It was a great few days seeing some good friends as well as the in laws and family. Things are getting rolling on the farm, and while we weren't in time to plant the watermelon seedlings, I did manage to get a few hours of tilling time in the rice paddies today. For what may well be one of the most boring things one could do, going back and forth across a field at a cool 3 mph is oddly satisfying. I apologize again to all the frogs who couldn't avoid the wrath of the tiller in time, or did so only to be exposed and eaten by crows.
Here are a few pics from around the farm.
I took a trip into the Tokyo vicinity on Sunday for a double whammy party for friends back from Canada/birthday for another friend. I always relish my trips back there because these are my best friends in Japan, and I always have an absolute blast whenever we hang out. I generally do enough drinking and laughing to last me a month.
I've bitched about the obscene cost of tolls here in Japan on numerous occasions, but over the past 6 months or so the racket in charge of the highways here has instituted a relatively sane price of 1000 yen ($10-ish) on weekends and holidays, no matter how far you're driving (it usually costs about $60 to go to Niigata). Considering that bargain price, coupled with the prospect of traveling in the comfort of my own car as opposed to a train crowded with Golden Week crowds, I opted to drive to visit my friends. I ran into a bit of traffic, and it took and hour or two longer, but was definitely worth it in the end.
Upon my arrival back to Niigata yesterday evening, I was greeted by the very appealing combination of meat and beer. I always like when Chieko's folks whip out the outdoor tatami mats and fire up the charcoal. Not the best night pictures, but not the worst.
We've got one day left in this whirlwind vacation. We came back with a box full of tomato, corn, green pepper, and eggplant plants that need to get in the ground tomorrow. I'd also like to get to the gym after a few days of fairly liberal eating and drinking. I also have a Japanese lesson tomorrow evening at some point. And I'm not sure what I'm going to do in class on Thursday so I should probably pop into the office at least for a little bit. Vacation?
5 comments:
dude, those pictures are awesome. i am jealous of all your adventures. i need to pay nihon a visit in the (relatively) near future.
you and your wife have a place to crash in kanazawa any time if you make it this far...would be cool to meet up somewhere for a (gallon or so of) beer though if you do come back...thanks for the compliments on the pics
I'm curious about your in-laws' farm: do they have employees? What do they raise (just watermelons??) Where do they sell it?
I hope the planting went well.
they grow watermelons and rice for selling, but lots of other stuff for their own consumption...they sell it through a farmers cooperative...there's a big processing facility in town that they deliver the watermelons and rice to after harvesting...they also do some private sales of both, but i think the bulk of their income comes from selling through the coop...it's subsidized and provides them with a lot of the equipment they need as well...the rice from their region and specifically their town is highly regarded and pretty expensive...though it tastes like pretty normal rice to my untrained tongue...
and to answer other questions patty, they don't have employees, only family members who help out with the planting/harvesting...chieko's parents handle the day to day stuff by themselves (they've scaled the operation down, at least the watermelon part, considerably now that they're getting up and years), and the rice operation is pretty much fully mechanized now...
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