Nagashi-Bina Doll Festival & Kagura Performance!

Nagashi-bina doll festival is a Japanese traditional event to wash away the spirit of misfortune and to wish for their children health and happiness by floating Nagashi-bina dolls on the river.Hinamatsuri Song:
Akari o tsukemashou bonbori ni明かりをつけましょう　ぼんぼりにOhana o agemashou momo no hanaお花をあげましょう　桃の花Go-nin bayashi no fue taiko五人ばやしの　笛太鼓Kyo wa tanoshii Hinamatsuri今日は楽しいひな祭り

Let's light the lanterns. Let's set peach flowers. Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums. Today is a joyful Dolls' Festival!

Today we were invited, by my friend Eiko, to the Nagashi-bina doll festival. Two other women from the Iwakuni base also came with their children. When we arrived the first thing we did was to make our dolls. We dressed our Nagashi-Bina dolls in beautiful papers, painted their faces and placed them in a raft surrounded by fresh flowers. The one below is mine. We also wrote in hiragana on our boards.
Shelby, Kyoko & Tiffany holding their finished rafts Some of the finished rafts floating on the river. After all the rafts are placed in the water a few men will wade in the river and pull them out with a long bamboo stick with a hook on the end.

This river is right across the street from my friend Eiko's house. The area is so beautiful!
On the festival grounds, they were selling udon noodle and rice ball for lunch. The kids loved the free cotton candy! The large white tent is where everyone crafted their rafts.

Lilly missed the Hina doll festival but she was coming to the Kagura performance so Eiko made her a raft. When she went to dress the dolls for her, there wasn't any more beautiful papers left so she made hers out of an advertisement for different types of sushi! So cute and so creative!

Everyone took turns and knelt down on the pier and gently placed the rafts in the river.

Afterwards, you bow your head and say a prayer. There were a lot of photographers there taking pictures for the local papers. I hope I can get some copies of our pictures they had taken.

It is getting a little warmer the trees are starting to bloom!
Eiko took us out into her neighborhood and some of the families had their Hina doll collections on display for people to view. They would let us come in to their houses to take a look. This picture is of the biggest Hina doll collection I saw today. Very impressive!

We also stopped by the temple. Many steps to the top of where the temple was!
This picture was taken from the temple looking out over Eiko's neighborhood.
Shelby & Kyoko- Sweet Friends!

After the temple we met Lilly and went to the Kagura show at Kono Elementary school.

Kagura is a dance that has been performed on the main island of Japan, since ancient times. Eiko tells me it is a dance to "Thank the Gods for a bountiful harvest." The play is fast, full of singing and dancing, and is very exciting to see! I thought for a moment, as it started, how it looked very similar to American Indian dancing. The costumes were gorgeous and very colorful. Some of the Kagura performers, at one part of the show, ran down into the audience. It was quite surprising! The three musicians made up the core of the live music. The drummer on the right played a drum that is called, 太鼓"Taiko." One of my favorite things here in Japan.

Eiko's Birthday!

Tanjobi Omedeto!

Today is Eiko-san's birthday and we met here at the lounge for lunch. Eiko, I hope you share this day with the people that you love. I wish for you that the next year will bring you a lot of good surprises and experiences and last but not least a hole lot of FUN. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Eiko!

Christmas nursing home visit!

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”- Matthew 25:40, NIV

Jennifer came over on Monday and brought all the items we were going to fill our bags with for the nursing home. We had put wash clothes, hand warmers and some snuggley socks in each bag for the elderly. We learned from our mistake last year, we had given them bags with pens, paper and Christmas cards. We noticed that a couple of them were trying to eat my Christmas cards! Our items in the bags were safer this year. Elsa joined in and helped stuff the bags with us. We stappled the toppers we had made with Megumi and Kumie to the top of the filled bags. They looked so cute! We must have put together over 120 bags. They gave them out today to the precious people at our Iwakuni community nursing home. One of our chaplains played the ukelele as they all sang Christmas songs! I heard they all had a wonderful time visiting again , holding hands and Connecting with our elderly Japanese friends. Last year it was an absolutely beautiful experience for me - quite possibly one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had in Japan. We visited two nursing homes last year. I sat, held hands, talked and looked into the eyes of every person I could. Some communicated with speaking some English but most didn't have to say a word. It was a squeeze of my hand, a tear from there eye, a lingering look, a hug that lasted longer than expected. It was a shared "feeling." I felt my entire body/heart just feel the presence/love of Christ - it was amazing. Far from being a “downer” experience, you come away with so much more than you came there with. It makes you want to continue to do all you can to help those that need it most in any way you can. I want to continue to show love to those who are in darkness, those who suffer, those who are lonely, etc.- just as Christ showed His love for me by bearing the sin of the world on the Cross. ><>

Kono Elementary School Festival!

We were invited to go to the Kono Elementary School Festival on the 18Th of November, by my friend Eiko-San. Elsa and Lilly also went with their families. Eiko had told me that they had 8 Kimonos for the American women to try on. I couldn't wait, I hadn't tried one on in the whole two and a half years I have been living here. They let us wear them the whole time we were there. They chose a very beautiful light green Kimono for me. Even Shelby got to dress up! There are a lot of layers to the Kimono and it is very involved to put on. The Japanese ladies that dressed us were very experienced and fast and knew which ones would look best on us. They chose the perfect colors for each one of us. The Obi (sash) they wrap round your waist is my favorite part of the kimono. They can tie it to make many different designs like bows or drums.

The video is just a small part of the play the kids put on. They practice for this festival all year. Their costumes were very beautiful. I wish I had video taped the entire play! They were wonderful!!! After the play they had food for sale (udon noodle, rice ball, soda, coffee), crafts, and plants. To see more pictures of that day look at the side bar of my blog.

We had our Halloween Party!

Wow! What a day! We had met everyone at the gate and brought them to my house. Lilly and her husband were patiently waiting for us to get there. We set up our finger foods outside on three tables and moved the fireplace to the front yard. Everyone changed over into their costumes and started eating. As we were standing outside talking and having our party, trick or treaters were a little confused, they thought we had set up the party for them! They were trying to get a bite of our food! Thank you to the husbands who kept them away!Everyone looked so good in their costumes! The adults wore costumes as well as the kids. We had lots of little witches at our party. Kumie borrowed a witches hat and she was a pink and black witch, Migumi was a pirate like me! Elsa was Cruella Deville, Lilly wore a feathered mask, Eiko was a blonde she devil, Toshiko borrowed a green wig and looked soooo cute, and Kyoko was a cute little witch, too. Kyoko went off with Shelby to go trick or treating with the teenagers in the neighborhood. I am glad they got to spend some time with each other. Tomoko and Toshe were beautiful witches, also! Takumi was the handsomest Shrek and Diana was a very cute baseball player! We had around 40 people combined with Regina's group. The picture only shows some of our group. We headed out for Trick or Treating and came back to have smores in the fireplace. Everyone was having so much fun which made me very happy! Some of the adults had never dressed up before so they were able to experience something NEW, which is always exciting! Happy Halloween memories everyone!

Shopping at "Yanagiya Decor"

Shopping at "Yanagiya Decor"
I had seen this beautiful gift shop in downtown Iwakuni as I was shopping with my husband. I went in and found some very beautiful faux leaves and pumpkins to decorate our home for fall. The women there are so friendly and helpful, always smiling! I was so pleased by their products and service I had to go back and bring one of my friends to see it. Elsa and I went to the gift shop yesterday and I showed her what all they had there. She loved it so much she bought a bunch of things, also. When we were checking out, the Japanese ladies asked if we would take pictures of what we bought when we put it together. I gave her my card and hope she can see this post. We will surely be coming back again and again! Domo Arigato Yanagiya Decor!