What happens when you ask a group of Japanese ladies to host a New Year’s luncheon for a group of American ladies?
Beautiful stuff happens, that’s what. Beautiful food. Beautiful dancing. Beautiful decorations. Plus, the kind of camaraderie and fun that comes when women generously share their culture with foreigners.
I’m lucky enough to be a member of a small culture group, organized through a base spouses’ club. Our group of 16 women – half American, half Japanese – get together once or twice a month for activities. We’ve eaten meals, painted daruma dolls, traveled to Nikko for a weekend and celebrated Christmas together. This week, my group gathered with seven other similar groups for one large New Year’s lunch, held at one of our base community centers.
As I’ve come to expect when the Japanese ladies are in charge of our get-togethers, our New Year’s lunch was overloaded with loveliness. I could claim it was because we came together to celebrate the passing of one year into the next, but, honestly, I don’t think the effort our hosts went to was just because of the holiday. Beauty is a theme I suspect I’ll return to again and again in this blog. I can’t help it. The Japanese are just so darn good at creating beautiful experiences and beautiful things. I’m finding it nearly impossible to get through an ordinary day in Tokyo without viewing something exquisite created by Japanese hands.
Let’s talk beautiful food. For our lunch, our group of hosts outdid themselves with the meal. No ordinary plates at our table: Our places were set with lidded bento boxes with decorative placemats on top, as well as our Japanese name tags. The empty boxes needed to be filled and that meant a buffet table brimming with sweet and savory delights. To name just a few: sushi, tonkatsu pork and chicken, tempura vegetables, noodle salads, takoyaki (octopus balls), and veggies like burdock root.
The care that went into creating the presentation of the food astounded me. So many little paper dishes, with just the right amount of food served inside. One set of my noodles had somehow been wrapped into a little knot; one little vegetable became a flower. Osechi-ryori — artful arrangements of a wide sampling of food — are a Japanese tradition at New Year’s, usually eaten at home. I’m happy to report the food tasted just as good as it looked, if not better.
Next, beautiful entertainment. Our lunch included performances by several talented Japanese groups. Dancers in kimonos calmly and gracefully pattered across the stage. A singer belted out a song while his partner danced with a hat (maybe a bowl?) and a sword. A tiny, elderly woman dressed in a golden shower cap and robe, deftly tossed two large sticks in time with music while she sat cross-legged on the stage. A group of women, later joined by a man, demonstrated incredible skill snapping what appeared to be small mats out into longer shapes while they danced. They even created tableaux of scenes including Tokyo Tower and Mickey — then Minnie — Mouse.
Okay. Some of it was maybe a little more weird than beautiful to my American eyes, but I love the idea of these performers carrying on traditions that generations of Japanese have watched and loved. It’s one of the things I appreciate about living outside of the United States. We’re an adolescent nation: We haven’t had centuries to polish and perfect our art and culture. In Europe, and now Asia, it’s fascinating to see how ancient arts are integrated into modern life.
And finally, beautiful decorations. Each group had its own table and all of them were decorated to the hilt. Our own table was sumptuously decorated with ornate fabric runners and traditional New Year’s decorations. At the end of the party, our incredibly generous Japanese hostesses were so excited to send us out the door staggering under the weight of our (refilled) bento boxes and numerous decorations. My home is now a little lovelier thanks to these items.
My buffet is now graced by a pair of kadomatsu, although they’re usually placed in front of homes, on either side of the door. I’ve seen several explanations for their composition of three bamboo shoots of different lengths along with greenery: the shoots represent heaven, humanity and earth; the bamboo is a symbol of honesty and the pine means new life; or the bamboo symbolizes strength and the pine is for long life.
I also came home with several shimekazari, New Year’s door decorations that are incredibly popular here. They vary greatly in design but usually include a sacred Shinto straw rope, ritual paper strips called shide and some sort of greenery. They’re designed to ward off evil spirits. Mine were very different in style: One was almost round, decorated with fan-like golden paper and ribbons. The other looked like a well-decorated broom, featuring a cascade of ornately-patterned red papers.
And finally, just because I think it’s so cute, here’s a look at my dragon name tag. It says “Sama Su-Zan,” or roughly translated: “Mrs. Susan.” Even something as basic as my own name takes on a more beautiful sheen when handled by the Japanese.