Lake Motosuko

 

I was lucky to have a long weekend break and so I went with my new friends Chloe and Holly up to Lake Motosuko near Mt. Fuji. We went with part of a larger group of church friends and families from my school.  Chloe was able to secure us a tiny cabin that we stayed in. We had a small fridge and stove and complete bathroom. There was a small room with two bunk beds and the thin mattresses provided did little to provide cushioning but I was glad to be in the cabin and not in a tent.

                                    

 

The lake was really nice. The water was very clean and clear and there were a lot of coy fish that you could see right near the shore.  The water wasn't too cold either.  I tried wading a bit but the rocks were super uncomfortable to walk on. I had left my rafting sandals at the cabin so I didn't spend too much time walking in the water. 

                                     

 

 

There were a number of small mountains and hills all around. Lake Motosuko is one of five lakes that are around the Mt Fuji area.  The view of the mountain from the lake was really nice. This first pic is just one of the smaller mountains in the area. The second is the view of Mt. Fuji from the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

There was this yellow boat submarine thing that you could ride to the other side of the lake and back. It had a glass floor that you could look through to see all the fish in the lake. I opted to not take the ride. A bit too hokey for my taste.

 

 

I did try to row a boat and I sucked at it.  I went it alone and had a hard time with the oars. I was trying to think about the last time I had rowed a boat and I think it was in 3rd or 4th grade at camp Namanu.  

 

 

 Hanging out at the campfire with Holly and Chloe.  Our friend Carolyn provided us with some tin foil dinners our first night and we were able to make some smores as well. 

 

 

Sunday morning I hiked a trail with my friend Fumiko and her husband and kids. It was a fairly easy uphill hike and at the top you were supposed to be able to see the mountain but there were too many clouds that rolled in so I only was able to get a shot of the very top of it peeking out.

 

 

That night we made banana boats at the campfire which I hadn't done in years. I loved banana boats as a kid and was happy to make and eat one after so many years. After eating we headed off to an Onsen. My experience at the Onsen is in my next post so feel free to check that out.

 

 

 

Overall it was a nice weekend. It was nice to be outside of Tokyo and surrounded by nature. I read and finished The Maze Runner while away and it was great to have time to read a book all at once.  It was nice to be more casual with people and to also get to know people better too.  I feel a bit lonely here at times so I was glad to be able to work on developing some more friendships with people during the weekend.

ASIJ SPIRIT DAY - GO MUSTANGS!

Today was Spirit Day at ASIJ.  This is what I would compare to Homecoming in the states.  Because my campus is for early grades only (nursery - k), we had a pizza party activity day yesterday for a few hours for our spirit day. Then today, the main campus in Chofu hosted the annual school wide festival for everyone.  Because the school is so far out, the provide transportation on buses for students and families when they hold the event as well as other events throughout the year.  It really is super convenient and much better than taking the bus or train.

 

 

All the different school groups had booths where they would sell various baked goods, t-shirts, and other things. One group was selling used books that had been donated with the proceeds going to fund a house building project in Cambodia.  I found some interesting books, one of which is the biography of Japan's most famous Geisha. 

 

 

Vendors sold American and Japanese food items. They had pulled pork sandwiches that sold out way to fast unfortunately. Frito pie, burgers, hot dogs, sushi, and yakitori were all available. 

 

 

I made my way over to watch the JV football game. I sat with my new friend Teresa who I met at church and whose son was playing in the game.  She and her husband and soon are super great and it was nice to have someone to talk to and hang out with during the game.  I saw several students of mine at the event and some others from church as well. 

 

My new friends, Teresa and Ron Judd (son JT taking the photo)

 

 

People just kept coming and coming and it was quite a huge event.  There were lots of carnival type games for the kids and sports events throughout the day for the various grade levels. There was a ton of ASIJ merchandise you could purchase as well. I settled on a long sleeved shirt for the cold weather as well as duffle/gym bag which will come in handy.

 

 

So the highlight was being able to be there with my cousin Carie and her kids.  Her oldest son Lucas is a Senior at the school so today was Senior recognition before the Varsity game. He is pretty proud to be a senior so it was nice to be there for this and to see him play for a bit. It was fun hanging out with my cousin Katherine during the game as well. I tried to explain football to her but she was more interested in the cheerleaders (which I will discourage her from doing when she gets older). 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the Varsity game they perform the National Anthem of Japan and then United States. Both flags are presented.  The Japan National Anthem I thought was quite lovely.

 

 

I made a sign for Lucas whose team nick name is "Lew Key." 

 

I won a t-shirt from the cheerleaders for cheering the loudest and I gave it to my cousin Katherine.

 

Me and Carie at the game. It sure is great to have family here to enjoy these events with.

 

Halftime consisted of a group ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with the Head of school and other principals and employees.

 

Good times today for sure.

Rice

It is rice harvest time and I went to this small community demonstration Saturday morning to learn a bit more about Rice. I was there with my co-worker Hisako and met her daughter and grandson at the event.  It was held on top of a small tower across from work and on the roof there was rice that had been planted in the spring. Adults and children could come and cut the rice and hang it to dry and then use an old machine with a foot peddle to separate the dried rice from the stalks.  There were many more children there than I expected but it was still interesting. There was a group of men visiting from Sendai (North Japan) and there are many rice fields in that area. So they were there to talk about rice and I don't know what more exactly (because my Japanese is so awesome after 6 weeks). Anyway, the event was short and sweet.

 

According to Wikipedia the government controls all aspects of rice production in Japan. There has been a decline in production in recent years and 85% of all farms in Japan are rice farms. 

 

 

Here is the "rice field" on the roof

 

 

This guy is supposed to be some kind of cartoon rice grain character

 

This gentleman demonstrated how to cut the rice and hang it. Not a complicated process at all.

 

This crazy lady separated the grains by manually using her leg to pump the machine.

 

 

Cutting the rice was quick. I imagine that it gets tiresome being the fields all day but if you have a sharp knife it is super easy to cut.  I know sometimes you need to saw a lot or the stalks can be quite think but that is not the case with rice.

With Hisako's grandson whose name I have momentarily forgotten. I will edit later when I remember his name. oops!

 

Dividing and hanging the rice to dry. I am not sure how long it takes to dry before you can separate the grains.

 

Taketoro Festival

My co-worker Wendy invited me Saturday morning to go with her and a friend to the Taketoro Festival in SW Tokyo. This festival occurs during the autumn equinox and is also known as the Moon Festival.  The event took place at the Edoera Yokomizo Mansion which is an old an large traditional looking Japanese home. There is a small little area full of bamboo trees and 600 bamboo lanterns that were lit by girls in Kimonos.  This happened when we arrived and as the sun set it was really pretty to see how all the lights just lit up the area.  There were a couple of vendors selling various Japanese treats and food and it looked like you could participate in some type of tea ceremony but I wasn't exactly sure what it was so I didn't do it.  They had some local musicians perform. One group played a Japanese flute and koto (harp) and there was a group of men that sang what sounded like Japanese barber shop quartet style. The event was very simple but fun and I was grateful to get to know a bit more of Tokyo. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so no moon could be seen. We made our way back to the train station using google maps which took us back in a weird round about way going up random stairs and through a park and completely off the main roads.  We ate at a Korean restaurant and enjoyed the good looking server we had and we were pretty proud of ourselves for ordering good food when we couldn't read a single thing off the menu (thank you google translator). Enjoy the pics!