Roving Japan

Day 34 Photoset

Mrs. Kanou took Risa and I to the riverside walking path today. My foot was feeling pretty good this morning, so I figured the walk wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Unfortunately it didn’t take long before my range of motion tests revealed that my early assumption of 75% healed turned out to be closer to 50%.

Regardless, we went for a walk anyway, but took our time. The path is rubber and so it’s fairly easy to walk on. The river was pretty, and the cranes were once again running away/leading the way. We ate a homemade lunch and then went back home.

Back at the house, Mr. Kanou showed us some of the finished fish from last night. They turned a nice golden brown and smelled great. I’m not sure if we are going to be able to eat any of them, but they sure look good!

Mrs. Kanou has been worried about my Japanese ability. She thinks getting a job in Tokyo is going to be too hard with my poor Japanese. So tonight was Kanji practice. She bought me a work book and had me practicing Kanji writing and recognition. It’s super hard. As she was explaining it, she realized some things that native speakers usually don’t realize are strange until they have to explain it to a newbie. Things like, “Oh ya, I guess this Kanji is the exact same pronunciation of this other Kanji… and ya, I suppose it really is hard to tell the difference between these two since they look so similar.”

I think the Kanji practice is good, but right now I think I need to focus on a larger vocabulary and some new sentence structures. Either way, I’m getting in a lot of practice and it’s been fun. Risa has been a life saver because if the conversation gets too bogged down with “sorry I don’t understand”, she can chime in and explain things and we can move on.

Tomorrow is Mr. Kanou’s day off, so we think he’s going to take us to Fukuyama. I think we are going to see the castle and maybe a museum. Should be fun!

Day 33 Photoset

My foot is feeling much better today, but still not 100%. I don’t trust my left foot to support my weight while going down the stairs yet. I’m hopeful that I’ll be back to full strength by Friday or Saturday.

Mrs. Kanou took us out to look at a few of the families rice fields this morning. It was pretty amazing to see her walking along the 2in wide walls above the mud and water. Olympic gymnasts have nothing on 66 year old farmers who have to balance and work at the same time!

As I mentioned before, Mr Kanou teaches agriculture classes, so he is an expert in farming basically everything. From rice, to oranges. But he is also is a published author, poet, and inventor who even finds time for a hobby making woodcut prints.

Tonight we had a private lesson in smoking a fish called Sanma. The fish are normally hung by their tails in a smoker, but occasionally the tail breaks and the fish fall. He invented a technique that involves using old rice stalks wrapped around the fish to support them while they hang. Risa and I wrapped about 10 fish and then took them to the backyard where Mr Kanou showed us how to use his smoker

Now, when I say, “his smoker” I mean HIS smoker. He figured out how to take an old propane tank from a restaurant and turn it into a tall vertical smoker. It was so successful that it was featured on a TV show and he has published the plans for others to use. He also wrote a book on smoking and teaches a special class on smoking techniques.

The fish are currently out in the smoker, where they will smoke all night long. Tomorrow morning Mr Kanou is going to take the fish to his class as examples of properly cooked fish.

Day 32 Photoset

Mrs. Kanou took us to a cool mountain shine this afternoon, but before we left we were talking with her about the noisy motorcycle gangs that drive around Japanese highways. We’ve experienced several nights where the kids drive around in circles making tons of noise for the sake of making noise. It’s pretty annoying when you’re trying to sleep. Damn kids! Get off my lawn!

The conversation took an interesting turn when Mrs Kanou said, “Kids today are too bored. They don’t really have things to do. When I was a kid people just were trying to survive. There wasn’t a lot of crime.”

Then she said, “I’m 66. I was born in 1943 in Hiroshima.”

At first I didn’t connect the dots, but after a few seconds it clicks. 1943… Hiroshima… When did we drop the bomb? 1945! Does that mean…?”

An inquisitive look from Risa and I, and her story continues.

On August 6th, 1945 two year old Mrs Kanou was in her house with her mom, dad and sister when the first atomic bomb detonated 1.5km from their house. The building was lifted from its foundations while glass flew sideways. When the house landed, the floor broke, creating a pocket that saved little 2yr old Mrs Kanou from falling debris. Her head was cut up from the glass, but otherwise she was fine. Her mother got a piece of glass in her ear destroying her ear drum, but she was still alive. Her sister and father were also spared. Her dad heared Mrs. Kanou crying in the house, so he ran in and saved her. Then the whole family escaped to a small boat and fled up the river. Despite a leak in the boat that forced them to sit up to their chests in water, they made it to a small town not far away in the mountains.

Her family was incredibly lucky. That morning was her mothers turn to go downtown to get potatoes. But when a neighbor saw her with two young kids, she offered to go in her place. That neighbor didn’t survive.

Mrs Kanou said that she doesn’t remember anything from that day. She was too young to really remember, so everything she told us was just what she had been told. Her family went back to Hiroshima for a year, then left for the next 12 years before returning again. By the time they got back, the city was completely rebuilt and functioning, so the only thing she remembers from the destruction was a melted factory that she thought looked like a monster. She also remembers the black rain. Back then no one really knew that the rain was toxic, so she just remembers thinking, “this rain is weird”.

In the end, her entire family survived not only the blast, but also the radiation. Even her uncle who came to the city shortly after the bomb to look for relatives is now 101years old and likes working on computers.

Hearing a first-hand account of the bomb was an interesting experience. She was worried since I’m an American, but I think it’s a fascinating story and I’m glad she shared it with us. Even though we’ve been to the dome, and seen the museum, it still makes it much more real to meet someone who actually experienced the bomb first hand.

This evening Mr. Kanou made our day when he took Risa and I out to catch firefly’s by the river! Oregon doesn’t have any firefly’s, so I was pretty excited. We took a net and a jar and walked around the neighborhood singing the Firefly song. “Ho-ho-hotaru koi! Atchi no mizu wa nigaizo! Kotchi no mizu wa amai zo! Ho-ho-hotaru koi!” The song is simple. “Come here firefly! That water is bitter! This water is sweet! Come here firefly!”

Firefly’s are really cool. Walking by a river filled with them is amazing. It’s a lot like floating Christmas lights. Catching them is also a blast. Using the net on the end of a long stick to grab one that’s flying is very gratifying. Mr Kanou was a great guide. He was like a big kid, climbing down to the river level then getting down on his knees to reach some hard to get firefly’s. He grew up here, so he has been catching them in this area for like 50 years. He’s a pro.