En route to visit the Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan, the Ninja Baker stumbled upon Ebisu-Ya, a 200-year-old sweet shop. (The seller of traditional Japanese cakes is located on Kamachi Road.) Celebrating spring, many Ebisu-Ya treats incorporate sakura cherry blossoms. As well as sake rice wine!
Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are where the masses go to celebrate the holidays in Japan. Japanese partake in water rituals at the entrance. The Ninja Baker's YouTube features Ryo Shimizu who demonstrates the ritual. (Ryo-san and I met on a TV set in LA where Japanese-English bilinguals were needed.)
In addition to respecting the rituals of the Buddhist and Shinto religions, my family attended church on Christmas and Easter. After the inspirational songs and sermon given by the Australian minister at St. Alban’s, we often headed over to the Tokyo American Club buffet. Petit four cakes and artistic ikebana floral arrangements were the pièce des résistances of the day.
