October 9, 2006 930 p.m.

We have had a very busy day. We started off the morning riding the bus into Joyo (pronounced joy-oh) to the Cultural Center. We passed lots of houses and fields. There are actually fields throughout the city! People here rarely use clothes dryers, so most people hang their laundry out on their balconies to dry. They also air out their futon during the day so we saw lots of them hanging off porch and balcony railings.

The first thing we saw in the Cultural Center was a museum that had artifacts from ancient burial grounds around Joyo. Important people were buried in giant mounds, bigger than a football field. Around the top of the mounds were really big clay pots, sort of like huge flowerpots. The people believed that evil spirits would enter the empty pots and then lleave the dead person alone. It was a way to protect them after death.

The Public Library was also in this building. It looked a lot like our libraries, but all the books were written in Japanese, of course. There was an ikebana contest (a flower-arranging contest) on the first floor of the Center. It reminded me of the competitions you see at the state fair. The arrangements were beautiful and original.

Then, probably the best part of the day, we went to a field and picked sweet potatoes. This area of Japan is famous for it’s sweet potatoes so we drove to a field, put on gloves and dug for potatoes. It was lots of fun. Lots of people of all ages were there picking the potatoes. This is an annual tradition and quite an event. People were sitting on blankets, roasting the potatoes and figs, another local crop, and eating them. One group was having such a good time, they offered us some of the potatoes they had cooked, so we had a chance to enjoy the real thing right there in the field. It was like a huge party in the field.

Then we went to a local Shinto shrine. We received a blessing from the Shinto priest and we were given sake and dried octopus as a purification rite. The kids loved the octopus. They grabbed it by the handful. It was amazing. Lots of people were there wearing hapi coats, a sort of short kimono. Kids and adults carried a Shinto shrine through the streets, played a drum and chanted. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Two men were wearing costumes and dragon heads. The legend says that if the dragon bites you on the head, you will have a long life, so lots of people, especially kids, tipped their heads toward the dragon to get a bite. It was all a lot of fun.

Then we went to the Plum Garden restaurant in Fort Vancouver Park for lunch. Vancouver, Washington is Joyo’s sister city so the park is named after Vancouver.

The lunch was served in a traditional square lacquer box divided into sections. We had some very different food - smoked fish, pickled radish, miso soup, custard with mushrooms and chestnuts, seaweed, and tempura. And then more sweet potatoes, roasted, baked and sweetened like cookies.

Then we walked off our lunch with a hike up a mountain to see a view of Joyo and the area. Beautiful

Our last official stop of the day was another Shinto shrine. We walked around a bit and then back to the hotel.

My evening excitement was a trip to the coin Laundromat. Of course all the signs there were written in Japanese but my friend, Cheryl, and I figured it out with a little help from the ladies who worked there, and we are relieved to have some nice clean clothes to wear tomorrow.

And now I’m exhausted and I’m going to get some sleep.

Oyasumi nasai.
Good night.