The Summer – Page 2 – Kaori Square Feet

The Summer Fireworks

Fireworks, called hanabi in Japanese, are a summer staple here in Japan.

I don’t think there’s ever been a summer without going to a hanabi festival or just fireworks in the park with friends. But fireworks are definitely linked to summer here and I can’t seem to do without it.

This year, I took my beautiful new picnic blanket (you can probably tell from the pictures that I want to show it off! haha!) with me to the hanabi festival in Ichikawa. It’s a city in Chiba prefecture, located along the Edogawa river. We had a little picnic of festival food before the fireworks started. And then we just rolled over and enjoyed the show in the night sky while we oohed and ahhed 😀

Here are some pictures:

My sister with her we-found-a-great-spot smile 😀

I got free uchiwa’s (a hand fan) the night before and decided to redecorate them!

This is how we save seats! The whole riverside on both shores was a sea of picnic sheets.

There were lots of different festival food stalls along the river.

Anzu-ame, a festival favorite, is apricot dipped in sweet syrup.

People start gathering as the time for fireworks comes near.

People also watch the fireworks from boats called Yakatabune.

We had a glorious sunset…you can even see the Skytree in the distance!

My absolute festival favorite is Gyaga-batah, which literally means potato-butter.

The fireworks start off with a bang!

Tons of people were there watching the fireworks!

Something special about each explosion of lights. Aren’t fireworks fabulous?

It was a pretty great night…might have to make this an annual event!

“Bright lights and the big city.

It belongs to us tonight.”

– Cee Lo Green

The Summer Days

Isn’t it a weird summer we’re having in Tokyo?

The sky is sure getting a work out going from brilliant blue skies to dark stormy clouds in a blink of an eye. Pouring rain one minute, then a gorgeous pink sunset the next. Summer weather can be unpredictable but I don’t remember it being this crazy.

But you know what? I. Am. Loving. It.

The sky keeps us guessing and there’s nothing more intriguing than that, don’t you think? So people who are complaining about how hot it is outside…it’s going to be chilly winter in a couple of months and you’ll forget about how hot you were and wish the sun would come back out. So just grab a tapioca drink and relax! 😀

PS: But drink lots of water…you want to enjoy summer, not pass out from it! x

The Kagurazaka Festival

Kagurazaka Festival (神楽坂まつり) is one of the summer festivals that I always go to every year.

Kagurazaka is a place in Shinjuku that has a mixture of both Japanese and French culture. I think it’s largely due to the fact that the Institut franco-japonais de Tokyo is located in that area. If you go to the festival, you’ll see that along with the traditional Japanese festival food vendors there are vendors for wine, galette, and sausages. Sort of French, right?

Kagurazaka Festival lasts four days and over 50,000 people come every year. The first two days feature the Hozuki-ichi (Chinese lantern plant market) and the last two days feature the Awa-odori (Awa dance).

This year I went to the Hozuki-ichi and got my very own plant! Here are some pictures:

Almost every store along the Kagurazaka street had a hozuki plant decorating their doors.

Food vendors and people in yukata are a plenty at any festival.

Hozuki plants are a popular obon decoration because they represent lamps

so you’re ancestors can find their way back home easily.

Girls in yukata were selling the hozuki plant for 1,500 yen.

The Kagurazaka Festival poster…love all the dancing going on there.

It’s always a pleasure seeing people wear yukata at a festival…maybe next year for me!

You can see the green lantern seed gradually changing it’s color to orange.

It felt festive just holding a hozuki plant while walking around with everyone!

Kagurazaka also has the best cafes and restaurants, too!

Already looking forward to next year’s festival 😀

The Blueberry Kakigori

Kakigori, which is what we call shaved ice, is my favorite summer dessert. Cold and refreshing, it just hits the spot during our hot and humid summers in Tokyo. I could eat this morning, noon, and night.

Well, if the blueberry picking didn’t tempt you enough to go to the blueberry farm Myrtille Moriyama (ミルティーユ毛呂山), I’m pretty sure this will.

There was a little cafe/shop on the side of the farm called Hatofura (はとふら). They have a lovely terrace outside under a roof of grape vines. Perfect spot to enjoy the ice cream and kakigori we ordered while taking a break from blueberry picking!

The shop sold various jam, tea, and even fresh vegetables. It was one of the sweetest shops I’ve ever been inside and reminded me of the shops you see in the Anne of Green Gables movie (which, of couse, I love!).

Don’t you wish you were eating kakigori here right now? 😀

The entrance to the farm and cafe.

Handwritten menu.

Fresh vegetables for sale, too!

Couldn’t resist buying homemade jam!

Jars of herbal tea.

I love how this little shop is set up…everything looks lovely.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Blueberry Kakigori (it was delicious!!!)

Isn’t this an amazing place? 😀

The Afternoon at the Blueberry Farm

Have I ever mentioned how much I love blueberries?

I really do. I actually love any type of berry. But blueberries are my favorite. Which is why I always long for summers back in Michigan (where I grew up) because we had every kind of berry sold in farms and supermarkets for unbelievably low prices. The joys of living on the agricultural side of Michigan.

If you live in Tokyo, you know how expensive berries are. My eyeballs nearly fell out when I first saw the price. This teeny tiny plastic package filled with 15 or so blueberries can cost almost 600 yen. Isn’t that the craziest thing?

Anyways, I’d heard that there were blueberry farms around the Greater Tokyo Area so I looked into it and found a lot of farms. Some were even as close as the next ward over for me. But my friend wanted to take the car somewhere so a couple of us headed out to the further side of Saitama to go blueberry picking last weekend.

And let me tell you…it has heaven! 😀

The farm was called Myrtille Moroyama (Japanese website here).

The farmer said that the blueberry season this year was just starting.

We were all pretty serious about finding the best blueberry bush…so many to choose from!

I cannot tell you how excited I was to see so many blueberries within reach!

The first half hour I only had this much in my basket because I kept on eating it all!

So interesting how even on the same branch, some are already ripe and others still young.

There were 3 types of blueberries on this farm; Tifblue, Brightwell, and Powderblue.

I specifically tried to pick bigger blueberries to take home with me.

Found out that this farm has been growing blueberries organically since 1998…how awesome.

I love how they gave us these little baskets to put the blueberries in!

It was so much fun! Definitely going to try to come back again this summer!

Myrtille Moroyama

258-2 Takinoiri

Moroyama-cho, Iruma-gun

Saitama 350-0456

JAPAN

Blueberry Picking Hours:

(Open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays)

8:00am-12:00pm

1:00pm-5:30pm

Entrance Fee: 300 yen (includes all the blueberries you eat)

Blueberry Fee: 130 yen/100g (the ones you take home)

The Mitama Festival at Yasukuni Shrine

Last weekend I went to Mitama Matsuri, or Festival of Lights, at Yasukuni Shrine, after learning about it from Rurousha’s blog post. (I’ll let you learn about the festival and enjoy her photos here and here.)

Not only did I not know about this festival, but I’d never been to this shrine before. It was surprisingly close by so I’m glad I got to go this year.

My friend and I went during the day. There were thousands of lanterns all around the walkway and inside the shrine grounds, tons of food stalls selling everything from baked potatoes to cotton candy, and even more people there to enjoy the festivities!

Here are some pictures from the day:

There were over 30,000 lanterns on the shrine grounds. These were the big lanterns.

Many people in a yukata, walking towards the entrance of the main shrine.

Colorful festival decorations.

I’ve always wanted to work at a festival and wear the special miko (巫女) outfits!

A shrine stall where you can buy different kinds of charms called an Omamori.

This paper is an Omikuji, which you pull from a box randomly and it tells you your fortune.

Mine said that if I stay humble, god will protect me from harm…good advice.

These were the smaller lanters inside the grounds of the main shrine.

When you donate to the shrine, they write your name on the lantern.

The festival reaches its peak at night. Lots of people were admiring the pretty lanterns.

Rows and rows of lanterns…there were many people with cameras here.

The main shrine where people offer their prayers and offerings.

The moon was out this night above the shrine.

I loved how there were so many people in yukatas.

Like Rurousha, I liked the quiet parts of the shrine where the lanterns softly glow in the night.

It was a lovely festival full of fun and gorgeous lanterns.

The Sudden Summer Rain

Thunder storms excite me to no end.

We had a sudden storm on Sunday. I was just coming out of the supermarket when it started to rain a little and I thought, oh I’ll wait it out because I didn’t bring an umbrella with me. But then, it started thundering and the rain got stronger and stronger. And the power of the storm was so electrifying, I couldn’t help myself. I walked out into the storm.

Needless to say I got SOAKED!!! But it was awesome. The warm summer rain felt really great. And I wasn’t the only one walking around in the storm. I passed a couple of people without an umbrella and we just grinned at each other.

By the time I got home…the rain was still pouring but the sky was unbelievably blue. So where was the rain coming from? Who knows. All I know is I had a great time getting wet in the rain.

Hope you all get a summer storm or two to enjoy, too! x

The Dinner at Union Square Tokyo

We had a little reunion last Friday night.

D and I used to both work under Mr. T when we first started with the company. He was a great person to work with and I think we both learned a lot through his work ethics. We now no longer all work together but sometimes Mr. T takes us out, despite his busy schedule, so we can all catch up.

This Friday, he took us out to Union Square Tokyo, which apparently is a very popular restaurant at Tokyo Midtown. They had a bar near the entrance, further down a seating area with high ceilings, and a terrace outside facing the Midtown park.

We had an amazing dinner inside (yes, they will make some dishes vegetarian for you!) but since it was such a nice night out, Mr. T asked the waiter if we could have dessert outside on the terrace. I adore this man. You know I love the outdoors, even if it’s smack in the middle of the city. And having delicious wine, dessert, and coffee out on the terrace with some of my favorite people completely made my night!

Cool summer nights should always be spent outside with interesting conversation, don’t you think? x