Love for your home province...

finding some flowers on the wayside is my pleasure of walking dogs

Last night I saw someone smiling on TV and showing a flip board where he had written 3 letters of '郷土愛 (love for one's home province)’. "Yes,you are right, that is important, I know" I smiled back to the TV set.

For some people, to love their home province is easy and may be the matter of course. When you walk your dog early in the morning, if you find a freshly bloomed flower at the wayside, and if you are lucky enough to feel its loveliness, you would be happy. And, if it happen every day, that small happiness of dailylife would finally grow into your love for home province. There would be no other way to develop that feeling.

For others, however, it may be a word to begin with-- to begin to think about oneself or the relationship with others, with his community, his country, and even with the whole world over again.

If we love our own home province or not? How can we measure it? Not a few people surely love the place where they have grown up and where they live, I believe.

What is important is that we should realise that we already have the feelings of love for our home province in our heart and that take an action to liberate these feelings.

It is not to be negaive against your neighbours, other groups and other nations that testify your own love. What is necessary is to take care of yourself and of your surroundings including your community, your country, and the whole world where you certainly belong, and also to do your best at any time to reap a good harvest of your life.


If you are happy of yourself, you would have positive feelings for your surrundings.
 

That man on TV of last night, did he say love for our country is not a matter of personal feeling but a strategy our nation needs? Sorry gentleman, I didn't hear you.



 

Explore the world of Noh vol.1 -Encounter with Noh

a good reference of Noh written by Mutsuo Takahashi and others

About two weeks ago, I had an opportunity to enjoy a Takigi-Noh, a Noh stage performed with the light of bone fire specially during summer.
And, how was it? It was just fascinating!  I got a strong desire to explore the world of Noh on this blog. This is volume 1. Let's get started!

First of all, even among Japanese people enjoying Noh, a Japanese traditional art, is not widely popular today, I have to say.  Even though we know its worth as it is designated as an intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, it still seems mysterious and difficult to understand. If you have a chance to go to Noh, I strongly recommend to get some information of the work in advance.

Then, why Noh attracts some people so much? For me, it is its unique atmosphere called 'mugen'夢幻--a dream-like state. The performers create the world of 'mugen' on stage and invite the audience into it.

How does it work?  There are some tricks in it. In the next volume, I will try to solve some of these tricks.

Looks ordinary, but tastes extraordinary !

 



fresh salad from 'Ebi-vegi'

 Can you tell the difference of the taste of carefully grown tomatoes from that of ordinarily  grown ones?

Have you ever tasted powerful greens that have really their original tastes?

 These sweet tomatoes  and strong 'green oak' produced by Ebi-vegi in Tochigi, Japan tell us what fresh vegetables are originally like!! 

How are they produced, then?  One point is, according to Mr. Ebihara, the president of Ebihara Farm,  "giving too much water is rather bad for crops". And, another important point is to try to recreate 'natural environment' as much as possible. For example, he distributes over 90 kinds of crops in a year, which means he dedicates himself to 'multikind and small quantity production'.  In his 'mixed' farm different crops give positive effects each other and grow 'healthier', he says.

Well, thanks to Ebi-vegi, I can serve really tasty vegetables everyday at home just for my family. This is amazing! Why? Because, these vegetables are chosen and served also by chefs in exclusive Hotels such as Imperial Hotel and Hotel New Otani, and also by the famous chateau restaurant Joel Robuchon in Tokyo!! Its quality is guaranteed!





Not summer anymore, not autumn yet...

crops on chestnut tree

Plenty of crops on chestnut trees in the front yard are ripe and about to fall down !

Walking among the trees, I'm dreaming of chestnut rice, chestnut cream, chestnut in syrup, chestnut pie and so on...♪