Summer Things to do in Tome

Tome isn't anything like the bustling cities of Tokyo or Kyoto.  In fact, the nearest city resembling these is an hour train ride south, Sendai.  Tome and the surrounding cities in Miyagi Prefecture are quite rural, and are comprised of many little collections of civilization amongst the rice paddies and dairies.  Public transportation is scarce compared to big cities, and most locals drive cars to get around from home to work to grocery stores and back.  But despite the rice fields and cows, there are plenty of activities to keep one busy during the summer vacation time in Tome!

Hasu-Matsuri / Lotus Flower Festival

Every August, at a couple different lakes, there are boat tours one can take when the lotus flowers are in bloom.  We went to Naganuma Lake just after my good friends Greck and Junji got into the local train station for a short visit!

View of Lake from Hill
The green between the trees is
all the lotus plants, and you can
see the boat routes of water cut through
the forest.

Boat Dock

Lotus without pedals looks like a shower head

Greck and Junji

You can see the path for the boat between the plants.

Healthy lotus flowers close up
in the afternoon. Dying flowers
loose their ability to close up.

A cool cross view of the inside
of the flower.

Forest of Lotus

View of Shore

Hanabi / Fireworks Festival

The very day after we went to the lotus festival, there was the famous fireworks festival that includes an incredible fireworks display known as the "Niagara Falls."  Unfortunately, Greck and Junji had to catch their Shinkansen (Bullet Train) up to Hokkaido earlier that day, but a big group of JETs all got together and crammed into Sophie's car to get to this event!  This event was held at Naganuma, the same lake where we did the lotus boat tour.

The show began with many firework like those
found in America for Fourth of July.

These were particularly cool as they sprang up
from the lake, giving it a much different feel from
the typical spheres.

As the show progressed, they began to overlap more and more fireworks, lighting off the sky-bound spheres over the fireworks sprouting from the lake.  There seemed to be 3 base stations over the lake where the fireworks were coming from.

This is the famous Niagara Falls that was the finale to the show.  This is a quick progression from beginning to end.  They used a string drawn over the lake by two large cranes with the fireworks on the string to produce the flames.  Once it gets going, it becomes easy to see why it's named Niagara Falls as the fire resembles a the water fall, and the smoke resembles mist.  This was a treat!  Last year, due to the East Japan Earthquake, they were unable to produce the Niagara Falls.  I'm very glad it was back this year!

It died out soon, but was
impressive nonetheless

Visit a Museum

While Greck and Junji were still in town, we took a walk down the main street in our town to the old elementary school that is now a museum.  The description as to why it's famous is all in kanji, but Junji explained that the kanji said it was the first school to be designed with both traditional and Western architecture.

View of the Front of the School

The boards had traditional Katakana
alphabet charts.

This school bell was used to designate
the beginning and end of class.

Music-related Festivals

I've already shared a bit about my experience seeing two musical concerts in one day, both relating to summer activities in Tome.  Read about those in my other post, Music Already?!

My House

Upon moving to Japan, I lucked out when my contracting organization procured me a full-sized traditional Japanese house.  This is not common as most ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) usually get placed in individual apartments ranging from small studios to multi-bedroom apartments, and also ranging in style from traditional to more Western.  Usually ALTs only get houses when they're so rural, apartments don't exist.  When my supervisor and contracting organization went to set up housing in my town, however, there were no vacant apartments.  This was due to the large amount of homes that were lost to the tsunami last year, causing many families to relocate to apartments and temporary homes further inland.

I tried to make a video, but it wasn't coming out well.  The pictures came out nice, so I'll walk you through my house using these with text to give you an idea of a typical Japanese home.  These pictures crashed my wireless router, so enjoy knowing they sabotaged my wifi.  (It's funny, but not at the same time...)

I apologize for the weird formatting, I somehow messed up the smooth uploading process that puts everything in logical lines so they terraced themselves strangely.  I also have great pictures of the garden/backyard, and the view, but I'll make a separate blog for those later!

Entrance

Entrance from Outside

Shoe Deposit

All traditional homes have this style entrance where you remove and leave shoes - no shoes allowed inside!  Here's the view from the inside room:

Kerosene is also in entrance on the right.

Bedrooms with Tatami Mat Floors

My messy kotatsu table in the first of two bedrooms.  I also sleep in this room as you'll see the futon laid out here, too.  Those sliding doors separate the two bedrooms so I can close off all rooms but this one when I want to use air conditioning without cooling the whole house

My Messy Kotatsu

My futon (bed) where I usually sleep

Ceiling light in first room

Air conditioner above window, tv next to
window

<---This is the futon closet, where I fold up and put my futon during the day.  The extra blankets for winter time are underneath the futon shelf.

Futon closet with futon

First room with table and bed

Bookshelf and Mirror in next bedroom

View of backyard from second room

Kitchen

My big kitchen! Door from main room,
entrance is on the right side.

That box on floor is the root cellar.

This little box on the floor that you see me opening up here is the "root cellar."  It's a good place to store vegetables to save space in the fridge as it's stores them below the house where temperatures stay cool enough for storage.

Hallway

Couch overlooking the view

Drying Laundry goes here

View looking opposite way towards kitchen

Kitchen and Sink view from doorway in the hall

Sink, Toilet, Laundry, and Bath

Toilet is separate from sink

Hallway connecting toilet (door on right) with
laundry and bath

I have my own washer!

My bath room!

The ofuro under the window is
basically an indoor spa. The
temp controls are that digital box
above it.

Comes complete with shelves, mirror,  and a
stool to sit on while you bathe! Typically you
bathe before entering the bath on the left.