As if it's not obvious from the title or the picture, this weekend I went to Nagano: home of the Japanese Alps (did you know Japan had Alps? Because I didn't). Wait, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. On Friday, my host mother threw me a party. I'm not sure why exactly. She said it was to celebrate me coming to Japan, but I think she had ulterior motives considering I came to Japan two and a half months ago...
It was nice of her anyway. She invited all her friends who, unfortunately, all have children. At least two children each. So in a room of maybe 10 or 12 mothers and all their many children, I had a rather shocking preview of what my life might be like in the future. At least I can say with some hope that I won't be a house-wife. I will go crazy if my life consists of nothing but cooking, cleaning, driving children around and laundry. Okay, I am being a little harsh. I'm sure they are very satisfied with their lives, after all it is Japanese tradition for wives to stay at home and take care of the kids while their husbands work extremely long hours. Anyway, I managed to put up with the children. A few of them were kind of cute actually. The food was delicious and there was a lot of it. At the end of the party my host mother asked me to take a picture with each of the children. I felt a lot like those mall Santa Claus's must feel. It was definitely not my favourite moment but I didn't complain. After all, she did go to a lot of trouble to throw me a party and in her defense, she doesn't know I don't really like children.
But, onto the good stuff. On Saturday morning, Sean and I met our friend Yuki at the train station and we began our long journey to Yuki's hometown of Omachi in Nagano. After a long bus ride through all three levels of the Japanese Alps (Southern, Central and Northern), we arrived in Matsumoto: an averagely-sized, quiet town surrounded by mountains. We visited Matsumoto Castle which was extremely beautiful and boasts itself as the oldest castle in Japan (it's a toss-up between this one and Inuyama, they both looked about the same age to me). After the castle, we boarded the small local train to Omachi, right in the heart of the Northern Alps. Of course, it was dark by the time we got there so I didn't actually know this yet. We dropped our things off at Yuki's parents' house where we met her parents who were incredibly friendly and welcoming. Yuki's father then took us to the local onsen (I guess you could describe it as a hot spring, only it was in a bath house, a very common Japanese feature. Nagano is riddled with natural onsen). Then we headed back to the house for dinner. Yuki's town is very small and located right at the foot of the Northern Alps so, obviously, it was very cold. Yuki's parents' house is a very traditional style Japanese home which is also very cold (As I learned yesterday, Japanese houses are built with the warm, humid summers in mind so they are very open. They don't really consider winter at all which results in freezing cold homes in the winter.). Traditional Japanese houses, however, have one solution to the cold problem called a kotatsu. A kotatsu is a low, wooden table covered by blankets on top of which is put another table and underneath everything, is a heat source: in this case, a charcoal burning pit. So, while you are eating meals in the winter, everyone gathers around the kotatsu and tucks themselves in under the blankets while they eat. It actually works quite well. So well in fact, that none of us wanted to get out from under it when dinner ended and we ended up sleeping all around it with as much of our bodies tucked in close to it as we could comfortably manage. The next morning Yuki's father was going to wake us up early to see the sunrise over the Northern Alps (it's supposed to be very beautiful) but unfortunately it was cloudy. On the bright side, I got to sleep in a little bit which I cherish since I never get to sleep in here. On another note, Yuki's father was so interesting! He showed me pictures of the time he hiked over the tops of all the Northern Alps from one end to the other. It took him a week. I'll have to come back to Japan in the summertime and try it myself. Anyway, after breakfast we went to visit Yuki's grandmother and then Yuki's goat. Yes, it's a very rural town and Yuki's family owns a farm and a goat. After that, we drove up to the top of a little mountain for a brilliant view of the Northern Alps which looked stunning with their snow-capped peaks rising out of the mist. Then we went to the Omachi Alpine Museum and stopped to eat some famous Nagano soba and oyaki before the long journey home. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the old Olympic stuff because the Olympics were held in Hakuba which is about an hour north of Omachi. Besides that though, it was a great trip.
And now it's busy, busy, busy until after the New Year. But of course (as is always the case) I have gotten sick at possibly the worst time imaginable. On the first day that all my busy plans were supposed to start, I am bed-ridden with a fever. My body only ever chooses to get sick at the most inconvenient times. So here I am, one day away from 9 days of travel and I can hardly get out of bed. Please send healthy thoughts my way. I have only one night to get better or I am going to miss out on what was supposed to be the best week of this entire trip.
And finally, if I do end up going away (I don't care how sick I am, I am going), this will be my last post until the New Year.
So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Britt ♥
I miss a hot, fresh pot of tea when I wake up, come home and go to sleep.
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