Tanabata....Star Festivalbata

 Yesterday was the Tanabata Festival, I forgot until I saw the decorations at the community centre where we teach.

The entrance to the community centre and the Tanabata Festival decoration.

At the heart of Tanabata is an old Chinese folklore that made its way to Japan during the Nara period (710-794).

The story is of Orihime, the weaving princess and Hikoboshi, the cowherd. They were so enamoured of each other that they neglected their duties. These two lovers were separated by the Milky Way and only allowed to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. Their reunion depends on clear skies; rain is said to represent the tears that keep them apart.

The festival is celebrated by people writing wishes on coloured paper called Tanzaku. These are then hung on bamboo branches. In many places, the bamboo is later set afloat or respectfully burned, to send the wishes to heaven.

When my kids were little, and I had a lot of students, I would have them write their wishes in English. It was a fun thing to do, write the wishes and make the decorations. Lots of giggles, lots of mess, but lots of fun.

This festival endures today because it is simple, heartfelt, and universally relatable. The idea of wishing for something and then sending that wish out into the world, and believing in the possibility of connection, resonates across cultures and generations.

What would you wish for?

Tofu

 In the cooler months I make soup to go with our meals. Either a simple consommé or miso soup. Soups are filling and warming. In the summer, however, soup loses its appeal, but I like to have something to go with our main dish, so I usually serve tofu as a side dish.

There are so many ways to serve tofu. I keep it simple, just with soy sauce, a few bonito flakes and chopped spring onions. I have to make sure the cats aren't nearby, as they love the bonito flakes. Bonito flakes are dreid fish that has been shaved, always reminds me of wood shavings!

Recently, I've been making a dish of tofu and avocado using a dressing that Christopher gets from his shop. It's a powder that you mix with olive oil. The dressing has a lovely, light, tangy taste, which makes it perfect for summer.

The advacdo and tofu dressing

If you are in Japan, check it out.

Today I made a chicken stir fry with bean sprouts and as a side I put some tofu with soy sauce and green onions.,

Tofu with soy sauce and green onions

Todays lunch.

I've found by having this extra bit of protien helps with my blood sugar. If I eat a protien heavy lunch then I don't get hungry until about 8 oclock, plus I don't have the awful blood sugar drop mid afternoon, which leaves me dizzy and shaking!

Tofu is a big part of Japanese cuisine. It's hard to imagine Japanese cuisine without tofu.

I was wandering when tofu was first eaten in Japan. Tofu originated in China over 2,000 years ago and was bought to Japan during the Nara period (710-794), carried by Buddhidt monks.

One of the earliest records where tofu is mentioned is in 1183, it appears as an offering at Kasuga Taisha in Nara.

During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), tofu became central to shojin ryori, the vegetarian cuisine of Zen monks.

By the Edo period (1603-1868) tofu was widely eaten by commoners. In 1782 a cookbook Tofu Hyakuchin, had 100 recipes and helped to popularize tofu nationwide. The cookbook was so popular that two additional volumes, a sequel and a bonus edition were released.

Today, it's still popular as it still one of the cheapest sources of protien. I've noticed that with prices going up on basic grociers tofu is becoming popular again. For myself, I've started to add a block of firm tofu, well drained, to mince meat when I make burgers. The price of meat has gone up a lot, so a pack that costs 700 yen, about £3.50, has a lot less meat in than this time last year. By adding the tofu I get just enough burgers!

Is tofu popular outside of Asia?

Sorry if there are any mistakes, my spell/grammer check app isn't working! It does that sometimes!

Rain, Rain And Then Even More Rain

 I know it's the rainy season, but the storms that are passing through are crazy.

Yesterday morning and this morning saw heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms.

Of course, the heaviest rain was at the time that Christopher had to leave for work. Today he could catch the bus near the house, so just a couple of minutes' walk. Most days, he has to walk about half an hour to get to the bus stop. I thought about asking Mikey to drop him off, but the rain was so heavy that I didn't think it was safe!

A news segment I saw earlier today was showing the city that we live in. The river has overflowed; some places are flooded, and there has been a landslide. Looks very bad in some areas. Where we are, we are alright, at the moment!

I went shopping this afternoon and managed to get a little video on the way back.

In the second video, you can see trees that are halfway submerged. The areas on both sides of the river are used as parks, there are sports fields dotted around and lovely walks. Most of the areas are public, but a few places are being farmed! I think this was planned that way; the roads on both sides are very high, but the areas next to the road are at the same level as the river. The idea is to have a big flood plain, with roads built very high so that the areas after that are protected from floods. Not sure that makes sense, basically there's a river, flood plain, high road, then the areas that are being lived in, some houses, lots of farmland.

This rain is forecast to last until Tuesday, when the heat will start. The forecast is for a temperature of  33℃. I guess summer has really started.

My Etsy Store

 It's finally up and running. 

Here is the link for it: JackiesNekoTales - Etsy Japan  

Have a look, any ideas or comments, please let me know.

I need this to work; otherwise, I have no idea what else I can do to make money.

I've enjoyed making the designs. They are AI-made, but it's not as easy as I thought. Somehow, the image in my head and what AI comes up with are totally different. It's then a case of tweaking the prompt, finding the right words to use to explain what I want to see. I used to think that using AI was cheating, but I've come to realise that my art is in words, not drawing or painting. 

Also, the designs depend on which AI you are using!

I used this photo 

And asked Gemini and Copilot to make a cute, Halloween image with a slogan on it. I copied/pasted the prompt, so both AIs got the same information, but the designs were completely different.

This is from Copilot

This is from Gemini.

I like both, but the Gemini one is a bit wordy! I'll change when I come to use it.

I now have to go down the rabbit hole of search engine optimisation. Help!!!!

Finally

 After a week of frustration, I finally got my Payooner account approved, which means my Etsy shop can be launched. I have a few other things to do to get it up and running. I hope by tomorrow I'll be able to put a link to my little shop.

Payooner is the company Etsy uses for money transactions, so, of course, it is very strict about verifying who you are. I understand that it keeps the company and its customers safe. But at the same time, it was so frustrating trying to find the documents that they would accept as ID.

The first problem was that a photo ID was needed. The only choice was a driver's license or a passport. I have a "My Number Card", which is a new ID issued by the Japanese government. This started in 2015 as a basic ID. Now your national insurance is embedded in it. Makes things easier as I only have to carry that card. I thought that the company would accept that as ID, but no! The way the webpage is set up is that it gives you a choice of two things to submit for ID. My Number Card wasn't a choice. I had to use my passport, which took a few hours to find. My fault, but still frustrating.

The next problem was address verification. Again, limited choices, utility bill, tax form or bank statement.

In Japan, to show proof of residence, you can get a form from the city hall called a Juminhyo. But there was no box for that. I had one utility bill with my name, but that wasn't accepted. I tried to use the bill I have for my National Insurance payments, but that was rejected.

This morning, David took me to the bank, and we got a printed statement, which took over an hour to do. One problem was that I had the wrong Inkan (see this post about Inkan Jackie's Japan Journal: Traditional Japanese Seal, Inkan ), so I had to change that first. Then, trying to explain why I needed the statement with my name and address on took 3 different clerks! But we got it done.

When I came home, I entered the bank statement, and finally, they accepted it, so my store can open!

Last night I was about to give up. I felt so frustrated and a bit angry. All I want to do is make a bit of money. I still want to get students, but I honestly don't know if that is possible. Teaching online is hard for me; I will do it if there is no other way, but I would prefer not to. I really thought that setting up a little shop and using AI, I could create a line of merchandise that people would like and buy. I never expected it to be this hard, though.

The banner for my shop

This is the banner on my shop. I like it and the name Jackie's Neko Tales!

Another Crazy Night

 The storm I posted about yesterday actually got worse overnight.

The rain was so heavy that I had to put the volume up on the TV. I gave up watching after half an hour! I spent time reading instead. 

I finally went to bed just after 11 pm. Just as I dozed off, my phone started to alert. A level 3 alert was issued for this area; the alert was aimed at the elderly to evacuate before the situation gets too bad.

In Japan, there are five levels of alerts issued.

Level 1 is an early warning information; you are advised to check the latest weather forecast.

Level 2 is an advisory; at this point, caution is needed. You should confirm your evacuation site and route.

Level 3 is a warning; danger is approaching. The elderly, children and the disabled should evacuate now.

Level 4 is a danger warning; everyone in the at-risk areas must evacuate.

Level 5 is an emergency warning; the disaster is already occurring. Take immediate action to protect your life.

I tried to get back to sleep after, but either a police car or a fire truck was patrolling. It kept going up and down the road with lights flashing and a loudspeaker, saying something!

David came back from work just before 1am. He was covering somebody else's shift, working 6 pm to midnight. He said the road outside the house was like a river! He had planned to go to a supermarket on the way home, but the area around the supermarket was flooded, and he didn't want to risk his car.

The rain has stopped for now, but it's very humid and sticky. It looks like it's going to rain from tomorrow for three days, then get very hot!

This afternoon, I went out to check on the blueberries. 

There are still a lot on there, I was worried that they had been blown down by the wind yesterday.

I managed to pick a few.

First blueberries

I hope to get more. I think by next week there should be a lot to pick.

An Invasion, An Earthquake, A Storm And A Mistake

 Have made the last couple of days very interesting!

We had a couple of nice days after about a week of heavy rain. I did a load of laundry on both days as the forecast was for another week of continuous rain. 

I managed to wash a few of the heavier blankets that I want to put away for the summer. I went to fold one yesterday and noticed a lot of black bits on it. At first, I thought they were seeds that got stuck on the blanket, which happens a lot, so I picked it up to take outside to shake it clean. When I picked the blanket up, the black bits began moving, definitely not seeds. I called for David, of course, I can't deal with bugs, which these black bits were. I thought they were ants as they were the right colour and size. David took the blanket out and gave it a good shake. When he bought it back in, he said that they weren't ants but baby praying mantises! I spent ages checking the other laundry, my bed and the floor to make sure there were no more. My room was invaded by praying mantis babies, not nice at all!

This morning, Hannah sent a message saying that there had been an earthquake in Miyazaki. The epicentre registered an M5 quake. Miyazaki is about a 3-hour drive from where we live, but it registered an M2 here. The whole island of Kyushu was affected by the quake; most places were just small jolts, but it's a reminder of how powerful these earthquakes can be.

I didn't feel the earthquake because the house was already rattling a lot. We've had the most awful of storms the past 12 hours or so. Heavy rain and wind, almost typhoon-like!

Mikey and I had to go to the other city to teach, actually, only 3 out of 7 students turned up!

These are little videos I took on the way to the city!

The last video is just as we are entering the city, you can usually see buildings in front, but today the visibility was very bad!

And the mistake was rather stupid of me! I was rushing to get ready to teach. I grabbed my roll-on deodorant and put some on, put on my T-shirt, then sat down to sort out the teaching materials. As I was doing this, I became aware of a burning sensation under my left arm. I have no feeling on the right side because of the mastectomy.  I took my T-shirt off, thinking it might be from the detergent, but then I could smell the muscle pain relief rub I use for my back. I had picked that up instead of the roll-on deodorant.

Left is the rub, right is the deodorant.

I hope the next couple of days are better! No more insect invasions or earthquakes, please! I think the rain is set in for a few days, though! And no more daft mistakes!