Friday Finish

I don't know what to call this. It's a little carrier for things you might need - like tissues, toothbrush, Q-tips, bandaids, headache medicine, etc. There are six narrow pockets on the first row and three wider pockets in the second row. It rolls up and stays closed with elastic.  The elastic goes around twice if it's not very full or once if there is a lot of stuff in it.

Hamamatsu Castle

I visited this castle in December 2017, (and I took better pictures that time). The admission fee is 200 yen.

Historical information from J-Castle:

Hikuma Castle was first built on this site around 1514 by a vassal of the Imagawa clan, Inoo Noritsura. In 1568, Tokugawa Ieyasu attacked Sakai Tadatsugu and took control of the castle. Ieyasu started construction of Hamamatsu Castle in 1570 and Hikuma Castle became a minor extension of its vast territory. In 1577 Ieyasu renamed his new castle Hamamatsu Castle. Legend says, the name was changed from "Hikuma" because the characters give the impression of "pulling a horse along" which you might do after losing a battle. Ieyasu spent 17 years here and engaged in some of his most well known battles from this castle before moving to Sunpu Castle in 1586.

There were many helpful signs with English translation.

The inside of the castle is a museum, with some English.

View from the top.

A small shrine -

(If you are interested in Japanese Castles, check out my Castle Page to see the castles I've visited.)

Work In Progress Wednesday

Japanese Pattern 10

New Start - Huckweaving, using Watercolors thread leftover from other projects.  I think I will add some kind of border and make this into a table center.

Christmas Treasures afghan progress

Record number of public school teachers on leave due to mental illness.

A government survey revealed a record high number (6,539) of public school teachers took leave due to mental illness in fiscal year 2022. The survey cited increased workload due to the COVID-19 as a possible factor.  The increase for the year ending last March was up 642 from the previous year, or one in 140 teachers. Education experts cited the increased workload caused by the pandemic, in addition to a rising trend in complaints from the parents of students. 

In addition to the record number of teachers out on leave, the shortage has been due to young people avoiding entering the profession, which is seen as having a heavy workload.  Experts also noted that more teachers are taking leave due to childbirth. (Not enough children is another problem in Japan.) 

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology Ministry recognized the situation as a serious challenge and says it will promote workstyle reform, including reducing paperwork and addressing long work hours. 

Do you see this as an issue where you live? What is the solution to this problem?

Monday Morning Star Count

I've started putting together hexagons for the flip edge, even though that is far in the future.

 

I continue with the hand quilting. Slow progress is being made.

Air Park JASDF Hamamatsu Air Base Museum

This interesting museum is totally free to visit. There are buses from the Hamamatsu Station that drop you off about a 15 minute walk from this museum. The museum opens at 9 am.

This is what it looks like as you walk toward it.

Even the drink machines have an airplane theme.

Outside the building are several planes.

I visited here with friends in 2018, but some of the displays had changed since then and as it was a weekend then, it was much more crowded at that time. This time (a week day) it wasn't at all crowded.   First stop was the flight simulator.

After that, we got tickets for the next movie time in the dome theater.  While waiting for the movie time, we walked around the different displays.

This old plane was especially interesting.

There were other flight simulators.

And this display of a plane that would be comfortable to ride in.

In the display hangar are past fighter planes, Blue Impulse planes, and rescue helicoptors.

This is looking down on the flight simulator plane.

There is a large Brazilian population in the Hamamatsu area, so signage is in Japanese and Portuguese.

I was especially interested in the Blue Impulse display, after having seen them fly in an airshow in 2018.

This English speaking volunteer is a retired Blue Impulse pilot.

This is a great place to visit in Hamamatsu!