お客様のお布団を引きに行ったら、このおばさんたち３人は花札で盛り上がっていました。なんとなく、このゲームやら、おばさんたちの年やら、以前の時代を感じました。

When I went into one of the guestrooms tonight to flip the futons, the three little old ladies were caught up in a game of "hanafuda". It's a traditional game that doesn't get played much these days. Perhaps more when these ladies were little girls. It seemed like such a precious scene, I just had to take their picture.

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano.

海外からお越しになるお客さんに日本の温泉旅館文化に触れ合えるようにおもてなしのサービスをしています。時々、そのお客さんがお返しに自分達の国の文化と触れ合えるお土産を下さる。ちょっとした集まりになってきましたので薪ストーブのところで飾るようにしました。オーストラリアからの定番のコアラ、オランダからの定番の木靴、タズメニアからの手作りピンバッジ、そしておニューのテックさすテキサス州からのループタイ。ちょっとした国際交流ギャラリーになって、楽しい！

When we get guests from overseas, we try our best to provide a traditional Japanese onsen & ryokan experience for them. In return, sometimes they give us a souvenir, a little traditional something from their home countries. We've started a little collection of the gifts we have received: a cuddly Australian koala bear, a pair of clogs from Holland, some homemade buttons from Tasmania, a bolo tie from Texas... We've got a fun little international gallery going!

自分と妻が亀清旅館を跡継ぎで来てから色々とじっくりと見ているし、お客様の声を良く聞いています。最初のころは「温泉に入りながら、星の光も浴びたい」と言う声があって、内風呂しかなかった亀清に２年前に「１００年風呂」と言う露天風呂を造った。そして、去年は今度、女風呂の外にヒバの露天風呂も造りました。
これでお客様のお風呂の満足度をかなりアップ出来ました。
今度は客室に注意を払う。それぞれの部屋名は「松風」や「末広」や「千歳」など、沖縄でも北海道でも長野でも、つまり日本のどこであってもおかしくない名前とスタイルです。今年は３つの客室を「ここ」のテーマで簡単な改造をする計画を立てています。進展がある度にまた書きますので宜しくお願いします。
Ever since my wife and I have moved back to start helping out here at Kamesei Ryokan, we have been taking in the over-all feel of the inn and have been thinking about the improvements we want to make. We've also been listening to the comments and opinions of our guests.
One such improvement was based on our own preferences as well as our guests' desires to bath in the starlight while soaking in the onsen: two years ago I built the 100-Year Bath outdoor bath. Then last year we made a cedar bath outside the ladies bath, so now both indoor baths have an outdoor one as well.
This year, we decided to turn our attention to the guestrooms. Our rooms have names like "Matsukaze" (pine tree wind), "Suehiro" (eternity - wide), and "Chitose" (1000 years). These are all fortuitous names, but they just as well be names from Okinawa or Hokkaido, not just Nagano. We are planning on doing a small remodel on 3 of the rooms in local, Nagano-only themes. As we progress, I'll write more here on the blog.

先日はまたクッキーを焼きました。知り合いから信州産の胡桃を頂きましたので今回はクッキーに入れました。本来なら、小麦粉の一部の変わりにそば粉を入れたいけど、最近は戸隠へそば粉を買いに行っていない。そば粉は入った方が重みが出ます。
シアトルの味のお茶菓子に信州の食材：いいコンビネーション！

I baked cookies again the other day, and this time I used some Nagano-grown walnuts that a friend had given me. Normally I also like substituting some of the flour with soba flour. But I haven't been to Togakushi lately to buy soba flour. Adding it to the recipe gives the cookies a fuller flavor.
Mom's recipe cookies with local Nagano ingredients -- what a great combination!

普段は露天風呂が浴場の外にあるけれど、亀清のメインのお風呂の場合は、浴場の外に２階からの非常階段が邪魔しています。従って、露天風呂を造った時に仕方がなく、脱衣室の方から行けるようにしました。「若旦那の手造り露天風呂はこっち-->」って看板を立てたにかかわらず、「あっ、露天風呂があったの？」と後で言われた事が多かったです。「せっかく作ったのに」と悔しくて自分で思っちゃって・・・。
と言うことで、改善！今度、こんなに大きい看板を作ってみました。ちょうどいい板があって、ステインを塗って、黒いペンキで書きました。これでお客様の皆様に亀清の「１００年風呂」露天風呂も楽しんでいただけるでしょう。

Most open air "rotenburo" baths are located directly outside the inside baths. However, when I built the one outside Kamesei's main inside bath, I had to put the entrance off the clothes-changing room since the emergency stairs blocked the access from the main bath. I put a little sign up to show the guests the location, but apparently it's too small. There have been numerous times when guests have said, "What? There was an outdoor bath?" I'm sure the guests were disappointed they missed it, but it was frustrating for me, too, considering all the work that went in to making that bath.
Anyways, I went ahead and made a new and improved sign for the bath. I had just the perfect piece of wood for it, stained it, and painted the wording. Now hopefully all of our guests will be able to enjoy Kamesei's "100 Year Bath" outdoor bath!

戸倉上山田温泉は楽しい買い物が出来るお店は沢山あり、気持ち良い足湯もあり、女性が喜べる温泉街です。尚且つ、母の日には私共若旦那達がお母さん達にコサージュを作ると言う習慣があります。今年は私と有田屋さんの若旦那でずくを出して、手作りでお母さんのお客様の為に綺麗なコサージュを造りました。ちょっとした事ですが、私たち若旦那の気持ちで、この戸倉上山田温泉にお母さん達が大歓迎だとのことです。

Togura Kamiyamada Onsen has pleasant parks to stroll, fun little shops for shopping, and a relaxing foot bath -- so many things for women to enjoy. For the past few years, myself and some of the other innkeepers have started a tradition of making corsages for mothers on Mother's Day. Arita-ya's young innkeeper and I took time out of our busy schedules to make these carnation corsages for our guests that are mothers. It's just a small sign of how our onsen town likes to welcome ladies.

有田屋さんのHPはこちらClick here for Arita-ya's website.

亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei's website.

亀清の庭師の岡田さんは庭に対して良いセオリーがあります。２年前に「百年風呂」の露天風呂の庭を造ってくれて、去年は離れ風の部屋への廊下に２箇所で坪庭を造りました。そこの植物は専門家が見れば喜ばれるけれど、素人でも見て喜べるように造りました。（ちなみに、岡田さんの親切な教えによって勉強になっているけれども、まだまだ日本の庭の素人です。）今の注目の植物の写真です。

Kamesei's gardener, Okada-san, has a great theory to his garden building. Two years ago he built the garden around our "100 Year Bath" outdoor bath, and last year he made two "tsubo" pocket gardens along the passageway to the "hanare" detached rooms. The gardens have plants that specialists like him can appreciate, but also that regular people can enjoy, too. Here are some of the plants that are strutting their stuff in our gardens right now.

岡田さんのHPはこちらClick here for Okada-san's website.

他の宿から頂いたヒントを生かして、亀清旅館の売店にこの新しいサインを造りました。今までのださいプラスチックのサインを捨てて、この格好良い和紙に書き直しました。そして、英語も足しました！

改善、改善！

ちなみに、亀清の売店は態と少な目にしています。お客様が下駄を履いて、温泉街へ出かけてカランコロンするように。このような面白いお店がある：

＊たからや　民芸品や地元の焼き物｢更科焼き｣
＊島屋　甘露煮
＊中村　信州味噌
＊笹鈴　温泉まんじゅ
＊光文堂　レトロなおもちゃ
＊西沢書店　信州の本の色々
等など

亀清旅館の売店では島屋さんの甘露煮を扱っていて、笹鈴さんのまんじゅは取り寄せしています。あと、亀清の売店で扱っているのは信州の定番のゆべしと雷鳥の里。そして、地元の障害者施設の作っている古米も。

信州の旅の思い出にどうぞ。

Using an idea I got from another inn, I made a small improvement on Kamesei's souvenir counter. I threw away the ugly plastic signs we used to have, and wrote new signs on this cool "washi" (traditional Japanese paper). Of course, I added English, too.

Our souvenir selection is minimal on purpose. We want our guests to put the wooden geta on their feet and stroll around town, checking out the various stores as they walk around. Some of the interesting shops are:

*Takaraya -- local "Sarashina-yaki" pottery
*Shimaya -- local "kanroni" marinated river fish
*Nakamura -- Nagano miso paste
*Sasasuzu -- manju sweets using adzuki red been paste
*Kobundo -- stationery store with lots of retro stuff
*Nishizawa Books -- lots of books on Nagano
and more!

Here at Kamesei, the souvenirs we offer for sale are kanroni from Shimaya, typical Nagano tea sweets Yubeshi and Raicho-no-sato, as well as some heritage purple rice grown by a local handicap center. We can also order manju from Sasasuzu.

Be sure to take home a souvenir to remind you of your trip to Togura-Kamiyamada!

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano.

亀清旅館の敷地は約８００坪です。その中でところどころに庭があります。部屋と部屋の間や、渡り廊下の両側とか、中庭など。最近の温かい天気で冬から春になり、庭の植物が動き出した。昨日はガーデナーの岡田さんがメンテナンスに来てくれた。また本人から写真が来ると思いますが、面白いところに植物が出てきています。

Kamesei Ryokan is set on approximately 800 tsubos (1 tsubo = 3.3 sq.meters). Throughout that area we have gardens all over -- in between guest rooms, on either side of the watari-roka passageway, our naka-niwa garden with koi pond, and more. With the warm weather we have had lately, the plants in the garden are starting to transition from winter to spring. Our gardener, Okada-san, came today for garden maintenance. He pointed out all the new growth. We'll be getting some pic's from him soon.

来冬の為の薪は大分集まりました。春休みとなった息子達に手伝ってもらった。(かわいそうかな？）地元のりんご農園の剪定物を頂いて、チェインソーで細かく切って、Kトラーで運んで、太いのを斧で割って、そしてこうやって綺麗に積む。作業が終われば、温泉にゆっくり入る。これは私の最近の日々の生活です。大変だけど、このお蔭でりんご農園屋さんたちと交流も出来、信州の自然と触れ合える。他の生活と変えたいと思わない。
ちなみに、りんご農園の方と話したら、この冬が暖かくて、雪が少なかった事、りんごの木にどういう影響かと聞いた。花の咲くのが早いかと。普段は低い温度から暖かくなる時に咲くので、温度が低くない時に咲くのが遅れる場合もあるから今年は全然読めないと言われました。通常より早いかもしれないし、遅いかもしれない。農協も予想を立てていないそうです。
この暖かい冬はやはり地球温暖化の影響？

I've made good progress on gathering up firewood for next winter. Our boys' spring vacation started today, so I got them to help out, too. (Otherwise, they'd be indoor playing Wii!) Driving to the apple orchards, cutting the branches into short sections with a chainsaw, loading the "K-Tru" pick-up, dumping the load at Kamesei, chopping the fat ones with an axe, and stacking wood nice and neat -- it's a lot of work! But you know what? It's a great chance to interact with the apple growers, as well as with Nagano's nature. I wouldn't change this life for anything.
By the way, I asked the apple grower how this season is shaping up, with the winter being so warm and so little snow. Would the blossoms come early? The grower told me in years like this, they may actually bloom late due to a lack of a cold snap. Low temperatures set up the trees for blooming. He said even the ag coop wasn't making any predictions for this year -- the blossoms could be really early, or really late.
Another result of global warming?