When I was in the third grade (about eight years old) my teacher was
Japanese. She taught us as much as you can teach an 8-year-old about
Japanese culture: haiku, diet, etc. One day, she brought rice-paper
candy. I remembered how cool it was that the wrapper would dissolve
in your mouth.
Now I'm over 50 years old, and I still find myself buying Japanese
rice paper candy whenever I can find it. There is a store just north
of my new residence that sells "Botan Rice Candy." Each box includes
a "Free children's sticker inside."
I love the stickers, because they tend to make very little sense to
me. It's a bit of a mind puzzle. One of the variety is some Japanese
Kanji writing (which I can't read, so I have no idea what it says).
Others are usually animals doing odd things. This morning, I opened
two boxes. They both have elephants. One is an elephant playing the
flute. The other is an elephant playing a pair of maracas.
Is there some kind of musical thing with elephants in Japanese
culture?
