Hello, happy new year and welcome to Natsukashii the podcast where I reminisce about all the things that we love and miss about living in Japan. This time I'm talking about Oshogatsu, fukubukuro or lucky bags, kagami mochi, horoyai, and missing friends overseas.

Thanks for listening to Natsukashii and if you're interested in hearing future episodes please remember to follow, rate and review. It really helps the podcast get out there and get exposed to new listeners.  You can share your own natsukashii or any comments to be included in a future episode by leaving a voicemail message at anchor.fm/natsukashii or emailing me at [email protected]

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/natsukashii

Natsukashii on Facebook. You can also listen directly here now: https://www.facebook.com/natsukashiipodcast

This episode is a little different. It's a more casual episode even though it's a long one. Turn it up and listen to the last of the summer cicadas as we talk about some of the movies, books, and activities that have been getting us through 2021 so far, along with the usual tangents as we remember our time in Japan. Enjoy. 

Movies and Anime

Cathode TV

Letterboxd

Odd Taxi

Books (Fiction)

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

Books (Non-fiction)

Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys . . . and Baseball by Robert Whiting

Eating Wild Japan: Tracking the Culture of Foraged Foods, with a Guide to Plants and Recipes by Winifred Bird

Art Activities

Suminagashi - the Japanese art of silk or paper marbling (Starter Kit)

Renga and haiku

Social Media Linkage Stuffs

Natsukashi Facebook

Natsukashii Instagram

Alice's YouTube (Natsukashii episodes are posted as audiograms 2 weeks after they go live on Anchor and other podcast apps)  

Alice’s Twitter 

Alice’s Darkroom Photos For Sale (including ichigogare and hanami)

Support

Please support Natsukashii by following us on your favorite listening platform, sharing, reviewing (reviews are so helpful to help new shows like ours grow and we really, really appreciate your feedback), or by subscribing for a small monthly fee at Anchor https://anchor.fm/natsukashii/support 

If you're not ready to subscribe but want to contribute you can also leave a tip at https://ko-fi.com/natsukashiipodcast 

As always, thanks for listening and stay safe.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe and healthy. 

Send any questions, comments, or business inquiries to [email protected] 

You can also send us voicemail through Anchor’s voice messaging system to include on the next episode at http://anchor.fm/natsukashii

Please support this podcast by following and reviewing on your favorite listening platform or by subscribing for a small monthly fee at Anchor https://anchor.fm/natsukashii/support. Your contribution helps sustain the podcast and as a patron you'll get a shout out on the show. 

Natsukashi Facebook: https://facebook.com/natsukashiipodcast

Tokyo parks ban hanami this year.

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/tokyo-parks-are-banning-cherry-blossom-picnics-this-year-030921

Love Hotels and Ichigo Gari (strawberry picking)

An Uncertain Future For Japan's Love Hotels - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/feb/16/an-uncertain-future-for-japans-love-hotels-in-pictures

$8 Strawberries: https://nationalpost.com/life/food/before-you-lose-your-cool-over-an-8-strawberry-consider-the-effort-put-into-growing-it

Strawberry Farm Kujiranami

http://www.farm-kujiranami.com/

AAPI Organizations:61 Ways to Donate in Support of Asian Communities

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-to-help-asian-communities-2021.html

ToshikiGirl: AAPI Charity Sticker. All proceeds from this item will be donated to the Stop AAPI Hate fundraiser.

https://toshikigirl.com

Thanks for listening. Stay safe and healthy. We’ll be talking about Onsen and Akiba in the next episode.

Feel free to send any questions, comments, or business inquiries to [email protected]

You can also send us a voicemail through Anchor’s voice messaging system to include on the next episode at http://anchor.fm/natsukashii

Social Media Linkage Stuffs

Natsukashi Facebook: https://facebook.com/natsukashiipodcast

Natsukashii Instagram: https://instagram.com/natsukashiipodcast

Alice's YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MelodyAliceVO

Alice’s Twitter:  https://twitter.com/melodyalicevo

Alice’s Darkroom Photos For Sale (including ichigogare and hanami): http://melodyalicevo.darkroom.tech

Support

Please support Natsukashii by following us on your favorite listening platform or by subscribing for a small monthly fee at Anchor https://anchor.fm/natsukashii/support. Your contribution helps sustain the podcast and as a patron you'll get a shout out on the show.

If you're not ready to subscribe but want to contribute you can also leave a tip at https://ko-fi.com/natsukashiipodcast

Background music is The Fountain of Living Waters by Siddhartha Corsus and used under CC international license.