Blogs from Nagano, Japan, Asia - page 7

June is "hotaru" (firefly) season in Japan. I have never seen a firefly before, and so I was quite excited to join a local group this evening on a firefly hunt around the local paddy fields after dark. I went to a local community hall around 6.30pm, for a short lecture on fireflies by a retired science teacher. I didn't understand too much of the talk, given that it was all in Japanese, but I did glean that there are two types of Japanese hotaru, Genji botaru, which are the larger and brighter than the smaller Heike botaru variety. These delicate creatures live around rice paddies and streams. Their larvae need clean water and a plentiful supply of small water snails to eat. Unfortunately their habitats are in decline and so are the firefly numbers. During ... read more

The day we left Fuji – clear blue sky and the volcano reveals herself entirely, typical! We enjoyed the view as we headed to the station. Matsumoto – the most lasting impact; the ridiculous jingle announcing the name of the town at the station. I wish I could sing it to you. Our reason for visiting the city was Matsumoto castle, one of the few originals remaining in Japan that has survived earthquakes, fire and war. We joined the retired Japanese daytrippers at the castle. A very enthusiastic 78 year old man hurried out of the volunteer gazebo to be our guide. He was very knowledgeable and clearly a castle enthusiast. We spotted a piano concerto in his folder and discovered he had begun learning the piano at 50 and had been practsing this piece for ... read more

This has been a bad week! On Monday after school I drove over to Matsukawa, a neighbouring town about 40 minutes north of Takagi. I needed to drop some photos off with my block leader Marion, who is an assistant English teacher in that town. She lives in a block of teacher flats, and when I got there I was struggling to park in a small area near to the entrance. I was in the process of reversing to give myself more room when someone drove behind me and I clipped the back of the car as I went back. It turned out to be one of Marion's JTEs (Japanese English Teacher), who I also know from karate class. She came over to me once I was parked and asked if I was ok. I apologised ... read more

The month of March is Hina-matsuri, or Japanese doll festival. Since January I'd noticed these creepy looking ( but very expensive) dolls appearing in the shops. On 3 March people celebrate "girl's day", where families with daughters wish for their happiness and healthy growth. Traditionally, families with girls will collect a set of these ornamental dolls for the child for display. The elaborate display represents the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court of the Heian period (about a thousand years ago). The old belief was the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Last Saturday my friend Sumiko invited me to her village of Achi, which every year has a Hina-matsuri display at locations throughout the village. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious - it was blowing a gale and tipping it down with ... read more

So just when I thought life couldn’t get much better it has!! On Wednesday after yet another big day of powder plus it was my first day with my new board I bought for $AUD168 delivered from a Japanese website (not bad), we decided to stay out on the mountain and watch the sunset (great idea). So to do this we had to duck away in the no ski zone before the chairlifts stop and ski patrol buzzes around getting everyone off the mountain. Ohh and not to forget to take enough beer to last the sunset. At 3:30pm Matt, Tim and I took the top chair lift and dived under the no ski fence and headed along a peak to find a perfect spot for the sunset view. After snapping a few a few photos ... read more