Anna Matsushita

  31st March 2024 marks Easter, a celebration in Christianity commemorating the resurrection of Christ. This widely embraced Christian holiday, now quite prevalent in Japan, is a moveable feast, changing dates each year. Despite the uncertainties of the pandemic, places like Tokyo Disneyland used to host Easter events in pre-COVID times, featuring egg-shaped chocolates and festive treats. The Easter period spans about a month and a half. In Catholic tradition, it kicks off with Shrove Tuesday's Carnival, 41 days before Easter, followed by Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent – a period focusing on prayer, fasting, and charitable acts, sharing in the suffering of Christ. During Lent, individuals often undertake acts of kindness or give up indulgences such as sweets. On Shrove Tuesday, known in the UK as "Pancake Day," festivities involve making and flipping pancakes in a unique competition. Towns and villages host pancake-flipping challenges, and some even attempt the

 My friend uploaded pictures of her roses on SNS. She loves gardening, and after spending few years in England, she grew interest to roses in England which decorated the entrance of her house in England.   “ The scent and colours are wonderful. I’m still searching for deep pink rose with right colour “   She is looking for the type of rose which you can find here. It is developed by David Austin.   English Roses - David Austin Roses   Her SNS was having rose festival for few days, with many wonderful varieties – light pink, vivid orange, deep pink, red, and many more.   There are various gardens in Japan where you get to see wonderful roses – I saw lots of photographs during May, where people posted various photographs of roses from across Japan.   Here are some suggestions, in my local area, Kanagawa. (Yokohama and Hakone) In case if you missed, June is also a season of flower – Hydrangea will be in full bloom, you can also enjoy that as well.     YOKOH

  During COVID-19 restriction, I did another project: writing essays on drinks in mainly in Europe, Japan and Caucasus.   As a one engaged in travel industry, I wrote many writings for my job to introduce European drinks, including wines, beers, whiskeys and liqueurs.   The work involves many research on internet as well as trying the drink myself. I felt it important to experience the drink itself, as I was introducing the drinks to potential Japanese travellers abroad – I did not want to sound fake.   This time, I could spend more time researching the backgrounds of each drinks. It was interesting to learn the history of each drinks and passion of those who made the first drink, and success of the business.   The main reason I wrote this subject was that I wanted to carry on researching food and drinks abroad. When I was working at travel company, the work involved many research. I wanted to carry on with that, in order to keep the antenna up and keep the writing skil

 When I was young, I came across with a picture of two entertainers in Medieval Japan, called Kusemai dancer, and Shrabyoshi.   They were one of the prominent street performers in Medieval Japan, and they were mentioned in a book called “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen", illustrating various craftsmen which was established at the end of 1500’s   Here is the link to the original painting of Kusemai dancer and Shirbyoshi. (On the bottle left) 狂言・能楽の歴史｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp)   (Kusemai dancer on the left, Shirabyoshi on the right )   能・世阿弥｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp) So, what are Kusemai dancer and Shirabyoshi ? Kusemai, also known as Mai-Mai (Roughly translated as "dance, dance") is a male street dancer, usually paired up with a singer, and dance while holding a folding fan. Shirabyoshi is a female dancer dressed in men’s clothe and sing song while dancing. Kusemai | the-Noh.com | Noh Terminology Shirabyōshi - Wikipedia   In a book of “Seventy