Masa’s Onsen (Hot Spring) Short Story Vol.2

It situated in the northwestern part of Tokyo, and it takes about three hours by car or by Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo, Tsubame Onsen (Hot Spring) in Myoko highland of Niigata prefecture is now at the height of the fall foliage. There are eight small Onsen Ryokans (Japanese inns with hot spring) scattered on the either side of several tens of meters steep hill on the mountainsides of 1,100 meters high.

    Tsubame  Onsen is a famous place as a colony of martin, and “Tsubame” is a martin (a kind of swallow) in Japanese. When I were there, I saw nests of  martins lined along the eaves. As martins has already grown and left the nests, all of the nests were empty at that time.

    The hot spring was sulfur bath with milky white colour. At the edge of the town (in the middle of above photo) there is free of charge outdoor hot spring along the mountain stream.  It was full of visitors who came here to enjoy the colourful autumn leaves.

      Yes, now is the best time for the autumn leaves. The outdoor hot spring will be closed during winter.

    MASA

Festival at Atago Shrine

We operated the route B  (Sumo Wrestler’s Ride) tour today, with our always nice and cheerful guests. We made a extra stop at Atago Shrine (usually only on route A-Tokyo Bay Ride) as today was the day of the biennial festival.

The “Shusse no Kaidan Matsuri (Steps to Success Festival)” is based on a famous legend going back some four hundred years. (If you are interestetd in this legend, please join our bike tour!! )

High-spirited men carrying a portable shrine down the steps calling out ” Wa-Shoi” in a very loud voice. It’s quite exciting to watch. We were really lucky that we caught the event just in time today !

Fireworks Festival

The Meteorological Agency officially announced today that rainy season (Tsuyu) is over in Tokyo area. So sunny summer has finally come !

From ancient times, we Japanese have a custom of watching fireworks to enjoy the cool summer breeze in the evening.  There are quite a lot of events in July and August around Tokyo, here are just a few… 

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July 21 (Mon)  19:20-20:20  Katsushika Noryo Fireworks Festival  @Keisei Kanamachi Line Shibamata station

Jul 23(Thr)  19:30-20:30  Fireworks in Adachi @JR, Tobu Isesaki Line, Tokyo Metro Hibiya or Chiyoda Line Kitasenju station

Jul 25(Sat)  19:30-20:30  Fireworks in Urayasu city  @JR Shinurayasu station or Tokyo Metro Tozai Line Urayasu station

Jul 25(Sat) 19:20-20:30  Tachikawa Matsuri Showa Memorial Park Firework Festival  @JR Tachikawa station

Jul 25(Sat) 19:00-20:30 Sumida River Fireworks Festival (English website) @Tokyo Metro Ginza Line or Toei Asakusa Line Asakusa station or JR Ryogoku station

Jul 25 (Sat) 19:00-  Konosu Fireworks Festival   @JR Takasaki Line Konosu station

Jul 30 (Thr) 19:30-20:20 Kamogawa city Fireworks Festival @ JR Sotobo Line Awa Kamogawa station

Jul 31 (Fri) 19:30- Shonan Hiratsuka Fireworks Festival @ JR Tokaido Line Hiratsuka station + Bus Suga port 

Aug 1 (Sat) 19:00-20:45 Itabashi Fireworks Festival @Toei Mita Line Takashimadaira or Nishidai or Hasune station

Aug 1(Sat) 19:15-20:30 Edogawa Fireworks Festival @Toei Shinjuku Line Shinozaki station

Aug 4 (Tue) 19:30-20:30 Koto Fireworks Festival (English) @Toei Tozai Line Minami Sunamachi station

Aug 6 (Thr) 19:30-20:30 Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival @Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Hanzomon Line, Chiyoda Line, Toei Oedo Line  Omote Sando station or Gaienmae or Aoyama Ichome station

Aug 8 (Sat) 19:00-20:20 Tokyo Bay Great Fireworks Festival @Toei Oedo Line Kachidoki station

Aug 8 (Sat) 19:45-20:30 Okutama Fireworks Festival @JR Ome Line Okutama station

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Summer Evening Ride

 As I worte in my last entry, we are celebrating Tanabata (Star Festival) today.  At the same time  today is ‘Cool Earth Day’ in Japan, an initiative by the government to switch off unnecessary lights and to think about environmental issues such as global warming.   Some of the buildings, towers and signboards will be turning off the lights to save energy. This is a campaign which started last year when the Toyako G8 Summit was held in Hokkaido Japan.

This is a picture of the Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple before the tower light was turned off.

This summer, we are planning  a ‘Summer Special Ride’ besides our regular weekend tours.  With the Summer Morning Ride we will ride through Tsukiji and central Tokyo very early in the morning and in the Summer Evening Ride, we will be riding the water front area and along the canals. For more information, please take a look at our website ! 

Top page icon design – Tanabata Festival

Maybe not many people have noticed, but  there is a small graphic icon which represents seasonal events in Japan, at the top of  our website. 

I have put this  for July.

 

Tanabata festival is held on July 7th in Tokyo, but the original story comes from a Chinese folk story. For details, please go to wikipedia.

We celebrate Tanabata by writhing a wish on a colorful strips of paper called “Tanzaku(短冊）” and hang it on a bamboo branch. It is one of the exciting seasonal events in the year, especially for small kids.

 

Last Saturday during our tour, we visited a Niigata Prefecture pilot shop in Nihombashi. We all wrote our wishes on Tanzaku. <Above picture>  I wished for world peace, happiness for all  …. and a little something  for my private

Rainy season 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainy season is called “Tsuyu (梅雨)” in Japanese. It literally means “Plum Rain” , the reason being  that the plum fruit ripens during this time of the year, and  we have a lot of  rain during these months.

The Meteorological Agency officially announces the beginning and end of Tsuyu every year, and here is this year’s  forecast by the Weather News Company (Japanese page) for the Tokyo area.

1. Forecast for 2009                 From   Jun. 8           to   Jul. 16
2. Last year                                       May 29                Jul. 19
3. Average year                                   Jun. 8                  Jul. 20

 [ It will rain gently and softly and the temperature will be lower than average  in June. Early July will be hot and humid, a bit of a break from the rain and towards the end, it is expected to rain rather heavily. ]

Wagashi – Japanese sweets

Wagashi, which means Japanese sweets is usually made of  starch syrup  (or sugar), rice, wheat and (pasted red) bean – relatively few kinds of ingredients.  It is often served with green tea, so it is sweet but free of oil and fat, and unlike western confectioneries, fruits are not normally used for wagashi.

The taste is of course very important for wagashi, but the appearance is also very much emphasized. Sometimes it is regarded even as art work. 

Although the ingredients of wagashi are the same all year around, you can actually feel the season from the appearance and the taste.  The above photo is  Sakura Mochi, which literally means  ” Cherry Rice Cake” - a rice cake filled with pasted red bean and wrapped with a pickled cherry leaf. It is available from mid February until early April, during the season of  Girl’s day (Hinamatsuri – March 3rd) and the cherry blossoms . Usually wagashi is sold a bit ahead of the actual season. So if you go to Watashi shops right now, you’ll find another kind of wagashi.

Cycling under cherry blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura trees in Tokyo are now in full bloom!!  The weather was just perfect today, a lot of people were outdside to enjoy the flowers. Of ourse we enjoyed cycling under the cherry blossoms!

Beginning of the new fiscal year

Many Japanese companies start the new fiscal year today. Newly employed freshmen attend the new hire ceremony to listen humbly to the speech made by the company president.  Most of them are wearing in black suits, which they probably bought when they had been looking for the job and had tried to take a job interview. The business suit is called a ‘recruite suit’ .

A few weeks ago, we saw many female graduates wearing the traditional Japanese formal attire,  HAKAMA.  Wearing the HAKAMA at graduation is now quite popular for female college students. HAKAMA is originally a formal wear for male and  female attendants in Shinto shrine.   So it’s very special, maybe less chance to wear or see than a  Japanese Kimono.

Latest cherry blossom forecast -2009 spring

The Japan Meteorogical Angency yesterday revised their forecasts of cherry blossom flowering times. It said that because of the recent increase of the temperature, cherry is expected to blossom earlier than their previous forecasts. In Tokyo, it will flower on 21st March, this coming Saturday.

In Japan we have a three-day weekend starting from tomorrow. Because the weather forcast for Saturday is fine, many people will go out to enjoy sunny spring day !