Tag Archives: daikon

子どもの日

6 May

Yesterday was 「子供の日」 (“Children’s Day“) in Japan. The final day of “Golden Week“.
Today most everyone in Japan went back to work or school.

Yesterday, we went to the 「藤まつり」 (“Wisteria flower Festival”) at 「亀戸天神社」 (“Kameido Ten-Jinja Shrine”).

Sign says 「亀戸天神 藤まつり」 ("Kameido Tenjin" Shrine "Wisteria Festival")

藤 (Wisteria flowers)

The "Tokyo Sky Tree" can be seen from this shrine.

"Tokyo Sky Tree" (under construction)

Festivals in Japan have booth selling foods, drinks, etc

It was "Golden Week", so it was quite crowded.

(Click here to see a post I wrote that has a picture of a 浮世絵 (traditional Japanese woodblock print) of this shrine, and how it hasn’t changed much since).

From there, we went to 「亀戸香取神社」 (“Kameido Katori Jinja Shrine“) which honors, among other things, 「亀戸大根」 (the “Kameido Daikon” giant Japanese radish).
This radish grew in the Kameido area of Tokyo even during times of drought. So this shrine lets people “thank” the Kameido Daikon for helping to keep the people of Japan from going hungry during hard times.

This sign says "Kameido Daikon". And "Kameido" is written with the characters resembling a turtle (for the town's name means "turtle door") and a Daikon radish.

There were 八重桜 ("Leafy Sakura") in bloom.

「亀戸大根」 ("Kameido Daikon")

Wash 恵比寿様 (Ebisu-sama) and they'll ensure your good health and fortune.

目黒さんま祭

6 Sep

Today was the 14th annual 目黒サンマ祭 (Meguro Sanma Festival).

The 2009 「目黒さんま祭」 ("Meguro Sanma Festival")

The 2009 「目黒さんま祭」 ("Meguro Sanma Festival")

「秋刀魚」 or 「サンマ」 (Sanma) is a kind of mackerel fish.
And 「目黒」 (Meguro) is an area of Tokyo where the festival is held on the first Sunday of September every year (from about 10:00AM-2:00PM).

At this festival, they give away for free a grilled Sanma fish to the first 6,000 people! And they also give away 10,000 スダチ (Sudachi (a Japanese citrus fruit)) or ダイコン (Japanese giant radish), which both taste good with Sanma fish.

If you ever have a chance to attend this festival, I recommend it. 「サンマ」 (Sanma) is delicious!

Grilling the fish at the 「目黒サンマ祭」.

Grilling the fish at the 「目黒サンマ祭」.

(Also, it doesn’t have anything to do with this post other than his name, but…「サンマさん」 (Mr. Sanma) is one of the most popular comedians in Japan. I enjoy his programs (And his laugh is funny)):

"Sanma-san"

"Sanma-san"