The Tokyo Quilt Show

Sunday, I took the train to Tokyo to meet with friends and to attend the Tokyo Quilt Show. This is not the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, that I attended for years.  The pandemic was the end of that Festival.  The Tokyo Quilt Show was a small show with an expensive entry fee and was quite a disappointment really. I guess I have been spoiled by the big shows.

There was one room of quilts, plus some quilts hanging in the hallway.  I had already seen quite a few of the quilts at other shows, plus photos were not allowed to be taken of the competition quilts in the center of the room. The good thing about the day was meeting with Queenie and Julie, who blog at Queenie's Needlework and My Quilt Diary. Also, it was not crowded and everyone wore masks, so it seemed pretty safe.

These were the winning quilts.

Along the right side of the room were boxed displays of some previously exhibited quilts, maybe of quilting teachers.  You may recognize some of these quilts if you attended other shows or saw my posts from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival or the Yokohama Quilt Show.

There were some hula dances as entertainment.

In the hallway were some nice quilts. I don't know why these could be photographed but not the others.

We hope to get together again soon.  Maybe the Yokohama Show will be back in November.

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 46

I have been working on the handquilting of year two nearly every day. It's coming along slowly.

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 46 

March 13 - 19 

68, 75, 68, 64, 66, 48, 63

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

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 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

How Ready Are You?

After the earthquake a week and a half ago, many people are talking about how ready they are if a big disaster hits. Of course there has been a survey already. The survey was conducted by Weathernews and included 9,495 people. The survey revealed that 10% had prepared about a day's worth of food for a disaster, 42% had three days worth, 25% had supplies for a week, while 23% had made no preparations at all.  The average number of days of provisions was 3.09 days.

As would be expected, people living in the area hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake eleven years ago are among those with the greatest awareness for emergency preparations. My prefecture is in the "3.25 days or more" category.

Another question asked was whether respondents knew about evacuation sites and routes to get to them in the event of a disaster. While 93% knew where to go near where they lived, only 72% knew the location closest to where they work.

I could probably be better prepared, but I do have bottled water and a good bit of canned beans and canned fish. I don't know how many days that amounts to and I don't have much variety of food.  I do know where to go both from my home and my work.  My workplace is very safety conscious and regularly has fire and earthquake drills. 

How prepared are you?  

Walking Tour

Monday the 21st was a national holiday in Japan - Spring Equinox Day. I made plans to meet up with some friends for a walking tour. The day was a little gloomy with Mt. Fuji looking spooky.

This is the park where the walking tour began.  The group was only six people with two volunteer guides.

The walking tour was outside of the park around the tea field area and was 4.5 kilometers. If the day had been clear, we would have had views of Mt. Fuji, like in the poster.

We did have some nice views.

This is a special tea field where tea for the Emperor is grown.

The black canopies can be rolled out on sunny days to prevent the growing tea from becoming bitter.

These are olive trees.  I had no idea olives were grown here.

Another thing I learned on this tour is that they begin picking the tea 88 days after Setsubun.

After the walking tour, we walked around the park, which is very nice.

In addition to many steps, there are also gently sloping pathways making the park accessible to people with mobility issues.

There are several observation decks.

There is even a little shrine.

It was a good day to spend with friends.

Fish Ice Cream

 

Would you try it?  It looks good. 

It is currently being sold at the Sakura Fes Nihonbashi 2022 event in Tokyo's Nihonbashi neighborhood until April 10th. The Odashi no Omekashi comes in three different flavors, each one featuring dashi and the primary ingredient Katsuobushi, which is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna, also known as bonito. Bonito shavings are used to make dashi, a soup stock used in many Japanese dishes. 

The three flavors available are: 

Tsuyu no Moto caramel and dashigara cookies

This is a richly flavored marbled ice cream combining caramel made from Ninben's つゆの素 特撰 Tsuyu no Moto Tokusen premium triple concentrated soup base and coarse sugar from Kikaijima Island in the Amami archipelago, prized for its salty-sweet brown sugar-like flavor, and cookies made from rice flour and katsuobushi grounds leftover from brewing dashi.

Dashi, sudachi and bonito ginger

A squeeze of sudachi citrus goes wonderfully on bonito sashimi, just as freshly grated ginger is perfect on bonito tataki (seared bonito). This ice cream pays homage to these favorite flavor combinations, blending dashi, sudachi, and ginger to create a rich umami profile and extending the flavor of golden dashi made with Ninben's katsuobushi.

Dashimaki Tamago

One way of appreciating dashi is combining it with eggs to make an omelet called だし巻き卵 dashimaki tamago. This ice cream reproduces the gentle and satisfying taste of this dish, blending eggs from free-range chickens fed on homemade fermented feed, then steamed to perfection and flavored with Ninben's 白だし特撰 Premium Shirodashi, a light-colored concentrated soup stock.

Price for the set of three is 1,950 yen including tax.  It looks good, but seems a little pricey for me.  What do you think - Would you try it?

Yugeta Mariko - First Woman Over 60 to Run Sub-Three Hour Marathon

 

Yugeta Mariko currently holds the women's marathon record for 60 - 64 year olds, finishing the 2021 Osaka International Women's Marathon in a time of 2:52:13. She ran her first marathon at age 24, finishing in 3:09:21, and hoped to run a sub-3 hour marathon some day. 

After that, she married and had four children, so running took a back seat to her family.  Shortly before her 40th birthday, she returned to running. At age 51, she came close to her goal of under 3 hours, finishing the Nagoya Women's Marathon in just under 3 hours 6 minutes. She succeeded in breaking the three hours barrier at age 58. 

When she discovered that no woman over the age of 60 had completed a marathon in under three hours, that became her next goal. She is now the only woman to have met that goal, not once but multiple times. She runs 600 to 800 kilometers a month, making sure to eat well and sleep enough, and avoids alcohol. Her new goal is to finish in under 2 hours, 50 minutes.  

She is so amazing! Never give up on your dreams or think you are too old to do something.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Puppy Love

 

Ukrainian Bookmark

Quiet Please

 

I really like these polite reminders about how to behave on the trains in Japan.

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 45

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 45 

March 6 - 12 

52, 55, 45, 54, 55, 64, 70

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

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 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

Ukrainian Embroidery

We are all hearing and thinking about Ukraine these days. 

I had heard of Ukrainian embroidery before, but other than seeing colorful embroidered clothing, didn't really know what it was and had never tried it.  Looking on the internet, I came across a free simple Ukrainian pattern for a bookmark on the EGA website. This little pattern was perfect and I started working on it yesterday afternoon, using the called for colors. 

I wondered about the colors used and found this explanation on the 2kolyori website.

White – Everyone knows that this color implies innocence, virginity, purity. Our ancestors considered that embroidery with decorative white color could be worn only by young unmarried girls. It was because white embroidery was regarded as the symbol of virginity and protected girls from misfortunes and the evil eye. 

Red - is the most popular color of embroidery, our ancestors said "this paint fills up positive live energy". Red symbolizes love to humans, life, the sun energy, joy. That's why children's and women's embroidery items are most frequently adorned with red threads on white or red fabrics.

Black – as the earth is the main source of food of our predecessors, they related the color black to the earth and its fertility. But it is not unanimous in different regions of the country. For example, it is considered to be the symbol of mourning and death in the Polissya area, and just on the contrary in Podil and  on Borshivska embroidery. Black embroidery on the clothes promises welfare and wellbeing to its recipient.

Dark blue – is a frequent color on Ukrainian embroidered clothing as our ancestors referred to it as a powerful talisman. The symbol of the sky and water (healing from illnesses and spiritual calmness). Embroidery with dark blue threads is most often seen on men’s embroidery and on children’s one as well, as our predecessors tried to protect children and men who were often in danger from illnesses and threats.

Green – is a female color on the Ukrainian embroidered shirts, it is associated with youth, beauty, carelessness and spring. It was believed that the green colour on embroidery saves in nature calamities.

Golden or yellow – this color is the symbol of honey and wheat, welfare, wellbeing, richness and joy. Embroidered clothes with golden or yellow ornaments will help to bring material well being into your life.

Multicolored ornaments – All colors mentioned above are considered to be traditional both for Ukrainian embroidery and accessories. Natural dyers today make it possible to create threads of versatile colors: grey-blue, light and dark-brown, from light blue to deep dark-blue, a rich palette of green and red tones. Multicolored ornaments in the embroidered towels and clothing are met all over Ukraine. Ukrainian artisans accomplish wonderful bright and unique patterns with the help of multicolored threads.

Smithsonian's National Zoo Pandaversary

Former First Lady Patricia Nixon was instrumental in bringing giant pandas to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. In February 1972, at a dinner in Beijing then First Lady Patricia Nixon told Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai of her fondness for giant pandas.  As a gesture of goodwill, Premier Zhou gave two giant pandas to the American people. President and Mrs. Nixon chose the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC as home for the pair, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. The then Zoo director Theodore Reed escorted the pandas from China and they arrived in Washington DC on April 16, 1972.  Mrs. Nixon welcomed the pair in an official ceremony on April 20,1972, declaring "pandamonium was going to break out here at the Zoo." 

On April 16, 2022, the Smithsonian's National Zoo will celebrate 50 years. Check out this Washington Post article to find out more about the beginnings of giant pandas coming to the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

Night Time Quake

 

You never know when the next earthquake will happen. It is just over eleven years from the big earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. 

This screen shot is of the one that occurred close to midnight Wednesday night.  The shaking woke me up but there was no damage where I am. I live in the dark blue (3) area. I read that at least four people died and many more were injured. A bullet train with about 100 passengers derailed and there were no injuries. Japan Today reported 2.2 million households had power knocked out. 

I think this earthquake is a reminder to do the things you want to do while you still can. The next one could be worse.