Visiting, Fishing, and Dying in Yamatokoriyama

Konnichiwa from Yamatokoriyama City in Nara, Japan. Today was out first day to explore the city. The breakfast was great--pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, and delicious pastries. I ate a bunch because I knew the likelihood of me getting anything good for lunch was slim (little did I know how slim). Yamatokoriyama is an interesting town. It has a population of about 95,000 people and about 140 industries in an industrial park including Panasonic and Sharp. They also depend a lot on farming. They have a local farmers' market and it sells out nearly as quickly as they unload. The streets are not unlike Cullman. They're small and friendly with little stores along the way. It's such a refreshing change from Tokyo. There are two interesting things about Yamatokoriyama. The deer here are considered National Treasures and they roam freely in Deer Park. The deer population is about 1,800. If anyone kills a deer, it is considered a capital crime. A hole is dug, they are put in it, and stones are thrown on them until they die (this is what we were told-I'm not making it up). The deer are very friendly, coming up to you to eat if they think you have anything. The other thing the city is known for is being the goldfish capital of Japan. They produce and sell about 80 million goldfish annually. They even have a goldfish competition where they see who can scoop up the most goldfish. The record is 61 goldfish in 3 minutes. I have a scooper and some film of children practicing. Adults and children practice at stores. The goldfish are outside in big tubs and anyone may practice there. It's strange, but kind of neat.

We met with the mayor this morning. He was a personable gentleman. He had each of us a gift bag, so we all liked him!! He told us that a couple of problems they face is the aging population with so few babies being born and the lack of industrial growth. The aging problem had already been mentioned to us. Japanese are marrying late, or not marrying at all, and are usually having just 1-2 children. This is causing problems because they have more old people than anyone else.

Next, we visited the Superintendent and the Board of Education. The Board members never said anything, but we had a question/answer session with the superintendent. He is a former P.E. teacher. I asked him what he thought was the main 2-3 problems facing Japanese education. He said they had a big problem with students who did not want to come to school (truancy- even though he didn't use the word). He also said they have a problem with middle school students not behaving as they should. Then he said the biggest problem was that "young people do not have dreams in the future." He meant that they are not goal-oriented--that they're not looking to their future and deciding now what they want to do with it. Isn't that so true? That's what I tell my students all the time--set goals and go for them!! Now I find out this is also a problem in Japan! We had a great discussion about a lot of issues. We all hated to see it come to an end. It was by far the best meeting we've had.

We ate our lunch there. I can't even begin to describe the horror or it. It was a Japanese box lunch. It was wrapped beautifully and looked great when you opened it, but it was full of terrible food. There was raw salmon, a snail, tofu, seaweed, and rice with millions of tiny fish
on top whose little eyes were all looking up at me begging me to release them. I took a picture of it--not so I would remember it, but just so you could see how pretty horrible food can look. There was one piece of a potato in it that I liked and that is all. I moved the little fish and tried to eat the rice, but everything was cold, so it was not good anyway. They brought some of that horrible, bitter green tea-remember-no taste, no color, no sugar, no nothing. I really have been open-minded and tried to like some different things, but I just can't. I left hungry.

After lunch, we went to the flea market where they were pounding rice cakes. They put a bunch of rice in this huge bowl and used a very big mallet and pounded on the rice, adding a little water now and then. We were allowed to pound for a while. I can't say it was fun, but it was interesting. When we got is all pounded, they rolled it in balls, put something brown on it, and served it to us. I thought that this was my chance to get a little something to eat. How wrong can I be?? That junk stuck to my throat like paste. It was horrible. Now, remember that this is just my opinion. The Japanese people consider them quite a treat as does Meri. I love rice (well, I used to!), but it is not my thing. We also saw them pop some rice. I have pictures of that, too. I just got a little taste of the popped rice, and it was good (nice and crunchy and sweet).

We had a few minutes at the flea market. I found the cutest group of girl scouts painting pictures. I took pictures of them. The kids here are so darling. Some are shy and do not want to be photographed, but most don't mind. After the flea market, we went to a replica of the Koriyama Joshi (castle). The moat and rocks from the original castle are still in place, but the replica was built of styrofoam to help celebrate Yamatokoriyama's 50th year as a city of its own. The castle played a big part in its history back in the time of samurias and warlords.

We went to the Hakomoto Kan Konya Dye Factory next. I didn't think this would be interesting, but we had a great time there. This is where they dye things with indigo dye. The process of growing the indigo plants was explained to us. It's really a complicated process. It takes about three months to dry the indigo leaves out, then they have to start feeding them lime, bran, and sake to keep them fermenting. When a bubble forms (the flower) the vat is ready for dying. It smelled horrible in the fermenting room where the actual dying takes place. Well, guess what we got to do? We designed and dyed our own scarf/bandana. It was such fun!! I didn't want to do it at first, but when we all got into it, we loved it. Everyone designed their own and they were all so beautiful. I can't wait to show mine off. I put some flowers on it of course!

Afterwards, we headed on back to the motel. A Fulbright professor wanted us to go eat sushi with him. I told them all they could do what they wanted to do, but tonight I was eating something that wasn't raw and something that I could recognize. So seven of us went somewhere else to eat. Meri even went with me even though she loves sushi dearly. She is so kind! I have watched her eat so much pure raw meat. It just turns my stomach to think of it! I had the most wonderful salad, fries and hamburger!! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Eileen said she was glad to see me enjoying food. You know, I don't even really like a hamburger much, but it was so wonderful!

Well, another day closes. We're off to the elementary school tomorrow to spend the day. That should be fun. I am so enjoying the slower pace here. We have a small bus, and there's just the 20 people to organize. The week is passing quickly. Sayonara!