Monday Morning Star Count - Week 23

Year Three of the temperature quilt  

Week 23 

September 29 - October 5 

82, 84, 84, 84, 81, 84, 83

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.

Autumn Festival at Work

Every October, my place of employment holds an Autumn Festival for the employees. This year it was scheduled for Friday night.  With Typhoon 19 on its way, the festivities were cut short, ending at 7:30 instead of 9:30 pm, but many people still attended and had a good time while it lasted.

After opening remarks and welcomes, the entertainment began.

Beer refill people made sure no one had an empty cup.

The magic act was the absolute best!  The magician and his assistant were hilarious.  I don't know if you can tell, but the assistant's outfit is part kimono and part short skirt and heels.

Audience participation made it even more fun!

The ending to the evening was the prize drawings.  My friend won a four-pack of Aoi craft beer.  She shared with the other three of us.

I had a really good time and was sorry the evening ended early.

Pope to Visit Japan

Pope Francis

After visiting Thailand from November 20 - 23, it has been announced that Pope Francis will visit Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in Japan from November 23 - 26. While in Japan, he will visit with Emperor Naruhito, Prime Minister Abe, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga.  In 2014, PM Abe invited Pope Francis to visit Japan when he was at the Vatican.  

In 1981, Pope John Paul II was the first Catholic Pontiff to visit Japan. Although its main religions are Buddhism and Shintoism, Japan has about 441,000 Catholics, many in Nagasaki. Nagasaki Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami has welcomed the upcoming visit of Pope Francis, saying he and others have been asking the Pope to come to Japan for years. Nagasaki's history of Christian missionaries goes back many years, including the 26 martyrs killed in 1597.  

I visited many of the Nagasaki Catholic sites when I was there in 2017, and posted about the History of Christianity in Japan after my trip.  I am not Catholic, but I am interested in the Pope. I don't know what the Pope's schedule will be or if there will be public appearances, but I would like to see him.  I wonder what language he will use when in Japan. Obviously there will be Japanese translators. I will try to find out more about his Japanese trip.

Friday Finish - Camping Out

Genghis Khan

In Japan, Genghis Khan is a meat dish featuring mutton, that is especially popular in Hokkaido.  What?  Wasn't Genghis Khan the ruler of the Mongolian Empire during the late 12th and early 13th centuries?  

Haiying Yang, a Mongolian-born humanities professor at Shizuoka University claims giving this food the same name is disrespectful.  Yang told the Japanese language division of Newsweek, "Mongolian people feel the same way about Genghis Khan as Japanese people feel about the emperor of Japan.  He is a sacred figure whose name should not be used for a kind of food."  

Most people probably don't know how the food came to have the same name as the Mongolian ruler.  Keiichi Takaishi, Japanese food historian, explains it started with Yoshiji Washizawa, a Japanese journalist born in 1883.  He spent time living and working in Beijing and while there he and a Japanese co-worker ate a mutton dish at a restaurant.  He remembered eating in in Mongolia also.  The two began referring to the dish as "Genghis Khan" and eventurally other Japanese people used the term and it spread back to Japan.  The Japanese-language pronunciation (and way of writing) are a little different.

● ジンギスカン / jingisukan = food

● チンギスハン / chingisuhan = historical figure

What do you think? Is it disrepectful to use a centuries old ruler's name for a popular food?  Is it even the same name?  Can you think of any other food with the same name as a historical figure?

Work In Progress Wednesday - A Bear and More Fashionable Ladies

A little progress on the Flapper Bear.

A few more beads on the Camp Out.

What I'm really having fun with, is the Fashionable Ladies. I want to work on them all the time now!

Body Donations in Japan

In recent years, the donations of bodies to medical universities in Japan has dramatically increased.  Some say this is due to a change in attitudes toward death in the country, while others contend it is due to the number of older people without families to take care of their remains after death.

In 1985, about 68,000 people offered to donate their bodies to medical universities after death, compared with 296,000 as of March 31, 2018, according to Tokushi Kaibo Zenkoku Rengokai, an association set up to encourage this practice, which is known as kentai in Japanese. 

One of the reasons why few people offered to donate their bodies in the past was the taboo of Japan's Buddhist heritage against damaging bodies after death. According to Kentai Association executive director and Kyorin University anatomy professor, George Matsumura, attitudes toward death are changing.  One reason he gives is Japan's numerous natural disasters. He said that witnessing the deaths of family and friends in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami made people more conscious of wanting to decide the endings to their lives. 

Signing up to donate one's body is simple. The person registers to donate with a university and receives a body donation card.  After death, family members or someone close to the deceased must contact the university to claim the body. After the body is used in dissection classes, the body is cremated. Medical school professors stress the importance of the hand-on approach to teaching anatomy to students.  About 15 universities in Japan, including Hokkaido University and Kumamoto University have stopped accepting offers of bodies due to lack of capacity for storage. About 4,000 bodies are dissected annually at 98 universities in Japan. 

What do you think the situation is where you live? Are people reluctant to donate their bodies or are there too many donations? I'm curious about how this works in other countries.

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 22

Year Three of the temperature quilt  

Week 22

September 22 - 28  

79, 88, 84, 84, 79, 81, 82

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.

Ashitaka Suijinja Temple Hike

This is the second year I have participated in the guided hike to Ashitaka Suijinja Temple with the same guide.  Last year it was rainy and cool, but this year we had a beautiful sunny day. This year the guide had the emergency vest plus he wore a helmet!

I shouldn't have been surprised to see men sweeping the stream.  Everything is kept neat and clean in Japan.

One hearing impaired man was on the hike and several of the other hikers knew Japanese sign language.

This is a wasabi farm.

The entrance to the Temple grounds.

The dragonfly landed and didn't want to fly away.

Do you notice anything about the guy on the right? I often see Japanese people doing this and I am always amazed.  He is resting with his feet flat and his behind is about one inch from the ground. I cannot do this. Can you?

It was an enjoyable hike on a beautiful day!