Category: Miscellaneous

The last giveaway, from Tokyo’s Kappabashi (kitchen) district, includes a boxed set of lacquered chopsticks and two blue and white tenugui (cotton hand towels) in traditional wave patterns (called seigaiha 青海波).

Tenugui are normally around 14 x 35 inches (I am assuming these are the traditional size), made of silk-screened cotton, with the ends of each towel left unfinished. They can be used for a variety of purposes, and the more they are used and washed the softer they become. Tenugui can be cut and hemmed to make napkins, or used to make a table runner, but they can also be used to wrap gifts or for other purposes. They make wonderful kitchen towels.

The chopsticks have ribbing on the ends which makes it easier to pick up and hold things, especially noodles, and the ornamentation at the top show a variety of traditional Japanese design motifs in blue.

Here are the giveaway rules once more:

• You may enter the giveaway once a day.
• Leave at least one comment on this post about anything having to do Japanese design. Additional entries can be as simple as you’d like.
• For an additional one-time additional entry, send a separate comment and let me know if you already follow The Occasional Nomads or if you become a follower.
• Share about the giveaway on your own blog and let me know in a separate comment for one more additional entry.
• Please only at this post only (not on reminder posts).
• The giveaway will end at midnight on July 3; one entry will be chosen at random and the winner announced on Friday, July 5. I will contact the winner by email to get shipping information. The giveaway is open only to readers in the U.S. and Canada (I’m sorry – I can’t afford the postage otherwise).

Thanks for entering – I am looking forward to hearing from you!

For the second giveaway, I’ve put together a few of our favorite food items from Japan:

• 3 packages of CookDo Chinese sauces: Sweet & Sour Pork (or Chicken), Chili Shrimp & Stir-fry Pork or Beef w/ Peppers. Each package makes 3-4 servings (more like 2-3 American size servings). The three dishes could be served together for a complete Chinese meal, or each made individually, and they are meant to be served with steamed rice. Although there are picture directions on the back, I will include instructions in English.
• 1 package soy peanut crackers (our favorite snack in Japan).
• 1 package Asparagus Biscuits. These are lightly sweet cookies shaped to resemble asparagus spears (there is no asparagus in the cookies). They are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee or tea.
• 1 package dark chocolate KitKat bars.
• 1 200-gram bottle of Kewpie mayonnaise. Kewpie has a cult following among chefs and others in the U.S. – its creaminess and rich flavor are because Kewpie is made with just the egg yolk instead of the whole egg like most mayonnaise.

Here are the giveaway rules:

• You may enter the giveaway once a day.
• Leave a comment on this post with at least one about your favorite Japanese food, or whatever – each comment you leave equals one entry.
• For a one-time additional entry, send a separate comment and let me know if you already follow The Occasional Nomads or if you become a follower.
• Share about the giveaway on your own blog and let me know in a separate comment for one more additional entry.
• The giveaway will end on midnight on June 19; one entry will be chosen at random and the winner announced on Friday, June 21. I will contact the winner by email to get shipping information. The giveaway is open only to readers in the U.S. and Canada (I’m sorry – I can’t afford the postage otherwise).

Thanks for entering – I look forward to hearing from you!

If you haven’t entered yet, there’s still more time (seven more days) to enter the giveaway for this gorgeous brocade obi – I will draw the winner next Thursday and announce on Friday. You can enter every day for more chances to win. Please enter only on the original giveaway post!

There are loads of different ways to use or display an obi (see last Thursday’s post), and it would make a lovely gift for someone who loves fabrics or textiles.

Here again are the giveaway rules:

• You may enter the giveaway once a day.
• Leave a comment on this post with at least one about what you would like to see or do if you went to Japan, or how you might use this obi – each comment you leave equals one entry (you can just say hi too).
• For a one-time additional entry, send a separate comment and let me know if you already follow The Occasional Nomads or if you become a follower.
• Share about the giveaway on your own blog and let me know in a separate comment for one more additional entry.
• The giveaway will end on midnight on June 5; one entry will be chosen at random and the winner announced on Friday, June 7. I will contact the winner by email to get shipping information. The giveaway is open only to readers in the U.S. and Canada (I’m sorry – I can’t afford the postage otherwise).

Thanks for entering – I look forward to hearing from you!

A few things not big enough for their own post:

• The other day at the commissary Brett and I bought a loaf of American-made seven-grain bread. I used some for sandwiches the day before yesterday, and the first comment from both of us was, “Wow – the bread is so sweet!” This was our favorite kind of bread back in the States, and we never noticed it before, but after two months here we have become accustomed to things being a lot less sweet. Yesterday our daughter-in-law brought me a matcha bagel with white chocolate chips. I was a little wary about how it might taste, but the chips offered a tiny bit of sweetness, and otherwise it was a nice chewy, yeasty bagel with a slight matcha flavor – delicious! Besides enjoying foods with little to no sugar, things here also seem to have a lot less fat – our palates are going to have to readjust when we get back to the U.S.
• Spring has arrived – flowers are blooming everywhere and the cherry blossoms have come and gone – so when it was 70+ degrees yesterday we figured it was time to ditch the jackets and break out the spring clothing. I went without a jacket, Brett put on shorts . . . and boy did we get some looks! Most people seem to still be wearing darker colors I associate with fall and winter along with sweaters, jackets or a coat. I remember once I wore a sleeveless dress here on an especially hot day during Indian summer, and got many stares because I was apparently not dressed appropriately for the fall season. Maybe there is a dress code in Japan, and certain dates when can safely switch one’s clothing from one season to the next, but I have no idea if that’s true or when that is.
• Above is a page of calligraphy Brett produced last week in his class. Lots of orange corrections from the sensei, but see the small circle-like strokes in a couple of places? Those indicate his brushwork is correct! He studies every day, practicing his kanji and learning both characters and the kana, although the brush he bought last week is too large and causing him problems. One of the things I love about Japan is that while his teacher is considered a master calligrapher, she still studies under her master! The pursuit of perfection is a lifetime goal here, no matter what form of art you pursue.

  

• We don’t have a sofa in our apartment, just two big leather armchairs (and one ottoman). They are mostly comfortable, but the leather is slippery so as I read or write in my chair I slowly slip down, ending up almost on my back after a while. Also, I had to put tape on the bottom of the ottoman because it was slipping across the rug and I was ending up in the space between it and the chair (which was annoying but also funny). Lower furniture is just one of those things we have to deal with in Japan, with the chairs nearer to the ground than we are used to, and it can require extra effort (especially in the knees) to get up. Brett usually sits at the dining room table to read and work, but those chairs are low as well. We like our apartment but I have to admit we’re looking forward to having a good old American sofa to stretch out on again.

  

• It’s been difficult at times coming up with ideas for meals when all we have is a cooktop, a small microwave, a rice cooker, and a small kitchen. We eat American foods occasionally when we can find stuff we like at the commissary (things like bacon or sausage, or Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese or stuffed green peppers), but I mostly use things we find in the supermarkets here. I miss being able to make casseroles or put something into the slow cooker. My favorite product here is CookDo, sauces for making easy and delicious Chinese dishes. I used CookDo back in Hawai’i to make mabo nasu (ground pork with eggplant) and mabo dofu (ground pork with tofu), but we only could afford them when we could find them on sale, and even then it was $3 – $4/package, a real splurge. In Hawai’i a store might have three or four different sauces, but here there are over 30 varieties (!!!) available, and a package costs around $1. The bottom of both of our suitcases will be filled with packages of CookDo when we return to the U.S.
• There will be giveaways after we return to the U.S. – three of them! I have been having a great time putting things together and hope you’ll be motivated to enter. Stay tuned!
• Finally, I am currently unable to comment on Blogger. I have made comments using the Name/URL selection on several blogs, but when I hit submit the comment vanishes. I don’t know if it’s a WordPress thing, a Blogger thing, a Japan thing, or a combination of all three.