A Water Bottle Carrier

My husband brings wheat tea in a plastic bottle to his office every day. But even though the AC is on in the office, sometimes the tea goes bad. Also lots of companies in the tokyo area reduce the power usage in the summer for lack of electricity since the quake so that the AC is often weakened recently.

So, I made the holder for my husband. It should keep the tea cold! This looks very girly, I know, but I'm not interested in buying fabrics for men. It's boring for me, on the other hand, there are so many cute fabrics for girls to look around. It's more fun! As a result, my husband has to carry this girly holder. I attached a insul-bright sheet as the inner fabric to keep cold. The color of the string actually doesn't perfectly match with the exterior fabric because I used my left over material. Possibly I wanted to use white but I still like it.

Our family took a day trip to the aquarium in Tokyo on a hot humid day, and the carrier really worked! It kept the tea cold for a while. I wanted to test how long it could keep the coldness but he finished it soon! Anyway, it's proven it works!!

Lots of Yukata Fabrics and Ready-to-Wear Yukata Are in Stores

It's perfect time to wear a yukata now. You can wear it only in the summer time, so don't miss it everyone!

Last Sunday I bought a yukata fabric! (Shame on me, I wasn't planning to buy such a thing but I couldn't resist...) As some people know that some yukatas can wear from May until the end of August. If you want to wear it earlier than the regular yukata season that is from Jun to Aug, you should wear a nagajuban, which is worn under a kimono, and zori, which is kimono shoes but not for a yukata, to look it more like a kimono. Because it is too early to wear the yukata just as is. If you wear a nagajuban, it is ok. In addition to that, you can wear a either hanhaba obi or nagoya obi.

A hanhaba obi is a half the width of a regular obi, and is worn on a yukata or a casual kimono, on the other hand, a nagoya obi is usually worn on a casual kimono. Occasionally, it's worn on a yukata.

So, if the color or the pattern of your yukata is not too bright or too girly, you can wear your yukata as a summer kimono. You should try!

Anyway, this is the fabric I bought. I want to wear it as a summer kimono next year. (I don't think I can finish up in the summer!)

When the Rainy Season Is Over, It's Time to Dry Umeboshi Under the Sun

Yes, finally the rainy season is over and real summer is here! Huuummmmiiiiiddd humid humid every day... This humidity drains all of my energy out of my body.

Anyway, when fresh plums and akashiso leaves are out, I pickled them with salt and rest them until the rainy season is over. I had to dry the plums and the leaves for 3 days. For the first 2 days, I just need to dry them only under the sunshine but on the 3rd day, it has to be over night.

Here is some akashiso leaves before I pickled.

This is the photo form the first day.

After 3 days, plums got shrunk a bit.

Now I need to put all the plums and the leaves back into akaumesu, which is salted water produced while pickling.

And the leaves!

It looks like umeboshi, doesn't it? However, it just tastes salt for now. I've got to wait until winter! See you then, my umeboshi!!

I hope it'll go well!

Tanabata Festival

Do you know "tanabata" festival? It's one of traditional festivals in Japan. It's said that the prince and the princess who cannot meet can finally meet only on July 7th. It's the only chance they can meet; however, it has to be a clear night. Since the Milky Way separates them (they can't cross the river!), they can meet only at a clear night when you can see the Milky Way clearly.

Unfortunately, July 7th is usually cloudy or rainy every year. Tonight is cloudy. Man, it's a tragedy...

Well, we write a wish on a piece of paper, called tanzaku, and hung it in a bamboo tree. This year I wished quick recovery from the earthquake.

Today lots of small kids and their mom got together and celebrated the tanabata festival and had lots of fun. All the kids wore jinbei, which is clothing with a yukata top and shorts, and they were really cute. But only one of the others and I brought yukatas to the place, and of course I put it on right away. I put a yukata on one of a Japanese moms, one Filipino woman, and one Thai woman. They seemed to enjoy wearing it. One thing surprised me was that the Filipino woman knew how to fold a yukata! I gave her some advice and she quickly learned it! Amazing isn't it? Not many Japanese people know how to fold a yukata, but a non-Japanese person knew more! I hope she remembers it!