Masks

I recently had to travel to Tokyo. Everyone on the shinkansen that day was wearing a mask. The same was true of the people I saw at Tokyo Station. I observed many thousands of people that Saturday, over 99% of them masked. What Japanese understand, particularly in times of crisis such as this, is that we are called upon to consider the greater good, and act accordingly.  

Contrast this with the mask kerfuffle in the US. "I'm being repressed" bellow the boobs when asked to don a face covering. "Consider the safety of family and friends", remonstrate the responsible.  More than this, even: honor your end of the social contract. Listen to the professionals, follow their advice, do your part. For the sake of family, friends, everyone.          

Evening Ride in Kamo, Niigata

Evening Ride in Kamo: Scaredycats, Jizo and the Frogs

inflatable tiger scarecrows; tree frogs on a roadside shrine to jizo, protector of travelers

Misc. Photos from Kamo

stuffed cloth 鈴緒 suzuno bell pull

shrine (not inari)

narrow residential street

irises in bloom

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Tagami, Late Afternon

Old Structures and Satoyama Scapes

At top: 古民家 (kominka) private residence built in 1935, vacant for the last 20 years, now the home of a new NPO promoting community affairs

Middle: classic satoyama landscape, hillside abutting rice fields, bamboo grove, and a fallow field, evidence of Japan's shrinking population

Bottom: disused commercial structure most likely built in early 20th C  

The Japanese Macrobiotic Diet

The author of this book on macrobiotic lunch box recipes recommends a ratio of 6:4. That is, 60% brown rice and 40% side dishes of fresh vegetables and pulses. For lunch today: genmai (brown rice) with hijiki (a type of dried seaweed, also recommended by the author), and steamed potato, broccoli, carrot, and zucchini as the okazu side. The lower photo shows a recent dinner, with potato, bean, and hijiki croquettes (from a recipe in the book) in the frying pan. Canned mackerel in olive oil and asari short-necked clam soup are also pictured. 

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Tagami Town and Niitsu

Photos from a recent trip through the hills of Tagami and Niitsu. The rice was planted about a month ago and is coming along nicely. The rock wall was formed some 1400 years ago as magma from a volcanic eruption cooled.

Inari Shrine in Kamo

Inari is the god or rice and of success in commercial ventures, and his temples are readily identified by their numerous torii gates, which are presented to the shrine as offerings to the god. The fox is the god's familiar and relation, hence the carvings, statues, and fox figurines at these shrines. Why the mouse figures at these shrines? Well, foxes are known to consider the rodent a delicacy, and an offering of mouse, fried so as to slow putrefaction, was believed particularly pleasing to the fox. Fried tofu (aburage) was eventually adopted as a substitute for the harder-to-obtain mice. The small shrine at the bottom of the steps contains an iron lantern presented to some worthy individual (and later placed at the shrine) by the Imperial Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi (latter half of the 16th C, if memory serves).

The Common Kingfisher: Recent Sightings

I've been treated to sightings of this uncommonly beautiful bird twice in Kamo City this week.

(photo: Wikipedia)

The common kingfisher is known as the "kawasemi" in Japanese, a compound of "kawa" (川- river) and "semi" (蝉- cicada). So, "river cicada" (川蝉). If someone sounds like a cricket, the person has a "cicada voice", or "semigoe" (蝉声). And leaving this world, sloughing off the mortal coil, is "sendatsu" (蝉脱), cicada shell.     

Japan by Bike: Niigata Files: Kamo City

From top: Former Tsurumaki Sake Brewery, Tsurumaki Open Garden (same surname, not sure if there's a connection), Old Post Office (now a gallery and cafe)

COVIDiaries Japan

Primary and secondary schools throughout much of the country welcomed students last week as the new academic year began, while universities have delayed their in- person classes until mid- May.

The government's non- binding state of emergency for seven prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka has been moderately successful, with districts that are ordinarily packed referred to as "ghost towns" by locals.

All prefectures with the lone exception of Iwate are reporting cases, the nationwide total currently at 7268, with 138 deaths.  

Social Distancing Scarecrows

Japanese Pride and Japan Today

Japan Today has become the go-to source of Japan-related news in English for the expat community. The quality of the reporting is fine when the articles originally appeared at Reuters, AP, and Kyodo News (among others), as opposed to inhouse productions. The comments section reveals many of JT's readers to be unable to understand Japanese, uninterested in learning the country's culture or history, and just plain uninformed.

An example from an article today re pride in Japan:

 That's been a concern for me ever since I came here. Everything in the supermarkets is so expensive. I can get most things for less than half the price back home. And I'm tired of eating bananas and moyashi. I wonder how many Japanese are proud of the expensive fruit.

The reader has exposed his flanks on this one, but I'll resist the urge. Instead, let's consider food prices (Walmart Grocery US for comparison).

green onions@ 98￥/ horenso spinach@ 128￥/ shishito sweet green peppers@ 74￥ (50% off)/ 3 nishin herring fillets@160￥ (20% off)/ aburage fried tofu@60￥/ oboro semi- soft tofu@70￥　(1USD=108￥)

I compared prices on similar items/ sizes (ones I could find) at Walmart Grocery (online): green onions (1 bunch) @$.50/ baby spinach@ $1.37/ herring fillets (tinned only) @$3.50/ tofu @$2.64

Total for the same 4 items puchased at a Japanese grocery store (pictured): $4.20

Walmart Total: $8.01

Dairy (cheese, cream, butter in particular) tends to be a bit more expensive in Japan. I purchased a liter (33 fluid ounces)of low-fat milk yesterday for 100￥. Walmart sells 64 oz. for $1.47. 

Fruit (domestic), also, tends to be higher: 1 apple, 100- 200￥

Walmart: $1. 10

1 pear: 100- 250￥

Walmart: $.69

(That said, Japanese fruit is worth every yen of extra cost.) 

So no, you don't have to subsist on a diet of bananas and bean sprouts.    

Antlions for a Change

Today's edition of the popular Vox Populi column in the Asahi Shinbun features a 15-year old student who has researched antlions and their larvae since she was in primary school.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13274882

COVIDiaries Japan

Tokyo continues to break records for infections, with yesterday's tally at 143, the second straight day above 100, and over 200 nationwide.

The prime minister is expected to announce a state of emergency by Wednesday. Just what that will entail remains to be seen. Legally, authorities are unable to enforce restrictions on movement.

The central government has announced it will offer direct cash payments of 300,000 yen to those whose annual income is 3 million yen or less (approx. 27,000 USD).

COVIDiaries Japan

Tokyo is reporting another record number of confirmations, 78, a day after posting a significant drop.

Elected officias and medical associations are asking the Abe administration to invoke the recently enacted law granting the prime minister declaration of emergency powers, but the government has yet to do so.

The law does not permit the government to enforce measures to limit movement, however, so it remains to be seen how effective the declaration would be to halt the spread of the virus.

COVIDiaries Japan

March 29th saw Tokyo continue its week-long streak of record-breaking confirmations for a single municipality: yesterday's figure of 68 was up from 16 on the 23rd.

Beloved entertainer Shimura Ken (70) is among those who have succumbed to the disease.

The Abe administration is moving to prohibit foreigners entering from China, Korea, and the US.

The full cost of a PCR exam in Japan is either 140 or 180 USD, depending on the ability of the testing facility to analyze the sample. Those enrolled in the national health scheme would normally expect to pay from 10-30% of the total. However, as of March 6 testing is free for those covered by national insurance.      

COVIDiaries Japan: Tokyo Sees Jump

For the third day running, Tokyo has led Japan in new cases of coronavirus, with over 40 confirmed in the capital today, March 25. This is up from 16 on the 23rd and 17 on the 24th. If you are in Tokyo or have seen photos of crowded parks and other public spaces there (and elsewhere in Japan), the news will come as no surprise. Complacency typifies the attitude of many in the country.    

COVIDiaries Japan: A Different Kind of Story

Thirteen- year- old Takimoto Hime, of Yamanashi Prefecture, decided she needed to do something a month ago when she began seeing long lines of customers outside of drug stores hoping to snag a packet or two of masks, then in extremely short supply. In late February she began making masks with cotton and elastic, working as many as 5 hours/ day. On March 17th she visited the prefectural office, where she presented officials with the 612 masks she had made by hand. The cost: 80,000￥, all of it money she had saved over the years from traditional New Year's otoshidama from family and relatives.

https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200318/k00/00m/040/037000c