It was dolls festival the to other day on March 3rd. This is a festival to celebrate girls making it safely to the ages of three or seven (apparently a lot of young girls would die around these ages in ancient Japan - they're seen as particularly sensitive or dangerous milestones)In any case, it's a time when families decorate their homes with beautiful, ornate dolls, eat popped, sugary coloured rice and dress up in kimonos. The photo above is of an origami doll display a student made for our school.
I love in Japan how almost every month offers up some speical festival or event - only last month I was throwing beans around the place, wishing for good luck to come into my house and bad luck to go out, and standing facing south-south-east eating a sushi roll.
March 3rd was also the National Day of the Ear. In Japanese, the word for ear is 'mimi', but 'mi' 'mi' can also mean 'three' 'three', hence the scheduling. This little piece of information made me smile at an otherwise blue time.
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