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I took an X-ray test on chest today in the town next to my village

X-ray test on chest once a year is free-charge under the Japan’s national health insurance system. Although the test was done at the community center in my village last month, I just forgot about it. The last chance for me was today’s test in the town next to my village. So, I got on a local train in this morning.

An object displayed on the west side of the Station; Many dolphins are swimming and jumping.

Yellow leaves; I saw on the way to the venue of X-ray test.

There were two vehicles which have the facilities of X-ray test; one for female, the other for male citizens.

On the way back, I saw this board. It reads; “Morning, day time, and evening, Say greetings loudly and cheerfully”, “Smile each other”, “Greetings Street”, and “Let us try to recycle that eases the Earth”. Telling people these kind of things is good, but I was just wondering; if there are any other countries, cultures, habits that tell people these kind of things on a board by a street or not.

I was back to the railway station. And then I got a local train to my village.

Snow-covered Mt. Iide was not clearly seen, Ginkgo tree in the shrine was not fully yellow

I started walking in this afternoon to the direction of downstream of the river and then I saw this tree standing on river bank.

Today, the sky was not so clear, I could not see the entire Iide Mountains. But as shown in the photo, I could see white snow on the top area of the mountains.

I looked back on the path on the river bank. This road is exclusively for pedestrians and bicycles.

A local train was crossing the river on the steel bridge.

In the day time, I don’t hear the sound of trains running on this steel bridge. But I can hear the sound well in early morning. I think it is the phenomena of diffraction of sound waves because speed of sound changes by the difference of temperature with altitude in early morning. Every time I hear the sound of train on steel bridge in the morning, I cannot help thinking that my dad had listened to the same sound for twenty years he had been living alone in this house.

Leaves of Ginkgo tree in the shrine have not become fully yellow yet. The tree is the symbol of the shrine. Soon they will become yellow and fall onto the ground. It will look like a yellow carpet.

I hung slices of radish (Daikon) to dry them for preservation, today

I harvested three Daikon(s) from my field today. I wanted to make “Dried Daikon”so that I can keep Daikon longer.

Only two in the photo, but this photo was taken after I had cut one radish. You can see some peels which was the first radish.

Since I didn’t know how to tie them to hang, it was difficult for me to do this. But somehow, I made it.

I hope that no mold propagates especially at the part where cords are attaching

I left the beach, and then; The day before yesterday in Niigata

There are many boards to give people a caution, warning, advice, suggestion or whatever.

Droppings of a dog tells you the level of ethics of dog’s master.

To jogging runners: This trail is not only for runners; Construction section of Chuo-ward office of the city hall

Be careful to a Boar

Let us stop throwing Tabacco around this area for fire prevention.

The Bus stop to go to the downtown area

Read leaves and Shinano River

The view on the Bandai Bridge towards Bandai

The view on the Bandai Bridge to West; you can see Yahiko Mountain far beyond

The view of the Bandai Bridge towards Furumachi

And I ate sushi for my lunch that was 1,958JPY.

Though it’s not season for swimming, I went to see the sea.

I made my mother get on the second car of Jo’etsu Shinkansen. Today she has gone to my sister’s house in Kanto Region near Tokyo. Unless I make sure that she is on board of shinkansen (High-speed railway), she might come back to my house after window shopping in Niigata.

I left the platform of Shinkansen before the train departed, I headed to the Number 9 bus stop which is bound for Hamauracho.

There is sand hill between the town and the sea shore. I walked up a slope and stairway a little bit, went down from the low ridge, and then reached the Sekiya-hama (Sekiya Beach).

When I was a kid, my father took me to this beach in summer. There was a beach house that partnered with the teachers’ association. My father was a teacher, so we always went to that beach house. If my memory is correct, that was the 2nd from the corner to the left. In the photo, it is “こがねや”. Probably its management, or even the name might have changed.

to be cont’d

The Sky is Dark in November. I was just staying Home

These days, the number of page view of this blog is going down. I think it’s because I have been writing a post that is not so interesting. As for today, the weather was not so good, sometimes rainy, so I have been inside all day. That means I couldn’t take any interesting photos outside.

But I guess tomorrow will be a different one, because my mother is going to my sister’s home which is located in near Tokyo. Since my mother cannot get on a train of the high-speed railway “Shinkansen” herself, I will take her to the platform of the JR Niigata station tomorrow morning. Now I am thinking about doing something in Niigata after I send off my mother to Tokyo region. I will take some digital photos in Niigata, and may be able to upload them here, probably.

I hope that tomorrow would be “a respite” for me.

I’ve got 29 of this type of Persimmon this Autumn

A bird must have eaten part of Persimmon.

I processed five persimmons today. They are the last ones.

There are still other twenty persimmons of other kinds. They are small and have seeds inside. Rather than getting rid of bitterness by alcohol, I am thinking about making them “dried persimmons”.

Medical Check Result says my Mother’s Heart doesn’t have any Problem.

This morning, I took my mother to a big hospital in order to hear the result of the echo test of her heart. She took the test last Thursday. We arrived at the hospital a little before 9 a.m. and had waited until 10:30. Since the doctor took thirty minutes for one patient last time, I had thought that the whole of morning hours would be gone today. But my mother’s turn came earlier than I expected. Anyway, what the doctor said was that her heart didn’t have any problem like heart valve disease. No need for medicine, no need for periodically seeing the doctor. It relieved me a lot.

After that, I paid money for her because at that time my mother went to the in-hospital shop to buy some bread. To my surprise, it costed only 160 JPY (approx. 1USD). The lower the charge is, the better for elderly people. But I worried that Japan’s medical system would collapse in the near future when I got older.

We got on a free bus at 10:45, and got off it in front of a railway station. There, I saw a driving wheel of steam locomotive (as in the photo). The board says that this wheel had run Two million kilometers (1,245,750mi) since 1923 until 1974.

Another way to remove Bitterness of Persimmons

A farmer does this thing one hundred, two hundred, or more. But I am not a farmer. And my persimmon trees are still young and small. They are not so productive yet. Today, I set six persimmons hung under the roof. Two behind are not today’s. Drying is another way to remove bitterness of persimmons. But weather in Niigata tends to be wet in this season, I am worrying about mold on the surface of them.