Tokyo

Japanese Wedding
日本の結婚式

I was so happy to receive my first invitation to a Japanese wedding just over a month ago. The bride: Mao Miyake-san, one of the ladies who had participated in the Oiran Dochu parade together with me last year. (For those who have not read about my experience as an Oiran, click HERE for my previous blog post!)

私は6月に初めて日本の結婚式に招待されたことをとても嬉しく思います。 花嫁は去年私と一緒に花魁道中に参加した女性の一人、三宅真央さん。(花魁土中のニュースについて、まだ読んでいない方は、ぜひリンクをクリックしてご覧ください~)

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Asakusa Sanja Festival
浅草三社祭

Iwami-san, one of the fund managers at Whiz Partners, invited me to join him and his wife at Asakusa’s Sanja Festival (三社祭, Sanja Matsuri) held during the end of May. One of Iwami-san’s former colleagues, Yamaguchi-san, is a local from the area and has been involved in organizing one of the main attractions of the festival for more than 20 years!

皆様、三社祭に行ったことがありますか?石見さんは浅草の三社祭に招待されました。 石見さんの元同僚の山口さんは、浅草の地元の人ですので、20年以上にわたって、この祭りを長く組織しています。

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Sumo Practice at Musashigawa-beya
武蔵川部屋の朝稽古

To the Japanese, sumo is not merely a popular wrestling sport, it has long been performed ritually at festivals since ancient times. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from Shinto. Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association, and tickets to sumo tournaments are pricey and often sold out. This is one of the reasons why, besides watching sumo matches on TV, we usually have few occasions to enter the world of sumo.

日本人にとって、相撲はとても大事なスポーツですね。皆様、自分自身で、直接お相撲さんに会ったことがありますか?先日、私は武蔵川部屋に行く機会がありました!朝稽古を見学に行きました。素晴らしい経験でした!

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Disaster Preparedness Drill
防災訓練

The island nation lies along the western edge of the Ring of Fire, making it one of the most tectonically active places on Earth, with as much as 10% of the world’s volcanic activity! 

Most local Japanese have practiced various disaster drills (for earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) since their childhood years. Foreigners like myself who have never grown up with the frequent risk of earthquakes, however, have to take extra measures to get familiar with what to do in the case of a disaster in Tokyo. Recently I took part in my office building’s earthquake drill and also a Disaster Preparedness Drill for Foreign Residents government sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

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ArtBar
アートバー

Went to the ArtBar studio in Daikanyama recently for a painting session on “Greek Islands: Santorini”! Painting themes change every session~ The philosophy of “Paint & Sip” is brought to Tokyo from New York and emphasizes having fun painting while sipping wine. Free flow wine, soft drinks, and snacks are included in the lesson fee! (Although you are allowed to bring your own wine as well, which is what I did~) I have not painted for a very long time since art class in school and was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to complete a full painting in 2 hours, but it turned out alright (or so I think – check out the photos)!

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Spring Yakuzen Medicinal Cuisine
春の薬膳料理

Last October, I attended an Autumn Yakuzen Cooking Class and wrote about it in a post on 「薬膳教室 Yakuzen Cooking Class」(Japanese only). Had the chance to go for another class at Hills Yakuzen to learn more about medicinal cuisine for the Spring season!

去年の10月ごろ、一旦薬膳料理の教室に行ってきました。その経験で、「薬膳教室 Yakuzen Cooking Class」について、書きました。健康に役立つ漢方の知恵を、手軽な薬膳料理で取り入れてみたかったので、薬膳料理教室にとても興味があります。そして、ヒルズ薬膳の教室では、初心者にも嬉しい薬膳の基礎知識から、簡単な薬膳レシピや薬膳理論解説まで教えてくれました!

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