Food, Flowers, and Festivals = Fun: 2016-06-15, Catch Up

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been doing some fun but low key things that haven't seemed exciting enough to write about. I've collected enough now, over the last couple of weeks, so I think it's time for an update.

First, spring is definitely here but turning into summer quickly with 2 or 3 85 degree days each week. We've evidently entered the rainy season but hopefully the trend that has been in place for the last few years - rain 2 or 3 days a week instead of every day - will continue. Tsuyu (rainy season) usually lasts about 6 weeks, although Japan gets a LOT of rain all year. Anyway, as always, I'm trying to take advantage of the good weather days while they last. Soon it will be to hot to ride or walk around much.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a fish shop/restaurant with a shop owner I've become friendly with and his friends. I was really jealous of their (3 of them) relationship. They've been friends since kindergarten - over 50 years! - and they constantly bickered about which road to take, what shop used to be in that spot, etc. It was very funny listening to them, although since they have very strong accents I couldn't understand much of what they said. It was the way they said things that was amusing. A woman from a bank (don't know exactly what that relationship was) joined us, probably to make me more comfortable, and we had a nice time.

I had been warned not to dress nicely as it wasn't a 'nice' place. It was a fish store and you could either take the fish home or buy it and then eat it raw or cook it yourself at a grill at your table.

They wanted me to try fugu, something I've not really had an interest in trying but as it was presented to me.... Fugu is the famous pufferfish that has a poisonous liver so one should only eat it when a licensed chef prepares it. Often it's eaten raw as sashimi but we grilled ours.

We also had gigantic oysters, hama - some kind of long thin fish, aji - small fish cooked and drenched in a vinegar sauce, octopus and squid. And sake/beer. It was a little hard getting up the next morning for work....

On the following night I went out with some new friends. The woman I met at the rose park one evening and her husband. We went to a yakiniku restaurant (you cook the meat over a grill on your table) which was really delicious. And the next day we went together to a little festival in a nearby town called Azuchi. We took a little boat ride through the old moat.

Yes, that seems to be a ninja paddling the boat.

Watched a parade.

Some drumming.

Ate some good festival food.

And then drove to a great vegetable stand and this interesting bakery building. It's a very famous, high-end bakery called Club Harie and they have branches all over, 2 in Hikone. But at this one they've built this very interesting building. We didn't buy anything as the lines were so long but it was really interesting.

Water drips down from the grass roof.

These are molds for special sugar. The more elaborate ones used to be used for wedding gifts of the sugar.
Now small candies are made to go with the bitter tea of the tea ceremony.

I think those metal things might be for the snow.

Later that evening my co-teacher called to invite me to go firefly viewing with her family.
We went to a park in Maibara.

It's really hard to take pictures of fireflies!

While we were there 2 busloads of people stopped by for about 15 minutes each.
One bus came all the way from Kyoto!

Then last weekend I went to Lake Yogo, about 30 - 40 minutes north of here, with Shioli to see the hydrangea. About 1/2 of them were in bloom. I've been looking forward to visiting that lake, thinking it would be beautiful and clean, but it was very dirty. We even saw a dead fish and a dead frog in it. But, if looking out over the lake instead of down into it, the scene was quite beautiful and we had a nice, hot, walk around.