Senkoji Temple

 This temple is just down the road from where we live! It has beautiful grounds covered in hydrangeas, ajisai in Japanese.

I've seen this place advertised locally over the past few weeks. There is a hydrangea festival there every June. This is the season for these flowers. For me, the first sign of the rainy season is the blooming of the hydrangeas!

The temple charges a small fee to enter. I guess it helps to keep the grounds clean and the flowers well-tended.

Our tickets

Mikey drove us, but was too tired from all the driving he did yesterday, so he stayed in the car!  Christopher came with me!  I was happy to go by myself, but having someone with me who can read Japanese really helps!

The temple is up the mountain, so it has beautiful views over the valley.

View from the parking lot.

Today was very cloudy with intermittent rain showers. There was also a nice breeze, so even though it was a bit hot and humid, the wind helped to keep things cool!  

At the entrance was the temple bell.

Explaining about the temple bell

The temple bell

As we entered, there were various buildings and different statues. 

I'm not sure what this is, but I liked it. It was in the entrance of one of the buildings!

Interesting carving!

There were some statues to pray to. 

Mizuko  statue

Mizuko is a baby that is miscarried, aborted, or stillborn.  There is a memorial service called Mizuko Kuyo done for these babies.

We couldn't see what the other statues were for!

Some of the other statues

There were other buildings, one was the temple, the other is maybe the mausoleum.

The temple

Maybe the mausoleum

We then followed the trail of the hydrangeas.

beautiful hydrangeas

Scattered among the flowers were these really charming little statues.

Charming statues

 

There's something very cute about these. There were so many, and each one was different! I bought a little badge with one on!

My badge

We stopped for a while by a very old tree. The edge of the temple is surrounded by forests, we could hear a stream, but couldn't see it.

Lovely tree

Looking into the forest, those are all bamboo.

More of the forest floor

View of the mausoleum

I took a couple of videos. Just to try and get the feeling of the place. It was busy, but somehow it wasn't noisy and didn't feel crowded.

I tried to not get people in, but difficult!

I really enjoyed myself. We could have stayed longer, there was a hillside that had a lot more flowers, but it started to rain!

Still, it was a nice hour, a break from the usual schedule!

Late Night Shopping

At the moment, we only have one car! 

Mikey's car is falling to pieces. He thought about taking it in for the MOT (jidohsa kensa torokusedio, usually contracted to shaken in Japanese), but realized that it wouldn't pass and would cost a lot to fix everything.  It's illegal to drive a car without an up-to-date shaken sticker on your car, so he hasn't been driving it for a couple of months now!

We are managing alright, David and Mikey have to coordinate their schedules. One problem is that I can't go shopping as often as I would like. David usually picks up what we need on the way home from work. That helps a lot, but his shopping is more frozen foods; I prefer more fresh foods, fruits, and vegetables.

Yesterday evening, I was looking in the freezer for something to do for today's lunch. I thought I had another pack of chicken left, but there was nothing, except bread and French fries!

Last night, David didn't have work, so I thought that we could shop this morning, but Mikey needed the car for the day!

I suggested going to the 24-hour supermarket in the morning, at about 6am. But David decided to go at midnight!

It felt very strange to go shopping at that time.

Two things surprised me!

First, the store was rather busy!  It was about 12:30am when we got there. I thought we would be the only ones shopping, but there were a lot of customers!

Second, there was still a good choice of vegetables and meat.

We got home just after 1am. As we pulled up to the house, I asked David for the house key. He said that I had it, but I remembered him locking the door.

When we got to the front door, we found that the key was still in the lock!

The key is still in the lock

I guess Japan, at least in the countryside, is still safe!

Summer Cooking

 Cooking in the colder months is easy! I make big pots of stew or soup. Chicken pie or meat pie, a lovely roast with a load of vegetables. I can think of a lot of meals for the cold months, but come the summer and the heat, I'm stuck.

Cooking is hard in the heat, especially since I don't have an air conditioner in the kitchen area.  Also, I don't feel like eating anything. I want something light but filling. Something that is quick and won't add heat or humidity to the room!

A lot of go-to recipes in Japan are all the cold noodles. Somen, soba, ramen, and udon can all be served cold with different dipping sauces and toppings.  They are alright, but it gets rather boring after a while. I sometimes put out stuff for everyone to make their own sandwiches, or I do potato salad or pasta salad.

This past winter, I made a lot of donburi dishes.  Donburi are basically a one-bowl dish. Lovely hot rice with some kind of topping. Beef or pork (usually pork as it's cheaper), cooked in a mix of soya sauce, mirin (sweet sake), and sake. Or breaded pork cutlets that are deep fried, or chicken and egg cooked together.  I would make a pot of miso soup and some kind of salad to go with it, lovely Japanese comfort food.

Deep-fried pork cutlet on rice with miso soup and salad

This is so quick and easy to make. It's warming and filling. But too heavy for the summer months. I might make it once or twice during the whole of summer, but not like in the winter when this kind of meal was once or twice a week.

It looks like having a good look at the local supermarkets and checking out some of my cookbooks.  Summer cooking is hard, but I want to be able to make healthy meals. I feel that my energy is easily drained in the summer, so meals that can give me a boost really help!

It's Hot!

 According to the news, many places in Japan are experiencing a heatwave.

The city of Kofu in Yamanashi recorded a high of 38 °C. This area does get very hot, but not in June.

Heatstroke warnings have been issued to many areas, but unfortunately, 3 people have already passed away due to heatstroke!

This happens every year. Many are older people who don't run air conditioners because of the expense. I've often wondered why the local community centers aren't open up for older people to go and spend the hottest time of the day there. One thing I have noticed over the past few years is that some supermarkets have a small seating area. You can buy lunch and just sit in that area for a while. I think it's a step in the right direction. 

Another problem is the people who have to work in this heat. I noticed this poster in a supermarket the other day.

poster in a local supermarket

It's basically apologizing for the staff having to drink while they are working. I think for some Japanese, this is seen as bad manners! For me, however, it's common sense!

One news report that I watched this morning showed a delivery driver. The company gives them a special vest that has fans in it and a watch-like device to track their temperature. The staff are encouraged to drink and eat salt candy.  I'm glad that some companies are starting to see how dangerous heatstroke is and are taking some preventive measures!  I'm also wondering when this common sense will trickle down to the schools. A lot of schools continue with sports activities outside, even in the extreme heat. Every year, we see the same thing on the news: ambulances lined up outside schools because some of the kids have heatstroke!

On a personal level, I finally got my air conditioner fixed. It wasn't broken, the problem was the wall socket and the plug on the machine were a different shape. I checked a few places and got quoted about 20,000 yen to fix this (about £100). This morning, David called a few companies and got quoted 5,000 yen (£25), a much better price. 

The guy came this afternoon and changed the plug, took less than 5 minutes! 

I'm so happy to have an air conditioner that works! I would love to have one in each room, but just having a place that I can sit in that is cool helps a lot. Also, being able to have the air conditioner at night will help me sleep better.

I want to buy one for David's room, he sleeps during the day, when it's very hot, and I worry that he isn't getting good sleep!  Need to save some money for that!!

Bit Better

 Still feeling miserable. I think until I figure out how to make some money, it's going to be tough here.

I really hoped that I would get a few students. 

This summer is going to be hard, but I'll survive. Somehow.

Is anybody making money online? 

Even though it's tough, I still have to cook and clean. I enjoy cooking, it helps with my stress to make good meals, or do some baking!

I made a nice lunch today, goya champuru.

Goya is also called bitter melon. 

Goya, bitter melon

Although this isn't my taste, it is very healthy, so I try to use it a few times a month in the summer. It's high in potassium, vitamin C, and antioxidants.

This vegetable is very popular in Okinawa, which has the highest rate of people living to 100 years old, and most of the elderly there are still active! 

I made Goya Champuru, stir fry with pork, tofu, and eggs! 

Goya Champuru

I know it doesn't look that good, but it tasted great! Because it has so much protein in it, I didn't get hungry for a long time!

I've taken to having little walks around the garden, just to get some fresh air. I was surprised to find that it was cooler outside than inside. There are some beautiful flowers in bloom.

Pretty Flowers

Big Mistake!

 This post is going to be a total moan fest! Sorry!

I really regret moving here!

There I've said it. It's not a place to live. 

I've tried to be positive and find the good here. But the bad outweighs the good. For every good thing, there are 10 bad things!

We've been here for 7 months, and I honestly can't see things getting any better.

I've put leaflets out to get students, but no calls at all. Mikey told me that he called the local kindergartens to see if they would like English classes. They said yes, but only offered 1,000 yen an hour, whereas in the other city, he gets 5,000 yen an hour! If I had known that there was so little interest in English, I wouldn't have bothered putting leaflets. 

We can't do anything with the land but have to pay tax on it, 10,000,000 a year, about £5,000, not sure if I have the Japanese right. I get my zeros mixed up.

We've looked into selling it, but to do that, we need to change the name to one of our names. That costs a lot of money. Even if we change the name, we can only sell to farmers as the land is zoned for farming. The zoning can be changed, but that would cost a lot of money as well.

So we are screwed!  

Nobody has the time or energy to clear the land to grow stuff. We tried, but the bit we cleared is overgrown again.  The few plants we tried to grow have died off. To get the land cleared properly, we need to higher a small digger, but again, no money.

I have searched the internet for online teaching, but most of the sites require a degree or a TESOL certificate. I tried applying by leaving that blank, but the application won't go through. The few that don't require degrees don't need English teachers. I keep checking, but so far, nothing.

I've thought about setting up a web page to get online students, but I have no idea how to do that!

I've spent hours watching YouTube videos on how to make money online, but everything is US or UK-centered and doesn't work here. I thought about making low-content books to self-publish on Amazon, but I think the market is saturated.

I even thought about crowd funding, but it's not a thing in Japan. 

Christopher can't find a job. He keeps looking, but there is nothing local, and he can't drive. This is causing a lot of tension between David and Christopher.

I'm tired, hot, and miserable!

Just writing this has me in tears!

I really regret moving here. I know we had no choice, that renting another place in the other city would have been impossible, but here feels like a death sentence.

Just to finish on the one positive thing.

David picked some of the Japanese plums. A lot got blown down, the wind has been crazy.

Japanese plums

David said that you can make jam from these, so I'll see what I can find. He usually makes this nice drink from them, it's very refreshing in the summer.

Wild Weather

 I know it's the rainy season and there will be a lot of rain for the next week or so. 

I'm used to that. For me, it signals the change from the nice weather to the awful hot and humid weather. The time of year I dread and feel like it's an endurance test.

But today the weather is really crazy.

The rain isn't too heavy at the moment, more like a drizzle, but the wind is very strong!

I just had a quick walk outside to check the blueberries; they are still there and haven't been blown down, but we are losing some of the Japanese plums!

We don't have any air conditioners, so I'm worried about the summer. The only way I've survived is by having air conditioners. One function on the newer air conditioners that I like is the "dry mode", which doesn't cool the room too much, but removes most of the humidity from the room. I used to put that on when hanging the laundry. Dryers aren't common here; the space for the laundry machine is usually too small to fit in a dryer as well. I had a washing machine that had a dryer built in, but it never seemed to really dry things. Also, I like the smell of clothes that have been outside!

The wind is helping to keep things a bit cooler, but it sounds rather scary. I'm worried about some of the tall trees that are next to the house! I really hope they don't get blown down!

The cats are unsettled by the weather. I really hope that they don't fight too much tonight!

Alan, flat out!

Sam is doing the loaf!!