A wish of the stars for no rain

Tanabata, the festival of the star-crossed lovers who can only meet once a year if the skies are clear, was last weekend but for the second year in a row, it rained... But we braved the rain, we being myself, Kevin, Sho (Kevin's friend) Lena and Stuart (our new Otsuki gaijin friends) and Chelsea, Mershon and Kasia. Our little group first got split up so the girls and I ended up going to the temple in Asakusa. It's such a beautiful temple for a city and we strolled around and admired the wishes hung on bamboo trees, purified in incense and collected on our fortunes which were all horrifically ill-omened. Not wanting anything to do with bad luck, I tied my two the railing that's supposed to keep the fortune pinned there and abandoned it.

After some serious getting lost we found ourselves on a street lined with tanabata decoration! Took lots of picture of colourful ornament, everything from origami foxes and cranes, to little bags of paper fishes, ribbons and spirals, and of courses wish of which I wrote mine at the end and hung it on a very damp spring of bamboo. It was lovely~

As it got dark we all headed back to the west side of Tokyo for dinner at this amazing restaurant with best honey mustard chicken burgers ever and a warm brownie with cookies and cream ice cream for dessert. It was funny because last time we were there (only a week before after Kevin and I wrote the Japanese N5 test on Canada day) the waitress saw me so excited about the brownie but I was too full to eat it. Well she was there again this time and remembered me! What followed was just a long train ride home and then bed. ^_^

So Sunday, I didn't have much on the agenda but Laura texted me and told me about a party that the Otsuki English club ladies and Tommy were having. I was told to bring my yukata and on a very rainy morning I wandered out to the street to be picked up and driven to the outskirts of Otsuki where we had the most wonderful afternoon. Luckily the downpour broke for the party was set to take place in the garden. We were dressed in our yukata, ate some food inside and then moved out to the garden where the most amazing thing happened! A water slide made of halved bamboo was set up and cold soba noodles, baby tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries, quail eggs and orange slices were dropped down it only for us to catch them with chopsticks and eat them! It was amazing! That's how I want all my food served from now on! Then we helped make mochi by pounding the warm damp rice into a sticky paste, and wandered about the little garden before finished the day with writing our wishes and signing a tanabata song. It was the perfect little festival!

So next weekend is the beach, hoping for good weather. A long weekend and then only one more week until Canada~

Of mountains, a temple and cherries

After a typhoon and a half as part of the lovely month we call the rainy season, Sheena, Kevin, Ken and I had the most wonderful rain-free weekend. We traveled north to Yamagata in the Tohoku region (I've now covered all of Tohoku and am officially in the 40s of the 47 prefectures!) to visit the famous Yamadera (in Japanese literally 'mountain temple') see a gorgeous crater lake 1,800 meters above sea level and pick some cherries. Definitely made for a fabulous weekend. And to skip ahead for a moment, there was a point where Kevin and I climbed the mountains past the crowds and gazed down the cliffs at the perfectly green valley below and wondered how this could be our wonderful lives? All this, and on just a little weekend get-a-way! It reminded me how gorgeous Japan is!

So we woke up super early Saturday, went to Tokyo, traveled like five hours by bus to Yamagata where the sun was shining, and began to hike up the mountain. The temple is famous for it's 1000 stairs, what is considered to be the oldest structure in Japan and a flame that was lit 1,200 years ago when the temple was founded in the frontier wilderness of Japan. I admittedly was dreading the 1000 stairs but they weren't so bad as it was cooler up north and we hiked in the shade most of the way up among the lushest of forests, mossy stone lanterns and little statues where people had left offerings of everything thing from paper cranes to the temple ticket stubs. With so much to look at it was easy to forget the steps. We stopped about half way up under these sheer cliffs with beautiful carvings and vines hanging over like something from a movie, it was all just so breathtaking before Kevin and I jogged the rest of the way up and well, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves. It was like a little village of temples in this crest of the mountains overlooking an extremely picturesque valley. One little temple hung nearly over the cliff and a pavilion platform was actually built into the cliff so it was like we were hanging over the mountain. The weather was so perfect with a warm breeze and so much to look at and when no one was looking Kevin and I snaked further up a stone cliff to where no one else was and stood on top of it all. I felt so alive and privileged! From up that high we could see all these shallow caves dotting the cliffs and a little wood temple that looked impossible to get to but we could both picture meditating there. It was... euphoric! Bathed in serenity, breathless joy and incense, I could have stayed in that moment forever but we had to leave and soon it clouded over.

 

Dinner was a difficult Japanese set of lovely foods I don't enjoy but I picked out the hotpot goodies from my little clay dish over a flame and the salmon sashimi was delicious! We onsened in a beautiful little wooden bath looking on to the forest in cloudy sulfuric water that made my skin feel so soft, and slept by nine. Waking up to another bath, a beautiful breakfast spread and then we were on our way again. We climbed up the mountain in the bus looping through impossible hairpin turns to the alpine where lava rocks mixed with fragile greenery and left over snow. The crater lake was a gorgeous green and was especially pretty with the red rocks, white snow and blue sky and after admiring it a bit Kevin and I hiked up to a little shrine on the top of the mountain. it was quite chilly but wonderfully refreshing!

Back in the warm valley we were led out through an orchard to a little patch of cherry trees where we were given thirty minutes of 'all-you-can-eat sakuranbo' it was perfect! The sun streamed through the green trees and I just dance about snapping shots and stuffing myself with super yummy cherries! I can't say much more than I just remember being warm and tasting sweets and feeling the gently breeze and the soft grass around my feet as I hunted for cherries that hung in delicious bunches. So lovely~

The afternoon was a series of omiyage shops and a winery (which offered very delicious cherry wine) and the long bus ride home, followed by a train and then a walk home in the rain, which had returned, but it was worth it for such a wonderful weekend!

What happened in June

Tsuyu, rainy season. Lasts several weeks and leaves me feeling perpetually damp. Depending on who you talk to it last until late July but last year we saw blue skies again by Tanabata, July 7. Anyway, needless to say, I'm surrounded by rain and with not many travels planned this post is another hodgepodge of things I've done. Not that they weren't totally enjoyable, I find adventure where I go. First up is a show case of my lovely little garden and it's first strawberry!

And then one Tuesday afternoon I went to one of my favourite schools and they had cancelled classes to plant rice and not wasting a moment I immediately shouted out 'Watashi mo issho ni yaritai desu! I want to do it too!' And they were all like, 'really? 0.o' and I nodded until they agreed and the twenty fifth years and I went up the hill to a neighbours rice field! It was amazing, we got to wade around in the mud and plant rice in the pond!

 

The following weekend Kevin, Chelsea and I went to study Japanese at Aeon Mall in Kofu (and some shopping) and then we met up with the gang in Fujiyoshida to go to this American pub and proceeded to get um... a little bit... intoxicated in a very unsensei fashion. It was a lot of fun and we were celebrating because it was Ken's birthday so it was allowed. It was a total riot and we stumbled back to Chelsea's house to sleep it off. Sunday we woke still a little drunk, as Japan has a zero tolerance to drunk driving policy, we hung out with Chelsea (who is the best hostess in the whole world and made me an omelet and apple pie for breakfast!) and went for a walk. It ended up being the best hang over day as we went to this adorable shrine, hung out on a bridge, fed a shrine horse , had a nap at a park and then went out for delicious hamburgers!

 

Another week of school. I went for a walk by the river to visit my pond of fish, these poor little fish stuck in a pond by the river created by last year's typhoons that is slowly disappearing ;_;, and to watch the fishermen and check out how the hydrangea our doing.

Mmm then it was the weekend again and Chelsea came to visit, our intentions were good: go study Japanese. But I asked if we could go check out this little shrine I'm always passing on my way to school that was just by the cafe, and they agreed. So we go, carrying all our materials, to this little shrine which we explored a bit, chased some lizards and such and then Chelsea found this little bridge leading down to the river. Of course we just left all our stuff and off we were on an hour long adventure of catching tadpoles, jumping rocky gaps, wading through the water, slipping under waters falls, scaling rocky walls, and eating wild berries. Eventually we did stumble in to the cafe to study but we were covered in burrs, mud and a bit of berry juice and wouldn't you know it, it seemed all my students were there! XD! Good fun!

Now it's Sunday, just working out what they day has for me. Maybe a visit to a temple and then Starbucks to write. Back to school tomorrow but this weekend is a real trip! We are going to Yamagata in Tohoku! A new prefecture for me to cross off! I only have like six more to visit and I've done all 47! Ja ne~