YUKIMI-DAIFUKU

This is kind of ice dream dessert and one of the Japanese favorite snacks.

Ice cream is covered with soft rice cake.

YUKIMI means to enjoy snowing.

DAIFUKU means the snack made from rice cake.

Usually ice cream is eaten in summer season, but this ice is popular in winter because of its name.

You can get this at any convenience store, supermarket easily.

Aisatsu-mawari

Aisatsu means greetings.
Mawari means going around.

This is the word represented at business occasion in period of year-end beginning of the year.
Business people visit each other for greetings sometimes with calendars or notebooks made by their companies.

Also they often have parties called Bonenkai or Shinnenkai.
Especially in December weekend many pub will be fully booked.

It is very important as communication method of Japanese.

OOSOUJI -- cleaning out once a year --

This is one of Japanese traditional yearly event.

Of course people clean up house day by day.
This OOSOUJI means special one.
For example, they clean up windows, backside of furniture, cover of the lump shades, etc.

So in December the useful goods for cleaning up are sold a lot.

This is why Japanese think New Year should be freshness.


I have also just started to do OOSOUJI at last Sunday.
New Year is coming soon.

Illumination

December is the season of illumination.

At theme park, shopping center, and other spots we can enjoy to see fantastic art.

Recently, like Europe or U.S.A, it is a boom to decorate house with illumination in winter season.

Sometime we go out at night time to see around those illumination.

The biggest events of illumination are Luminarie of Kobe and Millenario of Tokyo.

But Millenario had already terminated till last year due to construction of Tokyo station.

Luminarie will start on DEC 8th 2006 for 2weeks.

Winter season is coming!

People feel the sign of winter when they hear the word of December.

Actually I saw snow first time in this year on yesterday.

Some of ski resort has already opened with artificial snow by machines and little of real snow.

According to weather forecast, this winter season will be not so cold.

This news might be not welcome for those people whom it may concern with winter sports.

I am looking forward to enjoy skiing.