節分 Trivia

This year’s setsubun is on Feb 3^rd as it was in past years.  But this date actually changes depending on the year.  Setsubun is the day you prepare for the new spring to come and is on the day before the first day of spring.  The first day of spring is not vernal equinox.  It is called risshun, and it is defined as the day that the earth positions at 315 degrees on the ecliptic coordinate system. 

Mamemaki/bean throwing is done to remove evil spirits in a house. It is done on setsubun so that you can have a fresh start in a new season after a long winter.  It is an originally developed Japanese custom, and it is not practiced in any other nationalities.

You are to eat the same number of beans as your age for good luck.  Not many people eat the beans that were thrown for sanitary reason.

Traditionally, the beans you throw on setsubun are soy beans.  However since around 1955, people in Hokkaido started using shelled peanuts instead.  This new custom soon spread toward Touhoku and Nigata area.  Why do you think that is?   The areas with this new custom are where it snows a lot. Throwing small soy beans toward outside made a mess in front of the house, and it was difficult to pick them up in snow.  So people started throwing bigger shelled peanuts, and when it is done, you can pick them up and even eat the peanuts inside. 

Ehoumaki is futomaki, a long rolled sushi, which is said to bring good luck if you eat it while you point the sushi in the certain direction at the night of setsubun.  This direction of luck changes every year based on zodiac and this year’s direction is South South East. You must eat the rolled sushi at one setting without splitting it because otherwise the luck will escape away from it.  It was a custom practiced in only Osaka area since Edo period.  However in the recent years starting 1983, a convenience store, namely Family Mart, decided that this is a marketing opportunity, so they started advertising this custom to sell more futomaki in different areas of Japan.  You can now find ehoumaki in most convenience stores and grocery stores.

Happy New Year

As I am spending the time with my family watching TV and talking about nonsense, I’d like to take some time thinking back this year.  Since Laura and I started the Japanese cultural group in 2011, we had steady growth in our group members. The year 2012 has been very active year for the group, and we accomplished many activities.  In addition to monthly Japanese speaking table, we had following cultural events in 2012:

Feb 3 – setsubun / bean throwing 
May 6 – children’s day / koinobori
July 20 – tasting at Sushi Pirate
Aug 25 – obon
Nov 4 – bunka no hi / culture day
Dec 2 – nabe / hot pot dinner
Dec 31 (planed) – toshikoshi / new year’s eve 

We would not be able to have such great turn out without you all.

I like to thank you to everyone, and additional thank you to people who hosted the events or brought great foods to share.  I appreciate if you can continue supporting the group and help us host events, cook cultural foods, and bring ideas on what we can do to make the events more fun and meaningful.  

Happy New Year to you all

ゆく年くる年

Christmas and New Year is around the corner.  It's getting cold and we had some snow just in time to prep for the white Christmas.  Everyone, please have great holidays and eat lots of warm foods.  The Japanese Nabe party was awesome.  We should do it again.  I'll be spending the お正月(oshougatsu) in Japan.  I hope you have some great time getting together with your family as well.  See you next year!

The picture from the Nabe Party.

December Japanese Speaking Table

Thanks to Shuei for hosting a fabulous Nabe Party last night.  We had three kinds of nabe, two kinds of oden, and snacks galore including sushi, squid, onigiri, and more.  Everyone had a good time tasting new and familiar foods and drinks.

The next Japanese Speaking Table will be moved to Sunday in order to accommodate a few more interested participants.

Sunday, December 9
3pm
Root Note Cafe

All levels are welcome to come and practice speaking Japanese.

Nabe, the winter goods

As it reaches toward the end of the year, we may have only few times to get together as a group.  In December, we have an exciting Nabe (Japanese style hot pot) party hosted by Shuei.  We can experiment different flavors, but I'm especially interested in kimchi nabe.  Nabe is a typical winter food in Japan.  We can warm up by eating delicious nabe and mingle with family and friends.  That's priceless.


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November Japanese Speaking Table

November's edition of the La Crosse Japanese Club's Japanese Speaking Table is coming up soon.

Saturday, November 10th
3 to 5pm
Root Note Cafe

All levels are welcome to come practice Japanese.
The theme this month might be birthdays, as Saturday just happens to be Laura's!

Curry and Culture

Thanks to all who came out to celebrate Culture Day!  We started out slow with two kinds of curry, but quickly filled up with yudofu, chirashi zushi, mochi, and pumpkin dip.  With the movies of Miyazaki in the background, we learned how to make origami cranes and practiced our calligraphy skills.  Laura gave lessons on the koto, and everyone who tried could play "Sakura, Sakura."

Rumors of the next event being a nabe party were circulating, so tentatively mark your calendars for December 1, and we'll get the specifics out as soon as we know.