Category Archives: Community

School Ground Cleaning

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

Today was Sunday, Mothers day, and also the day for going to my son’s elementary school at 7:00 a.m. to participate in the periodic grounds keeping event. You see, here in Japan the schools have no “janitors” or things of … Continue reading →

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Another busy week

Posted on April 2, 2012 by

The weeks are flying by. I can’t believe its been more than a week since I posted! But a lot has been happening around here: 1. Spring Festival at my inlaw’s neighborhood. They have a much bigger shrine and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, culture, 田舎暮らし, Family, Farming, 古民家 | 1 Comment

Spring Festival

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

A lot has happened in the last few days, and I’ll break it all down into chunks: 1. The House: Demolition work has begun in earnest after the full extent of the Termite problem was discovered. I had to completely … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, 田舎暮らし, Family, Farming, 古民家 | 2 Comments

Bringing Out the Neighbors

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

Yesterday was a pretty nice day, started cloudy but by afternoon the sun was out. Its been a weird winter for Japan, with all this rain, kind of reminds me of an Oregon winter actually. Anyway, today I went to … Continue reading →

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A Mountain of Garbage

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

That’s what one of my new neighbors recently called The House. The house that was left empty for 10 years after the passing of it’s owner. The House that was used like a squat/garbage dump for two years by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, 田舎暮らし, 古民家 | 1 Comment

Say hello to Mr. Kabosu

Posted on March 9, 2012 by

About a week ago a friend of the family came to visit with a story of an elderly Kabosu farmer who had recently passed. Until the last year of his life he had maintained an orchard of 300 or so … Continue reading →

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Can you eat it?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by

Every Japanese person I have known for any length of time has delighted in a game I call, “Feed Unusual Things to the Foreigner,” and my in-laws are no exception to this rule. Since I first started coming here I … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, culture, Family | 4 Comments

Walking for snacks part II

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

1. “Dagashiya” This is a little store that sells candy to the neigborhood kids. The house is in the Machiya or “Nagaya” style that was typical of Japanese towns from the before the Edo period all the way up until … Continue reading →

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Usuki Castle (and walking for snacks)

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

Around 3:00pm the kids are accustomed to having a snack. Today I thought I would make them work a little for it, so we left the house and took a walk through the center of town, to one of its … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, 田舎暮らし, Family | 1 Comment

Ki wo tsukau, Ki ga kiku…

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

A couple of definitions for those that don’t speak Japanese: 気を使う (ki-wo-tsukau): to pay attention to another’s needs, to attend to, to fuss about, to take into consideration 気が利く(ki-ga-kiku): to be thoughtful, to be tactful, to be sensitive (esp. to … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, culture, Family | 1 Comment