Watermelon

Watermelon is one of my favorite foods.  It's very expensive in Japan, so I don't buy it often.  Since it's a holiday, I decided to splurge and buy a slice.  Oishi katta desu!

Taxi Drivers' Gift

On the corner across the street from my house is a taxi business, with many cars and drivers.  I have to walk past this corner to go anywhere from my apartment.

View from my balcony.  Taxi business is on the corner to the right.

The taxi drivers are older men who bow and yell out Konnichiwa when I pass by.  I wave and greet them in return.  When I was coming back from my walk, they waved me to come over to the building and gave me these three bamboo shoots! They are bigger than they look in the picture.

I googled how to prepare them and found a YouTube video.  It looked like a lot of work, but I tried it.  

People in Japan are so friendly and nice.  If taxi drivers in the US yelled to me, I'd probably ignore them and I certainly wouldn't accept food from them.  I do love living in Japan.

2016 Smalls Stitch A Long - Key and Change Holder

I bought this inexpensive little key and change holder, then added a tiny hexagon flower with some French Knots in the center.  

This is my finished small for the April 2016 Smalls SAL.  Thanks to Heather at Stitching Lotus for hosting this monthly stitching event!

Work In Progress Wednesday -Taihen Desu!

I started working on the second rose and at this point checked it again the chart.  I made a counting mistake and it all has to come out!  I hate when this happens.  

No progress at all this week.

Low Key Day

The past few Mondays (one of my days off), I have done some big hikes or long walks.  Yesterday, I caught up with some things at home and took a regular walk around my area.  Golden Week starts Friday and I'll have a week free to do things, so I didn't mind staying home and didn't feel like I wasted time.  Here are a few photos that say spring in Kagawa.

Monday Morning Star Count - A Start on Embellishing

I have made just a very small start on embellishing.  Hope to have more to show next week.

Linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches.

Shamijima

My friend from Hokkaido came to Kagawa again to visit her family and she planned a nice outing to Shamijima for us one day while she was here.  Shamijima was originally a tiny island off the coast of Shikoku that was later joined with the larger island by reclaimed land in 1967.  The former island later became the southern end of the Seto Ohashi Bridge, a 9.4 kilometer long bridge network that connects Shikoku to Okayama Prefecture on Honshu, Japan's largest island.  

First we visited the Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaii Setouchi Art Museum, which was hosting an exhibit of the work of painter Insho Domoto. 

Next, we took a little hike on a path near the water.  

We decided to go up in the Seto Ohashi Tower.  It goes up 132 meters and rotates so we could see everything! 

We walked around Seto Ohashi Memorial Park after that.  

Then we had a delicious lunch! 

What a fun time we had!  I look forward to her next visit!

Small Earthquake

Night before last I felt shaking in my apartment and could see the hangers moving.  I checked The Japan Meteorologial Agency website and saw there really was a very small earthquake on Shikoku.

Temple 82 - Negoro-ji

When I told people I was planning to go to this temple, I was told it is haunted, there are ghosts, it is scary.  I was even told not to go.  Many Japanese people are very superstitious.  I don't consider myself superstitious, but I have to say it was a weird day.  It was a little rainy and visibility wasn't good - kind of spooky.

I mapped out my route with google maps on the iPad.  As I started my walk up the mountain, the little blue dot (me) was moving all around and I couldn't tell which road I was on.  Then -- the dot disappeared and I got the message "current location undetermined".  Was I in the Twilight Zone, or what?  The road was steep and I was leaning forward, looking at the ground when I felt something drip from my nose.  I saw a drop of blood on the ground!  I never get nose bleeds!  What was going on? The nose bleed stopped as quickly as it started. Next, I see this ghost swing set on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. How weird.

The legend is that a cow monster was living in the area bothering everyone.  An expert archer named Kurodo Takakiyo Yamada prayed for 17 days, then shot and killed the monster.  Afterward he gave the monster's horns to Negoro-ji.  There is a statue at the entrance to the temple of this monster and two other monsters guarding the gate to the temple grounds.

The temple grounds and buildings are very beautiful and there were pilgrims, so not everyone avoids the place, but it was a weird day.  

People who hike the entire 88 Temples take months to do it.  There are bus tours that also take people around.  I'm happy to go to the ones in my area for now, although I would like to do the entire route if I had the chance.