Today is the first day of spring in Japan. The celebration is called Setsubun. The famous ritual of the celebration is called mamemaki. People throw soybeans out the door or at a person dressed like the devil while shouting, “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (demons out, good luck in). Â Rick was invited to Kofu to participate in the celebration there. He came home with several gifts. I am grateful to be able to experience the unique culture here in Japan.
Setsubun beans
I am grateful for change. It keeps me on my toes and recently it has helped me get ready to move on. Many things changed in Tokyo after the earthquake on March 11. The changes were not something that can be seen as much as felt. There are a couple that I can see.
From the first night we moved into our apartment I loved being able to look out the window and see the Angel Moroni on the temple just down the street. Then after the earthquake when electricity needed to conserved the Angel was dark each night. Not long ago the lights began staying on at night. Then just last week I noticed that the entire steeple and Angel are surrounded by scaffolding. I assume that work is being done to stabilize Moroni. He changed directions during the quake. I assumed I had more time to take photos of the temple and Moroni. I may have missed my opportunity because it appears that the work is going to take awhile.
The grocery store that I have shopped at during the last 5 1/2+ years closed at the end of October. Â I’ve decided that throughout my life I have always been grocery store loyal. Wherever I live I choose a store and always shop there…Randall’s, Sainsbury’s at the O2 Center, Jelita Cold Storage, National Azabu. It was in an older building and needs to be rebuilt to current standards. I’ll be long gone before it re-opens. My life has changed because the store I go to now is in the opposite direction.
These are minor changes that help me prepare for bigger ones.
I think that I take my good health for granted. I have my minor aches and pains and get a cold once in awhile, but I am healthy. I realized today that I need to be grateful for that everyday because it can be gone in an instant. Today I went to the hospital to visit a friend. She was diagnosed with pneumonia three weeks ago and has been in the hospital. It looks like she will be there at least another week. This experience has caused her to think about her mortality and what she is going to do different when she is well.
When my Japanese friends ask, “Genki desu ka?” (Are you healthy?) I always want to be able to answer yes!
As much as I complain about my boys convincing me to get a mountain bike instead of a hybrid, I have loved riding my bike. It  got me a round London for a year, well mostly around Hyde Park, and has been ridden in Tokyo for nearly five ( it took me a year to decide I was brave enough to ride here). Our family usually names our bikes. Since my black Specialized Hard Rock was purchased in London, I named him Nigel. I am so grateful for my bike!
I am so grateful for the person who decided to try adding chocolate to hot milk. I love it on a cold Tokyo day. This winter I have enjoyed this
No, I am really not grateful for earthquakes. (Someday I should make a list of all the things I’m grateful I learned from the experience of being in Japan on March 11, 2011). Â We have been having quite a few little shakes in the last few weeks. I always sit still during them wondering if they are going to get stronger and thinking about what I should do if they do.
I am grateful for the USGS website that I can check after each quake to see what the magnitude was. I must have checked this site hundreds of times in the first four months after the Great Tohoku earthquake.
It’s impossible to get a great photo of the whole Tokyo temple. When you get far enough away to take in most of the temple there are power lines bisecting the image. This photo of the spire and Angel Moroni are taken from a bench in the park across from the temple.
In this photo you can barely see the temple building. This angle makes the Angel Moroni appear to be on top of Mori Tower which actually some distance away from the temple. You can see what I mean about power lines, not to mention cars and buses.
However, that isn’t what this post is about anyway. I am grateful for the temple and the blessings that come to me and to my family as I serve there. I am so grateful that during my time in Tokyo I have lived only five minutes from it’s door, allowing me to enter often.
Keeping up my gratitude posts is hard. I always seem to be getting behind. My new goal is to post before noon everyday. I am grateful I can repent, catch up and try again.
It seems like I have never quite been able to manage owning a sewing machine that I really love to use. My machines always seemed to have at least one thing that I found really annoying. My grandmother raised me to believe that a Singer machine was the best. Now, that may be true if I had her Singer. (Where did her sewing machine go anyway? Why didn’t I get an option to have it?) I have owned 3 Singers, two were awful and one was okay. My last Singer was awful and quirky and I patiently loved it. I took it apart often and finally it died. I had projects to finish when it died and Jo let me borrow her newly acquired Brother. I was amazed at how much fun sewing was again. I did my research and bought my own Brother. I am grateful for a sewing machine that allows me to love sewing again.
I am grateful for Nephi’s example. Today I was reading in 1 Nephi 17. This is the chapter where Nephi is told to build a ship. Although I have read this many times and noted Nephi’s lack of murmuring in comparison to just about everyone around him, today his powerful example struck me. He didn’t question his ability to accomplish what the Lord asked him to do. All he asked for was help in knowing where to get the ore to make the tools.
Now, to liken this to me and my life.
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