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Hoshigaki
I don’t like persimmon very much when it is fresh, but I love dried persimmon. Today I helped Naomi and Hitomi prepare persimmons for drying. We started by picking them from the Hatanakas’ tree. Then we sat on the kitchen floor at Monaca to trim and peel them. We tied them onto strings, dipped them…
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Sawarabi bazaar
Sawarabi is the local souvenir wholesale company; they produce Kamogawa lemon snacks, pirate-themed, seashelled chotkes for SeaWorld, and all manner of stuffed toys. Once a year, they have a bazaar to sell off samples, old stock, and random doodads. Last year, we got pirate hats and a ton of stocking stuffers. But we arrived late…
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Out walking
Morning mist in the hills this morning. Asa moya. 朝靄です。 The goat ladies leading me up the path to yoga. A hilltop shrine overlooking Sakuma dam has been here since 1704. These little pink flowers remind me of the nonpariels on liquorice all-sorts.
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Real creepy
Halloween style in the countryside.
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Typhoon 21
Mr. Mogura drowned in our yard yesterday. His beautiful little feet will no longer dig rills under the moss. I am beyond tired of storms. As Typhoon #21 passed to the south of us, it dumped an entire month’s worth of rain. It flooded the downtown Kamogawa, as swollen tributaries joined together into one rushing…
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Walk in the woods
Another typhoon is on its way here tomorrow, so we decided to get in some walking in today. I was keen to go up Futatsuyama and Tod wanted to walk on the lindo (林道) so we combined the two. Before we got to the woods, we passed by a highly damaged solar farm near the…
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Pre-typhoon
Typhoon 19 is on its way, on a course to hit us on Saturday into Sunday. Today, Tod and I prepared by stockng up on food, filling Tilly’ tank, cleaning up outside, and getting all the storm shutters cleaned and ready. The cats do not like the change in weather. They have been extra vocal…
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In the paper
As Tod, Zan, and I were leaving the “refugee room” at City Hall, a reporter from the Asahi Shimbun introduced himself. He was working on collecting stories from foreign residents affected by the typhoon. He was very interested (of course) in Zan’s damaged house and after talking with us for half an hour or so,…
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Typh0on #19, Hagibis
Social media sources and the news are loudly warning about Super Typhoon 19, which looks like it might make landfall in Japan over the weekend. But where it will hit, and at what intensity, is a matter of speculation at this point. Tod & I are scheduled to go to Mie-ken to celebrate our 30th…
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Happy at harvest
I didn’t take any photos today. The view from Hatanaka’s rice fields was beautiful and it always makes me happy to see the Hiratsuka valley nestled into the mountains. The images are etched in my mind: the red torii in the distance; the mined-flat top of the mountain to the west; the nearby trees and…
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