I went walking in my neighbourhood to clock up my 10,000-steps-a-day quota. While I was out I came across these carp kites flying outside a neighbour's home. It reminded me that today (May 5th) is こどもの日 (kodomo no hi - Children's day, or more traditionally Boy's Day).
Around this time of year people raise flagpoles and decorate them with these colourful flying fish. The custom is called 鯉幟 (koi nobori - carp-shaped streamers). Not only are they a pretty sight to brighten up the garden, they are also supposed to remind us to treasure our children and remember the childish character, the joy and wonder at life, we all have somewhere in us.
I sometimes feel a bit jaded, a bit worn by the life I've had. I feel pessimistic and old and full of grouchy cynicism. But on a sunny day like today, watching the multicoloured kites turning and jumping about in the breeze like fish swimming upstream, I did feel a sense of wonder. I felt that a piece of cloth flapping in the air still has the power to fascinate and entertain, just like the cardboard box we all had as kids which gave us hours of amusement.
So embrace your inner child today. Think of something you used to enjoy doing as a kid, playing hopscotch, spinning until you fall to the ground, making daisy chains, and give it another go.
Big sis, seeing as you used to enjoy skewering slugs with a stick and flinging them over the back wall into the school behind our house, I suggest you find an alternative activity to revisit. Just kidding - she did it like once, twice tops!
P.S. On this day we're also supposed to eat 粽 (chimaki) and 柏餅 (kashiwamochi), two types of glutinous rice cakes. I wasn't in the mood though. Maybe I got cultured out on my recent trip.