Chiba City Floral Museum (千葉市花の美術館)

My birthday found me bent to do something new and special, yet chill enough to relax from my continuously hectic schedule. So I chose two destinations that I had been looking for an excuse to go to!

A gorgeous day at the Chiba City Floral Museum!

With Hana-chan, the Floral Museum's mascot character!

Glass slipper!

Right now at the Floral Museum, they are doing a limited-time exhibit called "Floral Christmas." I came across it while I was translating stuff at work, and I was really happy to find that they had (for some reason) combined the Christmas theme with Cinderella!

Pumpkin carriage!

This was my favorite display! You are actually allowed to climb into the display to take photos there. AWESOME. On a separate note, I am not a huge fan of poinsettias, but I reaaaally like the peach ones in the front left of this photo!


The regular exhibits are lots of fun too:

Couch!

The coach looks a little...spiky, yeah? That's because it's made out of rose thorns!!! There was also a full skirted dress, hat, bag, and stiletto heels made out of plant thorns! Talk about art. o_O

What's in the cup?

Located on the second floor, this room is full of hands-on stuff that you can play with! This table has a bunch of cups with different scents in them!

I had a lot of fun with these! The photo is of a flower belonging to a normal fruit/vegetable that we would find on our dinner tables...I already forget which is what though. D:

Octopus tree!!! It is kinda creepy looking, but interesting nonetheless.

They also had a pretty awesome greenhouse with lots of plants I'd never seen before.

Mini pineapples! So cute!!!

After wandering the museum for an hour and a half or so, we were starving so we decided to grab lunch at the restaurant directly attached to the museum.

Pizzaaaaa!

They have a lovely patio area, so it's probably really nice to come here on a nice day/when more flowers are in bloom! The food here was surprisingly good and totally normal, reasonable prices, so if you come to museum I suggest you come eat here. :D

Taken at a purikura machine on the same day.

Although this is totally unrelated to the Floral Museum, I just want to note that apparently my birthday is also pizza day! Awesome that we both chose to eat pizza just before learning this.


Links to more info about the Chiba City Floral Museum:
- Chiba City website (English) http://www.city.chiba.jp/somu/shichokoshitsu/kokusai/tour_ccfm.html
- Floral Museum website (Japanese) http://www.floral-museum.jp/

I totally recommend here if you are looking for a quiet, nice place to rest and relax! There were a lot of people here who just seemed to be taking a walk within the museum itself...plus Inage Kaigan Park is located right outside of the museum, if you want to wander around some more.


Next stop: Tokyo German Village (actually located in Sodegaura City in Chiba) Winter Illumination!

Knife Ceremony at Minamiboso City's Takabe Shrine

I really love the straw roof...it's not something you really see around this area.

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit Takabe Shrine (高家神社) in Minamiboso City!

The first cool thing about Takabe Shrine is that it's the only shrine to be dedicated to a culinary god! The god worshipped here is Iwakamutsukari-no-Mikoto (say that 3 times fast!), who according to the shrine's legend, impressed the emperor with his cooking so much that he was appointed as the emperor's personal chef!

As such, the shrine gets many visitors related to the food industry who come to pray to Iwakamutsukari-no-Mikoto for success.

But my main goal for visiting was to see the 包丁式, or Knife Ceremony! It is a really awesome, impressive ritual where a whole fish is completely prepared using only knife and chopsticks.

The very lovely 絵馬 (prayer boards?) depicting the Knife Ceremony and Takabe Shrine.

Dressed in traditional ceremonial robes, and ready for battle!

The ceremony begins with the introduction of the participants, the presentation of the fish, and other preparations, like wiping down the cutting board and sprinkling salt in each of the corners (to purify the board). Then, it's almost time to start!!  The man dressed in white here is the toshu, or person who is solely responsible for preparing the fish.

The toshu takes careful care even just to remove the paper and decorations wrapped around the fish.

Each and every movement is precise...there are no extra, unnecessary gestures. There is also gagaku, or traditional Japanese court music playing in the background, helping draw out the grand, solemn atmosphere of the ritual.

Fish head D:

The stage and ritual participants. The giant slab of wood is the cutting board!

Filleting the fish.

No one could take their eyes off the stage as the toshu painstalkingly continued to prepare the fish.

Finally, the toshu carefully arranges the fish so that it can be taken into the shrine to be offered up. Even here he cannot use his hands, and carefully wields his knife and chopsticks to do the job.

I tried to get a better view of the final product by trying to catch them on their way to the shrine...

The procession continues up the steps into the shrine, where I suppose there is another ritual of offering.

This ceremony is held three times a year on May 17, October 17, and November 23, and is open to the public for viewing. The next performance is coming up tomorrow on Wednesday, November 23 at 12:00pm, so if you are a fan of traditional Japanese food and culture, be sure to check this event out!

For more details about the Knife Ceremony, please see:
http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kokusai/english/information/residents/news/issues/oct2011.html#event1002

Laura's House.

In my own celebration of Roara Day, I would like to share a very well-hidden, gorgeous cafe!

ローラの家, or "Laura's House"

One day, a friend surprised me by taking to this little cafe located on the outskirts of Inzai City here in Chiba. I don't have photos of the outside, but if it was your first time coming here, you would seriously think it was a rundown, abandoned shack.

Once you go inside though, you'll find a delightfully adorable cafe!

There were also random friendly messages written on the window.

"What do you say we have a great time with Laura?" :D

You can tell that every single item was carefully chosen and set around the cafe. I really enjoy the old-school fridge...

Super awesome fireplace! This must be so much fun during the colder months.

We enjoyed a very nice roll cake and coffee...a wonderful treat after wandering around all day!

So many cute trinkets all over the place!

Many of the dishes pictured had insane price tags!
The owner let us look at them, but I was really nervous about handing them...

Apparently the owner of this place is a huge fan of the old drama, Little House on the Prairie, especially little Laura - which is why the owner decided to establish this place.

Such a lovely little hideout! I really really recommend the cafe if you are looking for a place to escape from reality for awhile. The cafe as well as its surroundings are great to just sit back and take in...we only had a snack here, but the course menu looked amazing! I definitely want to go back.

I don't think the cafe has specific hours, so if you plan on going, I highly recommend making reservations in advance! I promise it will be totally worth it.

Here is the cafe's address and phone number:
ローラの家
千葉県印西市平賀3138
0476-98-0973

Whee happy Roara Day!

My first Japanese wedding.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending my friend's wedding.

Back when I was in Kamogawa, there were only two other people in the City Hall who are the same age as me...a guy, and then my friend Sayaka. We never actually got to do work together, but I think we got to know each other when we happened to attend the same gathering. We hit it off pretty instantly, going on dinner/karaoke dates on a fairly normal basis.

Still, I have only known Sayaka for 3 years. Both she and her (new!) husband are two of the nicest people I have ever met - and I really really mean it! It was super flattering and a huge honor to be allowed to join in the festivities.

Anyway....off to the photos (and a couple videos)!

Here comes the bride~.

The celebrations began with the wedding ceremony at 11am, and was held at the chapel on the very top floor of the Kamogawa Grand Hotel. Sayaka looks totally gorgeous! Her dad looks pretty tense though...

Exchanging rings.

Everything was a totally new experience for me. For one thing, the wedding ceremony was only about 30 minutes long. I suppose the priest was legit...he said he was from a Christian church in Kisarazu. He read an excerpt from the Bible, made a really short sermon (if you can call it that? it sounded like he must given the exact same speech for every single wedding he's ever done), and we sang two hymns...other than that, there was just the exchange of vows and signing of the wedding contract - and poof! done.

Waiting for the reception to start.

More than the wedding ceremony itself, the reception, or 披露宴 ("hiroen"), was totally the main event. The reception was a full four hours long - which I think might be more of a local thing? When I mentioned that to people from outside of Kamogawa, they said such a long reception was rather unthinkable. Despite how long it was though, there was always something exciting going on so I didn't get bored at all!

I was, however, very surprised when MC suddenly started reading what sounded like the bride and groom's resumes. Like, literally..."the bride attended blahblah elementary school, moved onto blahblah junior high, then has worked in the blahblah office of Kamogawa City Hall since 20##."

The turtle and crane dishes were totally cute!

After that strange opening/introductions though, we got to enjoy tons of food and endless drinks! The food kept coming...for all four hours o_O

And even more food was served.

It wouldn't be a proper Japanese wedding if the bride and groom didn't change their outfits multiple times!

Following a couple stuffy speeches and in between the delicious food and amusing conversations, there were a bunch of awesome performances by friends of the bride and groom. Above is a photo from the daikon (radish) dance...hence why everyone is jumping up and down holding radishes. I don't know what the significance is...but it was a lot of fun nonetheless!

I managed to catch the end of the dance on video:



There were a couple other things planned for the entertainment program, but my favorite was by far this:

Spot the creepy fan~!

My old office performed a twist of the Chiba Lotte Marines song, changing the lyrics to talk about the bride and groom. I am quite sure they chose this song because right now the Marines are in Kamogawa for training camp (and will be there until the 22nd!).

I was too amazed by the sheer awesomeness to remember to take video, but I did get a bunch of other photos:

One of the bodyguards randomly jumped in and started dancing with the cheerleaders.

The other bodyguard was doing his job properly as he totally shuts down the hardcore fan!

They actually got one of the real team mascots to come!

A close up of my favorite character...His outfit was awesome, and he actually painted on a blue, stubbly bear on his face.

Another priceless memory from the wedding:


The groom is totally hardcore when it comes to festivals, so his friends made a mikoshi to escort him out with during one of the costume changes!

Instead of tossing the bouquet, they randomly picked the names of 10 of the bride's guests, who then picked a ribbon - one of which was tied to the bouquet. The people at my table were convinced I was going to get picked...something I was skeptical of, since there were so many guests - but I was chosen!!! I didn't get the bride's bouquet, but the rest of us got a mini bouquet as well as a bundle of candy. :D

And randomly, a photo with a couple of friends. You can't tell how puffy my hair is, but I have the standard dress + bolero set!!!

After the third and final costume change, the newly wedded couple went to light the candles at each and every table. I guess this represents sharing their happiness with everyone?

She might be smiling here, but she managed to make pretty much everyone else in the room cry!

Almost at the end of the reception - the Letter from the Bride! The bride reads a letter to her parents outloud. I think this is pretty standard for wedding receptions, but between Sayaka's letter and a speech by the groom's father, the entire room was had been brought to tears.

After the reception, there was still the 2次会, or after-party...and in typical Kamogawa fashion, we also went to a restaurant to drink more, karaoke, then went to another place after that. It was a very exciting day and I really am happy to have been able to share the bride and groom's happiness. I wish them all of the best! <3