Year Three of the temperature quilt
Week 51
April 12 - 18
55, 48, 63, 68, 61, 61, 61
I am reporting the high temperature each day. My Year Three temperature/color (Fahrenheit) scheme remains the same:
100 + Brown
90-99 Red
80-89 Orange
70-79 Yellow
60-69 Green
50-59 Blue
40-49 Purple
30-39 Pink
20-29 White
10-19 Black
You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.
Today is election day in my prefecture. The election is being held to fill a seat vacated by former Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki, who died in December at the age of 72.
The interesting thing is that there are two candidates with the same names and the same kanji characters, 田中健. Ken Tanaka, 42, is endorsed by four parties - the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. Ken Tanaka, 54, is from the NHK Kara Kokumin wo Mamaoru To (The Party to Protect the People from NHK). Other candidates include Yoichi Fukazawa, 43, of the Liberal Democratic Party and independent Kenzo Yamaguchi, 72.
In Japan, voters hand write the name of the candidate they are voting for on the ballot. To distinguish between the two Ken Tanakas, the election board is asking voters to write the age as well as the name of the candidates.
Ken Tanaka, 42, is the candidate featured on this political advertisement. He is the one on the left.
With all that is going on in the world, we are all feeling uneasy these days. There has been much in the news with how we are coping. In many places in the world, people are required to stay indoors. People are baking bread, reading books, knitting sweaters, exercising in small places.
Some people are shopping. In Japan, we are not locked down. The government requests that we stay at home if we can, but there is no penalty if you don't. In the last couple of weeks, I have been reading more and more about elderly hoarding. Younger and middle aged people have to work and have more family responsibilities, especially with children out of school, but many elderly people don't have these responsibilities and have a lot of time. Maybe they have lived through leaner times and are afraid of not having what they need.
Retired people are able to start lining up early in the morning, hours before the stores are open, to buy available masks, hand sanitizer, and other hard to get items, in addition to toilet paper, rice, and other readily available items. They are able to go to multiple stores during the day. Working people are complaining that by the time they are able to shop, the stores are sold out of that day's allotment of items. Things have gotten worse in the last two weeks since the Prime Minister declared a State of Emergency.
This sounds dangerous to me. Not because some people will do without food or toilet paper, because the stores just put out more the next day. I think it is dangerous because the elderly are at higher risk if they contract the coronavirus. Standing in line and going to crowded stores for items that are not really needed is crazy. Japan doesn't seem to have embraced the social distancing idea like other places.
I don't know what the answer to this is, or if there is an answer. Some people will continue to shop and hoard and others will continue to be upset that they can't buy what they want. Previously, I grocery shopped every other day or so to get fresh food and to not have to carry so much at one time. In the last month or so, I have change to shopping only once a week to avoid the crowded grocery store. I have been able to get what I want and have no complaints about what is available.
Is elderly hoarding an issue in other places? Are you able to find the things you need and want when you are shopping?
Some time ago, I made these two blocks with handkerchief butterflies. I decided it was time to do something with them.
I made two lined drawstring bags.
I'm not a mask person, and so far, am not required to wear one. I made a few for someone else who does need to wear one at work. There are many patterns and instructions out there. Here are masks I made and links to the instructions.
These are fun and simple to make. I used two squares of 13"x13" kimono fabric and pinned right sides together to keep the two layers together.
Using the machine, I sewed around, leaving a small opening for turning.
After turning right side out, I pressed flat and top-stitched.
I stitched two buttons to two opposite corners.
I folded the square around the tissue box and tacked two places for the buttons to hook under.
It's finished. You can pull out the tissue when you want. When the tissue box is empty, unbutton and replace the tissue box.
Year Three of the temperature quilt
Week 50
April 5 - 11
54, 64, 61, 66, 66, 61, 60
I am reporting the high temperature each day. My Year Three temperature/color (Fahrenheit) scheme remains the same:
100 + Brown
90-99 Red
80-89 Orange
70-79 Yellow
60-69 Green
50-59 Blue
40-49 Purple
30-39 Pink
20-29 White
10-19 Black
You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.
So far, it doesn't seem that Japan has figured out the social distancing thing like the rest of the world has. Public transportation is crowded, people closely line up outside drug stores waiting to buy masks, grocery stores with narrow aisles are full of people.
I saw some interesting examples for Japan to understand social distancing on SoraNews24.
Do you have any good examples for determining two meters or six feet?
This month, 36 year old Sawako Naito beat incumbent Akiyoshi Endo, 64, to become the youngest ever female mayor in Japan, by winning the Tokushima mayoral election. Voter turnout was 38.88 percent, up 6.82 percentage points from the previous election. She told reporters, "With the perspective of a woman, I want to make Tokushima a comfortable city for working citizens and families with small children".
Naito turned 36 in March. The previous holder of the youngest female mayor was Naomi Koshi, who was elected Mayor of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture in 2012 at age 36 years six months.
I think many in Japan are very preoccupied by age, so this is a big news story.
I made a little drawstring bag for the Pink Dress Girl. The inside is a cute star fabric. I like how it turned out.
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| Front |
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| Back |
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| Inside |
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| Drawn up |
Small local temples are great places to visit these days - you can keep your distance from other people and see some interesting things. There are many temples within walking distance of where I live.
