We’re a few days into field work here in Japan, but first I want to congratulate America on two special days while we’ve been away; Happy Independence Day and Congrats on winning the Women’s Soccer Final (against Japan). We caught the introductions to the game just before we left for the field, so naturally we sang along to the National Anthem and had all the Japanese students in the lounge giving us funny looks!
We’ve had a few jam-packed days here in Akita Prefecture! We started off our fieldwork in Japan by travelling to Mt. Takao and practicing our observational techniques. This is similar to what we did on the first day of class when we discussed the view from Fitton Green Natural Area. From the mountain we could see the surrounding landscape which consisted of many rice fields, some small villages, and the Omono River. We also looked around and found an old Sumo ring and further up the hill the entrance to a deep shrine. We walked part of the way up to the shrine, but due to time constraints couldn’t go all the way to the top.
Following our trip up Mt. Takao, we went to a local farmer’s restaurant. For about $10 we each got a huge tray full of food produced from the owner’s garden. She even had a factory downstairs where she made her own noodles! It was really good and a great business opportunity for her to utilize her skills and help the local economy.
Following our meal, the owner invited us back to her house (next door to the restaurant) and told us her story. She explained to us about how she came to create the restaurant and some of the challenges that she had to overcome in the process. She also served us a fresh watermelon out of her garden that was very juicy and sweet! 🙂
Following lunch we also visited a couple more villages, Arawa and Kayagasawa. Here we met with the community leaders at their community centers. In Arawa we also walked along the streets and compared the current shops with a map from the past. There were a lot of shops that had closed down or changed and homes that had been abandoned and torn down. We did get to go into a shop where they were making tatami mats which was really interesting and cool to see.
At the end of the village, we went into a shrine where we got to talk with the priestess.
Lastly in Kayagasawa we talked to the village leader and looked around a little before heading back to Akita International University for the night.
