Nagano’s mountains (off Tokyo): Sept. 27, 2014

I visited Sakaki and Miyota in the eastern part of Nagano Prefecture. Both are small towns.

Nagano is mountainous. Cities and towns locate in the basins and valleys. We see mountains almost everywhere in the prefecture.

They grow various vegetables and fruits as well as rice there.

It was the harvest season.

Farmers were in the process of harvesting rice. Parts of the fields were covered with golden rice grass while other pars were already cut.

They were drying the the products.

I also saw apple trees in many places. The picture was taken in the garden of a Japanese noodle restaurant.

They have many hot springs in Nagano Prefecture. Sakaki town has a public bath and I visited there.

There were open-air bathes (several bath tubs) and I could see beautiful landscape of mountains from the place. It might be a paradise.

Miyota town locates at the foot of Mt. Asama. The mountain is an active volcano and it is banned to climb up to the top. (the top picture)

Mt. Ontake, which locates in the western part of Nagano (about 120 km from Miyota) erupted on Sept. 27, the very day I visited Nagano, and more than 30 climbers were killed in the accident. I watched the news in the TV and I was so sorry.

Autumn Festival @ Yoyogi Hachman Shrine: Sept.23, 2014

Here came the season of autumn festivals. I went to Yoyogi Hachiman Shrine.

Autumn festival begun as a ritual ceremony to thank god the harvest. It has become an important event of the year for the communities.

Members of each community (town) in the area carried a portal shrine (mikoshi) and moved around the region. They were in traditional costumes.

The shrine was crowded with visitors. The watched the mikoshi parade, enjoyed foods, and prayed. Kid were enjoying games.

There were tens of open-air stalls in the shrine.

Now, the dengue fever and mosquitoes are the often-spoken topic in Tokyo as mosquitoes with dengue fever virus were found in several parks. One of the parks was Yoyogi Park, quite near from the shrine. 

The festival was as popular as usual.

Belgium Beer Weekend @ Roppongi Hills Sept. 13, 2014

Belgium beer has special meaning for me as I once lived in the country. I visited Roppongi Hills to join the “Belgium Beer Weekend” event. It was the second time, following the event held in Yokohama in July, to participate in the event.

There were thousands of people in the event site when I arrived there. 

Tens of Belgium beer as well as fritz and other Belgium foods were served. Music events were performed.

The weekend event started in Roppongi Hills about five years ago. It has successfully developed. The event has been held in 6 cities – Nagoya, Fukuoka, Osaka, Yokohama, Sendai and Tokyo, in 2014. It has become famous and the participants have increased.

Beer and other goods were sold at Belgium gift corner. The special recommendation packs of beer were arranged by “Belgium beer knights”. I bought a pack.

Sumo ＆ autumn festival @ Setagaya Hachiman Shrine: Sept. 13, 2014

Autumn festival season has started. We hear the sound of Japanese flute and dram in many towns in the weekend at this season, as some of shrines or temples in the regions have festivals. The autumn festival originally began to thank god the harvest of the year.

I visited Setagaya Hachiman Shrine. The festival here is unique as it has special sumo plays.

The sumo wrestlers are from Tokyo University of Agriculture. They are top-level student sumo wrestlers and some of them may become professional wrestlers. Some members were from Mongolia.

Sumo ring was properly arranged. There were hundreds of audiences surrounding the ring.

There were various kinds of matches – singles match, group tournament, kinds of knockout competitions etc. Heavy sounds spread when wrestlers’ big bodies crash.

It was so interesting and I dove into watching the plays for about two hours.

Not everyone was in sumo site. There were many visitors walking in the shrine.

Open-air stalls were open. Kids were enjoying  tasting sweets and playing the gold fish-catching games.

Red spider lily @ Setagaya Castle ruin: Sept. 6, 2014

We had unusual weather this summer in Japan. Concentrated heavy rain attacked several areas and gave serious damages. More than 70 people were killed in the disaster in late August in Hiroshima city.

Dengue (breakbone) fever news is running around Tokyo right now. Tens of infected patients have been found since last week, and disease-bearing mosquitos have been found in some parks in central Tokyo.

Now, I am a bit hesitant to walk in the park. Instead, I walked along the street in Setagaya ward.

Red Spider lilies were already open in the Setagaya-joshi Park, which is built on the ruin of Setagaya Castle of medieval period.　It is only a week later after I enjoyed watching sunflowers in Roka Park in the same area on August 31.

The season is turning from hot and unusual-weather summer to autumn. I hope that we have normal fall season.