Donations to Japan?

Not too much going on. I ran errands. Got my hair cut. Bought winter ski pants (hopefully I can wear them while I do crosswalk duty. They look enough like my uniform but are WARM!) I think I have decided on a Christmas craft to do with the English classes next week and I bought beads and such for that. Went to the vet to buy cat food.

Last week someone asked me about the animals in northern Japan. They had seen a video about pets left behind and their plight. The person wanted to know if there was any way to send a donation to help.

I checked out the Internet and then talked to my vet yesterday. There is an organization, JSAVA, Japan Small Animal Veterinary Association, that is selling goods to donate to the centers helping the animal population in the north but I can find no way for someone outside of Japan to send donations to it. I wrote about this in an August post and you can see the T-shirt better there.

Many local veterinarians sell the specially designed T-shirts and handkerchiefs in their clinics and the money is sent to centers caring for rescued animals... neutering, feeding, purchasing cages and leashes, supporting care staff who rescue and feed the animals, walk dogs and locate new homes. My vet said that neutering the animals is the biggest job right now, as many kittens and puppies have been born, and then finding homes for the young. Cats that have been rescued are more content than dogs because they don't much mind being kept in a small space as long as they are fed. It is the dogs that are frustrated by lack of exercise and human contact.

I find all this so disturbing to think about. I don't have to go to northern Japan to know that there are animals who need help, there are some down the street from me. At the reception desk my vet has a donation box and I have decided that whenever I go I will put $20 in the box. (And with 7 animals I really do go quite a bit!) This isn't a short term problem. As long as I have animals of my own I hope I can continue to support the organizations that are willing to work for others.

If you can't help one of northern Japan's animals, think about helping a local animal organization near you.

Joy to the World

Yesterday I was at the kindergarten for the Christmas program's dress rehearsal. I've shown similar pictures in previous years but I'll show some again. The eldest class, (age 5) are dressed in robes and hold lighted candles throughout the service. The Mothers' Choir sings softly throughout the service, the younger children carry penlights... After the Candle Service, the children perform songs and the finale is a Christmas pageant. The kindergarten's program will be this Sunday.

My blog friends know Mrs. Furui as my patchwork mentor but you don't know that she has also led the kindergarten's Mothers' Choir for more than 20 years (and tried to get me involved but I'm not much of a groupie...) And the wonderful pianist is Mrs. Takagishi, another patchwork group member (pssst... you've known her as our "least confident patchwork member".) Mrs. Takagishi accompanies the Mother's Choir and also teaches Rhythm and Music to the kindergarten children.



Now... will this video upload today?

Kizuna

Yesterday Japan announced the annual Chinese character chosen by public ballot. The character chosen to represent this year was KIZUNA, which means bonds or ties.

Every year the Japanese Chinese Character Calligraphy Society challenges the public to select a character and then a calligraphy temple priest in Kyoto will announce the character by writing it in ink by brush. (picture from the Internet)

"Bonds".

In English the word isn't very impressive. But in Japanese the nuance is the connection between team mates, between family members, between people. And one of the reasons why kizuna was chosen was because of how the bonds between people during and immediately after the earthquake developed. Couples who had resisted marriage suddenly were made aware of the importance of their beloved and wedding "knots" were tied. Connections were made between strangers thrown together in evacuation centers. The compassion of the international community linked Japan to the wide world. Families found comfort in togetherness.

As many of you who have been reading my blog since March know, I was with Lorraine from Australia when the earthquake struck. We escaped from the bottom of a rock quarry and spent the next two days in a cold house keeping each other calm and trying to clean up. (Tetsu, stayed with the convalescent home). Lorraine and I were patchwork friends before the earthquake but experiencing a major earthquake together definitely strengthened the bonds between us. I understand how she feels about her family here in Japan maybe more than her Australian friends. She has seen me at my panicked, distraught worse. For the rest of my life, when I recall the hours of the March 11, 2011 earthquake I will see Lorraine's face!

When Lorraine and I were racing out of the quarry a young couple sped past us, the young man protectively leading the girlfriend to safety. As we all sat around outside hanging onto benches while the earth shook, the young man comforted the frighted girl even finding her something to drink from a nearby vending machine. It occurred to me that if that young couple hadn't been seriously dating before, the boy sure racked up positive points in the girl's eyes for his gallant actions after the earthquake! She will never forget him, that's for sure!

When I told one of my friends this story she sighed and said,

"Yes. My son was visiting Tokyo with a classmate (female) when the earthquake hit. They ended up walking for hours, had to stay in an evacuation center over night, huddled together to stay warm. He even brought the girl back to my sister's house until transportation arrangements could be made to get back to college. That relationship may be sealed thanks to the earthquake."

So here and there, new bonds between people were made this year and old bonds were strengthened as we realized how important our loved ones are to us. People have supported each other through radiation scares and the plummeting economy, and banded together to commit to rebuilding northern Japan. (Calligraphy care of Tetsu!)

I write to and hear from Lorraine in Australia quite a bit. She is even planning another trip to Japan in January! (Tetsu's comment was "a courageous woman coming back to who knows what!")

And when we sign off on our e-mails Lorraine and I always write,

"Love,
Your comrade from the quarry."

Yep. Bonded for life! KIZUNA!

Cold

Grrr. I am a Southern California gal. I do not like cold winters. But here I sit in a cold Japanese house that has no central heating and poor insulation.

When I first came to Japan 30 some years ago, I lived in one of the coldest areas in Japan, Iwate Prefecture. Now, I've lived in snowier places since then (the west side of Japan gets more snow) but Iwate and the city of Morioka (where Tetsu grew up) is considered the coldest outside of the northernmost island of Japan. (Someone is going to remind me that there is a farther north prefecture on the main island that is pretty cold but Morioka is located in a basin and the temperatures really fall there.) ANYWAY, it was cold!

The first year I really didn't believe that humans were meant to live in Iwate. How could anyplace be so cold! I wore a heavily padded kimono coat CONSTANTLY, even to the classes I was teaching and I stayed close to the kerosene heaters not getting anywhere near the blackboards. I burned holes in the back of my kimono coats because I got so close to the heaters! This is slightly risque to say, but I wondered at the romance in my friends' life when both husband and wife wore long-johns and scarves to bed!

I have been back to visit Iwate Prefecture and though the outside is still breathtakingly cold, the houses are warm! (warmer.) Better insulation and heating in the newer northern homes...

Tetsu and I bought a nice fuel burning stove recently. It heats the living room well. JUST the living room. In the dining room where I teach I have an electric heater under the throw rug so that the ladies' toes stay warm (but often feet have to compete with cats).

Until recent years, Tetsu and I just slept in a freezing room (I remember when I lived in Iwate I would wake up with the frozen condensation on the blanket around my face!) but last year I bought a portable radiator and covered the bedroom door with one of my quilts. This year I'm thinking of buying window insulation (much like popping plastic for shipping things.)

And finally, we have a heated mat for the sofa so that Tetsu can stay warm while he watches TV. The cats absolutely LOVE the heated mat. Not much room for Tetsu on the sofa.

(The heated toilet seat is lovely but how long can one sit on a heated toilet seat?)

We are doing what we can to stay warm!

What's cooking?

You people are going to know my kitchen well enough to come over and do some cooking for me!

I knew I was going to post about this when I showed my refrigerator because last week I bit the bullet and ordered a new gas range!!! And yesterday it arrived.

Our old range (two burners, 15 years old) started sputtering this fall. One of the burners wouldn't stay on for more than two or three minutes. That left me with ONE burner to cook dinner on! Tetsu wanted to fix the gas range... and he tried! Took it apart, brushed the gas outlets to clear them of debris, jiggled, wiggled and pushed buttons. A couple of times he even claimed that he'd fixed it! But in a day or two the burner wouldn't work again.

Now, I can't think of anything more dangerous than a poorly functioning gas range. And to be honest, I didn't really trust Tetsu's repair capabilities. A new range seemed to be a non-luxury, must be purchased item.

I could have opted for spending a fortune and revamping my kitchen to an electric Induction Heating system. That is the way many homes are going and for awhile this was lauded as the future mode for cooking in Japan. Because of the March earthquake and the scheduled black outs, some people determined that having an all electric home might not be the perfect solution and gas ranges are making a comeback. (Besides the initial costs, you have to replace all your cookware too....No thank you.) I did NOT want an IH cooking system which was a mighty relief to Tetsu.

I started on my quest of a reasonable gas range. For such a small appliance, there are numerous options nowadays in Japan. Did I want the high temperature burner on the left or the right? Did I want drip pans? Flushed heat for equal grill cooking? Water in the grill or waterless?

I knew I wanted a waterless grill. What does that even mean? It used to be that when grilling fish in the grill (it is called a fish grill... That's what Japanese grill in it. FISH!) the fish oil would fall into the pan and be hard to clean so someone figured putting water in the bottom of the grill solved the problem. Unfortunately I found it difficult to clean out the grill without spilling the messy water all over the floor. I wanted a WATERLESS grill (using Teflon these days I think...)

I also wanted flush grill heating (because when I flipped my fish to cook on the underside the fish would fall apart.) I didn't want drip pans because I wanted to be able to wipe up with a swish of a rag. (I dream of this range improving my cleaning skills). Okay... and while we're dreaming, throw in a thermostat and a timer. OOooh... Really going for fancy!

Tetsu stayed out of the purchasing process. I am going to buy myself a gas range. I am the one who will use it. After taking a survey with my friends and students I made a decision and then started combing the stores. Expensive! And then I went online and found what I wanted at a reasonable price. AND I PUSHED THE PURCHASE BUTTON AND BOUGHT MYSELF A NEW GAS RANGE!!!! I don't know what surprised Tetsu more. That I bought myself the fancy range or that I did it online. He was sure I would read the website wrong (in Japanese) and end up with something completely different.

BUT I DID IT! I have a brand new sparkling range in my kitchen! It is a set in type... (came in a box and I hooked up the gas hose and set it on the counter.) This too is pretty normal in the Japanese home. (As opposed to built in types that have three burners and a carpenter has to be called in to remove a counter or something.) It is Teflon coated all over for easy cleaning!

Last night I cooked on it and Tetsu politely suggested that the soup tasted delicious because of my new gas range. Flattery, flattery.

Now I have no excuse not liking cooking. Except that I'm going to hate to use my new range and dirty it up...

Lunar eclipse

I am normally in bed by 9:30. Tetsu claims the TV after dinner and usually watches sports. If I have hand quilting or piecing to do I sometimes bear with the sports just to get my handwork done but I really look forward to reading in bed for 30 minutes or so. In the morning, Choco and the cats let us know that they are ready for breakfast around 5:30 and I don't find it that difficult to get out of bed, feed them and take a walk.

Last night throughout Japan, a full lunar eclipse was visible from 9:45 to 11:50. And it was a cold clear night so the moon was lighting up the countryside! And the eclipse won't be visible in Japan again for another 11 years. It seemed to me that a lunar eclipse was something to stay awake for.

Interesting... I'm not knowledgeable about astronomy so I probably didn't appreciate what I was seeing... Yes, that's the moon... Yes, it looks like a cloud is covering the moon.... Yes, the moon is hidden more than it was 30 minutes ago. This must be the eclipse!

Unfortunately, it is impossible to take a picture of a lunar eclipse with my little Sony digital camera. My hands wobbled. All I got was a spot in the sky or an orange blob. (Did you know that when the eclipse is full, the moon, hidden in the shadow of the earth, turns orange? It really did!)

At 11:50 I took my last glance of the moon from the front yard.

"Yep. That's the moon. Yep. I can now say I have seen the eclipse. Time for bed."

This morning Tetsu and I woke up after 7:00. Late for us! The cats were cranky and Choco was desperate for a potty run. I blame it on last night's eclipse.

And since I stayed up and took the pictures I'm posting them though I know they look like blobs.

Our refrigerator

I'm afraid this is a boring post again today. I cleaned my refrigerator. Now why in the world would anyone write a whole blog post about that? And take pictures?!

This is my refrigerator. I decided that it needed a scrub before the end of the year (Japanese do all their spring cleaning at the end of December...) This refrigerator has served us well for nearly 20 years. When we bought our house and moved in, our American friends who were returning to Japan, left us all their furniture including their refrigerator.

Our refrigerator is very basic. Japanese kitchens do not have a water supply that will feed into a refrigerator (for an automatic ice cube maker or water dispenser). The Japanese housewife tends to go shopping daily and so a huge double width refrigerator with a giant freezer isn't really necessary. (And it wouldn't fit in the tiny Japanese kitchen!)

There is a vegetable compartment on the bottom, refrigeration in the middle, and freezer on the top. (Oops. I didn't really clean out the freezer... Just moved things around a bit there.) I have two ice cube trays that I fill by hand. I have heard that recent Japanese refrigerators have a tank that you can fill with water and THAT will supply water for an "automatic" ice maker, but we are not that technologically advanced yet.


Our refrigerator doesn't beep when the door is left open, nor have eco mode etc. If I really wanted to be ecologically minded I could buy a refrigerator curtain that hangs inside the refrigerator and keeps the cold air inside. That seems like it would be a bother to paw through to get to your food but I hear that it is a good way to save electricity... (Picture from the Internet.)

Tetsu noticed this morning that our refrigerator was shining. Gives you an idea of how long it had been since I last cleaned it!