Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Children’s Day Cake

by Jeffrey Friedl Wed, May 5th, 2010 7:25pm JST (13 years ago)

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Sizing Up the Competition seven year old kid vs. a strawberry and chocolate sponge cake -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 220 — full exif
Sizing Up the Competition
seven year old kid vs. a strawberry and chocolate sponge cake

Today is Children's Day (子供の日), a national holiday in Japan that wraps up a series of holidays collectively called Golden Week. Fumie's folks got a special cake that we could all enjoy...

Silly Cake Three strawberry faces with mouths agape (singing?), and, for some reason, one hamster. -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200 — full exif
Silly Cake
Three strawberry faces with mouths agape (singing?), and, for some reason, one hamster.

Message “Here's Hoping That You Can Run Faster, Anthony” -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 2200 — full exif
Message
“Here's Hoping That You Can Run Faster, Anthony”

I think Anthony was with them when they picked up the cake, and they asked him what wish he wanted written.

I completely missed it at the time, but looking at these pictures now, I realize that the overall shape of the cake is that of a traditional kabuto samurai helmet. It's a symbol for boys that they grow up strong and healthy, and a small version is often displayed in the homes of families with boys during this time of year (and indeed, we have one in our living room now).

The same symbol was on the back of Anthony's shichi-go-san hakama (men's traditional formal wear), as seen in the lead photo of this post. These symbolic helmets, along with koinobori flying carp, are common symbols to see in the weeks surrounding Children's Day.

Tasty Hamster -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — full exif
Tasty Hamster

Distribution of the Strawberries -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — full exif
Distribution of the Strawberries

First Slice -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — full exif
First Slice

May	5th,	2007	Koinobori in Biei, Hokkaido
October	17th,	2009	Anthony's Shichi-go-san Event: First Steps

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All 3 comments so far, oldest first...

I hate it when I look at photos like this before breakfast. Ruins my whole day. I should look at them after dinner when I’m full…wouldn’t be quite so painful. Such a clever cake, and obviously delicious to boot.

— comment by Grandma Friedl, Ohio, USA on May 5th, 2010 at 10:34pm JST (13 years ago) — comment permalink

Very cute cake. My first thought was cute strawberry Elmo…

— comment by Sonal, USA on May 5th, 2010 at 10:52pm JST (13 years ago) — comment permalink

I think the random hamster is because it’s Japan, and in Japan they like to throw in random animals or monsters like this everywhere. It’s “kawaii”.

— comment by Tommy on May 7th, 2010 at 3:15am JST (13 years ago) — comment permalink