Home Sweet Home

Three weeks ago I left my beloved hometown Kyoto with Manami for Niigata. Together with a French friend we were to visit Manami her hometown in Niigata prefecture. The main discovery for me was that Niigata can be very windy and cold. Furthermore in Niigata dialect woman use to say ore. Where in the rest of Japan this is limited to man behaving slightly macho like. Although I am not really sure whether it is macho like. The Japanese language has many words for I. It is my general impression that man use ore more when among other man. Perhaps it is a bit more vulgar than boku.

In the picture you can see manami with her sister natsumi. They teached me and Betty a special way to keep warm by moving your back against somebody else' back. I guess the Niigata climate makes the people over there more intimate than in the rest of Japan. We were about to go somewhere by train. But because of heavy winds the trains stopped running. A very good excuse to get lazy and just put your legs in a warm kotatsu (a table with an installed heater and blanket) and relax.

From Niigata I went on my own to Saitama for a short stay in atarashiki mura. A village originally started in Kyushu by the humanistic, Tolstoi inspired writer Mushanokouji Saneatsu. The village focuses on agriculture and art. During my stay I found out that agriculture it self can be art on its own.

But before arriving in the village I had to cross the Japanese Alps by local train.

There were mountains and snow. Quite amazing.

The village was nice. I brushed my teeth





in this kitchen.

I mainly worked on the field, removing weeds, breaking open ground and breaking my hoe. I like doing agricultural work once in a while. Especially when there are nice and pleasant brakes.

Crash

There where some great pictures I wanted to post. But... My computer crashed. Yesterday by accident I walked to lake Biwa. I was not planning to do so but it happened that my walk ended there. I also wanted to show you a picture of Dan my new neighbour, friend and classmate, hanging up his laundery. I suddenly need to type. ANd to think about what to type. But after this computer crash I do not have the energy to even check my English. Next update, hopefully with my restored computer, around the first of April. I need to do some travelling, starting within eight hours from now.