Otoshidama

I was recently reading an article about some of the traditions and such around Japanese New Year - it is one of their biggest holidays - and I thought this was interesting.  Otoshidama is a custom in Japan whereby the children receive gifts of money in small envelopes on New Year's Day.

It originally was a Shinto right that developed from the kagamimochi that were offered to the gods at this time of year.  Kagamimochi are two round rice cakes on top of each other with a tangerine on top.  As well as at the shrines, people put these in their homes at their front entrances to welcome in good luck (you take them down after 10 days).  When the respective time had ended, the rice cakes were then given to people worshipping at the shrine.  They were believed to have "holy energy" when eaten, but eventually the "energy" was transferred into "monetary energy" and given as cash in an envelope!

My little display that Kelly bought me.  It's the Year of the Rabbit.

The kagamimochi.

I've seen displays of these envelopes in the stores - the designs range anywhere from little flowers to Pokemon to Hello Kitty (of course!)  The relatives of a child buy some of these envelopes and puts cold hard cash in them to give to the kids.  They say that the amount ranges from 500 Yen (about $5) to 10,000 Yen or more (about $120).  I guess this is an easier way of doing your gift shopping!  The average elementary school student gets between $10 - $30 per relative and the older kids get between $50 - $100 - that means some of them are hauling in about $1,000 or more! 

When I told Cannon about this he said, and I quote, "I want to be a Japanese kid!"

New Year's Day

We spent a lovely slow day at home before heading out for an adventure in the afternoon.  With all the wind we've had lately, the waves in the East China Sea have been amazing.  We can see that they're crashing from our view on the hill, but we thought that a trip to the lighthouse and Zampa point would show an awesome display.  And it delivered!

This is a view from the top of the light house.

Like a scene out of War of the Worlds.



The waves were incredible.



We are standing on top of some really tall cliffs and that's a wave spraying up behind us!

The size of the cliffs is distorted here - they are big!

The water was like an ice blue color when the waves crested.

Happy New Years

Happy New Year!  Or as they say here, "ake-mashite-omedetou-goziamasu"!  New year, or shogatsu, is one of the most important holidays for the Japanese adn we celebrated it right last night!  Last year, we had one of our first neighborhood parties by making a fire pit in a metal garbage can.  This year we amped it up!  By "recycling" old wood pallets and dried out Christmas trees, we were able to make quite a nice stack of firewood.  (Thanks to Stevie, Don and Cannon who cut it all up!)

Cannon cutting the branches off with his pocket knife!

The pile of wood at the beginning of the night.

Of course, we needed entertainment and so the guys devised a way to project Wii onto the side of the building.  It was awesome - nothing like warming up to a few rounds on Just Dance or jamming to the Beatles Rock Band while outside in 40 degree weather with a 20 mile an hour wind!  It was a really fun time.

Crazy fire!

Don and Steve

The kids dancing to Just Dance.

The ladies of the Hill dancing to Just Dance.

The Wii and the fire.

What happens when you add a Christmas tree to a fire pit!

Clackity-clack

Clackity-clack, clack.  Do you hear that?  That's my teeth chattering because it's COLD here!  Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but a.) we've acclimatized to warm weather and b.) our houses don't have HEAT!  Brrrr...

Cannon's clock showing the temperature in his room.  62 degrees!

Krimp and Dima's outdoor thermometer showing 40 degrees!  And there is a 30 mile an hour wind!

Ferris Wheel

If you've ever paid any attention to the photos I've posted of sunsets, you will see that there is a giant Ferris wheel silhouetted against the setting sun.  Down in a part of Okinawa called "American Village" (conveniently located just outside our base) there sits an enormous Ferris wheel which makes its slow, continuous turns all day, every day.  At night it's lit up by ever changing colored lights, and during the day, it's a proud red and white landmark set off by a giant "Coca-cola" sign in the middle.

Way back when we first came on island, we took a spin on the Ferris wheel at night.  We thought it would be neat to see the lights of the island from the top of the wheel.  It was fun, with probably the most fun being Stevie's face as he bravely faced (with the help of a few cocktails) his fear of heights.  Ever since then, I've been meaning to go back during daylight hours to check out the real view.

So today was a beautifully clear (albeit breezy) day and I decided to take the kids around the wheel again.  Conveniently, Stevie was working so he didn't have to go again!  The views were beautiful as we took in the sights from 45 meters in the air (about 150 feet)!  The complete rotation of the wheel takes 15 minutes so you get plenty of time to look around.

Going up...

London's not looking so sure of this ride?

Mommy and Emmy having fun!

View south toward Naha

View east - you can see our house in the very top left corner, right in front of a patch of dark green trees.

View west out over the East China Sea

As always, the signs had to say something funny.  When the kids asked me what the man was doing, I told them he was showing the other guy his "willy".  So London interprets the sign as "no taking pictures of willies" (at least while on the Ferris wheel)!  The other funny thing is that there were signs everywhere cautioning you not to take food or drink on the Ferris wheel, but there were cup holders in the cages!


One of the signs going into the Ferris wheel.



Christmas Day '10

Merry Christmas everyone!  It was another successful Christmas for us - those kids must have been good at some point this year when Santa was watching!

All three of the kids got what they asked Santa for.  A "Belle" (from Beauty and the Beast) doll for Emmy.

London got a huge transformer.

And a Bakugan Wii game for Cannon.  He also got a Kindle!  What else do you get a kid who always has his nose stuck in a book???

My favorite present were the three kokeshi dolls that the kids bought (and wrapped!) for me.  Kokeshi dolls are Japanese wood dolls and I've begun a collection.  I love that I now have an Emmy, London and Cannon kokeshi too!

Steve got a nice framed drawing from Cannon.

Emmy got her first bike that she was quite excited to ride, except it was a cool, rainy day so we only got a short ride on it.  We'll have to watch her as we live on the top of a rather steep hill - I hope I never see her speeding off the edge!

We had a really nice dinner with one of Stevie's corpsmen joining us who was alone.  I was glad that he decided to join us and get out of the barracks.  The younger enlisted guys get a raw deal over here and are really limited in their priveledges so I was glad this guy got a home cooked meal on Christmas.

After dinner we had an assortment of neighbors over for desserts and a bonfire.  With the cool weather, it really was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Christmas Eve '10

Our neighbors - ie. our family away from family – decided to do a progressive dinner this Christmas Eve, but for lunch instead of dinner. We have such wonderful neighbors and friends here and we have lots of get-togethers (impromptu and planned) and this was another wonderful effort. Joe, aka Papa Joe, made his famous grilled turkey which is unbelievably good and everyone else made the sides. Then we ventured over to Liz and Don’s to have a smorgous board of desserts.

Looking festive

Ain't no thing but a chicken wing!

Yes, the weather is that nice that the little ones could eat outside!

It’s so nice to have such a friendly neighborhood where everyone chips in to help everyone else. Of all the places we’ve lived, we’ve never experienced such a camaraderie and it’s going to be hard to leave this in the summer. Right now, we’re thankful for what we have, which is a true community of caring, friendly neighbors. Thank you neighbors!

After a bonfire and light supper, we prepared the kids for bed tonight.  They are SOOO excited for Santa to come.  I've never had so many questions about his habits and methods as London bombards me with.  It is a very fun time!  We had our usual routine of reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (next year, Grandpa, it will be you who reads it!) and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" then laid out Santa's cookies along with a really sweet card from London. 

London and Emmy, sprinkled the yard with reindeer feed (Ms. Kelly's yard, too, so she would get presents!).

Then we checked NORAD (http://www.noradsanta.org/) one last time before sending them all to bed.  Santa starts in this part of the world so we have to get to bed extra early.  He was already in Fiji by the time I tucked them in!  I'd better get to bed soon too, I think I might have an extra early wake up call tomorrow...