to: joy

We started the day off on the wrong foot.
With all that's going on in the world and disheartening news at my alma mater I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to be included in collective off-kilter of global juujuu.  And so what a welcome reprieve it was to hear this performance this afternoon in our town.  At the moment, along with peace I can't think of a better sentiment to wish to humankind.

at the mall

Today marks the second time this week that parking my bicycle has lead me to delight.  I found it in the form of someone else's treasure: a Nintendo DS and tired friend.

swallow update: a week later

The nest's looking a little crowded.  I wonder when they'll fledge?

the case of the missing fish

Edo and I went to my Japanese teacher's home for dinner tonight.  We had a lovely gut-busting meal and shared stories of cultural gaffs including a tale of missing koi.  Apparently, a few years ago the koi from the pond in front of City Hall disappeared, only to be found frozen bright orange and yellow, in a Chinese student's freezer.  Later poor sensei had to explain to her students that the koi were to be admired and NOT to be eaten. 

gimme gimme gimme

A new supermarket recently opened in Niihama.  It's polished and all that ways you'd expect; gleaming floors and bountiful displays, but will you take a look at the little critters perched down the candy aisle.

Clever candy bins with irresistible faces and open maws just begging for tiny hands to grab fistfuls of candy. 
Parents don't have a chance.

Springing

 
Because spring is glorious and it's my first in Japan, here are my favorite schmaltzy photos of our hanami, the simple tradition of celebrating spring's arrival with a picnic under the sakura trees.

Edo and I walked to Takinomiya, our neighborhood park and choose a spot-for-two - they even had lanterns.

We munched on sandwiches and people watched, soaking-in a year's worth of cherry blossom emphemeralness.  I later took pictures and so did everyone else.

It seemed appropriate that the blossoms came late this year, about a week later than in years past.  I talked with a few students about festivities in the shadow of the earthquake/tsunami disaster, and the consensus is that 'life goes on' because it must.  In respect for the disaster, celebrations throughout Japan were subdued; but in presence of such fleeting splendor, it was natural to feel optimistic for its future.

special delivery

The MegMilk lady came to our doorstep today and she gave me these.  I don't know the details of what they are, but the yellow-labeled one looks to be milk fortified with 'glucosamine power.'  Contents aside, I'm a sucker for old-school packaging and since my recent discovery of my lactose intolerance; I'm content to be charmed by glass.

just desserts

I'm not sure how to explain my recent preoccupation with garden ornaments, but at the moment this one seems particularly appropriate.  It was one of the few images that remained on my laptop after it decided to lose battery life whilst transferring photos from my camera.  Good grief.

message from a dwarf

 







































I'm Happy.
It's spring, the sakura are blooming and I'm grateful that I don't have allergies.

special kind of seeds

It's officially spring in Niihama and everyone's planting, and making me itch for my own patch of dirt.  Gardening really is one of the most satisfying and simplest of pleasures, no?  Only requiring sun, soil, seeds, water, and love.  This sign does makes me wonder though:  Do squirrels need full sun or part-shade?

every kid's dream

A sport that requires a uniform including armor, aggressive screams AND attacking with a stick.

evidence of something passed

Up in Fukashima, while far from normal, order seems to be making slow progress.  The reactors remain in a tenuous balance trickling radiation, but at least for now, the situation isn't diving into catastrophe. Here in the southwestern part of Japan, life is blessedly mundane.

Sunday, Eddy and I went up into the mountains to visit our town's historical mining site Minetopia Besshi.   Not finding the museum very interesting (by Eddy's lead) we explored the area and discovered a site of abandoned homes.

It was impossible not to think of the victims of the tsunami. There were only a few homes, long forgotten.  They gave me the tiniest sense of the scale, the enormity of the of destruction up north. 

The houses were mostly empty but I found myself playing archeologist, looking for signs, and reconstructing imaginary lives.  I thought how paradoxical, that it was the very presences of objects that made the spaces feel eerily barren. 

A calendar from October 1996.

Painted closet doors in surprisingly good condition.

a faded poster

All reminders of the beauty of impermanence.

One of These Things is Not Like The Others

Signs of Life

At the moment reporting about my life's minutia feels a little unimportant.  But while out and about today these scenes of others; made my heart swell. 

A prayer event hosted in our neighborhood temple, Zigenji.

Laughter and friends

Tending to the fields.

More friends

daily photo: 3/8

There's a small temple in our neighborhood where a quiet fellow stands sentry.  He wears a hat.   Over the winter a thoughtful soul knitted him a new one and included a matching cape.

daily photo: 3/7

Good Heavens, will you look at this face.  Taking a break from collecting beach stones I'm pretty sure she was talking fish.

daily photo - 2/27

Spring is in the air.  Our neighbor's tree continues to blossom and soon (I'm told) people will be picnicing under the sakura trees.  How civilized.

A Winter in Shikoku

Happy New Year Folks!  Tardy, I know.  At any rate a few clips from our corner of Japan:

Yesterday, we woke to snow and misty mountains.

We just celebrated setsubun (I use the term 'celebrated' very loosely) a tradition that marks the change of season and involves throwing beans like these:

Poppas of households everywhere don scary oni masks—representative of bad luck and nasties—as his beloved pups throw beans at him, vanquishing evil.  Afterward everyone snacks on the remaining beans eating their age in number plus one, ringing-in all kinds of good luck for the coming year.

Tromping through a bamboo grove behind our place.

Around Christmas we holidayed in Matsuyama, a relatively short train ride west of Niihama to soak in the fabled hot waters of Dogo onsen, lore surrounds the waters and it's said to be the oldest hot spring in the country. 

Pleasantly poached after our soak we snacked on senbei crackers and green tea. Unfortunately no pictures of the guts of Dogo but I actually found the outside more impressive.  The interior, in an apparent effort to thwart would be assassins is surprisingly cramped and mazy.

In a plaza near the shopping area is a spot where you can pull off your shoes and soak your feet.

We also visited Okudogo another onsen just outside of the city limits which was an entirely different experience and in my opinion—just marvelous.  I met Godzilla afterall. 

The bathing pools are housed a huge airplane hanger-sized biosphere flooded with natural light, plants, and pools of sulfurous water.  With its concrete rocks and uplit pools the onsen is unapologetically fake.  I felt like a Flintstone.  I suppose my nudity along with those around me only added to the comic bizzaro, but initial awkwardness eased into normalcy as I discreetly watched women tending to their ablutions scrubbing with salt and massaging muscles.
A few other shots of Matsuyama:

Do you thing he does this all day? everyday?

 I could do this everyday.