Midautumn, Moonlight and Gratitude

Ovidia--every other Tuesday

The Mid-Autumn or the Mooncake Festival marks the end of the Hungry Ghost Month and the start of the last quarter of the year. But before saying goodbye to the ghosts, I want to share these talismans my dad-in-law lent me (only half joking) just in case I met anything strange on my evening walks during the Ghost Month.

The little wooden penis, he explained, is for frightening off pontianaks (typically angry female spirits); the tiny Buddhist tablet is a 'power up' and works on all spirits, not just female.

(He is ninety years old, fiercely independent, relaxes by watching survivalist documentaries and is very practical in his way).

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few Chinese festivals where women are favoured. After all, the Lady-Mother in the moon is feminine. For married women, “moon bathing” (walking in the moonlight) is said to bless relationships and keep marriages strong.

Traditionally you would go for moon watching evening picnics where children would play with lanterns and adults would drink osmanthus wine and eat mooncakes.
Nowadays, given how health conscious people are, I'm afraid people are more likely to photograph their mooncakes than eat them.

It's kind of sad though. I remember hearing about how, during the Japanese Occupation, when they were living on the border of starvation, my aunts mashed sweet potatoes with coconut and gula melaka and shaped them into mooncakes around dried mango 'yolks' to surprise their family for the Mooncake Festival and seeing what wonderful memories that created.
It's sad how traditions seem to matter more when they’re threatened.

This year, between the book deadline (I'm running late--I was actually ahead of schedule and decided to go ahead and rewrite down a rabbithole and I'm not sorry yet... but sorely pressed, yes), ongoing renovations (we're getting another 2 rooms done and the condo is repainting all the external walls and balconies so my plants are living indoors for the time being)...

My airplants would really rather be outdoors, but the paint fumes are something powerful when they get some painting done in between thunderstorms.

I don't really mind. I like the rain, though it’s hard on the workers, but this year it's been really relentless.

I didn’t even make it to the neighbourhood festival because everything looked like it was going to be wet and stuffy and slippery.

At least some of the children in the condo are excited about carrying their candlelit lanterns—but also getting it mixed up with the upcoming Halloween party (because: candy). And yes, I'm managing Not to call that an unhealthy imported American custom (again, because: candy).
It's a chance for the neighbours to get together and that's always something to be grateful for.

Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is about giving thanks: thanks for the year's harvest safely gathered in, for last and brightest moon of the year before winter storms set in, for the people around us who may or may not be around when the seasons change again.

It’s also a chance to pause before the year rushes toward its end. So if you can, take a moment to sip a sweet wine or taste a sweet cake and enjoy a moment with this bright, rainy moon.

May your lives be as full of light and happiness as the moon is bright tonight!

Celebrating the Rainy Season - and the Ajisai - in Japan

 -- Susan, every other Sunday

The rainy season is officially upon us here in Tokyo (and will last for another 5 weeks, after which the oppressive heat and humidity of summer will make us wish for these damp but somewhat-less-sweltering early summer days). I actually enjoy the rainy season, both for the rain itself (which is usually warm and gentle, with a few thunderstorms here and there, for good measure) and for the spectacular blossoms the June rain brings.

The flowers most associated with this part of the rainy season are ajisai (hydrangeas). Their giant, colorful blooms are everywhere in central and eastern Japan at this time of year; they thrive in acidic, volcanic soil and since they're sensitive to too much sun, the rainy season suits them perfectly.

Hydrangeas just beginning to bloom in Bunkyo Ward

The characteristics of the soil influence the color of the blooms, which range from brilliant fuchsia to deep, rich blue, delicate lavender, spotless white, and just about every color in between.

One of my favorites.

The annual ajisai festival at Hakusan Jinja in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward has been on hold for the last few years, but was held again this year - another sign of normalcy returning. 

Another favorite. (Who am I kidding. They're all my favorites.)

The Ajisai Festival at Hakusan Jinja (photo from 2019)

Another shot from the 2019 festival

The celebration of all-things-ajisai doesn't stop with festivals and flowers, either. At this time of year, the rain-loving blossoms adorn everything from handkerchiefs to senbei (rice crackers), like the hand-painted beauty shown below. The "paint" is actually colored sugar, and the airy, crispy cracker was delicious.  

Ajisai senbei

I didn't make it to the ajisai festival this weekend, because I'd already made plans to visit Hakone with a friend - but I'm happy to report that even the Hakone ropeway is getting into the ajisai spirit. After riding the Hakone Ropeway across the crater to Owakudani (an active crater atop the mountain whose name translates "large boiling valley"):

Riding over the crater. The restaurant is the building on the crater rim, upper right.

We found this seasonal display on the window of the restaurant where we stopped for lunch:

Ajisai, umbrellas, and snails (?) to celebrate the rainy season.

The menu also featured a seasonal drink called the ajisai soda, which turned out to be a glass of sparkling lemonade served with a side of lightly sweetened, floral syrup made from butterfly pea flowers. 

The Ajisai soda...before

Butterfly pea flower syrup (or tea) starts out blue, but turns purple in the presence of citric acid. (Hello, lemonade...).

After tasting the lemonade, you pour the syrup in, and the drink transforms to the purple of ajisai.

After the transformation, the drink became a floral lemonade - I'm not sure it tasted like ajisai, but then again, I'm not sure I'd want it to. 

Partially transformed...

In any case, it was delicious, and seasonal, and delightfully purple. 

A perfect way to celebrate the beautiful blooms. When life gives you rain (and lemons), make ajisai lemonade.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy rainy season, and a lovely summer filled with fun surprises!

Singing the Tsuyu Blues

 -- Susan, every other Sunday

Each year, in early summer, Tsuyu (梅雨), or rainy season, comes to Japan. 

Irises enjoying the rain in the Imperial Palace Garden

Tsuyu lasts about a month, and the starting and ending dates vary a bit from year to year--as well as region to region. It begins in mid- to late May in southern Kyushu, and reaches Tokyo around mid-June (give or take a week). 

Places that usually have lovely, mild weather

Lake Ashi, Hakone, in midsummer

See rain that ranges from mild drizzles to all-out thunderstorms. 

Lake Ashi, Hakone, during Tsuyu

It doesn't rain every day during rainy season, and generally doesn't rain all day on the days it rains. However, it's not unusual to have at least some rain on well more than half of the days during tsuyu--and on the days it doesn't rain, it's usually overcast.

That said, tsuyu rarely stops people from going about their business. 

Riding the Hakone Ropeway in rainy season

Umbrellas spring up everywhere--and umbrella racks appear outside everything from convenience stores to UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Todaiji, Nara, in Tsuyu (2018)

I even tried to climb a mountain (Mt. Ibuki, north of Kyoto) during tsuyu during my 100 Summits year. A day that will live in infamy (and public infamy, at that, because I talked about the experience in CLIMB)

Mt. Ibuki in the rain. I don't recommend it.

The rain swells rivers and the combination of heat, humidity, and precipitation also causes some seriously atmospheric fog in mountain areas.

The Tenkawa, in Nara Prefecture, the day after a major storm.

However, it can also flood the trails, so caution is the word of the day for tsuyu hikers.

Flooded trail alongside the Tenkawa, Nara Prefecture (2018)

Koyasan, in Wakayama Prefecture, gets lots of precipitation all year round - and while most tourists might not like to walk through cemeteries in the rain, I find Okunoin particularly peaceful in the rainy season.

Okunoin, Koyasan, Wakayama Prefecture (2019)

Flowers love the rainy season. Irises and ajisai (hydrangea) both bloom during tsuyu--the weather helps protect the delicate blossoms from the sun.

Irises at Meiji Shrine (2019)

Tokyo also has a number of festivals during the rainy season. Most of them didn't happen in 2020, and have been cancelled for 2021 as well, but we're all looking forward to their return in 2022. (The shots below are from the Bunkyo Ward Ajisai Festival, at Hakusan Shrine, in 2019.)

The old children's rhyme may ask the rain, rain to go away and come again some other day....but in Japan, even when it rains, most of us still like to go out and play.

So tell me; Rain: yea or nay?