May the 29th
We set off early for my last Wednesday here to return to Hiruzen region. Ryota and Mako-san drop me off at the beginning of Nakahiruzen hiking trail, the central mountain of the three peaks that form Hiruzen. I set off for thr
Ollie Diary day14
May the 28th
Today, the weather forecast calls for a typhoon to pass over part of Japan. It's raining cats and dogs from morning till night, so it's not a very active day.
I've got to go to the Irie-san's house at 9am to make ichigo daifu
Ollie Diary day13
May the 27th
The day began with rain, so I stayed at shared-house いとくる for a morning devoted to sewing little bags from the offcuts of the kimono.
But after lunch, Toto very kindly offered to lend me his bike, so I jumped at the chance to
May the 26th
For this second Sunday of my stay, Ryota-san took me to Hiruzen, on the northern part of Maniwa.
In the morning, an event is held in Chuka district. Organised around some environmental themes and located near a nature museum,
May the 25th
After a huge wash-up of the previous night's dishes, I spend part of the morning in the mountains near the house. Behind a shed, a small path leads to a very small cemetery, perhaps of previous families. I pass the tall headst
May the 24th
This morning, as I was starting to pull weeds at the back of the house, the neighbours beckoned me to come and see them. So here I am again at the Irie-san's house, but this time without a translator to help me. Irie-san point
May the 23th
After a half-Japanese, half-Western breakfast (miso soup, green tea and egg sandwich, made with bread given by Irie-san the day before), the morning was devoted to cleaning the room next to mine, with Toto and Ryota-san. Piles
May the 22th
To alternate again, today was a calmer day at home. I woke up early to begin a big, intense cleaning of the kitchen of the shared house, which needed it just as much as the living room.
I forgot to mention in the meantime the
May the 21th
Today is more special than usual, as this is the day the ceremony of the first planted rice shoots of the season takes place. In fact, most of the rice fields have already been sown, but one has been left unplanted for this sy
May the 20th
As I was saying, we ended the previous day with a restaurant in the company of a university professor and his son, which I'd just like to describe because it seems very Japanese and I've only ever seen it in films. The guests
May the 19th
On this grey Sunday, Kei-san, who lives in the same shared house, was kind enough to take over and bring me on a tour of various parts of the region.
We start in Kuse, where there's a big market that I'm lucky enough to see,
May the 18th
A quieter, more solitary day, with the morning devoted to translating the card game. In the afternoon, I took a stroll along a path traced by the wheels of large machines that slice the trees along the mountain slopes.
I wal
May the 17th
No big exploration outside today, but a day full of discoveries of the hosts' daily life.
I started by spending two hours cleaning the living room of the shared house. It has to be said that the amount of dust collected was..
"May the 16th
The day begins with the cleaning of the guest house, which, in my opinion, is not so much work as the chance to take care of a house built some eighty years ago in the historic style of the Edo period. By cleaning the tatami
