I am coming to Halifax soon! Can't wait!

Hello my friends in Halifax!!

I am coming to Halifax at the end of this month and stay there for about 10 days.

It would be great if I could see you guys while I am there.

In Japan, there is a national holiday wishing young children's health and well-being, it's called "Kodomono-hi" Children's day and it's on May 5th every year.

Since I will be in Halifax on that day this year, our family have already put out some traditional things for Children's day.


1) Koinobori / streamers shaped like carps

2) Armour

This celebration is especially for boys.

Girls have another celebration called Hinamatsuri in March though it's not a national holiday.

I hope my boys grow up to be strong to support their friends and people they love.

Farm experience

My family went to a farm that is 2 hour driving away from the city, Nagoya.

We live downtown so our kids don't get to play in mountains, river and other natural places.

Though I wasn't able to go with them, they seemed to have a good time there.

They picked vegetables, cooked them and ate them.

Someday, we hope to go to Halifax and play in nature.

My son takes an MMA lesson every week.

On Saturday this weekend, my friend, BJJ instructor and student at my school, Hatsu Hioki is fighting in UFC FOX 6 in Chicago against Clay Guida, who is making his feather weight debut.

It's on FOX channel so I guess that people in Canada can watch him fight this weekend can't we?

I really wanted to go to Chicago this weekend but my work didn't allow me. Maybe next time he fights in North America. I will be there. Hopefully Canada, Montreal or Toronto.

So for this weekend, I am buying a PPV and watch his fight on the Internet!

If you are going to watch his fight on TV, cheer him on!!


My son, Haruki, practices Martial Arts once a week at the dojo Hatsu trains, it's called ALIVE.

He seems to enjoy doing it surrounded by other older boys. There are two things that I want my kids to learn at early ages. They are English and Self Defense. He hasn't started learning English yet because strong and healthy body is more important than anything else.
 
Anyway, if you are interested in practicing MMA or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Nagoya, this place is the one you want to go. Black belt instructors help you learn the principles and theory of BJJ. Let me know if you need a help to inquiry to the dojo, I can definitely help you with that. Hatsu teaches a lesson once or twice a week so you can learn some good tips from him!


I hope Hatsu wins this weekend!

What's next in Japan?

With the New Year's day passed a few weeks ago, what's coming next to us to celebrate in Japan?

Well, we have a holiday called 'Setsubun' which falls on Feb 3rd every year. (Though everybody goes to school or work on that day)

Today, I want to share with you an interesting custom from Kansai area (the west part in the main island, Honshu) in Japan about this holiday.

This might sound a little weird for you if you hear this for the first time. It was for me.

Okay, here it is.

People in Kansai area eat a certain kind of sushi roll on Feb 3rd with their bodies facing toward  a certain direction in silence until they finish a whole role of sushi.

This sushi roll is called 'Eho-maki'

The direction that you have to face changes every year. This year's direction is 'south‐southeast'

So basically, what happens on Feb 3rd in Japan is that people eat Eho-Maki in silence with their body facing toward south‐southeast. 

As far as I know, this custom started from Osaka and now has spread to all over the country.

How? 

Convenience store chains!!


I live in Nagoya, which is located in the centre of Japan main island, and my parents are from Nagoya too so I didn't know this custom until convenience stores in Japan started selling Eho-Maki through the country about a decade ago.

Now I enjoy eating Eho-Maki on Setsubun!

Oh, you might wonder why they eat Eho-Maki on Setsubun.

Back then, they believed that there were seven gods called Shichifukujin and they asked those gods for their success in their businesses. So in Eho-maki, seven kinds of ingredients are used.

They are inviting good luck and their business success by eating sushi!

How Japanese-ish is this!!
 
If you have a Japanese friend from Kansai area, I am sure they will tell you more about this custom.


Anyway, I'd be glad if you could know a little bit about our culture.
 
Below is an ad for Eho-Maki from a convenience store near my office.

There is another custom for this holiday which is more popular than Ehomaki. Throwing beans at monsters.... This may sound weird to you guys but I will write about this in a next post soon. Thanks for reading and have a good one. Cheers!

Michi

A Ski Trip To Nagano

Yesterday, my family went skiing to Nagano prefecture.

It was snowing a lot there and the road was slippery kind of dangerous.

We used tire-chain on the tires on the car. Is it common in Canada? To have a car wear chains on them?

We live in Nagoya and we don't get much snow here so the boys seemed to have a pretty good time in snow.

Our younger son, Kentaro, started to say some words that we can understand.

The first word that he learned is 'itai', which means ouch in Japanese.

His older brother, Haruki 5 years old, takes an MMA lesson every week.

That's probably why. hahaha

Japanese New Year

Here is a decoration for New Year's in Japan called 'Kadomatsu'.

Not many houses these days put a kadomatsu in front of their entrance door but a lot of companies still do.

I live in a kind of business district in Nagoya so when I walk around my neighbourhood, I see a lot of kodomatsu. They give us a feeling of New Year's.



Also, we have another type of New Year's decoration called 'Kagami-mochi'.

Two round rice cakes are piled up and a small orange is put on the top.


I know it would have been a better post if I had posted this before the New Year's day!

Anyway, It would be great if this could help you learn a little about Japanese New Year.

Happy New Year everybody!


I hope this year is going to be a great one for us and, of course, for you, too!!

They are my two sons, three nieces and a nephew!

They are doing a popular posing from a few years back by a comedian who was popular at that time and I cannot even remember his name.

The second girl from the left is doing it there.

It's called 'Love-Chunyu'

"Chunyu" means 'To inject something'

This pose means " To Inject Love To You"

Say it to your Japanese friends, they would be surprised.

If she/he doesn't know this joke/posing, that person has been away from Japan for a quite long time. hahaha.


Michi