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Futsu cape and the Kanon
December 31, 2019. Beautiful blue skies and a high of 21C. The ideal day to go on a little adventure. Futtsu Misaki is a needle of land reaching into Tokyo Bay. It’s captivated Tod since we lived in Tokyo; he even figured out to to travel here without a car but we never made that…
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Kamogawa Magic Club Show
Kamogawa has a magic club made up of grandparents. Today was their annual Christmas show – free charming entertainment for families and us. One by one, the magicians took the stage for a ten minute set. Dressed in their most magical costumes, they made scarves appear (sometimes unintentionally), foam balls multiply, knots come undone magically,…
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Kozuka’s finest
Today our neighborhood policeman received a potted plant as an annual recognition for work well done in patrolling our neighborhood. We happened to be in the village and I asked to capture the moment. Everyone lined up for a photo, some a little confused at what this foreign woman was doing. After I snapped this…
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Frost tipped flower
Dandelion clock is frozen in the field. Seen on the way to yoga this morning.
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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…