Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) festival

We had a great day with Yukie (the HGU prof who had us for sushi at her house and took us to Mt Moiwa soon after we arrived) today. It is Nov. 15 here, which is the day that Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) festivals are held at Shinto shrines all around Japan.

According to this website, this is one of the most important festivals for Japanese children and one of three major celebrations in their life. Girls of age three and seven and boys of age five (though in some families three year old boys also) are celebrated on Shichi-go-san.

The website explains that on Shichi-go-san the children dress up in special clothes, including kimono for girls and the pants that samurais wear for boys. They often have professional photographs taken in the morning and then their families take them to a Shinto shrine to give thanks for their health and pray for their continued good health, growth and a happy future free of sickness and misfortune.

The Shinto priest at the shrine performs a purification ceremony and then children are given shitose-ame (thousand year candy) that is colored red and white (the colors of luck and celebration), in long bags decorated with turtles and cranes. These are all symbols of longevity in Japan.

Well, we had three year old girls (and a six year old boy who remembered being five). And while we didn't rent the elaborate kimono, we did decide to go to the biggest Shinto shrine in Hokkaido to watch other Japanese families take part in this ceremony.

So we arrived and purified our hands and mouth, and then went into the shrine. We gave thanks for our health and prayed for continued good health, growth and a happy future for our own little ones. We took pictures of kids in kimono (asking some for permission, and taking others from a respectful distance) and found our own kids the target of photographers again as well (it is starting to drive them crazy, truth be told). And we marvelled at the mild and long fall (unusual, Yukie said) and the vivid colors of the leaves and bushes.

Yukie bought the kids some thousand year candy, which they loved, and I got them some cotton candy as well (which they loved too) and little Chinese horoscope charms (Jack is a horse and Katie and Livie are roosters) as a memento of the day. We meandered back through the park, the kids eating peanut butter sandwiches and running, and Livie taking a hard fall that we didn't fully appreciate until the blood started seeping through her tights (oops! And I have to admit that we were both relieved it wasn't Katie...)



We ended up at a sushi shop, where we met Yukie's husband and ordered lunch to go. The shop and chef are quite famous and award-winning, we learned. Apparently there is the take-out section, where we were, the ordinary restaurant, where Yukie has been once, and the "fancy" restaurant, where sitting down costs you $200!

We then went back to the Ueno's home for lunch. The kids did a miserable job eating the delicious sushi (Yukie had gotten them a cooked, kid-friendly version with egg) and didn't even really try the soup Yukie made, which is always a little frustrating. But we felt less worried when later Kai, Yukie's now 18-year-old daughter, told us that when she and her mom spent a semester in Lethbridge (I think she was in 2nd or 3rd grade), she insisted on ONLY Japanese food the whole time she was there.

We were wiped out when we got home -- and very happy with the great day. We had tacos for dinner (probably NOT the traditional, post-Shichi-Go-San festival fare), but the kids devoured their dinner and now are happily watching new WordGirl episodes on Youtube. What a weird and wonderful life we are leading.

When the shoe doesn't fit...

One of the saddest, hardest, more difficult parts of being in Japan for me is being surrounded by THE most beautiful shoes I have ever seen and not being able to wear any of them. Size nines (25.5 in Japan) are almost non-existent. For a while, I thought you simply couldn't find them in the entire country (as I had dragged the kids through countless shoe sections looking but never asking, because, well, that would involve talking), but then John asked for me one day and it turns out in every department store, hidden off in a corner far away from the beautiful shoes, they have a section marked "L", for size 25 and 25.5.

These are utterly sensible shoes (a polite way of saying ugly shoes) and the selection is, to be blunt, pathetic. Every time I looked at the beautiful shoes on the feet of every woman on the subway, at the kids' school, at the grocery store, I felt more and more like Cinderella's ugly stepsisters trying to cram my feet into the petite glass slipper. The only fact that has kept me from becoming truly desperate is that all of these shoes (hideous or gorgeous) start at about $160. So even if I wore a more dainty 23, it's not like I would be buying many anyway.

But then... this week the kids had two extra costume-fitting, performance practice days for the big show on Nov. 23, and so in addition to FINALLY getting some work done, John and I had a chance to do some shopping. We went to a place called POLE TOWN (a Pole in Pole Town!) on the way to a store we had heard about that carries large sized shoes... and (of course), it has closed down. Disappointed but undaunted, we set off for Daimaru, the fancy department store where Jack had, um, left his mark, as we had read in an English language newsletter that they were having a huge sale on shoes and handbags.

We arrived to the 7th floor to find ALL of the beautiful shoes, the $160-$250 shoes, on sale for $31.50! Hundreds of shoes, probably last season's styles but who cares! There *had* to be a pair here, John and I agreed. Briefly distracted by the handbags (either $31.50 or $52.50!), John pulled me over to the "L" section. Well, that might be giving it too much credit... I should say the "L" shelves. Yes, of the hundreds (or thousands) of beautiful shoes, less than two dozen were size 25 or 25.5. And most were very, very ugly.

I tried some on. I felt sensible. These are not what Japanese shoes look like. Where is the interesting detail, the lovely flair and fine lines and funky heels? Apparently, those things stop at 24.5. But then from the bottom shelf, John pulled out a pair of slip on flats... kind of like loafers. They have great details, nice lacing/ties on the side, and they were comfortable, and they were on sale -- and upon examining them further when we brought them home, I am pretty sure they are men's shoes! But I got them anyway, and love my Japanese (men's) shoes, and not surprisingly, they look great with my Japanese boyfriend jeans!

And here are a few other random photos of the week.








Katie falling asleep after a bath while watching a soccer match with John.







The girls getting their costumes on. You can see in the top of the picture to tops for the princesses and some spacesuits. Katie has on her pink skirt, and Livie is getting dressed, still wearing her brown pants.










Liv washing her hands and spitting before starting the school day.












Two boys greeting Katie and walking with her to the bathroom.












All of us walking to school (John taking the photo on the go.)


















Out for Mexican food, which, of course, the kids love.