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Exploring Nariwa
I live in Takahashi City in Okayama Prefecture. They call it a "city" (shi) even though it's more like a county. Within this "city/county/whatever" there are many "towns" and "villages" (cho/gun/mura). The "town" I live in is called "Nariwa-cho." It's a mountain village of about 6,000 people just outside the main part of Takahashi City. It's the second-largest town (by population) in Takahashi-shi. Confused? Yeah, me too... here are some photos of the immediate area around where I live.
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This is the Kagura Bridge. It's named after the traditional form of stage-dance that has entertained Japan for centuries. At each side is a statue of a Kagura-dancer. Until I learned the name of the bridge, I had been calling it "the blue bridge" or "the aoi-bashi" when I was trying to sound all authentic, heehee. That's the Nariwa River flowing under it. You can see my apartment complex in the background, as well.
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Japan has odd geography... especially in the mountains. You can go literally miles and miles (oh sorry... kilometers and kilometers) of nothing but farms, fields, and trees, but then when you come to the civilized parts, places like shops, homes, offices, and other buildings are literally crammed in together. Nariwa is pretty big by landmass, but all the people are living on top of each other in the few neighborhood blocks like this one. It's because of these close-quarters that living harmoniously with your neighbors is such an important facet of life in Japan. P.S... and yeah, this counts a two-lane street.
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Even my cruddy, depressing little apartment block in the middle of the rice-fields can look quite nice when shot in the right light. I really do wish they would do something with that horrid empty lot next to us. There's a nice shrine on the other side of it, but all the brush and crabgrass in this lot ruins the look of this neighborhood.
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Well, to the East of me are a few rice-fields and then the main part of the village. If I continue to the West and go down my narrow little street, there is a turn-off that leads to a beautiful little riverwalk.
The xeno-mobile's dashcam videos, haha... driving through Nariwa-cho heading from Takahashi City (in the East) to my apartment building on the West side of the village.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Read on for another sample entry from my continuing blog about the life and times teaching English to Japanese schoolchildren in my serial called "GTX: Great Teacher Xeno"...
