SHOWA KINEN PARK

Some of the beautiful flowers in the garden

Six stations away from Fussa where we are staying is Showa Kinen Park, a  vast garden with lakes, cycle paths, forests and swimming pools.  Of particular interest was the Japanese and Bonsai gardens. 

We met a group of students and, surprisingly, one of the stayed behind to talk as the rest of the group moved on with their old teacher explaining the layout of the landscape.  He spoke English.  This is rare in Japan as very few people know the language.  He told us he was part of a group studying gardening and that it was very difficult, especially the cultivation of bonsai as it needs attention on a daily basis.

The miniature trees in the bonsai area were especially beautiful with small, balanced trees, as all the gardens we've seen in Japan are.

We ordered a snack from one of the many restaurants.  Being vegetarian, we were stumped. None of the ingredients were in English and we had a hard time explaining that we didn't eat fish or meat.  Pork!  he asked hopefully.

No, no meat of fish! By this time, the cooks were having a good laugh that here were foreigners who didn't eat meat or fish, a rarity in Japan as it is in other countries in the east.

Nevertheless, there was a suspicious gelatinous piece of what could have been squid on the plate and I left it there along with other fishy morsels.

Altogether, a great memory of Japan a couple of days before we leave.

Canal leading to the Emperor Showa Museum

ISHIKAWA BREWERY

UNUSUAL DOUBLE CHERRY AT THE BREWERY STILL IN LATE BLOSSOM

WHILE IN THE FUSSA AREA OF TOKYO, we paid a worthwhile visit to the Ishikawa Brewery.  Here, their major product is saki although there are also some unusual beers and ales prepared in season, reminiscent of the peculiarly flavoured beers you get in Belgium, but much more palatable.   What is striking as soon as you enter the brewery is the orderliness of the grounds. Everything seems to be exactly where it should be and there is nothing you can imagine that would improve the serenity and dream-like quality of the surroundings.

The guide shows us around the blewely and reads from a script about the various processes that take place to produce the saki.  I'm surprised about the process:  instead of wheat mash which is used to make beer, rice mash is used and aspergillus mould is employed to sweeten the rice during fermentation.  Rather than aging the saki, as you would with wine, it should be drunk within one-year of bottling.  Suits me as alcohol doesn't last long in my house anyway.

THE PROCESS OF MAKING SAKKI

At the side of the brewery there is a stream in which pure, soft water runs and we use a ladle to pour the water on to our cupped hand. In the Edo period (1603-1868), the Ishikawa family paid the Shogun sweetfish caught in the Tama River running nearby.  The water was also used to make sake.  Now, with the lowering of the water table, the water has to be pumped from 150 metres below the ground.

At the entrance to the brewery hangs a ceder ball which signifies that a new batch of saki has been produced.

THE CEDER BALL HANGING AT THE ENTRANCE

Also on display is a large, iron crucible that was hidden under the earth during the second world war so that it could be preserved as the Japanese Government was collecting all metal in the country to make armaments. Rather weathered, it is now on display in the main garden.

THE CRUCIBLE

Do I like saki?  It's a bit like Nepalese chang or millet spirit bur mild enough to be drunk on a regular evening as the sun goes down...in moderation.

Like some things in Japan, there is an air of well-established tradition; and although there seems to be a preoccupation with all things American, certain areas of life have thankfully kept their integrity.

JAPAN

Who would have thunk it?  Here we are, in Japan, staying on a US airforce base.  Actually, we are kind of in US but the view from our bedroom window is Mount Fuji with snow on the top like a pyramidical cake with icing on the top.  Already, like it here.  They drive on the left hand side which I didn't consider at all!  

After K'du, no horns, no dust, no noise, no cockroaches, almost like...well heaven really.  So, time to have a holiday from our holiday. Love to all and have a great new Nepalese new year which starts today.   नया बर्साकों शुभ कामना