Giveaway Winner & Japan Giveaway #2: Japanese Kitchen Set

First, the randomly chosen winner of the bird cookies is Laurel – congratulations! I will contact you via email later today to get your address and will have the package off to you as soon as possible. I want to thank everyone that entered for all the many lovely comments – I wish I had cookies to send to everyone!

But, you have a chance to win again!

This week’s giveaway includes some fun (and useful) kitchen items from Japan:

• Two hashioki. These blue & white chopstick rests are hyōtan (gourd) shaped. Hyōtan are a popular design motif in Japan – in the past the gourds were emptied and dried and used to carry sake. The hashioki can also be used as knife rests.
• A set of four chopsticks (called “ohashi” in Japanese). Each chopstick has a different color and design: brown/sliced lotus root, blue/Mt. Fuji, red/hyōtan, green/mosquito coils (a sign of summer). The chopsticks could also be used as hair sticks or decorations.
• A small floral tea caddy. The small red metal caddy (it’s just 3″ tall) has a tight seal, and could hold a few tea bags, some spices, or whatever you like!
• A tenugui (Japanese cotton hand towel). The colorful cotton towel is printed with a design of koinoburi, Japanese carp kites. Koinoburi are displayed throughout Japan in early May, for the Children’s Day holiday (May 5). The tenugui can be machine washed, and becomes softer over time, or could be used as a wall hanging.

This giveaway will end at midnight HST on Wednesday, April 12, with the same rules for entry as last week’s giveaway:

• Comment on this page. You can comment every day until the giveaway, but just once a day. The more entries you have, the greater your chances of being chosen the winner! I will post the link a couple of extra times during the week. Commenting in another post will not count.
• Subscribe to “The Occasional Nomads.” If you are already a subscriber, you will receive one extra entry. Please comment below and let me know that you are already a subscriber or that you just joined.
• Post about the giveaway on your own blog, if you have one, and receive one additional entry.

The winner will be announced in the blog and also notified by email. You must respond by comment to the blog or to the email to receive the kitchen set (I will email you back to find out where to send them). Also, I can only mail to addresses in the U.S. and Canada.