In March, we were Japanese!

We had a FULL month celebrating Japan, because dang....what a fascinating country! So much to experience, so much that's uniquely Japan! I've been looking forward to 'traveling' to Japan for months! 

First...to keep the excitement going all month, we decked out our little Japan corner:

And because there's SO much to do in Japan, we went all out! Here's what we did:

Big Japan Date Night
We, of course, had our main date night, for which we decorated:

and dressed up -- me as a geisha:

and Jac as a sumo wrestler:

We ate delicious Japanese food. Here's Sumo Jac preparing some bbq:

and here's our final spread.  We had a miso bar with all the fixings, plus Japanese shish-kebabs (which have a more Japanese name but I forgot what it is).  Yum!!!!!

Here's the miso bowl I created.  SOOOOO delicious!

Lastly, after dinner, we played a fun, authentic Japanese game.  It's a mixture of Jenga and Truth or Dare, with the little game pieces being sushi blocks and the game tools being chopsticks.  It was fun! We played several times.

And here are the last few shots of the night. We did a little wig-switcheroo--me in Jac's sumo wig:

 

And Jac in my geisha wig:

We did drink a little sake, but not much, so you can't really blame this shot on drinking too much.  Regardless, this shot will go down in history! So creepy it's good!

Sushi, Sake, and Sumo Night
We had a second date night earlier in the month, this time with some sake (and a wig):

And WE MADE SUSHI!  Jac taught me how. I'm so impressed with us! :)  Here's some shots from our sushi lesson:

And here's the final spread for dinner, which also included some tempura:

It was absolutely delicious, with tons left over for the next few days lunch. We will definitely be making more sushi. We need this in our lives!

We Made a Bonsai!
For our fun splurgy Japan outing, we went to a local studio called Bonsai Bai Me and 'made' our own Bonsai tree. :)  We had a gift certificate that covered most of the cost, which was great because turns out Bonsai ain't cheap! 

Here's how it went.  We picked out our own pot and tree:

then removed some of the soil in order to plant it on our new pot:

We then added a bunch of rocks and moss to create a path pattern, then put a bench along the path (a little zen contemplation spot):

and then hid a Buddha in the hole in the tree. Silly Buddha:

And this is what we ended up with -- our masterpiece!

The whole experience took about an hour and half, and it was fun!  What a perfect experience to go along with our Japan month:

Japan Sage Market
One Saturday we stopped into SLC's Japanese market to check out all the interesting imported goods. Here's some of what we saw:

And here's what we ended up buying:

Japanese Food
All throughout the month, we ate LOTS of amazing Japanese food! For example, twice during the month we made Japanese "gyoza" (dumplings/pot stickers).  They were fun to make and soo yummy!

 

And we also made spring rolls. Jac is teaching me so much this month!

I also attempted a sushi puzzle, but didn't finish (1000 pieces...um, no!)  And we watched a few Japanese films, including the slow-but-very-thought-provoking Perfect Days and the ladies sumo documentary Little Miss Sumo.

What a great month! This might be my favorite 'global staycation' so far!

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Here are some ideas for next time we 'visit' Japan. We only did a fraction of my ideas, lol. Next time we can:

• Do kinsugi: we already have the kit AND a broken vase, so we're all set to do this one next time!
• Go forest bathing: learn about this popular Japanese pasttime, then go do it
• Have a tea ceremony: Either do our own at home using Jac's authentic tea set OR go do a team sampling at the tea house in Provo
• Watch an anime movie: watch good ones like Your Name or The Tale of Princess Kayuga
• Go to a baseball game: Maybe go to a Bee's game in commemoration of the fact that baseball is the most popular sport in Japan.
  
• Do ikebana: make our own flower arrangement in the traditional Japanese ikebana style (following youtube tutorial)
• Visit SLC's Japanese Buddhist Temple: visit the temple and maybe even attend a service, visitors are welcome! (www.slbuddhist.org)
• Make a zen garden: Make our own (lots of DIY youtube videos)
• Do origami: do some from that kit that I already own 
• Make The Great Wave of Kanagawa: do the cross stitch that I have of this famous Japanese work of art
• Do karaoke: considering how popular this is in Japan, we MUST go to a local karaoke bar and actually participate!
  
• Make our names in kanji: figure out what our names are in Japanese characters ("kanji") using namaconverter.com 
• Do a koi painting: do the date nite directed painting via Painting to Gogh
• Play tippysake: play this popular Japanese drinking game
  
• Learn about ikigai philosophy: learn about it and think about how to implement it in our lives! 
• Make bento boxes: get official Japanese bento boxes and use them to make our lunches during the month... and maybe start a new, ongoing lunch tradition