Roving Japan

Day 35 Photoset

This morning was quite a surprise. Instead of heading out to the museum in Fukuyama right away, Mr. Kanou’s farming apprentice Kobayashi-san showed up at the house. Today was the day he had planned to work in his Rice field that he is borrowing from Mr. Kanou.

Kobayashi is a really cool guy. He showed up at the house with a big smile wearing a bright green t-shirt he designed for his business. He’s one of the top guys at a chain of Izakaya restaurants, and it’s his job to provide the restaurants with produce. His goal is to only serve food that they produce themselves, so he is learning farming techniques from Mr. Kanou.

With a chance to work in a Rice field presenting itself, I quickly offered my services. I had been wanting to know what it was like to walk around in the mud planting the rice, so I was happy to help. Kobayashi thought it was a great idea and he ran back to his car to get a t-shirt for everyone. Then we all went down to the rice patty in our bright green t-shirts to learn how to manage the rice plants and then administer a mild pesticide. (Mr. Kanou is big on organic farming. He uses a special pesticide and he only uses it once per season. Other farmers regularly treat their plants, but Mr. Kanou is trying to change that.)

Once at the patty, I took off my shoes and jumped in the mud. Today’s job was to straighten out the rows and to fill any gaps in the lines with more rice. It’s kind of interesting the way it works. Basically rice is a grass. Early in the season it is grown in really tight bunches. Then the farmers pull away a few stalks and insert them into the mud. Sometimes they grab too much and sometimes too little. It was our job to pull out the big clumps, separate out a few stalks, and then either combine them with a clump that needed more, or use the extra in a gap that was missing rice altogether.

The mud was really squishy and difficult to walk in but it was still a lot of fun. I definitely don’t think I could do this as a career, but I highly recommend everyone to spend an afternoon working in a rice field at least once in their life. Any more than that and you might have back problems.

Risa didn’t have any intension of going in the mud, but she eventually came in to help when Mr. Kanou told her to. Can’t exactly say NO can you? I’m glad she came in, it was pretty funny. She had just as much trouble as I did walking in the mud. I think the two of us provided Mr. Kanou and Kobayashi with plenty of entertainment.

When we were finished straightening and spreading out the rice, it was time to toss in the medicine. The pesticide comes in little bags of pellets. You just throw the bag into the field and the bag and pellets dissolve into the water. It will kill most bugs and weeds, but it won’t kill the frogs or slugs.

After a second shower to take off the mud, we were on our way to the Fukuyama history museum with Mr Kanou.

The museum was pretty cool, with lots of information about the areas history, but the real fun was with all the kids who were there for a field trip.

Mr Kanou decided that I needed to learn just like the little kids, so when the teacher brought the class into an exhibit room we were in, Mr. Kanou walked right to the front of the class and then called Risa and I over so we could listen to the teachers lecture and then ask question. The kids of course immediately forgot about their teacher and started paying attention to me. “How old are you? Are you an American?” One group of boys wanted to get a picture with me… but with Risa’s camera. We aren’t sure why. Maybe they will find the blog and download the photo.

I told another group that Risa was my wife, and was quickly called a liar. “Uso! (Lie!)” I just said, “I’m not joking! It’s the truth!” He thought it was crazy, “A Japanese girl?!”

When we were finished at the museum, Mr. Kanou took us to see a couple more sights in the area. First was a small town on the coast called Tomo no Ura. We enjoyed seeing the old style neighborhoods with the skinny roads. Then he took us to a temple called Abuto kannon which overlooks the ocean. This temple serves two purposes. 1, give good luck to sailors and fishermen. And 2, it’s supposed to be good for boobs. Women come here to pray for cures for breast cancer, or good milk for new mothers. Inside the shrine there are tons of boobs made out of all kinds of things, although little boob pillows seem to be a favorite.

This evening Mr. Kanou and I played a match of Go. While at the museum we saw a display about Go, and since I know the rules I offered to play him. “I can play” were my exact words.

Back in the states, when someone says they can play something, it generally means they know the rules. “I can play basketball.” doesn’t mean, “I play for the Lakers.” It just means you know the rules and you can shoot the ball well enough to make a basket.

When you tell someone you can play Go, I guess that means you’re actually GOOD. In the beginning of the game Mr. Kanou played cautiously, but it didn’t take long before he realized I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was totally destroyed. He said, “hmm, maybe you shouldn’t tell people you know how to play Go.” Ouch!

Maybe he’ll play me again tomorrow. I downloaded a Go app for the iPhone so I can practice.