Making Cute Bentos

Recently I have been fascinated with Japanese bentos (meal boxes), and I always wished that I could make my food look fun for me to eat. Maybe then I’d be inclined to bring lunches to work, rather than buy, and that I would feel so “ugh” when I would look at my boring lunch…now the question is where to start. My Japanese literacy level isn’t that good, so me finding a class wasn’t so successful thanks to my understanding. Maybe it’s all for the better, because I’m sure the only members in those classes would be moms…

My goal in life…because who wouldn’t want a lunch box full of Totoro?

I started getting a couple bento magazines here and there for ideas, and I would often go to the mall and check out their kitchenware for bentos. Because I know I can’t go fancy just yet, so for starters I went and bought these little holders.

Bento food and sauce holders/containers. To add cuteness and colors to every bento box.

The animals are containers that can hold sauce, or small veggies/fruit. The colorful cupcake-cup-lookalikes are rubber holders help separate veggies, salad or fruit. I already had a few bento boxes, so I thought I was fine…and then I realized the importance of size ~ including my favorite yellow bento!

Starting off my bento stride, nice and easy. Rice with stir fry.

For more mature looking lunches, I’m sure my yellow bento box would have been sufficient. It was pretty straightforward, rice, veggies & meat. Now, trying to use my new containers was where the problem came in :S

Trying to use my new bento animal containers.
Mushroom cream pasta & salad. Inside piggy is Rosemary Reduction Balsamic Vinegar (from Whistler, BC 🙂 )

My favorite sauce in the world! While I loved the look, & I was excited about finally being able to use my animals ~ my excitement came a bit prematurely. Actually, I found out that all my animals are too tall for my current bento boxes… *sigh*, time to go out and get a new one.

…Poor lil’ piggy is too tall for my bento!!! >.<…

English Summer Camp: Hockey

Firstt day of one of three English Summer Camp series in Fukuoka, aimed at elementary and junior high school kids. I got accepted to be at all 3 elementary summer camps teaching Canadian Aboriginal Art, and Hockey! Each camp runs for 3 days, and I’m excited to say that I’ll be doing both workshops at some point in time at every camp 😀

Each group gets 20 minutes at each station, which also includes intros & pack up time, so relatively less than 15 minutes to teach what I have to get the kids going.

Teaching Hockey

What could be more Canadian, thank Hockey? Funny enough, for a girl whose never played hockey ~ I faked it like I did! 😉 But I think I’ve watched it enough on TV, and have many friends who play it, that I should have learned something.

My sign for my hockey station.

Originally when I was submitting my application for this camp it started with floor hockey. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in it, and I thought it would be difficult to even find the equipment as Japan isn’t a hockey-craze country. Originally, I was going to make hockey sticks out of cardboard tubes and rolled up newspapers ~ which probably wouldn’t last a day… but to my luck one of the office staff managed to find a set online!

Hockey sticks set!

Exciting! These will last a long time, even after this year’s summer camps! Getting to the community center we had to put down this green “tarp”, which was a lot like carpet. But it gave the nice effect of field hockey. I decorated my booth with everything Canadian I had. Canadian flags, hockey jerseys, etc. Originally there were color tape that marked the center line, but sadly it wouldn’t hold onto the carpet-tarp. It still turned out great though!

My hockey station!

The first 5-7 minutes I had the kids practice passing and shooting, along with “time-out” 😉 . Then, with the help of my lovely assistant, a student studying in Japan from Syria (and also into soccer!) we had the kids play a hockey game.  The feedback and response from the kids were great! Probably the first, and only time they’ll ever play hockey in their life. GOOoooooo CANADA!! 😀

Indoor hockey. My net ^^ & Canadian flags ❤

English Summer Camp: Aboriginal Art

This year Fukuoka is piloting it’s first English Summer Camps, aimed at elementary and junior high school kids. I got acceptedd to be at all 3 elementary summer camps teaching… Hockey, and Canadian Art (Aboriginal Art). Each camp runs for 3 days, and I’m excited to say that I’ll be doing both workshops at some point in time at every camp 😀

I’ve got 20 minutes with each group, which also includes intros & pack up time, so relatively less than 15 minutes to get my workshop up and going. My first time teaching elementary kids out here in Japan, so this is going to be fun!

Teaching Aboriginal Art

I love Aboriginal art, I think they all look cool in many ways. Many Japanese people know of Australia & New Zealand Aboriginals, so I thought it would be nice to introduce the Canadian version. This lesson is dedicated to Tiqilap, a Vancouver Aboriginal singing group ~ whose music inspired me (^0^)/…and their food!  I hope to be playing Tiqilap’s CD lightly in the background during my workshop as kids are drawing.

Creating Aboriginal Art

In my workshop, kids will get to pick one of 4-5 Aboriginal animal artworks, and draw it to a Japanese fan (uchiwa). I decided to go with Bear, Eagle, Humming bird, Frog, and Salmon. I found a nice Aboriginal design of each animal (thank you to the designer), and searched to find a life profile for comparison.

Teaching Aboriginal Art at an English summer camp for Japanese elementary students. Comparing the Aboriginal artworks to the real life animal.

I printed out another copy of the Aboriginal artwork, glued it to hard cardboard, and cut it out so kids could use it as stencils. Also, fearing the life of how long these stencils will last in the hands of children, I laminated them for good measure…because you can never be too careful, right?

Teaching Aboriginal Art at an English summer camp for Japanese elementary students. These are examples of the stencils kids will be working with, to trace onto their fans.

For each animal I made example fans to give the kids some ideas when it comes to playing with color. To integrate conversation into this workshop, kids will have to ask me for different colored markers each time they want to change.

My uchiwa (fan) example: Bear.

My uchiwa example: Salmon (fish)

My uchiwa example: Frog

At English Camp

At camp I tried making my own little Canadian room. I brought over my Canada Flag that I hung in the doorway, and I had Vancouver’s Aboriginal singing group, Tiqilap CD (with Sawagi collaboration) playing in the background.

My room to teach “Canada Art” (aka. Aboriginal Art).

Canada Day, Fukuoka

Fukuoka Now Magazine hosts the biggest Canada Day Party in all of Japan, and this year I got to MC the event with my good friend TK!

The event was held at Il Palazzo, Tenjin, organized by Fukuoka Now Magazine. We weren’t sure how the turn out was going to be, but we were well assured as people kept pouring in throughout the night. Our party hit a record of 1,260 party guests that night! There was all-Canadian music, food and drinks! Performances by Micaela and Ben who performed covers from the Barenaked Ladies, and “Call Me Maybe”. The night was an absolute BLAST! Looking forward to next year, Happy Birthday CANADA!

Canada Day, Fukuoka

Canadian Apparel

We had prepared 4 sets of wardrobe changes for each major time we were on stage. Each was to show a different side of Canada. Now I’m really glad I had brought all of my jerseys from home ^^

Team Canada. To begin with, we had our Canada Day apparel.

Team Canada!
Photo from Fukuoka Magazine Website. Taken by Nobu Tanaka.

Lumberjacks. Because everyone knows that if Canadians don’t live in igloos, we’re chopping down trees and living in log cabins

Lumber Jack!

Olympic Canada. Olympic apparel from past years

Olympic gear!

Province Pride. Wearing the pride of our hockey teams on our chest! TK from Ottawa with his Senators, and I, from Winnipeg with my JETS!

Province Pride! Photo from Fukuoka Now Magazine website, take by Nobu Tanaka.