Where to begin...?
Let's see. Last week (it seems like it's been a whole lot longer than just one week) I went up to Takanosu (where Amy's parents live - an 1 1/2 train ride from Akita). The plan for Monday morning was to catch the early train to Takanosu and off we would go (we being myself, the Nordaas's, Becki and her friend Asami) driving along the coast monkey hunting. A great Japanese custom! You drive along watching for monkeys crossing the road and if you see one you speed up (no guns allowed on this hunt). If you hit it, you get to keep it. You can tell who the experienced monkey hunters are by the number of monkey heads on their wall. Though I don't understand why you would want to put a monkey on your wall... I think they're ugly. I dreaded going to the doctor's office when I was a kid, not because I didn't like the doctor, but because they always had me go to the room that had the monkey poster pinned to the ceiling and I would close my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at it. And in case you're wondering how sane the Japanese are for hunting monkeys with their cars and hanging their monkey trophies on their walls, set your mind to rest. There's no such thing. grins Call it creative writing... overactive imagination... sleep deprivation. I was inspired, so I wrote. But we did go monkey hunting. Only not to hit them, but to take pictures of them (why, I ask, would you want to take pictures of monkeys?? but I guess there has to be some people in this world who like them. I like frogs. Some people think frogs are ugly... so I guess we're even...). We saw 3. Honestly, I was more interested in the breathtaking beauty of the coast of Japan.
But wait! I'm getting waaaayy ahead of myself. The early train... yes, well... the early train. I missed it. The first train I've missed since coming to Japan. So, Arnie (Amy's dad) looked at his massive train schedule book - something akin to our telephone books - and rerouted me. I was to get off at Noshiro (several stops before Takanosu) and they would pick me up there. K. I could handle that. Off to find the train. Find it I did, but found out from a friendly conductor type person that I needed some kind of reservation ticket... ummm... okaaayy... hm. Well, he must have read the look of slight confusion in my face (the look that comes when you think you might have an idea of what's expected of you, but you're not quite sure and not quite sure how to double check to make sure you got it right because there's that little thing called a language barrier) because he proceeded, with a smile, to escort me to the special train ticket reservation counter place (for lack of better words to explain it), told the man my destination, I got my ticket, and escorted me back to my train. Lord, thank you for gracious people. So, while I was riding on this special reservation train, I let myself wind down and got to playing with my camera. Oh the joy! grins Let's just say I had fun. ;) And I wrote a letter to my brother telling him of my little adventure.
So, yes, back to monkey hunting. The monkey hunting was more of an activity to occupy us while en route to a lovely place called Juniko (12 lakes - juni=12). And personally, the coast was much more mesmorizing. I love the sea. Anyway, of the 12 lakes, the last was the most unique. The water and the reflections were fascinating! Sometimes the water looked indigo, sometimes it was translucent picking up more of the brown and yellow of the leaves that had sunk to the bottom from being water-logged, and sometimes it was as blue as the picture below (except pictures never do justice to what is before your eyes) - the kind of blue that I dream the lakes of heaven (should heaven have lakes) might look like - the kind of blue I only ever imagine, never expecting to see, and after having seen it realize that my imagination didn't do it justice. Truly beautiful. It took my breath away... over and over again.
After spending a better part of an hour, maybe 2, we went in search of a ramen shopu to fill our growling stomachs with something tasty. Find one, we did. Just as the sea sky was opening up to drench us with freezing stinging rain, we pulled into a little ramen shopu in a remote coastal town. While sipping my very hot tempura miso shiru (a type of soup - very delicious) sitting on my knees (Japanese style) next to a toasty little kerosene heater, the sleety rain pelted against the window and every few minutes lightning would pierce the cloud darkened sky and the ensueing thunder would literally shake the little restaurant. The windows even rattled. A little eery, and oh so exciting! I love thunderstorms!
What a wonderful day! On the way home the weather cleared enough to step out of the car for a few more pictures of a now darkened, moody sky and reflecting sea.
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