Farmer Jackie

I went to my mountain school today but all of the junior high students and teachers were at a badminton tournament in Kanazawa, hence, no classes for me. Instead, I got to go with the elementary school kids to plant rice. It was quite the muddy experience. The students and teachers walked about 20 minutes from the school to the paddies. I got to ride with the vice principal in his car. When we arrived there were some old farmers waiting for us, two women and four men. One of the farmers was out in the field, up to above his ankles in the muck. He was marking rows in the mud for planting by rolling a long, wooden contraption through it. I could see all sorts of creepy-crawlies in the mud and water, and wasn’t looking forward to walking in it. Before we left, the school secretary had warned me about the possibility of leeches by making gestures. I would have felt much less apprehensive if I was wearing tall rubber boots like they were, but my teacher had told me to wear flip-flops and half-pants (shorts, I correctly guessed).


The students came trooping up to the field and it was training time. Two of the older, experienced students showed us a chart and told us how to plant, with interjections and additional training by the farmers. Students were to break apart their clumps of rice and place 2 to 3 sprouts about 2cm deep in the mud at each cross-hatch. Students were supposed to plant 3 rows of 3 at a time, before stepping carefully between the rows to plant the next ones. Then, it was time to hop right in. The kids shed their flip-flops and plopped themselves into the mud, amidst some squeals of, “Samui!!” (It’s cold!). The 6th graders helped finish marking rows and the little ones started to plant. A couple of times one of the teachers and I had to wade in to roll up the shorts of the kids to avoid them getting soaked. Each time the kids would finish their clump they’d have to yell, “Help Me!” in English, and someone would toss them another clump. As you can imagine, not all the throws were well aimed, and even if they were, not all of the kids were good at catching them. Many a clump landed in the water, muddily splashing all the kids in the area. It was hilarious!!


I was doing a pretty good job of avoiding the squishy mud, but alas, the vice principal motioned me over to help with the row marking, with a “Ganbatte, kudasai!” (I just have to mention that he didn’t get in the mud once! He appointed himself one of the paparazzi instead. Smart guy.) It felt pretty gross walking through the mud and it was especially precarious getting in and out of it. I did my best to not think about all the creatures that might be in it and tried to pretend that at one point we didn’t roll over the floating body of a dead frog. Now, growing up on a farm, I’ve walked through things much more disgusting and stinkier than this, but never barefoot!

After we finished marking, I helped throw more plant clumps at the kids and then headed back into the mud to plant. When we finished we washed up using the gutters of water that run around each field and are used to flood them. The kids all lined up and then had to take turns giving their thoughts on the experience (I think that’s what they were doing, anyway) and thanking the farmers. They then trooped back to school and we followed behind in the car. Despite the yuckiness of the mud, I had a really fun time! It was great to hang out with the little kids and it was interesting to see the rice planting process and participate in it. I hope the rice grows okay and they get a big harvest. I guess we get to harvest it in the fall and make rice balls with it. I’m a bit afraid that my rows might die due to incorrect planting and I won't get anything to eat at harvest time. Although I noticed the farmers went back through the field redoing some of the planting, mostly where the 1st graders had been, so I guess I shouldn’t be too concerned.

Once we got back to school, I got to wash off any remaining mud with hot water and soap in the school shower in the nurse’s room. The rest of the day was kind of a drag. The place felt pretty lonely as the staff room was only populated with the elementary vice principal, the secretary, and myself, although occasionally the random elementary school teacher would pop in for a short spell. I suppose nothing could really live up to the excitement of the morning, but I wish something would have tried!

Sakura It To Me

April is sakura (cherry blossom) season here.
Japanese people go crazy for cherry blossoms. I was fortunate to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ishikawa. No matter what city I was in, every tree that had even a few blossoms on it was completely swarmed by Japanese people taking photos of it. I have to say that I joined right in the madness and now possess more flowering tree pictures than anyone ever should. In Kanazawa, the blossoms were at their peak from about April 6-12. That week, Kenrokuen, our local famous garden, was free for everyone to go in and view the blossoms. There were festival food stalls everywhere, and the park was open and lit up at night to take full advantage of the short time the trees were blooming.

On Saturday, April 11th, I went to Daishoji for their hanami (cherry blossom viewing) festival. Yes, the Japanese have a specific name for cherry blossom viewing – that’s just how important it is to them. We went on a boat ride down the river and picnicked in a park under the blossoms. During hanami, many people sit under the cherry trees on tarps and blankets, eating and drinking all day long, and when in Japan… After a beautiful day in Daishoji, I went to Zach’s house for an Easter party. We colored Easter-themed coloring book pages, dyed Easter eggs, and ate delicious pineapple/coconut cake that Zach had made. I went home, but some other party-goers headed downtown to hand out the Easter eggs to very confused Japanese people.


The next day the weather was absolutely gorgeous again, so Sarah, Ali and I headed to Kenrokuen to enjoy the cherry blossoms there. The place was absolutely packed with people taking pictures of the blossoms, themselves posing with the blossoms, their kids with the blossoms, their tiny little dogs with the blossoms... We grabbed some tasty corn-on-the-cob, and then crossed the street to sit in front of the castle amongst the groups of reveling Japanese. Tomoko and Daniel surprised us there and invited us to join the group they were with. They kindly welcomed us with snacks and sake and we had quite a lovely time until the sun went down.

The following weekend we had another hanami near the river that was organized for all of the JETs in Ishikawa. By this time, the blossoms were a bit past their prime and we ended up sitting on most of them. It was still quite festive though. Everybody then headed to a block party downtown. There was live music, food stands and people selling all kinds of things. Two Canadian guys had actually set up a Mexican food stand and were cooking amazing tacos, quesadillas and steak fajitas. I had one of each and was in heaven! We ended the night, as we often do, with a few hours of karaoke.

That Sunday was an Earth Day celebration at a park outside of Kanazawa, so Tomoko crammed six of us in her car and away we went. There were artists’ stands, people selling curry, and more live music. One of the bands featured a singer inside a giant globe. There were also belly dancers, drummers and African dancers, a woman playing an accordion, and strange performance art. Little kids were running around and swinging on giant swings while the adults lazed about on a grassy knoll in the sunshine.

I’d have to say that spring is my favorite season! I wish it would last forever, but soon enough the rainy, sweaty summer will be upon us. Oh well, for now, let’s enjoying cherry blossoms!