Rock Lobster

Japan is very proud of its four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I guess the surrounding countries don't have four seasons? I don't really know, but it's a thing here. I remember first getting here and people being disappointed because I didn't react with the appropriate amount of shock and wonder over all four seasons. Some people got defensive when I mentioned that the US also has four seasons and were very clear that Japan's four seasons were better. For example, we have 紅葉(kouyou), or changing leaves, they would say. Why, so do we, I would reply, and their faces would fall.

    Japan is very connected to nature. Every season has festivals and events connected to specific parts of nature at specific points in time. Autumn is the time to see the 紅葉 (momiji) or maple trees change color.

(Psssst. Did you notice something there? The kanji for kouyou and momiji are the same but pronounced completely differently and have different meanings. Japanese is so much fun!)

Momiji turn a beautiful shade of red. A popular place to see them is a small island near Hiroshima named Miyajima. It's a riot of color. Just be careful not to have your map eaten by one of the dozens of tame deer or your camera stolen by one of the less-tame evil monkeys.

    Unfortunately, a trip to Hiroshima was out of the question, but there's plenty of nice scenery closer to home. The ALT Art Club got together after our annual training seminar and headed out to a gorge with a beautiful view. We got there in the late morning and set up at this little ledge. We had various bits of cardboard to sit on, including a boat and a giant turtle, which elicited any number of weird looks as we carried them around. All in all, it was great! It was so relaxing to sit there and sketch or paint for hours. There were plenty of people taking walks, from elderly couples to families with toddlers to other artistic types taking photographs. It was a really friendly atmosphere where everyone was saying hello to each other. I managed to get my next project sketched out and inked in, and I look forward to really diving in to needle painting. This will be my first time really trying to do a realistic "painting" with embroidery.

    After a few hours we realized it was cooling down what with being able to see our breath and not feel our feet and all, and decided to move on to the next phase of our trip. We all piled into the same car, turned on the heater, and ate our conbini or bakery lunches while waiting for our feet to wake up. Then we walked across the road to a lovely little 温泉(onsen), or hot spring, that was the perfect size for the four of us. For only 500 yen, about 6 US dollars, we were able to use the beautiful open air onsen. Since it was only about 1:30 in the afternoon we were the only ones there, and it was glorious. After the cold morning of sitting on a rock with our body heat slowly leaking into the ground a soak in hot water was absolutely lovely. We soaked until we looked like wrinkly red lobsters and then headed back to our respective cars to begin the long ride home feeling completely, absolutely, and gloriously relaxed. We'd woken up at 7:30 AM and finished our artistic outing at slightly before 3:00. It was a Saturday well spent.