Yesterday (13/11) we went to Sawarda after work. I didn't really understand what we were doing there ( all we were told was 'we're going for a drive!' ) but in the end it was pretty fun! The area we went to was full of old looking buildings.
The leaflet says that Sawarda was recognised officially as a distinct area 300 years ago by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the new merchant class then self governed the area. Most of the buildings along the Ono river (which you can see in the picture) were storehouses which then took goods to Tokyo/Edo by boat. The area grew really prosperous which led to 'Sawara Culture' of trying to outdo Tokyo/Edo culturally.
One of the places we visited was the house of Inoh Tadataka who wanted to measure the size of the earth. He created the first accurate map of Japan by travelling on foot for 15 years around the country. He started from his house and the monument here translates to 'From this first step'.
Tadataka's house was really dark and plain, the person that took us, and the person who owns the farm said that when he was younger he lived in a house like that and he really hated it because it was so dark.
This was only a small part of Sawara, if I can muster the energy on my next day off I'd like to go back again and see the rest!
Also, fun fact:
Hokkaido was called Ezochi in the Edo period!
江戸時代に北海道は 蝦夷地と言う。
This is the view from the smaller greenhouse around lunchtime. I thought it was warm in the UK! It's snowing in Hokkaido and amazingly sunny here.
That's what I said but it's pretty cold here in the evening since we're in a traditional Japanese house. We're still going to bed early because it's warmer to do that! Also, it's nice getting 8 hours sleep! Since I haven't done that since university it's strange...
Day off in Sawara! Not much going on but there's lots of nice views and it's very sunny today! Boyfriend thought it would be cold so we're both wearing lots of layers!
The above are Google 'Auto-Awesome' photos. We visited the shrine and walked around there. There was lots of empty coffee cans which we picked up and put in the bin. Later on I wanted to walk back to the farm from the station but we only got so far before one of the friends of the family pulled over and offered us a lift! Boyfriend thinks that this was our thanks from the god of the shrine. Probably not but it was pretty good luck for him! (I still wanted to walk)
Attempt to take photo of food. I don't think I'll do it again... It was yummy and looking at it now makes me hungry. We went to Denny's for lunch although despite what you might expect I don't think they sold a single hamburger! We've been eating lots of Japanese food so it was nice to have something we recognised from the menu! Saying that, all the food had a Japanese twist. This is my dessert (not a main meal) and the ice cream is green tea flavour and it has sweet red beans from Hokkaido as the side topping.
I also found this at the drugstore... These are Sailor Moon branded sanitary towels? I've since been informed that it's not uncommon for girls who grew up in the 90s to call their menstrual days 'Sailor Moon's visiting day' so rather than this being a random campaign it's a company picking up on trends. Still a little strange... The towels have little moons and starts printed on them and they come in different sizes and with or without wings! They're actually a full range.
In other news Dia from The TaxPayers' Alliance will be on BBC Question Time this week so you should watch it and be amazed at the TPA's awesome stance on everything. I'm also physically incapable of staying away from the new website now that it's launched.... So far I have not logged into the admin console but I now have a page in my notepad called 'Things to add to the website to make it more awesome!'
Also. Finally hit 25,000 words on my novel for National Novel Writing Month. I took 2 days in a row off so I'm actually behind but I'm slowly catching up to where I should be.
See you next week!
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