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Teaching the Birds a Song
This morning I opened the window and heard loud and eager songbirds. A trio of brownish birds held a concert in a tangle of vines and trees. I listened. The cats listened. It was glorious. I tried to capture a video, but the sound quality on my phone doesn’t do it justice. Here it is…
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Cutting grass, inaka style
Recently, I started hearing the buzz of kusukari-ki, our pared-down country lawnmowers, around the valley. I took it as a clear sign that grass cutting season had arrived. Last year I made a mistake and started cutting the jungle at 555 in March…several weeks before everyone else. That meant I trimmed back flowers and forage…
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A Walk at Bodai Dam
We unexpectedly found ourselves taking a walk at Bodai Dam yesterday. How do you unexpectedly end up at Bodai Dam? You start by running errands in town. When Tod says, “Let’s just drive over this scenic place I saw on the map, because we have a little time and the weather is good today” you…
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Spring Hiking
Sunday was the Spring Mineoka Walking event at Oyama Senmaida. We had 29 participants on a 7.5 km course along the country roads and up the mountain. My main role was doing a warmup with everyone before we left, then walking at the end of the line with the slower, chatty walkers. It was fun…
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Bonichi Shimbun
Today I am on the front page on the local paper, the Bonichi Shimbun. And at the top of the digital edition, too. On Monday, I was interviewed about my activity at Oyama Senmaida, specifically how I am working with Ushimura-san to update their English language materials and planning an English version of the website.…
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Winter into Spring
Woke up with a bit of a headache and decided to take a walk before yoga. Mother Nature gave me some lovely scenes on a foggy morning. Spring is on its usual rollercoaster of temperatures and precipitation. We’re finally getting rain so the weeds and grasses are waking up from their dormant rosettes. It won’t…
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Sugidama
Today I helped Ushimura-san make a big ball of cedar branches at Oyama Senmaida. This weekend they are having an event for members of the Sake Owner’s Program – officially opening the sake made with the rice they grew in 2023. It’s the first time since the pandemic that everyone’s gathered for the special tasting…
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Two Mice & a Tick
Here in Japan, spring has several heralds: Here at 555, I have additional metrics based in nature. MOUSE #1I was doing a crossword puzzle after dinner when I heard the cadence of a cat with a mission. There’s a certain pattern to Maura’s movement when he has caught a snack. Fast and steady steps, low…
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Knowing Foreigners
I read an interesting article last week in the Japan Times reporting on a survey of Japanese people in rural areas regarding their (lack of) interactions with foreigners. I am pasting the whole thing here to be able to reference is again in a decade: A recent survey has shown Japanese people who reside outside…
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First snow at 555
Across the Bay, yesterday was a snowpocalypse, closing all highways heading west from the city, grounding flights, and delaying trains. But here we only had a lot of rain pouring down on us all day. Until evening when the temperature dropped and the snow began. First a dusting and then quickly accumulating to a nice…
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