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Another Inariyama 'kura' biting the dust

千曲市に稲荷山という町があります。善光寺街道の宿場だったころからの土壁の蔵は残っている、風情のある街です。市の観光資料の中に必ず載っていますが、実際行ってみて、がっかりする方が多いそうです。なぜなら、崩れてきてボロボロな蔵が多いからです。

個人的に私はこのままの土蔵が十分魅力あると思っています。逆に、Ｄｉｓｎｅｙｌａｎｄの様に表面だけを綺麗にしたら面白くない。しかし、土蔵の持ち主に何かの支援をしないと、個人だけじゃ土蔵の修理は無理でしょう。

以前に稲荷山を守ろう位としている仲間と市長に陳情した事があります。行政の協力がないと、無理という事；今の内に手を付けないと、土蔵が消えるよと。

その時に、市長がの一言：
「今の内」と言われてもネ…　皆は必ずそう言うよ
と否定されました。

と言いながら、今日、稲荷山と通ったら、また一つな土蔵の壊しの工事が行われていました。

近藤市長の任期の間に、稲荷山の土蔵は何件がつぶされたでしょうか？その責任は？

Here in Chikuma City, we have a neighborhood called Inariyama. It started out as a way station on the old Zenkoji Road connecting now-Nagano City and Matsumoto. Many of the original earthen-walled storehoses still exist, and the city always includes the area on its sightseeing brochures. However, many people who go see it come away disappointed. That's because a lot of the storehouses are in a crumbling state of disrepair.

Personally, I like the townscape the way it is now, and prefer it to a Disney-fied version with an impeccably maintained surface. But I realize that efforts need to be made to refurbish the storehouses. For the private owners, however, such maintenance is prohibitively expensive. Help from the government is required.

Some buddies of mine and I went to petition the mayor for just such assistance. We told him that the city has to act now before the storehouses disappear, that it's now or never.

The mayor's response?
"They've been saying 'Now or never' from a way long time ago, and will be saying that far into the future, too."
In other words, he blew us off.

Well, mayor, I drove through Inariyama today, and guess what I saw? Another storehouse being demolished. Just how many of these 'kura' will have disappeared under your watch? Who's responsibility is that?

この地獄へ道連れの詳しくはこちら。More about this 'kura' biting the dust here.

Orangutans and Natto over eggplant oyaki and cold beer -- You had to have been there.

Expatの新年会？

オーストリア人の木細工師、米国人のコンサルタント、ハンガリー人の陶芸家、そしてこの青い目の旅館若旦那。

皆が戸倉上山田温泉の周辺に住んでいる外国人だ。七福と言うおやき屋さんで集まって、なんちゃった新年会をやりました。亀清に2週間ぐらい滞在しているオーストラリア人の研究家三人と、陶芸家のＡｇｎｅｓさんの旦那さん、版画家のＦｕｍｉｏさんも一緒になって、皆で冷たいビールを飲みながら、アツアツ焼きたてのおやきで盛り上がりました。

海外に住む経験のあるＦｕｍｉｏさんが言ってくれました：日本に住んでいる外国人は色々なストレスがある；日本人には理解が出来ない。偶にこういうお互いに理解できる人たちの集まりが必要。他の付き合いは沢山あるから頻繁に集まれないけど、偶にね。

ちなみに、Ｆｕｍｉｏさんの新作版画展「色彩の幻想」は上田市にあるギャラリー駒で2月23日（水）から28日（月）まで行う予定です。Ａｇｎｅｓさんの作品がそのギャラリーの常設展示品だそうです。詳しくはＨＰへ。

It was like an expat 'Shin-nen kai' (New Year party). It seems like every little 'association' around is having these Shin-nen kai's. As a ryokan owner, I'm grateful as many of them are held at ryokans like ours. But most of them seem to be just another excuse to drink. Especially as they are coming off the tail of all those 'Bo-nen kai' (Forget-the-Year parties) at the end of last year. If people want to get together for a beer, why don't they just get together for a beer and not have to use an excuse of 'New Year Party'?

End of tirade and back to the story at hand.

A woodworker from Austria, a ceramic artist from Hungary, a consultant from the States, and yours truly, the blue-eyed ryokan proprietor, hooked up for a cold beer (call it a Shin-nen kai if you must) over piping hot oyaki buns at Shichifuku. We all live an work in the vicinity of Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, and have a common bond of moving here from overseas. We were joined by 3 Aussies that are staying at Kamesei for an extended time as they work on a research paper, as well as Fumio-san, the husband of ceramic artist Agnes-san.

Fumio-san, who has lived abroad himself, shared a wise tidbit of info: foreigners living in Japan have a lot of stress; stress that a Japanese person can't understand. It's important for them to get together with people who face similar stress and blow off steam every once in a while. It should be spontaneous, not a formal get-together, as everyone has enough other regular obligations in their lives.

By the way, Fumio-san's newest prints will be on display at Gallery Koma in Ueda City from Wednesday 23-Feb through Monday 28-Feb. Agnes's ceramic pieces are on permanent display there as well. Check out the gallery's website for details.