Cooking -- October 30, 2008

Today's menu was pressed sushi and fried vegetables.Though we had made nigiriｚushi, chirashizushi, inarizushi, and sushi rolls before, pressed sushi was new to everyone. Everyone enjoyed pressing sushi rice and marinated fish in a special container.They did a very good job! We also deep-fried sliced lotus root, taro, and eringi mushrooms and ate them with a bit of curry salt. Very delicious!

Chilean cooking -- October 23, 2008

Today's cooking class was not for foreigners but for Japanese. One member from Chile taught us Chilean cooking. The menu was stuffed tomatoes, Carbonada (beef and vegetable soup), and dried compote with mote wheat. Every dish is very delicious and healthy. We had a fun chat over lunch.

Shodo -- October 10, 2008

Six ladies attended today's shodo lesson.Four children came with mothers. It's so nice to see them growing up and their interest changing little by little. Some of them wanted to do shodo beside their mothers.

Hikari School -- October 9, 2008

Six ladies enjoyed October lesson of Hikari School. The workshop was flower arranging and we learned the real basics. The sencha tea ceremony was also basic tea making. One lady was presented a certificate of completion of orientation course. The fun coffee time followed the lesson.

Cooking -- September 29, 2008

We had the first cooking after a summer break. Six ladies enjoyed today's cooking. We cooked seasonal dishes; salt-grilled sanma(Pacific saury) and pear salad. All the dishes including braised chicken, miso soup, and orange jello were ready a little after noon. It is fun to talk about food and other topic over lunch.

Art Shodo -- September 17, 2008

Three ladies joined and made attractive welcome boards. First they carved autumnal objects such as the full moon, susuki, cosmos,rabbit and so on with rubber. Then stamped and arranged on postcards with phrase of Welcome.

Shodo--September 8, 2008

Now September comes and everyone seemes ready to start again shodo lesson. Four ladies enjoyed writing autumnal words.

Hikari School -- September 5, 2008

We had the first Hikari School class after the summer break. The theme of the lesson was Chrysanthemum as September 9 is Chrysanthemum festival. We made braids with Asian knots. The knots are the shapes of chrysanthemum.We learned making chrysanthemum tea and enjoyed the flavor of chrysanthemum.

Shodo -- August 8, 2008

Though most members are out of town for a summer holiday, two ladies joined us for shodo lesson. They practiced kanji letters, yume(dream)and hoshi(star),which are quite difficult to write, but they wrote them very nicely on uchiwa(fan).

Hikari School -- July 17, 2008

Two ladies from South Africa joined us for Hikari School. We first made mini uchiwa fans decorating with washi paper. We also enjoyed iced green tea ceremony. A bit bitter taste. Anyway we enjoyed a charming lesson in mid-summer.

Shodo -- June 30, 2008

We had a fun lesson with a new teacher. Newcomers practiced numbers in kanji and their names in katakana. And one lady challenged difficult kanji' kakitsubata' which means iris in English. It is difficult for some Japanese to write 'kakitsubata'in kanji.

Hikari School -- June 19, 2008

Hikari School was held with five participants, most of whom arrived in Tokyo quite recently. Hikaru-sensei started the lesson with a talk on Tanabata matsuri, Japanese Star Festival.

And we made several decorations with origami paper for the bamboo branches and everyone wrote her wish on a piece of paper. Before we started sencha tea ceremony one lady was glad to wear yukata (summer kimono).

Shodo -- June 9, 2008

Though three ladies had to cancel today's shodo, three regular members enjoyed the lesson as always. One girl will move out Tokyo soon, and others will have a summer holiday. We will meet again in September.

Shodo -- May 29, 2008

We had fun shodo lesson with four ladies. Two ladies came with their small children despite the bad weather.They practiced some rain-related kanji and hiragana as well as basic strokes.

Art shodo -- May 28, 2008

Four members enjoyed the combination of different skill by hands such as carving, writing and painting. Arranging stamps for finishing was also quite fun.

Shodo -- May 19, 2008

Today's shodo class started early afternoon. Three ladies enjoyed a quiet lesson time writing kanji and hiragana without being interrupted by the children, who were so good all the time.

Cooking -- May 9, 2008

Four ladies enjoyed cooking lesson today. We made chirashizushi(scattered sushi), steamed eggplants, clear clam soup, and soy-milk jello with strawberry sauce. It took us time to cook all the ingredients for sushi, but every dish was ready a little after noon.

Shodo -- May 1, 2008

Five enthusiastic ladies enjoyed shodo in a lovely room over-looking a cannal. One lady with a 7 months old daughter arrived in Tokyo two weeks ago. How is her impression of the first shodo lesson?

Shodo -- April 21, 2008

We had a fun shodo lesson in the early afternoon. The ladies practiced seasonal words and made lovely pieces of shikishi. We enjoyed chatting over coffee afterwards.

Shodo -- April 17, 2008

Two ladies who are quite new to Tokyo joined us for shodo today. Started with straight strokes,they wrote diferent kanji; kawa(river),hayashi(forest),and yama(mountain). Now they can write their names in katakana.

Chabako--April 7, 14, 18, 2008

We had a new attractive program both for internationals and nationals. This program ,Chabako, is a good sample of foreign idea giving a touch to Japanese common tool and turn it to something different and charming. It is no more just a Japanese tea leaf storage but a decorative container and/or stool which you could use in a nice place of your house.

Most of the work was taken on the floor. We had to help each other when we covered the lid with batting and obi material as you see in a picture. We needed 2days for finishing. With patient help from cheerful teacher,each of us could complete the work and very much satisfied.

Cooking -- March 31, 2008

Today's menu was Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki which is a little different from common okonomiyaki. We use less dough, but more filling like noodles,bean sprouts, and tangle shavings. It is not easy to turn over the dough because of a lot of filling.But everyone did a very good job!

We enjoyed spring vegetable salad with Japanese flavor dressing.