JR東日本の特別列車、更科浪漫号、が姨捨のスイッチバックを走ります。10月25日(土)と26日(日)の午後、そして25日の夕方も予定しています。旧型客車+姨捨夜景、ダブル楽しみだ！(注：全車指定席）
JR East is planning a special event train, the Sarashina Roman, for Obasute Station's switchbacks. The train is scheduled to run on 25-Oct (Sat) and 26-Oct (Sun) in the afternoon, and the 25th in the evening. Riding in classic train cars while enjoying the night view from Obasute -- Double the Fun!
(Note: Seat Reservations Required)

JR東日本の信越本線開業120周年の記念でSLD51498が走ります。この機会でデコイチを乗ってみましょう！私も息子たちを連れて行きたいと思っています。全車指定席だそうなので予約はお早目にJRの緑窓へ。
JR is celebrating 120 Years on its Shin'etsu Line with a special running of a real steam locomotive. I'm planning on taking our sons for a trip -- how often do you get to ride a real steam engine train? Dates and times as per the chart. Contact JR to make a seat reservation.

NBSというテレビ局の千曲市代表ブログとして文章を提供しております。９月分は送信しましたのでその内、NBSのHPに載せられる予定です。９月に地元の波閉科神社の秋祭りが２３日に行う予定なので、その記念として上山田お神楽保存会のことについて書きました。全部を読むのに、NBSのHPで出るまで待っていただかなければなりませんが、一部だけは下記です：
「私が上山田お神楽保存会に入る直前に、戸倉から一人が入りました。「あっ、川の向こう側からだ！」と皆がびっくりしたようです。私が入ったら、「あっ、海の向こう側からだ！」そして、最近は歴史的に初めての女性は一人が入りました。上山田お神楽保存会、モダン的で伝統を守っている。千曲市の自慢です。」
TV Station NBS (Nagano Broadcasting) is having me contribute blog entries from Chikuma City for their website. I just sent in the entry for September. It's about the Kamiyamada Okagura (Lion Dance) Preservation Society, in tribute for their upcoming main yearly event: the Habeshina Shrine Autumn Festival (scheduled for 23-Sept.). You'll have to wait for the entry to come out on NBS's website to read the whole thing, but one part is as below:
Right before I joined the group, they had a new member from Togura. Apparently they were pleasantly surprised by having a member come from the other side of the (Chikuma) River. When I joined, they were even more surprised, as I came from the other side of the (Pacific) ocean. Now, as previously mentioned here in this blog, we have our first female member. Kamiyamada's Okagura group is protecting the past using very modern ways -- and is thus the pride of Chikuma City.

詳しくはＮＢＳのＨＰへ

http://www.i-nagano.com

姨捨駅までお客さんにお迎えに行きました。そのまま、姨捨の棚田（田毎の月で有名な棚田）を通りました。いつも、夜の姨捨夜景・伝説ツアーとして行っていますが、久しぶりのお昼の棚田でした。お米がだんだんと伸びていますのでその真緑の色がうんと綺麗でした。
I had to pick up some guests at Obasute Station today, and on the way back to Kamesei I took them for a drive through the Obasute 'Tagoto-no-tsuki' terraced rice paddies. I usually pass through them as part of our Obasute Night View tour, so it was nice to see them during the day for a change. And how beautiful they were, with their rich green color.

お客様に亀清旅館の露天風呂の庭を良く褒めていただきます。「とっても落ち着きます！」と言われます。雨の日はさらに落ち着かせる雰囲気になります。露天風呂に入りたくなりませんか？
Guests often comment on how relaxing the garden around our outdoor bath is. On rainy days, the garden takes on an even more relaxing ambience. Do you feel like taking a soak?

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

夕立の大雨の後、勇気のあるお客様を連れて、姨捨夜景・伝説ツアーにご案内いたしました。雨のお陰で空気が綺麗になりましたので今晩の姨捨の夜景が普段よりもちかちかしていました。
After the evening showers (actually, more of a typhoon-like downpour), I took some brave guests out to see the night view from Obasute Mountain. Thanks to the rain, the air was really clean, so the lights of the night view twinkled even nicer than normal.

夏の良い天気の日に脱衣室から露天風呂へのアプローチはドアを最近に開けておいています。そうすると、皆様がもっと気楽に露天風呂へ行って頂けます。ドアが開いていると、脱衣室から露天風呂の中庭も眺めれます。良い雰囲気ですよ。皆様、どうぞ、お入りください。

On these nice summer days, we have been leaving the doors open between the changing room and the outdoor bath, giving a clear approach to the bath. This way, our guests can also enjoy the outdoor bath's garden from the changing room. Please, come and enjoy our bath!

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

ＪＲのコネからお聞きしましたが、次の姨捨スイッチバック列車が１０月２４日（金）と２５日（土）に行うそうです。今回はお昼も夜（夜景！）もやるそうです。ＪＲのＨＰを見たが明細がまだ出ていないそうです。明細を手に入ればすぐにお知らせいたします。

My special contact at JR told me the next Obasute Switchback Special Train is scheduled for Friday and Saturday October 24th and 25th. This time, there will be afternoon AND evening (=Night View!) runs, and the train will be pulled by.... a steam engine! JR still doesn't have details on their website yet, but as soon as I get them I will present them here.

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

亀清旅館の露天風呂の庭に「亀」はいくつかあります。その１つはこの写真の中です。見えますでしょうか？大きい石が頭、そして手、足と尻尾の石も。体は青い植物で出来ている。縦に刺している石ともみじとススキが「鶴」のイメージです。その植物は去年の１０月に植えつけられたばかりなのに、もうなじんできたようです。鶴のススキは特にすごいおい！正確の名前はハチジョウシマススキです。もみじはベニシダレモミジ “タムケヤマ”です。
Kamesei Ryokan's open air bath has several 'turtles', one of which is in this picture. Can you find it? The large rock to the upper left is the head, then there are rocks for the front and back legs and the tail, and the body is made up of lots of green plants. The vertical rocks and Japanese maple and pampas grass symbolize a crane spreading its wings. The crane-turtle combination are a symbol of good fortune in Japan. Ours was planted last October, and the plants have really taken a liking to their new home.
(Scientific names for the maple and grass are:
Acer palmatum var. matsumurae cv. Ornatum
and
Miscanthus sinensis. condensatus Hack.)

亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website

ガーデナーの岡田さんのＨＰはこちらClick here for our Gardener, Okada-san, website

戸倉上山田温泉の町興しの行事で浅草の芸者、紗幸さん（歴史上の初めての外国人芸者）と戸倉上山田温泉のコラボレーションが行いました。新しい芸者がなかなか少ないと言う問題と旅館側と芸者側の誤解に対して、昨日は若い女性三人が１日芸者体験をやり、今朝は紗幸さんと芸妓組合と旅館組合のシンポジウムでした。こういう話し合いの継続が出来るので私も全面的にサポートしております。温泉旅館の文化もそうですが、芸者文化も大事にしなければならない！そう言う気持ちで私が紗幸さんをこの温泉に紹介しました。
As part of our on-going projects to revitalize Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, Sayuki-san, a geisha from Asakusa (and Japan's first foreigner geisha) came to do a colloboration with our town's geisha guild. In order to address the problems of too few new geisha and the misconceptions between the innkeepers and the guild, yesterday had 3 young ladies try out being geisha for a day, and this morning we had a symposium with Sayuki-san, innkeepers, and the geisha guild. To me, it's important to work hard to protect the culture of Japan's onsen ryokans (which is one of the main reasons I came to Kamesei), but equally as important to maintain Japan's geisha culture, too. That's one of the reasons I introduced Sayuki-san to this onsen.