We had another birthday party at AK.  I thought all the treats were terrific, but this one really caught my attention!

This board shows the names of the students whose birthday we were celebrating.

Here is a picture of the kids playing in the leaves.

We found out some interesting facts about schools in Japan.  They don’t have janitors. The students do all of the cleaning!  They spend at least 15 minutes every day sweeping, dusting and cleaning toilets!  The parents come in twice a year and help do a deep cleaning, usually on a Sunday morning!

Today Scott came with me to The American Kindergarten to help make mochi (rice cake).  It was quite a process!  The first step is to soak the special kind of very sticky rice called mochi gome in water over night. 

Then you strain the rice from the water.

This rice breaks apart easily.

Next you steam it until it is soft.

Then you pound it with large mallets for quite a long time!  Long enough to give us blisters!  We made 18 batches of this!

 Dennis Petersen, me, and Mr. J

                                          Dennis, Mr. J, and Scott

Students pounding rice.

  

 After you pound it long enough it becomes smooth and doughy.

Then you transfer it to a container that is dusted with cornstarch.

Next you give it to the student’s moms who know what they are doing!  They used anko-sweet red bean paste, for the filling.  In Japan this food is called Daifuku, and it is one of Scott’s favorites, because it is really doughy!  You can grill them, cook them in the microwave, or eat them raw!

Here is the finished product!

This is the teddy bear class, the youngest ones, making rice cakes!

I found these six women all dressed in kimonos in the Miyazaki train station last week.

Many of the streets in Miyazaki and Japan for that matter are so narrow that it is very tricky to get two cars down it at the same time!

I took a picture of my trusty blue backpack because it was a life saver for us here.  We used it for everything from groceries, to school, to going on trips and more! It is about ready to fall apart and I am so sad!

Here is Scott’s official Japanese stamp called a hanko.  It is critical here in Japan.  You need it to get a bank account, pay a utility bill, sign a lease on an apartment and more.  This is Scott’s name in Katakana!  It is Su Ka To.

Most roofs here are made from tile.

This one is on an entrance to a house across the street from us.

We are leaving Japan in less than one week!  The time has flown by and we are happy to be coming home, but we are sad to leave.  I will be glad to be finished with this blog!  I am going to turn it into a book for my coffee table that I will treasure forever, but I can not imagine doing a blog forever!  Hopefully just one more time!