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.
Eight Strawberry Seedlings with Ground Cover of Black Plastic SheetAbout Fifty Seedlings of Onion which I grew from seeds.
Recently a neighbor gave me eight seedlings of strawberry. I planted them today. Every time I laid black plastic sheet for ground cover, I felt it difficult to neatly place it on the ground. As for the onions, I planted about fifty of them. Since I chose the taller ones to plant, many shorter seedlings are still left unplanted. Will I dispose or plant? Actually, there is neither a place to plant remaining seedlings, nor my energy to do it.
After doing those works, I thought I was going to take my mother to the town of Niigata. Since an ID photo is necessary to apply for the issue of the national ID card “My Number Card”, I wanted to take her to a photograph studio in Niigata. She has never got a driver’s license, and her passport is expired long time ago. She doesn’t have any ID card with photo.
I talked to her at 11am. Then I realized that she was sleeping in the bed. I don’t think 11am is a time to sleep, but anyway, I had to give up my idea to take her to Niigata.
I walked to a DIY shop in the morning. I bought 20 litter of Soil there. Recently one of neighbors gave me eight seedlings of strawberry. Of course I thanked him, but I know that strawberry can hardly grow in my garden, because soil is too bad. I had tried several times growing strawberry in the past. Strawberry couldn’t grow well in my garden, nor could I harvest the fruit well. So, I didn’t have any plan to plant strawberry in my garden in this autumn. However, having been given seedlings, I have already made the place to plant them. When I plant a seedling, I will make a gap between the soil of a seedling and soil of my garden. And I am going to fill the gap with soil that I bought in DIY shop today.
A Local Train on Shin’etsu Line
Probably there’s no Snow on Mt. Kitamata yet
DIY shop is selling a lot of Flower Seedlings
The Big Tree has been there since I was a kid in a half century ago
I took my mother to a small local clinic in the afternoon. She had a health check ten days ago. So today is a day to receive the result of the check and a flu shot. When the doctor told her the result, I was also there because she would forget anything the doctor told her. The doctor told her to take a more detailed inspection in the big hospital. The doctor wrote a referral letter and gave it to us. I have to take her to the big hospital next week.
I am just a layman about medicine. And no one can make a judgement about her symptoms exactly at this point. Let her take a test first. But I feel a little wondering. I quit my job in foreign country, and came back here in July. If my mother’s condition is not good and someone needs to take a care of her, does it mean I retired and came back home in a good timing?
Tonight, I think it is more important for me to write a SNS message to one of my ex-students, rather than to post something here.
Soaking the Stem part of a Persimmon into Strong Alcohol
I harvested five persimmons in my garden.
Seal it in a plastic bag and wait a few days.
I processed four persimmons for removing bitterness
By the way, I realized that notation software (to draw a music score) “Sibelius” of Avid is too difficult to learn. I have learned many computer-software since I started using a personal computer more than thirty years ago. Once I had mastered another notation software “Music Score3” of Silver Star Japan. But I’d say “Sibelius” is so difficult. It’s no way to use by intuition. Notes and rests change regardless of my intention. I am disappointed because, if many musicians can really use Sibelius, it just means that I am a stupid.
There is a mountain range whose name is Iide Mountain. The mountains are located among three prefectures; Niigata, Fukushima, and Yamagata. Since my house is in Niigata Plain, I can see the mountains in east, when the sky is clear. The straight distance is approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) from my house to the mountains. Now, it is the mid-October, and temperature is going down. I think soon I will be able to see snow on the top of Iide Mountain Range.
The photo was taken on October 28, 2020. The peak is Kitamata-Dake (Mt. Kitamata) with altitude of 2025 meters (it is interesting that the altitude and this year are the same 2025). In the years of corona pandemic, I had quite often taken pictures of this Mt. Kitamata, and shared the photos with my students through SNS. Although very few of my students are taking a look at this blog now, when snow has fallen onto Mt. Kitamata of Iide Moutain Range, I will take a picture and post it on this blog.
The shoes in the photo are my second mountain climbing shoes. I bought the first one when I was a fourth-year student of a university. I had climbed many mountains with that first shoes. Those mountains were not high-altitude ones. Since I always went to a mountain alone, I just climbed low mountains only for safety.
I don’t remember when it was exactly, but in the past, probably in early two thousand, many Japanese mountain climbers got the accidents in which the sole got apart from the shoes. It was recommended to mountain climbers carrying wire in order to fix the sole just in case of such accident.
One day, I got that accident. The sole of my climbing shoe came off in front, and barely hung at the heel. I took the shoes to a shop that was selling goods for mountain climbing. I wanted to ask the shop to repair my shoes. But the shop simply rejected to repair. So, I bought the new shoes that is shown in the photo.
I came back to my hometown ten years ago with my second mountain climbing shoes. Actually, there are a lot of good mountains to climb in Niigata area. But I haven’t climbed any single mountain in the past ten years, and probably will not climb in the near future because of the following three reasons.
1: It is dangerous to go to mountains alone, because the mountains in Niigata are usually located in remote area.
2: I usually get aching on my knee while descending on way back. In order for me to avoid knee aching, it takes three times longer hours than others for descending.
3: The third reason is quite scary one; BEARS. In recent years, encountering bears is happening more and more often. Many accidents with bears have occurred also in Niigata Prefecture. According to the record of “Niigata bear appearance map”, bears came three times to the places like 6 kilometers (4 miles) distant from my house. Actually, those places are not mountain. The bears must have crossed rice fields, residential area, even the town of “Gosen”. If you look at the map, it would show you a huge number of witness cases along the foot of the mountains. If I climb a mountain, it is really likely to encounter a bear. This is the biggest reason why I don’t go to a mountain.
Because of these reasons, my second shoes have been left unused for several years. But I started putting those shoes when I came back to my house in July. For what? it is for gardening. These days I work in my field in morning hours for cultivating the soil, growing vegetables, and caring fruits trees. My field is not so wide, but I walk a lot. Since the ankle part of the mountain climbing shoes is stiff in order to prevent sprains, it makes you feel a little hard to walk. But I have got used to it, I even feel that stiff shoes can reduce fatigue on my foot. I can say that both of the mountain trails and the vegetable field have a similarity as being rough to walk.
Onion seedlings; the problem is that they don’t grow evenly.Osmanthus is fragrant in autumn.Thursday’s “Princesse de Monaco” has become like this
Now it’s twenty-first century. But when I was a kid, it was twentieth century. Interestingly enough, there was one kind of pears whose name was “Nijyusseiki”. This “Nijyusseiki” means “Twentieth Century（二十世紀）”. When I was a kid, I had eaten that pear quite often, because it was a major pear in Japan. But recent years, it is very rare to see the “Twentieth Century” on the shelves in supermarkets. According to a book that I bought recently, the percentages of planting areas are as follows : 幸水(Kousui) 40%, 豊水(Housui) 27%, 新高(Niitaka) 9%, 二十世紀(Nijyusseiki) 9%*. In my impression, those major pears like Kousui and Housui are sweeter than Nijyusseiki. I think that is the reason why Nijyusseiki is no longer a major pear in the supermarkets in Japan.
There is a small corner in the supermarket where I go once in two days. The corner sells products coming through the more direct supply route from farmers. I found that the pear “Twentieth Century” was being sold by 500 JPY in that corner. There were four in one package. It was rare and I just wanted to taste what I ate in my childhood again. I bought one package.
Oh, by the way, I really want you to know that a grilled fish must be placed with its head towards LEFT. It is one of the very basics of Japanese cuisine. However, you see in the above photo, the fish’s head facing right. It is natural to place the grilled fish with its belly in front, and its back in the back. So, this type of flounder (鰈：カレイ) is put on a dish so that it would face right. Otherwise, the fish would be up-side-down. In the other type of flounder (平目：ヒラメ) is put on a dish facing left like other fishes.
I worked in my garden in the morning hours, went to a supermarket for shopping in the afternoon, practiced piano at 4p.m., and cooked supper. Now today is going to end.
White flower of climbing roseThis rose’s name is “Princesse de Monaco”Persimmons on the tree are getting colorWhat I bought today. I have already eaten the horse mackerels by grilling
Oh, by the way, I wrapped one persimmon three days ago in order to get rid of bitterness. I didn’t expect, but it had turned to be soft. If I had waited some days more, it would have melted. So, I have already eaten it just before. It was not good. Soft but not sweet. I guess that is because the persimmon was not ripened well. I will try again to remove bitterness of persimmons with fully yellow one.
I cook for me and my old mother every day. What I always try in my cooking is to avoid a processed food and to cook from the scratch. I go to a supermarket frequently and always buy food that is natural ingredients. I need to buy vegetables, fruits, fishes, egg, meat, and so on. luckily enough, I don’t need to buy green vegetables recently, because I can get them from my garden.
Daikon Leaves that I got from my Garden
Daikon leaves eventually become too hard to chew. So, it is important to use young leaves by thinning in early stage of their growing
I cook, because my mother can no longer cook, though it is still okay for her to boil water with a kettle, and to wash the dishes. Old people gradually lose their functions in daily life. It is more obvious in the case of dementia. The important thing is to let them do what they can do by using their remaining functions. My mother still has one important function, that is shopping. She can go to a supermarket and a convenience store nearby (, though she uses cash).
Salad that my mother bought today from a convenience store.
Going shopping by herself is basically good, however, here’s another problem. She buys what she wants to eat like oily food and/or processed food which her son is trying to avoid. When she comes back home, she shows me what she bought. And I always see those unhealthy foods. I wonder what is inside salad which says its expiry is the morning of the day after tomorrow. I feel the taste of chemical preservatives whenever eating a such salad.
A lot of chemicals are being used in the processed food
It seems that most people like the taste of processed food of convenience stores. But I don’t like them. For me, taste of those foods is just of chemical seasonings. Therefore, I cook by myself from the scratch with natural ingredients.
I went to a town next to my village today. I had to go to the branch office of the city hall to get the national ID card of mine. The card is called “Mai Nambaa Caado (my number card)”, which is often shortened as “Maina Caado”. This “Maina” sounds like “Minor”, but nothing has to do with minority kind of things.
Railway
I got on a local train to go the next town.
Water Drinking Place
On the way, I found a facility to serve drinking water. But is there anyone who drinks water here?
Shrine that I visited on the way back
After I got the card, I walked to back to the JR station. I know there is a shrine near the railway, but today was the first time for me to visit this shrine.
Glass Wind Chimes
Today was a windy day. These wind chimes were making sounds with wind blow. I didn’t know why there were so many wind chimes in this shrine.
Chilled Noodle “Hiyashi Chuuka (冷やし中華)”
I wanted to eat a hot Rahmen for my lunch. But I found that the chilled noodle was still available. The Hiyashi Chuuka is summer-only menu, but now it’s month of October. I guessed they were still serving it because the summer of this year has been too hot and lasted long.
I found that a persimmon fell onto the ground in my garden this morning. Since its color was not orange but pale yellow, the fruit had not ripened enough yet. Although I was going to throw it at first, but changed my mind and decided to remove bitterness. I am expecting that I will be able to get some 20-30 fruits of persimmon within a month. Even though it’s just one persimmon, I thought it could be a practice of removing bitterness from persimmons.
Persimmon and strong alcohol (must be more than 40%)Soak the stem part in alcohol.Put into plastic bags and tightly seal them (I used three bags)
Let me wait for ten days. I will post about if it has become sweet or not.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 