Shimogo - A Return

Last week, I headed up to Fukushima Prefecture for the wedding of a former colleague. I decided that it would be a good idea to spend a couple of days in Shimogo to catch up with some old friends. On Friday (31st August) I met up with Satoshi, Nozomi, and Matthew (my replacement) in Wakatsuki, my favourite restaurant. It was great to catch up again and and after a good dose of beer, I left at 2am for a drunken stagger through the rice fields back to the inn where I was staying.It was a good feeling to be back in Shimogo but a little strange to return as a visitor. I roused myself the next morning at 8am and made an effort to look respectable before I headed down for breakfast. I wasn't at my best because of the previous evenings activities and only managed to consume a bowl of miso soup, some rice, and a cup of green tea. I think the woman who owns the inn was concerned that the Japanese fare was unpalatable to the western tongue. After breakfast, I went upstairs to my room to close my eyes for a couple of minutes and woke up again after midday.
Embarrassed at my slothfulness, I sneaked downstairs to the shower room to freshen up. Feeling half human again, I left the shower room and hoped to sneak unnoticed back to my room. Unfortunately, when I emerged into the corridor dripping and wearing my yukata, I stumbled into a wake which had just started. I couldn't imagine being in a more conspicuous situation. A tall gaijin, dripping, wearing a yukata, standing amongst a crowd of black suited, mourning Japanese.

After my escape from the wake, my friend Satoshi and I went to Doronko for lunch and coffee. Satoshi then kindly drove me around Shimogo and gave me the opportunity to take a trip down memory lane. It was a beautiful day and I really wanted to be able to hop on my bike and escape into the mountains. The rice fields were lush and the flowers around Shimogo were all in full bloom. I found myself wondering if we made a mistake moving to Tokyo. Probably not, but it is a close one to call.

At 6pm, I walked back to Wakatsuki to meet up with Tomo, the local doctor. Tomo mailed me the previous week and asked me if I wanted to eat bear meat. At the time, I thought he was joking. When a plate of meat cooked with beansprouts turned up, I assumed it was beef or pork and started to eat. I was taken aback to discover that it was actually bear that I was eating. I can now add it to the list of strange / exotic food that I have eaten in Japan.

1. Bear
2. Minke whale
3. Fugu (Pufferfish)
4. Jellyfish
5. Raw horse meat

and probably a lot more.

It was good to meet Tomo and Nari (his brother) again. I was impressed with the number of beers that Tomo managed to drink. I probably drank less as I was still feeling rough from the previous night. Another drunken stagger through the rice fields followed and I got back to my room at about 1am. I decided to skip breakfast the next morning but the woman called my room and insisted I go downstairs to the breakfast room. It seems that my lack of appetite the previous morning had spurred them into making a real attempt at serving me a Western style breakfast. Twinnings tea, two fried eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, and yoghurt. Bloody fantastic!!!! It was so kind of them to make the effort, and another reminder of some of the things we left behind in Shimogo. The icing on the cake was when I checked out and received a 20% discount. It is next to impossible to receive that level of kindness in Tokyo, but par for the course in Shimogo.

A nice return to Shimogo and I still had a wedding in Aizu Wakamatsu to look forward to.

While the cat's away.......

Yuki and Clara are both in Tokyo at the moment and will return to Shimogo on Wednesday. As they are in Tokyo, I thought it would be a good idea to invite Alan (a friend from Scotland) and his girlfriend to Shimogo. It proved to be a busy 2 days.

On Friday at about 9.30pm, I drove to a station called Aizu Kogen to pick them up. While I was driving through the town of Tajima, I noticed that the small van in front of me had stopped on the train level crossing. Seconds later, a woman got out of the van and ran towards my car. She told me that she had just broken down! I can't think of a worse place to break down, apart from on Haifa Street in Baghdad.

I got out of my car and managed to push the van off the tracks - seconds later, along came a train. I was in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't have been there, the train would certainly have collided with the van. Exciting stuff!!

We got back to Shimogo at about 10pm and then headed to Wakatsuki for some food and drink. Alan and Akie seemed impressed with Wakatsuki and were surprised that such a place existed in Shimogo. We left Wakatsuki fairly late and this probably has something to do with our late start on Saturday.On Saturday, we drove to a town called Tadami for the snow festival. The drive took about 90 minutes but it was a good opportunity for Alan and Akie to see the real Japanese countryside. I think Tadami probably is the most charming town in the local area. I was expecting the festival to be really busy, and so was very surprised to see few people at this event. It was raining and I think that drove a lot of people away. Another bad point of the Tadami Snow Festival was the smell of cooked mutton - the smell was really strong and making us all feel nauseous.

After our brief visit to the Tadami Snow Festival, we drove to Yurari Onsen for a bath followed by lunch and a nap.

On Saturday night, we went to a newish place called Doronko in Shimogo for dinner and more beers. I would like to go to Doronko more often but it is too far from the area where I stay. The food at Doronko is excellent. Doronko is run by a young couple called Rie and Nozomi. New businesses run by young people are rare in rural Japan but are vitally important for the future survival of Japanese rural settlements. I wish them luck.

Alan and Akie planned to return to Tokyo at 2.30pm on Sunday. This allowed me to show them another snow festival in Ouchijuku (technically part of Shimogo) and also show them a place called Tonohetsuri with its interesting rock formations. They were really pleased to see Ouchijuku with its charming houses with straw roofs. After lunch in Ouchijuku, I drove Alan and Akie to Tajima so they could catch their train back to Tokyo. A good couple of days but I'm certainly pretty tired after the visit (and a lot poorer).
There has been quite a lot of snow over the past couple of days so I paid a brief visit to Daikura today (Monday) for a spot of skiing. It was really busy today as it's a national holiday (Foundation Day) in Japan.

Next week will see me visit 3 different elementary schools for the last time before we move to Tokyo. On Tuesday night I'll be busy cleaning the flat in advance of the return of Yuki and Clara. Bye for now.

British Hills

I cycled to a place called British Hills today - only about 60km of cycling but quite difficult as the place is at quite a high altitude. British Hills is a recreation of a British country village with a castle, pub, and other British style houses. The weather even felt British, due to the altitude. I am very impressed with British Hills as all the buildings look authentic and they organise a large number of British themed events throughout the year. All the staff speak English and many come from Britain.

I've been to British Hills many times - the place always seems busy and the guests and visitors always seem to have a good time. I visited British Hills 3 times with my old school (Shimogo JHS) and the students all seemed to benefit from the experience. The school trips typically lasted 3 days and the students were able to take part in different classes and activities that gave them a good idea on the British way of life.

Of course, every time I have visited British Hills, I've gone straight to the pub to take part in the very popular British tradition of getting drunk.

Despite the cold and windy conditions at British Hills, the rest of the cycling journey took place in clear weather with a temperature of about 30C. I was pretty exhausted when I reached Shimogo and stopped off at a new(ish) cafe called Doronko for a beer. Doronko is great because it serves my favourite Japanese beer called Yebisu. After the 60km cycle in hot conditions, the beer was fantastic!! Work at my new schools has been okay so far - I'll try and post a blog later in the week with my thoughts and photos.