Uchinada Kite Festival Poster

Go fly a kite!

Is actually Uchinada`s way of inviting you to their annual World Kite Festival

This year it will be held on May 3rd & 4th (public holidays) in Golden Week on Uchinada beach.

Here is the event schedule for the main day:

May 4th (Saturday)
9:00 : Participant Reception
9:30 : Opening Ceremony & Attraction
10:00 :
- Japan Sea Kite Flying Tournament
- International Kite Flying Tournament
- Uchinada Kite Contest, Large Kite Challenge
- Sports Kite Contest
- Sports Kite Experience Lesson
- Photo Contest
15:00 : Awards Ceremony & Closing Ceremony

Last year, it was rather windy on the beach – good for kites but not so good for spectators, so dress for the weather rather than the beach
There are some truly amazing kites on display, so it`s well worth a visit
Let`s enjoying kites!

First off, what is Setsubun? Setsubun is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the name 節分 just means “seasonal divide” and refers to the midpoint in between solstices and equinoxes as determined by the classical Chinese lunisolar calendar. There are actually four setsubun in a year: 立春 (risshun, spring setsubun, February 4th), 立夏 (rikka, summer setsubun, May 5th), 立秋 (risshuu, fall setsubun, August 7th) ,  and 立冬 (rittou, winter setsubun, November 7th).  In the classical Chinese lunisolar calendar, these dates–not the solstices and equinoxes themselves–are considered to be the beginning of the new season. Of these four, only the spring setsubun is a major festival in Japan, so the term stuck to that day.

Traditionally, Setsubun was a time to celebrate the end of the coldest period of winter and a time to drive away any lingering bad luck. The most famous Setsubun tradition is 豆撒き (mamemaki), throwing beans to cast out evil spirits and purify the home.  Some homes with children choose a family member to wear an ogre mask and throw beans at them, yelling 「福は内、鬼は外!」(fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto, good luck in, demons out!) and slamming the door behind them when they inevitably run away.

Shrines will have similar Setsubun festivities where visitors can purchase beans to throw at volunteers in ogre masks. Sardine heads and boughs of holly act as a further deterrent for bad spirits, and visitors can pick up any protection or luck charms they might have forgotten at New Year’s.

In recent years, supermarkets and convenience stores throughout Japan have picked up the Osaka tradition* of selling 恵方巻 (ehoumaki, whole sushi rolls) at Setsubun. Eating the whole roll in silence while facing the given year’s chosen direction is said to grant good luck.

Interested in seeing some Setsubun festivities but don’t have access to a household full of small Japanese children to throw beans at? Kanazawa’s Utasu Jinja has a Setsubun Festival every year.  The geisha and maiko of Kanazawa’s Higashi Chaya district perform a fan dance at this festival and then throw blessed beans to the crowd so visitors can take them home for luck.

What:  Utasu Shrine Setsubun Festival 宇多須神社節分祭り

When:  Sunday February 3, 2013.
13:00  Sake tasting
14:00  Setsubun matsuri opening ceremony
14:30  Geisha performance (fan dance)
15:00  Bean-throwing ceremony

Where:  Utasu Shrine, Higashi Chaya, Kanazawa

Getting There:  From Kanazawa station, take the Loop Bus to the Hashibachou Kouban-mae stop (橋場町交番前),  L6.  The shrine is a 5 minute (and very scenic!) walk away.

Walking directions from the bus stop:

Experience Kanazawa has more details about the festival here.

If your town has an awesome Setsubun festival, please comment with info!

福は内、鬼は外！

Staying Warm

SnJ Guide to Winterizing Your Japanese Apartment

SnJ Guide to Heaters in Japan

Kerosene Heaters: How to Use Them and How to Clean and Store Them

Energy-saving Tips for Staying Warm

How to Dress for Winter

Staying Healthy and Happy

Lifehacker on Avoiding the Winter Blues

Cold Medicine in Japan

Flu Prevention from the CDC

Life Outside the Kotatsu

Driving in Winter in Japan: common sense articles from Fukuoka JET and Japan Info Swap

Upcoming Festivals and Events (Japanese)

Hakusan Snowman Festival, Feb. 8th t0 10th, 2013. If you contact the Hakusan International Association by January 31st, you can reserve a spot on a special tour bus for foreign residents and visitors. The cost of the bus tour is 1,000 yen. See the 2013 Snowman Festival Tour Flyer  for details.

In this class, you will be taught how to make your own salt koji and also how to use salt koji in other recipes.

Class Information

When:  Thursday, January 24th, from 10 am to 12:30 pm.

Where:  Noppo kun Restaurant and Natural Foods Market in Nonoichi
石川県野々市市本町2-1-24

Cost: 2,500 yen. This includes lunch!

Contact:   koji.seminar(at)gmail.com

The organizer of this event is English-proficient and will be on-hand during the demonstration. Both the chef and the organizer are excited to share this little-known specialty with Ishikawa’s foreign residents, so even if you can’t attend, pass word along!

Salt Koji Cooking Seminar (ENG)

Your CO should have provided you with a map to the nearest evacuation center. If you have not received this, take this as a good chance to ask.

News and Info in English

Japan Meteorological Society

How to the JMS Tsunami Map

NHK World English

Preparedness

Earthquake Warnings via Yahoo!Keitai 

Ishikawa JET Wiki General Emergency Page

72hours.org Emergency Kit planning site is a good resource if you have not yet assembled an emergency kit in your apartment.

If you do not already have an emergency kit made, please do so. Ishikawa is relatively disaster-free as far as Japan goes, but it never hurts to be ready.

Nabana-No-Sato

Nabana-no-sato Winter Illumination

Tour 1:
Cost: Y5,500
Operation Days:
- December 8,9,15,16,17,21,22,23,24
- January 1,2,3,5,6,12,13,14,19,27
- February 2,3,9,10,11,14,16,17,23,24
- March 1,2,3
Length: 1 day
Includes:
- Roundtrip bus fare and inter-area bus travel between Kanazawa/Kaga Stations and the light-up area.
- Stop offs at Jazz Dream Outlet Mall (4hours), Nabana-no-sato Winter Illumination (2.5hours, includes entry fee to the Begonia Garden)
Departs: Kanazawa Station West Exit 7:30am (next,Kaga Station)
Returns: Kanazawa Station (last stop via Kaga Station) 23:30

Tour 2:
Cost: Y8480
Operation Days:
- January 19,20,22,26,27,29,31
- February 2,3,6,8,9,10,11
Length: 1 day
Includes:
- All-you-can-eat lunch at Gamagoori Orange Park (ebi-fry,beef steak,crab,pork shabushabu,kishimen noodles, chirashi-zushi sushi, etc winter`s best foods)
- Nabana-no-sato Winter Illumination (3hours, includes entry fee to the Begonia Garden)
Departs: Kanazawa Station West Exit 8:30am
Returns: Kanazawa Station 23:30 : This tour departs from & arrives at Kanazawa Station only

Again, for bookings and further information, go to your local Hokutetsu Bus office or contact Hokutetsu Koukuu on 076-242-3337. Pamphlets available at Hokutetsu stations and bus offices.

Wrong. Winter in Japan = snow and illuminations!

Hokutetsu/Komatsu Bus company are offering several great-value day/weekend trips out to some of Japan`s most fantastic illumination events, and it`d be a shame to miss out Listed below are the details for the Kobe Luminarie ones:

Kobe Luminarie

 Kobe Luminarie
By far one of Japan`s most famous illuminations, the Kobe Luminarie is held every year in memorial of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. It is on from December 6 – 17th, 18:00 – 21:00. Expected to be very crowded on weekends in particular, so anticipate queuing and moving around the display in lines on weekends (unfortunately).Tour 1:
Cost: Y4500
Operation Days: Every day from Dec 6th – 17th
Length: 1 day
Includes: Roundtrip bus fare from Kanazawa/Kaga stations to Mitsui Outlet shopping Park, and on to Kobe Luminarie event area.
Departs: 7am Kanazawa Station (West exit) (next,Kaga Station)
Returns: 24:00 Kanazawa Station (last stop,via Kaga Station)
The itinerary is completely free-plan, so you can do your own thing until departure time from the Luminarie

Tour 2:
Cost: Y16,980
Operation Days: Every day from Dec 7th – 17th
Length: 2 days/1 night
Includes:
- 1 night`s accommodation for 1/2persons per room at Chisan Hotel Shin-Osaka (9pm-9am, western room,breakfast included)
- Roundtrip and tour bus fares from Kanazawa/Kaga Stations, within Kobe City, Osaka City, and to and from Mie and Aichi prefectures
- Day trip to Kobe Harbourland (free plan exploring), and Kobe Luminarie (free plan)
- Day trip to Aichi & Mie prefectures, Outlet Mall Jazz Dream, and Nabana-no-sato Winter Illumination (entrance fees included, free plan)
Departs: Kanazawa Station West Exit 7:30am (next,Kaga Station)
Returns: Kanazawa Station (last stop) 22:30

For further information, or to book one of these tours, you can go to your local Hokutetsu Bus office, or phone Hokutetsu Koukuu on 076-242-3337. On booking the tour, you will need to pay either 20% of the fee as a deposit, or the whole sum upfront. The pamphlet for these `Asunaro Tours` is available at Hokutetsu Kanzawa Station, and other Hokutetsu stations and bus offices, and it may help to have it on you for simplicity-sake when booking

In addition, MKBus Tours is offering a rather no-fuss roundtrip tour for Y3800 (excl Y100 donation to the Luminarie), departing December 8,9,15 & 16th from Kanazawa Station West Exit 8am, and returning there at 24:15. See the link below for the bookings procedure (telephone and furikomi):

http://www.mktour.net/contents_daytrip2.html

For those of you using Kansai Airport (KIX) as your escape route of choice, there is a special discount ticket being offered by JR West for just that purpose

The ticket is valid for 14 days, and includes round-trip Thunderbird express train reserved seat tickets + round-trip Haruka express reserved tickets (Osaka KIX). Departing from Komatsu = Y14,800, Kanazawa = Y16,200, and Nanao = Y18,300. Each yields a saving of Y4-5000

The ticket, called 関西空港往復きっぷ (Kansai Kuukou Oufuku Kippu), can be purchased from one month before your day of usage, up until the very day of.

In addition, holders of this ticket have access to a luggage collection and drop-off service (also both ways of the journey) from their home to KIX for the special price of Y3500. You can ask about this on purchasing the ticket at your local JR office.

Lastly, special discount coupons are available to ticket holders for use in Duty Free shops, refresh services and facilities, and restaurants at KIX, too

Quite a nice, luxurious way to start off your holiday adventures

Happy holidays and safe travels!

Kanazawa curry was invented by Yoshikazu Tanaka, the founder of Champion’s Curry in the 1960′s. It is characterized by the following:

• Curry is thicker and richer.
• Served with shredded cabbage.
• Served in an oval-shaped stainless steel bowl.
• Eaten with a fork or spork.
• Fried cutlet (カツ) is placed directly on top of the curry.
• Curry is served over the rice completely concealing the rice.
• A drizzle of tonkatsu sauce over the cutlet.

Let’s explore 4 of Kanazawa’s top destinations for this stick-to-your ribs dish.

Champion’s Curry (カレーのチャンピオン)

The original Kanazawa curry is one of the “lighter” versions. This curry is a pale brown with just the tiniest hint of spice. Although thicker than traditional curry, it is still pretty saucy. The standard here is the L katsukare (Lカツカレー). The medium thick pork cutlet has a finely ground crispy panko crust. The cutlet is quite juicy and surprisingly easy to cut with your fork considering its thickness. At 780円, this is the priciest of the four.

Go!Go! Curry – (ゴーゴーカレー)

This is Champion’s biggest competitor in the area. Their intimidating gorilla mascot is fitting as this the boldest, thickest, and darkest curry of them all. Go!Go! claims that their curry is cooked for 55 hours until all meat and vegetables have disintegrated into this thick black caramelized curry. Yum. Here, you go with the rosukatsukare (ロースカツ). You get a very thin pork cutlet covered in flaky crispy panko. The meat is very soft. The caramelization of the meats make this curry one of the sweeter ones for 750円.

Turban Curry – (ターバンカレー)

Turban is your mom-and-pop lunch spot – closed by 7pm during the week and by 5pm on the weekend. Their curry is very similar to Go!Go!’s albeit not as thick or bold. Unfortunately, this shop’s staple rosukatsu, is a bit carelessly prepared. The cutlet is not as crispy and is heavily doused in tonkatsu sauce. Its saved by the surprising juiciness carried by this thin cut of meat. The tonkatsu sauce makes the dish a bit sweet, but the curry itself is quite nice and beefy. At 650円, it is the cheapest of the quartet.

Gold Curry – (ゴールドカレー)

Finally, you have Gold Curry. As you approach the shop, you are greeted by a Ganesha-like character hinting at the flavor profile of this curry. It is definitely the thickest of the four curries – those ice cold water jugs really come in handy to wash this baby down. It is heavy on the curry powder imparting strong Indian flavors. Their signature G katsukare (Gカツカレー) includes a thick cut pork cutlet that’s a bit on the chewy-side, but with a pleasant crunchy breading for 750円. On the 5th, 15th, and 25th of the month, you get up to 200円 off of your G katsukare order!

Personally, I prefer Curry House CoCo ICHIBANYA which you can find all throughout Japan (I get to bump up the spice level here), BUT Kanazawa curry has definitely grown on me. I think I’m even beginning to crave it.

This link will take you to a Google map pinpointing the location of these shops. There are dozens of Champion’s Curry and Go!Go! Curry, so I’ve only listed a few of them.

Mauricio is a 2nd year ALT who eats close to the Japanese average of 84 servings of curry a year.

Senmaida lit up at night.

Senmaida is a designated national cultural asset, and is lit up with 30,000 candles every year after the rice cutting. If you’re interested in volunteering to place all those candles, now’s your chance!

Volunteer Deadline: 18 September 2012

Every year, JETs from around Ishikawa volunteer as one of Senmaida’s akaribito–light people–to place and light candles in the rice fields. This year, 350 volunteers are needed, and each will receive a special gift (a tote bag and face towel are shown on the website) as well as something to drink, for their work. The sign up sheets for volunteering can be found here: http://semmaida.kuronowish.com/senakari/tomoshi.html

Transport to Wajima Michi-no-eki is usually organised amongst volunteering JETs (carpools), or you can make use of the Noto Furusato Ticket for trains as far as Anamizu. For more information on the bus bus from Anamizu to Wajima michi-no-eki here. You could also take a bus to Wajima.

Free shuttle buses to Senmadia will be available from the following locations to transport volunteers: Wajima Michi-no-eki, Wajima Marine Town (14:20), Nafunegyokou (14:35), Sosogi  Furusato Taikenjisshukan and Najimi-kaizen centre (14:20).

Volunteer Schedule:

14:20 – Free shuttle bus for volunteers starts operating
14:50 – All volunteers meet at Senmaida Pocket Park
15:00 – Activity explanation and separation of volunteers into groups
15:20 – Start placing candles
16:30 – short break (each volunteer is given something to drink). The remaining candles etc will be collected, and the volunteers must each take the tools for lighting the candles
16:50 – start lighting candles
17:30 – finish lighting candles, event starts
17:50 – volunteers create a circle with flashlights

Event Schedule

17:00 – UNESCO sites in the Oku-Noto
17:30 - Wajima Wadaiko-toranosuke (wadaiko drum performance)
17:50 – Opening ceremony; volunteers create circle of light
18:30 – Ishikawa-ken Intangible Cultural Asset; Gojinjodaiko taiko drumming
19:10 – Quintet CIRC
19:50 – Yanawaraba mini concert
21:00 – End of event; shuttle buses back to Wajima Michi-no-eki and other designated shuttle bus spots.

Note: For non-volunteers, the shuttle bus is ¥200, and starts operating from 16:00.

Senmaida is truly a beautiful sight, so if you can go or missed out last year, I highly recommend it!