Learning to make sushi

Last weekend my Grandmother taught my brother Taki and I how to roll sushi.

Firstly my Grandmother prepared all of the ingredients for us.  Once they everything was ready Grandmother showed us how to layer the ingredients on the small sushi mats and then how to roll the sushi up very neatly.

Taki and I had a try of making the sushi as well.  Ours were not as neat as Grandmother, she told us to keep trying!

Here are the sushi my Grandmother made - aren't they beautiful!

I think it will take many years to make sushi as perfect as my Grandmother.

じゃまたね
Kumi

School trip to Nara

Today my class were lucky enough to go to Nara for a school trip.

Nara is the ancient capital of Japan.  Japan has had several capital cities, it can be a bit confusing.  We caught the train to Nara, it only takes an hour from Kyoto.

While we were there we went to see the famous Buddha statue at Todai-ji.  The statue was amazing, I have never seen such a big statue before.  We were allowed to walk all around the statue.

When we came outside we were allowed to go to the famous deer park.  We were not allowed to feed the deers there were signs everywhere to tell us that they can be dangerous. The signs were quite funny, have a look:

I think this is one of the strangest signs I have ever seen!

じゃまたね
Kumi

The earthquake

Since I wrote last time a very horrible thing has happened in Japan.  There has been a massive earthquake and tsunami and many people have been killed.

None of my family live in the area where the earthquake happened but at school today my teachers told us that many people lost their lives and that homes and companies were lost to the sea.  It is hard to imagine such an awful thing happening in my country.

Our teacher explained how this happened, we learned about how the earth moves under the sea and how tsunamis happen.  She also told us that Japan has a long history of earthquakes, this is a little bit scary and my friends and I were worried that Kyoto might be next.  My class made some origami cranes to hang in the school as a sign of support for the people around the area where the tsunami hit.

My family went to the local shrine to take offerings to the gods.  My Father told me that this will help the people who survived and give them some hope for the future he also said that the gods will protect the spirits of the people who died in the tsunami.

じゃまたね
Kumi 

Gion matsuri

Today I went to Shi-jo one of the main roads in Kyoto with my Mother and Taki to see the famous floats being made for the Gion matsuri.  The Gion matsuri is the biggest  festival in Kyoto and is also known as the festival of the lights.

The festival happens in July every year and goes for several weeks.  At the end there is a parade down the main street and there are very old and traditional floats that go down the street.  The week before the parade teams of very strong men re-build the old floats.  The wood and pieces for the floats are stored in sheds behind the shops in the main street.  It takes several days to re-construct them.  The men who make them have been training for many years to do this job, some of them learned the skill from their fathers and grandfathers.

Here is a photo my Mother took for me of the men putting one of the floats together:

There are many wonderful festivals and celebrations in Japan.   At school we learn about the different festivals and their meanings.

じゃまたね
Kumi

My family

Today I would like to tell you a bit about my family and my house.

My Mother and Father and my little brother, Taki and I live in a small, traditional Japanese house in the city of Kyoto.  My Grandmother also lives with us, she is very old and needs us to take care of her.  My family call me Kumi-chan, it's a short version of my name and the chan at the end is like my family saying Kumi dear.  This is how you write my name in Japanese characters くみ.

My brother Taki is five years old, we share a bedroom because in Japan houses are very small and I had to give my bedroom to our Grandmother.  I don't mind though, Grandmother is very interesting and tells us wonderful stories about old Japan.

Our house has some traditional Japanese rooms and some modern rooms.  In the traditional rooms we have wooden and paper walls and doors and straw matting on the floor.  We do not have seats in those rooms we have to sit on cushions on the floor.  Our bedroom has straw matting on the floor and we sleep on futon which are Japanese style beds.  The futon is like a thin mattress, every morning Taki and I help Mother pack the futon up into the cupboard.  On Saturdays Mother takes the futon out onto the balcony and whacks the dust out of them with a little straw broom!

We also have a little dog called Panko.  Taki and I have to walk Panko twice a day because we have a very tiny garden at our house.  In the cities in Japan most people go to the public parks to play or walk their dogs.

This is a picture of Panko - kawaii desu ne!  That means isn't he cute!

I wonder if Japanese families and homes are different to other countries?

じゃまたね
Kumi

Hi my name is Kumiko Hashimoto

I am a 10 year old Japanese girl.  This blog is all about me.

I live in Kyoto, a very old and beautiful Japanese city.  I would like to show you around my city, my favourite places and introduce you to my family and my way of life.

Every week I will help you discover something different about Japan and our way of life.  I hope you will come back and visit my blog.

じゃまたね  (Ja mata ne - this means "see you soon!")

Kumiko