Daitsu-ji (Lotus Temple), Lunch, and Coffee

I met three Fuji City friends at the Fuji train station for a day adventure. First we went to Daitsu-ji. When we got out of the car, I thought the temple looked familiar. As we looked around, I remembered I had been there years ago with two of the three friends I was with that day! They didn't remember, so I pulled out my iPad and found it on my blog from August 2016. 

Part I of the 2016 adventure.

Part II of the day, including the Lotus Temple. We could hardly believe how much sight seeing we did in one day, or how young we were then!

Us in summer 2016 - - -

Back to the present - - -

Even though it was beyond prime lotus season, it was still a beautiful place.

Next, we had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant named Lotus Land, but it was not connected to the temple or even nearby the temple.  It was fabulous!  We all ordered the same thing - the Lotus plate, which cost only 700 yen each. It is a very popular place and we had to wait a bit for our table, but it was well worth it. I would love to come to this restaurant again!

This was the view from our table - - -

Next, we went to the Venus Cafe for iced coffee with a scoop of ice cream. It's an ecclectic, interesting looking place. We enjoyed our dessert and talking. I would like to go to this restaurant again. With these same friends, of course!

We are planning our next get together in September and I am already looking forward to it.

Friday Finish - Dragonfly Burlap Bag

I saw this burlap bag at Muji for 399 yen and thought it would be perfect for this button dragonfly cross stitch piece. And it was! I hand stitched the piece to the bag. 

Meiwaku Gaikokuji - the Nusance Foreigner

This is another crazy crime story, this time involving foreigners.  

Foreign visitors are at an all time high in Japan, and with it, the number of incidents where these visitors are behaving badly have also increased. The media have created a new term for these people - meiwaku gaikokujin, which translates as nuisance foreigner. 

This particular incident took place at the Family Mart convenience store in Udagawacho, near Shibuya Center Gai in Tokyo on the night of August 7th. The foreign individual climbed up to the roof above the brightly lit signboard after 9:30 pm. A friend followed him up. A staff member of the store came out and gestured to them to come down, but the two ignored the requests and started yelling "I did it!" People on the ground were yelling "Get down, the police are coming!" They were not quick enough, and these two, along with another friend who was on the ground taking photos were arrested. 

As a foreigner, I am embarrassed by their bad behavior and feel these incidents give all foreigners a bad reputation. In addition, these incidents and behaviors go against the Japanese way of life and culture. Have you witnessed anything like this where you live?  Have you been involved in any type of incident like this?

Work In Progress Wednesday

This week should be pattern 19, but it is a difficult pattern and I am making mistakes with it. I have set it aside for the time being and moved on to pattern 20.  

Christmas Treasures Afghan progress

Two squares are totally finished -

New start - Just Nan's Rose Wings

Ito Anjin Festival - Fireworks

The second night of the festival was an hour long fireworks show. The fireworks are shot off from three different locations over the water. (Everyone had forgotten about the earthquake warning the night before.) We had a good place to sit at the edge of the beach. 

Monday Morning Star Count

After quilting the heart, I am quilting simple straight lines on the back ground.

More hexagons made -

Year 5 of the Temperature Quilt 

When I pulled it out, it looked like this:

I've added the top and bottom border, the location, and the legends for days of the week and temperature. I still need to add side borders and piece fabric for the backing.

It now looks like this:

Summertime Mt. Fuji 

I took this photo from the train station.

Ito Anjin Festival - Taiko

The Anjin Festival celebrates the launching of the first western-style Japanese ships in 1604. Anjin Miura (English name - William Adams) was an English navigation officer, who drifted ashore in Japan in 1600.  He made great efforts to promote international trade, including building Japan's first western-style sailing ship on the orders of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Anjin was known as the Blue-Eyed Samurai. 

One of the festival events was the Taiko competition in Nagisa Park. Taiko is the Japanese drumming that has been part of the Japanese culture for centuries. Taiko drumming isn't for sissies. It's a very energetic, aerobic, work out. The event was scheduled to last three hours.  

Just before 8:00 pm, phone alarms (earthquake warning) started going off.  Two days before this event there was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in southern Japan, within the Nankai Trough. This trough includes the area where I live. As a result, the Japanese government issued a mega-quake advisory, the day before the taiko event.

The earthquake warning that evening was for an earthquake in Kanagawa Prefecture, next to Shizuoka Prefecture. We didn't feel the earthquake at the event, but it spooked everyone and the taiko was canceled at that time, so we took the train home. 

Life in Japan is never dull.