戸倉駅を見下ろす天狗です。今日はカナダからのお客さんを連れてきました。私も、天狗の位置の標高（４５０ｍ？）の紅葉はどのなっているか見たかったです。天狗さんから上の木は大分赤くなっていましたが、天狗から下は色が付き始まっているだけでした。もちろん、戸倉上山田の温泉街はこれから紅葉が本格始まるところです。

ちなみに、天狗さんの持っている葉っぱも紅葉で色が変わるかな?

This is the Tengu above Togura Station. I took a couple of guests from Canada to see him today. Actually, I wanted to see if the trees around his elevation (approx. 450m) were starting to change color or not. The trees above him had pretty red leaves, but lower elevations were just starting to turn color.
Down here at Togura Kamiyamada Onsen (370m), we're just starting to get a hint of fall colors.

By the way, I wonder if the leaf the Tengu is holding also changes color in Fall...

信州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

日本で「女房と畳は新しい方がいい」って諺があるよね。信州では、もう１つな物の新しい時に皆が騒ぎます：そば。この時期は信州のあちらこちらでそば祭りが行われているけど、「新そば」は実際いつから?とよく聞かれます。
私のそばのコネ、戸隠の山口屋の山口さんに聞いてみました。答えは：彼らが自信を持って出せれる戸隠の新そばは１１月１日からだそうです。品質をしっかり確認するのに時間がかかるようです。既に新そばと言っているものを出している店があるけれど、産地が違ったりするので、地元のいい新そばに当たってはゆっくり待たなきゃいけないそうです。

でも、その待つ価値がありますのでお楽しみに。

There's a saying in Japanese that basically translates as, "Wives and tatami mats are best when they are new." Here in Nagano, I think there is one more thing that people get excited about when new: soba. It seems everywhere you look nowadays, there's a Soba Festival going on somewhere in Nagano, and our guests often ask "When does Shin (New) Soba start?" So I checked with my soba man, Yamaguchi-san of Yamaguchi-ya soba restaurant in Togakushi. He told me that harvest has already started, but it takes time to process the soba and verify the quality of the crop. So his restaurant plans on starting New Soba on the first of November. Other restaurants may have already started serving New Soba, but you might want to verify whether or not they use local buckwheat.

So in order to get New Soba, you have to wait a little while longer. I promise, though, it will be worth the wait.

戸隠の山口屋そばレストランのＨＰはこちらClick here for the website of Yamaguchi-ya soba restaurant in Togakushi

標高３７０ｍの戸倉上山田温泉の中心になるカラコロ足湯の公園の写真です。木の葉っぱはちょっとずつ色が付いてきています。信州のもっと高い高原に紅葉がもっと進んでいます。上高地や志賀高原、戸隠の知り合いと話したら、今年の紅葉は通常より１週間～１０日間ぐらい早いそうです。その分で長く続きそうだそうです。色はちょっと落ち着いているようですけど、最近の晴れている天気にきっと綺麗だと思います。志賀高原の横手山や、上高地の周辺のアルプスは既に初雪になっています。青い空に雪をかぶっている山に紅葉・・・信州の見事の時期だ!

注：戸隠の代表の紅葉スポット、鏡池の道は土崩れで工事中です。週末は中社で駐車（？）して、シャトルバスを乗る制度になっているそうです。１０月いっぱいまで紅葉を楽しめると聞いています。

This is a picture of the park next to Togura Kamiyamada Onsen's "Kara-Koro" foot bath. As you can see, the leaves are starting to change color. Our elevation here is only 370 meters above sea level. Nagano's higher elevations are seeing much better fall colors now. I've talked to friends in Kamikochi, Togakushi and Shiga Kogen (some of Nagano's best areas for fall foliage) and this year, the autumn leaves are starting about a week to ten days earlier than normal. Hopefully they'll stay around for longer, too. And although the colors don't seem to be as crisp as some years, the beautiful weather we've been enjoying lately make up for it. Especially as Shiga Kogen's Mt. Yokote and the Alps around Kamikochi have received their first snow fall already. Blue sky, snow-capped peaks and fall foliage -- this is one of Nagano's best seasons!

9月は上山田のぶどう農園さん達にお世話になりました。10月、11月は今度、りんごの時期です。先日はシンガポールからのお客さんを連れて、上山田の知識時の近辺のクラウン農園に行きました。（亀清旅館から車で5分。）農家の飛田さん達は英語（ドイツ語も!）喋れるので親切に色々と説明してくれました。種類の違いや、農業の道具など、千曲川と周辺の山を背景でりんご農園の体験が出来ました。シンガポールから来たWayneさんたちはそれまで、りんごはあくまでスーパーからと言う経験しかなかったから感動してくれました。

飛田さん、お世話になりました。信州の自然がいいですね!

Here at Kamesei Ryokan, we featured local Kamiyamada-grown grapes for the month of September. From now through December, we will be featuring our areas delicious apples. The other day, I took some guests from Singapore to Crown Farm, next to Kamiyamada's Chishiki-ji Temple (approx. 5 minutes by car from Kamesei). The grower, Tobita-san, and his wife speak English (as well as German!) and kindly explained all about the apples. He let us taste the different varieties in addition to explaining about how they are grown and showing us some of his tools and equipment. For Wayne and the Singaporeans, it was a treat for them to see where apples come from (all they've known until now was the supermarket shelf).

Thank you, Tobita-san! And thank you, Nagano, for being blessed by this wonderful nature!

上山田で車でお出かけしたら、この花と田んぼの合わせを見ました。車を止めて、写真を撮りました。秋の花、コスモスと収穫前の田んぼ。秋の雰囲気満々。

While running an errand in the outer areas of Kamiyamada today, I came across this scene of cosmos flowers (considered a fall flower in Japan) and rice fields ready for fall harvest. Autumn has come to Kamiyamada.

信州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.

周りのがっこうでインフルエンザのせいで小学校の運動会が延期、又は中止になっているケースが多いです。上山田の南隣の小学校の運動会が中止になったら、親が文句を言ってきて、やる様にやったそうです。北隣の小学校のが平日に延期されたら、親が文句を言ってきて、週末に戻されたそうです。北風も南風もふいているのに、この上山田小学校でまだインフルエンザが発生していない。予定通り、19日に運動会が行いました。
私は評議委員として、VIP席で見れました。何で親がそんなに見たいか、分かってきました。学生の「一生懸命」の運動が見事です！

All around Kamiyamada, schools are canceling or delaying their yearly Athletics Tournaments ("Undokai") due to outbreaks of influenza. The school to our south canceled theirs, but parents complained so much it was reinstated. The school to the north rescheduled theirs to a later weekday, but when parents complained it was moved again to a weekend. Here in Kamiyamada, despite winds blowing from the north and south, we haven't had a single case of Swine Flu. So our tournament was held as scheduled on the 19th. I got to see it from a VIP seat, as I am on the school's advisory board. Getting to see the all-out efforts of the school kids up close made me understand why parent are so vehement about seeing the tournaments.

夏らしい晴れている日の今日。青空は久しぶりと感じます。今年の夏は終わらない梅雨のせいか、雨が多かったです。でも、今日の青空は目が痛いほど明るい。

今朝は午前５時過ぎで地震で起こされました。発生地が遠かったのに、ここまで感じたと言うのはすごいですね。
UKからのお客さんがいました。「生まれてから始めて地震を感じた」と騒いでいました。「喜ぶところじゃないよ！」と注意しておきました。

さて、この写真は久しぶりの青空と亀清のでかすぎる看板と言うことで、この看板に注目していただきたいです。どう思いますか？隣の松の木に邪魔じゃない？看板の高さで目が無理やりに上に引っ張れちゃう。けど、目は上の電線に行って欲しくない。亀清の木造、伝統的な造りの外観に行って欲しいです。なおかつ、鉄筋じゃなくて、もっと人間に優しい木の看板の方がいいと思います。
と言う事で、近々に目の高さで新しい木の看板を作る計画しています。このでか過ぎてかたくて冷たい鉄筋の看板を卒業さして。この写真は「Before」として考えてください。「After」をお楽しみに。

This summer has been an endless one. Not a Beach Boys type of Endless -- an endlessly rainy one. Today the clouds finally broke and we had one of those blue skies that hurts your eyes in its brilliancy.

It wasn't all fun and joy, though. We were woken up this morning a little after 5am by an earthquake. Even though the epicenter was several hundred kilometers away, we still felt it here enough to be woken up. Some guests from the UK that had been staying here were excited -- "This is the first time in our lives to feel a quake!" I had to remind them that earthquakes aren't something to rejoice about -- a lot of damage and injury was done.

Anyways, the attached picture shows today's blue sky along with our inn's over-sized sign. I actually wanted to write about this sign. What do you think about it? Doesn't it seem to be competing with the noble pine tree next to it? And doesn't it seem to draw your eyes upward, where the ugly electrical wires make a visual mess? I would rather have peoples eyes stay down and look at our inn's traditional wooden facade. And I definitely don't like the cold, harsh steel it's made of.
I am planning on making a pedestrian-friendly eye-level wooden sign, and getting rid of this steel monstrosity. So consider this the "Before" picture, and look forward to seeing the "After" one.

土曜日は親戚の北島おじさんがこの桃を持ってきてくれました。彼の川中島の農園で育った桃です。沢山を頂いたので週末のお客さんに上げたり、お泊まりになったお子さん達にアイスのデザートを作った時に、スライスした桃を上に乗せました。皆、喜んでくれました。
今年は雨が多いので、その影響で桃がうんとジューシーです。個人的に、それが大好きです。ただ、甘みが多少薄いようです。まあ、十分美味しいと私が思いました。
北島おじさんによると、これからの川中島地区の桃の種類は：
「アカツキ」と「川中島白鳳」　８月１日から１０日ぐらい
「なつこ」お盆まで
「川中島白桃」と「白根白桃」　９月２５日まで
この辺の道の駅で買えますので信州の美味しいお土産をどうぞ！
Our Uncle Kitajima brought us a bunch of juicy peaches from his orchard on Saturday. We gave some to our weekend guests, and I also diced them and put them on top of the ice cream I served to the children guests. The fresh peaches were a hit!
According to Kitajima-san, all of the rain this year means the peaches are extra juicy, which I love! However, the sugar content is diluted so the peaches aren't as sweet as they normally are. They tasted delicious to me, though.
Kitajima-san also explained how the peach season works with the different varieties.
'Akatsuki' and 'Kawanakajima Hakuhou' run from the 1st of August to the 10th. Then 'Natsuko' and 'Kawanakajima Hakutou' kick in until O-Bon (mid-August). After that, it's 'Shirane Hakutou' through late September.
You'll see fresh Kawanakajima peaches at area fruit stands throughout northern Nagano -- pick up some for a delicious, juicy souvenir!

親戚が我が息子たちにこのヒマワリをくれた。植えた時に、美咲ちゃんサイズでした。それからどんどん伸びて、まずはKenちゃんサイズ、そしてAndyの鼻の高さ、結局はAndyより背伸びた。こんなに綺麗に咲いてきました。

私は子供のころにこういうヒマワリは嫌いだった。なぜなら、私より背が早く伸びちゃったから。

でも、今回のヒマワリは１９０ｃｍぐらいで止まった。私の価値だ！ちょっと嬉しいです。

One of our neighbors gave our kids this sunflower plant. The seedling grew so fast -- first Misaki's height, then Kenny's, then up to Andy's nose, and finally it surpassed Andy's height.

When I was a kid, I used to hate sunflowers, because they grew taller faster than I did. But this one stopped growing at about 6'4", so I'm still taller than it. That pleases me a bit.

信州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

やっと夏休み！亀清の息子たちが朝に早く起きて、ラジオ体操をやっています。外の温度が段々と上がっています。甲子園の高校野球がもう時期。そろそろせみの鳴き声も聞こえてくるかな？

夏休みの為のプランとして何が良いかと悩みました。他の宿を見れば、カブトムシ採取やパン作り体験等、色々あるようです。

でも、周りにその感じな「夏休み体験」をやっているところが多いです。さらしな古代体験パーク（亀清から車で５分）で縄文時代のいろんな体験ができるし、にしざわ貯金箱館（亀清から歩いて５分）で子供達が喜ぶキャラクター貯金箱の展示会をやっているし、お子さんが楽しめる「体験」はたっぷりあります。

従って、もうちょっと亀清らしい独特なプランを作りたいな・・・と思った結果：

夏休みプラン：　若旦那と一緒に朝５時の座禅体験　☆お子さん達は大歓迎☆

詳しくはこちら

It's summer vacation -- the kids are out of school, temperatures are starting to heat up, the Koshien Highschool Baseball Tournament is about to start, and even the cicadas are starting to buzz. All signs of summer in Japan.

I've been pondering what type of "Summer Vacation Special" plan to make. Other ryokans offer bread making classes or bug collecting excursions -- a variety of things to keep kids occupied. But there are already so many things to do nearby, like the Sarashina Ancient Experience Park where you can make some prehistoric arts and crafts, or the Nishizawa Piggy Bank Museum, where for the summer they are displaying piggy banks with a "character" theme to you can see Japan's pop culture characters over the years via piggy banks.

So I decided to think about what Kamesei could do differently, something essentially "Kamesei". And I remembered the Zazen Meditation plan we did in the Spring. Perhaps some kids would want to try meditation during their summer vacation (or more likely, some parents would want their kids to try meditation...). On one of our websites, we reinstated the zazen plan. If anyone is interested, feel free to contact us.

にしざわ貯金箱館のHPはこちらClick here for Nishizawa Piggy Bank Museum website.

さらしなの里歴史資料館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of the Sarashina Ancient Experience Park