I loved this article in the Feb '12 issue of More magazine...
"How to Let Go of Wanting to Look Young" by Emily Listfield, who featured Vivian Diller, Phd., the author of Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change. I'd like to think that I'm not vain, but I am only human.
A few choice bits from the article include: There's an uh-oh moment in every woman's life, whether at the first gray hair or the first fine line, when we realize that the first blush of youth is gone...
*Why are the most confident women--even those who never cared much about their appearance--thrown when they start to see changes in their looks? We have an attachment to the image we see in the mirror, and barring illness or major weight fluctuations, that image remains much the same in your twenties and thirties.
Who doesn't want to look in the mirror and see Snow White instead of being shocked when the Evil Queen stares back? It would seem that I'm really hung up about aging. I want to believe that I'm not.
I confess that my son's upcoming wedding and my not wanting to look old and frumpy has a lot to do with it! That's why I liked this article; reading it was like getting a gentle just-get-over-it slap in the face. Youth. No roads back.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
More on the Mecca for Old People.....
To continue with a little more detail (referring to previous post about red underwear) about the town of Sugamo: one of the reasons Sugamo became such a mecca for the elderly is the Togenuki Jizo, best described here:
...the Togenuki Jizo* or Koganji Temple is located along Sugamo main street. This temple is very well known among locals and out-of-towners as a place that cures the ill. Devotees gather here daily seeking freedom from their respective aches and pains and suffering; offering prayers to Enmei Ksitigarbha (Togenuki Jizo), who is believed to cure any illness. Legend has it that a housemaid once swallowed a sewing needle and was cured by eating a paper with a picture of the Jizo on it, the needle atached itself to the paper and she was cured. Hence visitors to the temple often say their prayers and eat the paper (which can be purchased for a small sum) in order to be cured. A prominent feature at the temple, however, is the statue of the Arai Kannon (Goddess of Mercy). It is believed that by bathing the statue and offering prayers, she too will cure aches and pains. The temple comes to life in Sugamo during the Grand Festival of Togenuki Jizo held each year.
...the Togenuki Jizo* or Koganji Temple is located along Sugamo main street. This temple is very well known among locals and out-of-towners as a place that cures the ill. Devotees gather here daily seeking freedom from their respective aches and pains and suffering; offering prayers to Enmei Ksitigarbha (Togenuki Jizo), who is believed to cure any illness. Legend has it that a housemaid once swallowed a sewing needle and was cured by eating a paper with a picture of the Jizo on it, the needle atached itself to the paper and she was cured. Hence visitors to the temple often say their prayers and eat the paper (which can be purchased for a small sum) in order to be cured. A prominent feature at the temple, however, is the statue of the Arai Kannon (Goddess of Mercy). It is believed that by bathing the statue and offering prayers, she too will cure aches and pains. The temple comes to life in Sugamo during the Grand Festival of Togenuki Jizo held each year.
Togenuki can also be a word for tweezers; some of the Sugamo shops had decorative tweezers for sale.
(http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/asia/japan/tokyo/togenuki-jizo-koganji-temple-thingstodod
detail-666546/)
Just outside the temple is a statue of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy. Custom has it that you pour water and wash her in the hopes she will bless your ailing body parts... that's a photo of me participating in the washing ritual, I am payingparticular attention to her legs and feet....
we were exploring Tokyo walking miles and miles...and my body parts were feeling it!
The wooden box is for offerings, the bamboo dippers are for scooping the water, the plastic tray holds the washing cloths. With a patron saint of pain relief in Sugamo's temple, it was only natural that Sugamo became a destination for the elderly. Even the street curbs are lower than standard, to help prevent tripping.
Interestingly enough, in the book Shock of Gray (2010) author Ted C. Fishman mentions Sugamo. A great place to visit if you want to be considered a youngster at age 60....
Shock of Gray--- and the real shock of looking in the mirror...happened to me in earnest about five years ago...
The Year of the Dragon and Red Underpants
2012 is the new year of the dragon according to the Asian zoological calendar. The 12 animals that correspond to the horoscope calendar are the same in Chinese and Japanese culture. Those born in the year of the dragon are said to be excitable and powerful...just a few of the many attributes, both positive and negative. In Asian new year celebrations the color red also figures as an auspicious color.
In the beginning of this new year of the dragon, a trip to Japan found me visiting the town of Sugamo, on the northern loop of the JR Yamanote line. WWII history buffs will know Sugamo infamously as the town that housed the prison that housed war criminals: Prime Minister Tojo was incarcerated and hanged here in 1948. Today, with past history behind it, what was once the prison grounds is now a skyscraper.
Sugamon, the cute and friendly duck mascot of the town of Sugamo.
This is the Sugamo post office.
Today Sugamo is a destination for the geriatric set. The Japanese call it the Harajuku for Grandmas....
(Harajuku being the mecca
for Japanese teenyboppers).
Here's a shop dedicated to geriatric health products, vitamins, etc.
Sugamo also is home of the aka pantsu, (literally red pants). Shops filled with red underwear line the shopping district. Red, being the auspicious color that it is, is deemed lucky.
One of the famous shops, Maruji sells everything related to undergarments and all in red.
Victoria's Secret for Granny Panties?
According to Maruji's English translation which explains the power of the red panty:
...below the belly button there is a point known as the Tan-Den. Even a touch to here may makes your feel warm! (Dantian is the source of the life force Qi, a major concept in TaiChi) It is hard to explain though, without Qi our lives can't go on! It is hard for us, ordinary people to get "Tan Den" to be strong and also Qi. But don't worry. "Red Panty" does it! All you have to do is put on it! ...it is said that the red cloth can warm your body, and fill your energy in Oriental medicine. Please choose brilliant red one and natural mateial one like silk or cotton. Notice: When sleeping, "Red Panty" may cause you excite and make you sleepless. So put on ordinary color underwear when you sleep.
Who couldn't use some luck, energy and excitement!? With Valentine's Day around the corner, it's not difficult to find lots of red (and underwear). Upon my return from Sugamo I passed out a few lucky red fabric samples that the shopkeeper in Maruji happily gave me (she was thrilled that products from her store were going to America) Just the other day one of my yoga/taichi classmates ecstatically shared with us that she had just bought herself some red underwear and the day she wore them she sold a million dollar house.
Lucky Aka Pantsu!
In the beginning of this new year of the dragon, a trip to Japan found me visiting the town of Sugamo, on the northern loop of the JR Yamanote line. WWII history buffs will know Sugamo infamously as the town that housed the prison that housed war criminals: Prime Minister Tojo was incarcerated and hanged here in 1948. Today, with past history behind it, what was once the prison grounds is now a skyscraper.
Sugamon, the cute and friendly duck mascot of the town of Sugamo.
This is the Sugamo post office.
Today Sugamo is a destination for the geriatric set. The Japanese call it the Harajuku for Grandmas.... (Harajuku being the mecca
for Japanese teenyboppers).
Here's a shop dedicated to geriatric health products, vitamins, etc.
Sugamo also is home of the aka pantsu, (literally red pants). Shops filled with red underwear line the shopping district. Red, being the auspicious color that it is, is deemed lucky.
One of the famous shops, Maruji sells everything related to undergarments and all in red.
Victoria's Secret for Granny Panties?
How about these red hot sexy numbers...no thongs for the wrinkled set.
...below the belly button there is a point known as the Tan-Den. Even a touch to here may makes your feel warm! (Dantian is the source of the life force Qi, a major concept in TaiChi) It is hard to explain though, without Qi our lives can't go on! It is hard for us, ordinary people to get "Tan Den" to be strong and also Qi. But don't worry. "Red Panty" does it! All you have to do is put on it! ...it is said that the red cloth can warm your body, and fill your energy in Oriental medicine. Please choose brilliant red one and natural mateial one like silk or cotton. Notice: When sleeping, "Red Panty" may cause you excite and make you sleepless. So put on ordinary color underwear when you sleep.
Who couldn't use some luck, energy and excitement!? With Valentine's Day around the corner, it's not difficult to find lots of red (and underwear). Upon my return from Sugamo I passed out a few lucky red fabric samples that the shopkeeper in Maruji happily gave me (she was thrilled that products from her store were going to America) Just the other day one of my yoga/taichi classmates ecstatically shared with us that she had just bought herself some red underwear and the day she wore them she sold a million dollar house.
Lucky Aka Pantsu!
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