Golden Week
Last weekend I picked up the "Japan Daily" on my way to church - my official weekly worldly update. One of the cartoons in the paper showed two foreign tourists and their Japanese tour guide out in the middle of nowhere; the tourists asked the tour guide, "So tell us, what is the main attraction in this rural area?" To which the tour guide replied, looking at a bunch of Japanese with cameras, "You."
I thought it was funny at the time. I think it's funnier now that I've lived it. Hehe
This past week was Golden Week; locally known as Oogon-shuukan. During the first week of May, there are three holidays: Constitutional Memorial Day, Kokumin no kyuujitsu/Between Day, and Boys' Day (more generally known as "Children's Day" - girls' day is in March) May Day "is not a public holiday, but is nevertheless often granted as a holiday by many companies" (thank you, Wikipedia)
Now you know.
Anyway, we had a long weekend because of Golden Week (shortest schoolweek ever - Monday was Monday and Tuesday was Friday!), so a bunch of us went to Mizuki's house in Shodoshima. Emi, Asaka, Mizuki, Dave, and I headed down on Wednesday. LyAnn joined us on Thursday.
'Tis a long and adventurous trip to Shodoshima. I walked to the bus stop from our little apartment in Ashiya and took the bus to the JR Ashiya Station. Then I took the train from Ashiya to Himeji, which was our gathering point. We took the bus from the station to the harbor, and the ferry from Himeji to Shodoshima. Mizuki's Mom and Aunt were waiting for us when we got off the ferry, and they drove us to their little town. We parked the cars and gathered our things, but we weren't there yet!! There was still another 40 meters or so to go - by motorboat! We could see Mizuki's house from where we parked the cars - "just across the street" eh. Down a very bouncy wooden gangplank (I thought it was fun!) and into a little boat for the last bit of the journey.
Mizuki lives on a tiny island; there are maybe 20 families living there, mostly fishermen. All the fishing boats are docked together, and there are nets and supplies everywhere! The island is so small that we walked around the whole thing in about 30 minutes (braving our way through bamboo patches, rocky beaches, and dirt paths). This island doesn't see many foreigners - maybe 3 every couple years (I get the impression that they see that many because Mizuki brings them home with her!) - hence the aforementioned reference to the cartoon.
Highlights of the week? Too many to count!
BAMBOO CAMP - we learned that you can cross the bamboo grove without ever touching the ground. And we made bamboo stilts. And bamboo drinking glasses, chopsticks, and sushi-roll storage...and a shotglass. R, we're sending our kids to Bamboo Camp - seriously.
THE MONKEY PARK - "trial by monkey". There were wild monkeys everywhere! So cool. But a few things to remember: don't look them in the eye 'cause they'll bite you, don't go near the babies 'cause their moms will bite you, feed the monkeys from inside a specially designed cage so they don't bite you (which makes you think of what it's like for a monkey at the zoo to have people come look at you). Additional point: monkeys don't like it when you interrupt their "private affairs" - even if they're "doing it" in a very public place - if you do interrupt them, they might bite you. That said, if you make it through the monkey matrix, the view from the top of the mountain is georgious!!
We did make it up the mountain, and back down again - narrowly escaping the hormone-laden monkeys. Emi was a bit intimidated, and most of the way down she was holding the back of my bag and we were "seriously discussing" how to use "I was bitten by a monkey at the monkey park" as a way to testify the gospel of Jesus Christ (none of which I will ever use, I promise) We saw Mizuki's Mom and Aunt at the bottom, and were waving to them when I said something like "how funny would it be if we came straggling out of the monkey park looking like we'd just BARELY survived..." and Emi bent down and started rubbing dirt on her arms. She put her arm over my shoulder so I was half-carrying her, got this "thankful to be alive" look on her face, and started calling "Obaasan (Mother)" in a bedraggled voice...The look on Mom and Aunt's faces were priceless! They started poking and prodding us to see where bites and scratches were even while we were laughing (talk about "crying wolf" - only in this case, it was "monkey") Thanks, Emi, for that truly hysterical moment!! :) Anyway, we got some drinks and found a little river behind the store to play in for a while - beautiful waterfall. On the way to the car, Dave decided to take the "road less travelled", going boulder to boulder up the river to the parking lot, and I travelled with him. It was a beautiful day, and so much fun trying to trek our way around pools and over rocks.
EIGA MURA (movie village) - we went to the movie set of "Twenty-Four Eyes", a Japanese movie about a schoolteacher and her twelve students, and how WWII affected their lives. We saw kids picking soumen (flour) noodles out of a bamboo pipe with chopsticks, and ate olive-ice cream (Shodoshima is known for olives and soumen). So good.
FISHING and the BEACH - hehe, what to do in a fishing village...hmmm...how about fishing?!? We took our bamboo stilts and fishing poles down to the dock and spent a few hours there hanging out. Didn't catch anything, but that's okay because there was plenty of fish and scallops and clams and other seafood that was "so fresh it was still breathing" to eat!! The best sashimi is what came directly off the fish - LyAnn and I even learned how to cut sashimi right off the fish!
Friday night we went to the beach and Mizuki found some abandoned fishing line with the hook still attached. So we put it in the water to see what we could catch!! We sat there talking for a while, and all of a sudden (as it was getting dark) Mizuki started shouting with excitement - we'd caught a CRAB! She pulled it out of the water, but it jumped off our line and scuttled away...It was so funny, though - who would've guessed we'd catch anything with that little line?
Later that night, we took some fireworks down to the dock and shot them off while doing a little more fishing. After the fireworks were gone and a fish took my hook!, Mizuki and I decided it was bedtime. LyAnn and Dave stayed behind to try a bit more, and they caught a goodsized fish (I'll show you how big it was sometime) and threw it back. The next day, Mizuki's Dad came in with a bowl of so-fresh-it's-still-breathing (literally) fish, and cooked 'em up. While we sat down to lunch, LyAnn and Dave were trying to figure out which one of our entrees they had caught last night (bummer. caught once and released. caught twice and cooked.)
BAMBOO STILTS - so much fun, but so hard to do!! Man, are my arms and legs tired from trying to balance on 'em! We turned quite a few heads - especially Dave 'cause he's tall and lanky and has bright bleached hair.
FISHING BOATS - Mizuki's Dad showed us around his fishing boat; gill nets, radar, everything. The man in the boat next to us was cutting scallops out of their shells - we watched him for a while and asked questions, and then he gave us a bag full of fresh scallops! Pan-fried with butter, Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. *sigh* so good.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - we walked up to Mizuki's elementary school yesterday morning. On the way, she stopped and told us what things used to be like (ahhh, memory lane). We passed a driveway that had a bunch of noodles hanging out, and stopped to look for a second when a man came out and invited us up for a closer look. They were making soumen noodles - they'd hang them on these beams and put them in the sun to dry before cutting them up. They smelled wonderful, and were so soft and smooth! We stayed and talked to the family for a while before continuing up to the school. When we got there, we played on the playground for quite a while. There was a sumo-ring, so we had to try it out (Mizuki won over me and LyAnn - *whew* you go girl!!). A pool, fun playground toys (including one that looked like a bunch of bamboo poles), and a garden. We walked down through the gardens and back through the town to the boat and "crossed the street" home for lunch.
WORLD'S NARROWEST STRAIT - according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the "world's narrowest strait" is located near Tonosho, Shodoshima. It's 30 feet wide, and runs through town. For $1 and 5 minutes, you can stop in the Town Hall and get a certificate stating that you've officially visited. ;) Beat that, bucko!
Ahh, fun times :)
I thought it was funny at the time. I think it's funnier now that I've lived it. Hehe
This past week was Golden Week; locally known as Oogon-shuukan. During the first week of May, there are three holidays: Constitutional Memorial Day, Kokumin no kyuujitsu/Between Day, and Boys' Day (more generally known as "Children's Day" - girls' day is in March) May Day "is not a public holiday, but is nevertheless often granted as a holiday by many companies" (thank you, Wikipedia)
Now you know.
Anyway, we had a long weekend because of Golden Week (shortest schoolweek ever - Monday was Monday and Tuesday was Friday!), so a bunch of us went to Mizuki's house in Shodoshima. Emi, Asaka, Mizuki, Dave, and I headed down on Wednesday. LyAnn joined us on Thursday.
'Tis a long and adventurous trip to Shodoshima. I walked to the bus stop from our little apartment in Ashiya and took the bus to the JR Ashiya Station. Then I took the train from Ashiya to Himeji, which was our gathering point. We took the bus from the station to the harbor, and the ferry from Himeji to Shodoshima. Mizuki's Mom and Aunt were waiting for us when we got off the ferry, and they drove us to their little town. We parked the cars and gathered our things, but we weren't there yet!! There was still another 40 meters or so to go - by motorboat! We could see Mizuki's house from where we parked the cars - "just across the street" eh. Down a very bouncy wooden gangplank (I thought it was fun!) and into a little boat for the last bit of the journey.
Mizuki lives on a tiny island; there are maybe 20 families living there, mostly fishermen. All the fishing boats are docked together, and there are nets and supplies everywhere! The island is so small that we walked around the whole thing in about 30 minutes (braving our way through bamboo patches, rocky beaches, and dirt paths). This island doesn't see many foreigners - maybe 3 every couple years (I get the impression that they see that many because Mizuki brings them home with her!) - hence the aforementioned reference to the cartoon.
Highlights of the week? Too many to count!
BAMBOO CAMP - we learned that you can cross the bamboo grove without ever touching the ground. And we made bamboo stilts. And bamboo drinking glasses, chopsticks, and sushi-roll storage...and a shotglass. R, we're sending our kids to Bamboo Camp - seriously.
THE MONKEY PARK - "trial by monkey". There were wild monkeys everywhere! So cool. But a few things to remember: don't look them in the eye 'cause they'll bite you, don't go near the babies 'cause their moms will bite you, feed the monkeys from inside a specially designed cage so they don't bite you (which makes you think of what it's like for a monkey at the zoo to have people come look at you). Additional point: monkeys don't like it when you interrupt their "private affairs" - even if they're "doing it" in a very public place - if you do interrupt them, they might bite you. That said, if you make it through the monkey matrix, the view from the top of the mountain is georgious!!
We did make it up the mountain, and back down again - narrowly escaping the hormone-laden monkeys. Emi was a bit intimidated, and most of the way down she was holding the back of my bag and we were "seriously discussing" how to use "I was bitten by a monkey at the monkey park" as a way to testify the gospel of Jesus Christ (none of which I will ever use, I promise) We saw Mizuki's Mom and Aunt at the bottom, and were waving to them when I said something like "how funny would it be if we came straggling out of the monkey park looking like we'd just BARELY survived..." and Emi bent down and started rubbing dirt on her arms. She put her arm over my shoulder so I was half-carrying her, got this "thankful to be alive" look on her face, and started calling "Obaasan (Mother)" in a bedraggled voice...The look on Mom and Aunt's faces were priceless! They started poking and prodding us to see where bites and scratches were even while we were laughing (talk about "crying wolf" - only in this case, it was "monkey") Thanks, Emi, for that truly hysterical moment!! :) Anyway, we got some drinks and found a little river behind the store to play in for a while - beautiful waterfall. On the way to the car, Dave decided to take the "road less travelled", going boulder to boulder up the river to the parking lot, and I travelled with him. It was a beautiful day, and so much fun trying to trek our way around pools and over rocks.
EIGA MURA (movie village) - we went to the movie set of "Twenty-Four Eyes", a Japanese movie about a schoolteacher and her twelve students, and how WWII affected their lives. We saw kids picking soumen (flour) noodles out of a bamboo pipe with chopsticks, and ate olive-ice cream (Shodoshima is known for olives and soumen). So good.
FISHING and the BEACH - hehe, what to do in a fishing village...hmmm...how about fishing?!? We took our bamboo stilts and fishing poles down to the dock and spent a few hours there hanging out. Didn't catch anything, but that's okay because there was plenty of fish and scallops and clams and other seafood that was "so fresh it was still breathing" to eat!! The best sashimi is what came directly off the fish - LyAnn and I even learned how to cut sashimi right off the fish!
Friday night we went to the beach and Mizuki found some abandoned fishing line with the hook still attached. So we put it in the water to see what we could catch!! We sat there talking for a while, and all of a sudden (as it was getting dark) Mizuki started shouting with excitement - we'd caught a CRAB! She pulled it out of the water, but it jumped off our line and scuttled away...It was so funny, though - who would've guessed we'd catch anything with that little line?
Later that night, we took some fireworks down to the dock and shot them off while doing a little more fishing. After the fireworks were gone and a fish took my hook!, Mizuki and I decided it was bedtime. LyAnn and Dave stayed behind to try a bit more, and they caught a goodsized fish (I'll show you how big it was sometime) and threw it back. The next day, Mizuki's Dad came in with a bowl of so-fresh-it's-still-breathing (literally) fish, and cooked 'em up. While we sat down to lunch, LyAnn and Dave were trying to figure out which one of our entrees they had caught last night (bummer. caught once and released. caught twice and cooked.)
BAMBOO STILTS - so much fun, but so hard to do!! Man, are my arms and legs tired from trying to balance on 'em! We turned quite a few heads - especially Dave 'cause he's tall and lanky and has bright bleached hair.
FISHING BOATS - Mizuki's Dad showed us around his fishing boat; gill nets, radar, everything. The man in the boat next to us was cutting scallops out of their shells - we watched him for a while and asked questions, and then he gave us a bag full of fresh scallops! Pan-fried with butter, Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. *sigh* so good.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - we walked up to Mizuki's elementary school yesterday morning. On the way, she stopped and told us what things used to be like (ahhh, memory lane). We passed a driveway that had a bunch of noodles hanging out, and stopped to look for a second when a man came out and invited us up for a closer look. They were making soumen noodles - they'd hang them on these beams and put them in the sun to dry before cutting them up. They smelled wonderful, and were so soft and smooth! We stayed and talked to the family for a while before continuing up to the school. When we got there, we played on the playground for quite a while. There was a sumo-ring, so we had to try it out (Mizuki won over me and LyAnn - *whew* you go girl!!). A pool, fun playground toys (including one that looked like a bunch of bamboo poles), and a garden. We walked down through the gardens and back through the town to the boat and "crossed the street" home for lunch.
WORLD'S NARROWEST STRAIT - according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the "world's narrowest strait" is located near Tonosho, Shodoshima. It's 30 feet wide, and runs through town. For $1 and 5 minutes, you can stop in the Town Hall and get a certificate stating that you've officially visited. ;) Beat that, bucko!
Ahh, fun times :)