田植え

It is spring now which means that in the past month all the farmers have been busy preparing, flooding, and planting their rice fields!

Over my two years residing in Japan, I have come to really enjoy the rice field scenery. I like to watch how the image of the rice field changes with each season.

A couple weeks ago I was invited by my friend to go and see rice planting myself! At the nursing home that her mother and sister work at and her father lives in they were having a rice planting day and barbecue for the volunteers.

Some of the rice fields near the care home are actually owned by the home and it seems that locals from the neighborhood volunteer to take care of the rice paddies. There were about a dozen older gentleman and ladies working in the rice paddies when we got there. They had one machine that laid the rice seedlings out on the paddies and several other people were planting by hand. The very last paddy, in a group of seven paddies, was planted by everybody together by hand. Rice planting is actually quite easy, you literally just stick a few seedlings into the water flooded paddy and they stay upright. But it must be tiring to be bent over for hours while you plant, which I imagine is why little old country ladies are all permanently bent over here!

After the volunteers finished the planting everyone headed to a tent set up next to the care home where we had a barbecue. It was typical Japanese BBQ fare- pieces of delicious beef, beef tongue and pork; loads of cabbage, carrots, and onions; and then yakisoba to finish off the meal. They also had a little karaoke tournament, in spite of the constant drizzle of rain that day!

艶遊会

Higashichaya- a teahouse district in Kanazawa

Recently I got to partake in an experience unusual for the general public in Japan and even more unusual for a foreigner- I went to a geisha dinner party!

Kanazawa, the capitol of my prefecture, is one of the cities in Japan that is famous for its preservation of old Japanese culture. There is an area called Higashi-chaya where the old teahouses are now located, many of which are around 180 years old. Higashi means East, while chaya means teahouse, so the name means "East teahouse district."

There are only three teahouse districts that are designated as Cultural Assets of Japan, with two (this one and another) located in Kanazawa and one located in Kyoto!

Geisha are female entertainers. They spend years studying cultural arts such as tea ceremony, playing traditional instruments like the shamisen and taiko, singing, and traditional dances. Geisha are an easily recognizable figure of Japanese culture since their costume is characterized by layers of fine kimono, heavy white make up, and large, elaborate hairdos. They generally spend years practicing the arts before they can become a professional and begin entertaining at dinner parties and special events. 

But, in Kanazawa, geisha are called "geiko." There are 43 geiko in Kanazawa, the youngest is 25 and the oldest is 82. They say she is an incredible player of the shamisen and that she is constantly busy with bookings to entertain!

Another ALT and I heard about one teahouse in Kanazawa that opens its doors to the public for a special chance to experience a dinner party, but only four times a year! Furthermore, there are only seats for up to 30 guests. We were both very interested in this once in a lifetime opportunity and we made sure to get on the list a couple months in advance! In general, like most tea houses, only members are able to book a party. 

On the evening of our dinner party we arrived at the tea house in Higashi chaya, where we paid our fee and then were welcomed into a long waiting room where we sat among the other guests drinking the hot tea that was served to us. 

Soon we were led up to the second floor to a large tatami mat room that was prepared with individual tray tables and cushions for each guest to sit at. Several attendants of the tea house, the Okami (the woman who owns and operates the house) and the three geiko she ordered for the party served beer to everyone for an opening kanpai. 

The okami san, Hanako Baba, opened the dinner with welcome words and a short introduction to her teahouse. She explained that it has been in operation since 1820. Also, there are no geiko permanently at her house. Rather, she requests geiko from other teahouses (there are 5 I believe) in Kanazawa. Hanako also explained that the regular custom for paying the teahouse is not to pay for a party on the day of, but instead a bill is tallied for the customers account. Then, twice a year in August and in December, she takes a bill to the customer's place of work and collects payment. 

She also explained how you can only become a member if you are introduced by someone who is already a member. Furthermore, if you introduce someone you become that person's guarantor. So if the new member cannot pay his bill, the initial introducer must pay for it. Evidentally it is quite a commitment to give someone an introduction to a teahouse.! It is amazing to me that these customs are still carried on in the way they were hundreds of years ago. It really was like stepping into another world. 

Sliding doors on the perimeter of the room, featuring hand painted images of geiko. This series of panels represents each of the four seasons

An alcove on one wall displayed these handmade thread balls which are one of the handicrafts of Kanazawa

This small tea room is special because it features gold tatami mats. Yes, the tatami are made with gold thread wrapped around the bamboo

One of the geiko came to chat with us during the beginning of the night. She was very kind and even gave us her "business card." It is a long thin rectangular sticker with just her name and some decorative flowers on it. She and a nearby guest laughed as they explained that it is said if we fasten a geiko's name card to our wallets it would bring us money. 

Soon the geiko began to perform. One girl played the shamisen while the other two danced in sync with each other using fans and cherry blossom boughs as props. Next, they played taiko. Then the okami came to us and invited us up first to play drums with the geiko. Of course all the Japanese people in the room were impressed and warmly applauded us after we finished. "Coincidentally," a newspaper reporter arrived to snap a picture just as we played the drums, the okami laughed and said we would likely be in the newspaper the next morning.

After inviting all the guests up to play, the geiko began playing a game where you clap and tap a wooden bowl, which either player can take away at any time. Both players must follow the sequence correctly as the music gets faster and faster. The geiko invited several guests up for the challenge.

We picked a lucky night to attend this dinner because it was coincidentally the same night as a small yearly festival in which a parade of people dressed up go down the streets of Higashichaya and dance to the music of the shamisen played by several people. After our dinner was finished, it was perfect timing for the parade so the attendants of the tea house opened up the windows and let all the guests enjoy the parade from the second floor of the teahouse.

On our way out of the teahouse, the okami was waiting with gift bags for each of us. When we had arrived earlier that evening she had asked if it was ok that we were served a different meal from the planned guest fare. There apparently had been a mix up in reservations or something and they did not have enough for everyone. She apologized for the change in our meal and presented us with an atonement gift of kinpaku (gold flake) face creams from her line of beauty products. I can only imagine how expensive the creams are, made with seaweed and rice bran extracts with beautiful flecks of gold leaf mixed in. Actually, it was almost a lucky mistake that they couldn't feed us the right meal, because I would probably never have bought the cream myself (its expensive!). So this way I get to use face cream fit for a princess!

Our party with the Okami, the lady who owns and operates the teahouse

After leaving the tea house we ambled down the street and waited for the parade to return. Once they came back to a small plaza area they danced in the center of the waiting crowd. For the last ten minutes of the event they dropped the cords the audience was standing behind and invited the crowds to dance with them together. Of course, loving traditional dances, I was all about it and jumped right in line to learn the dance!

料理教室

We had another cooking class last week! This time we made sushi rolls and inari zushi. This kind of sushi is the type that familys often make for an everyday, simple meal. We filled the rolls with cucumber, imitation crab, grilled egg, ginger, and a special kind of pickled vegetable. But you can basically fill them with anything you want- like tuna, lettuce, etc! I had made both of these types of sushi before, but the cooking method for the inari zushi produced phenomenally tasty sushi so I am glad we were taught that method! 

Inari zushi is sushi rice which often has little things mixed in, this time we just used sesame seeds, and stuffed into prepared tofu skin pouches. The lady who taught us wanted to teach us a quick, easy method to make inari zushi, by sauteeing the pouches rather than simmering them like normal. Although it was a "quick and easy" method it made the sushi way more flavorful than the regular kind!

The Fruits of my Labora

蕨

Back in April, when I went on that little hanami picnic, the ladies and I also went on an after lunch stroll on the walking paths at that park. It just so happens that the わらび plants, called bracken in English, were sprouting up from the ground ready to picked! 

Warabi or bracken

The ladies showed me how to snap the stems and we gathered many which they gave to me. They explained how to prepare the warabi and sent me home with handfuls of freshly snapped stems.  

After getting it home I prepared it how they had instructed. I brought a pot of water to boil and put in a spoonful of baking soda. Then I threw the washed and cut stems in and let it sit in the pot until the next morning. While I was chopping the fresh warabi, I tried a small piece to see what it tasted like. It was not until later when researching recipes that I read that warabi is in fact poisonous if eaten raw. Well, I'm still here, so it must have been a small enough piece. 

Anyway, I tried my hand at a few styles of warabi preparation!

蕨ごま白和え- Warabi, carrots and tofu with sesame

蕨きのこの入り豆腐- warabi, mushroom, and tofu stir-fry

蕨煮物- Simmered warabi with carrots and tofu skins

競馬場！

I went to the horse races!

With a couple of friends I set out for a day in Kanazawa to see what horse racing was all about, and it was the first time for all of us. My friend kindly did his best to explain to me how the betting process works.  Although I was simultaneously grasping onto the Japanese gambling lexicon and it was my first experience of any kind of gambling I think I managed to get the routine down pretty quick.

It was lots of fun to go to the walking paddock and watch the horses walk, then try to judge and pick our "winners," with of course very little reasoning other than "Well he looks energetic, so, Ok!" During the quick races I sat on the edge of my seat silently rooting for my guy. We watched three races, unfortunately I did not win any of them. Guess I will need to spend more time at the track...

Later in the day, to my Japanese friend's extreme delight, he took us to a Pachinko parlor to try out Japan's most famous (infamous?) form of gambling. It was my first trip to a Pachinko parlor, and maybe my last... You sit down by yourself in front of a machine with a brightly lit screen, noisy with bright flashing lights. Once you put in your money, the machine pours out a certain amount of little gold-colored balls- these are your chances to win big. Next you barely turn the knob of the machine to direct how fast the balls shoot out and you hope that they hit all the obstacles just right to go down into the tiny hole at the bottom so they will go back into your reserves box to keep you in the game. While you sit still, hold the knob in whatever sweet spot you determine, you simply stare at the flashing screen with rolling pictures. When the pictures form a pattern like three of a kind, you win.

That is about it. I actually did win twice (a nice little rebound from my bad luck at the track), so I had a whole lot of new balls poured into my little box. At that point I had broken even with the original amount of money I spent, so I kept them in and continued play to see if  I could make any money. However I did not, so as soon as the balls were used up I declared myself done! I'm not sure that I will go to Pachinko again, however it was a quintessential Japan experience and I am glad I went!