カテゴリー: Niigata

Spring Flowers in the Garden

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I wanted to make the title “Spring Flowers in my Garden”, but actually it is not my garden. I have just stayed at my parents’ home for these several months. I cannot get back to the country where my university is because of corona virus pandemic. Anyway, spring season never stops and the peach flowers have already gone.

 

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Coming next would be flowers of azalea. Its white bud makes me think of vanilla ice cream.

 

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This is also a white azalea, Doudan-Azalea flowering downward. It seems to contrast to the red leaves in autumn, although we cannot see white flowers in spring and red leaves in autumn at the same time.

 

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This is also “Downward flowers” of silverberry. I planted only one tree of silver-berry (or goumi) in the garden. This means that I will not be able to get any fruit in the near future because there should be another silver-berry but a slightly different kind. In order to get fruits, most of fruit trees needs another tree nearby for pollination.

 

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Buds of an apple tree. For the pollination as I mentioned for silver-berry, I planted two apple trees in one place. They were Kougyoku and Tsugaru. This photo was probably of Kougyoku’s.

 

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Here is another apple’s flower that has already opened. This is Alpus-Otome.

 

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This is flowers of gooseberry. Maybe it is safe to say that the fruits look more beautiful than the flowers. If I can take a photo of gooseberry fruit, I would like to put it on this blog.

 

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Actually this photo and the below were taken two weeks ago.

 

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Yes, this is peach flowers two weeks ago. I am not sure if I will be able to eat sweet peaches from this tree in summer because I am just an amateur about fruit tree growing.

Railway Geeks’ Holy Place, JR Niitsu Sation

I had uploaded some pictures for these several weeks. They were the photographs that I used as background picture on PPT slides of my online teaching. But now I am reluctant to upload some of my best pictures here. Maybe I am a stingy guy, but let me say, this blog is so unpopular that no one comes. I don’t have time to waste here. I am busy now because of online teaching. I have to prepare for 70 slides for 90 minutes class. And I have to teach such classes six times a week that need five preparations (two classes are almost identical). I have to work through the night three times a week. I am exhausted.

 

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It seems that  I will not be able to get back to a country where my university is, in near future. So I applied to citizenship in Niigata-city. I went to Niitsu where city ward office is.

 

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Only a railway geek would be interested in this kind of photographs. Niitsu is a town of railway. Think it as letter of “K”. The vertical line is Shin’etsu line of railway. Stroke of upper right is Uestu line and the lower right is Ban’etsu line. Niitsu is the town these railway lines are connected. The town had been developed with railway in the past. But a huge motorization changed everything. The central part of Niitsu has been just going down over time. Still this is a town of railway, so you can see many railway geeks hanging a big and long camera lens in JR Niitsu station.

 

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On the platform bench, they are occupying two of three seats.

 

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Forty some years ago, my family went to Niitsu station. That was the last day of steam locomotives. As a young boy, anything moving was fun to me. But my dad once said that that day, my older sister got angry very much. She didn’t have any interest in such a black thing spewing dark smoke running and stopping. It was a thing almost a half century ago.

 

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Time never stops. Spring has come after the winter as usual. This photo was taken not in Niitsu but in Niigata that is the prefecture capital. I had to go to a bank in Niigata for some cumbersome processes of national pension payment. Anyway, people are now having a different spring time all over this planet.

Train Ride under the Dark Sky

It was a day for me to get on a local train.

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I had to go to four city halls to collect documents of family record for a person who passed away recently. It is the time that anything can be done online, but many systems in Japan are such out of date that require people wasting much time.

 

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The top of Mountain Suganadake is hidden by the dark cloud.

 

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The train went east toward Fukushima along Agano River.

 

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I got of the train. Fukushima was still very much far. There were a few passengers getting of the train with me.

 

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The office was at 10 minutes walk distance from railway station.

 

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Just after 1 p.m. I went back the station. There were not many things even in front of the railway station because this was a rural area.

 

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Actually I had to wait in the station for two hours. No one was there.

 

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View from the train window. A highway running along Agano River was protected by concrete roof.

 

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It was dark but not in the night. The train was running through a tunnel.

 

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I had to still visit one more city hall at the time when I took this photo. This train trip was not an excursion for leisure. I was just moving under the dark winter sky in Niigata, JAPAN.

在日本LQ老师做着什么?! 06

I have got things to do in Kanto Plain. So I decided to travel to Kanto region for several days. I got on a local train first to head Niigata.

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When the local train crossed a river, I saw Gozu Mountains that had got some new snow. It was dark. Yes winter days in Niigata are always under the dark clouds.

 

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I took a Shinkansen, or Bullet train in Niigata.

 

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Less than two hours, you can get under the clear blue sky in the Kanto Plain. There are lots of unequal things in this world, you know. People in Kanto can enjoy this fine weather in winter, while people in Niigata have to live under the dark clouds with wet, chilly, and snowy weather.

在日本LQ老师做着什么?! 05

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I got on a local train in the morning.

 

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I could see a little bit of snow on the rice fields. The coldest weather hit Japan yesterday.

 

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There was an objet at the west entrance of JR Niitsu station.

 

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A person gave me a pack of Sushi as a souvenir. The sushi was “Engawa” that was muscle at the base of fin of flatfishes.

 

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Dipping into soy sauce, I ate the first piece of Engawa Sushi.

 

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A close-up photo. Of course this is raw fish. Do you want to eat it? I like it.

在日本LQ老师做着什么?! 04

Behind the town runs a river.

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There is a small ship building yard. The factory can be seen behind the three vessels on the river. But I am not sure the company is still doing shipbuilding.

 

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I went to Niigata in the evening. I had a dinner with one of my students who learned Japanese from me. The Izakaya restaurant was just near the JR Niigata station. Sashimi or slices of raw fish were fresh and tasty.

 

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Niigata is famous for Sake that is rice wine. I ordered three brands assortment. One was Kirinzan, the other was Hokusetsu, but I forgot the third one. In front of three bottles, that was oyster fries. Anyway I enjoyed food and talk.

Morning Market in Niitsu, Akiha-ward, Niigata, JAPAN

Morning market is held on the 1st and 6th date of every month in Niitsu. Niitsu is a town that is located southern Niigata. JR local trains in every 20 minutes take you from Niigata to Niitsu. It takes about 20 minutes. Since it is called “morning market”, so better to get there by 11 a.m.

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If you walk to the market from Niitsu JR station, this is the entrance of the market.

 

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I always buy Kimchi at Ms.Minami Yamashita’s shop. She is shy so she hid herself behind the board.

 

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Inside her cooler box. You can see there are Radish Kimchi and Cucumber Kimchi.

 

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A man was selling seafood. He was talkative very much. He said he didn’t take photographs but liked reviewing other’s photographing. Sliced salmons were on his shelf.

 

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There were some flower shops in the market.

 

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I like this old person’s fruit shop.

 

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Western pear “Le Lectier” were being sold with very much reasonable prices. The old person said to me that they were reasonable because it was the end of the season. “Le Lectier” is Niigata’s speciality.

 

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This is all that I bought in the market;

7- Fuji apples = 500 JPY

2 packs of Yellow Kiwi = 500 JPY

1 – Chinese Cabbage Kimchi = 500 JPY

1 – Radish Kimchi = 500 JPY

Green vegetable = 100 JPY

So it costed 2,100 JPY in total. If I apply foreign currency rate of  1 USD = 109 JPY, it would be 19 dollar 27 cent. Expensive or reasonable? It depends on you. I have no complaint about the prices because I enjoyed talking with buyer. That is the beauty of morning market.

 

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I got back home, cut Chinese Cabbage Kimchi into small pieces, and then put it into a small grass container.

 

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Actually, yellow kiwi was not so yellow. It was yellow green. I wanted to change color of this photo so that it could look yellow. But I couldn’t make it, although I tried to adjust colors by an imaging software.

 

Morning market in Niitsu is small. Please do not expect a large market. It is just a tiny small market using a space of parking lot by the JR railway line. Some towns in Niigata area hold this kind of morning markets. Dates are different town by town. In Niitsu, 1st and 6th. In some town, it is 2nd and 7th, or 4th and 9th. I am not sure you would be interested in the market, but please check the date before you visit some of them.

在日本LQ老师做着什么?! 02

I left Kanto Plain in the early morning today. Getting on a train, I headed north.

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Terrain was becoming mountainous as the train moved north towards the end of Kanto Plain.

 

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The platform was thinly covered with snow.  As the train went north, snow depth increased.

 

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Having got through some long tunnels, the train was running in southern part of Niigata prefecture. This winter is warm, so there is not much snow on the ground and mountains.

 

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My hometown is on the lower land of Niigata Plain. Thanks to the low altitude and the record-warm winter, there is no snow on the ground. This is just a rural town under the dark cloud of winter.

新潟の中国料理店”鵬龍”に行きました-4

こんにちは。わたしは　にほんじんです。４９さいの　おとこの　ひとです。にいがたの　ちゅうごく　りょうりてん　「ほうりゅう（鵬龍）」へ　いきました。みなさんに　しょうかいします。ほんちょうの　しょうてんがいの　みなみがわに　青海ショッピングセンターが　あります。「ほうりゅう」は　青海ショッピングセンターの　いりぐちに　あります。したの　すうじを　Ｇｏｏｇｌｅ　Ｍａｐｓに　にゅうりょく　して　ください。ばしょが　わかります。

37.920115,139.046342

i265

めにゅー　です。わたしは　おみせの　ひとに　「いちばん　からい　ラーメンは　なんですか」と　ききました。おみせの　ひとは「しせんマーラーめん」だと　いいました。わたしは「しせんマーラーめん」を　ちゅうもんしました。

i266

四川マーラー麺です。

i267

おいしそうですね。

i268

めんは　ふつうの　ふとさ　です。そんなに　ちぢれて　いません。

i269

にいがたの　おみせの　「たべあるき」は　これで　おわりです。ほんちょういちばで　ささだんごを　うっている　おばあさんが　いました。５こ　ほしかったです。でも、おばあさんは　いいました「１０こで　１０００えんだよ」。やすいですね。わたしは　ささだんごを　１０こ　かいました。

ばんだい橋を　わたった　ところで、しゃしんを　とりました。にいがたの　ばんだいばしと　ささだんごは　どちらも　ゆうめいです。わたしの　ふるさとは　にいがたです。

i270

＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋＋

ということで、鵬龍さんをもちまして、私の新潟島食べ歩きは終了しました。タイ料理のクワタイさんは新潟島の外ですが、距離的に近いので含めました。タイ料理といえば、関屋あるいは信濃町のタイファイタイフードさんでグリーンカレーを食べていないのが残念です。先日伺ったところ、休暇に入られたようでした。それから水餃子の食べ比べですが、結局安屋さんの水餃子は食べませんでした。安屋さんは、地元の方のお店であり、自分のようなきわめて一見さんに近い人間が行くのはどうかなあという気持ちもありました。Googleのレビューで見たのですが、お母さんの足が悪いので、食べ終わった器を自分で返却すると書いている人がいました。これを読んで、自分が情けなくなりました。足が悪そうだということは、私も気づきました。だけど、だったら自分にできることは何か、そこまで考えなかった自分の思い至らなさを恥じます。水餃子を食べた中国料理店のなかで、残念なことは；

i272

ハルピン餐庁さんが閉店しました。場所が悪く、お客さんはいつもだれもいませんでした。こちらの中国料理が大好きだったのに、残念です。閉店したばかりの頃でしょうか、私はそれと知らず、ヨーカドーでお店のお姉さんを見かけました。また行きますよ、と声をかけようと思ったのですが、それはせず、でもあとで考えたら、お店の時間にジャージ姿でヨーカドーにいるのも変な話なので、翌朝お店に行ってみたら、上の写真の通りでした。「貸店舗」の紙がシャッターに貼ってあります。もう一つ閉店といえば、

i271

「冬のソナタ」さんです。前はトラフグのお店だったのですね。イタリア軒の通りに面して、店内も明るくて入りやすい雰囲気だったのに、とても残念でした。新潟島がどんどんさびれていきます。寂しいことですが、庶民にはどうしようもありません。逃げ出す奴はけしからんといいたいところですが、私自身が逃げ出してしまいました。

最後のお店は鵬龍さんになりました。移動を考えると、お昼の営業で食べられるのが鵬龍さんだったので。こちらのご主人も中国の北の方から来られた方でした。人気メニューの広東麺を食べられなかったのが残念です。お店の繁盛をお祈りします。

萬代橋と笹団子を一緒の写真に撮ったおバカはおそらく私くらいだろうと自負しております。

新潟の韓国居酒屋「ドレミ」へ行きました。-4

こんにちは。わたしは　にほんじんです。４９さいの　おとこの　ひとです。にいがたの　かんこく　いざかや　「ドレミ」へ　いきました。みなさんに　しょうかい　します。したの　すうじを　Ｇｏｏｇｌｅ　Ｍａｐｓに　にゅうりょく　して　ください。ばしょが　わかります。

37.924266,139.044660

くらくて、　ちょっと　はいり　にくい　ですね。でも　とても　いい　おみせです。

i257

まず　ビールと　おとうしです。おや？　ひだりに　めずらしい　ものが　あります。

i258

「かに」です。

i259

こんな　小さい　カニ、　わたしは　はじめて　たべました。からも　あしも　はさみも　ぜんぶ　そのまま　たべることが　できます。たべかけの　アップの　しゃしんです。ちょっと　ぶれました。

i260

きょうは　ちゅうもんに　なやみました。でも　キムチチゲと　ごはんに　しました。おさけも　にはいめです。うめサワーです。

i261

キムチチゲのアップです。

i262

おさけは　とうとう　さんばいめ（三杯目）です。かんこくの　おさけ　マッコルリを　のみました。おみせの　ひとが　いいました「きょうは　たくさん　のみますね」。わたしは　いいました「ええ、じつは　きょうが　さいご　なんです。だから　おさけを　たくさん　のみます。」

i263

きょうで　「さよなら」ですから、おみせの　ひとは　わたしに　かんこくの　のりを　くれました。ありがとうございます。みなさんも　にいがたの　かんこく　いざかや　「ドレミ」へ　いって、たくさん　かんこくの　りょうりを　たべて　ください。

i264

++++++++++++++++++++

お通しの沢ガニみたいなの、初めて食べました。マッコルリは普通、カメに入れて出してくれるようですが、それでは多すぎるので特別に一杯で注文したら、チューハイ用のグラスになみなみ入れて出してくれました。一枚目の写真にあるように、韓国居酒屋ドレミさんは、ちょっとわかりにくい所にあります。住所は以下です。

新潟県新潟市中央区西堀前通8番町1516-1 桂家ビル 1F

写真の上にあります緯度経度をGoogle mapsに入れていただければ、正確な場所が分かります。おじいさんには会えませんでしたが、にこやかなお母さん、南大門のお姉さんともども、末永くお店を続けてください。また会える日を楽しみにしています。