I like small towns and nice people

Yesterday Haruka showed me around her home town. It was 20 minutes by car from the nearest train station, and though it is close in proximity to Kyoto, it was very rural. I didn't take as may pictures as I would have liked, but here is a rice paddy.

Many of the houses, including Haruka's, had small farms in their yards. (not haruka's house)

Her house is very old. It has a traditional Buddhist altar, a coy pond that gets its water from the nearby river, and a traditional iron bath tub that must be heated by burning wood at it's base (not a great picture). Seeing an old style Japanese home was really interesting, I thought. Also, the fact that she, her brother and sister, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and great grandmother all live together is pretty amazing and increasingly rare in modern Japan.

Her grandmother made us somen noodles that were very good. Her grandfather had me help feed the coy. Her great grandmother, who is incredibly small, told me that she was going to go to the store to but toilet paper, and then said that she recognized me and had seen me around the house before. Altogether she was pretty with it for a 93 year old.

When I asked for a picture, her mother and grandmother declined, and instead we took this strangely formal picture of me, haruka, and her sister sakura.

this structure is a monument of sorts in memory of the brave warrior who saved the town from a giant people eating snake long ago.


while i was there, haruka also took me to visit her aunt and uncle's house, which I enjoyed very much. Her aunt is an artist that makes clothing out of various materials, such as old kimonos, aprons, and hand towels. She gave me a couple of very nice gifts, a hat that she made for me, and a belt that she had traded a fellow artist for. Its amazing how generous some people are, even if gift giving is part of their culture.
the uncle reminded me a lot of my friends in America. He made a lot of jokes and was very into gaming. he said things about the social interaction of gaming and whatnot and i loled. I have this video, though it chugs for some reason. and the reason has to do with my putting it into premier. but anyway, he's explaining that taping a cross hair is advantageous for various reasons. he is playing rainbow six vegas.
The video was too long to upload all of the owning that ensued.

here are some videos that belong in various previous posts.

hanabi (also chuggs)
sesame seed crushing

kare oke