About our Golden Week holidays.

Hello!

Thank you very much for all your help and support as always.

Due to the Golden Week holidays in Japan, our office will be closed on the following days:
　May 2 (Wed)
　May 3 (Thu)
　May 4 (Fri)

We will resume business as usual from May 5th, Saturday.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause you,
thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation.

Thank you.

“May” the boys be strong & healthy!

So the long-awaited “Golden Week” a.k.a. “GW” has come!
How are you all spending this long holiday?
 
 
One of the celebrated days of the GW, is called the “Children’s Day こどもの日” (kodomo no hi).
This is the day we are supposed to celebrate and wish for the health and happiness for kids, but mainly for boys.
 
 
Remember we had a day for girls back in March?
 
Just like many other countries in the world, we traditionally wish for happy marriage for the girls, but the strength and health for boys!
 
 
To symbolize these, the decoration for the Children’s Day to be the samurai armor or the armor’s helmet “兜” (kabuto).

 
 
 
So what else are decorated/eaten for the Children’s Day?
 
 
 
A type of mochi called “柏餅” (kashiwa mochi) is the seasonal sweets for May – the sweetened red bean paste is wrapped in mochi, then with the oak leaf. Not so pink and fluffy like the Girls’ Day tradition of the colorful rice puffs!

 
 
The schools/kindergartens, or anyone with a space in their house will also get their “鯉のぼり” (koinobori) out.

 
 
These are carps made of cloth, tied on a poll so that it will “swim” the sky – some towns/villages will have hundreds of them swimming all together which can be a breathtaking view!

 
 
This is also a season for fleur-de-lis (iris) in Japan, so you will see “菖蒲” (shoubu) flower everywhere 🙂
 
 
 
 
Written by Otoha

Balleggs’ Hanami 2018

Hello!
Did you manage to go for Hanami this year?

 

As the weather switched back and forth between spring and winter, and by the very strong wind, this year’s Hanami season was shorter than ever…

 

But at Balleggs, we’ve managed to go for a company-wide Hanami in Yoyogi Park.
It’s the big park by Harajuku station 🙂

 

Here’s the group picture we’ve taken…can you spot some familiar faces from the Shinagawa team?

Usually if it’s a corporate Hanami, the graduates, interns, or any of the younger employees are sent out of office early to prepare, and save the space for everyone.
For us, our lovely graduates and few other employees were in the park to man the space since morning, so that the rest of the company can arrive in the afternoon after work!

 

 

How long did the party go for?

 

 

……………. About 5 hours of games, laughter, chat, and lots of food & drink 🙂
Great bonding time with the new members (a.k.a. graduates) of our company….

WELCOME TO TEAM BALLEGGS!!!!!!!

 

 
Written by Otoha

Hina Matsuri ? – Celebration for girls!

March 3rd is one of the many special days in Japanese culture.
Unlike the other national holidays, this is a special day to celebrate girlhood <3

 

How is it celebrated then?

 

「ひな祭り」の画像検索結果

 

Well, every girl has her own set of dolls called “Hina Ningyou (雛人形)”.
Her family will arrange the doll set around March 3rd, and wish for the happy marriage in their daughter’s future.

 

Every doll set will have at least 2 dolls – “Odairi-sama” and “Ohina-sama” – the prince and the princess!
The doll set can get larger and larger depending on how much money you can spare at the birth of your daughter, but especially in a city like Tokyo it is more of a spacing issue lol

「ひな祭り」の画像検索結果

 

So if you grew up in an urban apartment flat or the “Japanese mansion” flat, there’s absolutely no shame in having just the prince and princess, or perhaps just a couple more groups of servants or musicians.

「雛人形」の画像検索結果

 

In our Global Division office in Shinagawa, we are celebrating with a very simple set of just the prince and princess – BUT IN DISNEY STYLE!!!
(it’s really important as we have few girls who are not married yet…lol)

 

Pop in to our shop, even just to say hi to us or to Prince Micky and Princess Minnie 🙂

 

Written by Otoha