Lately, It has been difficult for me to go out because of my growing little boy, so I 've recently found a new hobby and I have been enjoying it on weekends. The pleasure is cooking seafood dishes and drinking alcohole that mach the dishes

This is how I usually begin my Saturday. I go to a fish shop with my toddler to buy some fresh seafoods. This is wonderful opportunities for both me and my wife, it is because the brief trip with my little boy is very relaxing and critically choosing the kinds and quality of fish is also very eciting for me. On the other hand, it is also very convenient for my wife because she can do housework at home during our shopping.

◆fish shop I make use of in Nishi Koyama(西小山)

After I go back home from shopping, I am pleased with the purchases on the day, as if I came from hunting.

And then, I started to fight against gutting the fish and shelfish. This is very hard work but challenging and interesting action because I can directly feel the material as it is and the advantage of it.

The folowings are the report of my efforts.

■the date : October 6th


■purchases

a) brown seaweed for raw diet (生食用ワカメ)　b) prawn (クルマ海老) c) sea quirt (海鞘貝) d) autumn salmon (秋サケ) e) salmon roe (筋子) f) flying fish (飛び魚)　g) psenopsis (エボダイ)

The other day, we went to Bonodori festival held at the elementary school near our house. This is small festival by local community and sponsored by local shops and companies.

Obon is a day of Japanese Buddist-custom and one of the most popular events like new years day on which it is thought our ancestral spirits return home. Many people take vacations and go back hometown to welcome the spirit of ancestors during this period.

Bon dancing is one of the interesting dances various people do at a public space such as the precincts of a temple during this period. There are various styles of dance and music but the pattern we can often see is dancing in a circle around a tower.

Bon dancing was thought to be originally for holding a memorial service for a departed soul in the Middle Ages and prevailed by adding elements of praying for a good harvest and amusement.

By the way I first visited Bon dancing since my elementary school days about 20 or more years ago. Usually we are apt to drift away from the regional community and regional event after we grow up to about junior high school students. This time, my son has been given a chance to have a relationship with regional community again. Thanks to him, I could feel nostalgic and remember child’s mind .

I hope he will dance better next year.

Last March, a nearby fish shop I frequented unfortunately closed because of ageing of the shop staffs. It deprived me of a bit of pleasure on my weekends.

When the fish shop was, we could easily get fresh seafood in season and enjoy various dishes which is made use of its material by getting some information about how to cook them most deliciously from shop staff.

Of course a supermarket sells seafood, but the something sold is mostly processed and packed, so they don’t look so especially fresh and it is difficult to perceive and enjoy the real size and features and most tasty season of fish. In addition, we can’t enjoy talking about fish at supermarket. Looking for and cooking and eating fresh fish is exciting amusement I think.

My wife and I have searched for an alternative fish shops in the neighborhood since then and we finally found a new ideal spot although it is actually very far from our home. It is a fish shop street in Namamugi（生麦）city which is called Uokashi（魚河岸） street.

In this street some old traditional fish shops gathered like a market. And they sell various kinds of seafood not as cut figure including rare kinds that we can't get at a common supermarket. The main customer of the shops are special people which manage Sushi shop and Japanese restaurant so the opening time is limited from early in the morning to noon and available time for ordinary people is more limited， from 9:00pm after special people finish buying to about noon, just for three hours.

By the way, the Namamugi area is famous for Namamugi incident occurred in the last stage of Edo period. This incident was samurai assault from Satsuma on British nationals at Namamugi on 1862. And this occurence caused Angro-Satsuma war, which made some samurai realize a necessity of opening a country.

Namamugi was a fishing village at that time and the fishery industry had prospered by about the end of world war 2. But it declined because of the sharp industrialization and accompanied reclaimed project after the war. The district around there has changed as famous heavy industrial area . But it is very interesting that Uokashi street has continued to have a fish related business and feature which remind us old fishery village even in such an industrial area.

Himi City is located at the part of bottom of Noto Peninsula, facing the west side of Toyama Bay. The coast of Himi commands a very fine view of the sea behind a high mountain range at the opposite side of the bay. In addition, there is abundant and so delicious seafood.

I often hear about the good reputation of the comics from those who like Japanese sake, so I have wanted to read them for a long time and looked around for them some secondhand bookstores, but had not been able to find them because they are a little too old. But the other day, I eventually got them by internet auction.

The story of the comic has a sociable taste and includes some　knowledge

about sake and its manufacturing process, so there are many things I can

learn, in addition to the interesting story.

The heroin of the story is a 23-year-old lady, Natsuko, who was born in a rural area in Niigata Prefecture, where her family managed a small sake brewery.

At first she worked for an advertising company in Tokyo as a copywriter, but after the death of her elder brother she returned and took over her family’s business. Her brother is an executive director of the brewer and has a dream to produce more quality sake from a rare kind of rice for sake, Tatsunishiki. She also takes over his will of producing sophisticated sake from Tatsunishiki, but cultivation of this kind of rice is very difficult and she is only a young laywoman, so she faces so much hardships.

She struggles with such difficulties but she overcomes them by her pure single‐minded passion, and her exceptional skill of tasting sake, and she finally succeeds in producing fabulous sake from Tatsunishiki with the brewer’s workers.

The scene I was most impressed with is the one where she persists in her opinion that she doesn’t replace the old chief sake brewer who became sick, with her father who is president of the traditional brewer. Although it is an important judgment in connection with the future management, she believes what she did so far, and her brother’s will, and the recovery from illness of the chief. As a result of the judgement, the brewery workers produced magnificent sake from Tatsunishiki.

Natsuko is not my ideal lady, but she is a respectable person as manager.

I made a slow trip using a local train on the ticket last day because my wife and young son returned to my wife’s hometown and I could get time off from work, so I felt it would be good chance to take a long, leisurely trip.


To begin with, I went to buy a seishun 18 ticket at a ticket outlet shop near Kikuna Station in Yokohama City about 10am, and I started the trip. I went to Kofu at a stretch without stopping, and I reached Kofu after 1:00. Then I got off and went to eat Houtou, a noodle with a lot of vegetables in miso soup that is the local specialty. Hotou is served in an big iron pot for each person, so it satisfied me very much.

The course of the trip I planned was first going to Kofu in Yamanashi from Yokohama, passing through Hachioji, and second going to Fuji in Shizuoka by Minobu Line from Kofu, and finally coming back to Yokohama by Tokaido Line from Fuji, passing through Atami. Of course I used only local trains.

After I become full, I strolled around Kofu center city for 30min,and I took the train again to heading for Fuji in Shizuoka.

The Minobu Line, from Kofu to Fuji, is a very minor route in the rural area and I seldom have a chance to use it so I had been looking forward to taking it and expected seeing Mt Fuji from the train. Mt Fuji was only visible around Fuji area and almost all scene was small mountains and Fuji river. That is why I was very glad to Mt Fuji become visible.

I visited China with my friends on 2000 when I was a college student.

It was tough travel using only ship and slow train without plain or bullet train for about 20 days.

We firstly went 青島(Chintao) in China from Shimonoseki(下関) in Japan by liner. We passed 3 days in the ship talking about the future trip, looking at the sea from the deck, and talking with other passengers or staffs in the liner. And we visited several cities by train in China, for example 南京、北京、上海、杭州. After that, we came back to 青島 again and returned to Japan by ship for three days.

I had the impression that China was so active and exciting country. In those days, China’s economy had not gained so big power than now and there was still developing status compared with present. In fact, the skyscraper existed in spots, and not clean road and house were located on the backside of the buildings, and there was traffic of many bicycles. I felt every street was filled with much enthsiasm for development. It was vivid and fresh experience for me.

Now, I want to visit and see China again and make sure the difference from old China.