Rapunzel blackwork - this is an old Marion Scoular design that has been packed away for a very long time. I pulled it out to check the thread and decided to work on it a bit.
Kogin Four Seasons progress - I worked more on the summer section.
Last week, Lyn commented that she thought the 1 chi thread might be like floche. I don't stitch with floche often enough to know, but I did have a project using floche, so I pulled it out to compare. The floche is a thinner smoother thread. The 1 chi is thicker and rather rough.
Summertime Mt. Fuji progress
This project is very fun for me. Mt. Fuji's 25 connected/related sites were recognized in 2013 by UNESCO as a cultural World Heritage site. I am depicting the mountain and a few of the other sites in this piece.
Sengen Taisha Shrine, Fujinomia
Miho no Matsubara
Shiraito Falls
And of course the summertime mountain, without snow, just clouds. (View from my apartment yesterday.)
The woman in the white hoodie is the person I hate to be sitting next to. I do not want any one’s head on me. I don’t like sitting by drunk people either.
Today is a national holiday in Japan - Sports Day. It is held annually on the second Monday in October and commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle. The first Sports Day was held on October 10, 1966, two years after the 1964 Olympics. In 2000, as a result of the Happy Monday System, the holiday was moved to the second Monday in October.
Last month, McDonald's announced that it would lift its hair color restrictions for employees, to attract more workers amid a labor shortage and to improve the working environment. Previously, the Japanese unit of McDonald's required employees' hair color to look "natural".
The new policy was introduced on a trial basis at one restaurant in Osaka, and the restaurant chain decided it had a positive impact, with a threefold increase in recruits compared to the same time period the previous year. McDonald's changed its appearance policy in August 2021 to allow employees to grow a beard for various reasons, including religion.
Before reading this in the news, I had no idea there were appearance restrictions at the fast food restaurant. This reminds me of high school restrictions that require all hair color of students to be black. A few years ago this was a problem because one high school girl had natural brown hair and the school required her to dye her hair black, despite the rule against hair color. Many onsen/public baths do not allow bathers with tattoos. (Luckily for me, I have no tattoos.)
Have you ever worked anywhere that had a hair color or other appearance restriction?
Fire plays a part in many Japanese festivals. It is exciting, but also scary.
Last Saturday, I went to the Karigane Festival in Fuji City with three friends. This is the third time I went to this festival. You can read about when we went in 2019 and were fire throwers Here. I'm glad I did it once, but the fire throwing thing is too scary to want to do it again.
Three baskets on tall poles of different heights, with trees coming out the top, are the goals. There is a small one for children, and two others for the adults. Spectators are behind the fence. Participants (fire throwers) wear long pants, long sleeves, helmets, and goggles.
The fires around the area are for catching the wood attached to rope on fire. These are to be thrown in the air.
The people with the red and blue happy coats are the workers at the festival.
First, the children get to throw fire at the farthest away and shortest basket.
It is very difficult to swing the rope with the wood on fire up in the air and also watch out for the fire being thrown by others.
After it catches on fire, it burns until it falls down. There are people with hoses, just in case.
After the first one is gone, the adult participants go out for the middle height basket.
After throwing up your fire wood, you can pick up one from the ground and take it to the fire and get a new one to continue throwing.
The throwing continues until the basket catches on fire.
The third basket is very tall and it is difficult to throw the fire high enough.
After the third one catches on fire, the fireworks go off.
This is an exciting festival. If you want to attend next year, it is held on the first weekend in October in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture.
I cut up a handkerchief and stitched it by hand into a wallet to hold cards.
A fun little finish.
Former Empress Michiko lost her balance and fell Sunday evening at her home, resulting in great pain. The next afternoon, an examination at the University of Tokyo Hospital revealed a broken femur (upper leg bone). The Imperial Household agency reported the Empress Emerita underwent a successful surgery on Tuesday morning she is expected to stay in the hospital about two weeks. The exact date of her hospital discharge will depend on her rehabilitation.
According to his aides, her husband, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, appeared relieved upon hearing the operation was successful. The former Empress will turn 90 on October 20th. I wish her a speedy recovery and a very happy birthday!
Kogin Four Seasons progress -
Toki, who blogs at 私がめがねをかけるとき, and I are both stitching this kogin piece. (She blogs in Japanese, but there is a translation button on the top left under the title, if you don’t read Japanese.) Check out her progress!
I finished Spring and started Summer. The colors for summer are light blue and orange, with blue and yellow for complementing colors. (If you have the book, the pattern is A1 on page 90. )
For the main colors of light blue and orange, I am using this "1 chi" Japanese thread.
Summertime Mt. Fuji progress - I added a bridge across the water at the shrine, and worked on the pine tree.
Recently, when I’ve been riding the train, I have noticed very large rolling suitcases. Maybe these people are foreign tourists on a long holiday, maybe they are Japanese tourists who plan to bring back a lot of souvenirs, or maybe they are beauty queens with suitcases full of gowns and crowns. These large rolling bags are very inconvenient for other travelers.
How big is the bag you travel with? I don’t have a rolling suitcase and prefer to travel with a carry on backpack. Less is better, in my opinion.
Kiana Tomita has been chosen to represent Japan in the 2024 Miss World competition. She is a Kyoto University graduate school student and television personality.
I don’t hear/read about these kind of contests much any more. When I was a child, my friends and I watched the Miss America pageant every year. We reenacted the contests with our Barbie dolls. For the talent part, my Barbie was a dancer. Silly memories.
