|
On Thursday the 31st, we all met up at Sagami-ono Station to
take a train out to Haga-san's "summer home" in
Manatsuru (just past Odawara). It turns out this was my
biggest day for trains since I arrived in Japan six months ago
-- I saw so many cool and interesting trains that day. From Sagami-ono we took the EXE (Excellent Express) train
pictured here -- I'd always seen this one at the station and wondered what it
was like (it was GREAT).
|
By the time we arrived at Odawara Station, I realized this was
gonna be a major trainage day. The first photo above is of the
Shinkansen (the "Bullet Train" in English) -- this
thing goes so fast, it will freak you out -- seriously, I see
this thing every Friday, and I'm not joking, it moves so fast
that it is literally unsettling just WATCHING it. Anyway, the next two
photos are of the new JR "Romance Car" train -- it
is "cutting edge" as you can see. Japan has the
coolest trains in the world, I'm quite sure of that. My godson
Peter would completely FREAK if he were here...
|
After a short walk from Manatsuru Station, we arrived at
Haga's house -- here's a photo taken from the lane
-- notice the windows haven't been opened yet. When they are,
the house just FILLS with light -- fantastic.
|
As soon as she had a free moment, Pastor Igaki's daughter
Yuki commenced playing with her new McDonald's toy. Wouldn't
you?
|
After we'd settled in a bit, we made the walk down the hill to
the seaside, where we saw some guys setting up these fish in the sun
to dry -- THOUSANDS of fish, actually... and the thing I kept
thinking was how somebody had to string every one of
those fish thru their eyeballs...
|
Just below the drying fish pictured above, were the rocks and sea -- and all
manner of oceanic fauna -- which Haga, Hiro, and the kids
commenced to gather for the purpose of eating later. Above
photos (L to R) show: Yuki playing in a puddle; Pastor Igaki (Hiro)
showing the starfish he found (he threw it out to sea, just
like that poem!); and then you can see the girls having a
chat. |
They told me this was Amerika.
I suppose it was, considering
it was the right direction, and all -- but geez, I guess I was
surprised that it looked so SMALL from Japan.
|
Okay, so you are wondering what kinds of things they were
gathering to eat... Well, here's example #1: a good old sea
urchin.
|
After we got back to the house, Hiro spread out some paper and
laid the seaweed out to dry. I consider myself fairly
adventurous, gastronomically speaking, that is -- but I just
couldn't bring myself to reach into a bucket of sea water and
pull out a handful of seaweed and eat it. |
But seaweed was
NOTHING...
Let me digress a second. You
see, I love sushi -- LOVE IT -- but the only thing I just
can't abide is RAW URCHIN... seriously... So whenever Japanese
people ask, "Do you like raw fish?" -- I ALWAYS say,
"Why yes, I LOVE sushi -- but NOT urchin!!" -- and I
make a special point to say that, see, because I just can't
STAND it...
But anyway, here are Haga and
Fumie gettin' busy on some small (and just-gathered) urchinettes.
The only edible part is the ORANGE GOOP you see in the various
shots... and the
WHITE CLUMP you see, by the way, is the MOUTH (just so you
know)...
|
Tabito.
|
All sea-faring vessels should have a lifeboat aboard -- but
this seems ridiculous. |
The second day we went out to the peninsula of Manatsuru
-- the first shot shows the whole thing, but unless you look
closely you won't realize how BIG it is (there are a few
people down on the rocks, if you look closely). The second
shot is of Fumika gathering shells and miscellany that looks
suspiciously like broken glass.
|
Here the kids get busy collecting various things -- they found
all KINDS of stuff down there.
|
Here we are on the walk back
from the peninsula to the house -- about an hour walk -- Haga-san
had just done one of his old ballet moves, and the kids
literally FELL TO THE GROUND they were laughing so hard. (Haga
used to be a really accomplished dancer, by the way, before he
became a dentist -- so he really CAN do the moves)...
|
We laughed over and over at how
Manatsuru has all these bus stops, but only has one bus PER
DAY. If you were wondering what the schedule looks like for a
once-a-day bus, here you go...
|
Ahhh!!! The sushi boats!!! They ordered TWO of these
monstrosities!! So great. By the way, how many fish heads can
you see in the photo on the right?
|
Saturday morning, several of us
got up at 4:45am to drive back out to the peninsula to watch
the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was VERY hazy, so we couldn't
really see the sun until it was already "arisen"...
Anyway, it was still kind of pretty...
|
Carton Dogs.
You know -- hot dogs wrapped in aluminum foil and
then stuck into a milk carton, which you then burn, thereby
cooking/heating the dog within. This is major
"camping" food in Japan.
Photo on left is Hiro "lightin'
'em up"... on the right are Wataru and Yuki waiting for
the dogs to be done.
|
These last shots have nothing to do with anything -- just some photos I
took in Haga's house. The photo on the left is of the origami
flowers the kids made, displayed among the fruit just picked
from the yard's trees... It was pretty cool how the entire
three days, if anyone wanted an orange or whatever, they just
stepped a few feet outside the door, grabbed one off the tree,
and ate it.
|
