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Thursday 19 May
19:51
My craving for simple English food got the better of me, and so I decided to make dinner tonight. To the left we have a brocolli cheese bake, and on the right, roast potatoes done in a sukiyaki pan (a new technique of which I am the rather proud inventor).
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Thursday 19 May
19:51
A close-up on the half demolished brocolli cheese dish. This was nicer than it looks!
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Friday 20 May
14:36
Spent most of the day on the computer...
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Friday 20 May
18:34
Around 6ish we went for a walk to the post office. On the way back I noticed for the first time this Yamazaki Whisky barrel, not far from where Chie's family live.
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Friday 20 May
18:34
Here's the barrel again.
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Friday 20 May
18:35
In fact this was a shop selling furniture made from old whisky barrels - what a great idea!
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Friday 20 May
18:35
This is me giving the stopper on the barrel a good nose - it smelled sort of vinegary to me...
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Friday 20 May
18:36
Me, Chie and a barrel.
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Friday 20 May
18:44
On the way back to the house, I rather liked this scene with the crane, just as the sun was beginning to set.
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Friday 20 May
18:51
Chie standing on a little bollard.
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Sunday 22 May
09:29
A map of Yamaguchi prefecture taken at a kind of service station place, en route to where the tambo is (actually in Chimane prefecture).
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Sunday 22 May
09:31
There was a little farmers' market type thing at the service station place, which I was keen to get a picture of...
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Sunday 22 May
09:32
...and here's another with me in.
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Sunday 22 May
10:27
I have to admit originally being a bit confused as to why we needed to drive for well over an hour to get to a tambo, when the Japanese countryside seems to be full of them - we passed literally thousands on the way there. However, when we got there I understood - this was a beuautiful spot covered in terraced paddy fields right at the head of a valley.
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Sunday 22 May
10:42
The Moriwaki family's little strip. How exactly the wonderful scenery could affect the quality of the end product I wasn't sure - but if nothing else there was at least very good clean water here, being at the head of the valley and everything.
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Sunday 22 May
10:42
There they all are, hard at work (I hadn't quite got started yet).
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Sunday 22 May
10:50
Chie and her aunt in some rather, well, interesting, (presumably traditional) garb used for planting rice.
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Sunday 22 May
10:50
Lots of other people were outing planting as well...
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Sunday 22 May
10:51
A close-up of Chie, who naturally received some, errr, feedback from me on this hat thing.
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Sunday 22 May
11:03
I told them they looked like a Vietnamese peasant family, at which they very politely laughed, but no doubt cursed me for under their breath afterwards.
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Sunday 22 May
11:08
Here's me putting the finishing touches to the planting. I was told my planting was very good - perhaps the best there, and I'd never done it before... You'll notice I wasn't getting my feet wet - they didn't have the special tambo shoe things in my size (a rather crazy 29 in Japanese sizes, which always makes people gasp when I tell them).
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Sunday 22 May
11:08
Another shot of me planting rice. There is a great feeling of pride and wholesomeness after this kind of work. Particularly when you onlt have to do it for about 45 minutes!
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Sunday 22 May
11:08
I think this is me trying to get the mudd of my hands (the girls all wore gloves).
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Sunday 22 May
11:08
A couple more views of our tambo and the surrounding area after all the work was done...
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Sunday 22 May
11:09
...the particular end of the tambo I'd worked on... Look at the precision in that spacing!
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Sunday 22 May
11:11
The family gathering together for a group picture, standingly proudly at the end of their tambo.
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Sunday 22 May
11:12
...and again, with the special guest planting assistant making an appearance.
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Sunday 22 May
13:02
After having finished our morning's work (which went surprisingly quickly) we headed back to the farmhouse for a spot of lunch - here's a picture taken outside of the view down the valley.
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Sunday 22 May
13:13
On the left their you can see the farmhouse where we had lunch, and you may just about be able to make out Chie standing outside.
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Sunday 22 May
13:13
Some of the other buildings in this little farming settlement at the head of the valley.
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Monday 23 May
15:01
The Mitsukoshi department store in the centre of Hiroshima, where we went for an "Italian Fair", and I bought some olives, etc.
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Monday 23 May
16:11
On the way out of Mitsukoshi, my Italian produce in hand, with a very British looking lion.
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Tuesday 24 May
11:39
The unbridled joy of receiving Marmite in the post - thanks to Chie's friend Tomoko-san!
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Tuesday 24 May
11:39
A close-up demonstrating just how over the moon I was.
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Tuesday 24 May
11:55
Within minutes the toaster was on, and I was taking it for a test drive...
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Tuesday 24 May
11:55
...marvellous.
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Tuesday 24 May
16:14
Shortly after buying my new MP3 player, we went for an afternoon snack at this Japanese sweets cafe, where I had these rather nice mochi.
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