during Japan’s month long rainy season (tsuyu), are overcast and damp, even when there is no actual precipitation. When it IS raining, it is as if your town or city has been transported into the shadowy depths of a thick, wet , forest. It can stay like that for days. For this reason, Japan is a veritable paradise for MOSS (koke苔), which thrives in such conditions. Taking a June stroll, umbrella in hand, within the precincts of some old shrine or temple is like an in-depth tour into the WORLD OF GREEN, with mosses of varying degrees of verdure growing on stones, tree trunks, or the ground, forming delightful combinations.
It is clear that the darkness of the rainy season and the deep warm shades of moss have had a huge impact on Japanese aesthetics. For example, compare the Buddhist temples or clothes from the brighter lands of India or Thailand, with those of Japan. In the sunnier countries they often have bright, bold or shimmery colors and surfaces, which are necessary to keep them from being washed out by the brightness of the sun. In shadowy Japan, different , darker , colors, more natural and earthy , came to be utilized and loved. Moss and moss green have been an important part of this sensibility. This can be seen most clearly in Japanese gardening and landscaping, the cultivation of miniature trees (bonsai) and in fabric design.
There are several temples which are actually famous for their moss gardens, including Saiho-Ji and Gio-ji in Kyoto. Nearer to Tsukuba is Myoho-Ji in Kamakura. (Did you know that JR trains can be taken directly to Kamakura from Tsuchiura or Ushiku Stations during the summer?) These are nationally renowned Koke-dera (moss temples), but it is by no means necessary to leave our city to partake in the pleasures of moss viewing. As I mentioned above, the sacred grove of any shrine or the grounds of any temple will do, especially on rainy days.
Unfortunately, the same conditions which allow moss to thrive are favored by various types of mould and mildew, and foreigners who come to live in Japan are driven to despair by their relentless proliferation. Walls, books, photos, are all common victims. Once I discovered that a pair of white sneakers I wanted to wear had turned black with mould! I the same time I found that a formerly black pair of shoes had turned white! This is not just a nuisance-it is a health hazard as well.
Of course, this is a problem for the Japanese, too, but since their ancestors have had to deal with the problem for millennia, there are plenty of bits of folk knowledge passed down from generation to generation which help to cope.
The most important point to remember is good ventilation. Make sure that the air in a particular room does not stagnate too long. Whenever the sun DOES shine you might want to let its rays do their work on anything you are worried might get mouldy. Remember: the light of day is the best disinfectant!
A more recently developed trick for dealing with mold was introduced to me by Harumi Takaya, who is always a great source of information about traditional life in Tsukuba. This is the use of baking soda. For example, baking soda mixed in with your laundry detergent at a ratio of 3 to 1 will prevent your laundry from getting moldy (if like most Japanese, you don’t have a dryer). Putting a mixture of baking soda and water into a spray bottle and spritzing it on the walls etc… is also a good idea.
Don’t let the darkness and the rain get you down! Go out and explore Japans endless SHADES OF GREEN! For the summer months THESE are the Emerald Isles!
I have also written about the many different words for rain in the Japanese language here:
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