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Every year from late May and into the month of June, Japan has its rainy season　called ‘Tsuyu’. This covers the whole country, except Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan. The period leading up to the rainy season is known as ‘Tsuyu-iri’ and the end of the season is referred to as ‘Tsuyu-ake’. The distinguishing feature of the Japanese ‘Tsuyu’ compared to the damp feeling and the mist-like rain that falls every day. Due to this, we have to take care of damp and mould creeping into our houses and make sure our food stays dry to avoid the risk of food poisoning.
The word ‘Tsuyu’ is written with two characters, that for Japanese plum (梅) and rain (雨). This has led to several theories about the origin of the term. One of the most convincing theories comes from the fact that Japanese plums ‘ume’ ripen at this time of year.

Japanese Plums ‘ume’

Flower Of Plums

Japanese people take special care of ‘ume’ at this time of year, as they have special health－giving properties. Ume are said to protect people from the three well-known types of illness (Illnesses from food, problems of blood circulation and illnesses from the water we drink), so we consume plum alcohol and eat pickled plums. The red ‘shiso’ (a type of edible leaf) that we use in the pickling process is also particularly tasty around the ‘Tsuyu’ season.
　When we were children, our packed lunches for school (often ‘Hi-no-Maru’ Bento – rice with a pickled plum in the centre which resembles the Japanese nationalflag
‘Hi-no-Maru)and our rice balls for school trips often had pickled plums in them.
Our Mums used to put them in for our health. Even when I go abroad now, I take pickled plums with me. They make a wonderful gift to Japanese people living abroad as a present from home.

Japanese national flag/Hi-no-Maru bento

rice ball

In addition, ‘Tsuyu’ is a crucial period for fames for the planting of fruits, vegetables and various crops, because of the amount of rain that falls. In particular, ‘Tsuyu’ is the period for the toughest job of the year for framers, that of planting rice seeds. Even though this job is performed by machines now, traditionally the whole community would come together and form a line squatting in the rain water and spend a day planting seeds under the water line. This is a truly arduous task. We also have a festival in the community to pray for a good harvest of rice in the autumn. Since ancient times, these practices have strengthened ties in the community and promoted community sprit.

This festival includes special dance called ‘Bon-odori’. For this, adults, children and the elderly dance halfway into the night in times. This tradition is still alive today and even as an adult. I still feel nostalgic when I think of it. Thinking about it brings back many fond memories of childhood for me.

However, despite all this, most Japanese people dislike the ‘Tsuyu’ season. There are many reasons for this. Not only do we have to carry an umbrella everywhere with us and have to stay inside, it’s also a period when bacteria and mould can multiply. It’s a difficult to dry you washing and clothes can often become smelly because of the damp. For people like the Japanese who like to bathe everyday, ‘Tsuyu’ is an unpleasant season as we can normally have dry clothes to change into after bathing. However, some Japanese people like to relieve stress by admiring the rare flowers such as hydrangea and iris that only bloom over ‘Tsuyu’ period.

hydrangea and iris

Finally, when this ‘Tsuyu’ period comes to an end, Japan starts to experience its hot summer.

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

Dear Sir or Madam,

We would like to introduce our new staff
who is responsible for overseas market as follows.

Best regards
Kazumasa Mizue CEO

New staff
Seiichi Shioi
General Manager of Overseas Sales
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.
2F 2-30-20 Sakae cho, Higashi-Murayama city
Tokyo, Japan 189-0013
Phone: +81 42396 8118 Fax: +81 42396 5828
info@autogalaxy.co.jp
https://autogalaxy.tokyo/

 Shirakawa-go and Gokayama were listed as World Culural Heritage site in December 1995 for their uniqe style of architecture, found only in this region.
They are located in Hidaka mountain range, the backbone of the Japanese Islands, and on the east side of Hakusan National Park. They are very heavy snowfall and were therefor so called Solitary Islands. However they became to be known for its their architecture with with distindtively shloped roofing “Gasho-zukuri”.
Speaking of world cultural heritage sites, the most people imagine the unimaginably ancient building such as Peru’s Machu Picchu, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, and  the Great Wall of China. However, the surprinsing thing about the Shirakawa-go world heritage site is that it looks just like a typical Japanese countryside area.

   

“Gasho-zukuri” is the construction style with steeply roofs like putting ones hands together.  It is built with a style called “gabled roof architecture with principal ridgepole” in wich the both end of the roof are like a open the book. It is built to endure a large quantity of snow normal for this region. Metal iron clamps and nails are not used for the joining of building materials, instead wooden wedge and neso, young branches of the Japanese witch hazel.

The gabled roof has an almost 60 degrees incline to shed heavy snow.There is Gasho-zukuri house that is 5 stories high. When you enter inside, you will see one giant Hinoki” pillar more than 150 years old and length approximately 11 meter long, going through up to the roof. Also you notice the many beams built with Katsura, Chestnut, and Zelkova wood, approximately 300 old years, everywhere.



There is the hearth in the center of living room. The smoke from the hearth which comes up to the ceiling makes building wood materials glossy. This smoke is useful for insecticide and prevention of decay. The hearth is used as the lighting for cooking and air-conditioning. This smoke makes the building wood materials strong as metal.
In the village of Shirakawa, the Sericulture business was main industry. They used the huge space under the roof as the manufacturing facility of Cocoon which was used for making silk.
Once at every 40 to 50 years, they change the straw on the roof. They have the way of helping each other, called “Musubi”, the village bond. More than 100 to 200 villagers gather to do it.

Bruno Julius Florian Taut once praised the architecture in Shirakawa village for its extremely logical and functional design, saying he had never seen anything like it anywhere else in Japan.

Nowadays, we Japanese still have the spirit of “Kizuna” (Bond) in our blood. When the great earthquake disaster hit the North-East of Japan, the news told of many people helping each other in the midest of such great confusion.
I understand that the origin of Japanese life and the spirit of bond might be the reason that Shirakawa volost was listed as par of the world cultural heritage site.

Kazumasa Mizue

　Hot summer!!

Until now, every offices and classrooms are cooled down by air-conditioning and we had very comfortable way of life. However, this summer is different. We had a big earthquake on 11th March, the nuclear power plant in Fukushima was hit by a kind of the tsunami which we never had before. It has been broke down since then and we have had electrical power shortages.
This summer, all households and companies must cut down the use of electricity to avoid a major black out.
Before we had air-conditioning in Japan, we just coped with the heat. For example, we used wind chimes that make us feel like the wind is blowing. This is all so the same as the sound of river water and the song of birds. These kinds of natural sounds make us feel more relaxed.

Wind Chime

We have many firework festivals all over Japan in summer time. A lot of people go and enjoy the great feast of fireworks. We have these firework displays on beaches and next to rivers. It feels a lot cooler at these places than in the city.

Fireworks

We have foods for summer time too. A typical summer food is water-melon.
Before we had refrigerators, we put the whole water-melon in the cold water of a well or a spring. We enjoy putting a little bit of salt on the watermelon to make it sweeter.

Watermelon

The shaved ice with syrup flavored with melon, lemon, strawberry etc make hot bodies cool and forget the heat of summer whilst wearing summer wear such as ‘Yukata’ made with good quality a Japanese silk.

Shavet ice

with Yukata

We should not to forget ‘Hiyashi-somen’. It is a kind of thin noodle boiled and then cooled by ice water. Japanese love it with tomatoes, cucumbers, water-melons, cherries and etc. Cooled ‘Hiyashi-somen’ is the best summer food for hot summer in Japan.

Hiyashi-somen and relish/somen with cucumber

We have a traditional way to eat ‘Hiyashi-somen’ and called ‘Nagashi Somen’,
‘Nagashi Somen’ is when somen is put in flowing water in a bamboo gutter. You catch the somen with chopsticks, dip it into ‘somen-tsuyu’, kind of soup for somen, and eat it. ‘Nagashi Somen’ is one of outdoor entertainments and you will have fun time and also cool taste of summer.

Nagashi somen/The outdoors

We used to have a variety of ways to be cool in hot summer in Japan since ancient times.
We must reduce electricity consumption by 15 % this year. However, that is not the final solution. We will, and shall find the new energy, instead of depending on nuclear power. There are some new way of making energy by earth-heat, wind, solar and ocean waves. In the near future, we Japanese will create the new clean source of energy that will shake the whole world.
We are used to disasters in Japan. We have become resilient and know how to overcome such problems.

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

Hina Matsuri takes place on 3rd of March and celebrates “Girls’ Day”. This is the day families pray for the happiness and prosperity of their girls and to help ensure that they grow up healthy and beautiful. The celebration takes place at every home which has daughters and meant to ward off evil spirits from girls.

A male doll and the female doll

A display of dolls.
The family will also decorate the display with hishi-mochi, sweet liquor, and peach flowers.

Hishi-mochi・Sweet liquor・peach flowers

However, few houses these days have enough space to place Hina dolls so many just decorate their homes with hishi-mochi, liquor, and flower. All these decorations must all be cleaned away on the 4th of March. Failure to do this will mean that the family’s daughters will not find husbands with later in life.

A display of dolls

1)Hishi-mochi
These are diamond-shaped mochi arranged in three layers. The layers are different colors, pink, white and green going from top to bottom. This represents the image of peach flowers sprouting up through the snow.

Hishi-mochi

 2)Sweet liquor
For Japanese people, the combination of re and white means happiness. White, sweet liquor is placed around the house next to the red peach flowers to complete this combination and create an atmosphere of happiness.

Sweet liquor

Chirashi-sushi and soup of the clams are well edible by events of the Doll’s Festival.

Chirashi-sushi and soup of the clams

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

Setsubun is a special name for the 3rd of February. It dates from the Heian Period as a practice to drive away demons and evil spirits.

Setsubun Festival

This practice was adopted by ordinary people later in the Muromachi Period.
On the evening of February the 3rd, which is the coldest day of the year, people skewer the heads of barbecued sardines on a tree branch and place them over the windows and entrances of their houses.

sardines and Hiiragi

The bad smell is intended to drive evil spirits always. One of the men of the family will wear a demon’s mask and the whole family will throw roasted soy beans at him shouting ‘Demons out, happiness come in’. The soy beans that have been thrown are them eaten with everyone eating their age plus one.

Demons out,happiness come in!!

Soy beans destroy evil magic and throwing them as a family is a prayer for a year without sickness for the family members. After this, the family will all eat a special kind of rolled sushi in silence while making their own wishes. They eat facing south south east or to the right (the direction changes every year.)

rolled sushi,south south east(this year)

Setsubun is not just for the family, it is also held in schools and nursery schools. This becomes a fond memory for all the children.
In recent years, celibates and sports players have appeared at shrines and temples to join in the beast throwing.

famous people beast throwing

In Japan, we have four seasons. Setsubun has a meaning of marking the change in seasons and the word is also used to refer to the period before the season’s change.

Red Demons’mask

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

Each family decorates the entrance halls of their houses with pine branches and other ornaments. As most companies shut down for a week or so following the end of the year, most people spend some quiet time with their families.

   pine branches

Most children get up early on New Year’s Day and wish their parents and grandparents a ‘Happy New Year’. After this, they receive some ‘New Year’s money’ in an envelope from their fathers and grandfathers. How much they get depends on their age but they might get anything from 1,000 to 10,000 yen. As the children can use this money for whatever they want and it is their only chance to get money, it’s a truly special thing to them. For families of high social status, New Year’s is a time when many people come to the house to say ‘Happy New Year’. The children in these houses can also get New Year’s money from these visitors so they can really rake it in’.

New Year’s money

We call the 1st of January ‘Gantan’ and the first thing everyone does in the morning is open their postboxes. This is because they are expecting New Year’s greetings cards from friends, acquaintances and people they have helped throughout the year.
After checking their postboxes and giving the children their money, the whole family get together and have ‘Ozoni’ which is a New Year’s soup and make the first trip of the year to a shrine or temple to pray. Many people put some money in the collection box as a make of gratitude for the past year and to pray for health and the security of the family, happy marriages, success in exams and businesses and so on. People pray for whatever they want.

Naritasan


Kawasaki daishi

Meijijinngu

On the 7th of January, we eat rice porridge with seven vegetables to pray that our family will see no illness, disaster or accidents. This also senses to support the stomach as many people will have eaten too much over the holiday period. Also, the 11th of January is another special day when the rice cakes that have been placed out as decoration over the holiday period are broken with a hammer and cooked.

mochituki

kagamimochi              ozoni

 The country starts moving again on the 4th of January, with civil servants and company employees returning to work.

Kazumasa Mizue

In Japan, December is informally known as ‘Shi-hasu.’ This expression, meaning ‘Running teacher’ gets its name from the notion that everyone is busy, even teachers who usually have life quite easy, are rushing around. We also mark December the 31^st as a day for finishing up the left-over jobs for the year and getting ready for the coming New Year. This is all because these customs have been in place for a long time.

 Merchants all over Japan see December as an opportunity to make the biggest profits of the year. Christmas songs and jingles resound on shopping streets and department stores. One important custom at the end of the year is to give gifts known as ‘Oseibo’ to our bosses and companies with whom we have done business. These gifts are mainly food which people can enjoy over the New Year’s period.

 The New Year’s period is also important for ‘Year’s End Parties’ with friends and colleagues as a chance to reflect upon the year’s highs and lows. People go to hotels and such. As Japanese people have a particular fondness for this kind of get together it happens all year round but there is a special bonus in.

 December for employees and people has lots of informal and casual parties with different groups of friends. Families let each other do their own thing at this time of year as parties have been the done thing for a long time. After these parties, even when the hangovers have not eased off, the big clean-ups of the house and office begin. This is a special clean-up, designed to draw a line under the passing year and let us begin the new one with a clean slate and the whole family and company pitches in and works together as equals.

 January 1^st makes the start of the longest holiday of the year; companies pull together and set lofty targets aiming to beat the sales of the previous year. Of course, along with sales an accumulation of capital funds is expected. This is really tough in Japan. The majority of smaller companies with less than 50 employees are straggling with debts and in the red.  

 For this reason, the people who cannot pay debts off by the end of the year go round hanging their heads and there are always a number of people who commit suicide under this pressure at the end of the year. The end of the year also has the highest frequency of bag snatching incidents and robberies. However, once we pass the 31^st of December, lender ease off and do not chase up payments until the middle of January.
This means that borrowers can take it easy over the New Year’s period.

 Ordinary Japanese people listen to the sound of the ringing temple bells and eat ‘New Year’s noodles’ on the 31^st of December and watch game shows on TV with the family.

 With regard to ‘New Year’s noodles’, they are chosen as a special food because they are easy to cut and this goes with the image of cutting away the bad things of the previous year and welcoming the new. The temple bells are struck in temples all across Japan 108 times as according to Buddhism, this is the number of worldly desires that are in men’s souls and striking the bells drives away. People pray before the bell and after ringing it 107 times, the 108^th is to see in the New Year.         

We also have the ‘Red and White Singing Contest.’ The national television station gathers male and female chorus members from all over Japan and splits them into 25 male groups and 25 female groups as red and white respectively. Men across Japan support the men in white while ladies support the girl in red. The contest lasts for 2 hours and 45 minutes. This contest was first held in 1945 with the famous personality Furukawa Rappa and actress Mizonoe Takiko presenting the show. This came just months after Japan’s defeat in the War and was intended to lift the spirits of the downcast Japanese people. As of now, it is now in it’s 65th year and is hugely popular.

In the last ten days of December, butchers, fishmonger, grocers and the like lower their prices to shift the stock that is left as it will cause a loss if it goes unsold by the end of the year.

Usually, housewives buy in lots of food to see the family through the long holiday and makes lots of food that can be kept to feed the family and any visitors over the holiday. 

In November, there are special ceremonies to pray for the good health of children turning 7, 5 or 3 in each year, this is known as ‘shichi, go, san’ or 7, 5, 3.

shrine or temple to pray

 For boys, there are ceremonies at the ages of 3 and 5 and 3 and 7 for girls, all held on November the 15th.
This is one of our annual customs that takes us to a shrine or temple to pray for prosperity. In the old calendar, the 15th of November was traditionally a day when evil spirits and demons would not roam, therefore everything bring happiness and joy.
In addition, November in the old calendar was the time when the harvest was already completed and people would give thanks to the Gods for the food they have received. This giving of thanks would fall on the 15th which is the full moon of the month and people would give thanks for the growth of their children as well as the harvest.
Children of 3 let their hair grow long, at 5 years old they wear traditional Japanese trousers (hakama) for the first time and at age 7, this changes to a formal kimono outfit with a sash befitting an admit as a rite of passage. In many regions, 7, 5, 3 are viewed as happy occasions which concede with milestones in a child’s development, learning language at 3, growing in intelligence at 5 and giving adult teeth at 7.

七・五・三 formal kimono・・

 In modern times, for new, young mothers and fathers, 7, 5, 3 is a time when they consult their parents as to which shops are good for the children’s clothes, which shrines to go to etc. This makes the events a truly special occasion for the whole family.
This is the first time for the children of each family to wear hakama and the first chance for girls to wear make up and go to a shrine.
On the way home, the family will buy special sweets (chitose-ame) and stop at a photograph studio for a commemorative photograph of the day, maybe stopping at a restaurant for dinner last. Of course, the parents are careful not to let their children get their beautiful clothes dirty at dinner.

chitose-ame/restaurant for dinner

 All in all, 7, 5, 3 gives us memories that we treats are forever.

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

Summer in the country of Japan, a nation surrounded by oceans on all four sides.

Out of the 47 prefectures that make up Japan, only 8 are landlocked.
(群馬県・栃木県・埼玉県・山梨県・長野県・岐阜県・滋賀県・奈良県の８県。)
Schools in Japan closed for over 40 days as a summer vacation and most people working in the private sector received between 5 to 10 holidays.
The summer vacation offers us a chance to visit family in our home towns or take trips. Of cause, due to the high volume of traffic on the highways, traffic is often slowed to a crawl. It can take between 6 and 8 to cover distance that would normally take one hour.

heavy traffic

Naturally, most families and young people head to the beach. Most people rent beach huts or lay sheets down on the beach.

Beach

There is always beer and traditional Japanese summer foods such as ‘Yakisoba’ and ‘Oden’.

Beach hut/Warnings

Everyone has a great time playing with beach balls or floating around in the water in boats and rubber rings. As the beach is always so crowded, it’s impossible to reach the water without stepping on the sheets that other people have put down. Young people love to sunbathe and get a tan. After getting back to work after the holiday, people love to show off their tans as proof that they enjoyed their summer vacations.

TO BE CONTINUED…..

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.

A famous legend tells of a couple called Hiko-boshi and Ori-hime that lived in heaven thousands of years ago. Hiko-boshi was a cowherd and Ori-hime weaved fabric. Upon getting married, they were so caught up in having fun that they neglected their works. Ori-hime’s father was so angered by this that he separated them forever, putting them at opposite sides of the galaxy. However, after they started working again he decided to allow them to meet just once a year, on the 7th of July. On that day, a magpie would build a bridge over the ‘Amano-gawa’ our Milky Way galaxy for the couple to use to come together and meet.

Milky Way

Magpie

Today in Japan, we celebrate the 7th of July as ‘Tanabata’ we into cut down young bamboo plants and bring them our homes. We decorate the branches with ‘Tanzaku’ and ‘Chiyo-gami’ which are decorated strips of paper. Every family will write messages and wishes on these strips of paper, praying for health and wisdom. The day after ‘Tanabata’ we take the plants and place them in river.
Nowadays, ‘Tanabata’ is an important festival in Sendai in the north of Japan, Shonan near Tokyo and Yamaguchi prefecture in the south. The festival is so famous that between 200 and 300 thousands people gather to celebrate traditional Japanese summer dress called ‘Yukata’.

Chiyo-Gami       Tanzaku

                                 Yukata

The G8 climate change conference held in Japan on the 7th of July in 2008 the first ladies of each country represented wrote messages on ‘Chiyo-gami’.
Mrs. Bush, the wife of former American president George W. Bush wrote the following: “May all children in every part of the world be cared for and loved, be free from hunger, be educated and live in peace.”
The first Lady of the Russian Federation, Mrs. Midvale wrote “For all the people of the world, the power of love and the traditions of Japan have come together and offered new hope for future success.
The Mrs. Sarah Brown, the wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote “expressing her sympathies for the relatives of the 500 thousand women every year who lose their lives in child’s birth.

The G8 and Meeting place　” The Windsor Hotel Toya ” 

In Europe, it is believed that the Milky Way was created from the milk of Goddess Hera, the mother of Hercules. In Japan, we call the Milky Way ‘Amano-gawa’ (Heaven’s river) because it seems that the stars are arranged in a river-like flow. Both theories are very different. However different name are, Japanese people pray to the stars that shine above us all on the 7th of July.

Kazumasa Mizue
President
Auto Galaxy Co., Ltd.