WWOOF-5, a short week and likely our last WWOOF experience of this trip in Japan…
Mimiko left us at a train station which allowed us to reach the town of Mizunami , the closest big town from our WWOOF host: Tomomi, a girl aged ~38
And again a totally different experience from the previous ones. She has a job in her farther’s company which sounds like a very successful construction business (Hélène had the opportunity to have tea at their place). After been WWOOFing herself she was seduced by the idea of having her own little farm to grow her own vegetables. So it is here more a hobby or the start of a dream…
The “farm” is located near her parents’ countryside house (the family business is in Nagoya) on what used to be a pottery factory… our quarters were in what used to be the factory’s cafeteria.
When we got there a young American was already there from a week ago. The season was barely starting as in this region there was still some freezing nights… still we did what we could to help her get the land ready for planting.
Main building seen from outside – ex-cafeteria of the pottery factory Oversized kitchen as we were at most 4 to eat… Our host, Tomomi, she often cooked and ate with us.There were also few farm animals, but they were treated as pets.Here and there some odd leftovers…The vegetable garden is below the house, the chickens should be in another field on a terrace above the house, but the are allowed to come down.We sometimes wondered of the utility of what we were asked to do…But Tomomi was friendly.Even the boring and most likely un-useful jobs were pleasant on a sunny day (air was still cool)Tomomi is still experimenting on what she can grow…Another trial with on Nagaimo, but that root can grow over a meter long and soil was here like hard clay!!Mind your heads chicken!!
Living room/ only place with some sort of heating..!Our bedroom, which looks more like a reception/ party room. For once we did use the electric blankets before going to bed…! Elijah, the young American WWOOFer, planting in the raised beds. Built by the farther’s employees!Chickens (3 roosters! and 4 hens) and a goat Mémé- the chickens also had names…The little planting we did was a competition with the hens!!Ploughing is maybe the most useful thing we did to help her for this season.Separating coton wool from the seeds by hand!and treating us well.We had been spoiled with high cuisine in our earlier woofing, but honestly it was more than decent here too!One test is with asparagus – a first time for us too!Without instructions we did what we thought might be the best. Too bad Tomomi was not around to at least see how the attempt was conducted – but she was for 2 days in Nagoya. … as in other places we tried to advocate against individual incineration of plastic wastes.
View on the surrounding countryside ( from hill just above the farm )
During our day off we visited the nearby charming little towns of Akechi and Iwamura. Akechi seems to have some history to boost about, as it played an important role as crossroads… it has a very nice museum on the Taishō era (early 20th century) and another dedicated to a famous actress/singer ( sorry did not pick the name… ).
We took a local bus and train to get there.Cafe at entrance to Taishō museum, it is also part of the Taishō era experience … we got invited by locals!!Traditional buildings built to resist fires, like rice banks…Houses kept as they were, with locals showing how it was to live in those times…Almost one house out of two had a display of the Girls’s Day dolls (Hinamatsuri)… and lots of them!!
Max 2 wagons!Small size sawmill Post office next to old post office kept as museumTrain from Akechi to Iwamura, but we were less enthousiaste with Iwamura…Kind of grilledmochi on a stick
In this town we tasted for the first time the sakuramochi (on the left), mochi wrapped in a sakura leaf – the mix of flavour is quite unique. Our first time, but not the last time!!
We ended our stay with a paint job and headed towards Nagoya Int Airport where we collected Elina for a fortnight together!
Can’t say it made a hell of a difference! But Tomomi was happy!!
After our hamono and shoyu expedition on the hills, back to coast area with the town of Matsue.
Matsue
Evening meal at a Izakaya (sort of tavern), good place to have a drink and food, like yakitori (small brochette of all sorts)
Matsue is also another interesting and beautiful city…
In Matsue, Mimiko brought us to the house where Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) (1850-1904) had been living for 5 months. But most of the memorial museum on Lafcadio Hearn was both fascinating and enriching (as we didn’t know his story nor work…)
Through the study and translations of legends and ghost stories, with an open mind, he seems to have been then first author to describe Japan of early Meiji era to the West. But maybe his work is even more appreciated in Japan!! Check using keywords “Lafcadio Hearn” + “KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things”, “Japan, An Attempt At Interpretation” or ”Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan”.
More sightseeing in Matsue…
Hmmm…Sakura are not the only trees worth been admired…
Bye-bye Matsue!
ADACHI – museum of art
How to make a garden into a seasonal museum…
PRELUDE
Tottori
We then made an attempt to reach a shrine built in one of the most spectacular place… almost hanging from the cliff: 投入堂 (Nageire-do), or Mitokusan Sanbutuji Temple . As described in guides:
Mitokusan Sanbutsuji Temple is a mountain temple on the premises of 900-meter high Mt. Mitoku. The rear temple, called “Nageire-do,” is a designated National Treasure and is a rare structure built into a depression on a sheer vertical cliff face. It’s unclear when exactly Nageire-do was built, but legend has it that the structure was thrown up (“nageire” in Japanese) from the level ground through the spiritual power of En no Ozuno, the founder of the mountain asceticism-shamanism tradition Shugendo.
So why only pictures of flowers and parading Mimiko?? Well the site closes at 15:00 sharp! We got there at 15:05 and no way to convince the gatekeeper to let us in… actually most likely Mimiko would have not been allowed in anyway, as they check you should be wearing proper hiking shoes, the climb is rough!
We overnighted close-by Tottori, in an Onsen village filled with Minshukus. And in the morning payed a visit to the famous sand dunes of Tottori.
See the black dots on the sand?
These are not seeds, not ants … but people on the dune.
It was the time for us to join our WWOOF #5 and Mimiko to drive back to Odawara …
Goodbye Mimiko, thanks for all the driving and guided tour of so many interesting places and people!
With Mimiko we visited some well known places, but also had a few adventures off the beaten tracks….
Izumo
Visit of Izumo Ooyashiro, one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan… supposed to be good for mariage and relationships! If you are not satisfied, there is also a shrine for divorce!
Shimenawa: the sacred rice straw rope is like new (July 2018)
Hamono in Minari-Okuizumo
Mimiko asked if there were other things we wanted to see while in Japan… we are were more open to any suggestions, but one thing was on our list (well mostly Patrick’s list), to see a true Japanese blacksmith making knife blades – Hamono (刃物).
And actually Mimiko pointed out we were not far from Unnan & Okuizumo region, THE place for traditional sword forged blades – tatara.
Now you will say there is a difference between a samurai sword and a knife … sure! That is why we tried to find a hamono blacksmith, and not the prestigious, museum like tamahaganemakers.
Although we got an address and phoned them… once guide on site with GPS we could not find the place, or at least it looked empty, so as not to waist more time we went to nearest restaurant, turns out they knew about the hamono place and guided us to them, just 150m along the perpendicular street!
The two workers are ~80 and ~70 years old… no signs of anyone taking over for now!
They were forging garden tools when we visited them…Very basic mechanisation… Pulleys & belts activates many of these tools…With Mimiko, we bought some tools and ordered unfitted blades… for Pat’s hobby back in FIN.
Power hammerInstallation is like as it was 50 to 80 years ago…The place gave a true feeling of authenticity!
We left them as they were stamping the tools with their logo.
Morita Shoyu
As we continued our walk in this small town of Minari (Okuizumo-Cho), Hélène noticed what looked like a shoyu (soy sauce) factory…. peaking through the entrance…. and 10’ later we were given a full lecture and guided tour on the authentic fabric of shoyu. The young “boy”, Kohei Morita, was passionate about his work, as it turned out he is the son of the owner and came back to help the family business, returning from a major city with a university diploma in biochemistry.
Lecture begins with the ABC’s: shoyu = soybeans + wheat + salt + time!Those wood barrels were our favourite It takes 20’ to mix a full barrel (somme 3000 l)Hydraulic press to get the juice out of that paste…factory, to get in we had to cover our shoes, cover our hair, and sweep our clothes to remove any fluffy stuff… (you know these sticky rollers you can peel off)in front of the kooji tank…
The fermenting mix is kept for 2 to 3 years for the best shoyuIn those barrels, it looks like a cross between miso paste and baked beans!Mixing regularly – by hand! At first daily then weekly ( but for 1 to 3 years, remember!)
Decantation …Some parts of explanations were not easy to translate, Kohei – our guide – was sometimes very technical.In a huge homemade chamber a very large tank with the Kooji (麹). the secret weapon in many o the Japanese fermentation products…
Some stages in the shoyu making were hard to follow, like when is the kooji mixed with wheat and soybeans? versus steaming the soybeans, adding the wheat, etc… But we were not here to steal a recipe! And there are ways to get further information: what you always wanted to know about the 麹 Kooji secret but never dared to ask
We got the feeling the son will perpetuate the traditions, but also use his training in biochemistry to invent new variations and off products. They are proud of their product, and should be, so for instance they prefer personalized customers that will have made the effort to visit them and understand their way of working so the customer also somewhat shares this passion…
They realized the importance of the wooden barrels, and as there are very few people that still know how to manufacture them, they learned how to repair & maintain these barrels … this takes place in another warehouse ~2km from the factory, Kohei even took us there to show us.
some barrels take 5000l !! Also check the hoops (what keeps the barrel together) as they are made of laced bamboo (and not metal)!straight from the press, the shiny color of fresh shoyu
when the mixture is young, the color is still pale…
at the end Kohei asked us to take the photo souvenir in front of his shop.Kohei: that´s our boy!!
All this effort and time to show us around and explain, even though we were clearly not some potential regular customers, had not book any appointment etc… We did our best to payback by praising his shoyu´s which indeed were very tasty to all we met after that visit.
After our visit of Hagi, we went zigzagging between inland and coast. First small village of Tsuwano then along the coast to Oda.
Tsuwano
Arriving at TsuwanoTraditional shop
Still catching up with sakura blooming Inside those shops
One of the shop we visited was a sake brewery (by accident), we were only curious and hoping to taste a few specialties too, also ask few questions… this is when we met a good sales man! So we ended buying a few bottles! He was not even a staff member, but a neighbour. He then became our guide as he had a lot of stories and information to share, got us inside a luxury kimono shop (which he probably owned) and gave us a lecture on ornamental gardens à la Japonaise. He was too quick and too talkative for Mimiko to translate all the details back to us (or maybe she did translate the whole message, but summarised!), but we got the main message and the general feeling was the most important!
Check the lanterns! Note: this one was selling just one type of cake!
Interior of the shops is always worth a visit…
Oda
After quite some drive along the coast we arrived at village of Oda, most likely a crowded balnéaire resort during high season…
Arriving at sunset…Evening meal was a teenager’s dream, fixed price for 90’ of unlimited food!! Next morning we went easy on breakfast Going for a dip was tempting!
And more… we did our best…Might be the toilets with the best view!
We had a good day visiting Hagi, a town that preserved its historical atmosphere of early Meiji period. Streets and houses just like we were in a Samurai movie – just need to look at it with a B&W filter. But of course what has been preserved are the more luxurious properties, ex-samurai that were successful in converting to merchants!
We took full advantage of the opportunity to have a tour guide with us !!
most windows are covered with beautiful aged sugi fencebut as merchant house they did have lots of storage space in warehouses like rooms.kitchen, and I am sure they managed to cook for a big reception!
several streets preserved as open air museumSome merchant houses can be visited, like the most famous one: Kikuya House… there did not seem to be much space to store belongings (very little furniture) – either it has been removed or people had far less belongings, maybe a mix of both!!still impressed with the sliding doors, wood material and fine paper & wood panels. Was likely nice living there in summer and inter-seasons… but not so much fun in winter! Gla gla gla.
Hagi region is famous for its pottery and natsumikan (a type of summer mandarin, which is ripe in winter 🙂 ). We were not so fond of the ceramics, a bit too coarse to our liking… probably truly the best for tea ceremony, but not our cup of tea – sorry, could not resist! Natsumikan on the other hand were quite to our liking…. there were many in the old town area. It appears that when samurai had to find a new occupation and source of income many around Hagi started culture of these natsumikan.
Surprised to see walls made of “torchis” (wattle and daub)
Hagi also played and important role in the Meiji restoration and industrial revolution with renowned figures, as Yoshida Shoin and Takasugi Shinsaku, but also many others, Takamasa Obata, the Chōshū was Five (esp. Itō Hirobumi) ….
Yoshida Shoin(1830 – 1859): From a family of samurai he showed a real open mind, wanted to go around the world but got caught and assigned to residence… he still was allowed to teach and his school was open to anyone, no distinction of rank. In a way he planted the seeds to the industrial revolution… ( we visited his “open school“)
Takasugi Shinsaku (1839 – 1867): One of Shoin’s pupils, he became a core figure in the anti-Shogunate. (we visited his birth place)
Hagi is like an island, at a delta between 2 rivers and the sea. We also used some rented bikes to visit the vast historical area… Mimiko was very brave and daring, as she had not been on a bike for some ~40 years!
Post office are good landmarks…We finally managed to catch up on the sakura (cherry blossom)… so far we had always been 2-5 too early, and then moving north…
After WWOOF #4, a real experience of living close to nature, and before WWOOF #5, we got a short week of touring with our friend Mimiko. For us almost full day in trains (5 interconnections) going east, for Mimiko a frightful ~900km by car, westbound.
We did not just visit Hagi … with Mimiko we did a real tour on southern coast of Japanese sea, plus some excursions inland. Parts of the itinerary had been planned ahead, but a lot came from inspired improvisation.
Aside from Hagi, we also visited Tsuwano , overnighted in Oda, visited Izumo, inland visit to Okuizumo-Minari, back to the coast with Matsue, then Yoshiokaonsencho and could not miss the dunes in Tottori…. This is what can be called a drivu de luxe!
Overview of our 5 daytour
Getting to Hagi
On our way from nearby Fukuoka to Hagi, we took the train and had to change 5 times… opportunities to get glimpses of variety of countrysides.
Journey starts on a platform, with either ekibento (typical lunchbox), or a quick noodle soup (udon)Anyone dreaming of instant noodles? Japan is the place… Don’t expect to see that one after next hurricane season….That one looks convenient, ready for cold and wet weather.But then it can be packed!For our friends architects or interested in architecture…
Very local local-train network…40’ transit: just enough time to visit station surroundings and be offered some fruits!Other even more local train: one wagon.Track was then along the coast.. tiny villages at each bays.And finally reached Hagi.
10’ after we arrived to our Minshuku, we were joined by our friend Mimiko
In previous post we have mentioned the life saving Kotatsu (a low table with integrated heating)…
Let’s start over with presentation… our hosts are in their 68’ Minako and Hiroaki. They were both attending university when they made the decision to radically change their way of living and moved to this remote countryside, start a chicken farm (for eggs) and raise a family of 3 children! Quite some guts and determination, I’d say! In addition to their ~100 chickens (used to be 800), they also have a dog Hasan and two cats (don’t recall the names…)
MinakoHasanThe other one.
Hiroaki One cat…Chickens
We got more details on their “story” after our Japanese friend Mimiko read his book that we received as farewell gift when we left them. While they were still both students at university, they got really interested in social issues, politics, and concerned with pollution and environment. For instance they got very impressed by photos on Minamata disaster by photographer Kuwabara Shisei. Also Yushoo disease, rice oil from Kanemi Company (in Kyushu) contaminated with PCBs.
Around 1970, they then both decided to quit university and go in the countryside to live a life closer to the nature. What impressed us both is that they managed to live like this and even raise 3 kids (At some point Minako had to work as a teacher so as to support the family). They did everything by themselves, starting from nothing but some land to cultivate and chickens laying eggs to be sold…
Minako was spending lots of time cooking, preparing delightful dish with all sorts of combinations… mostly based on their own products.Naturally eggs were often part of the menu…They are growing their own soybeans, peanuts, ginger and many of the vegetables that form the base of Japanese cuisine…
Breakfast was based on raw egg beaten and added to rice bowl + miso soup from their own miso base and blended soybeans (looked like milk).With sometimes meat, fish that they probably received in exchange to eggs or vegetables…Delicious tempura of vegetables, some of which also re new to us…
We were also very impressed by their knowledge on international culture, knowledge on both France and Finland, knowledge on French authors, poets and singers, etc.
As WWOOFers we helped them with the vegetable garden, cutting wood for the stove, Hélène helping with the cooking.
A type of beans…As they are invaded with one type of weed, clearing an area takes ages and requires a lot of work.Trying to weed the flower beds was even more complex!
Other type of beansSome of their plants are new to us and had to be explained.… so hard to stay motivated!
Cleaning kitchen windows (made from old sliding panels)Quiche by Hélène, not easy to cook without access to usual ingredients
Cutting wood and clearing the area to store the wood
We then also went for walks in the area, either walking Hasan the dog with Minako, or just the 2 of us to surrounding hills, next village…
Un-used railroad, bamboo forests ….Tour of Hasan’s friends, although the dog is mostly interested in the biscuits other dog owner are giving himImpressive sports facilities at closest town (30’ walk)… too bad we found out late, only went once to swimming pool open till 9pm.Japan is not just temples and wood houses with beautiful tiled rooftops…
Vines behind wild-bore fence, due to swine fever outbreak… Issues with neighbouring wasteland, but we did not follow all the details…
Shiitake culture in forestSeems to us as well pruned trees…All around Japan, but maybe even more in Kyushu region, the number of photovoltaic panels is impressive, fields of panels…Shortcut on the way back… on a forest path
Beautiful orchard Landslides cutting mountain roads’ traffic is not uncommon…Even our hosts are particularly well equipped…Shaga (Iris japonica) a wild flower which looks too sophisticated to be natural…Still in the woods, now this looks carnivorous!!
Time to say goodbye to WWOOF #4, off we go to meet Mimiko in Hagi… 5 trains…. and not on Kyushu anymore but main island, Honshu.
Hasan and Hiroaki driving us to nearest train station
Train station looking more like grocery shop!One of the intermediate stations…
Succession of local trainsExpress food on the train platforms…They can eat faster than we can order!
Bus from Ureshino to Fukuoka, then local train to Chikuzen-Daibu and from there our new host came to pick us up… still 30’ by car (silver car with a dog).
Map of Kyushu island, our route from Ureshino to WWOOF #4
We usually show pictures of special things or scenic places… so here is a banal street from Ureshino 9amMap of train networks… when planning our next moves.Classic map of towns, although you’d be lucky to always have such a detailed one! Note the rice paddies with ‘’ as symbol
Countryside from train, suburbs of FukuokaFrom train getting close to destination… small town of Chikiuzen-DaibuThe “main” house as we arrived.
Overview of property… the terrain extends quite a bit and on several levels, so hard to show it all in one picture, even panoramic!
At first we were really surprised when entering the main house:
Yes, the photo is straight!Cooking also was at times using the wood stove… but mainly used to heat the room and heat tea water.
This is the main room, kitchen + living room, the only one with heating.Sink for washing, and stove … hot water from solar panel or gaz heater (on demand).
First impression is of a messy, dirty and poorly lit place with everything falling into pieces… but after living with them a few days you see it differently and understand, we could even say we learned to appreciate!
The vegetable garden and chicken eggs are their only revenue… But heating with a leaking wood stove, and floor of gravel/earth … this means dust come easy!!
Now they have ~100 chickens in 4 chicken houses, but had up to 800 in 15 houses! Vegetable garden is mostly for their own consumption, which requires to be preserved for some… the rest is used for exchange.
Here the furo (hot bath) is replaced by a Goemon Buro, a bathtub made of cast iron in shape of huge pot, which is warmed with a direct flame. Sounds scary? Well hear out the most likely origin of that name: The origin of this name comes from Ishikawa Goemon, a thief rom the edo period who was sentenced to death by being boiled alive with his family. This happened in Sanjo, Kyoto.
The bathroom is in a tiny shed, also in dirt floor…So that getting into the water can be quite a challenge… there is no thermostat!!It gives the feeling of been cooked as a soup!
And yes! It does look like a pot or marmite or cauldron…Heating is from a wood fire directly under the tub… but slowly we get in, every evening before diner! And pthat was much appreciated!!
We stayed in a logged house that actually looked less like a hovel than the other constructions… but it was with no heating and no insulation. As some night were bellow 0 and most mornings frosty… it would have been hard to sleep there if it had not been for the electric blanket which we used before going to bed to warm the futon.
Main entrance And so we even had a balcony…And back to the front…A wooden floor and no open fire, so no dust! Even furniture looks less decrepit…
Its on a slope, so from he back it looks like if it had 2 levels…We also had the magic kotatsu (炬燵), real life savers in these cold houses: low table frame, covered by blanket or futon and with heating source underneath… only heats the legs, but that makes a difference!!
Kan-san also brought us down to the big city of Nagasaki over the week-end. We then stayed at his companion’s work place, a small room used for Yoga classes at the back of an also small restaurant in very busy night life center of Nagasaki…
But first he brought us to a huge onsen, almost like a SPA complex. And then for sightseeing from the telephone, radio & TV transmission antennas – like Fourvière is to Lyon.
View from Onsen place… Nagasaki stretches along Uragami river and beyond…… and another nice meal it was!
Nagasaki by night, seen from NTT antennas…evening meal at the friend´s place – also where we overnight-ed 😉… next morning – a rainy day – meeting outside rest.
Kan-san and his friend also brought us to do some sightseeing in Arita … one of the main city for ceramics
Ceramics museumfor lunch we go to an eel restaurant (unagi) – a delicacy!seems to be a famous place…more ceramics, this time an warehouse with boxes full of unsorted leftovers from earlier series… a “treasure hunt”, but no time to hunt!!
… and back for another evening in Nagasaki
Second evening in Nagasaki we went for quick meal of noodles and it all reminded us of the movie Tanpopo. The owner laughed when we mentioned this to him… Then in the morning just enough time for a quick walk in surroundings – the temple road and cemetery on a hill.
View on Nagasaki from cemetery … later we got the explanation that it was a way for temples to pay less taxesSeems we are always 1 week to early and then we move on further north!Another treasure hunt place…
20 pig heads to make 300 bols of broth!Cemetery that seem quite old…We were very surprised to find a primary school in the middle of a temple!!Although some trees are blooming (mainly plum trees), we still did not get our sakura blooming experience (cherry trees).Area along the river is quite scenic Traditional pastries, sweat or savoury…
It was then time for us to go back to the mountains and do some WWOOFing work.
Did we miss to mention the 椎茸 shiitake culture… And harvesting … maybe we should try it in France or Finland.
I originally thought the best are the one of about 3-4 cm in diameter, but was told by Mihara that the larger ones are good too, if not damaged – anyone with other views?Good meals in the mountain too…Presentation still has its importance, although it then contrasts with surroundings…
We also tried to influence a bit on the cleaning side, not cleaning of houses & floors, but the environment wrt plastics and other hazardous wastes… but little or no effects we seem to have! Maybe on the 7th generation of WWOOFers commenting on the horrific impact of burning plastics will things change???
We harvested some of the fruit trees, only one of which was the usual yuzu, the rest we are not sure…
Ornamental tree…
We also had a ride to nearest village, ~5km down hill on one electric bike for two…
Going back up, we almost reached the farm before sunset, but electric bike ran out before reaching destination…
Building has no interest in itself, but look at the stone wall built around it… it is so close to house you wonder what they can see, if they have windows…!Another nice looking tool…
Actually all was not sunshine and we had given it a week to check if it was not just a wrong first impression or would change. Fact is that most of the times we were left to ourselves, isolated and not sure when or what would come next + it was dam cold, a bit like the first day at Les Contamines but every day was the first day again… so we took the decision to look for another WWOOFING host and say goodbye to Mihara and Kan.
So with help of Mihara’s friend, the cook of the Ureshino hotel, we ended our stay on 14 March.
Not only that friend drove us down from mountain to Ureshino… but as her sister is managing the Japanese style hotel, she also got us accommodation for one night and … Evening stroll in town… looks nice and peaceful.sagedama, a ball made from Sugi leaves to announce the new sake season.
evening meal prepared together chabu-chabu. Here a sink especially made to prepare fish.A traditional sake brewery – they had produced new sakeJust a view of the riverbanks through iron bridge
As this friend is the cook for the other western style hotel, she has to be up everyday at 4 am to prepare the breakfast for the guests… cheeky of us, we asked if she wouldn’t mind us joining to help her. So alarm clock set to 4:30, and we joined her at other hotel for 5:00.
So here we are in a hotel kitchen at 5 am helping prepare breakfast Generally speaking, Japanese seem to like having many different dish, also at breakfast!
Helene helping a bit more efficiently than me…Each of these dishes requires attention and special ingredients…
All done, those breakfasts are like full meals…
So, goodbye to Nagasaki and Saga regions … off to our WWOOF #4 nearby Fukuoka (north of Kyushu island).
A totally different WWOOF experience and quite original character in meeting our new host Yoichi Kan …
Yoichi Kan
Managing director of PAL structural design (www.pal.co.jp), a successful company in civil engineering. It seems that company is involved in quite advanced designs both in complexity and innovation.
He also owns two good size hotels in an onsen city, Ureshino. City of natural hot springs, so very praised touristically.
And fairly recently got interested in ecology and environmental issues. Now in his seventies, he has some sequels of a stroke, he cannot move his right arm much and sometimes has problems controlling his foot – which makes the driving shaky and somewhat uncertain at times …
With him we visited several places, Nagasaki (very briefly), Ureshino and his onsen hotel, Arita (town famous for its ceramics), and his farm – where we were expected to do our actual WWOOFing duties…
Fish farm in the mountains!!
Up in the mountains…He built many warehouses, in which big water tanks are used to grow both fresh water and sea water fish!
Fugu
Shima-aji
Starting from fresh water source, he built a complex water network…… the water is also circulating through some greenhouses where some vegetables are grown, maybe also used to add nutrients?!? (It was sometimes hard to get details, or precise answers either…)… still expanding a bit.
… surrounded by beautiful isolated countryside!Amongst other: 鯛 Tai (japanese sea bream), 河豚 Fugu (puffer or blowfish), 縞鯵 Shima-Aji (striped jack)
Tai
Including heating the water to the required temperature, adding salt to re-create sea water…….Will look for the name….
Torikabuto Nature School, an ecologist camp
Torikabuto Nature School (web site only in Japanese) is a kind of experimental ecology oriented camp he designed and built as a hobby.
Few hundred meters above the fish-farm… with traditional countryside farms in between…All buildings are “homemade” and designed for the summer camps for large groups…
A 82 years old lady, Mihara, is our only companion when staying up in the mountain camp..
.. the “camp” where we stayed and did a bit of gardening……here, our kitchenWith her we did a bit of gardening…… and cooking.Sometimes using wild plants…
KAN-san comes from a family of carpenters, combined with his education in architecture and civil engineering + interests in ecology and environmental concerns he applied original techniques to the set of buildings forming the Nature School camp, see Reciprocal Frame Architecture (https://www.baubiologie.at/workshop2013/Reciprocal-Frame-Architecture.pdf). A fascinating way of building wood framed buildings as a puzzle intertwined beams that support each others with minimal or even no joints!! Really worth checking this concept!!
Some 12-15 buildings scattered on his plot of land…Kitchen and dining place, viewed from outsidePlexiglass walls (nice when there is sun!, but else..)Interior of that tea houseZooming on the ceiling…Overhanging extension, seen from outside.Half-pipe watermill.Mill used to process the rice, removing husk and bran layers.Chicken house is conveniently just next to the rice mill.Dome shaped building, based on triangles combined into hexagons.Buildings are surrounded with facilities to experiment with traditional ways of cooking
Each of which has its own original design and purposeOffice, but also our “non-heated” sleeping placeReception/ tea house!?!?Over-hanging extension to that tea house.Check the table and shutters….Other similar (but different) building, likely used of group activities… yoga? …. Water comes as a deviation from nearby stream.Part of our duties was to take care of the hens.Which seems to be used for parties !Also many “onsens”, hot baths…… and many more smaller experimental structures…
Would be interesting to see in summer, when in full operation… as it was, it looked a bit abandoned and hard to imagine hosting an organised summer camp!
last but not least, the barbapapa house, which is really the one that fully applies the reciprocal frame architecture – or at least used as main reference in the book.
