Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning
I am a native Japanese speaker who used to teach Japanese in a university somewhere on this planet. Currently I don't work but stayed in my house in Northern part of JAPAN. I hope that you could enjoy reading my posts and know what life in Japan is like.
Today’s post is not about today, but about what I saw in the last days of my staying in the campus. At that time, I walked around the campus and took a lot of pictures. There is a pond at the northeast of the campus. When I went there on July 14th, I saw some lotus flowers.
Tomorrow is the first day of the school year 2025-2026. I just imagine that Japanese major students whom I know are coming to the classroom as they did in the last semester.
I planted seeds of cabbage ten days ago. But I was disappointed by the result. As shown in the photo, I got very few sprouts. Although I want to plant those sprouts in my garden, they are insufficient in number.
So, I went to a different shop today, and bought another package of cabbage seeds. It costed 440 JPY, not cheap. I hope this time I could get more sprouts.
I hadn’t written a blog post for three weeks from 4th to 24th this month. During those days, I was making a system of microphone, amplifier, and speaker so that my mother can talk to me from the first floor to the second floor in my house. Making it from the scratch is impossible. I just connected several circuits that were already assembled.
Not only because I was making this, but I had to get rid of weeds and to cultivate the soil in the garden, and I had to bear the severe heat of the level of disaster. These are the reasons why I could not post anything these three weeks.
And I realized that I had lost viewers from the country where my students are. From coming Monday, they are going to the classroom again. But they will not see me there. I am wondering if some of them would remember me, or just forget because I will not be there.
One month has already passed since I left the campus. I think that students are coming back to the campus this week for the fall semester. I had retired, so I am just spending days without doing any preparations for the classes of coming semester.
Anyway, in the last days for me to be there, I walked around and took many photographs in the campus. On July 19, I found one cat lying on the pedestrian road. As I was taking photos of her (him?), she stood up, looked at me, and laid down again.
It is said that a stray cat lives short because of harsh environment of outside. I hope she can live long.
I used only salt for taste, didn’t use any seasoning nor spices. This is the way Japanese grill fishes. We eat grilled fishes with natural taste. And I made notches on the fishes so that gas fire effectively can heat the fish meat.
Now my supper is ready.
Today I went to the Morning Market in Niitsu in order to buy Ms.Yamashita’s Kimchi. I bought just one package of Chinese Cabbage Kimchi by 800 JPY. Then she told me that people don’t come to her shop these days. She said this year has been so bad for her sales of Kimchi.
So I would like to ask you people around Niigata. I want you to go and buy her Kimchi. It is so delicious and so reasonable. Her Kimchi is available at only several places around Niitsu in Akiha-ward, Niigata city. Please check dates of morning markets in Niitsu, Gosen, and Suibara by the image below.
添加物、着色料いっさい無し。新鮮な天然素材のおいしいキムチはいかがですか。
山下南さんのキムチは、新津や五泉の定期市でご本人から直接買うことができます。以下の情報をご覧ください。
山下さんは気さくで話しやすい人です。五泉の２・７定期市でお会いしました。
本日、2021年11月27日に、五泉市役所近くの定期市で山下さんのお話を聞きました。山下さんは韓国の全羅南道の麗水(ヨス)から、約40年前に日本にお嫁に来られました。新潟市の秋葉区にお住まいです。お子様が幼稚園に入られたのをきっかけに、キムチの製造・販売を始めました。お国のお母さんから受け継いだ美味しいキムチの味を地域の人にも味わってもらいたいという気持ちで始めたそうです。昭和の終わり頃から、定期市で、変わらない値段で、ずっと続けていらっしゃいます。売っているのは新鮮な白菜キムチ、大根キムチ、キュウリのキムチの３種類です。白菜は日本産、唐辛子は韓国産を使っています。
とても美味しいキムチですから、おすすめです。また、価格も大変良心的で、たっぷり食べることができます。雪が降っても、１年中定期市で売っていらしゃいます。このブログをご覧のみなさま、ぜひ山下さんのキムチを味わってください。
本日うかがった五泉の２・７定期市は、市役所の近くで行われています。市役所の前に小さな川があります。その川の対岸に市役所職員用の駐車場があって、そこが定期市の場所です。駅前通りから少し入った所になりますが、緑のネットで囲まれた四角い場所です。以下の写真をご参照ください。
スタミナレシピをもらいました。
この投稿の情報は2021年11月27日時点のものです。
Now the season of Okra is ending. The okras in my garden have become taller than me, but many leaves have fallen. I can get only two or three okras a day. These days I am thinking about cut those okras and remove them from the field.
Okras should not be boiled long. It should be just one minute or so, very short time.
And then I sliced the boiled okras, and chopped green onions.
Here came “Natto” that is fermented soy beans. Japanese like to eat Natto in breakfast. I don’t think it is appropriate to mention bathroom things while talking about food and meal. But let me tell you. Natto is so stinky, if you eat it in your breakfast, you will smell it in your urine in the bathroom. Not just in the morning, it continues until noon.
Mixing natto with sliced okra and chopped green onion, I pored just a little bit of Soy sauce.
This is the main dish of my breakfast of the day. Usually there is omelet, but this particular morning, pork was there, because I cooked much pork in the previous night.
Okay, this is my breakfast on September 30, 2021.
This morning I wanted to go to 1-6 morning market in the town of Niitsu. It has been a while since the I last time I went there. This blog has got many viewers to the pages about Ms. Yamashita’s Kimchi. But I hadn’t bought her Kimchi for several months now.
Although I tried getting on a train at 9 a.m, I missed it. I thought I wouldn’t like to wait for the next train. So I walked to the town of Niitsu from my village. It was about two and half miles. It took 50 minutes or so.
On the way to Niitsu, I found that persimmon was now getting yellow.
1-6 means that the market is held on the date whose last digit is 1 or 6. Today is 26th of September. Most of the shops open only on morning hours (Yes, it’s “Morning Market”).
Once I bought seedlings of “Akita Butterbur” from this flower shop person. But I could not grow butterbur well. They were ruined.
This is what I bought today.
Clockwise from the top,
Pears 300 JPY
Grape 1000 JPY
Chinese Cabbage Kimchi 700 JPY
Ginger 300 JPY
Total was 2300 JPY (21USD approx.).
I like to go there. The morning market in Niitsu is held on the following days of a month. Niitsu is a town in Akiha-ward of Niigata city, JAPAN.
1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th days of a month, from 8:00 a.m. to noon
Of course I went to her shop to buy Kimchi.
And I always go to papa’s&mom’s fruit shop near Yamashita-san’s Kimchi shop.
Now it is no longer the season apple, I don’t see any good and reasonable apples in nearby supermarket. I had expected that his shop would be still selling apples.My expectation was right. His shop was selling the yellow apple “Shinano-Gold” which is a new apple with good balance of sweetness and sour taste. He was selling them with very reasonable prices because Shinano-gold apples have scratches and a little colored portions. They were usually not on the shelves in ordinary supermarkets.
Flowers are being sold. If you plant those seedlings on your garden, you can enjoy the flowers from the day-1 without waiting to grow and for so long until winter comes.
Fishes are also being sold. I thinks one portion of squids is too much. Only a big family will be able to buy.
This small shop is selling vegetables and white collar flowers.
When it comes to Flowers, I asked this lady to make a flower bundle. Just before I left home, I was asked by my mom to buy the flowers to offer my dad.
So these are what I bought yesterday in the Niitsu Morning Market.
Chinese cabbage kimchi: 700-yen
Radish Kimchi: 500-yen
Shinano-Gold apple: 500-yen
Tribute Flowers: 1000-yen
Butterbur (Green Stems in the photo): 200-yen
An old lady told me how to cook the butterbur. I cooked as she told me, but I spent an hour to peel off them. I boiled them by soy sauce with small chips of ginger and red pepper.
Thanks for reading to the end.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 