"It's the Great Pumpkin..." in Japan

More from the park...

Old playground equipment out, new equipment (almost) in... the new slide and monkey bars are much smaller and lower than the old ones much to the chagrin of my daughter (but actually she seems more interested in the Nintendo Switch these days than playing in the park...)

Announcement: Nov. 6, 2021 - ICC Lecture Series with Professor Eric C. Rath - "Sushi Before Sushi, Umami Before Umami" - The Hidden (Fermented) History of Japanese Food

Announcement from Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture.

Register here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=p-YOaaVN3E-jFrtZnYKl0pSDtnsMuJVAtzRnSitkskJUN1FGTUc5OFdGRkRERTJLWjNBN1RNNDdWNy4u

After at least a year, I went to Osaka today (only a half hour train ride away): First stop - Umeda and the Hanshin Department Store to buy some Tigers paraphernalia, but most of what I wanted was sold out - STRIKE ONE; second stop - Tsuruhashi to buy some Korean ginseng candies that have helped me wake up for morning Zoom classes, but that too, was sold out - STRIKE TWO; last stop - a delicious and comfortable yakiniku restaurant - HOMERUN! (Please note I am not one to often post pictures of my meals...)

Poster in front of a local izakaya (that has been closed for a few months): "Don't turn off the lights in the izakaya #Corona Self-restraint [i.e. following the rules during quasi-states of emergency, states of emergency and post-states] is compensated [by the government if the shop applies/complies] - Save tavern culture" - brought to you by the Japanese Communist Party

Click here for a pdf of the poster: https://www.jcp.or.jp/web_download/2021/07/post-700.html

This is a part of "Overcoming the Corona Crisis, Peace of Mind and Hope for Living-The Japanese Communist Party's New Economic Proposal."
URL (in Japanese): https://www.jcp.or.jp/web_policy/2021/09/post-886.html

If you search for the hashtag (#コロナ自粛には補償を), it will take you to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "New Coronavirus Infectious Disease Response Leave Support and Benefits"
URL: (in Japanese): https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/kyugyoshienkin.html

Save the izakaya! Save the tachinomiya!

秋祭 / Fall Festival 2021 (pt.2): canceled again due to COVID-19; the shrine elders gather in the afternoon for the yudate (boiling water purification) ceremony - raw video data and photographs

Transitions

秋祭 / Fall Festival 2021 (pt.1): canceled again due to COVID-19, but a few of us got together in the morning to drag the danjiri out of storage and clean it for the the first time in two years; it was good to see my friends again and participate in other activities at the shrine in the afternoon (to be continued...)

Last year: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/10/no-fall-festival-this-year-danjiri.html

All you need to know about the fall festival through the years! SPECIAL MULTIMODAL BONUS RESOURCES AND PHOTOS FOR「Neighborhood Autumn Festival in Japan: A Multimodal Visual Ethnography and Performance: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/05/special-multimodal-bonus-resources-and.html