Welcome to my Neighborhood (Part II)

Going north from the station, there's a small local post office at a corner.  This also houses the JP Bank Okamoto branch.

Among my favorite shops in this area is the Horiman Stationery shop.  This is where I go when I want to buy fancy cards, stickers, stationery, pens, even Japanese paper products for souvenirs or presents. 

I love chicken.  On days when I crave for bites of those thighs and wings of this bird, I go to this place.  It is also a good place for me to read books while eating .

Whenever I am in the mood for those famously wallet-draining red meat of Kobe, this is where I go , usually with friends. Never been here by myself, as the menu is written in Kanji (very brain-numbing for me), I imagine what pain it is just to order !  They offer  a 5-kinds-of-rice plate to go with your preferred meat dishes, which is very healthy.

 A bread and cakes shop is always a delight to go to for someone like me.  More so, when the building it is in is as colorful and inviting as this one.

Welcome to my Neighborhood (part I)

One  lesson for my English kids classes is about the places in the neighborhood.  This gave me the idea to take photos of some of the places in the area where I work and live here in Japan.  So one spring day with my cellphone in hand, I went around my neighborhood and took photos.  These I printed out and compiled  in a small scrapbook that I bought from the 100yen shop.

My neighborhood is called Okamoto.  It is close to two train stations and there are many shops all over the place . So let's take a walk  around my neighborhood.

Let's start with the train station. This is the newly-renovated JR (Japan Railways) train station that I often take when I go to and from downtown.

There's a lovely flower shop across from the station.  It's one of the branches of a local flower shop chain called Nirakuen.

My favorite spot in the neighborhood is the Rose Garden.  There you can see different varieties of roses.  The local officials take care of the upkeep of this garden.  They hire professional gardeners to maintain these blooms every year.  Often I see workers cutting, pruning and cultivating soil in the garden.

The Rose Garden is close to the local police station.  I thought the police on duty there might not want me to take a photo of their station especially the front area so I decided to take one with the side view of it.

We have a small river called Tenjo that runs from the mountain side to the sea far down south. Sometimes we see wild pigs from the mountains walking about the river sides looking for what they can eat around the area. On rainy days you can see the angry foamy current running but on most days of the year, this is what you see of that river.

The streets around here are clean, lined with trees and the sidewalks are wide and safe.  The highway which runs from west to east is a four-lane street.

Along this highway you get to see many shops:  a drugstore, an ice cream shop , juku (cram schools or tutorial places) , coffee shops and restaurants.

Kung Maputi na ang Buhok Ko

Saw these on a blog of a pen friend and loved it.  Wouldn't it be nice if I grow old and gray and be like these two?   She did not post the name of the artist who did these pictures, though. 

Making Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is among my favorite Japanese food.  It looks like a pizza but does not taste like one.

There are a few okonomiyaki shops in my neighborhood, and I've been to all of them.  There are different variations of this food.  I like best the Osaka Kansai version.  I tasted the Hiroshima Okonomiyaki when we went to Hiroshima sometime in 2005.  For me, still the Kansai (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe areas) okonomiyaki is The One.

One day, my good friend from church Eri-san invited me to her home to teach me how to cook okonomiyaki. 

We started with these ingredients. From the recipe :  In a large bowl, whisk together Okonomiyaki Flour and Water until smooth. Add Eggs, Cabbage, Onions, Tenkasu, Ginger, Shrimp and Sausage and mix, but don't over mix. Oil a griddle that has been heated to 200C (400F) and add Okonomiyaki mixture divided into two pancakes. Using a spatula flatten and form pancakes until around 1.5cm (3/4") thick - approximately 30cm (12") across. Add Bacon pieces to cover top of each pancake. After about 3 minutes, flip over pancake (bacon side down) and cook for 4 minutes. Flip pancake again (bacon side up) and cook for 3 minutes or until firm and well browned. Remove to plate and drizzle with Kewpie mayonnaise, okonomi sauce and sprinkle with Aonori (ground seaweed) and Katsuobushi (bonito fish flakes).

The Japanese like to drink tea with this dish.  I know some friends have beer with it.  But I prefer to drink cold Coke with this.  "You're weird," my Jap friends tell me.  Whatever they think, I don't mind.  

From a friend's garden

It is always a joy to receive flowers from friends.  I have a Japanese friend here who loves flowers as much as I do.  She has a small garden in her yard.  Sometimes she'd come to church bringing a small bouquet of freshly-picked flowers from her garden for me. 

Aren't they lovely?  I put them in a small vase and place it on my mini-bookshelf beside my cherished souvenir from the high school students of Philippine Christian Gospel School batch 2011.

                                                 This is more than enough to make my day! 

Church Floral Ministry

No, it's not the official name of this particular church ministry here, but this is what I want to call it.  It is a ministry because the floral arrangements these ladies do every week is their way of offering back to the Lord their God-given talents, skills and resources .

I'm talking about the women here from our church who do the flower arrangements every Sunday.  I heard there are about three of them rotating  for this task .  They have been doing an excellent job !  Here are more  pictures of their work:

These ladies who do the floral arrangements have studied the art of ikebana .  What they have learned in their classes , they have put them into good use by doing these altar displays every week.

Some flowers here in Japan appear only on certain months of the year.  So the church ikebana ladies use whatever flowers are in season.

The ikebana ladies buy the flowers themselves or sometimes people at church who want to offer flowers or bring from their farms and private gardens bring these flowers on a Friday.  Many times I quietly observe them on Friday nights doing the arrangement for that Sunday, and I tell you , it takes them a lot of time.  They have to decide which particular vase and design goes with the kinds of flowers.  I see them measuring with rulers flowers from stem to petal heads just to get an arrangement right.

It takes them long to finish one arrangement - not just minutes , but HOURS!  I take my hat off to these lovely ladies for their patience and perseverance !  Just really admirable and inspiring .

Some people here  who have been attending our church for years now know which lady is in-charge of the arrangement for  the week.  I was told each lady has like  a "signature design".  One likes perfect symmetry, another one likes en masse, while another has a kind of eclectic taste, etc. So for those who know them well and who know ikebana too, usually can tell me whose work was it.  Me, I still cannot tell .  All I do is marvel, take photos and thank God for these talents here at church.

Some flowers seen here at church are truly interesting. Many times I see an unusual, my-first-time-to-see kind of bloom and ask around for its name.  Of course, they know the name in Japanese but are stumped for its English equivalent.  Whatever it is, no longer matters especially when I have my phone camera on hand.