"You want us to do what? Are you serious?" Now, I know we have spent three years avoiding this. What everyone entreated us to do. "It's the REAL Japanese experience" they say or "How can you come to Japan and NOT do this?" they say.
Well to be frank, I could have happily left after three years here without sleeping on a tatami mat on the floor with only paper between me and the person in the next room, eating fish for breakfast but ........
Saturday 26th May saw us boarding a train heading north west of Tokyo to a place called Tsubemesanjo - one stop short, as it transpired, of Niigata City itself. I say "it transpired" because for a whole month I had been told we were going to Niigata. My friend Kumi was in charge and she, being Japanese, knew where we were going, right? So very wrong. The day after I bought the shinkansen tickets to Niigata (not cheap, green car) I received a call from Kumi that I could not take. I was on a bus and it is frowned upon to receive a call on a bus. So I switched her off only to read a text message flying through - TRYSH CALL ME NOW!!! It looked just like that. Looked urgent so I called her. She was very sorry, it was all her fault.........
Anyway, tickets duly amended we boarded the train for Tsubemesanjo and not Niigata, note. Two and bit hours later we had passed through mountains and passed by paddy fields and arrived at a very small station in the middle of a large flat area surrounded by paddy fields and mountains. There to greet us was such a welcoming committee - there was Miyuki and Hitoshie (whose house we would be staying in), Atsu and Yoichi and their daughter Hiroko, and finally the lovely Kumi. All beaming and waving - to be honest I felt like Royalty!!
We were introduced to those we had not met before and whisked off for a lovely lunch in the sunshine - sunshine definitely, Bit of a stiff breeze though coming straight off the sea of Japan. Glorious view and almost deserted. Unbelievable after the turmoil of Tokyo, left only two hours ago.
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| Paddy Fields |
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| The Gang |
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| The Sea of Japan in the distance |
The background to this is that Miyuki is Kumi's friend. We have been out for lunches together and she is a lovely lady. She wanted to show us her family's mountain house in Niigata Prefecture. The house has been there for over 200 years and about 30 years ago it was refurbished and rebuilt in parts with old wood from other structures. That it is all authentic, I have no doubt. It is truly stunning and totally replicates the old style homes of the past with bare wooden floors, tatami mats and rice paper doors. It is huge with a gorgeous old style Japanese garden with frogs and birds and butterflies and lanterns. The colours are all neutral, the furniture functional and minimalist. There is a nicely placed pot here, a striking antique cabinet there and a room especially for the tea ceremony. Gorgeous.
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| The front garden |
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| Our bedroom |
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| View from the Futon |
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| On the front porch |
We were treated to Matcha - the green tea as part of the tea ceremony and little cakes (they call sweets). We visited a nearby Yahiko shrine (
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/niigata/yahikosan.html) - the most famous in the area and we climbed Mount Yahiko and saw the most incredible view from the top, looking out across the Sea of Japan to Korea and China in one direction and across paddy fields in the other. We were feted with a gorgeous kaiseki meal in a local restaurant - the chefs have michellin stars but choose to work in this area of Japan instead of Tokyo. The seasonal food when we went? Conga Eel. It is such a delicacy that chefs need a particular certificate to be able to prepare and serve it. The eel has so many bones that it takes years of skill and a very sharp knife to be able to prepare it properly. It ends up looking like cauliflower but of course tastes like anyting but, being a lot like eating thistles! It was delicious and probably something we will never eat again. We were then driven home in our own cars by the staff at the restaurant - what service!
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| The girls |
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| The boys plus poodle Taro! |
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| View from the top |
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| The hghest point |
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| Atsu and Yoichi heading into the distance where the paddy fields lie |
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| Making the futons (Kumi and Atsu) - what fun! |
The evening ended with drinks and chats around the table and then the making up of the futons. I was encouraged by my hostess to take a bath and as I was staying with Japanes hosts, I took it the Japanese way - much to their delight on discovering this! The Japanese way is to run the bath (already done for me) and then to sit on a stool with a shower and wash every inch of your body using a rough towel to exfoliate at the same time. You shower off all the soap and then, only then, do you sit in the bath, calmly and quietly, soothing the day's cares away. I had forgotten to pack a yukata so had to get dressed again after my bath which was sad really as I felt I couldn't hang out with everyone who was variously flopped on futons, listening to ipods or reading books. Yoichi was preparing for his lecture the next day - on Physics in NY!!
Anyway - exhausted by the whole day we turned in for the night not knowing quite what to expect. The night was probably the best I have spent anywhere. When I did wake up in the dark, the light from the lanterns outside in the garden was shining through the paper walls, reflecting the shadows of 250 year old trees across them. It was simply magical.
The morning dawned bright and sunny and we spent it relaxing in the garden, watching others search (very successfully) for bamboo shoots in the old forest behind the house. Packing up and getting ready to leave was organised and co-ordinated.
We had a fabulous time and, although not top of our list of things to do, it should have been; it was without question the most important memory we will take away with us. The sheer privilege of being invited into a Japanese family home and to experience the cultures and traditions that sit so easily alongside the modern and hectic way of life here in Tokyo is truly to have seen both sides of Japan.
