Mitarai Valley

After weeks of planning, I finally got off my lazy ass and went down to Rinkanden Entoshi to visit one of my students. This is about an hour's train ride south of Osaka, albeit through some beautiful country. The plan was to leave Saturday afternoon, be treated like a Japanese son for the evening, and then taken sightseeing Sunday morning. I had been watching the forecasts all week, and it looked like a nice, partly-cloudy weekend was lined up.

Well, the weather didn't play its part, but the rest of the weekend panned out nicely. Upon arrival, I helped my student with some of her translation work and then gave my paltry hand at helping in the kitchen. Now, I can cook for myself - I do so more often than not these days - but I'm dead weight in the kitchen of a pro housewife. I managed to peel two potatoes, chop an avocado, and serve some dishes, while she ran circles around me. But she did praise my efforts, and maybe I learned some more Japanese cooking techniques.

As for my bed, I was given their son's former room - he's off at university in Hiroshima. The bed was a bit short, but they made some adjustments by tossing extra padding at its foot. I was also piled high with blankets; a necessity with the cold nights and absolute lack of insulation or central heating in Japanese houses. A goodnight's sleep none-the-less.

Waking up at the crack of 10am (they let me sleep in), we packed into the van and rolled through the mountains to Mitarai Valley. Here in Japan, the journey is just as monumental as the destination - especially to me. I ride in a car maybe once a month here, so that's always a kick. And barreling through the narrow, winding, cliff-side streets is nothing if not an exercise in terror suppression. I know one thing, I could not live in the Japanese countryside, I would drive right the hell off a cliff.

The valley itself was spectacular. Granted, frigid rain and wind put a damper on the day's activities, but seeing the clouds rolling up and through the mountains was almost worth it. As I've lived in Florida all my life, things like "mountains," "valleys," "waterfalls," and "autumn" may as well be replaced with "unicorns," "elves," and "compassionate conservatives" (zing!). We mostly climbed up the ever-so-Japanese, ever-so-convenient mountain staircases, looked around, took some snapshots, and proceeded back down. But the trek did bring us into a neat little limestone cave and a beautiful waterfall. Again, things not so common back in Florida. After a few hours of driving around to the various tourist hotspots - denoted by then-empty parking lots - we made our way back to the house. And, as we all know how these vacation stories go, the sun broke through the clouds and shined across the valley as we drove out. A weekend well-spent, despite some miserable weather. I also snagged a $2 bag of kaki (persimmons)!