Heiwa Kannon (平和観音）

Heiwa means 'peace'.

Heiwa kannon was erected praying peace and safe in Nirasaki city in 1961. The Kannon is one of three Kannon in Kanto area and keeps an eye on our happiness from the southernmount of shitsiriiwa (七里岩).

This year, the kannon will come to fifty-year-celebration. Though the kannon has been there for fifty years, it keeps beautiful looking because people try to protect it as the repayment for peaceful life.

Romantic night with fireflies

When I was a child, my grand mother used to take me to Kotagawa (小田川) where fireflies are often found in Nirasaki city. Today, I went to Hotaru Matsuri (Fireflies festival) after a long separation.

The festival became bigger than that in 10 years ago because people seldom watch fireflies in other places compared to the past. We could watch small green lights in darkness, which made us feel romantic. Protectors of fireflies told me that fireflies would die in three days after glowing. How short and their lives are! Their lives are just express Japanese culture (In France, fireflies don't glow and fly.) Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of their faint glow. I thought that their glows send us their sadness.

After we enjoyed romantic feeling, we tried to make 'Hotaru-kago (ほたるかご-a cage for fireflies). Local uncle illustrated how to make it. International students from France and Uzbekistan made it together. Not our nationalities but characters showed up the performance.

The festival brought me back old memories, and told my friends traditional Japanese culture.

Mt.Amari （甘利山）

Mt.Amari (1,731.4m) is one of 'mountains in Yamanashi', which rises in fron of South Alps. From the middle to the end of June, people climb Mt.Amari to enjoy watching communities of azaleas. The fascinations of Mt.Amari is beautiful scenery of azaleas, Mt.Fuji, Mt.Yatsugatake, and Mt.Hohoh. If you are lucky, you could see these mountains with a field of clouds. Also, Mt.Amari is popular as a mountain which has some precious alpine plants.

In addition, there is a pond 'Sawara-ike (さわら池) on the side of Mt.Amari. The pond is secretly known for the legend 'Sawara-ike Densetsu (さわら池伝説）'. The legend tells... A long ago, an old honed woman came to Mt.Amari, and turn into a big snake when she got into the pond. One day, children of lieges lived in Amari place went to the pond and were lost in the pond. The lieges got angry and covered it with trees of Sawara. The snake turned into a red cow in order to hide but ran away to somewhere... People believe that a sword which was used by the lieges is still buried in the pond. The legend makes the atmosphere arund the pond more mysterious.

Shimpujo-Ato (新府城跡)

As I wrote on the last post, Shimpu is a historical place in Nirasaki. Shimpujo-Ato (新府城跡-the trace of the Shimpu castle) is the most important evidence of the history, which was registered as a national cultural property.

When Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼）lost at the War of Nagashino (長篠の戦い), he moved the central place of force in order to prepare against the next invasion. The Shimpu castle was constructed by Katsuyori at that time, but he set fire to the castle before it's completed. After that he escaped to Tano （田野-甲州市 Kosyu city at present）and committed suicide, that was the fall of the Takeda family.


The Shimpu castle is the last one of the Takeda family. The particular construction represents their strength. The castle was built with forts and fosses but stone walls. The castle keep still remains and tells us the history of the family.

Shimpu Tohgenkyo （新府桃源郷）

Do you know the place of Shimpu （新府）? Shimpu means 'new central place of force', which is compared to Kofu (the old central place of force -甲府,古府） where Takeda Shingen (武田信玄) controlled. So, Shimpu was the place where Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) lived as a central place controlled.

Shimpu is famous as a peach farm. Peach trees set fresh peach in summer, of course, trees bloom brilliant pink peach blossoms which looks a big pink carpet in spring! Pink (the colour of peach blossoms) makes a beautiful contrast with yellow (the colour of rape blossoms), blue (the colour of sky), and white (the colour of snow on mountains)! Unfortunately, I couldn't take a nice picture to appeal it...anyway, a lot of people come to enjoy late 'Ohanami (お花見-a picnic under the blossoms) in the best season.

If you miss the season to enjoy watching peach flowers in other places, you should come to Shimpu because the peach trees bloom the latest in Yamanashi.

Waniduka no Sakura (わに塚のサクラ）

There is an excurrent cherry blossom at the centre of tumulus on the Nirasaki hillside. It is said that the tree is about three-hundred-year old and classified into Edohigan cherry blossom.

People have believed that two theories as origins of the name of the tree. The one is; the tumulus is called as the grave of Takedaoh (King of Takeda) who was Yamatotakeru (hero of Japanese myth). Waniduka is written in Kanji as a tumulus of King (王仁塚）. The other one is; the shape of the tumulus is similar to mouth of Wani (鰐-old name of shark).

The Sakura is printed on the total tour booklet of Nirasaki. In this year, some news programs talked about it, which made it get famous nowadays. The best season to enjoy it is from the end of March to the middle of April. The tree will be lighten up among the limited days from dusk to night time. A lot of cameramen visit and take photos of the tree and Kayagatake (茅ヶ岳）with snow. The tree stands and blows flowers at the centre of field ,which looks so grand and attractive!!!

MY JOB!

From April, I have worked at the city hall in my hometown. Since I was hired as a clerical staff, there were lots of possibilities to be posted. Hopefully, I could be in charge of tourism at the commerce and tourism section, which interests me a lot!!! The reason why I decided to work as a civil servant is because I wanted to contribute to make the city attractive:)

On 1st April, I got the ID card and declared to work for the city. I had to start working as same as other seniors, of course, working carrier shouldn't appeal to result of any work. What I have to do was to know and study the city. Even though I am a citizen, I didn't know anything enough to guide the city for tourists. The total tour booklet would be my textbook for the moment...

And...I will upload some sightseeing spots on this blog in order to introduce you and to make use for my work!

Graduate traveling to Hakone

They are members of the wind orchestra of Yamanashi University. We went traveling to Hakone as a graduate traveling.

We wanted to feel like putting on the ritz, so we booked a Japanese Inn where we can enjoy taking a hot spring and drinking. Of course, the schedule was set on the day when all of us can join it...And yet, we just decided the Inn. We drove to Odawara and dropped at Sakana centre, a beach, Hakone Yumoto station, and so on. Since it was a bit snowy and so cold, we felt a special feeling to go into a hot spring. At night,
drinking party was really an exciting time!

On the second day, though it was snowing hard, we enjoyed as much as we wanted to. We went to Ohwakudani to eat a black egg for rising longevity. At the museum of glass, there was a kind of festival for an experience of Masquerades. (the picture of the right side) After that, we rushed to Hakone Yunessan in snow. Around the time when we left Hakone, a warning of heavy snow was given to people in kanto area...

It would be the last time to play the goat, which was the phrase we repeated on our way home. I felt a bit sad to think of graduation. But, we won't forget the traveling I believe!!

My new hobby...?

This is a 'toy camera'. It is a kind of camera but it doesn't have flash and zoom functions. Can we take good photos with it? Yes, we can:) Toy cameras make it possible to take nuanced pictures with the simple structure.

I started writing just like an advertisement...anyway, 'toy camera' seems to be getting popular even among professional cameraman. My friend who is immersed in taking pictures inspired me to be interested in camera. Though I can't afford to buy a single-lends reflex camera, I wanted to buy something cool. I bought a 'toy camera' as a start of the second camera to take a bit nuanced photo:)

And yet, I'm a BEGINNER for taking pictures. It's difficult to find a nice object around me. At first, I'm trying to take heaps of pictures until I can enjoy it. After that, I would like to say 'my hobby is taking pictures', which is my target. Unfortunately, I can't show you my improvement because the camera is analog one...

DONE!

For the fourth students, the most heaviest task is a graduate thesis. Though some universities don't impose the task, we cannot graduate from the Yamanashi University without submitting the thesis.


I decided the theme last year, which was supposed to go well. The theme of my thesis is "Melody and Tone in Language and Music" which is related to my hobby, music. But, I couldn't handle it and job-hunting at the same time. Because I am a person who is a kid myself, I had to reject anything fun from my head!!!

It was soooooooooooo tired and hard to spend long time on one topic. But, I could act from a fellow feeling of International Culture Course. Every time I go to Uni, we cheered ourselves up and made us rush to work. Surely, thanks to my professor, I could submit the thesis. Also, I could keep working and finish it with my friends in the course. When I bound the thesis, I achieved a sense of accomplishment! Thanks everyone!!!

And...good job, I had done! I want to deserve a little reward for me:)

AWESOME presents

Mai (refer to the link) gave me an awesome presents for my birthday! Oh, I turned 22 on 18th December. Her presents were so nice that I can't help but write on the blog.

The one was a CD-ROM which recorded home-made video. International friends gave me birthday messages in their language and Japanese with music. It was funny that a stranger said to me 'happy birthday' with a kind of greeting to introduce himself. And, some Australian friends celebrated my '21st'. She seemed to have recorded the video in order to give it to me one year ago. It's just like Mai:) The video delivered lots of messages beyond a time.

The other one was a calender which has memorial photos in each pages. "Mi-hop step jump", the blog name, and my picture were printed on the top (the photo on the left side). The calender reminded me of our memories in Australia each time I turn over the pages. My favorite page is April one (the photo on the right side.) Many Australian and Japanese are smiling at Manry beach... Yeah, I can remember what and when pictures were taken even now. It is SURE that my memories in Australia help me to recognize what I want to do and encourage me. I decided to put the calender on my future desk at my future working place to motivate myself.

THANKS MAI!!!

Not to lose my mind

My last semester in my uni life has started at the beginning of October. Even though I'm fourth year student, nine subjects are in my timetable. (An average of fourth year students enroll less than five subjects.) The reason why I'm taking too many subjects is because I was motivated by realization of the time limit to be as an student. Of course, I could predict that how heavy management the schedule was. However, I couldn't help imposing them on myself to be active to study.

But...
I'm busy!
Whenever I was asked how I'm being, I tended to say that to most of people around me.
What a distant word! If I were one of them, am I happy or to be said that? You might try keep distance not to disturb someone who says busy. I remembered that one of my senior talked about the word "busy" in her blog. In Chinese character, "busy" is expressed as "losing mind", which means that it is a negative word keeps others away. I had totally forgotten what she wrote. And that, words have a strong power. I was to lose my mind by saying it. Even if my current situation is just like busy, I could paraphrase in other more positive words. From today, busy was added to my dictionary as a taboo word.

"Fall is the best season for reading." Yeah, most of books I've read nowadays are references for my major...I should read some books in order to take back and detoxify my mind just light now! Thinking of such a rare idea for me, I dropped in a public library on my way to home.

How have I been...?

Hi! Sorry for no posting for looooooooooong time...

What mostly I had been doing was job-hunting. I guess that the period would be the hardest time in my life. It is natural for us to spend a long time to decide the way to our future, though...
I had to remove something fun to get a job, which made me feel tired and depressed. How many times have I taken tests...? The depression, in terms of economy, definitely hit our job-hunting as well...

Finally my future course was set...! I will be a civil servant at the town hall in my hometown. I would like to work at an international exchange program between my hometown and sister cities because I had emphasized the importance of the program at the meeting exams. Waiting for the chance, what I have to do is brushing up my English again!

I'm home!

I'm safe back in Japan today! What I said at first when I got off the airplane was 'it' cold in Japan!' It would take time to adopt my body into Japanese climate...

On the airplane, I started reading messages which I got from my friends at the last drinking party. All messages reminded me of my life in Australia. To my shame, I was going to cry alone there. It was so long flight from Australia to Japan that I work hard to kill a time not to cry again.
On my way to my home from Narita airport, I felt strange feeling for everything. I have seen something but it looks different from that before... I might be Taro Urashima...haha... Because I had an urge for Japanese rice, I asked a person who picked me up from the airport to drop at a Japanese restaurant. I'm still a Japanese even though I stayed in Australia for nine months. Although he said my Japanese sounds a bit funny... I have to practice Japanese in order to get a future job. Of course, I will keep studying English!!! What I felt a pressure is that I have to show off my English for my teachers and friends. I do not know whether I can come through their expectations. But I could say I had a really precious experience there anyway!!!

I'm home, Japan! Please do not miss me you Australian guys! I won't cry anymore because I believe that we can meet again some day;^)

thanks for everything!

I did not want to count...but I could not help counting how many days I had left... someday I have to go back to Japan anyway.

In the last week, I was very busy to buy souvenirs, to send my luggage, to apply to go back to Japan....that's why I could not do everything I wanted to do. But, sometimes we need a time limit. Otherwise we can be getting lazy. Being struggling preparation, I tried to make a plan to meet my friends as much as I could. I feel sorry for everyone who invited me but whom I could not spend time with me. However, I was really happy that a lot of my friends came to my farewell drinking though some of them seemed to be busy on exams and assignments. I used to say that I did not have so many friends in last semester. But actually, I have many many great friends! What's a shame I could not notice it!!!
I do not know how many times I cried. I had not realized that I could cry so easily...I'm sorry for showing my awful face. But, I believe that the number of tears shows the number of my memories in Australia.

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH FOR EVERYTHING! I WILL NEVER FORGET WHAT I DID IN AUSTRALIA FOREVER!!!

100 to do list

Nowadays, what I somehow tend to do is to count how many days I have left to stay Australia. Just today, I have less than one month until I go back to Japan. I cannot believe! I don't wanna believe!, which is what I'm saying every day. If I want, I can change the date of flight. But, I'm really worry about job hunting. As my professor says, there are a lots of things to do in Japan...

Anyway, I have only one month. I do want to do whatever I can! I do never waste a time! Such person, I, have got a good idea from Hiroko who was one of my classmates in last semester. That is....'100 to do list before leaving'. What I really wanted to do, what I have missed to do, what I thank my friends...and whatever comes up to my mind, I put on the list. In order to make the list, this blog was helpful. I have continued posting so far, which was good. Though I don't know I can achieve everything on the list, having the list could make the rest of my life in Australia maaaaaaaaaaad fun!

Surely doing heavy assignments, I will enjoy as much as I can in Australia!!!

with flatmates

International students look very busy even in holiday, which differ from us, exchange students. Such my flatmates seemed to finish their assignments and invited me to go daytrip to Jervis bay which is located in Southern Coast! Though I have spent much money on traveling, I still could afford to go day trip with them. Three of my flatmates from Malaysia, their friends from India, Spain, and my Japanese friends joined all together.

This day trip had a quite tight schedule because there are many things to see in South Coast. While I used to live in South of Sydney, I had not been further than Cronulla where I stayed five years ago. Firstly, we went to see grant coastline and the Kiama Blowhole which is like a big tube made by rock and spouts seawater. I did not know that there were such a beautiful place in Sydney! On our way to there, we dropped at Wollongong Nan Tien Temple. We saw China for a while, which made us feel mysterious... After that, we rode on a ferry having a lunch to watch dolphin and whale. It was difficult to close to them as I expected. But, wild dolphin and whale were cuter and more alive than that in aquarium (Unfortunately, I could not take a good picture of them)...Despite of my concern that we who are from Japan would be looked with something strange by Australian people, I did not have any problems, which was good. It's because I have a Japanese friend who had experienced in bad way when he joined whale watching tour. Finally, we moved to beaches which are famous for the whitest sand in the world and came back to city.

It was a bit tiring to follow the tight schedule...but, I enjoyed much more than I expected. Particularly, I was really glad to go out with my flat mates. During the trip, we could talk about deep topics with a lot of joking:) It might be the last going out with them because when I leave Australia, they would be very busy to do assignments and exams. This trip must have been a gooooooooood memory with them...!

From Tasmania~Day4

Today, we got up early again and joined a tour to go to the Port Arthur which was established as a traditional prison of convicts from England in 1830. As it is said that Tasmania has a sad history of Australia, I did not know that such a historical place is located there but in the main land. On the bus, each of us got a tramp card which a man or woman was drawn. These people were people in the prison and found at the Museum. The man who was printed on my card was chased by gangs moved there. People were sent there even though their crimes were not so heavy. Some of them seemed to commit crime to escape from poor life.

When I went out the museum, I was so surprised because there were so beautiful yard and buildings. I supposed convicts' mind would have become pure if they stayed there for a while. But, I changed my mind. When I had a look a penitentiary, I did not want to imagine what I would have done or something like that. Some rooms did not have any rooves and floors...

Around 1 o'clock, we joined a harbour tour which we can get explanation of the history at an outer island. The island also looked nice. There had also graves sad histories of convicts though...

We learned much history of it, which was good while we were not so comfortable. However, it must be necessary for us to go traveling not just for fun. That is why I cannot stop traveling! Of course, we enjoyed this traveling a lot! It would be the last trip for me in Australia. I really want to thank Kasumi (sitting next to me in the right photo) who invited me and Grace (the second right of the right photo) and Cici (the right of the right photo) for traveling together.

In Tasmania~Day3

This morning, we got up very early to go to Mount Wellington because we had to take the rental car back to a rent shop. Also, it looked hard to clime the Mountain without cars. Getting lost many times on our way to the top on Mountain, we saw beautiful scenery of Hobart city. But, the most wonderful view was from the top. We were above cloud and saw the city in hole of cloud. In addition, there was still snow on surface of roads. It was the first time for me to see snow in Australia!

Then, we went to the Salamanca Market. I like markets because we can know about the place from what are sold in markets. There were something interesting which I had not found in markets in Sydney. For example, fruit leather, Tasmanian Devil's mitten, antique musical instruments. and so on. More over, many musicians from young to old generations were playing music between shops, which was very interesting for me♪ We did not buy anything there because we did not want to make our luggage bigger. (Our luggage had already been filled with chocolate...)

After that, we hanged around city. The orchid festival was held at Town Hall, which mended our tiredness. And, we studied maritime history at the Maritime Museum next to Town Hall. To my surprise, people in Tasmania did whale hunting as well as Japanese! (I can argue about it in class because we have had some discussion of whale hunting in this semester.)

At night, we ate Indian dishes. We could eat anything, but there were few restaurants around our backpacker even though it was Saturday today. It was the last night in Tasmania. We enjoyed chatting over.

In Tasmania~Day2

Today, we rent a car to go away from Hobert. Today's theme was EATING! It's dangerous theme for me who is on diet...

First, we dropped at a cheese factory. It was much smaller than we expected. We tasted more than five cheese made in the factory. Goat cheese had a strong smell and taste. (I didn't like it.) We bought nothing and drove for the next food.

Next food was chocolate! In Australia, there is a famous sweets company, Cadbury which deals with chocolate, ice cream, candy and so on. Grace and Cici really wanted to come to the factory so that they decided the factory as the first destination. They applied a visitor tour for an hour. Contrary to our expectation, what we did there was to have explanation of how to make chocolate and history of the company. We were depressed and bought a lot of cheaper chocolates which were not sold because of defect.

The last food was bread. While it took about two hours to get there, we, Japanese wanted to go to a famous bakery 'Ross Village Bakery'. It is said that Studio Giburi movie 'Kiki's delivery service (魔女の宅急便)' was based on the bakery. I love the movie! The bakery was a bit different from our images. But, we found a black cat, gigi's dolls were sold. Shopper aunt seemed to be accustomed to Japanese tourists. She suggested us to take a picture at a counter with Kiki's pose like resting our chin on our hands, which made my interests gone, unfortunately...

After that, we thought we had time to go to wineries. However, because of clapped car navigation, we got lost and ran out of time to go. Instead, we went out to a pub 'New Sydney' (even though we were in Tasmania!) and drunk Tasman beer and wine. Though I could not distinguish how was different from normal beer and wine, I was satisfied with fashionable night at the pub with live musical performance. Umm...I ate much today...