Strawberry Picking in Misawa

Strawberries!!

Agurinosato

Inside the nursery

Hmmmm yummy!

Twin strawberry ;-)

chocolate fountain

Those 2 packs I paid for 1400 yen!!

This board I guess is telling the history of that strawberry nursery and it looks like it started 1990 and maybe 1996 was then became popular , blah blah, whatever!! sorry I can't read katakana nor hiragana nor kanji

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My kids love strawberries!! Two weeks ago we tried strawberry picking here in Misawa. It was fun but quite expensive though, but the main thing is I finally found a place where I can have "all you can eat" strawberries hehehe. I've been looking for this place since last year.

I was surprised to see that they have the indoor strawberry picking. I thought it would be an outdoor activity. That day was so windy and chilly and I rather stay indoor while picking and eating strawberries than having it outside. Pretty impressive to see the inside of the nursery, it was clean and so warm; the humidity is really maintained and controlled.

Ichigo is the Japanese for strawberry.

The name of the place is "Agurinosato" but you can't find its name on their sign board because it's written in Japanese so.... never mind the name hehehe.

By the way, after paying 5400 yen or ~$60 ( 4000 yen -2 adults and 1 child + 1400 yen) then I figured it out that cost is the same as eating in a "all you can eat buffet" so I told my children (plus my daughter's bf), "this is gonna be our lunch!"

Cost:

"All you can eat strawberries"

Adult: 1500 yen (~$16.50)
Children: 1000 yen (~$11)

"To Go"

200 yen (~$2.20) per 100g

Chocolate dip (if you want your strawberries to dip into the chocolate fountain)- 200 yen (~$2.20)

Directions:

ask me ;-)

This is our trash cup after eating strawberries

Japan Day (part 2)

Makibano Kids Drummers

Ikebana booth

This is my ikebana (flower arrangement), my instructor was the one arranging the flowers (not me) all I need and want...... the free flowers LOL and I let her do my arrangements

Pottery booth

Kids can make their own pottery from different designs they provide (hello kitty, pokemon, etc)

The old ones, showing off on how to make a pot

Bonseki (Sand Art) Booth, Japanese lady making a Mt Fuji view

Close-up of Sand Art

Sand art on a tray (full view)

Washi dolls

A doll with no face LOL

I like this design, a woman carrying a basket with small apples inside it

Paper plane making

Noh Masks display booth

Oto- Female mask

Aomori Kite Making booth

Different Designs of Kites

Calligraphy booth

Nebuta Lantern Making Booth

Japan Day (Part 2 of 2)

Sorry for this late post, I was so busy lately!!

My favorite booth during Japan Day was the "bonseki" or the sand art. This was the last booth I went to and was able to make my own sand art. I enjoyed making a mountain shape which is the Mt. Fuji using a small feather, sifter and the white sand. They provided me the pink sand and the pattern the cherry blossom which you can see below (that's my sand art piece!! hehehe).





Can you see my finish sand art??? This was taken when we were waiting to dry up the sand




The other booths that I tried were, Ikebana and the lantern making and the rest are for kids to enjoy more.

By the way, here's the exerpt of the definition of "bonseki" from wikipedia:

Bonseki (盆石; lit., tray rocks) is the ancient Japanese art of creating miniature landscapes on black lacquer trays using white sand, pebbles, and small rocks. Small delicate tools are used in Bonseki such as feathers, small flax brooms, sifters, spoons and wood wedges. The trays are either oval or rectangular, measuring about 60 by 35 centimeters in size. Oval trays have a low rim while rectangular ones are flat.
Bonseki scenes often depict mountains, seashores, and gardens. Small stones are used to represent mountains, shore lines or rocky islands that waves break upon. Miniature structures, usually of painted copper, are sometimes added to the work to make houses, temples, bridges, and the like.
Bonseki scenes by design are generally meant to only be temporary. Sometimes, by using special methods, a Bonseki scene can be preserved. This is called either Bonga ("Tray Picture") or Suna-e ("Sand Picture").

Japan Day 2010 (Part 1)

Koto- Japanese Harp

Japanese girls playing Koto

23rd Annual Japan Day- April 3, 2010 Collocated Club, Misawa Air Base

I had a great time last Saturday on Japan Day, it's truly indeed another great experience to see and watch Japanese culture. There were lots of booths which displayed different arts, music and crafts such as the exhibitions of Noh Mask, bonsai, embroidery, Japanese paper dolls, ikebana (flower arrangements), kimono wearing, pressed flower arts, making of paper planes, sand art, lantern painting, kite painting, calligraphy and more!

One of the booths that struck my attention was the Koto Music which was on the lobby along with the bonsai display. Though I missed their performance I stayed in front of them and watched them teaching American kids on how to use the instrument. I was gonna ask them to teach me but I didn't bother I have to go around other booths to see more of their cultures ;-) and to take more pictures hehehe.

Koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument from China. It is the national instrument of Japan and it's about 180cm or 71 inches long and made from Kiri wood. It has 13 strings and can be plucked by using 3 finger picks (thumb, indez finger and middle finger).

I will post more of my pictures soon.