Kimonos Are So Much Cooler Than I Thought

今日の日本語の言葉: happyoukai (発表会) - performance/presentation

Today's word was brought to you by one of the two highlights of my day: a kimono presentation I went to in the morning.

This morning, I slept in. By that, I mean I really slept in, to the point where when I glanced at my watch after I got up, I gave a little startled cry. It was eight. That's three hours later than I usually sleep. I guess I've been really tired recently, or the sun just didn't bother me as much this morning as it shone brightly down on my face. Can you believe that it was 18 degrees today?! (I've learned to talk in celsius; in fahrenheit, that's about 65 degrees). Compared to the snow in Boston and the blizzards in Saya's Swedish home town, this is like vacationing in the Bahamas.

Anyways, I had a wonderful breakfast this morning, took a nice warm shower, and then headed off to the kimono presentation at a nearby culture center. I was supposed to go to Tokyo Sky Tree later after that, but it got cancelled because of miscommunication. So maybe we can go next Sunday, though I somehow doubt that too.

On the way to the happyoukai, I saw the classic view of modern day living in Japan: a tightly packed apartment building on a clear day with futons hanging down and people beating the heck out of them. People clean a lot in Japan, and clear days like this in November apparently don't come that often (though it's only rained three days in the time I've been here so far). Thus, they use days like this to clean their futon, by beating it with a special paddle thing. 

I also passed by a massive pachinko place, with four or five stories of parking just for the pachinko center. How can that many people want to play slots at once? I just don't understand the appeal of slots in Japan. Aren't there better ways to gamble your time away with better odds, like poker or something? There's at least some skill in that. It just doesn't make sense to me. ._.

The kimono happyoukai was so interesting! I was so glad I came, and what surprised me was that I could actually understand what the old lady was saying pretty well! It came as a nice surprise that the stuff she was saying actually came to me (though in bits and pieces which I had to put together). Thus, I can relay to you all the cool information about kimonos that she told us.

Kimonos are worn for a variety of different reasons, nowadays less so, but definitely for all sorts of reasons back in the day. The bow you see below is used for every day going around the house back in the day, tending to your home, cooking, eating meals, etc. It was the one that you wore most often and most regularly, and was used outside of special occasions.

This bow below is called a kanatagashi musubi ("musubi" means "tie"), and it's purposefully lopsided. I didn't quite fully understand what she was saying about this, but what side is long involves what hand you generally use. Apparently, it's the opposite of your strong hand. I don't know why that's significant, but it was. Both this musubi and the following bunko musubi are used for formal-ish occasions. It's only used for younger people, like, say from age 18-30 or something, and is meant to look youthful and cute. Girls wear this when they go to summer festivals, or to shrine events, etc. when they're not meant to be the center of any attention, and thus don't need to be more formal, but should be more formal than house-wear. Girls apparently also wore this musubi and the bunko musubi for dates and "courtship outings" with their future husband or potential love interest (when an arranged marriage wasn't the way to go).

On the left are all the katanagashi musubi, and on the right (starting from the woman in white) is all the people with perfectly centered bunko musubi. Again, I didn't understand the significance of the lopsided one with one end longer than the other, except for the fact that it depended upon which hand was dominant, so I can't tell you any more differences between the katanagashi and bunko ties.

Then the main lady proceeded to show us how to tie our own obi as the others went to change for the next stage of the presentation. She's so well practiced (and apparently she wears a kimono/yukata every day), and she did it so quickly the first time. She then undid it and showed us slowly how to do it ourselves (it honestly looks like it takes ten hands). I can barely tie an even bow behind my back, let alone one of those beautiful elaborate perfectly even bows. That takes so much skill!

The sleeve colors matter, apparently, which is something else that's really cool. The inside of your sleeve is commonly either white, pink, or red (keep in mind that all of this is definitely just women; I have no idea what men do). Apparently, pink used to be used to show someone who was already engaged, chosen to be married to someone, etc. Red means that you have entered "womanhood," but you have not been promised to anyone yet. White is used for after marriage. This is what I got from listening, and I'm pretty sure it's right (I checked a few times with Yoshiko-san).
So the inside of your sleeve is basically the olden equivalent of your Facebook relationship status.

There was a lady who sat down in front of me and her musubi (remember what type it is?) plus her hair and her sitting style just made her so beautiful. I don't know how to explain the beauty and cuteness of a kimono, but I've never encountered another clothing style like it. It's just so elegant! I think it's much more elegant than any type of elegant western wear, like southern belle dresses or coming out gowns of olden London (which have their own appeal).

It takes such a surprisingly short time for these people to don such elaborate outfits. I thought it would take at least twenty minutes to change into a new kimono, but it took more like ten or fifteen. These people are either really fast and well practiced, or it doesn't take as long as it looks, or both. 

Just look at that bow!

There are three different types of kimonos displayed, all of which are very formal. This is what you wear when you're visiting the future husband's house, or vice versa, or when someone else important is due to come. This is also what people wear to weddings. The white/pink one and the red/black one, both of which are long sleeved, are the formal kimonos of women who are young and are unmarried (though they could be engaged). Once you're married though, you can only wear short sleeves, like the women in the back. Those elaborate bows that they have in the back too are oftentimes used for wedding ceremonies themselves.

The grey-wearing woman in the back is a classic example of what you wear when you are of the family that is visiting someone important, like the mother of the husband who is coming to see the bride. It's formal, but it's not black, which is important. Black is what you wear when you are receiving somebody in your home. Thus, the bride's mother would wear something like those two black ones if the husband was coming to the daughter's home (though she would wear something completely unconfusable with black if she were to go visit instead). The ones in the back can be those colors and be deemed informal if there is too much design, as well. Notice that the designs don't travel up beyond the obi.

When people attend wedding ceremonies, their kimono color is also important. All family members of both the bride and the husband wear black formal, so you can know who to give congratulations to, and so you can make sure you've said it to everybody. If you are a friend or someone else unrelated, you wear something that's a far cry from black, so as to not be confused with the family.

The kimono happyoukai was wonderful and very eye-opening. A lot of the things that were said in the presentation Yoshiko-san didn't know either. After all, kimonos aren't that common nowadays, and a lot of people don't even know how to tie obis anymore (I used to know how to do a compact ichimonji musubi, but it's been a while, so I might have forgotten by now).

This shoe reminds me of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass,
most probably because of the cartoon-y swirly design

As I was walking home, I saw this massive line heading out of Mc Donald's. Why are people so intent on lining up for this one? Aren't there better places to eat? No matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find any promotional signs or anything, so maybe people are just getting more addicted. o.o
I don't want that to be the truth.

When I got back to the house, Yoshiko-san took Ayuka and Ryosuke to their swimming lesson, and thus I was left alone in the house. So what do I do? I become Japanese! I cleaned my room, vacuumed everything (including a gentle cleaning of the tatami), and then I beat down my futon like there was no tomorrow. I even had a conversation with a nice old lady that was walking by as I beat the dust out. I almost felt like I've lived here all my life, and this was just another day of regular Japanese chores. Chores have never felt better!

Because Yoshiko-san would be gone with the kids to swimming all the way until 5:30, and Masahiro-san was working hard today, despite the fact that it was Saturday, I decided that I would cook. They've been doing so much for me, that the least I could do was cook a meal for them when I had free time. Enchilada time!

Thus, I went on an adventure to the nearby supermarket (where I've been only once before while looking for quiche making materials). I tried to find tortillas, but after a while of searching to no avail, I decided to ask. That guy tried to find it, but couldn't, so he asked someone else. And then that someone else asked someone else. So then I had this sort of duckling line of men walking around trying to find tortillas. It was so funny! In the end they found only one brand with only two packages in stock, hidden away in a freezer. I miss the ease of finding tortillas in America.

Flavored vache qui rit fromage squares? Count me in! 

I did end up shopping and paying successfully, though I did make one mistake of grabbing the wrong basket. They color coordinate their baskets for the different stages of shopping (bagging, walking to the car, shopping within the store, etc.), and you change baskets naturally as you move through those stages, but I grabbed a green one when I should have had a red one instead. My gaijin mistake.

A nice basket after a successful first time shopping for groceries on my own!

I find shrines in the weirdest of places! Not that that's a bad
thing. I like that aspect of Tokyo a lot. :3

When I got back, I set right down to work. I had to make a badass sauce to make this enchilada experience work, and since this was the first time I ever made enchiladas, I was terrified. I was totally winging it too. But it ended up working out, and I actually think it tasted quite good! The sauce and the "mix cheese" worked together well. I also had cabbage (couldn't find lettuce) and avocado as the fresh vegetables outside of the ones inside the sauce. The children and everyone seemed to like it, so I think it was a success! My next project might be pizza or Vietnamese spring rolls, both of which my host family has shown an interest in.

I got mail today! It's my first piece of mail while in Japan, and it's from Muriel! She picked such a nice stamp that's like the perfect Japan/French mix. How does she find such things? It's amazing! I was really happy when the mailman interrupted my cooking to ask if there was a Maggie Vo living at this address now, and I introduced myself to him and we actually had a nice conversation. Muriel had spelled "Kiuchi" (the family last name) as "Kuichi" which had confused him a bit. But I'm so glad to be getting mail! And what do I find inside it? A GIANT sushi cutout. Best. Thing. Ever. I shall proudly display it in my room, and think of good Tsukiji market fish whenever I see it. Thanks, Mu!

I didn't have time to draw much today, since I've been cooking and kimono watching and shopping and writing, etc. But I did manage to squeeze in the small beginnings of the next character, who is totally not who I said it would be. It's the beginnings to a guy who is two years younger than the youngest of everyone else. He loves video games and anime, and has a nice collection of pins from his favorites. He's the king of illegal downloading, though he also takes time to collect and buy things that he thinks is worth his money (which, if you look at his room, is a lot of Clannad, AKB48, Girls' Generation, Super Mario, and Zelda). He owns almost every "good" gaming platform, all the way from the Magnavox Odyssey (if you don't know what this is, look it up. It's hilarious) to the Wii U (which he bought to try out, but he actually doesn't think i that good). The best console, in his opinion, is either the PSP or the 3DS. He's still deciding by constant every day testing.

Can you guess who this is? It's... Akihabara! Home to a big cosplay stage every Sunday, a whole lot of gaming and anime stores, Super Potato, and book stores that tend to sell an equal number of video games as they do books. Hopefully, the rest of him will come tomorrow (though I might take that rainy day indoors to write my fanfic instead, which I've been neglecting recently).

After Akihabara, I really will draw those two businessmen guys. One of them has really expensive food tastes, likes to dress in only English tailored suits, and can hold his drink quite well. He likes to take his buddies and coworkers to bars around his home area and buy rounds for them both out of friendship and also in an effort to curry favor. 

The other one is equally dressy, but doesn't care for the brand. He doesn't even really care how he looks; his fashion sense just happens to be one of suits and good professional dress, from all sorts of places and brand names. He shops a lot and shares his best friend's penchant for high end dining. Thus, most of his hard earned money (they're both incredibly smart and hard workers) goes into food and shopping. He's more technologically advanced than his friend, and is worse at holding his own when it comes to drinking. However, he knows more about international brand names than anyone else he's ever met.

Based on this, you guys should be able to at least start to get an idea of who they are, if you know the Tokyo area. Neither of their namesake stations are JR, actually. They're both metro stations. And if you don't know the Tokyo area and have no idea who they are, then you're in for a treat of more learning by personifying! I hope I can portray them well. =]

お休みなさい、

マギー