Today was a holiday to show respect for your elders. I spent the day wondering around Date and the surrounding area.
When I looked at my phone last night, it said it was supposed to rain all day today. When I got out of bed, it was not raining. I was not sure what to do with myself, so I went for a drive with my camera.
On my drive to school, I pass through a peach field. At least, I think they are peach trees; some look like they have apples growing on them...
The only cornfield I pass on my way to work. I was curious about it and pulled into the field driveway. The corn is only a few rows deep; the farmer is using the corn as a privacy fence or a wind break.
The trees are not very tall, but they produce a lot of fruit. The branches get so heavy, that they need to be supported. Not necessarily from the fruit, but because the tree cannot support its own weight.
This is the narrowest road I have ever driven on. It is a two lane. I have met other cars on this road and it was terrifying.
How do you pass by each other? Good question. I pull over as far as I can and when the other car creeps past me, I bow to the other driver. Or the other car will pull over and allow me to ever-so-slowly creep past them.
Shopping in a ¥100 Store
Not all ¥100 stores are created equal. Seria is a wonderful store. It reminds me a lot of Flying Tiger and Hema (from the Nederlands).
I do not know what it is about the store, but it is cute. Everything is displayed in such a way that shows off the product, but is still clean and neat.
There are many random things inside ¥100 stores. Like miniature mail boxes and pans to decorate your garden with...
My favorite part of the store is the stationary area. There are so many things you can find that you did not know you needed, but seeing them, you just can't help but want!
Like mini letter messages. or miniature chicks in nests.
The things you find in ¥100 stores!
Vegetable Shopping
So where I live, I have an indoor farmer's market pretty close.
This is where I go to buy fruit and vegetables for my bento boxes. (The melons are ¥1000 a piece).
There are also other grocery items here, like dried food, bread, and fish. Fun fact: most of the bread in Japan has milk in it.
You can buy either rather cheap fruit, or very expensive fruit here (just like in supermarkets).
The man behind the counter always chatters away to me in Japanese, and I nod along to let him know that I am listening, but not understanding a thing he says. I have stopped telling him that I do not understand Japanese and just let him chatter away.
After driving around all afternoon, I headed home.
Past the vending machines in a rice field.
18 September 2016
Today was a Sports Day at one of my elementary schools. Because the photos contain students, I am not going to post any to my website.
A Sports Day is a lot like track and field day I had in elementary school. You spend the whole morning playing games.
First was the opening ceremony. The elementary students played a - what I would call a marching band - song. All 24 of the students played an instrument, twirled a flag, or lead the other students.
After the band played, there were some speeches by the principal, the vice-principal, and some other people (not sure who they were).
The first game was where the students had to pull a snack off of a suspended rope (stretched from one side of the basketball court to the other) without their hands. The student to cross the finish line first, won. Once all of the students had a chance to play, it was the adults' turn. Because I was a guest, I got to play all of the games. (By the end, I was exhausted).
The second game the students played had something to do with Pokémon Go. There were baskets that had different Pokémon on them, and it was like a relay; one student would run around the gym and pick up one ball from as many of the baskets as they could carry. Two of the baskets had relatively small balls, but the third and fourth baskets had beach balls and yoga balls. (The adults did not play this game).
The third game was where there was a basket on a stick and the students threw as many hacky sacks in them as they could. Again, once the students went two rounds, we adults got to have a go.
The fourth game was a short race from one end of the gym to the other. In the middle of the gym, there were bags of goodies that they had to pick up. Again, once all of the students went through, the adults got to go.
There was a family relay race, where the youngest would run around the gym, then either the mom or an older sibling would go, and the dad would run around last. And the parents really got into it!
Then came tug-of-war. The students went two rounds and tied. We adults went two rounds and tied as well.
The last game was some sort of rock, paper, and scissors. The principal dressed up as a pirate and stood in the center of the room. the students would run up to a line, pick up a fan (that had rock, paper, or scissors on it) and on the count of three, the principal showed his "hand" (a really large fan with either rock, paper, or scissors). The next bit got confusing. If the students beat the pirate, they ran for the finish line. If they tied, they went one way, and if they lost, they went another.
Last was the closing ceremony. Again, more speeches.
17 August 2016
After raining for at least 12 hours, here is what the river looks like. Nice and muddy!
16 August 2016
Before leaving for Sendai, I decided to take a photo of the Ko-ori Station.
Home sweet home
For those who do not know where Date is (don't worry, you aren't alone) here is map!
Okay, a series of maps to narrow down where Date is.
And there it is! Right north (and a little east) of Fukushima. Yes, that Fukushima.
I decided the best way to get to know my town is to bike around it and explore.
Date has two major roads in and out of town (one going east and west and the other north to south).
My town also has train tracks that run through it (like many towns in Japan).
Like where I am from, Date has fields that surround it. However, these are rice fields instead of corn and bean fields.
The irrigation for the rice fields are quite interesting, if one only gets close enough to see them. And hear them. They sound like powerful rivers, with the water rushing through the canals.
It gets dark here pretty quickly, so I headed home.