My
name is Emily and I live at
the home
of Heike
in Germany .
Since August 2011 I stay in Japan,
where I live at the home of Heike's friend Kaoru.
I
changed
the living place with my friends Miffy and Cherry,
who live normally at Kaoru's place
and now they are the home of Heike in Germany:
Miffy since August 2011 and Cherry since June 2012.
I
created this blog for showing you my life in Japan.
My greatest adventure ever!
Time in
Japan
You can click
on the image to view the other Monchhichi exchange diaries.
Me and my friend Anne went to a
flower park tour by
sightseeing bus.
First, we visited ''Yakyu inari shrine'' in Saitama prefecture.
This shrine is famous for Botan (peonies).
Next, we went ''Yacyonomori Koen'' in Gunma
prefecture.
In the very large park, there are various kinds of flowers are in bloom.
They are beautiful. We ate ''cherry blossom softcream'' there! yummy!
Then, we visited ''Tsutsujigaoka park'', very
near from Yacyonomori Koen.
So many kinds of Tsutsuji (azaleas) were in full bloom!
We are very surprised to know, there are about 50 kinds of azaleas
there!
Finally, we went to ''Ashikaga flower park''
in Tochigi prefecture.
This park is very famous for ''big wisterias(Fuji)''.
This big wisterias's age is over 145 years!
very long!
like a flower shower! It was so beautiful.
We are fully enjoyed lots of flowers today!
We want to join this tour in the next year...(*^_^*)
Oh,
now I am so hungry. We had a great lunch!
Yakuyu.
箭弓(yakyu) is the same pronounciation with 野球(baseball) in Japanese,
so lots of people come to pray making progress in their baseball
ability.
What a wonderful day! Thank you Kaoru ♥
________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday April 07, 2012
My Ohanami picninc
Today we had an ''ohanami'' picnic
in the park near our house.
Cherry blossoms are in full bloom and so beautiful!
We enjoyed viewing flowers and of course, eat & drink!!
We had a very good time. We always love picnic!
February 3rd
is ''Setsubun'' in Japan.
Emily and Anne are playing ''Bean Throwing Ceremony''.
Anne performs ''Oni (Demon)''
and Emily is throwing roasted soybeans, shouting
''Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!!!'' (demons out! luck in!)
Setsubun is the Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing
Ceremony in Japan.
It is the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan.
The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually
the term refers to the Spring Setsubun,
properly called Risshun, celebrated yearly on February 3 as
part of the Spring Festival ( haru matsuri).
In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun
can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve
and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away
all the evil of the former year
and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year
to come.
This special ritual is called "mamemaki"
(literally "bean throwing").
Kadomatsu is a traditional japanese
decoration of the New Year
placed in pairs in front of homes to welcome ancestral
spirits.
You may watch Heike's Monchhichi Kadomatsu page here.
This is my german friend Anne and me in Kimonos celebrating the
japanese New Year.
Happy New Year !
from Emily &
her friends in Japan
Today Emily and her new friend from Germany ''Anne'' made a lot of
Christmas Cookies for their friends.
They are thinking about their friend's happy face.
Christmas present for Emily from Miffy
Miffy; This is a Christmas present for you!
Emily: Oh, thank you very much! May I open?
Miffy; Sure!
Emiliy; Oh! pretty necklace and cute wooden doll!
Miffy; This necklace is made by Kaoru!
Emily; Look! Am I like a princess?
Miffy; Yes, you look really a princess!
Wow! I'm so happy!
Emily & Miffy; Merry Christmas!!
Xmas
present to Emily from Miffy in Germany
Miffy, now stay with Heike in Germany,
send Emily a Christmas present!
Let's open!
Wow...
Card and tiny glitter purse!
How cute! I am so happy
Surprising!
In the purse, there is a tiny bear chocolate!
I love all of them and
nice handmade card!
Saturday,
November 03, 2011 Some days ago
Emily did a one-day sightseeing bus trip to "Yoro Keikoku" Valley and
an orange fruit field.
After that she visited the Tokyo German Village with the
winter
illuminations.
“Yoro
Keikoku” Valley
Wooooooow!!!!
I am a wild girl, hehe :o)
This is a great photo from me. Thank you Kaoru!
I watched the fall and colored leaves. It was very beautiful!!
Orange Fruit Field
Here, you can take oranges by yourself and you can eat them as much as
you like.
We got full(^o^).
Sunday,
October 27, 2011
Emily went to Nagahama Castle, visited Hikone town
and met "Hikonyan"
After Chikubu Island, we went to Nagahama
Castle.
It is not the original construction, it was built on 1983 as a museum.
Originally, Nagahama Castle was built on 1573, after many wars it was
broken on 1615.
From the top floor, we can see the Lake Biwa in a panoramic view.
This is the
dinner at Nagahama Hotel. We ate sashimi, beef, vegetables, matsutake
mushroom, and many dishes devoted a lot of time to cook. We were full!
Emily visited town
The next day, we went to Hikone town. Hikone
Castle was constructed on 1603. Today it remains one of the oldest
original-construction castles in Japan. Hikone Castle was designated a National
Treasure by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports
and Culture.
Emily met "Hikonyan"
The ''Hikonyan'' is the very famous character of
Hikone Castle.
''Hiko'' is from ''Hikone'' and
''Nyan'' is the baby talk meas ''cat''.
So it means ''The cat in Hikone''.
It puts on the ''Samurai helmet'' on its head.
It dances, jumps, turns, shakes hands without speaking at all.
It acts out many pantomimes.
Many Japanese like Hikonyan because we feel it is ''Kawaii'', pretty,
so it is very popular character in Japan.
We met Hikonyan and enter the Hikone Castle, and this is the end of our
trip,
we went home.
It was fun to make a small trip!
Sunday,
October 16, 2011
Emily had a trip to Shiga prefecture by Sin-kan-sen, made a cruise and
visited Chikubu Island
I had
a
trip to Shiga prefecture by Shin-kan-sen (super express train, its top
speed is
more than 200km/h) with Kaoru's family.
We went to Biwako Lake, the biggest lake in Japan, and to old
castles.
The landscape from the window of Shinkansen is rice field.
Please take a seat!
This is an impressive train!
Wooow, I am so fast!!!
Emily made a cruise
We
had a
Biwako cruise.
On the lake, the wind was fresh and we felt very good.
Then, we arrived at small island ''Chikubu-jima'' (Chikubu island).
This island is believed to Gods are living. Chikubujima
at Wikipedia
Look my hair is flying in the wind!
Emily at Chikubu Island
In
the
Chikubu island, there is a temple, named ''Hougonji
temple'', established at 724.
Me at Hougonji.
After
visited the Hougonji temple, we had a cruise again
and back to the Nagahama port. What a gret day!!
I am so thankful that Kaoru's family took me with them on this
impressive journey.
What a great variety of doughnuts, wow?
In Germany I do not know a donut shop. I think, there are no such shops
in my country.
We ate a noodle soup.
At this shop we can eat donoughnuts, noodle, pie, coffee, cafe au lait,
cola and some japanese sweets such as crushed ice with green tea syrup.
Sunday,
September 04, 2011
Emily went to a japanese castle
Today I went to a japanese castle. Wow, it is
so different from german castles.
This is ''Chiba castle'' build in 1126
and remodeled
afterwards.
This is the entrance of "Chiba castle".
Look this is the armor of ''Samurai'' (Japanese
warrior) out of the
Edo period (1603-1868). I am deeply impressed.
This is a japanese sword called ''Katana'' out
of the Edo period.
The painting which you see here is called
"Sumie-painting" (''Suibokuga" in Japanese)
This is me at the Tea room in front of
the castle. This
castle is used as a museum now.
Many thanks to Miffy, Ayuka, Kazuki and Kaoru for inviting me to take
part
at that very interesting and fascinating journey to the "Chiba castle".
Tuesday, August
30, 2011
Emily and her new friend Skyblue
''Oh, you have so blue
hair. Who are you?''
''My name is ''skyblue'' and limited in Tokyo, Japan.''
''This deep blue color is beautiful.''
''Thank you. Let's take a photo in front of this building.
This building is built in 1899.
It is the ''registered tangible cultural property''
(''touroku yuukei bunka isan'' in Japanese).''
My new friends are
''Sakura'' (girl) and ''Ken'' (boy).
They belong to Kaorus daughter. Thank you Ayu for my new
playfellows!
We took our first photo together at the veranda at Kaoru's house.
This flower is ''asagao'' in Japanese and ''morning glory'' in English.
They are not only purple, they have various colors, red, pink, white,
blue, and tie-dyed.
Asagao is a traditional Japanese flower in summer since 1300 years ago.
Wow!
Today I'm wearing
a new dress made by Kaoru. She presented it to me. Many thanks Kaoru,
for this lovely and stylish dress !!! :o)
Heike thinks, that Kaoru is a fantastic dress designer ♥
Look, this is me with
Maneki-Neko. Kaoru told me, that ''Maneki''
means ''Beckon'', and ''Neko'' means ''Cat'' in
Japanese.
Maneki-Neko
is a traditional lucky sculpture in Japan, often made of ceramic,
size is various, which is believed to bring good luck
to the owner.
And is usually displayed (many times at the entrance and in
shops and restaurants) in the design of the sculptures.
A raised right paw will attracts money, on the other hand, a
raised left paw will attracts people.
Ah, good, that I put my dress at my table yesterday evening.
Now I have to put my clothes into my suitcase.
Oh oh so many dresses. Do I have enough space in my suitcase? Ok I will
dress me up with the different clothes and then decide which want
should go with me.
Ta daaaaaaa!
It is too cute. This outfit is absolut important for the stylish Japan.
When it is cold outside I NEED this dufflecoat!
Really!
...and it fits to my styllish outfit,hehe.
When I want to feel comfortable I have to take this outfit with me.
....and this is super super important for my daily jogging. I think I
have to take them all. :o)
Now I have to say goodbye to my best friends.
Oh , it is so sad, that you travel so far away Emily...but I wish you
all the best and I am looking forward to see your photos.
Bye bye Emily...oh I am so sad...
.....but best
friends are always together in mind, although they are physically
separated.
Copyright
of the Monchhichi photos by
Heike
Andrea Grote. Monchhichi
photos in Japan used with friendly permission of my friend
Kaoru san.
You are not allowed to copy or publish them. Thank you.
Please don't push, ok?
