If you haven't been to Quinpool lately, maybe it's time for a visit!
Quinpool Road's Resurgence
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/28330-quinpool-roads-resurgence
We love our community and work to make it better every day. See you soon!
Need to find us?
6417 Quinpool Road, Halifax NS B3L 1A7
tel (902) 407-0487
Map:
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ANNOUNCEMENT: To our mail-order customers, we can now accept payments by Paypal. We understand if you are not comfortable about giving us your credit card information. Paypal eliminates that need. Just let us know you want to make your purchase via Paypal and we will send you a Paypal invoice. You don’t need a Paypal account (though it is convenient if you already have one!) to make a payment.
We saw the stars (and a half-moon too!) last night. The heavens must be rejoicing at the reunion of the estranged lovers. We hope your wishes will come true!
Here is a tally of the wishes we got from our bamboo tree:
Total wishes: 32
Here are our top five favourites:
Thank you everyone for participating...and if you made your own secret wish and hung it on your own secret bamboo tree, that counts too!
The uchiwa hand fan has been a centuries-old accessory to beat the summer heat in Japan.
We got some blank ones at the shop that are waiting for your child's creativity to design. They are free on Jun 24th & 25th. (One fan per child...while supply lasts.) Next week, $3 per fan.
Tanabata (七夕) is a festival celebrating the reunion of two star-crossed lovers: Altair (the Cow-herd star) and Vega (the Weaver star). There are many versions of this ancient Chinese legend, but the main gist is about how Altair and Vega were forbidden to see each other again by Vega’s father, the Heavenly King. The two are separated by the Milky Way and were allowed to meet only on the 7th day of the 7th month. On this day, a bridge would appear on the Milky Way and the two could meet. However, if it rained that day, the bridge would not appear.
In Japan, tanabata is celebrated by writing one's wish on a small piece of paper (called "tanzaku") and hanging the wish on a bamboo branch. If on on the eve July 7th, the sky is clear and you can see the stars, then your wish will come true!
Next time you visit the shop, please make a wish and hang it on our bamboo branches. We've prepared the paper for you plus you get an origami star [while supply lasts] to remind you to watch the stars on July 7th! (All free of charge of course...)
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
There has been recent news that radiation has been detected in Japanese tea leaves produced in Minami-ashigara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Certainly a cause of concern but this place is still far away from Kyoto, where our tea is produced. But to be prudent, the Kyoto Tea Industry Cooperative Association had this year’s new tea crop tested for radiation. Result: NO RADIATION DETECTED. On top of this, our tea farmer went the extra mile and commissioned an independent test to check specifically the new tea crop produced in 2011 on their farm. Result: NO RADIATION DETECTED.
Copies of the certifications are reproduced here.
We do our best to provide correct information. But in the end, it is up to each individual to choose what to believe. If one is not comfortable with Japanese tea at this point in time, we well respect that. What we can promise is that we will not compromise safety and quality.
And by the way, at the time of writing, all the tea being sold in our shop are from last year’s harvest. So far, we haven’t ordered any new harvest tea yet. We will make it known to you when we start putting 2011-harvest teas on our shelves. [See also “Part 1” of why our tea is safe: /theikebanashop/our-tea-is-safe-part-1]
Recently, customers have asked if our tea is "all right". Many are worried that our tea supply might be disrupted due to the current troubles in Japan (Thank you for liking our tea so much!) and not a few voiced out concerns about elevated radiation levels affecting the tea...which I believe is a very valid concern.
First of all, all the tea being sold right now are from last year’s harvest. This year’s spring harvest has not begun yet. (Normally it is around latter part of April.)
But will 2011 harvest be bad? No.
Our tea is farmed in Kyoto. Kyoto is about 670 km from Sendai and is about 600 km from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. Kyoto did not suffer any damage from the earthquake. Kyoto is not experiencing higher than normal radiation levels. Our tea is shipped out of Kansai International Airport (in Osaka) which is also far from affected areas.
Our promise: If we hear of any kind of incident/news that will have an adverse affect on our tea supply, we will be the first one to pull the plug. [See also “Part 2” of why our tea is safe: /theikebanashop/our-tea-is-safe-part-2]
We are monitoring the situation closely. But please don't take our word for it. The internet can provide almost real-time information. The following links we found most useful to check on radiation levels in Kansai (the Kyoto-Osaka region). We are sure there are still other sources out there.
http://gebweb.net/japan-radiation-map/
http://www.aris.pref.kyoto.jp/map_00.html (Japanese only)
http://www.o-ems.pref.osaka.jp/ (Japanese only)
Below are snapshots (taken on 3/29) of some data.
Below is what radiation levels measured in Kyoto looked like in the past month (from 3/29 back). Note that the earthquake happened on 3/11. All six locations are on the northern part of Kyoto. The purple line graph is the radiation level measured in nGy/hr (the left Y-axis). The bar graph is the amount of rain measured in mm (the right Y-axis). For reference, on the left Y-axis, you’ll see some diamond marks. The purple diamond is last year’s highest measured level. The green diamond is last year’s average level. The blue diamond is last year’s lowest level.
Please note that 10~200 nGy/hr is the normal range. Let’s do the math... 200 nGy/hr x 24 hrs x 365 days = 1.752 million nGy for a year...which is well within the 2 million nGy/year estimate of typical background radiation experienced by the average person.
