During summer, I originally planned to go to the coastal side of Wakayama. But there was a big earthquake in the Nankai Trough, and it caused a lot of trouble for my travel plans, so I cancelled the trip. But I still wanted to travel somewhere and planned a new trip at the last minute to go somewhere else. I ended up spending four days around Fukuoka, northern Nagasaki and Saga.

Up in north Saga is a city called Karatsu. And even further north is a small port town called Yobuko (呼子). Yobuko has two main tourist attractions. The first is its local fish market that is open almost every morning. The area of Yobuko is well-known for its squid. While there were less stalls and vendors than I expected (we possibly arrived too late), they sold a variety of delicious squid dishes. The best I had were squid dumplings (イカシュウマイ) which I had never eaten before. After trying the squid, I can see why it is so famous. The market also had a retro sweets store. While some of the candy is still sold in supermarkets today, there were many types of candy that are rare and not often found now. Many customers were coming in and talking about how nostalgic the store made them. I was able to buy many kinds of sweets for only around 350 yen.

After enjoying the market, we went to the boat terminal. The terminal has two types of boats that can take you on different experiences. One of the boats is called the Zeela (ジーラ) and is named after a whale. It also has a whale face painted on the front. The reason it is designed as a whale is because it takes passengers out to an island that is shaped like one. There they can go to an underwater observatory on the boat and see many kinds of fish through glass windows underwater. The other boat takes you to the second main attraction of Yobuko. This boat is called the Ikamaru (イカ丸) and is shaped like a squid. The Ikamaru takes passengers to a place called Nanatsugama(七ツ釜). Nanatsugama are seven uniquely formed caves in the mountainside by the ocean. The rock shapes are very distinct and have been shaped by the strong ocean waves. It was difficult to take good pictures in the bright weather, but it looked beautiful. There is also a park above the caves where many tourists go to take pictures. So, there are two different ways to experience and enjoy the caves.

Saga is not such a famous prefecture; however, I want to visit every prefecture in Japan, so I decided to go there. If you can find a chance to go, Yobuko is a fun day trip, and it is not too far from Fukuoka city. The squid there is some of the best in Japan.

I took my sons Tatsuki and Satoshi to Pennsylvania in the US for three weeks during our summer break. We stayed at my parents’ house in Quarryville. We were very busy having fun every day. The weather was mostly good, it was cooler than Okayama and much less humid. There were some thunderstorms on a few days and a hurricane passed by, but the winds were not strong when it finally reached us.

Here is a quick look at all of the fun that we had during the first week and a half:

My brother, his family, and some of my aunts and uncles came to visit us in Quarryville.

The weather was nice, so we all spent time visiting in my parents’ backyard.

We went bowling at my parents’ retirement community. They still live at home, but participate in social activities there.

I tried pickleball for the first time. It is like tennis and table tennis combined. It was fun, I would like to try it again.

We went to a huge indoor water park called Great Wolf Lodge. They had a lot of slides and a wave pool.

We played miniature golf at the water park. Everything was inside so that families can go there in the summer heat and the winter cold.

Me and the boys did the high ropes course there, too. I could pass most of the obstacles without relying on my safety harness.

I did some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training with one of my old high school friends. He is a very experienced martial artist.

We did an escape room. The theme for this escape room was the American Revolution (around 1777 in this case). We had to save the American flag from the British forces. We barely escaped the room after 58 minutes. The time limit was 1 hour, so it was very close.

Some evenings we just relaxed at home and played card games, such as Uno.

We went “tubing”. Tubing is when you float down a stream on an innertube. This tubing trip took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. When we finished, a small bus took us back to the starting area.

There were some fast sections of water, but mostly it was nice and slow. Two of my brothers and an old friend joined us. It was great to chat to my family and friend as we floated down the river and cooled off.

After tubing, we enjoyed “Jimmy Juice” (a local cocktail) and some junk food.

We watched a local professional wrestling event. I got to hold the championship belt before the event started.

The venue for the pro wrestling was unique. It was outdoors at a minor league baseball stadium. It would have been a great place to watch, but unfortunately, it was a bit rainy that night. The wrestlers didn’t give up and performed in the rain. We were feeling quite wet and cold by the end, but they put on a surprisingly good show for the fans that stayed through the bad weather.

The final match for the Heavyweight Championship was the best one. Tatsuki and Satoshi asked me a lot of questions about wrestling because it was the first time for them to see it.

Well, that was our first 10 days in America. I’ll add more blog posts in the coming days.

40度に近い猛暑の日本記録がまたこの夏に更新されたようです。日本の南にある海の黒潮が関連していると報道がありますが、何かがおかしくなけりゃ、日本だけこんなに毎年気温が上昇しているのはおかしいとしか言いようがないです。

そんな中、私は初のオセアニアに行ってきました。オーストラリアでも北のケアンズなので赤道に近く、8月の冬であっても冬という感じはあまりありません。雨が降ると流石に肌寒いですが。移動に初日と最終日を費やすので完全なる自由時間は正味4日の旅。単にホテルに泊まるのではなく、簡単にキッチンが使えるお部屋を取ってもらいました。3食外食は旅行中に疲れてしまうので、滞在の部屋で食事ができるのは有難かったです。レンタカーでケアンズの街を早々に離れ、あまり観光客のいないあたりへ北上していきました。訪れたのはこのあたりです。よければネットで写真だけでも検索をしてみて下さい。美しい場所ばかりです。

Port Douglas - Wild Life Habitat and a beach

Mossman Gorge

Cave Tribulation - a beautiful beach where you can no way swim

The Daintree River - rainforest boat cruise

Atherton Tablelands - tea house at Lake Barrine

オーストラリアは右側ハンドルの左側走行なので日本と同じです。スピード表記もマイルではなくキロ表示で分かり易い。環状交差点のRoundaboutさえ慣れればどうにかなるさと思っていたら、ちょっとした標識で初めて見たものや、信号機の表示でハテナ？と思う指示がありました。あとから検索をして分かったのですが、警察がいたら私は捕まってたでしょう。

今回は全体的にあまりオーストラリア国外からの観光客は少なく、どちらかというとオーストラリア国内からの休暇で来ていた人が多かったようです。サービス提供側の皆さんはどなたもイライラした人がいない、チップ不要、食べ物は海のものもおいしい。そして紅茶だけでなく評判通りの珈琲の美味しさにも満足です。Aussie Englishも私には新鮮でした。8月の冬のケアンズとその北は熱帯ですが乾季です。晴れた日は美しく最高気温はせいぜい24度。でもしっかり私の雨女の力を発揮して、土砂降りの日と小雨の日も混じった旅行でした。

NEOは早々にお盆休みに入り、スタッフたちは思い思いの予定に飛んでいきました。私もつかの間の現実逃避で、人生初のオーストラリアへ行ってきました。強いお薦めでケアンズに6日の旅程ですが初日と最終日はひたすら移動なので自由時間がフルにあったのは4日です。マイナートラブルはあったものの、食べ物よし、人がよし、景色良し。また詳細は追ってアップしたいと思います。 カンガルー との写真は死ぬほど嬉しそうな私です。もう1枚は20年ほど前にフロリダでalligatorを持たせてもらった時の写真です。

そんな中、パリ五輪が静かに進行されていました。自分の興味のある種目であっても、日本人選手の得意でないものだと報道はあまりされないので、残念ながらテレビで見ることは叶わなかった中、私は興味のなかったものでも報道されたおかげで興味を持った種目もありました。皆さんもありませんか？私は個人的に音楽のラップが昔から好みではなく、ブレイキン（Breaking）なんてまずは興味のない対象でした。これを五輪種目に追加するんかぃ？と呟くこと何回も。ところが選手のインタビューを見ると人は変わるものです。今回惜しい結果となったシゲキックスさん（半井重幸さん）ですが彼のインタビューを見てブレイキンも悪くないなと思ったのです。彼の品性の良さ、感情コントロール、短いインタビューであってもその人の也が滲み出ていて、こんなに素敵な人がしている競技であればもう少し知りたいなと思わされました。気が付けば民放のコマーシャルに彼はちょくちょく登場しているではありませんか…気にしたこともなかったコマーシャルなのに、知ったからにはよく目に留まるようになりました。

五輪が商売化されて悲しい面もありますが、スポーツの良さを知ることのできるいい機会です。個人的には馬が好きなので馬術の報道を競技前にもっとして欲しかったのですが、メダル獲得後でも報道があって嬉しかったです。初老ジャパンと自虐的に命名されていましたが、なにをなにを、金銀メダルを獲得したイギリスもフランスも、騎手の皆さんはもっと年上のようでしたけど？因みに初老の定義を見て見ると、以前は40歳代以降を指したそうな。初老の私がチョコレート豆の顔出しパネルで嬉しそうにしているのをご覧ください。

Next month, I have plans to go to Guam and Yap, two islands in the Pacific Ocean. Guam is well-known as a tourist destination and an alternative to the much more expensive Hawaii. But I had never really heard of Yap before my friend suggested it to me, so I had to do some research.

First, to prevent some confusion: Micronesia is a large region of Oceania with thousands of islands, but it can also refer to the country known as the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Yap is one of the four island states of the FSM. It’s not the biggest island, but it’s famous for giant stone currency that was used hundreds of years ago. These days they use the US dollar, but the enormous “coins” remain scattered around the island. Yap also has excellent marine sports, especially snorkeling and scuba diving.

The history of Micronesia is fairly complicated. Many islands in the region were controlled by the Spanish for a long time, but they eventually sold or traded them to Germany in the early 1900s. The islands changed hands again during World War I, when the Japanese took over, and once again after World War II, when the US took control via the United Nations. The FSM finally ratified their own constitution in 1979, although they maintain a very close relationship with the United States.

Most of this information is easily available online. However, it’s surprisingly difficult to find detailed information about the native peoples of the islands, so I’m interested in learning more when I visit in person.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Obon!

暑くて外へ一歩でもでるのが躊躇われる日本の夏がきました。本日の予報は39度。その灼熱がくる前に、人に誘われてタイ料理を味わってきました。その名も「カオサン」です。カオサンと言えばタイのバンコクで有名なカオサン通りです。私はこのタイのカオサン通りで食事をしたら20分ですぐにお腹を壊したことがあります。

岡山のこのレストランは小さいですが従業員さんは皆さんタイの方の様子。お客さんの中にもタイの方がいらっしゃいました。出てくるものはどれも美味しく、持ち帰りもできるというので、私は持ち帰りでパッタイを注文しました。米粉で作られた麺が旨い。写真がそれです。入れ物が思った以上に日本っぽく、まさかタイ料理が入っているとは感じられません。ここで私の頭に浮かんだのは「折に詰める」という表現です。我ながら書いていて何とも古臭い印象がぬぐえません。

この表現は英語にだってあります。持ち帰り用で（食べ残しを）詰めてもらう場合のdoggy bagという言葉です。昨今そんな単語を使う人はいないでしょう。

英会話を習っている人ならもう知っていますが、持ち帰りのテイクアウトという表現です。アメリカ英語圏であればto go、イギリス英語圏ではtake awayを一般的に使います。日本語のテイクアウトのもとになったtake outという言葉も使えますが文脈がないといきなり使うのは厳しいです。私は"For here or to go?"（店内でお召し上がりですか？持ち帰りですか？）を聞くたびに、中学1年生で習う単語ばかりが並んでいるにも関わらず単語がどれも短すぎて音の同化が激しく聞き取りづらい、初級者泣かせの英語だなぁと思うのです。

因みにこのパッタイの持ち帰りですが、一緒に添えられていたのが唐辛子とあと1つ。なんと砂糖でした！