From Fukushima Castle to Nihonmatsu

It just keeps getting better and better.

On Wednesday, my day off, Katie and I made our way down to the Abukuma River, a 15 minute walk from our apartment. I was promised by several people that there would be good biking paths along the water and that is was a nice place to spend the afternoon. So I packed a lunch of white bread and tuna and off we went. I have to say, despite the background noise of shiny, boxy, Japanese cars speeding across the bridge, the atmosphere was quite peaceful. The water was somewhat of an industrial green if you catch my smog, but I did see a fisherman trying to reel in his dinner so I guess it can't be that bad.

After a tour of the river bank, we made our way up a set of stairs that reminded my of an Aztec Temple. Fortunately I was not sacrificed. Instead, I found myself standing in front of a dragon guarded tea room, once a part of Fukushima Castle.


Most of the other castle buildings had been torn down. What used to be the stables are now the Prefecture Office, and the west and east gates are little more than aged pillars. However, it was a very intriguing spot to walk through. A mound, maybe several inches higher than the surrounding ground, was once called Maple Mountain. Upon closer inspection this conundrum proved to be inconclusive because I have no idea what Maple leaves look like. Maybe someone can help me out here.


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After we left the river, Katie and I took a stroll to the supermarket to pick up some dinner. We passed by a shop with kimonos in the window and decided to take a look. The front of the store was filled with little odds and ends, such as purses, handkerchiefs, and phone chains, while the back was lined with kimonos. The woman working in the shop was very excited to show us around. I imagine she was pretty bored. Not many people shop for traditional clothing, the average price of which ranges between 300,000 and 400,000 yen. ($3,000 to $4,000) With Katie acting as translator, the woman invited us upstairs where the entire floor was nothing but kimonos and kimono accessories. They were beautiful. They were more impressive than any clothing I've ever seen or even heard of in the United States. As we admired the robes the woman asked Katie something in Japanese. I still had my camera with me from our trip to the river and seeing it, the woman asked if I would like to try on a kimono and take a picture. !! !! Speechless! Really!? Try on a kimono, worth more than my entire (well almost my entire) wardrobe? Are you kidding! She let me choose any one I wanted, which took about 10 minutes. There were so many. Then she fully dressed me in the complete outfit. It took about 10 minutes just to get everything on. There are so many different layers and pieces. The only thing she didn't do was tie the obi into a bow.



I had so much fun! It was really exciting. There are more kimono pictures on flickr.

And as if that weren't enough, later that night I went to a lantern festival in Nihonmatsu with Marissa and Alexis, two other Nova instructors. What a blast that was! I've never seen anything like it. There were huge lanterns leading up to this beautiful shrine where many of the local people were tying prayers on trees and ringing the shrine bells. At 9:00 they had a parade where men and boys dragged these huge lantern floats on wooden wheels down the streets. The floats were several stories high with an even higher extension where more lanterns hung. On the bottom of the floats were drummers and flute players. Behind each float, people would follow and chant back to the people chanting on the top of the float. It was quite a sight.


Its really hard to explain any more. You'll just have to see for yourself. (lantern festival)

That is all for now. I hope you all enjoy the pictures, I enjoyed taking them. More to come soon.