Life in Yachiyo-machi

Life in Yachiyo-machi isn't that bad. Yachiyo is a small farming community in the south/western region of Ibaraki Prefecture. I am about 1 hour north/west of Tokyo (only if you take the toll roads and there is no traffic). On most days you can expect to see tractors driving along the narrow country roads and old women working in the fields. Farming in Japan is not huge, in fact, because Japan is so mountanious, farming is quite rare. Most farming area is family runned and owned. SO keep your eyes open for those little road side stands, because it is always cheeper to buy. Directly from the grower.Here is a view of Mt. Tsukuba and some tiny haystacks.

I captured this beauty on my way home from school thursday afternoon. Mt. Tsukuba is the local mountain in southern Ibaraki. It takes about 2 hours to climb and I am determined to do it soon.

Grave sites are everywhere. Along road sides, in your neighborhood, by temples, even close to your favorite resturaunts.

Offerings are made during holidays, special occasians or just because. Things like flowers, food, beer and sake can be seen resting on the monuments.

There are bugs. HUGE FRIGGN' BUGS. Bugs so big, they make me scream like a little pansy boy. I saw this beauty on my front door, just as I was turning around to lock the house... she popped up. Don't think it is small. It is bigger than my hand! She must have eaten a lot of mates to get this huge. You know I always liked that fact about female praying mantises. ( if you have no idea what I am talking about... you need to watch the discovery channel a little more.. (I can't believe you still watch MTV! How old are you?))

So... there is officially nothing to do in Yachiyo. So sometimes I meet up with a few friends in Shimotsuma for bowling, karaoke or other such activities.

This is Mark and Willow. Nice people, good cooks and excellent bowlers.

My friend Matt and I seem to be disagreeing on our bowling techniques. He keeps telling me that I will bowl better if I take my shirt off (just kidding). It's ok, I got a 140 on my second game and kicked his ASS! The poor guy, his feet are soooo big, that he had to bowl in his socks.

The one bad point about bowling in Japan..... the balls never have big enough holes! My fat american fingers are always getting stuck in them. If I do manage to find a ball where my fingers can fit, I am sure to give myself a hurnia just lifting it. Can women get hurnias? I'm sure we can.

On Sunday the sun was shining, the air was crisp and I could not spend my day sitting indoors. So I grabed a sandwich from the "7" and headed to the park. For such a beautiful day, the park was near empty. I layed down in the grass, read my book and ate my tonkatsu sandwhich. MMmmmmmm tonkatsu.

Life isn't that bad. I am still sick, but I feel much better. My fever is gone and in its place is a nice, healthy, flehmy cough. Yummy!

Till next time... Take care of each other and send me some money!