Watching rice grow

It's been very interesting to watch the process of growing rice these last months. We caught the tail end of it last year with little appreciation for the process.

Back in May, I guess, they started filling the paddies with water. The rice comes started in big palettes. There are maybe 100 seedlings per palette (could be more, we didn't get to get right up to them). Everyone in our area seems to have some sort of machine to put them in the ground. On television, we saw a tractor attachment that stuck them into the ground at regular intervals. Here, where the fields are pretty small, most had a little manual machine that they pulled or pushed around. It accepts a full palette from the top, snags a single seedling and pushes it into the ground in pre-determined intervals.

From there, they kept the paddies filled and over the coming months we got to watch the small seedlings grow into lush fields of rice. They were really breathtaking in the late summer and early fall - lush green and waving in the wind. I frequently saw farmers out with sprayers so I'm guessing none of this is organic.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, they drained and began cutting. They have another machine that goes through the field and cuts down the rice leaving bundles where there used to be stalks. Once they have the bundles it's left to dry.

The drying methods vary. Most people seem to have a suspended bar that the bunches get put over like thatched roofing (bar through the middle of the bundle). Some people cover those in plastic to keep the rain out, but I would worry about mold since they already have moisture that needs to come out. Some people piles the bundles in small teepee shapes in their field. Some leave it lying out, but I would guess they have to turn it to get both sides dried.

Once dried, it's removed from the stalk and the bags of rice can be drive to these neat coin op machines by the side of the road that will husk the rice for you. There was a lot of traffic at those machines that usually sit dormant.

The bare stalks are then burned in the fields. That makes for a BIG fire and tons of nasty smelling smoke - not so great when you're on the 11th floor. Roo loved the fires, but I couldn't stand the quantity of smoke. I'm glad that part, at least, is over.

Right now, I <3 exfoliating products

Normally, I detest them more than once a week, but right now, I use them daily with a large smile on my face. It's not that Japan is dry or my skin is faring poorly. Nope...it's those bloody mosquitoes back again. Needing to clean is a great excuse to scratch them to death, whether I'm supposed to or not.

The other night, we left the window open because it was a beautiful night. We turned off the A/C and were ready to enjoy the cool night air. Apparently Chrys woke up to them buzzing his ear around 1:30am. They didn't phase me until I was partly awake with Roo at 5:30am. By then, the damage was done.

Let me tell you, they had quite the feast and we have the battle wounds to show for it. We've taken, again, to squishing any that we can lay hands upon and praying for this to end soon.

My biggest question, though, is what on earth are they doing on the 11th floor? Aren't they supposed to fly just above ground level?

Need to rethink this driving thing

I am not having much luck with driving here. In the US, I consider myself a pretty decent driver. I've been in a couple of wrecks, but they were in my teens and deemed "normal" by my dad. I've had 2 instances of over/under compensating in snow that resulted in some minor damage to 2 cars (paint, no body). I've put a hole in a tire on road junk. Nothing major, though.

Here...I just suck. I've blown two tires. I blame this on the curbs here being very sharp (squares, in fact). One, I pulled in to a parking lot too tight and just nicked the edge. The second I had to dodge two old men standing in the street when I rounded a corner (granted a bit too quickly, but I want to know what they were doing in the middle of the street).

I've also turned too tight and caught the tiniest bit of body on a mid-calf high planter. It mucked up the hub cap, but I'm not the first to do that. Turns out, it scraped some paint off of the underside of the body that the rental folks had to point out for us to find.

Today, I had to dodge some guy that came from a few cars back to make the unprotected turn into the same lane I was turning in to. He was making the right (here, that's across traffic) and I the left. I saw him coming at me (quickly...as he wasn't the first car in line) and pulled tighter. I ended up bouncing the passenger side of the car into a (roughly) window high railing that lines the street. The damage isn't visibly that bad, but it shook me up. Chrys says I kept us safe and shouldn't kick myself, but that's not helping much. For the rental company to stay happy, we had to fill out a police report and Chrys was nice enough to take care of that for me.

Yeah...I think I just need to turn in my keys some days. On the other hand, I rarely see a car here that doesn't have some damage on it so it may be some sort of karmic imbalance in the country. Or maybe the roads are just too small for a car and that's why all the crazy folks stick to scooters...too bad I can't get 4 people in one of those things.

Girls' Time in Fukuoka

After we returned from Nagoya, Chrys had to report to Tokyo for a few days of work. I decided to take Roo to Fukuoka and wander to some of the things the "boys" weren't interested in.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Canal City. It was very nice. Canal City turned out to be a huge shopping complex (that I got lost in constantly - go me and my lack of direction). They have everything from Stage to Cinema, Disney to Dolce. It's neat and we spent quite a bit of our time just looking around. They also had a large indoor play area that I was quite thankful for when most things around (like the museum I wanted to visit) were closed for the typhoon.

We spent one day wandering down by Tenjin station. It's a large shopping area near the hub of the bus and subway activity. Part of it is a large arcade that they've built under the station. I had HUGE problems with this. I have horrid sense of direction and underground with no clear landmarks is a recipe for disaster. I ended up in an offshoot of the arcade and couldn't figure out how to get back so I found my way to ground level and an exit. Turns out I was about 3 blocks from the main street (which is above the arcade). That'll teach me.

We actually made it to the museum (Hakata Folk Museum) after the hurricane...err, typhoon...blew through. It was a fun little museum. They had dioramas of their major festival (during Golden Week), telephones with local dialect (apparently quite entertaining if you're Japanese), and some paper mache masks/head pieces to try on. I put RC in one of the headpieces and caught a picture. There was a free section that showcased how they weave the local fabrics and a room with samples of local crafts in various stages of completion. Then, we went to the little shop where RC played with a wooden toy (that we had to take home) of a daruma that falls down a ladder and I checked out the Hakata dolls. We ended up with a 3 piece set of little girls with different toys in their hand. They were far more affordable than most of the ceramic dolls I've seen and more age appropriate to the one I really buy them for so I couldn't resist.

RC ended up entranced by a play kitchen at the Sanrio store (complete with lying on the floor describing the box contents to me) so she'll get that for her birthday. We squeezed in some driving time around town and a quick trip to Toys R Us for more toy shopping. All in all, it was a good time and I'm thrilled I got to enjoy it.

Nagoya

Our view from the Westin was Nagoya Castle. It was breathtaking all lit in the evening. We took a few pictures, but they may be blurry because of the dark environment and/or the window. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.

We awoke the next morning, had breakfast at the included buffet, checked out (leaving our luggage for now) and set out for the castle. We started the wrong way and realized that the grounds were quite large and this was more castle than we had been in before. We turned around and eventually made it to the entrance.

The grounds were ... impressive. There were many buildings and gardens and open fields. It was far more expansive than Shimabara Castle, even though there is quite a bit at Shimabara. Their focus was on these Golden Dolphins that adorned the roof. There were replicas and models everywhere for you to take your picture with. We never quite figured out what the whole deal was, but apparently they are hard to keep track of - burned down with the building, stolen before the unveiling, etc. I think they may be viewed as something to do with fertility. Nevertheless, revered they are. We walked around the grounds, looked in a few of the buildings, and left.

We hit the subways and used them to get around for the rest of the day. We got pretty good at going through them. I'm sure it will make our experience in Tokyo more enjoyable. One thing that impressed me...they are obviously pretty old, but so much cleaner than anything I've ridden in the US. There weren't stains or strange smells, just visual wear and tear. Drastically different mentality.

We journeyed to Hard Rock and had lunch, collecting more shirts for each of us. We've decided to likely continue this trend throughout Japan. It's fun and something (not so) novel for us. They gave Roo a cute little bear with her lunch and she's very attached to him.

After that, we wandered for a bit. Chrys and Owl found the Apple store while I walked to a Noritake store. None of us found anything and we all ended up back at the Apple store to gawk at the new stuff. Noritake has a series of dishes themed around My Neighbor Totoro that are cute, though.

We went back to Nagoya station and walked to the Noritake Gardens (their headquarters). Most of the buildings there were closed by 5pm so I didn't get to paint my own Noritake, but the gardens were beautiful and cruising through the outlet was fun, even if I didn't stop to buy anything. It's quite a complex they have.

After that, it was back to the train, to the airport, to home and some eagerly awaited beds.