Today was my second hike to the top of Mt. Takamikura, the big mountain in the area. The weather today was much better than the last time I went up and this time the school nurse, Ms. Mizuta came along with me.
Mizuta-san hikes Takamikura about twice a month, and she’s in great shape. At almost 60 years old, she had no problem keeping up with me, and in some cases, I was having problems staying ahead of her.
The views were incredible at the top – the weather was slightly hazy, but we could still see quite a ways. There was a temple at the top, and also a monument to commemorate the first flight in this area, by a 21 year old kid with lots of guts. He flew a glider right over the edge, and lived to tell the tale.
There were people rock climbing the steep face, and lots of folks at the top. This was one of the rare mountains that I’ve come across without a bar at the top, but there were vending machines. The entire trip was about two hours round trip, and we covered about 15 kilometers, just about 9 miles. It was good practice for our 40 kilometer hike next month.
During the hike I was forced to use my Japanese, and we really got on just fine. Of course, from my point of view, things went fine – I’m sure there were some weird parts of the conversation on her end. After getting back to her car, she wanted to go out to eat. I had planned on cooking up some shrimp tacos at home, but I couldn’t figure out a way to communicate that to her, and by the time I had something figured out, we were already on our way.
She made a phone call to a restaurant that she knows, run by the parents of one of our students. The place is an izakaya, kind of a variety restaurant focused on drinking and lots of different kinds of food. Mizuta-san called ahead, and it turned out they weren’t open yet, but they said that the would open up for us, and by the time we got there, everything was ready.
I was in for a real treat. Since I couldn’t read the menu, we decided on getting sushi and a pot of nabe, a hot soup. They asked what kind of sushi we would like, I mentioned some that I liked, and Mizuta-san added a few more, so we had quite an assortment. The sushi here was different than the sushi I have traditionally eaten in the States, and the presentation was amazing. Mizuta-san helped me identify everything we ate, showed me how to some are eaten with chopsticks, some with fingers. She showed me how to eat the sushi so that there is soy sauce only on the fish, not the rice, and the master even tucked in some extra wasabi under each piece of fish to spice things up for me.
Once the master and his wife found out that I was a teacher, and their daughter was in my class, they started bowing and smiling, and a lot more food came out of nowhere. They talked to me eagerly, and I tried to keep up, but I was a bit overwhelmed. The hot pot came out, and Mizuta-san served us both, effortlessly dividing all the goodies between us and telling me all about the dish and it’s ingredients.
It was a great dinner, and I learned a lot. Here in Japan it actually pretty rare for me to go out and eat a traditional Japanese dinner, and so I’m still kind of a rookie. Eating with an expert helps a lot, though.
