Kurikoma-san 2 & 3 and then 4
Last weekend a group of us took a trip up to the local mountain, Mt. Kurikoma, or, as the Japanese would say, Kurikoma-san. This 5,500 ft mountain is only about an hour drive from my house, so about 10 of us met at my place, went to a kombini (convenience store) for some snacks and headed on up there. (Below: this was when we went tree weeks ago. Notice how it is pretty much only green.)
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Let’s see, just for the record there was Liz, Corrie, Colleen, Colin, Alliya, Sarah, Heather, Jesse, Grace, and myself. Right now is the famous koyo time in Japan, or leaf viewing time, so the parking areas around the trailhead was packed with cars and people. There was a ½ mile queue for parking but we quickly snatched an open spot along the road. This was the 4th time I’ve done Kurikoma san, the last time being a few weeks back when Liz, Colin and I actually climbed it twice in one day because we tried going down another route and got down to another parking area and soon learned that we were on the other side of the mountain and there wasn’t a connecting path back to our side of the mountain!
(Above: this was last weekend (Oct 13th) and you can see the change in colors... but wait till the next picture!)The guy at the snack counter said we could hire a cab for about $130, or we could take the shortest path which was to just go up and back over the top- which we did. I was ok taking a cab, but the two youngsters convinced me that it wouldn’t be a problem and they were right, it wasn’t. That was officially the first time where I thought, “Man, look at me… I AM getting old!” That mistake actually worked out for the positive because we got a spectacular sunset on our way down. Well this time around we knew right what we were doing, so loaded up and started hiking. Whereas a few weeks ago the mountain was all green, boy how things were different this time around! The trees were so colorful the hills looked like they had been splattered with paint by Jackson Pollock himself! 
(Above: Boo yah! Look at those colors! That's what I'm talking about!) The colors were so vibrant. Sometimes you would turn a corner and there was a super pink tree, or tangerine orange, or sunflower yellow, standing by itself like the color fairy had come along with her magic wand and said, “THIS one!” Whoosh!! We took a different trail up this time and it was a bit longer but less traveled, and I think, more beautiful. As with any mountain, it’s a crapshoot as far as the views because at any time clouds could quickly roll in and you’re out of luck, but fortunately today this didn’t happen to us. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. The views from the top were clear and spectacular. We could see the surrounding towns, although we couldn’t figure out which one was ours. We got about ½ on the top before a big cloud covered the sun and it got very chilly rather quickly, so we headed back down. The speed demon Colin took a crew on another way down while I went back with a crew the shortest way. At the trailhead there are a couple inns, and one of them is this spectacular lodge with an incredible onsen that has large indoor and an outdoor rectangular tubs. (Below: the crew from left, Sarah, Liz, Cor-Bear, yours truly, Heather, Grace, Colin, Aliya, Colleen, Jesse)
The water is the perfect soothing hot temp and overlooks the hills and road leading up to the parking area- so it’s kind of funny driving up because you see these little (because they’re far away) naked men and women up on the hill at the onsen. The water is a cloudy white opaque due to the minerals in the water. After getting out your skin feels so soft, and if you wore any silver it turns black for a couple weeks, which I find to be a rather nice change. We all thoroughly enjoyed the onsen and I still think the Japanese have the best system in the world when it comes to bathing and public baths. It seems like if there can be an onsen (hot spring) in a place, then there surely is one. They take advantage of every crack and crevice in the earth. This particular onsen is arguably one of the best I’ve ever been to in Japan and was certainly the perfect ending to the perfect day. (Below: Colleen and Grace, and some spectacular views from the top... we had a lucky day as far as the weather goes.)
posted by Aaron @ 3:04 AM
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(Above: In the spring right after planting... if you look closely you can see the baby rice) These same machines are then loaded with flats of two inch tall baby rice and can plant a whole rice field in half and hour. The rice is so small that you can’t really see it until you’re up close, so the flooded fields look like huge rectangular mirrors organized about the whole of Japan. If you squint just a bit and imagine the dikes as the frames, the land might look as if it is covered with massive old-fashioned windows, and maybe, just maybe you can look into them and peer into the earth itself. By late summer the fields are a vibrant green and the rice is 3 feet tall and becoming heavy with grain. The reflective pools disappeared maybe two months ago back when the rice was six inches tall or so, and now it looks like you could walk through the fields as if they were wheat. If indeed you tried this, after your first step you would find yourself suddenly pausing for two reasons: one is because, previously unknown to you, an amazing number of creatures, (mostly frogs, and therefore, snakes) are living in the field and your first step startled these creatures and caused a flurry of movement and sound, and you are now a bit worried about what other unknown (maybe dangerous?) things may be lurking underfoot. 
(Above: They said I learned quickly, and I thought so, too! Must be from gardening back home) The second reason is that you notice an odd, cooling sensation at your foot and you quickly discover that your leg has sunk six inches into mud…yes, the fields are still flooded with water. By late September the rice has turned a golden-green, and sometimes, on windy days, the rice is so heavy that spots in the field become flattened as if attempts at crop circles made my mentally impaired aliens. Soon, the rice begins to disappear! When I first arrived, I was startled at how quickly this happened! I would drive by fields of tall rice in the morning, but in the afternoon that same rice was gone! Cut as if shaved with a razor and the only thing remaining is stubble. Where were all the people? I thought this part was done by hand? Ahh me; the gaijin fool. Of course the harvesting was automated, too. 
(Above: Learning how to stack the rice in columns to dry) Another type of tractor comes and indeed literally shaves the fields. As it moves along, it ties the rice into bunches and spits them out the side. The final step is to gather the bunches of rice and dry them on long poles of wood stuck into the mud. Drying time depends on the weather but usually takes around two or three weeks. At some point these are all loaded up and taken to the local processing plant where the rice is husked, washed (from brown rice, to white rice), dried again and packaged. Yes, these days the whole process of planting and harvesting rice could be done by one person. Mostly, however, I see a man driving the machine, and a woman, often fairly old, walking behind and managing the harvested bundles; the women are always assisting the men in Japan. It’s such a simple, efficient process that it is difficult for me to imagine the days when it was all done by hand and the whole town needed to pitch in. 
(Above: Proud of our work) Many scholars say this “wet-rice farming” is how the famous Japanese efficiency and group mentality was established in the first place. (Also, I read that the fields were often fertilized with human waste, a.k.a. night soil, and it really smelled bad in the heat of summer.) What happened to all those workers with the arrival of automation and machines? The same thing happened in the US and in other developing countries, as well, but now that I see it firsthand here it really makes me wonder about it. When I arrived in Japan one of the things I really wanted to do was plant and harvest rice by hand and this year I got my wish. At school we have Agriculture Day and the 2nd years can choose to take a field trip to rice, tomato, or “other” produce farms. I was allowed to participate and obviously and eagerly chose rice. The staff was impressed J I had a blast walking barefoot in the mud in the spring, and harvesting in the fall. It is very labor intensive, that’s why only 15 or so students chose the rice option, but it was a wonderful experience and one of my best memories of Japan to date. The field is near my house and I would drive by and check on the rice every so often after we had planted it. 
(Above: finished and shaved) It has now dried for around 3 weeks and has been wrapped into 2 huge cylinders and last I saw was sitting in the field like unprocessed food J I’m sure by now it has been picked up and is at the processing plant. The teachers said we will soon get to eat that very rice, but it seems un-Japanese for them to keep our rice aside separately just for us. We’ll see. It would be great if they did. Miyagi is supposed to have some of the most delicious rice in all of Japan. If they give us some of our rice dried, I plan to take it home to my family at Christmas and I’ll add a bit of Miyagi flavor to our Christmas feast. I know I will savor every bite knowing it was planted and harvested by my very own hand.
