Climate bubbles & more cake!

On Saturday it snowed. Quite a lot. But not in my village. Not a flake. I crossed Ajimabashi to Iida and everything was white, as though an invisible barrier over the Tenryu river was stopping the snow in it's path. A climate bubble, no less.


The view from Maruyama park. Note the abundance of snow in the foreground and absence of it in the background.

On Sunday it was still snowing (across the river) so I wrapped up warm and headed out to one of my favourite parks in the area, Maruyama 丸山 in Takamori 高森, stopping on the way to buy a really cozy wool hat! I'm wild like that. I sat in the park watching families strap their cute toddlers to sleds and fire them down the hill before pulling out a book and taking some time to avoid this reality for a while. When the chill wind became a bit too bitey for my taste I retreated to the little cafe at the top of the park, where I sat and warmed myself by the stove as I scoffed cake and a Guatemalan coffee. And had another read, of course.






The taste of Guatemala! And other places too!

Fruity bridges In Takamori...

Apples design on bridge


Pear design on bridge


Persimmons design on bridge

Ajimabashi

Since I first arrived here a year and a half ago, I've found myself drawn to the bridge (named Ajimabashi 阿島橋) that connects my village to the local city of Iida 飯田. As far as bridges go it's nothing special, bright orange paint over a girder-like construct. However, it's the view that the bridge offers as I drive across it that allows me to enjoy it. The view north along the Tenryugawa 天竜川 ("heavenly dragon river") as it winds southwards between the Chuo (central) and Minami (southern) Alps always makes me rather wistful and dreamy, which is a genuine danger as my car hurtles across the bridge toward oncoming cars. Anyway, a few weeks ago I parked my car on one side and took a pic of the bridge itself at dusk.

Shimoina Footy

Despite Saturday being a dreary and rainy day, I headed out to Takamori to watch my school's football team play a couple of teams from Iida. It surprised me that our entire team were ichninensei's (first years), while the other teams were playing sannensei's (third years), but I suppose there's no rule against what age teams are played against eachother.

The first match we won 1-0, but the rain came down, the pitch got muddier, and then my boys had to face the top team in the Shimoina area. They fought bravely but were outmatched and beaten 5-0. Despite the rain and the score they remained cheerfully upbeat, and I managed to get a few pictures huddled under the team tent.

A night at Odairajuku

Our house for the night at Odairajuku

A couple of weeks ago a group Iida english teachers took advantage of a day off school to spend the night in an abandoned settlement known as Odairajuku (大平宿). Well, that's what someone told me it was.

The drive up was like something from a Stephen King novel. That night a hefty storm was moving across the area and the drive into the mountains to Odaira was fraught with rain and wind, slow speeds and tight corners, giant toads and other beasties!

Anyway, there are several houses in the settlement that are available to rent overnight (or longer), so that's what we did. A night of barbequed food, drinks and not so good drinking games. Fun, at the very least.

And on the way down the following day Jackson and I saw our first monkey, despite my first impression that it was a small bear of some sort...

Action-packed weekender

This weekend just gone had an odd air of laziness attached to it, despite the fact I was really active.

On Friday night we (Iida block JETs) headed out for a wonderful Thai meal in Iida. We then congregated for a movie/sleepover combo, followed by a beautiful onsen in the mountains on Saturday morning. We drove up into the minami alps to a small village called Oshika. The sky was bright, the sun was warm, and although spring isn't quite here yet it certainly felt like it that day. We passed small (but pretty) waterfalls, a dam (which I had no idea was there) and through several mountain tunnels to reach a really small onsen that was aside from us, completely deserted. The attendant seemed genuinely happy to see us - although whether that was because a group of foreigners knew about the place, or because he hadn't seen another human face in weeks, is beyond my guess.



The onsen itself was on the side of a mountain, and so while we soaked in the hot water we were able to view the lovely mountains yonder. I should imagine it's insanely beautiful during spring and summer, at which times I fully intend on revisiting.



After soaking our troubles away we headed back to the village to take some pictures of a pretty shrine that seemed randomly placed next to the road, then on to my village to pick strawberries in one of the many huge greenhouses that pepper my village, which is known locally for it's divine strawberry production. I'm sure the photos here speak for themselves.






We then headed to a park for a play on the childrens climbing frames, slides, etc and a wander around the grounds. Then we headed out for food before congregating for another movie/sleepover.




On Sunday we had a lazy morning, watched the Fifth Element (awesome movie!) and had fresh waffles with maple syrup. We headed to a rather lovely ramen place for lunch, then spent the afternoon taking a lovely walk around the village just north of mine where Bryce lives. The day was finished with an amazing meal at Aruru in Matsukawa.








On rereading this entry it would appear I spend alot of time eating, so just to clear that up, here's a picture of my desk drawer at work... (!)

Iida apple festival - りんごん!

I had my first real taste of Japanese festivals last night with Iida city's annual apple festival, Ringon Matsuri (りんごんまつり). The city is known for the apple trees which line it's streets, and as such has adopted the apple as it's symbol. Every year 10,000 people take to the streets, dressed in their various groups' (defined by place of work, sport team, and so on) outfits.

We arrived in the early afternoon to take a look around the various festival stalls; sampled the various foods as takoyaki (octopus), chocolate bananas, ika on a stick (squid) and grilled soy corncobs. After a few beers and a quick tutorial from Bryce, our block leader, we were ready to do the Ringon dance.

For the next 2 hours we pranced up and down the main streets in the city centre, chanting "ringon ringon", cheering the 10,000 locals and admiring the various groups' team outfits. I saw ninja, giants mascots, clowns, etc... which made our 'costumes' of apple bandanas seem rather tame, but at least we added to the colour. Beer and sake flowed, we danced some more, and a great time was had by all.