My host mother knits and does "fancy work" (i'm still not sure what this means) as it says on her information form I got before I met her. It's actually quite good. She teaches classes and has a "licence". In fact, she even offered to knit me a sweater for Christmas. I wonder If she'll follow through after hosting her 18th year or so. Though it seems common for older women in Japan to have hand-craft hobbies, as my other 70 year old Japanese friends do oil painting and embroidery, I was told by my host mother most women have cooking as a hobby. Of course, there are unconventional hobbyists out there, too. Perhaps this is part of the marriage mentality. It seems that whenever I talk to older Japanese women, they tell me that I'm pretty, have such white skin, ask if I can cook, and then, when I tell them I can, say, "Oh, you can get married for sure." My host mother told me to make sure and invite her to my wedding, and that she'll come to Washington for it. I wonder if this has to do with the postponing of marriage in Japan.
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| There are recipe books in the dollar store, so I can see how popular hand-made food is. This one is for Tomo-choco for Valentines. |
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| My host mother's license |
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| My host mother, knitting... |
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| this. |
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| Here are two of my other 70 year old friends, whom I met at the park near Hirakata Station. |
I tried to find more information in the library on these crafts as they relate to 70 year old Japanese women, but quickly realized after an hour of searching it was kind of futile. The books they had were on traditional crafts that involved materials like wood, clay, and paper, not seed beads, thread, or oil paints like those used by my friends/host mother. Also I got caught up drooling over the sumi-e books.
Before I also visited the equivalent of Michael's in Osaka, and the ABC Crafts at Hirakata Station. There were quite a different assortment of things, but there were also beads, string, thread, buttons, and other things I'd see in America. However, the quality for the price was much better, and there were a number of things I would have trouble finding in America. For instance, wool for felting, a ton more sewing supplies, sumi-e supplies, fans, kimono fabric, carving tools for hanko, and the like. I'm sure they had more, but I didn't go beyond their first floor.
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| This.. |
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| becomes this. Pictures taken at ABC crafts |
