Head in the Clouds – Feet in the Dirt

And… Off to Nagasaki we go…

Actually I am a bit ahead of myself as we did get a flight across before jumping on the ferry. A typhoon was supposed to hit but it skirted the area so we got nothing more than the equivalent of a testy Tasmanian day weather wise.

We do have a 2 week JR rail pass but will not put that into action until we leave Mt Aso. Unfortunately the much increased price of the pass has made it barely better value for the two weeks of intense travel coming up and the math said… Don’t buy an extra week. Flying was cheaper and faster to get ourselves to Nagasaki. We have been staying with Nozomi and family too so we haven’t been near a train since we arrived!

It was so easy taking the bus from Kyoto to the domestic airport in Osaka, booking in, then once arrived we strolled through almost non existent crowds to the ferry terminal. Doing this cut a couple of hours drive out for Nozomi.

Just a little ferry and pretty relaxing

And then up to spend some wonderful relaxing days…

Stunning views

Beautiful home

Nestled in the mountainside, Nozomi and family enjoy a tranquil space.

Nozomi organises their home to host workaway guests who come to help do work on the property. They come from all over the world so the girls are getting fantastic exposure to different languages and cultures.

In the meantime, her husband Tetsu runs a fabulous ramen shop called Ki Tsu Tsu Ki. (Woodpecker) He has built this business up from scratch and it’s really popular! And the dishes taste amazing.

slowly they are working on projects around the house… Creating little garden beds…

And a chook house…

Next is to create a safe run for the chooks

They have some goats on a shared bit of land

Rachel has become instantly popular with the girls!

And Nozomi has been cooking up a storm for us… Occasionally I remember to take photos before eating everything!! Plus we are getting fresh rice as her in-laws own rice fields!

So good!!

Anyway, We’ve been loving the slower paced family life, catching up with friends and seeing a different side of the country!

We only have one more day… so our week has slipped by quite fast despite the less crazy pace!!

We will be making the most of it! Xxx

Hello!

Once again I have borrowed Rachel’s images as I only used my big camera yesterday. Thanks Rachel!!

So… We went over to Fushimi Inari with the intent to hike all the way up and around the little mountain. Something I had wanted to do for years… Just for one reason or the other… Not managed it.

We didn’t go super early… Early enough but the crowds were out in force..

Being a very popular and picturesque spot. I (very wrongly) assumed we would leave a lot of the crowd behind once we walked up past the first bit.

nup uh.

So many people seemed to have a very similar idea.

So yesterday we got a full dose of peak tourism haha.

Still… It was Rachel’s first time to the shrine and we really enjoyed seeing the rest of the area. It’s just amazing. The Tori gates go on and on!!

Businesses buy a tori gate and have their name etched into the pillars and the date. With the idea that good business fortune will favour them.

I like all the nooks and crannies of the stone shrines tucked into the hillside.

And seemingly forgotten small tori piled up here and there

You can still see in one spot, lots of bunches of origami cranes

Lots of small shrines are dotted about too

The hike is a bit of a circuit once you reach a certain point.

At the highest point of Mt Inari, there is a slightly larger shrine…. But around the sides and back are plenty more tori gates stacked up!

And yes… The couple you can kinda see in the above pic really did walk up to the top in beautiful kimonos including traditional shoes…and the young lady still looked elegant and fresh as a daisy! Totally take my sweaty hat off to her!!

Today we have been organising our packs as it’s our last day in Kyoto. We plan to take our friends out to dinner tonight… Then it’s off to Nagasaki if I got all the flight details right!! Eeep.

Apparently the current typhoon is skirting the area… Which is good but the first day or so will be …. Soggy!

xxx

This trip I wanted to add in some experiences… as I love the workshops at home. I found this fantastic setup in Kyoto that we were all on board with having a go at, so I booked it.

It wasn’t too far from where we are staying and Mari, being the amazing friend she is, went to work early to put us on the correct buses which got us very near the workshop.

The fellow who runs it gave us a quick rundown on what we do. Choose a design and an article to transfer the design to. Jeff and Rachel chose t-shirts and I chose a half sized noren (doorway hanging).

There were a billion image options… so hard to choose. The workshop was full of gorgeous examples of the art, along with lots of bits and bobs that would be used in various print creations.

Luckily we arrived a bit early as it was so hard to choose

The whole workshop was fabulous to look at.

So, anyway, time to knuckle down and start. We got a few minutes of practice time. How to dip the brushes into the hot wax, how much to scrape off before applying to the material. Too soon the practice cloth was whipped away and on with the real thing. We felt a bit under prepared haha

We were working on a light box so we could see the image… So it was basically tracing the wax over the lines.

Once that was done, we had to turn off the light box, remove the image and then retrace a second layer… Ensuring a nice whiter image to be left at the end.

I wasn’t convinced that it was going to look ok lol. And there was this cute little grannie who was running about instructing people too… She wanted me to do something to my moon…. In the end after I got it totally wrong she coloured it in for me haha.

She was very nice to Jeff and kept telling him he was doing a fantastic job!

Teachers pet…

I didn’t get pics, but once waxing was done, we got kitted up in gumboots, aprons, gauntlets and gloves and dunked the articles into the dye vat. For 8 minutes it was our job to keep them reasonably submerged.

This area was a great sloshy wet area

There was a bit of theatre as each article was taken out, wrung out and briefly pegged or hung so we could see the results!

I was rapt with my noren design…

Rachels t-shirt turned out fantastically…

(I had to take snaps later last night as I only had video of their shirts)

Rachel as also fallen in love with my favourite Japanese characters and did a lovely job with hers

Love Jeff’s tshirt too… He added the grasses freestyle and it turned out so well…

The butterfly is actually a mon… A family crest. It turned out so well!

After the first showing, the articles went back in for a wash to get rid of the wax… Very hot washes.

The first wash gets rid of about 90% of the wax then the last hot wash with soap sorts the last bit.

They are then rinsed in a few more buckets and popped into a mad spinner and finish up merely damp not wet!!

I think we were there for about 2 hours or so!! The cost was only Y3600 (maybe about $40 Australian bucks) so a very inexpensive mornings cultural activity! I’d totally do it again!!

xx

Hello!

We had a bit of a rest day today… although Jeff tackled the buses to go into town. A few hiccoughs in the getting back process but he is home so that’s a win!

Last Friday, we met up with Yuri again and went up to Takao where there was the start of a Riverside hike.

We had a lovely day! The weather was perfect. We’d grabbed some lunch from one of the million convenience shops so we could picnic somewhere and off we went.

(All the photos here are Rachel’s as mine are only on the big camera.)

The hike was about 11kms and it was a fairly easy route along the river. Not too many dramatic hills. The scenery was gorgeous. It was slightly cooler here… And we only saw about 10 to 15 others on the track for the entire 4 hours.

Most of the walk had flat formed paths, only a few other sections had more rocky uneven patches.

There were teahouses along the Riverside in some tiny towns. The one below reminded us a bit of the bath house in Spirited Away (a Ghibli Studio movie that is totally my favourite)

This interesting side water race next to the dam is there so the fish can access going up or down…

Lots of lovely mosses… That of course Yuri was taking photos of.

We had another Spirited Away moment with this road into the tunnel.

Sadly we didn’t come out at an abandoned theme park or bath house…

The last part of the walk was by the roadside…

Thats our train station all the way over there!!

We had such a nice day and a change from doing city stuff… Very much enjoyed!

xxx

Hello!

We’ve just had a really excellent three days with our friend Yuri who visited us in February for our epic Tasmanian hike. It was so good to see her again! And she took us to some super places.

Our first stop was back up into the country on the little railway line to a superb garden. Hakuryuen Garden. (Meaning White Dragon)

Its not open all the time… Just in spring and autumn. They also limit amount of guests allowed in at one time. So it’s very peaceful (note… It’s a good idea to book to be safe esp if you want to visit in a busy season)

Yuri, as you might remember, is an expert on moss gardens and publishes books, does garden tours and is a garden designer! She shared so much interesting information!!

(information taken from pamphlet)

In 1962, Shoichi Aono, acquired the land…in the country of Ninose on the way to Kurama…and knew of the areas sacred histories and legends. He decided to restore the sacred sites, revive the land and create the gardens into the mountainside. It has been kept in the Aono family and still evolving today.

And by lucky chance… We met the son of the gardens creator who now owns the garden!!

The founder took the initiative to create Haku Ryu En, clearing the trackless land… A place where heavy machinery wasn’t available and carrying stones by hand, constructing the elements step by step. His family members, employees and even locals helped.

Its a lovely place to walk around. It was also cooler in the more mountainous area.

I loved the moss and wavy path set through it.

Yuri was on hand to tell us about the different mosses

There were small features and large all around.

We chatted to the head gardener… Nice man. I have photos of him on my other camera. Apparently the most annoying daily task is to clean up all the deer poo before visitors arrive!!

We love the stone basins and bamboo pipes

This place is going to be extra spectacular in a few weeks when the leaves get around to changing.

People also book this special place for wedding photos.

You can imagine a photographer getting creative with this space!

(Jeff’s very cool photo)

Anyway …. After getting our fill of this magnificent place, we grabbed a taxi and went down to Daitokuji where Yuri had booked us in to a special lunch… A zen Buddha vegetarian lunch.

It. Was. Amazing

Several dishes in the set menu kept coming out and each one was like a little work of art. They started with green tea and a sweet! Then moved on to the above dishes…

I just can’t tell you what each thing was. Yuri was explaining things along the way…

Above was one of Rachel’s dishes… She chose a slightly larger set menu. Being a vegetarian she made the good choice to go a bit bigger, knowing all the food was suitable. So pretty!

So delicate with the tiny flower garnish

I felt guilty eating and ruining that pretty leaf!

Even a small dish of tempura! Followed up with a really especially tasty rice and a mushroom soup!

We were all so rapt with this exciting lunch!

We then went to a couple of the temples in Daitokuji. Most pics are on the big camera, but you can see the amazing raked garden. The whole area was peaceful and we took time to sit and exchange some presents

Again, this area isn’t on the super intense tourist route, so it’s not a bad place to seek out as everything was amazing and not overcrowded.

The last place we went to was in the same complex… But more special and sacred. Lots of small tea houses tucked in a garden area… I need to find the pamphlet to describe it better. No photos were allowed.

at each shrine or temple, Jeff has been getting the monks to sign his special book. You pay a fee and they do some fab calligraphy along with the temple stamp. This one the head monk did for Jeff… But for free!! It was great watching him write it.

Jeff will have a wonderful collection by the time we are done!!

And to finish our day we went off to a little coffee shop where the owner by chance happened to go to kindergarten with Yuri! We enjoyed drinks and cake… And I collected another cute slight mistranslation…. I am just so caught up on the idea of a Hum Sandwich!!

xx

Hi!!

Its all go go go here. Been keeping busy every day. (Above pic is the sign on the local train platform… While I understand the message, the way it’s delivered makes me chuckle)

On Tuesday we went into town and followed Maris instructions to get to a spot to watch the Jidai Matsuri. Koichi was part of the event which was great fun to see! On my real camera I do have photos of Koichi enthusiastically jumping up and down waving and getting his mates to do the same… while most everyone else is behaving rather seriously.

This long parade showcases traditional clothes down the ages from all stations of life

There was also some traditional music being played at times by the groups in the parade

In the past our friend Koichi was one of the participants riding a horse

It’s a long parade… Over an hour of different people and horses passing by. It wasn’t too crowded and people would stop to watch for a while and then move on. Because it was stretched out so far there was a lot of space for people to get a good look.

I did learn today that the reason a number of the Kyoto streets are so wide is because they used to have trams/street cars!

After we saw Koichi, we decided we could move on to our next destination.

And next destination was Teramachi Street.

We all parted ways to go and look at what we wanted and made a time to meet up.

I decided to walk down an offshoot of Teramachi st, Nishiki market. I had never done that because it’s famous and very narrow … Soooo quite slow to work your way through with all the people.

a rare bit of space… No-one lingering in front of the shuttered shops! I was trying to get a shot of the young lady in the kimono!

Its all a bit of a feast for the eyes really… And the tummy if one wants to just graze their way up the street!

This shop was so cute… Sweet little tins and you could buy and choose what to put in them… Sweets or tiny bikkies! (Cookies)

The food displays are quite something

There was so much going on!

Green tea mochi

And then… You slip out a side street to escape and find a random relaxed cat…

Perfect

A lot of hustle and bustle at the Toji market today.

We went early so started before the crowds got insane. Well… We were there as they got insane but could orientate ourselves first before it got a bit wall to wall with people.

i made a bee line for my fav t-shirt stall and picked myself up a few.

actually later I went back for one more and the lady gave me an awesome bag as a present!! ❤️❤️

kitty in the bath!

i picked up some more kimono material flowers for Maureen…

i found a soap maker!! So I made friends and bought her soaps… I can’t wait to try them.

I didn’t buy heaps… But I enjoyed checking everything out.

i then got peckish and bought…. ‘ Australian muffins’ haha… They were good and such cute packaging

Funny thing… I thought it would be nice to bring home some for Mari and Koichi, so Rachel and I went to choose flavours together. A fellow who was taking photos… Maybe for the market? Wanted a pic of us with the muffin vendor. Cool, no probs. All very friendly etc. we went to pay but he insisted on buying ours for us!!! How lovely and unexpected!!

here is our Muffin Man!

anyway… All a fun day. We’re quite tired. Jeff and I are realising how many people we DON’T see on a daily basis…. Total overload lol

gotta sleep

xx

Hello from the land of the rising sun again!

this is me in Hong Kong before the final leg of the journey.

Jeff and I have decided we are too old with too many anxiety issues to fly the roundabout way in the future… Perhaps shell out the dollars and go direct.

we got to Osaka pretty early in the morning, but because we were slightly dead and our hotel wouldnt be ready for check-in for hours, I found a cabin hotel thingy. Basically we booked a spot each for 6 hours… we could get a shower and sleep and attempt at acting human before tackling the trains to get to our hotel.

each pod had what was essentially a roller door and a bed inside. Separate wings for male and female. Nice big bath and shower area.

it was bliss to lie down and sleep. We had been on the go for over 24 hours since we woke at 4am to leave Tassie.

With the help of my friend, I’d found a Japanese business hotel quite close to the airport… Only three stops down the train line. They were so nice. Our room was quite big. No tourists!

And a shrine just over the road!

I went and raided the convenience shop for drinks and sandwiches etc and later went back to the airport to meet Rachel so she didn’t have to navigate to the hotel alone. Was great to see her again. She was much more sensible and travelled to Sydney a couple of days before flying a direct flight!

We had two nights in Osaka so we didn’t have to rush off straight away. The next day we all felt up for a trip into town… And spent hours in the underground shopping area browsing and eating…. And memorably, all buying glasses (even Rachel who doesn’t need them haha… But some reading ones) they are insanely inexpensive compared to home. So… Why not get a back up pair? It was just fun interacting with the staff and sorting it all out. I guess at some stage we will do a selfie with our new specs.

Saturday and it was time to get on to the cute Hello Kitty motif train to speed into Kyoto, where we plan to spend two weeks invading the wonderful Sakurai Family.

I’ve known Mari and Koichi for about 34 years now. They are a super fun family. Their daughter Moe is now married to a lovely man, Ryota and they have an adorable little boy, Ito.

Moe and Ryota making up a version of takoyaki… so good! We love it that meals here are interactive events. As well as tasty and entertaining!!

Grandpa Koichi and Ito clowning around

Mari in charge of the yaki soba…

we all had a go at making the takoyaki

the weather has been hot and humid… Much more so than I expected being October! But today was cooler, but sunny and windy. Much like Tassie now!! So we set off to see a small event. Koichi makes traditional shoes for Maiko (Geisha) and his friend was doing a photoshoot.

but… On the bus, Jeff sat next to a fellow who struck up a conversation and told him about another event happening today… A display done only twice a year, which was archery done by horseback!! So we changed plans on the fly and took the opportunity to see this amazing event.

The horse and riders race by three targets and shoot at full gallop!! Then return to attempt two more difficult targets on the way back.

This horse was in his box waiting for tourists to buy and feed him a snack haha… He was really impatient knowing the snack was there but people were slow as they set up for a photo while doing so.

the shrine area itself was so pretty

not a lot of foreign tourists … Probably not something that would have been widely known about.

i love the way Japanese can take a smallish area and design it so it seems so big.

we can just start seeing some leaves who have realised it’s autumn. But mostly things are still very green.

There was a parade of people which I got photos of with my real camera… But we did get some quick snaps from behind the fence where we were by accident as the horses and riders joined in.

the traditional outfits are wicked cool

The event itself was very exciting… Lots of crowd excitement when the target was hit and sighs of disappointment for the riders when there were misses.

so glad we heard about this and went!

to finish the day we went up to Kurama and up in a cable car to see the shrine of Tengu. It was part of the hike I did last year. The cable car made it easy!!

Back home we had another excellent dinner… Nabe…

Now we are caught up!! Better get some sleep… Big market day tomorrow!!

xxx

Hi!
Remember I said that date to leave was coming up fast?
Well… it got faster!
Been running about like a maniac… working through lists while my brain is being mean to me and thinking up all these ridiculous little things it thinks I should do!
I also did another soap workshop! (haha… yah. I am an idiot)(but it was fun)

Anyway… bags mostly packed, presents organised.
Did some eucalyptus soaps… and got my friend Nozomi to translate some details and care instructions so I could add that into the little bags

I did a good day in the garden the other day – mostly planting everything that Jude has given me that hadn’t made it into the ground.

When I come back I am going to ask her what everything is … I can never remember! (Bricks as an anti-chook device)

A nursery for all the small plants and cuttings. I’ll put them out somewhere when we return. But they will be happier in the ground!
Netting… another anti chook device! (Mind you I lifted it a bit while Jeff mowed yesterday and didn’t put it back… Coco was STRAIGHT IN THERE!!)

I moved the avocado tree

I will espalier that too later in the year

Planted all the bulbs I had!

Found a spot for this sweet plant!

Potatoes coming up!

Put in a few carrot and beetroot seeds
Failed to weed second side

In the hothouse I have Japanese giant mustard growing (in the pathway not the beds lol)… so excellent in salads… lovely and peppery

I also moved some self seeded tomatoes, planted basil and some cucumber seeds
Lettuce still amazing

The tomato seedlings are doing fine too.

I planted another hydrangea (At least I know the name of one thing)

The cuttings I put in ages ago are putting out new little leaves.. good sign

This is a tree.
Tea tree? No… dang it. Will have to ask.
Anyway its been in a pot forever the poor thing… so into the ground it went

Oh… I was given some wormwood too! Good for bug repellent in chook yard.
So in it went.
(Is it bad I keep thinking that absinthe is in my future?)

Forget me nots everywhere

Anyway, so yesterday we did another yard stint… Jeff mowed again (grass is growing fast!)
We cleaned up a bit more stuff. I sorted firewood – filled kindling box and all boxes with firewood close to house and in the baskets inside. Just so Maureen has a nice start without having to do too much hard yakka first up.
We also hooked up all the sprinklers and bore and fixed some of the watering system nozzles that were broken or blocked.
Today we sorted the house so its not too tragic for our lovely house sitter.

Tonight I’ve just been doing the little annoying tasks that have been on my mind.
The plan is that tomorrow isn’t a frantic day.
A few small things to do but nothing crazy
Hopefully the next time I swing by the blog, it will be from The Land of the Rising Sun!
Have a great week
xxx

Well… this job I put off…
But its been hanging over my head as I really wanted them in the ground before we jetted off to Japan (Date coming up ridiculously fast)

But the weather has been… testy and I kept half heartedly having a random dig and not getting anywhere

Damn this was a pain. I dont enjoy sticky soil!
So it took an eon and I felt it in all my muscles!

I got through it then, scattered blood and bone in and dug it through for a second time. Finding more weeds I had missed of course!

At this point bending to put the spuds in was… fun. (Such a drama queen!)
I did add a handful of organic compost in each hole too.

Finished off with some straw mulch and today its being rained on… so nice timing!
I am going to be glad of getting this done come December!

Did I show you this?
Another of my Oh Dear garden issues haha

This was a while back. My friend Jaana gave me some lettuce seedlings that are doing well… we picked and ate some yesterday!

The other day I also managed to weed and mulch the garlic and do half of the other bed.

I plan to get some carrot and beetroot seeds in this other bed ASAP

I dont have a before shot of this, but just assume disaster level plot.

The soil level had sunk a lot so I topped it up with compost I got from Jude which really helped.
Then put the alpine strawberries in and replanted the regular ones in too

Ive also netted them as our little darlings have been allowed up the other end of the property in the afternoons and they have been enjoying getting into the beds and scruffing them up!

Speaking of the chooks, we invested in a bok bok box (treadle feeder)

We were feeding them in a tray and were losing so much to the sparrows and other birds. It was getting ridiculously expensive.
I found the hanging feeder bucket lid so I topped that up too and the girls went into training on how to operate the feeder

Coco and Mamma were the first ones to sort it out… overall they were all a bit… Slow! Haha. I think they’ve all got it sorted out and immediately we have noticed a difference in the frequency of restocking.
Every $$ helps these days right?

I still get to Judes mostly once a week. Happily she always seems to have something to burn! I am such a pyromaniac at heart so I am in my element. I do return home stinking though!
Worth it!

Always something pretty in her gardens!

Oh, and I’ve been enjoying making little baskets recently.
So satisfying to finish something in a week or so and not five months!

Very Wee!

I’ve booked Rachel and myself in for a bamboo basket weaving workshop in Japan (Sorry can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this) and I wanted to have some little flax basket to take for the instructor.

Then I made this one… with a bit of cordage embellishment

I got carried away and added a lid

For some weird reason I had a bunch of gumnuts… perfect for the bobble on top

And some random work on the underside to help it stop sliding off.
And some silvery gizmo just because…

OK… I better go consult my list and see what I need to be doing!
First up… light the fire as I can’t see it getting any warmer today!

xxx