Like all kids, young oni are happiest when school is out for the day.



Actually, these boys are preparing to dance Onikenbai as part of a local junior high school's sports day.

I can't believe we've been here over a year and only mentioned our primary grocery store in passing.



Here's hoping the bar associations I belong to don't hold our frequent trips here against me!

A friend gave us a couple of goya this weekend, one green and one white.



Goya, or bitter melon, is a staple of Okinawan cuisine. It's very bitter but refreshing, and tastes of quinine and grass. Its juice is refreshing when mixed with shochu and soda in goya sours, and its flesh can often be found in chanpuru, Okinawan stir-fries.

I made goya chanpuru for lunch today. Besides goya, the chanpuru involved eggs, tofu, thinly sliced pork, ginger, and bean sprouts.

During our meandering around the festival areas last weekend, a friend and I caught the end of this performance:

Tanabata really is the festival that keeps on festing. As we mentioned in last month's post, some communities in Japan celebrate the "Night of Sevens" on July seventh, while others celebrate on or around August seventh, the date of Tanabata on the traditional Japanese calendar. Judging by the prominence and elaborate nature of the decorations that are out now, it seems that the bigger celebrations occur on the traditional date.

Here in Kitakami, Kaminari-jinja is all dressed up for the festivities.



In Esashi, bamboo branches festooned with prayers and big, colorful streamers line the streets.



The streamers are quite beautiful when the wind catches them.

During matsuri, lots of people come to the festivities wearing traditional clothing. Most often, they're wearing yukata, a lightweight kimono.



Men's yukata tend to have simpler patterns and less decorative obi (belts) than women's yukata.

Last week, we finally had some time for an overnight stay at a hot spring. We'd originally planned to go to the northern Iwate coast, but a recent earthquake had damaged the area, and we felt it was best not to go get in the way of the cleanup efforts. Instead, we headed inland, to an onsen in the mountains of Akita Prefecture.

Checking the maps, there were basically three routes we could take to cross the central mountain range to our destination. The expressway is by far the quickest way, but it's pretty straight and has lots of tunnels. The scenery is nice, but not great. The other routes offered narrow twisty roads that climb high into the mountains for spectacular views. We weren't in a hurry, so we chose the tiniest, windiest road on the map and set out.

Making that plan, we didn't think about the fact that seven weeks earlier there had been a major earthquake — and we were looking at going right through the heart of the damaged area. As we neared our first-choice road, we saw the signs: "Route 342 Closed".

There were other ways across the mountains, so we weren't worried. We consulted with the toll collector, who indicated he thought our second choice road would be open. So we backtracked a bit and took some side roads up into the mountains.

As predicted, the scenery was spectacular. As not predicted, it also became more sinister.



Well, we were still better off than this guy.



But, we did have to drive around some severe road damage.



Despite the damage, we were making good time and had almost reached the road we wanted to take, when we came to a crossroads. There was no need to check the map, though — every route except the one we came in on was closed. We consulted with some construction workers to find out how to get to Route 398. "You know 398 is closed, don't you?" they asked. "You should take the expressway."

Sigh. So we headed back to the expressway, back to Kitakami, and across the mountains. After we left the expressway on the other side of the mountains, we had plenty more amazing scenery.



And we had clear sailing on our chosen route into the mountains, all the way up until we were a few short kilometers from our destination and came across yet another "Road Closed" sign. More backtracking, more consultation with locals, and another half hour of driving, and we eventually made it to our destination.

The return trip was somewhat less eventful — by then, we knew what areas to avoid — but we did find a place where the narrow mountain road, walled in by the mountain on one side and a steep drop on the other, took a hairpin turn at the bottom of a hill. They need guardrails for safety, but I guess they don't want drivers getting overconfident.



Happily, our brakes were in fine condition and we made it home safe, sound, and ready for our next adventure — whatever it may be!

It's Michinoku Geinou Matsuri time again, so there's lots of dancing going on at various places in town. Yesterday, this Onikenbai group performed at Suwa-jinja.

The white lily is Kitakami's city flower.



These ones are growing in a neighbor's yard. They also grow wild along the mountain roads in the area.

Just on the other side of the Akita border, there's a beautiful hot spring valley. Small, old, rustic ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) and bathhouses line the one street running through town. The baths are hot and cloudy with minerals. The ryokan provide gorgeous views of the lush mountainside. It's a fantastic place to relax in the comfort of your room, sated with wonderful, fresh Akita food.

To get there, all you have to do is get in your car and drive through clouds of poisonous gas, just beyond the signs warning you to keep moving, lest you be overcome and die.