Happy New Years Eve

Typical menu for New Years Eve includes home made sushi with mushroom, asparagus, carrots, cucumbers, egg, rice and sea weed. For other family members is the plate above with sea weed and rice topped with fish eggs. We also had sake, sparkling juice, and champagne. Happy New Years Eve!

 

Similarities and Differences

 Japan differs from the United States in many ways. Being here and unable to read the Japanese language is difficult. At the volcano museum only one tenth of the displays were translated into English. I felt illiterate. I feel the same way at grocery stores. I have google translate on my phone but if there are no bars inside the grocery store, I cannot translate. Again I feel illiterate. Is this soy sauce or meat sauce? I have no idea. There are signs on the side of the highways warning us to watch for wildlife. North of here the signs warned us about deer which is the same in the United States. Between here and Fukuoka the signs warned about wild boar and raccoon dogs. All of the major sidewalks have a strip of yellow and white plastic down the middle with four ridges inside. The airport and some museums have the same strips. I first noticed them at the airport because the strips make it difficult for me to pull my wheelie suitcase. Although it took me a long time to figure this out, this yellow and white strip is for blind people who use a cane. That makes much sense but I have yet to see one blind person using a cane since I have been here. I am glad this country is accommodating blind people but I think more curb cutouts would be more useful.

 

Aso

On our way to the Aso volcano we stopped first at the Shinto shrine in Aso City. This is one of Japan's oldest and most significant shrines. People come here to revere the volcano and to pray the volcano stays dormant.

On our way up the hill to the volcano we saw horses and cows on the grasslands. The white cloud you see on the right side of the picture is actually gasses erupting from the volcano.

A Shetland pony was part of the herd.

The drive up to the caldera was long and very slow. Many other people were here to visit. We had one long wait to talk to a ranger at a booth asking if we had heart conditions, lung conditions or asthma which would keep up from continuing our journey.

 

Izumi Crane Observation Center

Yesterday we drove 4 hours north and east to the Izumi Crane Observation Center in the Kagoshima Prefecture.

This differs from the crane center in Wisconsin. These cranes (and crows) are not caged. They come here willingly. The center is adjacent to the sea. Some cranes winter here from Siberia. This is migration season.

There can be as many as 10,000 cranes in these rice fields.

Here are hooded cranes, white necked cranes, sandhill cranes, Siberian cranes and Demoiselle cranes.

So many cranes eating rice.

Burlap sacks of rice are ripped open and dumped on the roads between the rice fields.

 

Patton's Prayer

In 1970 a movie came out called Patton. I saw it three times. I asked my father for a ride to the theater to see it for the third time. As he pulled into the Har Mar parking lot he asked me if I had seen it before. I admitted I had seen it twice already. If he had known that he wouldn't have given me the ride to the theater. I just finished reading Patton's Prayer: A True Story Of Courage, Faith, and Victory In World War Two. The author is Alex Kershaw. My goal was to read more about the battle of the bulge and not necessarily to learn more about Patton but the two topics go hand in hand. What I learned from the book (and not the movie) was that Patton was a man of faith and that Patton loved war. He was disappointed to learn the war had ended. I also learned more about his tragic death. I enjoyed this book about Patton that was published in 2024.  

 

 

Happy Holidays

Here in Japan Santa gets a carrot, two cookies, and a small bottle of yogurt (kefir).

 

Quilt

This pink quilt, here on my bed in Sasebo, was made by the ladies of the church that my father attended. The ladies made it as a wedding gift to him and his new bride. None of the stitches on this quilt were done by a machine. This is a quilt made by the labor of love. And it's beautiful.