celebrating Labor Day with a walk to the waterfalls

we along with thousands and thousands of other momiji (maple leaves) fans walked to the Minoo Taki (waterfall) today. we being Noriko, Akemi, Tsutomu, Daigo, Misa, Tony and me. . . more tomorrow with photos of the walk and our delicious o-sushi dinner. and of course of Misa and Daigo.

not as far but far enough

as usual i didn`t as far as i thought i would but i did: hear the sounds of some beautiful piano playing as well as the Yuki-ya-kon-kon man and there was the bee, and the monkeys were in town not to mention the momiji along the takimichi. and don`t forget all the kids having a picnic... tanishisoooo. i bought some takoyaki to take home for lunch and orusuban. and soon Noriko`s Father should be home. and that is my friday. here is some of what i saw today.

once upon a sunday

there were several interesting events to chose from today but . . . at least we heard about 10 minutes of some lovely flute music in a little park along the trail to the waterfall . . . and 25 minutes of some excellent jazz music at the Minoo Takey FM "thank you" concert. i am still not sure where the rest of the day went. well, that`s not exactly true. i know it has to do with the preparation of breakfast, preparing food for dinner, grocery shopping, preparing lunch and preparing dinner. and that takes us up to 6pm. Noriko and i did walk to Ryuanji (temple) on the waterfall trail for a lottery. but, we were late. and then lottery "tickets" were sold out. we did see some of the ceremony. the waterfall trail was once again very crowded today (see last year`s blog entry for about the 23rd of November). i am sure it will be even more crowded this next week as the fall colors are still slowly appearing. it is almost time for dinner.

a few first images . . . some very similar to last year

here are a few photos from my walk to the Minoo taki yesterday. i took the bus to Senri-chuo this morning and bought a new card reader at LABI`s Yamada Denki. i still haven`t figured out how to resize the photos (in Noriko`s laptop as everything is in Japanese) so some of the images may seem huge when you click on them . . . and i don`t have my Photoshop to adjust them.

from the takimichi to the umimichi: an end of the week, end of November update

taki is Japanese for waterfall and michi is road, or trail or path.  umi is ocean. last sunday Noriko and i walked to the waterfall in Minoo.  it was my 6th walk to the waterfall during my 3 week autumn visit. the autumn leaves were beautiful, the sky blue and the trail packed with people. if you want to see more of my Japan, please read some of the blog entries for november.  and since returning last tuesday i have been adding photos to go along with some of those stories.  i just returned from a nice sunday walk to the beach.  it was my 4th day in a row of walking to the beach.  the sky was blue blue to the east when i left but the ocean was fogged in.  maybe not the best waves for surfers but i remember an old surfer friend that said, "anytime in the water is time well spent."  well, he was from New Jersey and he might have said that with a slight Jersey accent.  and perhaps... different words.  but i remember he said something about being in the water.

i met two of my neighbors, Roberto and Daniel.  in the 10 years that i have lived here, i have never seen them at the beach.  yesterday i saw Roberto as i was about to walk home from the beach so he gave me a ride.  and then today i see both of them again. they were on their way to the pier and back. as i was walking back home from Ralph's a motorcycle rider waved at me as he was parking his Lifeguard truck-yellow Kawasaki in front of Starbucks. i could not see thru his helmet and gear but it turned out to be Sean, another neighbor who shares a bulldog with his ex-girlfriend.  more later.  here is a couple of photos from this morning's walk to and from the beach.

sunday morning shadow

this reminds of the runner's advice i saw on a trail in the Presidio in San Francisco:

"start slow and then taper off"

yes, there is autumn colors in Torrance

looks like a winter day.  hard to believe how sunny and warm it was 20 minutes away (to the east)

one of my favorite ocean scenes. . . pelicans flying along the crest of the waves.

and of course, that green.

Daniel, Roberto and me (in Roberto's sunglasses)

Sean in front of Starbucks.  nice yellow, nice bike.

not sure what this was for but i like the way it looked.

what a difference 20 minutes can make as well as one week.  here a few photos from last sunday in Minoo (northern suburb of Osaka).

a teahouse near the trail to the waterfall (on the other side of the stream next to the Philosopher's library across the bridge from Yamamoto's kisaten/cafe/coffee shop).

3 small falls on the way to the bigger Minoo waterfall

Minoo Taki

Minoh weekend update, the last of this autumn

thousands and thousands of people on the takimichi today. thousands and thousands of people at Umeda yesterday. it was the first time to see so many people on the trail to the waterfall but it was not the first time to see so many people shopping at Umeda especially at and around the Hankyu department store. Noriko and i took her Parents to the Hankyu department store so her Mother could buy some "thank you" gifts. i will explain "what for" in another blog. her Mother said she would never go there again...too many people. her Father seemed lost from the moment we were ready to leave home. i think he saw more people yesterday than in this whole year. we stopped at Hakunoshima
for dinner. it was the first time the 4 of us had been out together in over a year or two (about 8 visits). today was Noriko`s longest break from home with me during my autumn visit. i took her on my tour to the waterfall. we were both surprised by how many people there were there but she has seen more there on New Year`s Day going to Ryuan-ji (temple)(the one by the red bridge). by chance we met Takechi-san (the interesting looking man who is always walking the three dogs). he said "hello" and "have fun" to me. on friday night there was a special about Minoh`s takimichi and waterfall on NHK (kind of like PBS in the USA). and by chance, Takechi-san was interviewed. we found out who that man in the suit and hat who is always walking three dogs at a very brisk pace is named Takechi. he said he is 52 years old and he and his dogs walks 10k a day (about 6.2 miles). more on him later. after we made it back down from the waterfall, thru all the people, we did some shopping and a few errands before trying out the new kissaten (cafe, tea house) called Cosy Cafe Cottage just down the road from Noriko`s home. the owner likes England (but she had never been) so she said she has tried to give it a Cotswald feel. the tables and chairs are antiques from England as are the windows. it was very charming. the cafe only seats about 12 people at most. and, there is basically 3 choices for meals (no, not chicken, beef or pasta). we had a delicious curry rice meal which came with salad, tea and blueberry yogurt for dessert. it took us about 5 minutes to walk back home. i carried in the groceries, grabbed my coat and cassette recorder and said ittekimasu and went back to the bus stop to catch the 440p bus to Senri-chuo for my last "street live". more on that later and the cds i bought. another delicious dinner was waiting for me around 8pm. everyone had eaten but were still watching tv (resting under the kotatsu) until i finished my dessert, abekawamochi. very good but hard to explain at 120a on monday morning so...oyasumi for this last weekend in Japan update.
ps. the autumn colors today were probably at or near their best on the waterfall trail. and we did see a monkey way up in a tree but no sanshouwo (salamanders). and for the first time i (we) saw a couple of O-bosans (kind of like begging monks)(again hard to explain). and i (we) stopped by an interesting building on the trail that was built last year by the founder of Panasonic. more on that later too along with the connection to Confuscious.

W a l k # 3 to the Waterfall

finally i was able to take a good photo of that guy with the three dogs. actually he posed with his dogs for me and i didn`t even ask. next time maybe i will find out who he is. i am sure he has an interesting story. in case you don`t remember him thru the years, he is always wearing a very nice dark suit with a hat to match (he tips his had as the ladies walk by). the first time Noriko and i saw him, he only had the two golden retrievers. sometime in the last year or so he added a cute small white dog. he walks at a very brisk pace and so do the dogs. i have seen him at least a couple of times each time i am here in Minoh. today he was coming down the takimichi (waterfall trail). i started taking some video of him and then he passed by, twirled around with his dogs and tried to get them to pose. when he passed me before posing he did say something in English like "just out enjoying the day". i took two photos, he twirled and briskly walked away. other people were watching him with smiles on their faces. he is very noticeable. what is his story?

so began the walk along the takimichi but it was not the beginning of my walk. i walked up a few hills before stopping by a temple near the waterfall trail to check on it`s autumn colors. the colors are coming along nicely. on the trail, i saw a couple of saru (monkeys) swinging in the trees. and then i filmed one walking down to the river for a drink. closer to the waterfall, i found the 4 sanshouwo (salamanders) doing whatever it is they do (not much). it is still green around the waterfall but there is some red colors near the red bridge. on the way back home, i bought some momiji tempura to share at home. momiji tempura is a speciality of Minoh. have you ever eaten a maple leaf, tempura style? it is very tasty once you get past the idea of eating a leaf. at home Noriko`s Mother has a snack for me. she heated up some roasted kuri (chestnuts) and also gave me some peanuts that a dear friend of hers sent yesterday. these peanuts are the biggest peanuts i have ever seen. and you know what they say about big peanuts...big taste.

tonite i will be meeting Noriko at Carrefour and then we will go to a the new curry restaurant. she will be arriving in Shin-Osaka by train from her university in Shiga and then take the subway to Senri-chuo and then the bus to Visola shopping center. now that is a long commute.

Monday the 10th.
most of the day i stayed home after seeing Noriko`s Father off to his Senior Day Care. Noriko and her Mother has errands to run and a doctor`s appointment or two so i babysat the house. but around 330p, i went for a nice little walk and ended up walking in an area i had never been before. and saw a beautiful sunset. and watched an old man playing fetch with his white Scottish terrier who was wearing a very cute red sweater (the dog not the man). dinner was delicious as always.

sunshine now. rain expected

so far it has been a nice blue sky thursday morning. rain is expected in the afternoon. i may be meeting Noriko after her work at Senri-chuo for some music and dinner. or if it is raining i may go to a new "live house" near Umeda Station in Osaka.

back to yesterday`s walk to Minoo Taki. "sunshine, sanshouo and saru". sanshouo is Japanese for salamander and saru is monkey. you never know what you might see on a walk with me. the mountains and forest trails are still mainly green　but i did take some nice colorful photos of a few colorful trees. there were many people walking to the waterfall with picnic stuff, dogs in sweaters.　i met a college student named Rei walking on the hilly side of the trail. and we met two cute dogs taking a break on the trail. it was after leaving the waterfall that we saw all the people looking down from a small bridge over a fast moving stream. there was a camera man and sound man filming something. sanshouo da! it is a salamander. i think i saw 4 of them. they are a little strange looking. Noriko`s
Mother`s reaction when seeing the little video i took was "kimochi warui" which means basically "a bad feeling". i walked back to the waterfall following a guy carrying a guitar just in case he was going to give a little "taki live"" (concert at the waterfall). he wasn`t but it was then that i saw the monkey posing for everyone up on a rock near the waterfall. after walking back along the takimichi (waterfall trail), i saw more monkeys in the trees. and stopped by the salamander bridge again. you never know when you have seen your last salamander so i wanted to see them again. back at the trailhead which is in front of the train station for Minoo, i took the bus to the nice shopping mall for dinner. Noriko was at her Kobukuro concert and i did not want her Mother to have to cook or wait on me after my walk. of course, she was waiting for me and had some snacks and tea for me as we all watched tv and looked at my photos and videos from the day`s walk.