Life In Japan: The Nesting Tree

We have an enormous variety of birds here in Japan.  Not just homegrown types.  Some very interesting breeds, for example, migrate from China and Siberia.  Colorful, exotic, fascinating to watch.  My house is on the edge of a forest, in a very quiet setting.  I often just sit and view them from my rear window as they come and go.

There are two large, majestic birds that most definitely migrated here many decades ago but now are permanent residents.  They can be seen everywhere, along the riverbanks, in the rice fields, soaring high overhead above our rustic town.

I'm referring to the great egrets and gray herons, which must number in the hundreds here in Sasayama.
They have a nesting tree -- actually several in various locations in the region -- very close to my home.  I pass it everyday when I ride into town to buy groceries and other sundries. 

Every spring the great egrets build nests, lay eggs, and give birth to their next generation.  I've never seen any gray herons there.  I'm not certain where their maternity ward is.

Anyway, here's a short movie.  Both Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis turned me down for the lead role.  It is what it is.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]



Life In Japan: The Nesting Tree

Life In Japan: A Lost Wallet

Every year in October, we have here in Sasayama -- my hometown -- the Festival of the Portable Shrines.  It's one of my favorites!

It coincides with the black bean harvest.  Soybeans are called black beans because if they are left on the vine, they turn black and harden, making them easy to store and use over the coming year.
The town is famous over much of Japan for the quality of its black beans.  This means that the weekend of the festival, Sasayama is flooded with tourists.

A gentleman arrived here from Kobe, which is about an hour away.  He came to purchase black beans, but when the moment came to pay, he discovered his wallet was missing.

There are no pickpockets here, so obviously he had dropped it somewhere in town.

He went to the nearest Koban.  There are many here in Sasayama, as there are all over Japan.  A Koban is a mini-police station.  In the U.S. there is much lip service given to community policing, having friendly cops in the neighborhood to address problems which come up in the local area.  In Japan, it's a reality and an integral part of a functioning community.

The policeman on duty -- considering Kobans are, despite being extremely useful and efficient, very limited affairs, often just a two-room building with one parking space for a patrol car, there was probably only one or at the most two officers there -- took a report, then got on the phone.  He called all the other Kobans in the immediate area, anywhere close to where the gentleman had parked his car, then walked into the main part of town.

He passed along the man's name and a description of the wallet.

Now get this . . .

While he was on the phone with another Koban, someone walked in with the wallet and handed it to the policeman on duty there.

The gentleman from Kobe walked the short distance to the other Koban, and retrieved his wallet. 

The contents -- credit cards, ID, cash -- were intact.  Not a single item had been stolen.

I'm not going to moralize.  Draw your own conclusions.  Imagine dropping your wallet wherever you live and decide how the story would have ended.

I'll say it again . . . I love Japan!



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


Life In Japan: A Lost Wallet

Beauty . . . is everywhere!

I often jokingly say . . .

"Beauty is in the eyelids of the beholder."

There is an element of truth in this. It suggests that the world is sometimes such an ugly, offensive place, we must resort to projecting within our mind's eye an imagined reality, creating a beauty that's not really there but meets our craving for visual delight.

I just returned from three weeks in Scandinavia, the fulfillment of a lifelong yearning to see this unique part of the world.

A few of those days were spent in Norway, and I am convinced that it may be the most beautiful country in the world. The photo at the head of this blog is the Geirangerfjord, which is indescribable __ even the above picture can't begin to capture the breathtaking majesty of this phenomenal place.

Since my return home, I've introduced into my routine something new. I've started to climb a small mountain __ maybe 1100 feet __ three times a week.

Besides improving my stamina, it has also resulted in a profound epiphany.

This is the view from the top . . .

 

If you have a good arm, you could throw a rock and hit my house from up here. It is less than 3/4 of a mile from my doorstep to the trail head and only takes a few minutes to get there on my bike.

Here are some other highlights of the hike, which takes about an hour round trip.



Getting back to the epiphany . . .
 

When I was in Africa working for a number of NGOs, we would visit various local organizations which were giving much-needed help to area residents. This is a photo from a visit to an AIDS/HIV orphanage.

Like the other 120 children there, this little girl was HIV positive. In this region __ the poorest, most-backward sub-county in Uganda __ that is a death sentence.  This lovely, innocent child is probably dead now.  She took a special liking to me, was so giggly and full of life at the time, full of the blind optimism of youth.

It's heartbreaking to think about.

In any case, on my official visits, I was usually asked to sign an organization's guest book. On one of my walks up the mountain the other morning, I remembered what I used to always write above my signature . . .

"There is beauty everywhere."

In the midst of the worst squalor and unconscionable living conditions, immersed in the uncertainty and despair of the most hopeless situations, one can find beauty.

Though I'm glad I did, I didn't have to fly 5,200 miles for a view that would take my breath away after all.

It was right down the street.

[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]