Japanese lacquer

I bought a pair of traditional wooden sandals in a department store.
They are made of paulownia wood and lacquered.


Actually I was reluctant to buy them, because of the price. However, I
really loved them and the shop manager said the lacquer can be reapplied, if it
wears off and the belt can be changed at any time. After hearing this I
decided to buy them. I think my decision was right. It's worth it.

The size is a little bit big for me, so that my husband can put them on
too. They are very light and comfortable. We usually use them in our flat
’s entrance. We sometimes put them on when we go to a convenience store
nearby.

I didn’t like such Japanese style things when I was younger, but now I
really love them.
I have a Wajima lacquered bowl and use it almost everyday. It’s very
useful and beautiful.



By the way Wajima is the name of a city which is in Ishikawa and is very
famous for Wajima-nuri (Japanese lacquer).
A big earthquake occurred there on 25th March and it inflicted huge damage
on the houses and citizens. Some public offices and companies collected
contributions for them, but I heard it isn
’t enough to help them so I’ll contribute to it again as soon as possible
and buy some Wajima-nuri bowls.

Art festival

I went to Fukui, which is next to Ishikawa, to see an art festival this weekend with my family. It was in a forest so that we were able to see the fresh green trees and hear the birds singing. We felt refreshed while we were there.

Actually one of my English teachers opened his accessories shop there.
He is a silver craftsman too. There were lots of kinds of craft shops and food shops, so we thought it was not easy to find his shop in so many shops.

Anyway we started walking around there and enjoyed shopping.
We found him around one hour later. He displayed his works in a tent.
His wife and tiny baby were there too.
I held the baby in my arms. She stared at me for a few seconds then smiled at me. The smiling face looked like an angel.

My daughter bought a necklace which has her style. It’s really great for her. After we left his shop we kept shopping and came across a good wooden dish.

It cost only 1000 yen. I’m going to use it for cold Soba. I also bought small dishes. We had a great time.

Japanese dinner

I've kept a blog at work as an editor of a company's site and as a reader of a group blog, but I haven't had my own blog yet, though I have one in Japanese.
So, I've dicided to keep my own blog in English for practice. I'll do my best to keep this one too.

By the way, there was 'the Golden week' here in Japan.
There are some National holidays from the end of April to the first of May. We call it 'the Golden week', because it's really rare we Japanese can get such long days off.

All schools are closed for it and most companies as well.
I had a great time with my husband and my daughter during the week.
We had a good meal which I made and a great chat everyday.

I've been working very hard lately, so my hus and doughter weren't able to have any homemade dishes for a long time. So I wanted to cook their favorite Japanese food and made it.

I made "Sakana no Nitsuke" which was boiled fish with sake and soi sauce.
I also made some more "Nimono" as well. It was great!