Japanese walnuts products from Iwate: March 15, 2017

Six years have passed after the Great East Japan Earthquake. People in the quake-hit areas -- Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures -- continue to struggle to recover from the damages. Many efforts are being made by NPOs, companies, local communities and individuals.

One of these efforts is Japanese walnuts (wagurumi) project carried out by Save Iwate, a NPO in Iwate Prefecture. I attended an event held in Mejiro, Tokyo, to promote the project.

The project started just after the quake in 2011. There are many Japanese walnuts trees in Iwate Prefecture and people can easily pick up the nuts even if they do not have special tools and skills. It was possible six years ago for those who were severely hit by the quake and tsunami disasters to collects the nuts.

Save Iwate organized a network to buy the walnuts from them.

The question was (is) how to sell the nuts. Japanese walnut has good taste and is believed to be healthier (than western walnuts). However, it is smaller and tougher. It is harder than western walnuts to crack the shell, which leads to be more costly.

One possibility to overcome the problem is to develop more attractive products from the nuts. Save Iwate has developed various products. They include:

Walnuts sweets, Walnuts soft cream,

Walnut liqueur (kurumi no osake)

and many others. The NPO is trying to develop more.

A lunch was served at the event. Japanese walnuts were used in all dishes. (see also the top photo)

Attendants to the event include specialists of the foods, those who are active in the activities to reactivate the local communities, consultants, media persons, and activist in Tohoku reconstruction activities. (see als the second photo from the top)

Please also visit
Six yeras after the quake (March 11, 2017)
Save Iwate @ Morioka, Sanriku Coast
3 years after the quake @ Iwate
Four and half years after the quake (Oct. 31- Nov.1, 2015)
Autumn scenes @ Iwate (Oct.31-Nov.1, 2015) 

Kamaishi and Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture (Aug. 20-21, 2016)

6 years after the quake @Ginza: March 11, 2017

Six years have passed after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Nearly 20 thousands of people were killed or went missing by the disaster. More than 400 thousands of people were forced to live in temporary houses away from their hometowns.

Today, 123 thousands people still live in temporary houses. No concrete plans are made to decommission the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima Nuclear Power Station 1.

There appeared a display on the building in Ginza to commemorate the disaster.

A red line is drawn horizontally at 16.3 meter high. It is the highest level of the tsunami which attacked Ofunato city in Iwate Prefecture six years ago.

Please also visit
Save Iwate @ Morioka, Sanriku Coast
3 years after the quake @ Iwate
Four and half years after the quake (Oct. 31- Nov.1, 2015)
Autumn scenes @ Iwate (Oct.31-Nov.1, 2015) 

Kamaishi and Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture (Aug. 20-21, 2016)

Ume Blossom: February 11-12, 2017

Ume (Japanese apricot) stated to blossom.

I visited Hanegi Park in Umegaoka. There are more than 600 ume trees in the park.

They opened white and red flowers. It smelled well.

There were lot of visitors. They took photos of the flower.

The Ume festival was held at the season.

Families enjoyed picnic there.

I also visited Gotokuji temple.

Several ume trees opened flowers in the garden. (see also the top photo) 

Mount Fuji (off Tokyo): Jan.7-22, 2017

I had occasions to visit Shizuoka Prefecture. I could enjoy various scenes of Mt. Fuji from towns and through the window of Shinkansen Bullet train.

It is a scene from Shinkansen in Fuji City. Mt. Fuji stands behind the rice field, the tee garden, towns and factories. (see also the 2nd and 3rd photos from the top) 

Mt. Fuji over the Fujikawa River is wonderful. (See the top photo)

The scene is from Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. It is the eastern side of Mr. Fuji.

The southeastern side of the mountain is seen from Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture.

New year’s visits to shrines and temples: Jan.1-4, 2017

A new year began. I visited shrines and temples to make wished for the coming year.

Rokusho Shrine is a small shrine in Setagaya ward and it is usually uncrowded.

On January 1^st, I saw many people in a queue to make prays.

Gotokuji Temple was also crowded on the same day. (see also the 2nd photo from the top)

The temple is famous as a place where the lucky cat legend was made. Many lucky cats are placed here after being used as the guards of the houses and stores. People not only prayed at the temple, but also made visits to the lucky cats.

Yoyogi Hashiman Shrine in Shibuya ward is one of popular shrines in Tokyo. I visited there on January 3^rd. (see also the top photo)

People made a long line.

I also visited Setagaya Hachiman Shrine. A photo place was arranged for the visitors.

I got a feeling that the number of new year’s visitors to shrines and temples are increasing year by year. It may be because the number of old people are increasing. I am not sure.

Military bases and war history in Okinawa: Dec. 28-31, 2016

It is not possible to talk about Okinawa without referring to the U.S. military bases in the islands. It is also not possible to know Okinawa without understanding its history, especially the tragedy of the Okinawa battle during the World War 2.

I moved around the main island and watched the bases, stations, camps, and other related facilities of the U.S. forces as well as the memorials of the Okinawa battle.

There are more than 20 bases and other facilities in the Okinawa main island. They occupy about 20% of total area of the island.

Futenma Marine Corp Air Station is often said to be the “most dangerous military airport” in the world. It locates in Ginowan City, about 7 kilometers north of Naha, the prefecture’s capital. About 100 thousand people live in the city.

The Futenma station lies in the very center of the city. Thousands of houses stand around the station.

The planes fly very low over the residential houses. There was a crash accident in the neighboring university in 2004.

I could see the whole view of the station and the houses around it from a hill nearby.

I found about 20 Osprey planes deployed in the station. The plane, officially called the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, is a multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft. The deployment of the plane is a matter of controversy in Japan on is safety and other issues. (See the top photo)

Many people were there to watch the station.

I also visited Kadena Air Base, about 10 kilometers north from Futenma. The base has two 3700 meters-long runways. It is the largest U.S. air base in Asia.

We can see the base from the upper floor of the Michinoeki Kadena, a commercial facility which stands at the side of the base.

Many cameramen and other people were watching the base when I visited Michinoeki Kadena.

I watched takeoffs and landings of various kinds of airplanes, ranging from fighters to cargo planes and Ospreys. Th takeoff took place every five minutes. (See the 5th photo from the top)

I heard the planes making big sound. It continued overtime.

Kadena Air Base lies in two towns and a city (Kadena Town, Chatan Town and Okinawa City). It has not only military facilities but also residential areas, schools and sports facilities. One of the gates is in Okinawa City. 

Camp Hansen has huge training areas. Its main gate is in Kin Town.

There spread commercial and entertainment districts in front of the main gate. The U.S. soldiers drink, eat and play in the districts. (see the 4th photo from the top)

A restaurant in Kin Town started to serve taco rice, a rice bowl with tacos ingredients decades ago. It has become popular. Kin Town is now known as the birthplace  of Taco rice.

The soldiers used much money in the town at the time of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, they spend longer time in the camp and use less money in the town.  Some stores closed their shutters.

I visited Henoko in Nago City. It is in Camp Schwab. 

The beach and the sea are beautiful in the area (See als the 2nd photo from the top).



We have a big dispute in Japan over Henoko.

Japan and the U.S. agreed to close Futenma Station and to move its facilities to Henoko in 1996. They plan to build two runways and other facilities in the seashore areas. There arose a movement to oppose to the plan.

There have been political zigzags in the last 20 years. Current Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga opposes to the plan and  has judicial battles with the national government while keeps talks with them.

Views are divided in Okinawa and even in Henoko. People in the small village used to live on fishery. Some of them are now forking for Camp Hansen.

Dugongs live in the area.They will not able to live once the facilities are made.

The government started the construction works in December after the Supremo Court issued a judgement which support the government (in a case). Those who oppose the construction took actions such as demonstrations both on the land and in the sea. There was few such moves when I visited there as it was new year's eve.

There was a hanging curtain to appeal to oppose the construction. (See the 3rd photo from the top)

I saw several tents of the group who oppose to the plans in front of Camp Schwab's gate.

The Himeyuri monument is quite near from the southern seashore. The monument console the soles of the people including young girls, who were forced to work as nurses with the imperial forces in during the Okinawa battles in the World War 2 in 1945, and eventually were killed or forced to commit suicide when Japan lost the battle. (See the 6th photo from the top)

The nearby museum explains the details on what happened. I was sad to know their tragedy and was furious with the irresponsible policies of the political leaders then. The origami cranes were devoted to them.

I also visited the Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters. They fought here against the U.S. forces before the commanders committed suicide in June 1945, about two months after the U.S. forces landed Okinawa on April 1st of the year.

A photo of the landing was displayed. Around 150 thousands Okinawa people were killed in the war. Okinawa's population at the time was 600 thousands.