First Birthday

I celebrated my friend’s baby’s first birthday with her family in Kyushu this month. First of all, I was excited to see her baby and play with kids again! What a cute age that is! Her son was crawling everywhere and pulling himself up and leaning against the coffee table, fascinated by household objects, and an awesome car seat dancer/bouncer. I learned about new Japanese customs while I was there. I don’t know how many families still do these customs, but they were very interesting!

So what I gathered from the celebration was that the family members get together and have a nice meal together. We went to a traditional Japanese restaurant that had a tatami room which overlooked the ocean. The food was lots of raw things. They started us off with squid sashimi which was served next to two live squid! It was really freaky because I did not realize they were still living until one of our chopsticks touched the tentacles and we saw it move! It kind of turned my stomach…there was some other traditional Japanese food which included lots of seafood. They later took that live squid back, grilled it, and then served it again at the end of the meal. I’m not sure what the point of showing it to us first was but I guess it was just for looks. Another dish they brought out was “tai”, or sea bream, sashimi that was served on the fish itself. This time I am pretty sure the fish was completely dead. Tai is used for all celebratory events in Japan so it is considered kind of a delicacy. They also took back the rest of the fish, cooked it up, and reserved it. The baby’s cousin was also there and it was fun to play with both babies as they went around the room exploring things.

After we got home from the restaurant, they brought out this big mochi (rice cake) and put a smaller one in a small backpack. They tried to put these straw sandals on him but he just wasn’t having it. Then they tried to make him stomp on the mochi while wearing the backpack. Of course a one-year old who can’t even walk is not going to be much of a stomper, but they said this is tradition to build strength and show that the child will be healthy. The whole process lasted for less than a minute—what do you expect with babies, right? The next ceremony they brought out a bunch of different random objects that were supposed to represent different skills or hobbies. Traditionally you would use a brush, an abacus, etc. They put the random objects in a line and set him on the other side of the room. The objective was for him to crawl to the other side and choose one object, which would represent what he would be interested in when he gets older. It wasn’t really taken seriously—not like being sorted at Hogwarts or anything. I guess it’s just for fun because it’s tradition. Of course is not going to understand what he’s supposed to do in that situation though but it was fun to watch.



Me and Kouki

Kouki's birthday lunch made with baby food by his mom



Kouki's birthday cakes: the one on the left was made with a baby cake mix and yogurt

Squid sashimi and live squid



The cooked sea bream



Squid sashimi and squid stuffed with sticky rice



The cooked squid

Obachan eating lunch

Kouki's cousin, Mei

"Tai" sea bream sashimi

Sea bream cooked into miso soup

Cute Mei-chan

Mochi

Trying to get Kouki to stomp on the mochi

He did not like those sandals!



Babies look cute even when they cry!

He ended up choosing a piggy bank shaped like a mail box...so he'll either be good at saving money or he'll work at a post office?