Sarubobo
07 May 2008 | Comments OffAs I mentioned before, we went to Takayama City in Gifu Prefecture during our Golden Week holiday. In Takayama City it is really hard to walk 2 meters without seeing a Sarubobo. He’s kinda the unofficial mascot of the area, I suppose. When I first saw Sarubobo I didn’t know what to think. I mean it’s a red ninja lookin’ dude with no face. You have to admit, it’s kinda strange, huh?
I asked the lady selling them what the big deal is and she told me quite a bit about the history and meaning of Sarubobo. It was interesting, indeed. First off, Sarubobo literally means “baby monkey” in English. Huh? It’s a baby monkey? I thought it was a deadly red ninja! It’s a monkey? Well, actually I knew that saru means monkey in Japanese, so I guess I wasn’t so surprised. Maybe I would have been happier with ninja monkey?
Anyways, she said that in old days Sarubobos were made for children from left over scraps of materials. At first they were pretty much just simple dolls, but soon became known as charms to bring good luck and happy relationships. Because they were simply made, they had no faces. I tried to dig deeper on the subject, but the lady just said that was having no face is part of the lasting appeal of Sarubobo. I guess they didn’t want to see ugly monkey baby faces back in the old days either!
In the end, we ended up buying a damn Sarubobo phone strap. Just couldn’t resist. He is pretty cool after all. Even if he isn’t a ninja.
This sign says, Sarubobo Factory!
Here are a few Sarubobos for sale!
Golden Week Trip
06 May 2008 | Comments OffThis week was Golden Week which, as many of you might already know, is a long holiday in Japan. Most people travel abroad or visit exciting places in Japan during the vacation. Azusa and I went to IKEA’s new store on Port Island, but our fun didn’t stop there! Oh, no!
On the last two days of Golden Week our entire family here in Japan got together and headed to one of our neighboring prefectures, Gifu. The first stop was Shirakawa which is best know for traditional housing called gasshou-zukuri. This type of housing is so rare nowadays that UNESCO has designated it a World Heritage Site. Wow. The houses are surprisingly big, have distinctive straw roofs and look more European than Japanese at first sight. Azusa and I have seen them on TV many times, but it’s one of those places we thought we’d never get to because of it’s remote location. Well, now we can check it off our places to see in Japan list! Phew! Anyways, you can find out a lot of fun information about Shirakawa and the gasshou-zukuri by clicking here. Also, here is a picture of the family standing in the village. I took the picture so I’m not in it.
On the second day we traveled to Takayama City which is famous for carpentry. It is believed that carpenters from Takayama worked on the Imperial Palace in Kyoto and on many of the temples in Kyoto and Nara. The layout and general feeling of Takayama actually reminded us of Kyoto, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true. We spent the afternoon shopping around, eating famous foods and visiting nice temples. Here is a picture of us on one of Takayama’s many bridges.
Takayama was really fun, even if it was a little touristy. The weather was great too, but I think we all got a bad sunburn. Ouch! Anyways, it’s back to work tomorrow for the lot of us so that’s it for now! Look for our Shirakawa and Takayama photo galleries soon! Oh, and maybe a little story about Takayama’s mascot, Sarubobo. Yeah, that’ll be a fun one!
IKEA Port Island
04 May 2008 | Comments OffIt’s already been open for a few weeks now, but Azusa and I finally made it out to IKEA’s new store on Port Island in Kobe. It’s still pretty far away, but much closer than the two Tokyo stores. It was a super fun day and Azusa and I bought some stuff that we needed for our house. The store was pretty busy, but not nearly as bad as we thought it would be considering that’s Golden Week and pretty much everybody is on vacation.
