June has welcomed the rainy season to the shores of my humble abode, although the days have been more humid and cloudy than rainy, to the misfortune of the farmers, whose young rice fields must remain submerged under a reflective sheet of water to survive. The summer brings with it a seemingly endless string of festivals and events: there are beach parties to attend, watermelon marathons to run, and no doubt many more bizarre rituals to observe. As I stated in my last entry, I now live at the base of the humble Mt. Daisen, with its peak set at 1800 meters overlooking the coastline. This weekend, Daisen locals celebrated the opening of the mountain, a bi-annual event, held for the skiing and hiking/climbing seasons. Exactly two-thousand bamboo torches are lit in front of the shrine,
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