Edit: Click HERE to see where I live. The cursor is on me! This feed must from awile ago as there are none of those big dirt spots left and the bridge is much nicer!
Ah, well Farva is gone to his new home for the next two weeks. My supervisor's son is going to take care of him. I miss the little bugger already! Now I have to force feed myself the leftovers in my fridge!
Today, I made the best teaching tool yet. Tired of straining my voice over loud kids, I put my small staff locker keys in an empty aluminum bottle. And then I shake it. They stop in their tracks like dogs. Awesome, I don't even have to say anything.
I gave my supervisor a Christmas present of Jelly Bellys, blueberry tea, and candy canes for his family. I also wrote a ridiculous card saying things like, "Go to America and we'll eat Mexican food. Let's always be friends!" haha. but in Japanese, that's why it's so absurd.
This past weekend I went to Nagoya and ate at Hard Rock (oh yes finaly a veggie burger!) and added another pin to my large collection (it's a surfboard at that!). I bought an easy Christmas book to read to the kids, a book for myself, and a few things from the international food store, including Hello Kitty tea. It was just sitting at the register and was a complete impulse buy, how could I not?! I also saw my first James Bond movie, the latest one. It actually wasn't crap, and a good overall movie in fact. I did not care for the actress though, she was odd looking and didn't act very well. Anyways... I also went to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant! I had 'chickn' and cashews, potstickers, ma-po tofu (with 'ground beef'), and snow'fish' and veggies. All was made with TVP. They even served brown rice, you could buy the TVP chunks there (and I did) and the guy was soooo nice. And the complimentary tea was great. My favorite was the fish, it was crunchy and blackened on the outside (looking like fish) and the sauce it was in was real nice to. The chickn was the runner up. I do love me some cashews. I am definitely going back. It is called Chien-Fu, although I also saw it written Chen Fu and Chan Fu.
I've taken a lot of photos, but mostly of food. Here are some recently;
From the Xmas party:
A seductive bird?
Sunset & cold mountains
Looks like a shrine used to be here, but now only the stone structures remain.
A 4th grader drew this for me: pretty accurate I'd say...
I will have the internet while in Hong Kong... so maybe look for some photos in the next couple of weeks! Wish me a good trip!
Before we get into things, I would just like to offer a little enlightenment to all. Sake is pronounced sah-kay, not sa-key. Sushi is not raw fish, but it refers to the vinegared rice, in which you can place raw fish, egg, veggies or anything else in or on it (the Japanese love adding mayo). Thinly sliced raw fish by itself with no rice, albeit smoked, is called sashimi (sah-she-me). Now you know!
Let’s start off with the most recent news shall we? First, my infection was caused by E. Coli. Awesome. Second, I am allergic to the cold. It’s a real thing, it’s called Cold Urticaria.
I figured out I feel like a cat or dog in Japan. Hearing Japanese has become very natural and even though I may not understand them, I can hear and predict the speech patterns and such. So while your dog or cat does know some English words (its proven), over all its just nonsense that sounds a certain way. Does that make sense? Probably not.
The other day, it was 10 degrees Celsius. I had on 2 pairs of socks including knee highs, leg warmers, long johns, jeans, 2 long sleeve shirts, a dress shirt and a cardigan. Ok, it was cold. The school is cold. Even the “heated” teacher’s room isn’t that great. I look outside and these poor kids have to run around the track in t-shirts and shorts. I was then informed I was not allowed to wear gloves in the classroom (I told them I break out in spots so they said it was ok- due to the cold allergy). The kids aren’t allowed to wear gloves, the girls drape their swishy jogging top over their legs to keep warm. And yet the windows are open in the hallways. What is going on here?!
Speaking of things that don’t make sense, I went out to buy a new pillow to sleep on last night. Not a big deal, so you would think. Lets see, feather pillows, therapeutic awkward shaped pillows, temprapedic pillows, pillows with rocks in them (I’m not kidding)… Ok… where is just a normal pillow? Oh here’s one. Oh, its $30. So I ended up buying a body pillow for $9 to just use as one whole pillow across the top of my bed. It is overstuffed and too big to be comfortable. Just like my other “normal” pillow. It’s giant and not comfortable at all. I'm going to perform "surgery" and give it a little lypo.
I did find some raisin bread I could eat and bought a couple of loaves of that. I also bought some greens that were discounted to 65 yen. When they rang up they came up as 0 yen. Awesome!
Last weekend I went to a Christmas party at a little restaurant that had been reserved for all of us and they made me special mashed potatoes and green beans and salad and mushroom pasta which was really sweet of them. I gave them chocolates as thanks. I gave out samplers of my chocolates and I think they went over pretty well. It was a good night.
Next Wednesday I leave for Hong Kong! I am very excited and look forward to a vacation and being able to buy fresh bread. The place we are staying can help get you a China visa in a day so I hope to hope across the border for some bootlegs, Taco Bell, and Papa Johns. I also have a feeling I may be out in the shops on my own at times. No one has been able to keep up the feat of staying with me for power shopping/browsing. I was gradually trained in to the marathon shopper I am today by a grand champion herself, Mom. And when I say “power shopping” this does not necessarily mean purchasing. It is the ability to go from shop to shop to shop non-stop. And Hong Kong is like THE marathon of shopping. Add on cheap shopping on top of it being in a foreign land, and I am in every shop exploring. Sorry friends, you can’t hold me back! (Actually, Jenise could keep up with me, but due to her having to try on and touch everything, the number of places to go dramatically decreases. But she’s not here so it doesn’t matter =p)
First news: I can pick up my camera tomorrow, AND it was covered by warranty! I am so happy. ALSO, I am allowed to take baths again! (I couldn't because of the infection) My back has been killing me, so it's my little joy. At today's checkup, the doctor said my pee was "clean/pretty" but I'm still on meds for a week just in case.
While on the subject, let us talk about Japan's medical field. If you have a cold, or a cough, people will say "Go to the hospital." And to me, that seems quite extreme. But I think in Japan, going to the hospital does not equal an emergency. Its just like doctor check ups, where you can or cannot have an appointment. So its "no big thang." It is so much not a big thang, that in fact, the hospital is closed on Thursdays (I cannot offer any more info, I have no idea). I have also heard while studying here a few years ago, that when people got sick, the doctor just kinda gave them pills and didn't really say anything about it. I now have first hand experience. The lovely nurse told me to take pills 3 times a day. Ok! But when I got home and opened the pack.. what's this? little packets of powder. Luckily, Chris had seen a co-worker with a similar thing. You are supposed to put the powder in your mouth, then drink something. You are probably thinking what I was.. "uh-huuhhhhhh". So I did it, hoping that it wasn't one of those preservation/dry packets that come in shoes. The next time I mixed it with water, because, that makes sense. Oh-ho-ho readers! You have not been paying attention! Japan does not exist on sense. i mixed it with water, and it tasted like crap. I then asked one of the English teachers how to take it, and told me the same thing: pour it in your mouth. Still weird.
Last night was the end of year party. Now, everyone knows of Chris and I's diet, and I asked and was told that yes, there would be food for us to eat. As we arrived, we saw that there was some veggies and tofu on a giant plate, but what's this?! Oh, its covered by raw bloody slabs of death. Oh, an unappetizing pile of cabbage salad, but its something, but alas! covered in fried flesh! The salads and soup in front of us? Seafood, seafood, seafood. We ate some eggplant that may have been questionable. The other co-workers nearby looked at us, and said, can you eat anything? We pitifully said "just the eggplant". The laughed at us saying "so sad!" and continued stuffing their progressively reddening faces from alcohol consumption. About 20 minutes later of us complaining to eachother, we were actually checked up on. Oh no! no food for our international friends! Let me tell the staff! A few minutes later, a giant platter comes towards us, Chris and I's eyes light up! Until it came down to eye level...
A giant plate of raw grated cabbage!! YUM! (Thank you Chris's cell phone)
We pitifully had a small plate of of this. Five minutes later, we are brought some cold tofu and scallions. We were excited to have food, but we still weren't thrilled with having to possibly pay about $50-$80+ for cabbage and tofu. About 10 minutes later our lovely wonderful co-worker was appauled this was all we had to eat! The cook then felt sympathy and made us udon and tenpura. The end they served rice and pickled food and hot tea and I was stuffed! mmmMM!
During the party everyone but us became increasingly drunk and red-faced and thankfully did not notice the karaoke machine. Chris's supervisor started talking to her condisendingly like a child, I started to feel like the foreign "pet". Like a little dog that is dressed and babied and cooed at and made to feel dumb (not on purpose, but that is what I felt like). So it was more than annoying. The former high-school English teacher came up to us and said how happy he was we were here in Japan. Then he asked me if I hated Japanese (I said, "I like it but it is difficult." He seemed to like that answer). He we had this conversation:
Guy (to Chris): You are false vegetarian.. false? no... Chris: I am not false. Guy (to me): You are perfect vegetarian. (To Chris) You are false vegetarian.
He was just trying to use words for being vegan and vegetarian. But I loved being called that! Other jems of the night including jaw dropping gasps that people in America can use chopsticks (or as my supervisor said "chipstick" so cute) and not just Americans! But Koreans, Chinese, etc... WOW! Japan can be very wonderful, but they are very self-centered (not to mention intensely materialistic, patriotic, and stubborn, I would say even more than America, but that's another topic =p ).
These past few weeks have involved me being sick, the internet breaking along with my new camera, cooking a big thanksgiving meal, going to meetings, and getting a bladder infection. And it’s pretty cold.
My thanksgiving dinner was Tofukey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cornbread, green beans, stuffed mushrooms and pumpkin pie with a flaky crust. Everything was homemade (except for the maple syrup I put on my cornbread=p). It was a weekend of gluttony and laziness.
This past Friday night was spent with Pat and Ed figuring out details of our Xmas/New Years trip. I think the final result is just to hang out in Hong Kong and Macau as going to Beijing would be a lot of extra money right now. So while I am intent on going to Beijing at some point while I’m over here, it won’t be now.
Saturday was an early start off to Kyoto. Ed’s adopted host-mom (Junko) was taking us out to some interesting events (along with her friend, her friend’s husband, and our friend Katie). First up was the Suntory Beer Factory tour! Suntory is a large drink distribution company (soda, coffee, etc) but is mostly known for their alcohols. We rode the bright yellow Suntory Beer Tour bus for free to the factory. Once there, we drank some tea, was shown a power-point presentation and got to eat barley and sniff bitter and “fine aroma” hops. The tour was basically all about one kind of beer, “The Premium Malts” which won best beer in all of Europe in 2005 and 2006, as well as prizes in Japan. They use all sorts of premium waters and don’t skimp out on hops and such, and other environmentally friendly things. We saw the factory and the giant vats and the canning process. At one point we walked through a section that smelled like whiskey, and my stomach didn’t enjoy that so much. Finally, we come back to our original room and get a free glass of this god-like beer, draft-style. It was all right. They showed us how to pour the perfect beer for head. I could barely finish my first glass, I was starving and couldn’t eat the mixed nuts they gave us (cuz it had shrimp in it. Why? I don’t know). They gave me a free Suntory pint glass and a packets of ads to hand out to friends as a door gift. Their gift shop sucked. Next we stopped for lunch and were off to a “tea ceremony” where you make your own “cake”. I say “cake” because that is misleading, as it was tea “sweets”or even “desserts” not cake. Anyhow, we made some wagashi (Japanese sweets).
The first one was cinnamon mochi (chewy sweet rice dough) rolled out, with some anko(red sweet beans) and a strawberry in the middle. We raised the sides of the mochi to the strawberry to look like a flower. Kinda like this
The second was strawberry mochi with a strawberry sweet bean paste filling made into a triangle. Like this, but pink.
We then MADE our own traditional green tea. 2 scoops of the greenest green powder, mix with hot water, and stir with this crazy looking whisk until frothy.
As explained in the “big tea” ceremony post, the sweetness of the sweets offsets the bitterness of the traditional green tea (macha). It was real good. I know the sweet beans sound weird, and I was skeptical at first, but they are really good. And now that it’s could you can find hot buns with the bean filling at convenience stores, it’s the perfect snack. Then we part ways with everyone and Ed and I strolled around a busy Kyoto city night. We dropped our stuff at our hostel and went out for more adventure (which really just included arcades and drinking at a crazy Japanese rock bar). We did go to a “vegetarian” restaurant, which wasn’t all vegetarian, but had a load of options (Clevelanders- think of a posh Tommy’s). The best part was, EVERYTHING was fresh. Japan has so much processed food, this was so great to taste. They had fresh veggies lying on the tables, and great mood lighting for such a small place. I had tofu and avocado slices and a tofu & veggie burger for an appetizer. My main dish was a small Margharita pizza (tomato sauce, basil), with a crust made from brown rice smooshed together then baked, so the bottom was crispy and the top was chewy and even a bit creamy from the heat. You can tell it was hand made as there was no shape to the crust. It even had homemade tomato sauce! Yum! (can you tell I’m writing this when I’m hungry at work?).
Sunday morning I called my mom to tell her Happy Birthday (since it was still her birthday at home), and we set out for some coffee. We went to Nijo Castle, which was pretty amazing. The floorboards were specifically made to squeak so no one could sneak into the palace. They called them the Nightingale Floors because the squeaks were almost musical and sounded like nightingales. Check out this random persons pictures to get a feel. We went and got Indian food for lunch, wandered around the shops, went to the foreign food store where I found candy canes and can now make peppermint bark! Then started the long, long train ride home to my apartment.
My apartment is cold (no central heating here) and my heaters are always on. I think this has been causing me to blow fuses, which always scare me (a loud pop and then plunged into darkness? Cmon, cheap scare). Tonight there is an enkai for the office. Enkai being an obligatory drinking party with your coworkers. I am looking forward to eating its elaborate food. I am pretty sure I am not going to stay another year. Japan is nice to stay in, but having to work and live con your own here isn’t exactly thrilling. “It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” So if you know of any jobs that pay you to travel, please leave some hints. Maybe I could write articles and sell them or something. Wait, I suck at writing, nevermind! =p
This weekend was a nonstop “festa” of fun. I’m not sure what festa means, but Japan likes to use it, maybe they mean fiesta. Friday I went to Nabari for a friend’s birthday party/dinner. Much eating, drinking, dancing, conversing, and noise making was had by all. I introduced a bunch of people to Ohio’s beloved candy, the Buckeye. Of course, they fell in love. I slept on the floor with 3 other people that night. Saturday morning I hung out some (I intended to go to Tsu for an international "festa" but appearently it really sucked), did a little shopping and eating, then went back to Ed’s in the afternoon to clean up and to rest a bit before another extravaganza was had. It was another birthday get together at a restaurant for two people I had never met in Iga-Ueno. Many people came and it was a gathering of cultures, new and old friends, and a buffet of food.
Note: I could not eat any of this, but some other tasties were prepared for me later.
After filling ourselves, everyone departed and decided to go to Jazz Bar in the cold, wet rain. Ed and I, having not slept much the night prior, headed over to a friends house to get some sleep before another busy day. And a good thing too, as everyone that went to the bar then went to karaoke and didn’t get in until 3 hours before they had to wake up. I was glad to sleep.
Sunday morning came rolling around and it was the big day for the “big tea”. Practically everyone but Ed and I were a bit worse-for-their-wear having barely slept. All 10 off us hopped a couple trains to get on a big bus for our tour. Before this, no one had any clue what was going on. Turns out it was a guided tour, and for 2,000 yen (about $18) we got an hour bus ride to Nara, into 3 temples, lunch, and the big tea cup, along with some other various activities and free time before the ride back. What a deal! It was almost worth it, but the tour lady would not SHUT UP the entire time, the speaker on the bus was so loud, everyone was being loud to talk over her, and it was 8:30 in the morning and people just wanted to rest and imagine the hunger away from no one having breakfast or being able to eat for another few hours.
I took a video of a normal smaller town in Japan as the bus rolled on if you’re interested.
Here is some pictures from the first temple, Yakushi-ji.
Taking an illegal picture =p
Then we went to the second temple, Saidai-ji where we would have lunch and tea.
The most interesting part was I believe our whole lunch was vegan, to my utmost surprise. I was ignoring things I was pretty sure I couldn’t eat and just picking out what I could. Luckily, the supervisor of this meal was 1 person away from me, so I would ask if things had milk in it or fish. And he would just say “No, not meat,” or “not fish”. I then learned NOTHING was meat of fish, all tofu. Then he said “Looks like fish, but tofu. Look like egg, but tofu.” So I had a giant delicious lunch of tempura, chestnut candies, tofu meat, tofu “froth”, creamy tofu, rice and beans, yam jelly-like things, persimmons, mochi and miso sauce, broth with seaweed and tofu skin, potatoes, lotus root, something chewy, and a fried tofu veggie ball with unlimited hot green tea. This sounds like a lot, but it was all on one tray in tiny portions. And it was freezing out so it was nice to eat and have hot tea (the rooms weren’t any warmer, just drier). I wish I had taken a picture! Then we had to go around and introduce ourselves. I’m sure the Japanese people in the tour group were surprised to see us all sitting on the bus, but they seemed happy! One little old lady (maybe about 70ish with red sparkly barrettes in her gray hair!) said in her best English that she was so happy there were foreigners she could talk with and thanked us for teaching English in their schools. It was really sweet.
Then, on to the tea! This ritual is performed twice a year at this temple. When you are at a tea ceremony, you sit with your knees tucked under you as long as you can (which is really hard to do for a lot of people, and really hurts after a few minutes for the people who can), you are given a pretty paper to put in front of you and some sort of sweet is given to you. Ours was pressed sugar with red sweet beans in the middle (mm!).
You have the sweet to eat because traditional Japanese green tea is thick, foamy, and bitter, so the sugar offsets the bitterness. Also at a tea ceremony when you are given the cup, every time you take a sip you must turn the cup to drink from a different spot. In this case, we have to pass the cup down the line and you turn it so you don’t drink from where other people did (you can wipe it off with your sweets paper too).
Here they are making the giant tea. Stirring
Then the drinking!! Thassa big tea!
Gulp!
Going in or coming out?
We love tea!
A dedication to Hachiman Shrine, where the tea ceremony began 700 years ago
NOTE: The tea "cup" is 21cm tall, 36cm across, and 107cm around.
The third temple, Gango-ji Temple, was small, but another World Heritage Site. Since it was cold and rainy and small, not many people were there and we were allowed to walk around at our leisure as well as having shopping time in the area. I got in the temple and took pictures before I could get yelled at. It may have been allowed, but everywhere else it was a NO-NO.
After that the group went to get coffee or something and while that sounded quite nice, I really wanted to look around this area I had never been to. Ed found a used toy store and there was all sorts of toys from my childhood! The little plastic Gloworm toys, Ren and Stimpy Christmas VHS box sets, Ernest P World toys… it was pretty awesome. The owner was very nice too, maybe just because he was using easy Japanese and was very amused when I spoke in a Kansai-dialect. Ed was pleased to find next door an English Pub that served beans on toast and fish and chips and all that other weird English food. He proclaimed we would return another time.
Then we got back on the bus, and they lady still yapped ¾ of the time, and then I went home to a cold messy apartment (I was in a rush to leave Friday).
This Thursday is also a holiday in Japan, so I get the day off, yay! I also have very few classes this week at the junior high, double yay! I am constantly working at the elementary, its nice to have a bit of time to think and relax. Thursday my supervisor is taking my up the ropeway on the mountain to see the Kamoshika (Antelope/deer) Center before it closes. Then this weekend is a mandatory LAZY weekend as there has been no time to relax and sleep in while taking in all the culture and fun the past few weeks. I will also prepare a GIANT feast including trying to make a tofu-turkey. I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving (insane slaughter of people and animals? No thanks) but I am a sucker for giant yummy meals. I will take Angeline’s hint and say it’s a late “Thankful Thursday”. Thank you for having cheap tofu Japan!
Yesterday I passed Mr. Booby's Golf Gallery, along with the Liquor Barn (which is pitiful when compared to Liquor Mountain). Japan has the best names for things.
Today I had 3rd graders. We reviewed "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", they can't get enough. Even the kids who can't/won't sing the words still go mad to touch everything. Then we learned the weather. We played Around the World (I show 2 students a picture, first to say the vocab wins) for the "weather champion" and "champion challenge" mostly for the bitter kids who were doing really well but lost in a rock/paper/scissors tie. Kids love even the tiniest stickers from America. And then I spoke shortly on Thanksgiving and the turkey (as an icon, not a food). Japan does not have turkeys, and lots don't even know the word for turkey. I showed pictures of giant beautiful colorful turkeys and the kids went ballistic (most have not ever seen a turkey). "WOW!" and cool! and big! and pretty! and more "WOOOOOOW"s! And then I showed them how to draw a turkey by tracing your hand (and showed one I made). And when I said WE were going to DRAW turkeys (holding up a paper and markers) and they started literally bouncing up and down in their seats. It was great. And wow, I saw some colorful turkeys!
I just finished making buckeyes for a friends birthday party, and some Kahlua truffles for her. I even washed EVERY dirty dish I had. Very slowly the apartment is becoming very clean. My living room has not been cluttered since I rearanged it, yay!
Generalize Assumptions and Observations part one: The Japanese are, in general, extremely nice and will go out of their way to help you if need be. The Japanese also, in general, have no manners. They will blatently butt in front of you, push you out of the way to get something on the shelf you are looking at, and also will not move when needed. When coming at eachother from opposite sides, either on the side of the road, in a station, anywhere where theres no so much room, they won't move. I get over because, we can both pass, as well as it's the right thing to do. Hey, if I get any farther over, I'm IN traffic, but they don't care. And old ladies are the WORST. Those types of ladies are called "obaa-tarian" obaa for "grandmother" and -tarian as the end of "authoritarian". They throw elbows. They're about 3 ft tall with big hats and hunched over from years and year of field and house work. But all taxes are included in the price you see and you don't tip here. Things equal out I guess.
Now on to the photos!
If you're intereste in the Japanese workplace, here is my "time card" at the Elementary (the other schools are the same). I stamp my "name" stamp for everyday I'm there. It says Jennifer. duh.
Saturday I went bowling. Here I am on the winning team with a Canadian and Englishman. 3 Nationalities. 1 Country. All win.
We played MARIO Bowling!!
Sunday I went to Kyoto. Here is creepy statue.
Kyoto Station decked out (like most everywhere now) for Xmas.
This week is "Running Time" where the little kids run around a dirt field, and the older kids run around the field and the school for 10 minutes. Everyday this week at 10:15. They warm up with happy kids music, then some jolly marching song comes on and they do start marching for 10-15 seconds, then it breaks into this mad fast rock song where they yell "We are running!" that they, along with the teachers and vice principal, proceed to run around for awhile. Then they cool down. If I grew up in Japan, this would be the worst week of my life.
First and foremost! I cleaned and rearranged my living room:
Ok, two weekends ago! Friday Oct 27 I went to a festival in Nabari at a shrine. They were burning giant piles of sticks. Since it was a Shinto shrine, I’m pretty sure it has to do with cleansing and purifying. A procession came along with more flaming sticks, threw them into the bigger pile while a danjiri passed by. Here is a video of it.
There was a circle forming and we managed to get away from the skin-melting heat of the fires to a perfect position front and center for whatever performance was about to start. A guy put on a big dog mask and another guy got behind him under a cloth acting as his hind legs. I know it doesn’t really look like a dog, but I’m fairly sure it’s not a dragon and the way the performance went, I can pretty much guarantee it is a dog (Thank you Japanese theater class!). Here are some videos of the fierce dog dancing, and eventually being tamed by the guy in the red mask with the long nose:
Saturday morning I volunteered to do a little Halloween party in Aoyamacho. I dressed as a Ghostbuster, and helped do Pin-the-tail-on-the-black-cat. Here are some pictures of activities, card making, and girls dancing to “Thriller”.
Last Friday was a holiday, no school! Nintendo was holding a FREE Wii & DS expo in Nagoya (about an hour from me), so know where I was. FYI: Wii is Nintendo’s new console and had many many playable demos with its new “remote” controller that is motion sensitive. It’s amazing. Here are some pictures, I won’t bore you with the nerd fest, more are in my Photo album.
middle aged women playing WarioWare
And because, well, how could I not take a video of a fat guy shaking around?
Neat buildings from the train station after the expo.
The rest of the day was spent shopping and eating Indian food! Mm!
Saturday it was back to Nagoya to meet up with Ed’s friend from his Japanese class back home. We went to the TV Tower and from there saw some sort of big festival so we went there to check it out. It turned out to be a festival sponsored by companies, so it wasn’t so great. There was pro wrestling going on though!
Would you have a good time with these things there!?
Later we ate at an Okinawaian restaurant and went to see Nagoya Castle, famous for its “Golden Dolphins”. As you will see in the pictures, I don’t think they knew what a real dolphin looked like back then.
There was a lovely flower display going of chrysanthemums, as well as bonsai trees and other flowers. See for yourself:
Here are some miscellaneous pictures between then and now that you may find of some interest:
Obviously many more in the Oct & Nov photo folder (link to the right)
