先日はＮ石油の社長だった方が亀清に泊まりました。５ヶ国語が喋れました。やはり国際的な会社の社長らしいと思いました。本人はこの辺で色々なつながりがありましたので引退なされても周りの皆がうんと尊敬していました。
それと比較したら、夕べは全然違うタイプな社長が泊まりました。駅に迎えに行ったら直ぐに信州の悪口を。文句や命令ばかり。まあ、それは良いのですが、夜中に起こされました。本人は飲みに行ったので、飲み屋さんでトラブルを起こしたり、帰りは迷ったり、結局は亀清に着いてもどの部屋か忘れて、ロビーで寝ちゃった。亀清のお客さんの殆どは嬉しい事でもう一人の社長と同じく我が宿の伝統的な落ち着かせる雰囲気の良さ、そして信州の自然の価値、が分かって頂いております。
A few days ago we were honored to host the retired president of N. Oil Corporation. I was impressed to hear he speaks 5 languages. That must be part of being the president of a multinational corporation. Over the years, he's had a lot of connections with the area, and even though he's retired the people here treat him with the utmost respect.
Last night, we had a 'shachou' (company president) from the opposite end of the spectrum. When I picked him up at the train station, he asked why I moved to this dump of a place. When I brought him his meal, he complained, "Hey, Ty [Note: I HATE being called 'Ty'], why do you serve 'maguro' sashimi even though your inn is in the mountains?" [Note: our chef uses an abundance of local ingredients. However, over half of our guests are locals, and they would be disappointed if no 'maguro' sashimi.] I don't mind such opinions, but then this morning we were woken up at 3:15am when he came back from drinking. Apparently he had forgotten to take cash with him, and the barkeep accompanied him by taxi. But he had forgotten which inn he was staying at, and went to the wrong one (a ryokan of my 'senpai', no less), then made it to Kamesei but he had forgotten his room so he slept in the lobby. I really don't want Kamesei's image tarnished by the likes of this guy. How can people here tolerate such a rotten shachou? I am thankful most of our guests are like the first shachou, and appreciate the relaxing atmosphere of our traditional inn.

日本のおもてなしの心はすごいです。私は一生をかけても「おもてなし」を完璧に出来ないと思います。
今日はいい例です。久しぶりにお昼の「田毎の月」の棚田を車で通ったら、畑で働いていた叔父さんのトラックが道をブロックしていました。遊びに来ていただけの私達が仕事している農協の方にトラックを移してもらうのはまずいと思いながら、おじさんが畑から降りて移動しに来てくれた。そして、「あっ、テレビで出たよね」と言ってくれて、トラックの後ろからスイカを出して、下さりました。まあ、感心しますよ。逆にアメリカだったら、トラックの後ろから何を出すか怖いですよ。
The Japanese people tend to be some of the most welcoming people in the world. Today was a great example. I took our van for a drive through the Obasute terraced rice paddies, and part-way through a farmer's truck was blocking the road. I didn't want to inconvenience the farmer, who was working, to move his truck for us, who were just playing. But he came down out of the field to move it for us. When he saw me, he said, "Oh, you were on TV!" And he went around to the back of his pickup and pulled out a ... watermelon, and gave it to us. How considerate! If this were the States instead, I'd be afraid to guess what he'd pull out of the back of his pick-up!

2回目で体験してもショックを受けるって事は半端じゃないものですね。小学校の夏休みは今日から始まった。という訳で、我が長男が普段より早く起きて亀清旅館の裏の中央公園でラジオ体操をやりました。夏休みですよ。休みだよ！日本は「休み」と言う意味が分からないのかな？小学生はかわいそう！宿題や自由研究などあって、いったいいつ休めるでしょうか？
If you get a culture shock even after the second time around, it must be a heck of a deal, right? Today is the start of Summer vacation for Kamiyamada Elementary School. So what did our son Andy do? Wake up even earlier than normal and go to the park behind Kamesei Ryokan to do the Radio Exercises with the rest of his classmates. Wait -- it's summer vacation! As in, "Vacation". Don't people in Japan know the meaning of the word "vacation"?!?! With Radio Exercises in the morning, mandatory pool times, all the homework and required research projects and reading, when are the poor kids supposed to take a vacation?

「梅雨」は英語に直せば「Rainy Season」や「Monsoon」だそうです。「夕立」は何でしょう。とにかく、私の地元のシアトルはもともと雨の多い町ですが、日本みたいに決まった時期（梅雨）もいきなりの（そしてあっという間に終わっちゃう）夕立の様な大雨もないです。そのうち、台風も始まるでしょう。シアトルのやわらかいあめが懐かしい！
Japan has its "tsuyu" rainy (monsoon?) season in June/July. Tonight we had a huge, but brief, downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning, called a "yuudachi" (evening shower). My hometown of Seattle is knowns as a rainy city, but we don't have a specific rainy season or flash downpours. Pretty soon Japan will also start its typhoon season. I'm starting to miss the gentle rains of Seattle...

亀清の廊下の壁が大分傷んでいました（我が息子達の影響もあったかもしれません）。今日は来るその業者に頼んで、塗り壁を落としてクロスを貼りなおしてもらいました。話を聞くと、洋紙を重ねって貼るけど日本は防火関係で紙は端を合わせて貼るそうです。壁クロスにも日米関係だ！
The walls of Kamesei's main hallway have gotten pretty beat up (due in no small part to our rambunctious sons). Today, we had a pro come in and take off the applied wall and put on wallpaper. He told me that Western Wallpaper was applied with the edges overlapping. In Japan, though, that's considered a fire hazzard, to the paper here is designed to be applied with the edges lined up with each other. Even in wallpaper, East and West differ!

この１週間は千曲市会議員の選挙の応援活動をやっています。アメリカの大統領の選挙みたいに何年間かからなくて良いけど、その代わりにＣａｎｄｉｄａｔｅの名前を皆に認識してもらうのに１週間しかないと言うのは逆に短すぎない？どちらが良いかとは言えません。取り敢えず、応援活動を頑張ってまいります。
All this week I will be helping out with a colleague's campaign for City Council. I'm glad the campaign process doesn't take months like it does in the U.S. (or years as in the case of the presidential election), but Japan's campaing limitations are way too short. If you only have 1 week to get your name out, you're forced to use the obnoxious campaign sound cars. I can't say which system is better. But I don't have time to worry about it -- I have to get out there again and campaign!

我々欧米人にとって日本の魅力の1つは「昔」と「最新」のミックスです。何百年の歴史の蕎麦屋さんの近辺に酸素バーがあるとか。奥深い文化の芸子さんが最新の携帯電話を使うとか。その中で、私にとってさらに魅力があるのは三、四十年前の「最新」が面白い所に残っている事。特に、建築のスタイル。そのころに「格好いい」と思われただろうな建物が今見ると、「何を考えていただろう」としか思えない。
三泊の滞在してくれたオーストラリアのルークさんで言われて、私も思い出しました：日本の新しさと古さのミックスの上に新しい古さもあって、不思議だ。
（写真は上田の海野町です。このコンクリートのハリは流行っていた？）
Us Westerners often comment on Japan's juxtaposition of the old and new. A centuries-old soba shop next to an Oxygen Bar. A geisha with her rich cultural tradition using a technologically advanced cell phone. Even more interesting to me, though, is the 'new old', particularly in architecture. There are buildings designed 30, 40 years ago that must have been really cool at the time. Now you look at them and think, "What were they thinking?"
Luke, an Australian who just stayed with us 3 nights, rekindled my interest in these "New Old" architectural wonders.

リコー社の会社の野球チームが亀清旅館に泊まってくれました。話をしたら、会社から見ればただの野球チームじゃないと。選手達が野球を通じて助け合いの気持ちや親友の関係を覚えるのでそれは今度、仕事場にも役に立つと。それは分かるけれど、その上に日本の独特の先輩・後輩関係も覚える。その為に、旅館に泊まる時にわざと先輩と後輩をそれぞれの部屋にミックスをするそうです。しかし、旅館はせっかく落ち着いたな雰囲気ですからその先輩・後輩関係も落ち着かせるそうです。それでも、後輩が先輩の荷物を運ぶのは当たり前。
アメリカの野球チームでベテランがルーキーに色々と教えるが、ルーキーがベテランの荷物を運ぶのは聞いた事が無い。やはり違うね！
Ricoh's company baseball team spent the night with us. One of their managers shared some insight: The company doesn't just sponsor the team to play baseball -- through the game the players learn to cooperate as a team and build strong interpersonal relationships. These are things that come in handy in the workplace.
One more thing he mentioned was baseball helps reinforce the senpai-kouhai (elder-younger) relationships that are so important in Japan. They purposely mixed senpai's with kouhai's in the guestrooms. As ryokans are places to relax, the senpai-kouhai deal also gets relaxed a bit. Even so, the kouhai had to carry the bags of their senpai.
Back in the States, veteran baseball players would teach the rookies all kinds of tips, but I doubt you see the rookies carrying the veterans' bags. Japan's senpai-kouhai relationships are truly unique.

「アメリカにも温泉がありますか？」と良く聞かれます。ある事はあるけれど、日本とは比べにならない。大体２種類がある：
ぬるい３５℃で水着を着て入る健康の為のスパーと、
自然の中で出る、見る為だけの温泉。
例えば、イエローストン国立公園では温泉が沢山ありますが、あくまで見る為だけです。入ってはいけません。３年前に家族で行った時に、温泉がいっぱいあるけど入れなかったつらい思い出があります。
ニュースでその１つでは新しく開いた温泉に観光客が落ちて、火傷してしまったそうです。７７℃でした！
I often get asked if America has onsens, too. There are, but nothing compared to Japan. Basically, there are two types, lukewarm mineral baths that people wear bathing suits for, and natural hot springs that are enjoyed for viewing only. Yellowstone Nat'l Park has hundreds of onsens, but only for looking at -- you'd get arrested if you try bathing in one. When our family went 3 years ago, we really wanted to take a bath in one of the onsens!
In the news, there was a story about a new onsen opening up, and a tourist falling in and burning her leg in the 171°F water! As per the following link:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2004448389_webyellowstoneburn30.html

Maybe it's best we didn't take a bath in an onsen at Yellowstone!
イエローストンで温泉に入れなくて、良かった！

このごろは戸倉上山田温泉であちらこちらにハナミズキが綺麗に咲いています。上山田温泉の本通の一部もハナミズキ並びになっています。今年で初めて知ったけど、日本がアメリカに桜の木をプレゼントした時に（ワシントンＤＣの桜が有名だが、私の地元のシアトルのワシントン大学の桜も日本からだそうです）、お返しにアメリカが日本にハナミズキをプレゼントしたそうです。今度はハナミズキを見る度に日米友好を考えます。
Lately, everywhere I go in our town, Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, I see dogwood trees in bloom. I just found out this year that dogwood trees were a present from the US to Japan in return for Japan's gift of cherry trees. The cherry blossoms at Washington DC are famous, but at the other Washington, my home town of Seattle, we have beautiful trees from Japan, too. Now every time I see a dogwood tree, it will remind me of the good relations between the two countries.