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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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Sayonara, Kaneya route.
Nitto Kotsu has announced one of the local bus routes in our area will be ending on March 31. The Kaneya line (marked in red) is finishing on March 31st. From April 1, you will no longer be able to take a bus all the way across the peninsula between the Tokyo Wan ferry terminal…
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Dondo-yaki for Setsubun
February 3rd is Setsubun, the last day of winter in Japan. It’s commonly celebrated by throwing beans to scare away the ogres and demons, and by eating an overstuffed sushi roll while facing in the lucky direction for the coming year. 2024’s direction is East North East. But in Okugome village in Kimitsu, about a…
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JA Banking
I am joining the Oyama Senmaida “support staff.” In order to do that, I need an account at JA Bank. Support staff get paid for work, whether peeling potatoes for group lunches, assisting with experience programs, or cutting grass. But Oyama Senmaida only pays out to JA accounts. JA stands for Japan Agriculture and it…
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555 Then and Now
50 years ago, this area was pure satoyama – mixed use farm and forest land. I have been aware of the changes that happened well before we arrived. Tod & I were fascinated by some photos of the area in a book about the history of the old elementary school, and later combed through arial…
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Memorial
Yesterday I went to my first Japanese memorial. Funerals in Japan are very formal and I have yet to attend the official part of them. When I do, I will need to brush up on my etiquette. Yesterday’s event was more casual, an affair put on by the NPO where Asada Daisuke worked for 16…
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