JapanLive - Little Stories from Japan

What a drag - only water. Seen at the Ryuushouin Kannon Temple - 龍正院 （滑河観音） in Namegawa, Narita

Cat-stretching with an XL cat: Tama

Summer is coming - and the "flower fires". This picture is taken at a large fireworks display - always first Saturday in August in Sakura (Chiba) - in 2015 they shot up over 16000 (at one time 6000 in 10 minutes). List of fireworks in 2016

What did all these English teachers in Japan do? (Pachinko in Sakura)

Hopefully, the request was successful.

Popular Japanese outdoor sports - judging from the sheer numbers of this kind of sign

This funny guy is called "ホトケノザ (hotokenoza)" Lamium amplexicaule , commonly known as henbit dead-nettle, common henbit, or greater henbit, is a species of Lamium native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa. The Japanese wikipedia calls for caution. While it is said that it is eatable there is apparently a plant which resembles but which is not eatable. No further details are mentioned.

Greeting the visitors of the museum When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun. Where the place? Upon the heath. There to meet with M. I come, Graymalkin! Paddock calls. Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. Meanwhile, we visit the new exhibition at Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art. Details at the homepage - in Japanese - in English .

猫捨 - a derived form of 姥捨 Ey, man, I am 10 years old now. (cheating, not on this photo) I was thrown away.

If you are in Rome (sorry, in Japan), do like the Romans (Japanese) - use maccha. It makes a fine tricolored marble cake.

You don't believe that this wall makes a lot of noise ? Head over HERE to hear it. Seen on the Biwa Waterfall Trail running up to Mount Takao.

Unfortunately, Japanese summers are very humid and soon your books will smell "kabi". There is only one solution: digitize them. It only takes a cutter, a scanner, lots of time and coffee. Or you check the internet, there are companies doing this for you - check with the keyword "本pdf化". A mess (and you don't even see the backside). Nicely ordered according to the book sizes - speeds up the setting of books in the cutter. A paper cutter, I used this one time and experience a scanner, this one is from Brother and coffee and after some time it looks like this No more kabi smell.

You can make your own bonsai garden with carrots. If you don't like them anymore - just EAT IT (<- check the link). It also works with radish. click on a picture to get the slideshow with larger pictures

Beware of the Japanese giant hornet Vespa mandarinia japonica (licensed from wikimedia ) They are really dangerous . Being stung is extremely painful and can require hospitalization. Ultrarunners consider wasps the most dangerous animals in the woods. (click on a picture to see a slideshow with larger pictures) A bridge near Narita with a nest of the wasps.

There is a Satoyama walk and biotope near Narita. The start of the walk is the small way perpendicular to the way parallel to the river going from Crown Plaza hotel to Aeon Shoppingmall. The maintainers have planted beautiful flowers, in May you find iris and corn-flowers. If you are lucky, you can also meet colorful pheasants. (click on a picture to see a slideshow with larger pictures)  You cross the biotope on wooden planks before strolling through the woods. Centaurea cyanus Iris pseudacorus Centaurea cyanus or cornflowers, originally blue but now also red and white Iris sanguinea Male Phasianus versicolor or Japanese green pheasant Yellow iris ( Iris pseudacorus ) Iris ( Iris sanguinea ) "The Japanese green pheasant is the national bird of Japan" says Wikipedia

In Japan, often the wrapping of a present is at least as important as the real present. If you have to give away some small things - like a Porsche car key or some jewellery - present it in a origami box. The introduction below is derived from the explanation here . But the original explanation produces a box with a fold on the main surface which isn't beautiful (see last picture). Therefore, I have corrected the first steps. A square of 25.7 cm produces a box of 9 cm. That will be the cover of the box. For the real box, you will need a square of 25.2 cm. So, here it goes (click on a picture to see a slideshow with larger pictures): 1) I bought some carton-like paper at Daiso (transported it in a rucksack, big blunder). The smaller side is 25.7 cm. Cutting it into a square. 2) Draw a large cross in the center. 3) Fold two corners towards the center (exactly !!) 4) Extend the lines of the cross towards the fold. 5) Now fold each corner to...

Same preparations as in the Mozzarella-Tofu cheese cake A) outer layer - called Mürbeteig in German or shortcrust pastry in English: 100 g fat (butter or margarine) 100 g sugar 250 g flour 1/2 sachet of baking powder = about 8 g? 1 egg yolk a pinch of salt a little bit of milk B) inner layer: 1 pack of tofu (=400g) de-watered 4 medium-sized bananas (sorry forgot to weigh) 4 egg yolks 40 g corn starch1/4 sachet of baking powder 80 g of sugar some taste, e.g. lemon scrapes or lemon extract or whatever you like with cheese cake C) 5 egg whites 1. Make the base cake from the ingredients of A. 2. Put it at rest for 30 min, some put it even in a fridge overnight. 3. Mix all ingredients of B to get a semi-liquid mass. 4. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. 5. Lay the pastry into the form and around the walls. 6. Beat the egg-whites until semi-solid and mix it with the mass from B. 7. Pour the mixture into the form. 8. Heat it for 60-80 Minutes until the tooth-stick test is...

As a German, I like cheese cakes but, unfortunately, you can't get curd (Quark) cheese in Japan - at least not easily. So, using Tofu instead, a bit of experience is necessary. Tofu should be de-watered. Put a Tofu block into a soup plate, put another plate on it - plus some weight. This presses efficiently the water out. The amount of ingredients is for a 23 cm baking form (a standard size in Germany). It is a two-layer cake, the inner/upper layer is the mozzarella-tofu mixture, the outer layer contains the flour - like a tart. A) outer layer - called Mürbeteig in German or shortcrust pastry in English: 100 g fat (butter or margarine) 100 g sugar 250 g flour 1/2 sachet of baking powder = about 8 g? 1 egg yolk a pinch of salt a little bit of milk B) inner layer: 1/2 pack of tofu (=200g) de-watered 200g of mozzarella cheese 4 egg yolks 1 pack of whipped cream (200ml) - I use whatever cream is available 40 g corn starch 1/4 sachet of baking powder 80 g of s...

Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in Sakura, Chiba The museum has some impressive art works under display. A few of them are shown at the Google Cultural Institute or at Wikipedia . Apart from the museum itself, the museum area consists of a 30 hectare park - entry is free with a museum ticket or 200 Yen without a ticket. A short visit has been produced by Google "Parkview" in October 2011. The park is famous for its magnolia trees, cherry trees, rhododendron, water lilies, hydrangea macrophylla, lotus, lilies and many more flowers .  lotus flowers  hydrangea macrophylla  water lilies