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!!!