Yes, February 3 was Setsubun again in Japan, that special day marking the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring according to the old calendar. One of the rituals practiced on the day is called “Mamemaki”. The head of the household takes roasted soybeans (Japan imports 96% of its soybeans, so these are likely […]

Perhaps I should skip the dinner part. It was my turn to cook last night and I threw together (literally) a simple spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, dinner which anyone can do without a recipe from me. I had everything timed just right until I realized - just when everything was ready - […]

It has been a while since I offered a recipe. Some of my favorite foods are not easily available in Japan such as vegetarian chili, refried beans, or pea soup. Japanese food is great, but we all like a change once in a while. Luckily I have a source for dried organic […]

Say hello to my new granddaughter, Chloe Anuhea. She arrived on the island of Maui Sunday afternoon, weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Big sister Bailey is thrilled. Published by PandaboniumContinue reading: Chloe Anuhea Has Arrived!

Hokule’a approaching Diamond Head as she returns from a voyage Hokule’a (ho-ku-lay-ah) is the 62 foot long double hull voyaging canoe sailed by the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS). The product of the imagination of Hawaiian artist, historian, and PVS co-founder, Herb Kawainui Kane (Kah-nay), Hokule’a means “Star of Joy” in Hawaiian and […]

Following Shinran Shonin’s footsteps, we went looking for another temple where he had spent some time nearly eight hundred years ago. This was not easy as his tracks have long be convered by paved roads, a rail line and new construction. The area is not densely populated, however and unspoiled mountains and rice […]

Last month, I promised to get some more pictures of Asami (K’s niece if you missed previous posts about her) on Coming of Age Day and hoped to get a smile out of her. As it happened, we missed Asami on Coming of Age Day, but I can share a few of the ones […]

Well, last month I took some pics of K’s niece, Asami, in her “coming of age day” kimono and promised more when the official day came. The day came on January 7th and we went to Kashima Jingu in the late morning. The Coming of Age Ceremony was held at the Kashima-Shi Kinrou Bunka Kaikan […]

Shiran Shonin - Saint Shinran (1173 -1263)This portrait was painted when he was 83 years old. Our next stop was a temple serveral kilometers out of town in an area that used to be called Inada village. Sainen-ji was founded by Shinran Shonin (Saint Shinran), whose teachings formed the basis for the […]

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. Martin Luther King, Jr. […]

After leaving Kasama Inari Jinja, we headed up nearby Mt. Sashiro, which overlooks the city. On its slopes is an old ryokan/hotel - Hotel Yamanoso. Looking rather like a castle, and in fact being located near the ruins of Kasama Castle, the hotel has a most intersting lobby. In a window display […]

Mary Kaye 1924-2007Last weekend, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty passed away. Her American name was Mary Kaye, but she was born Mary Ka’aihue, the daughter of Johnny “Ukulele” Ka’aihue ( a pure Hawaiian) and granddaughter of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, brother (by adoption) of Hawaii’s last monarch, Queen Liliu’okalani. The Queen was a […]

After each of my two daily walks I get a treat. It is usually a chicken or beef doggy treat. I think they’re very tasty. Pandabonium and K break them into a few pieces and give the pieces to me for performing tricks. I jump up on the bench and sit, […]

Published by PandaboniumContinue reading: Lakeside - Kitaura

Since boyhood, I’ve enjoyed spending time looking at the night sky with binoculars or a small telescope. These days I don’t do it so often, even though we have a lot less light polution here than I did on Maui. I still find astronomy an interesting subject and spend part of my time online […]

Signs of Spring. Pink and white Ume (Japanese plum) blossom petals and lily pads float on a pond in Kairakuen Park, Mito City Published by PandaboniumContinue reading: Flower Petals

This was my third year in a row to view ume blossoms (Japanese plum/apricot blossoms) at Kairakuen park in Mito City. I’ll try not to repeat too much information from my 2005 and 2006 posts on the topic, “Ume Festival: When is an Apricot a Plum?” and “Umematsuri - Plum Festival”. You […]

Growing up in California, I ate my share of apricots and plums. Well, my neighborhood was actually full of orange trees, so I ate those mostly as a quick snack stolen right off the tree. But I knew the difference between a plum and an apricot. The former smooth skinned, a glorious […]

One more ume picture…. These blossoms are on one of four ume trees in our yard. Two of trees have white flowers, one has double layered pink, and the other is a “weeping” tree with pink blossoms. Published by PandaboniumContinue reading: Home Grown Ume

Well, you knowWe all want to change the world. (thank you John Lennon and the Velorution cycle shop in London, England)Aerorider - human powered vehicle from the Netherlands with electric assist. There is disagreement over what to call these types of machines. Americans seem to prefer HPVs, for “human powered vehicles”, while Europeans refer to them […]

When you think of street food vendors in Japan, what do you picture? Food stalls lining the streets around a shrine during a festival? Push carts offering traditional snacks like ramen or takoyaki to people on their way home in the evening? Certainly such examples are abundant. But this industry, […]

And A Happy St. Patrick’s Day to ya as well!But go find yer own Guinness!Title Trivia: You’ve not forgotten Walt’s wonderful movie about leprechauns and banshees have ye? More than a wee bit o’ magical shenanigans! Published by PandaboniumContinue reading: Darby O’Gill and the Little People

by Momo the Wonder Dog Long before I wandered into Pandabonium and K’s lives, there was a dog named Peppi. Peppi was a black standard poodle who took care of Pandabonium’s family for many years. The stories about him, some of which Pandabonium has shared with me, would fill an entire blog. While PB […]

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and losses in lives.” […]

We may be seeing and hearing more military aircraft in the coming months. As I have previously mentioned, our house is about 25km (15.5 mi) from Hyakuri Airbase, home to 2 squadrons of JASDF fighters, as well as a reconnaissance/electronic warfare squadron, trainers attached to each and rescue helicopters. We went by there […]

March 9th was a day for the people of Kashima City to go wild in the streets. It was organized chaos - the annual Saito Sai (festival) of Kashima Jingu. We arrived midway through the celebrations as the participants, who parade from the shrine through the streets of Kashima and back, prepared for the return […]

Polynesian Voyaging Society canoes Hokule’a and Alingano Maisu reached Satawal last weekend and ceremonies were held to gift the Alingano Maisu voyaging canoe to master navigator Mau Piailug, a native of that island. While there, fifteen people, ten from Micronesia and five Hawaiians were initiated into Satawal’s society of open ocean navigators and […]

The new “Series N700″ bullet trains are now in production in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture. They will enter service on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen Line in July. Using a pre-production trainset, JR Central has been trying out the new N700 since 2005. I first reported about these in July of 2005 when they were first […]

by Momo the Wonder Dog Last Friday, 2-year-old golden retriever named Toby of Calvert, Maryland, saved his human, Debbie Parkhurst, by performing a canine style Heimlich maneuver. Debbie was eating an apple and started to choke on a piece of it. She tried pounding her own chest to get it dislodged, but without success. […]

Spring is here, actually, and today there was a celebration of the cherry blossoms in Kashima City’s Shiroyama Park. The park is on a hill on the edge of town overlooking the south end of Lake Kitaura and the Kanto plain beyond. For 400 years, it was the site of a castle, […]