Utsumi and Seto
It's late September again (where does the time go?), the blazing heat of summer is gone, autumn is moving in, and it's just about time for my favourite time of year - boot season! This year, I'll try and get some pics... no, really!
Just a short update this time. I'm afraid this year's been a little boring - lots of work and not too many new places to go and see left, so apart from a little three day jaunt to Tokyo to meet up with the Steak Night crew (see Facebook), I haven't been doing much since March. The most exciting thing I've done since then is take Kyuudou lessons. That was an adventure. It rekindled my love of archery, and I'm glad I finally gave it a go, but they really do know how to take all the fun out of it. Counting steps, doing everything just so, and breaking my ankles trying to sit seiza just wore thin after awhile, so I don't think I'll go back to it. I'd love to get my bow sent over, but it's proving to be prohibitively expensive. I think it'd be cheaper to buy a new one here...
Anyway, on to a couple pics from a couple of recent day trips. The first was a quick trip to Utsumi, one of the few decent beaches in this neck of the world. Of course, we thought we set out at a reasonable time, but once again, the train service in the inaka set out to confound our plans, so that we reached the place just in time to watch the sun go down. At least it wasn't crowded...
Of course, a little thing like darkness didn't stop Midori from having a swim. I was tempted, since the water was very pleasantly warm, but there was nowhere to change nearby, so I contented myself with an extended wade. After a bit of a hike, we found a great little restaurant that's apparently quite famous around there, and I had to figure out how to eat a bowl of miso soup with a half a boiled crab in it. A hassle, but delicious!
The next weekend we went for a trip to Seto, on the eastern outskirts of Nagoya, for a festival they were having there. Now, Seto is most famous for its pottery, so the vast majority of the festival consisted of yatai selling pottery and yatai selling all those festival favourites, like frankfurters on a stick, takoyaki, grilled squid, yakisoba, yakitori, karaage, etc. Basically, if you can fry it, someone's got a stall selling it.
The yatai were interesting, but it was well over thirty degrees with very little shade and crazy crowded, so we ducked into an arcade and found a breezy sit-down restaurant to have lunch at. Whilst refilling our plastic cups of water (classy!), I noticed this great bit of Engrish on the water cooler, or should I say "Gear Gan".
For those of you who can't read the fine print, I shall transcribe the contents in all its glory: "Sometime fiercely, Sometime tenderly it shows various expression by the great nature. Be loved and loved of nature we feel nature more closely. Green land, Blue sky, Such beautiful nature and we feel fully on the body." When people ask "Why are you laughing?", what can I say?
For a break from perusing the yatai, we found this little shrine and had a poke around...
I was intrigued by the foxes, but nobody could explain what they were for. In fact, very few people have been able to explain anything about any of these shrines, other than what to do at them. It's one thing I think to read about campaigns to exterminate indigenous cultures in history, but quite another to see one withering all around you due to apathy. Then again, considering what happened last time they tried to share it with the world, maybe that's a good thing...
That's about it for now. Stay tuned for more when I get around to it. Sometime soon, I feel I'm going to have a need to go on an extended rant about that plague of modern Japanese society, the mobile phone. Until then, I bid you a good night.
Just a short update this time. I'm afraid this year's been a little boring - lots of work and not too many new places to go and see left, so apart from a little three day jaunt to Tokyo to meet up with the Steak Night crew (see Facebook), I haven't been doing much since March. The most exciting thing I've done since then is take Kyuudou lessons. That was an adventure. It rekindled my love of archery, and I'm glad I finally gave it a go, but they really do know how to take all the fun out of it. Counting steps, doing everything just so, and breaking my ankles trying to sit seiza just wore thin after awhile, so I don't think I'll go back to it. I'd love to get my bow sent over, but it's proving to be prohibitively expensive. I think it'd be cheaper to buy a new one here...
Anyway, on to a couple pics from a couple of recent day trips. The first was a quick trip to Utsumi, one of the few decent beaches in this neck of the world. Of course, we thought we set out at a reasonable time, but once again, the train service in the inaka set out to confound our plans, so that we reached the place just in time to watch the sun go down. At least it wasn't crowded...
Of course, a little thing like darkness didn't stop Midori from having a swim. I was tempted, since the water was very pleasantly warm, but there was nowhere to change nearby, so I contented myself with an extended wade. After a bit of a hike, we found a great little restaurant that's apparently quite famous around there, and I had to figure out how to eat a bowl of miso soup with a half a boiled crab in it. A hassle, but delicious!
The next weekend we went for a trip to Seto, on the eastern outskirts of Nagoya, for a festival they were having there. Now, Seto is most famous for its pottery, so the vast majority of the festival consisted of yatai selling pottery and yatai selling all those festival favourites, like frankfurters on a stick, takoyaki, grilled squid, yakisoba, yakitori, karaage, etc. Basically, if you can fry it, someone's got a stall selling it.
The yatai were interesting, but it was well over thirty degrees with very little shade and crazy crowded, so we ducked into an arcade and found a breezy sit-down restaurant to have lunch at. Whilst refilling our plastic cups of water (classy!), I noticed this great bit of Engrish on the water cooler, or should I say "Gear Gan".
For those of you who can't read the fine print, I shall transcribe the contents in all its glory: "Sometime fiercely, Sometime tenderly it shows various expression by the great nature. Be loved and loved of nature we feel nature more closely. Green land, Blue sky, Such beautiful nature and we feel fully on the body." When people ask "Why are you laughing?", what can I say?
For a break from perusing the yatai, we found this little shrine and had a poke around...
I was intrigued by the foxes, but nobody could explain what they were for. In fact, very few people have been able to explain anything about any of these shrines, other than what to do at them. It's one thing I think to read about campaigns to exterminate indigenous cultures in history, but quite another to see one withering all around you due to apathy. Then again, considering what happened last time they tried to share it with the world, maybe that's a good thing...
That's about it for now. Stay tuned for more when I get around to it. Sometime soon, I feel I'm going to have a need to go on an extended rant about that plague of modern Japanese society, the mobile phone. Until then, I bid you a good night.
posted by Ia Ftaghn at 10:49 pm
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