Random Stuff Around Town

First off, if there’s a list of things you don’t want to name your beauty shop, this might be on top…

What’s worse… reading it without the hypen, or with it?  Would you rather have your hair, facial, and manicure done at “poop” or “poo-pee?”

Here’s a little charmer, in sad shape… this is a Mitsubishi Minica, in a pickup version!  I’ve never seen one of these before.  The current model Minica is a bubble-shaped little hatchback.

For a sense of scale, compare it to the two-thirds of an old Chevy Impala sitting behind it!

What a cutie, huh?  Here’s wishing I had the money / time / space / wherewithal to save it and get it running.  Wouldn’t it look charming in the Dream Cruise?

Along a pretty little country road, behind that guardrail…

…we found this cool river with lots of white water and little waterfalls.

A little further upriver, Masako screamed as she unexpectedly came across…

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*NOTE*- Animal lovers and folks who despise hunting might find the next image disturbing… (but not me, ‘cuz I love bacon…)

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A wild boar, freshly shot and gutted and left to cool off in the river.  We never saw sign of the hunters.

Most folks think Japan is gun-less.  This is true in urban areas, and it’s true that laws are tighter than in the U.S.A, but in rural areas gun ownership is surprisingly common.  Those that have them favor shotguns for hunting game like this, as well as protecting their fields.  The wild boar population has soared in recent years and they are becoming an increasing problem to farmers as they like to root around and destroy fields. The electric fences you now commonly see surrounding garden plots have only mixed results.

Speaking of which… Wild Boar Crossing!

…and a Cat Bus!  This is an old city bus that was converted into a roadside ramen restaurant.  It’s made up to resemble the catbus from “My Neighbor Totoro“.  Sadly, it seems to have gone out of business.

…though the vending machines next to it are still operational.

I leave you with an image that could almost have come out of 1950-60s America… a bit of roadside fun.  It’s the outdoor toilet for a restaurant.  Why a bowling pin?  I have no clue… there’s no bowling alley within many miles.  Perhaps the owners liked it and got it secondhand?

It’s good to blog… it takes my mind off the upcoming election (and the ulcers I’m developing, and the nails I’ve bitten to the quick in nervous anticipation…)

More to come… Thanks for reading!

Tokoname

The city of Tokoname (Toh-koh-nah-may), located in Aichi Prefecture on the Chita Peninsula, is one of the major pottery-producing areas in Japan.  Among these pottery areas, Tokoname has achieved a reputation for being something of a haven for artistic uniqueness… in short, anything goes.

Tokoname was one of my favorite cities when I left Japan in 2003.  A year later, they started building the new central Japan international airport (Centrair) on an artificial island off the coast.  I fretted a bit, wondering if the charm and uniqueness of the town might be lost.

Masako and I recently had a chance to go back to Tokoname and we’re pleased to report that the charm is still there.  If anything, the new infrastructure (expressway exit, expanded train lines) have improved things by making it easier to get to.

I only have a few photos this time- sometime in the future I will include a more comprehensive pictoral tour of this must-see location.

First cool thing about Tokoname- when you have lots of something, in this case pottery, you can use the extra for other things… in this case, old jugs and pipe sections used instead of bricks to make walls and embankments.

Wow!  Awesome jugs!  ahem.  For scale, each one is about 15″ across.

The “Pottery Walk” leads you through the old parts of town, along narrow, twisting, hilly roads (some only a couple of feet wide) where working kilns still abound and workshops are open to the public, along with lots of gallery spaces in old stores and warehouses.  Here we see one of the many small galleries full of unique items.

Don’t fall off the road…

Inside a shop… still with some weird cool old steampunk pump thingamabobber (bow before my technical expertise!) there.

Outside another shop… decorated with years of bric-a-brac!

There are a lot of these kiln chimneys… some still in use, others not.  Note the map of the local area posted on the wall.

An old kiln chimney that no longer has its kiln… now a home for ivy.

This odd-looking building really is crooked… it’s a housing stretched over several large earthen kilns built into a hillside that were used in common by the townspeople in the old days.  You can barely see the row of chimneys sticking out on the top left.

How about an outdoor fish tank (with roof) made from a section of ceramic pipe and a couple of pieces of round glass?

Another of Tokoname’s narrow streets.

The entry to another gallery.

…and one more cool street.

More to come.  Talk to you all again soon!

Tea Farm

Part of the “Catchin’ Things Up” series…

We go back to mid-May.

They grow quite a bit of tea in this area of Japan, and the 7th and 8th graders at Shimoyama Junior High got to go pick some.  Part educational experience and part fundraiser for their school clubs, it was a fun and interesting day.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story:

Dear Mr. Bus Driver… Please stay to the left, okay?

The long hike up the hill…

Spread out, everyone!

Last-minute instructions…

Let the picking begin!  Take the tender green shoots at the end, two or three leaves plus the section of stem…

It was one of the first hot days of the very early summer.  I love the color the shoots turn when the sun hits them.

Mr. Fukami, our number three at the school (head of curriculum) pitches in.

Floating in a sea of tea…

A bit of fun.  Green plastic basket hats are all the rage.

Toward the end, you’d be hard-pressed to find any shoots left unpicked.

Mr. Ota, head of our section and teacher of Japanese, keeps order and gives encouragement.

Members of each club deposited their picked tea into these big baskets, and got x yen per kilo for their club.  Cool!  The bottles are tea made from the leaves from this farm, bottled locally here in Toyota.

Tea break!

Here ya go!

Drifting in a sea of tea II

More to come soon!  Stay tuned!