This is the traditional Japanese way to wrap a gift. In formal situations, we use a wrapping cloth called a furoshiki like this.
When you hand a present, you should unwrap it in front of the person who you are giving it to. If you give a present without unwrapping, the person, who gets it, will get the impression that you are demanding a return gift using the furoshiki.
This custom is becoming outdated. I think elderly people who are eighty and over follow it.
I think this because my father-in-law, who is eighty nine, follows this custom, but my parents, who are in their seventies, don't know about it.
This is a public bathhouse. There used to be a lot of public bathhouses in Japan, but now the number of bathhouses has decreased significantly, because most households have their own bathtubs. If you are interested in taking a public bath, I recommend that you go to hot springs. There are common manners between public bathes and hot springs.
Undress. Before you oak yourself in a bathtub, you need to wash yourself or shower. Do not use a towel in the tub. Do not swim in the tub. Unfortunately,if you have a tattoo,you won't be permitted to use those facilities because people consider you might be a gangster.
This is porridge called nanakusagayu. To eat nanakusagayu on January 7 is an old Japanese custom. Nana means seven, kusa means greens and gayu means porridge, so this porridge has seven kinds of greens in it. Usually these greens are seldom sold at supermarkets because they are not so tasty.
People in Japan usually have big meals during New year's holidays and it might make our stomachs upset. Porridge is easy to digest, so supermarkets start to sell these seven greens around January 5. I haven't eaten it yet this year, but I will, because I've gained two kilograms since last Christmas!
This is zoni, soup containing mochi rice cake. Zoni is my favorite food. This zoni has some rice cake, naruto, which is boiled fish paste, and mitsuba, which is a kind of flavory leaves in it. You can see something yellow on the top. It is the peel of yuzu which is citrus used to improve the taste of food.
We eat zoni on New Year's Day but there are many kinds of zoni in Japan. I've never eaten this type of zoni. I use kamaboko not naruto. I also use komatsuna, which is called Shogotsuna on New Year's day, but I use neither mitsuba nor yuzu. Moreover. I use square rice cakes not round ones.
This photo reminds me of happenings about the Road Traffic Law.
Today I'll write about one event. A few years ago, my father and I visited a temple. It had its own carpark, but there was no parking space. So my father parked his car just in front of the temple. We were in the temple only several minutes to pray. When I was walking back toward our car, I found something yellow on the windshield. I told my father what I saw but he couldn't believe his ears. He picked up and stared at the yellow thing. He was totally baffled. He had known that drivers parking in this area would be ticketed.
Today I didn't have any lessons, so I visited my parents, who live in Nagoya, in the afternoon.
I stayed for several hours and talked about my husband.
After the conversation, I left there and went to a hotel to stay in.
In advance, I booked a hotel room to stay with my daughter ,who works at a company in Nagoya.
We both checked in around 6:30 pm.
Xyz