Hotokegaura

This past weekend, I went up to the Masakari-hanto (axe peninsula) of Aomori Prefecture with the Hashimoto family. We spent the first night in Mutsu, before driving along the coast to the town of Sai. Along the way we were close enough to see the neighbouring island of Hokkaido across the strait. The peninsula is sparsely populated, dominated by small fishing villages and wind farms. We rarely passed on-coming traffic.

When we reached our destination, we boarded a small boat that took us to a beach with huge limestone formations. A rare sight in Japan, this beach felt like another world when we stepped on to the shore. It reminded me of visiting the Hopewell Rocks out East with my family when I was younger.

Sakura Forcast

Apparently it's that time of year again. Yes, the national pastime that is cherry blossom viewing has begun. Each evening on the nightly news features the latest advancement of the sakura front. It'll still be some time until it reaches up toward Iwate, but that doesn't mean locals here are any less enthusiastic. I've included a link that illustrates the latest extent of the blossoms. Prime viewing extends for just a week upon blossoming, and many events are timed to precisely coincide.

This year has been an exception, with the blossoms coming into bloom particularly early. So early in fact that the national meteorological agency had to issue an apology for it's inaccurate calculations. It blames a computer glitch, but many locals blame the unusually warm winter.

Japanese Real Estate

Finally got around to posting some pictures of the interior of my apartment. I've put them in the same order you'd see as if entering through the front door and taking a tour up through to the second floor.




Selling points include the open-pit toilet near the entrance - complete with a view for those passing by on the street .... "prison-chic" barred windows, and bathroom with communal drain!


First floor contains: toilet, kitchen, bathroom, and tatami room. The later being more of an all-purpose junk pile.



















Second Floor has my bedroom and a living-room of sorts. Over the winter I've stayed holed up in the bedroom as it's the only room with a properly working heater. One benefit of this however, is having the kitchen double as a second giant refrigerator. I haven't had to worry about leaving anything out to go bad as the room itself has been colder than the fridge!








Even though the place has its shortcomings I know I'm really lucky. It's huge as far as the Japanese standard goes, and I have it all to myself!

Shizukuishi

Taken after an day of learning to snowboard at Shizukuishi.

Inaka

A few weekends ago I was lucky enough to be invited to have lunch at a traditional Japanese ryokan. I went along with a few others in the program as well as a couple of Japanese. A ryokan is similar to a bed-and-breakfast in that it's usually a private home, run by a family who also resides there. This particular ryokan was located in a really rural area and run by a Japanese couple who had done a fair amount of globe-trotting before deciding that the inaka (middle of nowhere, rural Japan) was where they wanted to settle.

In fact, in order to make reservations to stay at this place you had to write them a letter in advance and wait for a reply, as they have no phone. There was minimal electricity and running water, and the only heat was from the central hearth. The place was freezing as a result, but the food more than made up for this. Everything we ate was made on site, including a rural version of sake and a dense unleavened bread that we toasted on coals. I even tried shark, which apparently keeps longer than fish and so historically, was well suited as a staple for areas of Japan away from the coast. Surprisingly, it didn't taste much different than fish!

Setsubun 節分

This past Saturday was Setsubun (節分) in Japan. It's a seasonal celebration each year on February 3rd marking the transition from the coldest days of winter to the coming days of spring.

People mark the occasion by cleansing their homes of evil spirits that have lingered over the past year, while welcoming good fortune into the home. Traditionally this is done by throwing roasted soybeans out your front door at a family member wearing a devil mask . This is called mamemaki or "bean scattering". While tossing the beans you are screaming "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which means "Devil get out! Good fortune in!"

As a way to ensure good luck for the year you are then supposed to eat the number of soybeans that correspond to your age. Recently, people found that picking up the beans and eating them after throwing them outside into the muck wasn't exactly sanitary, so shelled peanuts have been adopted to do the job instead. I had a lot of fun experiencing this occasion with the Hashimoto family, though I definitely had my fill by the time I got through 24 peanuts!

Akita

Back in early December a small group of us went to Goshogake onsen on Mount Hachimantai in Akita Prefecture. Just a few hours drive from where I'm at, but inland toward the mountains. There was loads of snow at the time, very few people, and really peaceful surroundings.

An onsen is a Japanese hot spring. Usually they are pretty isolated, and there's a few things expected of you when you visit. Many have some sort of accommodation set up next to the springs where you can stay overnight. This particular onsen was minimal, in that we brought all our own supplies and slept on heated floors. It felt sort of like camping. All the water came from natural sulphur pools that well up from the ground, heated from volcanic activity. This made for some smelly surroundings, but it was a small price to pay to relax in the water.

When you enter an onsen, there are usually separate areas for males and females. Before you can enter the hot springs you are expected to bathe in a shower area that is provided nearby. There's no clothing or bathing suites allowed here, which takes some getting used to at first....especially when you're sharing the facilities with others of every possible shape, size, and age. Once you've cleaned yourself off, you can enter the pools. Many people bring small towels with them that they place on their heads. Apparently this helps to prevent fainting. Once you're in the water, it's expected that you won't submerge yourself above the neck. You're also supposed to remain fairly quiet.

From here you can soak for as long as you like, in all sorts of different pools. Some were hot, some cold, some had bubbles... one even had mud! You can choose from indoor or outdoor areas. There's also typically a sauna or steam area.

The best part is that these places generally allow entry for around five dollars a pop. It was a really nice way to relax and spend the weekend and definitely one of the best aspects of Japan!