Happy Halloween!
Three years in Yamanashi and these are my adventures. From Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south I have been to every one of the 47 prefectures and lived to write about it. These are my travels, tips and tales of being a gaijin in Japan.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Let's study Halloween!
One thing I don’t have to miss about being away from home?
Halloween parties. I get all my fun with my kids. And the best part this year
was that I have an English room of my very own at Yoshidanishisho so I got to
decorate with spider webs and pumpkins getting the kids all super excited. We
played this fun janken game where they had to collect the parts for their team
skeleton. But the real best BEST part was when the older grades asked if
they could dress up for their parties. Who am I to deny a game of dress up so
of course I said YES! The results were impressive and as I was still battling a terrible cold, they really cheered me up! Best dressed goes to newspaper
mummy who couldn’t even sit down in his costume lol!
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Monday, October 28, 2013
And then the leaves began to fall
It’s time for my favourite season of all: autumn. After a couple of weeks of this miserable rain
cloud that hung over Fujiyoshida chilling it to a premature 10 degrees, there was
finally a beautiful sunny day. Not to waste it, I hurried outside to
finally enjoy a bit of warmth if not the last before winter sets in. As
Fujiyoshida is at a higher elevation than Otsuki (about 1000 meters above
sea-level) that will come sooner than I’d like.
With a package of tissues stored safely in my back pocket (a cold was coming on)
and my favourite notebook and pencil, I set out for a little park on the hillside.
It’s famous for sakura but since I’d never made it there in time for the
pink I thought I’d go for its red counterpart. I was not disappointed. After
needing to consult google maps more times than I want to admit I found a little
spot up a windy road that looked as if I was going, through someone’s property,
and ended up in this lovely little park perched on the edge of the town
overlooking the town. The day ended up surpassing me expectations when it
became drastically hot and I was dressed in a sweater. Knowing I should be glad
for the heat I persisted knowing I had come for a reason. I snapped a few
pictures, prayed at the little shrine and settled down at a picnic table to
write a short story about a priestess and a koi fish by hand. When I write it’s
often on the computer but there is something so good about writing by hand. If
only my hands could keep up with my mind then I’d do it more often but as it is
I can punch out a few thousand words by keyboard in an hour I'll stick to that for my books.
Regardless, it was a nice change to be outside while writing
and I soaked up all I could from the inspiring place and headed home.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Of samurai, obi and festivals
Every town in Japan has a festival to call their own. There
are most likely millions every year from little local ones celebrating minor
gods and the community to huge ones which attract thousands with golden
lanterns and portable shrines. Japan is also known for lists of threes. In this
case the list of three is ‘three unusual festivals.’ On that list is the fire
festival, which I’ve attended all three years I’ve been here, one where these
crazies cut down a tree and ride it down a hill, and a third which only takes
place every three years: the Shimada obi festival.
In the Shimada region of Shizuoka, women would take their
obi belts to the shrine to pray for a good marriage, fertility and all those
womanly things. However it is said they became embarrassed appearing to
pray before so many people so the task of blessing their obi fell to the men.
Their men would then take on the task, draping their beloved’s belt over their
sword as they paraded to the shrine. Apparently this custom became so popular
that during the festival there could be up to a three kilometer line of men
bearing the obi of their women.
Anyways, fast forward four hundred years and you find me,
Sheena and Kelly at a similar parade on a very hot day in October watching a
line of pants-less men dancing to a low steady beat down the street to the
shrine. It was really kinda beautiful as the procession went by, each of their
movements perfectly timed with the samurai that marched before them. After
three hundred meters of samurai passed by, next came a procession of daimyo, a
horse and his handlers, a tengu, boys that danced with fans, several parade
floats and a portable stage displaying a doll retelling of a local folktale.
Finished with the parade we went to the shrine which was in
a lovely little park with koi fish, a red bridge, statues of the samurai and a
wood cut-out so I too could be a dancing pants-less man of Shimada!
It was hot, and I might have been a little sun-burned so
after paying our respects at the shirne we headed back for Yamanashi.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Sarah and Kevin climb a mountain
Some days
you wake up and never want to get out of bed. Other times you get up to find
the sky blue and the air cool. You think to yourself ‘why not hike a mountain
today?’ So that is precisely what I did with my Sunday. I texted Kevin and
asked if he might care to join me and a few hours later we met at Mitsutoge
park, combined our picnics together and set our course uphill.
The hike
was absolutely beautiful. The cooler altitude was already painting the leaves red
and the sunlight shone through the forest canopy dappling the rough trail with
warm light. Every break in the trees offered a stunning view of the valley
floor as we crept higher. In the distance Mt. Fuji towered over Fujiyoshida. We
stopped often for breaks and Kevin found himself sitting on a wood dragon
disguised as a log.
After
about the first two hours, the trail got a bit less steep and opened up onto a
little clearing. There were a bunch of stone markers and over eighty Buddhist
statues all dressed in red. It was a very peaceful little rest point. After
that we crossed a land bridge with a forested drop on either side, and found
ourselves halfway around the mountain with an even better view of Fuji. There
was this precarious point on the path where it looked prone to landslides and
then in our excitement we scared ourselves up a bear!
Continuing
around the mountain was a cliff face, where rock climbers were doing their
thing, and beyond that a miniature waterfall squeezed water so pure from the
rock I couldn’t resist a drink. The trail twisted and turned in, out and over
little autumn flecked ravines, a bridge or two, past a few abandoned buildings
and up to the base of the last leg. Here our final obstacle was these brutal stairs
that’s sole purpose was to get in the hikers way. I suppose over years of erosion
some of them gave way so instead of being helpful and horizontal they stick up
uselessly and vertical. One must now step over
the stair in order to make it to the top.
And there
we were at last! It was magnificent. The sun was low and golden, casting a
flattering light over the world. We were high enough to be able to see the
cliff to the left, Tsuru beneath us, Fuji to the right and then Kofu behind us.
1700 meters. Three times the height of little old Iwadono-san in Otsuki. We ate
some lunch (maybe early dinner at that point,) admired the view until the wind
grew cold and made our descent.
As we
had a late start it was no surprise that we ended up doing the second half of
the descent in the dark. But we made excellent time hiking down and got to the
car around six making it five hours up and down. Decent use of a day off. The
day was finished with pizza and hot chocolate as every hike should be.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Sunset over Fuji
After this amazing day on the edge of a typhoon the sun lit the evening sky in fantastic colours and left us with the most amazing sunset. I looked out my window, open to the summer breeze even in October, and saw the sky in cotton candy pinks and blues and knew I had to run out with my camera.
So glad I did! Even the mountain was this amazing colour as all the ridges and personality were visible in the clear night. I love Mt. Fuji!
So glad I did! Even the mountain was this amazing colour as all the ridges and personality were visible in the clear night. I love Mt. Fuji!
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