Another Delightful Afternoon with Mr. Ogura

We left the flower festival to drive to Sakata to meet Mr. Ogura at noon for another delightful afternoon.  Mr. Ogura is one of our advanced English students in Sakata.  He is a kind and good man.  He treated us to a most enjoyable afternoon.

He first took us to his favorite ramen restaurant and taught us how to order.  It was delicious. This one had pork, onion, mushrooms, egg, and Chinese potstickers, along with ramen noodles in a delicious broth.   Ramen shops are everywhere in Japan.  People literally line up to get in to them.  It is the most popular out- to-lunch food. 

We just ordered what he did and it was delicious.

He then took us to Sakata's famous Swan Park.  Swans winter in this region.  They sleep on ponds or lakes at night and glean the rice fields during the day.  At night, this beautiful estuary is covered with swans.

We then went to the Ken Domon photography museum.  Ken Domon was/ is a very famous photographer in Japan.  He was born in Sakata and so a museum of his work was opened there after his death.  It is a beautiful building full of beautiful photographs.  He is most famous for his photos of ancient Japanese culture and traditions.  People come from all over to view his work at this museum.

We were particularly fascinated with the twelve guards of the temple.  He photographed each one and made this screen display of them.  We find that many of our Christian beliefs match with traditional Japanese beliefs.  Twelve guards= Twelve apostles.

Also, the God always has a God on his left, and one on his right= the Godhead.

This is a close-up of some of the apost . . .. guards.

Next we headed to the Sakata Art Museum.  The display right now is amazing.  It is photography all by this guy  (I'm sorry- I can't read his name) who takes a picture each day and posts it on this blog.  Each photo includes Japan's railroad in some way.  We loved his photography and how he captures the Japan we love.  Railroad is an extremely important part of this culture.  We thought it was just brilliant to view Japan from that angle.  I just kept snapping pictures of photos. I hope you enjoy them.

This is the poster advertising the display.

Following are some of our favorites.  There was a photo for each day of the year.

Grandmas and even Great-grandmas frequently provide daycare for their grandchildren in Japan.

This is such a common sight- giggly Japanese girl students in their uniforms. 

The little children always wear these caps when they are out on field trips.  It is a very common sight to see groups of children in a line, each holding another's hand- all wearing little caps on their heads.

Rural Japan.

Spring sakura

Love this one.

I'm not sure where this one was taken, but it could be in this area.  It is a school girl walking home.

Beautiful wistera

One of his most famous photographs.  It almost looks unreal.

This is also one of his most famous photos.  It looks like the Polar Express.

We then went outside the arts center to view Sakata from that viewpoint.  It was a beautiful day.

We then went out to Mr. Ogura's garden.  Of course different vegetables are grown in the winter.

We were fascinated to see how the popular daikon grows in the sandy soil.

Leafy greens

Onions

Daikon

We met one of his fellow gardeners out there.  Several of them rent plots of land to garden and they all become friends and help each other.  They are checking out the cabbage.

We then went back to Mr. Ogura's beautiful home where he served us mugicha (wheat tea) and special cakes from a bakery (they were delicious) and huge, delicious grapes.

In one of our eikaiwa discussions, Mr. Ogura said he had a Rumba- a robot vacuum.  So he brought it out and showed it to us.  What a dream to have a robot do your cleaning!

It was another delightful afternoon with Mr. Ogura!

Beautiful Ikabana Festival

Saturday, October 15th found us back at the Tsuruoka Art Center.  We have been there so many times and seen so many different beautiful artistic displays.  There is always something lovely there.  We have also found it to be a wonderful place to meet people and to see people we know from other places like the Volunteer Center or eikaiwa (English class.)  I don't think we've ever gone that we haven't run into someone we know. 

Frequently, they host a flower arranging festival there.  You may remember we went to one last summer, too.  They are very well-attended and anticipated events.  We enjoyed this Autumn Festival.

The arts center is a beautiful building in a gorgeous setting.

I chose just a few of our favorite arrangements to post:

Many of the women dress in their finery to attend the event.

We met this nice lady and took her picture by one of her arrangements.

This picture shows the crowds.  Ken commented on the ratio of women to men that attend.  This picture shows that, I think.  I also captured (quite by accident) the respectful Japanese custom of bowing.

There are many wall arrangements, too.

Ken frequently meets this lady when he walks early in the morning.  She gave us the tickets to the show.  Here she is showing us her arrangement.  Ken has made many friends on his early morning walks.