"TOU NO HETSURI"

I went to see "TOU NO HETSURI" in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
"TOU" means tower.
"HETSURI" means a dangerous cliff.
The sediment layer(cliff) was seen along the green river. This layer was piled up at the bottom of the ancient lake. The lake was formed as a "caldera". "Caldera" is a volcanic crater whose diamter is over 5km. Why this layer became like a tower or a cliff? This is because the water sculptured the layer.
Local people believed that the every tower was a buddist(or a god of buddism). Yeah, it was mysterious and beautiful.

I watched snow covered mountains near "TOU NO HETSURI". The two-headed mountain is named Mt. "FUTAMATA".

The scenery of many mountains are "NASU" mountains. Mt. Nasu is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan.

Actually, I didn't climb any mountain this time. I would like to climb some of the mountains I saw, this summer.

Jerry

I went to my friend's house yesterday. (my senior of our lab in graduate school) His son's name is Jerry. Jerry is not his real name. However my friend calls him"Jerry". Jerry is one year old .We played with balls and on a slide in a park near his house. This was the moment when Jerry was walking up to the top of the slide.

After the park, we went to my friend's house. Jerry may have been sleepy, however he was excited and didn't sleep when we arrived at his house. We played with balloons. When he could catch it, we clapped our hands to praise him. He also clapped his hands and the balloon fell. It was like a comedy. He was so cute!

I laughed a lot yesterday. I felt comforted by Jerry's innocent smile.

Seagal Diner

"KAMOME SHOKUDO" is the title of a movie which is now showing at the theater in Japan. KAMOME SHOKUDO means Seagal Diner. The story is that a woman named Sachie opens her diner in Finland. Two more Japanese women join her and the diner came to be popular. No special thing happens but the movie is heartwarming. Therefore the movie is popular among Japanese women now.
I watched the movie yesterday. When I read the original novel before I watched a movie, I thought that maybe the movie would be less interesting. However, this time I wasn't bored despite I had read the story. The movie is also interesting.
First, the actresses were unique and some jokes were funny. Maybe such jokes can be undestood by foreign people too, because the jokes are acted with mime. Another point is we can feel the relaxing atmosphere of the Finnish culture from the scenery and the act of the Finnish actors and actresses. The most good example is the Finnish forest. The forest is beautiful and mysterious as if a fairy came out. It seems to have a power to heal the human's heart. The last but not least, the foods are good spices of this movie! If you watch it, you will be eager to try some Japanes foods. Some Japanese foods which were introduced in the movie were the foods we usually eat in our home.
The movie is just showing only in Japan. I hope it will be translated to English and everybody can watch it. Oh, I remember that there is the movie's homepage written in English!
http://www.kamome-movie.com/english.html
Enjoy the pages until you can watch the English version of "KAMOME SHOKUDO".

Here's Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Japanese like cherry blossoms. There are many cherry trees in Japan; in the park, in the university campus and in the garden. I took the photo of the cherry tree in Yokohama park. I don't know why Japanese like cherry blossoms so much but they are really beautiful. We feel the spring is in a heyday when the cherry blossoms bloom.

Bad Day?

I was dissapointed on Saturday because I received the bad news. However I had plan to go hiking with my friend. He is my friend since we are in graduate school. He wanted to sample some rocks for his research.
We went to Mt Ishiwari by the Yamanaka lake near Mt. Fuji. We could see the beautiful view of Mt Fuji at the Top of Mt Ishiwari. Mt Fuji was covered with snow.
Later, we went northward to get another rock smple. On the way to the sampling point we dropped in the winery. My friend said that the wine of this winery is the best in Japan. Once he drank the white wine, it was soooooooooooooooooooooo good, he said. I bought a bottle of wine. I haven't tried yet. I am looking forward to drinking it.
My friend looks uncouth a little but actually he is kind and gentle. He said some words to encourage me. Also, I breathed fresh air, saw the beautiful scenery and could become optimistic. I will never give up my dream!

Here is the information of the delicious wine;
http://www.kizan.co.jp/eng/index_e.html