せいか祭り２００７ The 2007 Seika Festival

去年と同じように僕と同僚のクリスさんがせいかグローバルネットのブースでせいか祭りを過ごしました。ニコニコ笑顔で子どもたちとふれあったり、風船を渡したり、していたので、とても楽しかったです。せいかグローバルネットの４人のメンバーとクリスが１２月に精華町の姉妹都市ノーマン市に訪問するので、子どもたちがノーマン市の人々への一言メッセジーを書いてもらいました。

This year my coworker Chris and I spent the day of the Seika Festival helping out at the Seika Global Network booth. It was fun because we got to interact with the kids and give out balloons. In December, four members of the Seika Global Network and Chris are going to be taking a trip to Seika’s sister city of Norman, Oklahoma, so at the festival we asked the kids of Seika to write short messages which would be presented to the people of Norman.

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そして、去年雨のせいで中止になったパレードが今年予定どおりに行いました。僕らもせいかグローバルネットのパレード団体と一緒に参加しました。ショッキングピンクの布に飾られたり、多彩な風船を運んだり、Bee Geesの”Dancing Queen”という曲が流れながら行進しました。その姿はちょっと恥かしかったが、皆さんのあたたかい挨拶のおかげで、結局面白かったです。

Last year due to the rain the parade was unfortunately canceled, but this year it was carried out on schedule. So we were able to join in the Seika Global Network’s parade troupe this year. It was a little embarrassing to be draped in flowing robes of shocking pink, carrying colorful balloons while they blared the Bee Gees “Dancing Queen” out of a loud speaker, but thanks to the warm greetings of all the people watching it turned out to be an interesting experience.
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夢のように A Dream Come True

たくさんの日本人とアメリカ人の男子の夢は野球選手になるということでしょうね。僕もその夢がありましたが、中学校の頃に野球を辞めました。僕はアメリカで少年野球やっていたが、その頃からあまり野球していません。今年は友達との草野球チームに入りました。平均月一・ニ回週末に試合しています。あまり上手じゃないですが、プレイするだけで楽しいことだと思います。

Many Japanese and American boys dream of being baseball players when they grow up. I had the same dream when I was younger, but I quit playing when I was in middle school. I played little league baseball in America, but since then I haven’t really played at all. This year I joined an informal baseball team with some of my friends. Usually we play about one or two games a month on the weekends. I am not very good, but for me it is just fun to be out there playing.

それで、うちのチームが年一回大阪京セラドームを借りて、試合します。今年の１１月末に僕が初めて参加しました。プロ野球スタジアムで試合するのは二時間僕の少年の夢が現実になったようなことでした。スタジアムに入ったら感動しました。または、試合には僕がファーストを守っていたので、やりながら「このスタジアムでこの位置は阪神のシーツ選手と一緒やなぁ」と思い込んでいました。そして、安打一本できて、二塁を盗塁したから嬉しかったです。僕は野球そんなに上手じゃないし、今は年取りすぎて、プロ野球選手の夢がもう散てしまいましたが、二時間だけで夢を試すのは気持ちよかったです。

Once a year my team rents out the Kyocera Dome, a professional baseball stadium in Osaka, to play a game. This year at the end of November I played there for the first time. To be able to play in a professional baseball stadium for two hours was like my childhood dream had come true. When I first walked onto the field I felt a chill down my spine. Also, in the game I was playing first base so when I stood out there I realized, “Wow, this is the same place where the Hanshin Tigers’ first baseman Andy Sheets stands!”* Then, I was able to get a nice clean hit into center field during the game and then steal second base so I was happy. I am not that good at baseball and by now I am too old to break into professional baseball anyways, so my dream of being a professional baseball player is far gone. But for two hours I was able to pretend like I was a pro baseball player and get a taste for what my dream would have been like. It felt good.

*Andy Sheets is an American who plays firstbase for the local favorite professional baseball team the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers play some of their home games at the Osaka Dome when their primary stadium (Koshien) is being used for the National High School Baseball Championships in the summer.

夢のように A Dream Come True

たくさんの日本人とアメリカ人の男子の夢は野球選手になるということでしょうね。僕もその夢がありましたが、中学校の頃に野球を辞めました。僕はアメリカで少年野球やっていたが、その頃からあまり野球していません。今年は友達との草野球チームに入りました。平均月一・ニ回週末に試合しています。あまり上手じゃないですが、プレイするだけで楽しいことだと思います。

Many Japanese and American boys dream of being baseball players when they grow up. I had the same dream when I was younger, but I quit playing when I was in middle school. I played little league baseball in America, but since then I haven’t really played at all. This year I joined an informal baseball team with some of my friends. Usually we play about one or two games a month on the weekends. I am not very good, but for me it is just fun to be out there playing.

それで、うちのチームが年一回大阪京セラドームを借りて、試合します。今年の１１月末に僕が初めて参加しました。プロ野球スタジアムで試合するのは二時間僕の少年の夢が現実になったようなことでした。スタジアムに入ったら感動しました。または、試合には僕がファーストを守っていたので、やりながら「このスタジアムでこの位置は阪神のシーツ選手と一緒やなぁ」と思い込んでいました。そして、安打一本できて、二塁を盗塁したから嬉しかったです。僕は野球そんなに上手じゃないし、今は年取りすぎて、プロ野球選手の夢がもう散てしまいましたが、二時間だけで夢を試すのは気持ちよかったです。

Once a year my team rents out the Kyocera Dome, a professional baseball stadium in Osaka, to play a game. This year at the end of November I played there for the first time. To be able to play in a professional baseball stadium for two hours was like my childhood dream had come true. When I first walked onto the field I felt a chill down my spine. Also, in the game I was playing first base so when I stood out there I realized, “Wow, this is the same place where the Hanshin Tigers’ first baseman Andy Sheets stands!”* Then, I was able to get a nice clean hit into center field during the game and then steal second base so I was happy. I am not that good at baseball and by now I am too old to break into professional baseball anyways, so my dream of being a professional baseball player is far gone. But for two hours I was able to pretend like I was a pro baseball player and get a taste for what my dream would have been like. It felt good.

*Andy Sheets is an American who plays firstbase for the local favorite professional baseball team the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers play some of their home games at the Osaka Dome when their primary stadium (Koshien) is being used for the National High School Baseball Championships in the summer.

サンクスギヴィングデー Thanksgiving Day

アメリカではサンクスギヴィングデー（感謝祭）という特別な行事を知っていますか？１１月の第４木曜日にあり、家族と過ごし、七面鳥などを食べる祝日です。今年僕は日本にいるので、この日は家族と過ごすことができなくて寂しいです。でも、偶然に東京に出張された間に素晴らしいサンクスギヴィングディナーを食べられました。

As I am living in Japan this year I was sad that I wasn’t able to spend Thanksgiving Day with my whole family. But luckily I was able to eat a wonderful Thanksgiving Day dinner in Tokyo while I was there for a work trip.

東京都にある米軍隊に限定されるThe New Sanno Hotelでは大きなサンクスギヴィングデー・バイキングがあります。このホテルはとても大きくて、きれいですが、非常に珍しいところです。米軍隊か米軍隊の家族じゃなかったら、そこに泊まることが禁止されています。バイキングでも米軍隊か米軍隊の家族と一緒に行かないなら入られません。アメリカ人の僕でも普通に入られませんよ。

In Tokyo there is a hotel called The New Sanno which is specifically reserved for American military and their families which holds a huge Thanksgiving Day buffet every year. The hotel is big and luxurious, but it is such an oddity in Japan. If you are not a US military service member or a card carrying family member of one you are not allowed to stay in the hotel. Even as an American I cannot go into the hotel by myself. For the buffet dinner you must be invited and accompanied by a US military service member or a card carrying family member of one.



そして、「バイキングはどうだったの？」と聞きたいでしょう。本当に最高でしたよ！米軍隊のホテルだから、食べ物は完璧に伝統的な味でした。または、何でもありました。僕はいっぱい食べて、満腹になったのに、「まだ全部味わってないから、もっと食べたいなぁ！」と思っていました。サンクスギヴィングデーは家族と一緒に過ごせなくて、残念ですが、美味しくて、懐かしいアメリカ料理を食べられて十分嬉しかったですよ！

So you are probably wondering how was the food right? It was truly the best! It’s an American military hotel so the food is really traditional. What’s more they had just about anything you could have wished for. I ate so much and was so full but I still thought, “I want to eat more, I still haven’t tried everything.” It was a shame that I couldn’t spend Thanksgiving Day with the whole family, but I was plenty happy to be able to eat real American food.

Old MacDonald マクドナルド祖父ちゃん

This week I went to one of the local elementary schools where I was asked to talk to the kids about American nursery rhymes and songs. Since its been affirmed by almost all of my friends that I have a terrible singing voice I made the easy choice to just bring a CD of children’s songs with me. I was able to find a great website that has free downloads of most of the traditional songs I used to sing as a child (www.freekidsmusic.com). I went around to all of the four 4th grade classes at the school and I played songs like; Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Old MacDonald, etc. They have a Japanese version of If You’re Happy and You Know It so the kids were already familiar with that one. They liked Wheels on the Bus because I had them act out all of the actions that are sung about in the song. But the funniest thing was when I played Old MacDonald. I explained that it was a song about a farmer with lots of animals. Most Japanese kids are also familiar with this song too but the only part that they actually know the words is the ‘ee I eei oh’ part from “Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh!” That’s because it sounds almost exactly like saying, “iya iya yo” in Japanese, which basically translates as “that’s disgusting!” Like if you were disgusted with something someone said and you wanted to completely deny it by saying “that’s disgusting!” So when we were singing the song the kids got really into that one part of the song and a few kids started squeezing their noses with one hand while waving the other and singing “iya iya yo.” When I asked them what was so offensive they said that they were saying “that’s disgusting!” because it was so stinky from all of the animals. I thought it was so funny and I was totally cracking up every time we sang it and all 30 of the kids starting holding their noses and waving their hands while singing “that’s disgusting!” Ah, the surprises of cross cultural exchange!

Also, Old MacDonald turned out to be a good little English lesson because of all the animal noises. In Japanese the onomatopoeia for animals is totally from what we use in American English. For instance in Japanese; cows don’t ‘muu’ they ‘moo’ (pronounced like mow in mowing the lawn), and dogs don’t go ‘arrff-arrff’ they “wan-wan”. They thought it was crazy that American pigs sound like ‘oink-oink’ because Japanese pigs sound like ‘bu-bu’. All in all it was really a really funny day and pretty productive as far as international exchange goes.

今週、僕が地域小学校で子供達にアメリカの童謡を教えることになりました。僕は下手糞な歌手ということが殆どの友達に確認されたので、童謡のCDを持って行くことにしました。あるインターネットサイトでたくさんの懐かしい童謡を無料にダウンロードできました(www.freekidsmusic.com)。小学校四年生の４つの教室に回って、色んな曲（Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Old MacDonald等）を聞かせました。If You’re Happy and You Know Itという曲が日本語では「しあわせなら」があるので、子供達もう知っていました。そして、Wheels on the Busはバスのアクションと乗客の運動の真似をさせたので、子供は好きでした。でも、Old MacDonaldを聞かせるのが一番面白かったです。音楽を流す前にマクドナルド祖父ちゃんがたくさんの動物を持っている農業者の話を説明しました。日本人もこの曲が知っているらしいが、歌詞は一つの部分しか知らなかったです。それは“Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh!”の中の“Ee i ee i oh!”です。なぜなら“Ee i ee i oh!”と日本語で言うと「いやいやよ」と聞こえます。この歌詞だけですごく盛り上がり、一緒に歌いながら、２，３人が手で鼻を詰めて、他の手を振っていました。僕が「何がいやだの？」と聞いたときに、子供が「いっぱい動物がいるから臭くて、いやいやよ！」　それは非常に面白くて、３０人の生徒が手で鼻を詰めて、他の手を振って、「いやいやよ」を歌っている姿を見たら大笑いしていました。国際交流が面白いなと思っていました。

そして、Old MacDonaldという曲が動物の鳴き声があるので、いい英語の勉強になりました。アメリカの英語と日本語の動物の鳴き声の擬声語が違います。例えば、牛が日本語で「モウ」だけど、英語で「ムウ」で、犬は「ワンワン」じゃなくて、「アルフアルフ」を鳴きます。豚の鳴き声が英語で「オインクオインク」と教えたときに子供達が「ありえない」と言っていました。結局面白い一日で、かなりいい国際交流ができました。

精華中学校発表会 Middle School English Recital and Musical Concert

今日、私と精華町の姉妹都市交流員のクリスさんで精華中学校の発表会を見に行きました。生徒の英語暗唱コンクールを審判するために学校に誘われました。去年も同じ発表会に行って、面白かったので楽しみにしていました。中学生として、発表者はかなり英語が上手で、びっくりしました。学校全員の前で発表するのが大変で、皆が一生懸命練習したそうで、よく頑張ったなと思いました。各学年一人の優勝者しか選べなかったので、審判するのが難しかったです。

そして、吹奏楽部発表もありました。去年も同じことを考えていたが、今年も中学生として、すごく上手です。吹奏楽部がパイレーツ・オブ・カリビアンの作曲を出演し、それが一番好きでした。僕は中学校で楽器を練習すればよかったなと思っていました。

Today Chris, Seika’s Coordinator for Sister City Relations, and I went to Seika Middle School to watch the English Recital and Musical Concert. We were invited to come and judge the student’s English speech contest. Last year we did the same thing which was really interesting so I was looking forward to doing it again this year. I am always surprised by how good the student’s English is for only being middle school students. I know it’s hard to do any presentation in front of the whole school, but the students seem to have practiced hard and really were able to do their best. We were only aloud to pick one winner from each of the three grade levels so it was pretty hard to pick the best, since everyone was so good.

Aside from the English speech contest the school’s brass band also performed. I thought the same thing as I did last year; these kids are really good for their age! I was most impressed when they played the theme song from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” After seeing the band all I could think was, “man, I wish I would have learned to play an instrument when I was in school.”

２００７年度精華町こども祭り 2007 Seika Town Children’s Festival

１０月２０日（土）毎年行っているこども祭りがむくのきセンターでありました。子供のためのイベントで、色々な楽しみがありました。保育所・小学校・中学校の音楽団体がそれぞれ開会式で発表したし、料理教室やブーメラン作りなどがあったし、精華町の子供はすごく楽しい一日を過ごせました。僕はせいかグロバールネットと一緒にスタッフとして参加しました。外国の習慣と遊びを体験させたかったからハロウィーン・マスク（仮面）の製作と”Pin the Tail on the Donkey” （ロバに尻尾をつけよう！）というゲームなどをしました。仮面作りが一番人気な行動で、子供達はすごく面白い仮面が出来ました。今年僕はこども祭り二回目で、去年から殆どの小学校に行っているから、子供達が僕のことを知っているので、挨拶しにきてくれて、楽しかったです。

On Saturday October 20th the annual Seika Town Children’s Festival was held at Mukunoki Center. The event is for children so there was lots of fun activities. Musical groups from local nursery schools, elementary and junior high schools performed at the opening ceremony, there was a cooking class, boomerang making and other activities so the children had a really fun day. I also participated as a staff member with the Seika Global Network. We wanted to show the kids foreign customs and games so we set up a corner where the kids could make Halloween masks and play ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. The mask making was the most popular and the kids made some really great masks. This was the second year that I helped out at the Children’s Festival and since I have been going to the elementary schools in town it was more fun this year because I knew a lot of the kids and they all came and said hi to me.

ベランダの田んぼが出来上がった！ My Own Private Rice Harvest

６月に「楽農体験ツアー」の田植え活動と同時に僕が稲を貰って、アパートのベランダのプランタで稲を育て始めました（当ブログに写真が載せられた）。４ヶ月大事にしていて、やっと収穫しました。量が少ないけど、自分が育てた米を食べるのを非常に楽しみにしています。今ベランダで乾かしているから、まだ一週間くらい待たないといけません。結局どのくらいの米をとれるのかなって楽しみです。たぶんお握り一個だけのかな？でも自分が育てた米だから今までの人生の一番美味しいお握りと期待しています！

As I have posted previously on this blog I started growing my own private rice field on the balcony of my apartment back in June when I received some rice sprouts after taking part in the Agricultural Experience Tour. After looking after them for four months I was finally able to harvest. The volume of rice is pretty low, but I am really looking forward to eating rice that I grew myself. I cut the rice and now it is drying out on my balcony so I will have to wait about a week before I can actually eat it. I am wondering exactly how much actual rice I will get once I finish. Maybe only enough for one rice ball? But because it was rice I grew I expect it to be the best rice ball I have ever eaten in my life!

楽農体験ツアー （稲刈り） Agricultural Experience Tour (Rice Harvesting)

平成１９年６月９日（土）に僕が初めて参加した「楽農体験ツアー」の話をこのブログに載せました。その時は精華町乾谷区内水田ほ場で田植えを活動しました。農業体験のない僕はかなり興味深くて裸足で田んぼに入って、昔のように手で田植えしてみました。そして、先週末その同じ田んぼに収穫しに行きました。山田荘地域農場づくり協議会事務局及び精華町役場事業部産業振興課が主催される毎年のイベントで、今年は約４０人が参加しました。若い子からお年寄りの方も来て、楽しい経験になりました。
On June 9th, 2007 I participated in the Agricultural Experience Tour which I have written about in this blog. At that time we planted rice at the Inuidani Farm. Having never had any agricultural experience I was pretty interested in trying it out, so I jumped in the muddy field barefoot and planted rice by hand like in the old days. Then last weekend I went back to the same field to harvest the rice that I helped plant. The Agricultural Experience Tour is organized by the Yamadasho Regional Agriculture Association and the Seika Town Industry Promotion Division and is held every year. This year there were about 40 participants ranging from young children to senior citizens. It was a fun experience for everyone.

今回も昔のように手で稲刈りをしました。以外としんどかったです。稲刈りしてから、コンバインに入れて、米が自動に袋に集まっていきました。終わった時に収穫出来た量にびっくりしました。その面積の田んぼで最もいっぱいとれると思いました。約９つの３０キログラムの袋が収穫できました。大体４人の家族の一年分と聞きました。そして、稲刈りをしながら木村町長が偶然にいらっしゃって頂いて、素敵なスーツの格好で思い切って田んぼに入って、皆さんと握手なさいました。
This time we harvest the rice by hand like they did in the old days. It was much more tiring than I would have thought. After cutting the rice plants by hand we fed the plants into a combine machine and the rice grains were automatically separated from the reeds and neatly sifted into bags. When we finished I was surprised by the amount of rice we were able to harvest. I thought that for a rice field of that size we would get a lot more rice. We ended up getting about nine 30kg bags of rice. I was told that that would be enough to fed a family of four for one year. Also while we were harvesting the rice Mayor Kimura unexpectedly showed up and daringly jumped into the muddy rice field in his nice business suit to shake hands with everyone who was working.

収穫がおわってから、乾谷ファミリに炊き込み御飯と漬物をいただきました。田んぼで苦労をしたから食べ物がとても美味しかったです。今年楽農体験ツアーに参加してよかったなと思います。来年皆さん参加いかがですか！
After we finished all the work the Inuidani Family treated us to takikomi rice (rice steamed with vegetables) and tsukemono (pickled vegetables). After laboring in the fields the food tasted really good. I am really glad that I participated in the Agricultural Experience Tour this year. Next year why don’t you join in too!

天神祭り Tenjin Festival

On Wednesday July 25th the Tenjin Festival took place in Osaka City. The summer festival is one of the biggest in Japan and there were roughly 500,000 people there for the festival. The festival takes place along the river near Sakuranomiya. There are all the usual food stalls and game booths and an hour long aerial fireworks display like many other festivals have. The thing that is unique to this festival is the parade of boats along the river. It is much like a normal parade with decorated floats, music and celebrities but this one is all on boats floating up and down the river.

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The other thing that is really cool about this festival is that lots of people wear a yukata, which is a light cotton version of the traditional kimono worn in summer time. Probably about half of the women were wearing yukata and a decent amount of men as well. The yukata have really beautiful designs and colors and makes the whole festival feel much more traditional. For this festival I even decided to wear a yukata!

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I felt a little odd being a foreigner wearing traditional Japanese clothes but it was really fun and I overheard lots of people commenting that I looked cool. The yukata is like a bath robe so its really comfortable and there are pockets in the underhand of the sleaves which are convenient for carrying things. The only problem was that I have really big feet (31cm) and the biggest geta slippers that I could find were only 28cm so my feet were hanging off the back. After walking around all night my feet were really sore by the end of the night.

I ate lots of good food and had a really good time walking around the festival in my yukata getting looks from everyone. Even though the Tenjin Festival is not all that much different from other festivals in Japan the huge number of people and the warm weather created a wonderful atmosphere and was a lot of fun.

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(From this point on I am going to start writing this blog in both English and Japanese.)

7月２５日（水）に大阪市の天神祭りがありました。天神祭りは全国でトップ３の最大祭りの中に入っています。桜ノ宮の川岸の周りに約５百万人がこの祭りに来たらしいです。祭りの食べ物やゲームや花火などがもちろんありました。でも天神祭りの特徴は船パレートです。

僕は天神祭りの好きなことは沢山の人々がゆかたを着ます。約女の人の半分がゆかたを着て、男の人も少なくないです。ゆかたはきれいな色とデザインがあって、伝統的な感じがします。今回ぼくもゆかたを着ました！

外国人としてゆかたを着るのがちょっと恥かしかったが、「かっこいいな」という声を聞こえました。ゆかたは涼しくて楽ですが、一つの問題がありました。僕は足が３１cmで一番大きなげたが２８cmですから、足は出ていました。ずっと歩いていたので、おわりに足が痛くなりました。

色々な食べ物を食べたり、ゆかたの姿で皆に見られたり、するのが本当に楽しかったです。他の祭りとあまり違わないが、大勢な人々と温かい温度が素晴らしい雰囲気で面白い祭りだと思います。

Rhinoceros Beetles

This week was the start of summer vacation for children in Japan. With all the free time and the nice weather what will the kids do with themselves? One thing that kids in Japan love to do is to play with bugs, especially kabutomushi (rhinoceros beetles). So the Seika Town Elderly Talent Association put together an event for the kids to teach them about the beetles, let them play with them, and then the kids got to take them home in little plastic cages at the end of the event.

I went along for the ride to take some pictures and see what all the fuss is about, even though I really don’t like bugs and didn’t want to touch them. As you can see from the pictures the beetles are pretty big and have large horns coming off their heads like a rhinoceros. These beetles have a horn in the center of their heads (hence the name rhinoceros beetle) but the horn often bifurcates making it look like a deer’s antlers.

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After the bug hunt the kids also tried out another traditional Japanese game takeuma. Takeuma literally translates to “bamboo horse.” You cut up short sections of bamboo and tie strings around them so that you can hold them in place while you walk around on it. It really does sound like horse hoofs clomping around. Some of the kids made tall ones so it almost looked more like stilts, but obviously made it much harder to walk. There was also a nice little pond in the park where we were that had these beautiful white flowers growing out of the lily pads. For me it was nice to get out of the office on such a nice day and it was fun because some of the kids remembered me from when I go to the elementary schools so they were excited to see me again.

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Dragon Boat Race

Two weeks ago I was invited by a friend to take part in an annual dragon boat competition on the river in Osaka City. The competition is pretty big and teams come from around the world to compete in it. Almost all of the teams are serious about the sport and the competition, but the team that I was a part of just does it for fun and doesn’t do any practice. I got the feeling that most of the other teams probably practice all year long and the race is a big deal to them. For us it was just a reason to get together do something fun and then have a BBQ party in the park after the race was over.

A dragon boat is like a really long skinny canoe with two rows of 9 people paddling plus a leader in the front with a big drum to establish the paddling rhythm and a person in the back to steer the rudder (20 people total). The hardest part about it is making sure that everyone is rowing together in the same rhythm. Our team had a lot of big strong people but since we never practiced our stride was off and we couldn’t do very well. The really good teams looked like a many armed beast rowing in perfect unison. Even though we came in last in our heat the race was a really cool experience and the BBQ in the park after was tons of fun.

If you are wondering why they are called dragon boats you can see in the picture below that there is a dragon head at the front of the boat and a tail on the back.

My Own Private Rice Field Pt.II

It's been almost exactly one month since I first planted my veranda rice field and put up pictures of the little sprouts on this blog. I am really surprised to see how much the rice has grown in only one month. At first I was worried that they wouldn't have enought sunlight being on my veranda, or that I didn't get the right kind of soil for rice. But now that they are growing tall and strong I am actually thinking that everything will be fine.

When I got the rice sprouts from a colleague they were in a bucket with mud from a real rice field. That wasn't nearly enough mud for the planters I bought so I had to get a bag of soil from the store. As an experiment I decided to use the original mud in a separate plastic drink bottle and plant the left over sprouts to see if one or the other would do better. Of course there are lots of variables in this experiment but I am noticing that the original mud and rice in the plastic bottle (see the picture) isn't growing as nicely as the ones I planted in the store bought soil. They are still growing but the color isn't as healthy green as the rice in the bigger planters. Maybe thats because they don't have enough room to spread roots but I wonder if its because the soil is different. Only time will tell.

Summer in Japan

Being that it's the middle of July and super hot here in Kyoto it would seem obvious that it's already summer, but to me I only really know its summer in Japan when the festivals start. Recently I went to the Tanabata Festival in neighboring Kizugawa City.

To me it really feels like summer when I can go to a festival where the streets are lined with vendors selling all sorts of typical Japanese foods like, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, karage and other such treats. The day of the festival was pretty hot and humid and with so many people packed into the streets it only increased the heat. But its so nice to walk down the rows of food vendors smelling the different foods and maybe drinking a cold beer. The best part of the whole thing is that most of the young children were dressed up in colorful yukata (a light summer version of the traditional kimono). At the festival there were large decorations were people had written down their wishes for the future (see above picture), one such wish was for world peace.

With the smell of grilled foods and tons of people out creating a lively atmosphere it really made me realize how much fun summer in Japan can be despite the oppresive humidity.

Climbing Mt. Fuji

This past weekend I did one of the most challenging and foolish things I have done since I got to Japan; I climbed Mt. Fuji! I say foolish because who in their right mind would subject themselves to climbing a snow covered volcano in the pitch-black of night, in the rain for 15 hours straight?! I am not a hiking or mountain climbing enthusiast, but it seems like for foreigners who live in Japan climbing Mt. Fuji is just one of those things that you have to do.

I am not quite sure who decided this practice, but the most common way to climb Mt. Fuji is to start at 6pm and climb all night long so that you can arrive at the top in time for sunrise at 4:30am. While it is great to see the sunrise from the top of Mt. Fuji I don’t see how climbing the mountain in the middle of the night is seen as a good idea.

Before making the trek I had minimal knowledge of the climb and just figured that since so many people make the climb each year, and since this is practical Japan, that it would pretty much just be a paved staircase with lights for most of the hike. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The trail is far more treacherous than I expected which is further complicated by the changing elements.

I went because a friend of mine wanted to go and as I said before I had always thought that I should do it once while I am here in Japan. We went with a tour group that left by bus from Kyoto. I have to say that a 7 hour bus ride is not the best thing for body and mind before a long trek. So we arrived about half way up the mountain where the paved roads end at 2,305 meters (7,562 feet). At this elevation the clouds and mist are so thick that you can barely see 10 ft in front of you. The hike starts from this point up to the peak of Mt. Fuji at 3,776 m (12,388 ft).

One of the great things about going with the tour group was that they had lined up a hearty dinner for us before the start of the hike. After dinner and final preparations we set off with our guide who must have been at least 60 years old. He took us on a slow pace and thankfully stopped to let us rest frequently. The first 2 hours of the climb weren’t so bad as it was slowing inclining gravel and dirt paths. It was still light out at this point, but the fog, clouds and or mist made visibility pretty minimal and the condensation was high. So even though it wasn’t raining it was wet and slippery everywhere.

(Don't I look like a certain Hobbit on his way to Mordor?!)

I thought the path on Mt. Fuji would be like paved steps but it turned out to be a variety of treacherously steep and narrow paths, and climbing slippery rocks all in the dark with occasional rain and strong winds. Taking into account the 5-10 minute breaks we took along the way the first stage of the hike took us 5 hours up to about 3,200 m. We arrived at the lodge at 11 pm where we would get a bowl of rice and two hours of sleep in a large bunk-bed filled cabin. I slept like a rock in that cabin and awoke at 1 am for the remaining 3 hours of climbing to the top.

Towards the top it starting getting really windy and cold even though it’s the middle of the summer. The terrain wasn’t so scary but with all the large volcanic rocks and dirt it was still rough climbing. At this point we were far above the cloud line and once the sun starting rising the view was amazing. During the hike I thought it was madness to take a bunch of amateurs on a night climb over such difficult paths, but seeing the sun rise over the clouds from the top of a volcano made it all seem worth it.

Sitting on the top of Mt. Fuji after an 11 hour hike (minus 2 hours of sleep) I was surprised that my legs didn’t feel that tired and that the climb wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After a victorious rest at the top we set off for the return hike down. After about 30 minutes of climbing down the steep and gravely paths my legs and knees started to burn. This is when I realized that the total hike would indeed turn out to be hard. For some reason climbing or hiking uphill isn’t so hard on my body, but hiking down is tough on my knees. The trip back was made torturously hard by the guide would told us it shouldn’t take more than about 2 hours when in reality it ended up taking 4 hours. It seems to be a rule on the mountain to lie and tell people half the actual time whenever asked how long it would take to reach a certain point. I admit that on the way up this was encouraging, but on the way down it really sucked. I just kept thinking, “He said 1 more hour but its already been 2 and we don’t even seem close yet.”

We finally made it back to the original starting point 15 hours after we set off. We had climbed 2,471 m (8,106 ft.) overnight with only 2 hours of sleep as rest. By the time we got back my legs and back were so tired, and while I really enjoyed the hike up and the challenge the return hike back down was harsh and I vowed that climbing Mt. Fuji once is quite enough. There is an old saying that roughly says, “To not climb Mt. Fuji is foolish, and to climb twice is foolish.”

All in all I did have a fun time climbing and the challenge of the terrain and the elements made for an exciting trek. The view from the top and the feeling of overcoming the difficult task was great. The climb up was not nearly as tiring as I thought it would be, but after the hike down I was just as tired as I imagined beforehand. If you have the desire to climb Mt. Fuji I would say it’s a great experience and that you should definitely do it! But if you asked me to go a second time I would say NO!