この土曜日で子供連れのお客様が多かった。夕食後は子供達の皆がロビーで集まって、アメリカから持ってきたポップコーンメーカーでポップコーンを焼きました。出来立てポップコーンは美味しいよね！
For this Saturday, we had several families with children as guests. So after dinner, I gathered all the kids in Kamesei's lobby, and brought out our popcorn maker from the States, and popped a bunch of popcorn for everyone. Freshly popped popcorn is the best!
亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website
若若女将も大好き！
Austin-san display
戸倉上山田温泉の隣の坂城町に「鉄の展示館」があり、６月２２日までの展示が「刀工キース・オースチン延平とその周辺展」です。今日は坂城住民のキーナーさんと行って来ました。展示かによると、平成９年になくなったアメリカ生まれのオースチンさんは外国人として歴史上初めて刀を作る許可を日本政府からもらったそうです。その以降も研修している方が多いけれど許可を得れたのはオースチンさんだけだそうです。本人は日本酒も好きだったそうです。どういう関係か分からないけれど、展示会の中で何度も書いてありました。まあ、この青い眼の若旦那がオースチンさんと一杯を飲みたかったな。
Next to Togura Kamiyamada Onsen is Sakaki Town, in which there is a Katana Museum. I went there today with Sakaki resident Keener-san. On display through June 22 is a feature on the first foreigner in history to get certified by the Japanese government to make katana swords. Apparently there have been many foreigners since who have studied, but Keith Austin (American, died 1997) is the first and only to achieve certification. The display also mentioned Keith-san loved Japanese sake. I'm not sure what the connection to katana was, but I wish me, the first blue-eyed ryokan innkeeper, could have shared a sake with Keith, the first blue-eyed katana-smith.
鉄の展示館Katana Museum Link
キーナーさんKeener-san Link
亀清旅館Kamesei Ryokan Link
katana close-up
Austin's favorite (and mine!): Tobe-yaki
museum facade
エコの為に汗をかける
亀清旅館のトイレ改造の工事で出て来た材木はゴミとして処分しないで、ロビーの薪ストーブの為の炊きつけとして使うようにしました。私が全部をこまかく切る作業しました。一日もかかちゃった！まあ、環境にもいいし。
Our bathroom remodel here at Kamesei Ryokan is creating a lot of wood waste. Rather than just dispose of it, I decided to keep it for kindling for the wood burning stove in our lobby. It took an entire day, but I cut it all up and stacked it. Lots of work, but I'm sure the environment appreciates it.
亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website.
Takeshi and Harugoma repeat performance
上山田温泉旅館組合の総会は夕べ、亀清旅館の大広間で行われました。芸者の踊りも我が舞台でありました。その時代を超える踊りを見て、世界の戦争や経済などの問題を忘れて、夢の世界に入るような感じしました。その後の芸者さんとの楽しい会話で夢にさらに深く入るような。。。(日本酒も関係しているかもしれません。）
The Kamiyamada Onsen Ryokan Assoc. Annual Meeting was held at Kamesei's banquet room last night. Five of our town's geisha provided entertainment with song and dance and shamisen and taiko. The timelessness of the geisha dance makes you forget the wars and economic problems of today, and takes you to a dream world. Then, as the geisha make their rounds of the guests, their entertaining conversation takes you further into the realm of dreams.... (Of course, the sake probably helps, too.)
亀清旅館から車で１５分で大手なお野菜屋さんがありまして、今日は私が始めていってみました。「ヤマサン」という名前で信州の新鮮な野菜や果実はたっぷり。詳しくはここ。
About 15 minutes by car from Kamesei Ryokan is a large produce stand called 'Yamasan'. I stopped there for the first time yesterday, and was impressed by their selection of fresh local fruits and vegetables. Back where we lived in Seattle we had a stand nearby like this -- it's comforting to find one here, too!
亀清旅館にお越しになれば、この大工事でびっくりしないでください。メインの廊下のトイレを改造しています。暗くて狭いトイレを明るくて広く作り直してもらっています。大工さんたち、ご苦労様です。（お客様に迷惑が少ないように早くしてくださいね）
If you come see us here at Kamesei Ryokan, don't be surprised by this construction -- we are remodelling the main bathrooms. We are making them brighter and more spacious. I want to thank the carpenters for their hard work (but also ask them to hurry up so we don't inconvenience the guests much longer!)
亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website
デザートは別腹
なぜかこの青い目の若旦那が良く聞かれる：「このお料理も作るの？」と。日本のお料理がこんなに奥深い中で、私が作れる訳が無いですよ。私がうちの板長の作業を見るといつも感動します。手をうんとかけています。
ということで、亀清の料理はうちの板長の作品です。でも、デザートぐらいなら私は自信があります。うちの子供に良く作るし。それで、思いついた：アメリカ風のバナナスプリットサンデー。別注で二人前で1000円でどうぞ！
Often I get asked if I do the cooking at our inn. Japanese cuisine is so complicated, how could I possibly do it? Every time I see our chef preparing a dish, I am impressed by how much work goes into it. So, no, I am not the chef. But when it comes to dessert, I can put a pretty good one together. I practice on our kids all the time. So we came upon the following idea: Special Order Dessert Menu -- American Style Banana Split Sundae. Big enough for two people, for 1000 yen. Come and try it!
No CO2 Udo
信州で環境にやさしく考えている沢山の人の中でオーストリア人の知り合いのＵｄｏさんが特別です。今回は使い終わった油（天ぷら等）を加工して、Ｂｉｏ－ｄｉｅｓｅｌを作って、この軽トラを動かしている。フライドポテトの匂いするけど、ＣＯ２は出ないそうです。Ｕｄｏさん、えらい！
There are many environmentally-aware people here in Nagano, but my Austrian buddy Udo is in a league by himself. His pick-up truck is running on biodiesel. It smells a little like french fries, but puts out no CO2. Way to go, Udo!
The Obasute terraced rice paddies are a 10 minute drive from our inn, Kamesei Ryokan, and our onsen town here of Togura Kamiyamada. The moon reflecting on the individual paddies has been a subject for many haiku and other objects. Click here for a link to info on a woodblock print of Obasute.
亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan's website
Michelin dancer Takeshi, mismatched with her cell phone 🙂
ミシュランガイドの編集の方に戸倉上山田と千曲市のＰＲをしてきました。渋湯田中温泉の公民館で、１０分間の勝負でした。千曲市の看板川：千曲川と名物山：姨捨山を紹介してから戸倉上山田温泉との芸者の文化の話しました。それで武さんと春駒さんが「千曲小唄」の踊り・歌をしました。ミシュランの方が感動したようで写真も撮りました。そして、姨捨山にも興味があって、「年よりは本当に捨てられてたか？」と聞きました。「お墓は沢山あるし、行けばゴーストが出るよ」と答えたかったが、市役所の方もいましたから正式的の答えをした：７６８年に日本全国の親孝行のトップ９人の内の一人が更級郡の人で、「姨捨山」の伝説が親孝行の話なのでそのつながりが出来たそうです。
まあ、これで二星ぐらいかな？:) (メンションさえされたら嬉しい！）
Today was the big day to make our 10 minute presentation on Togura Kamiyamada Onsen and Chikuma City to the Michelin Guide Japan editor. I talked about our namesake Chikuma River and our famous 'Obasute' mountain, and then explained about our onsen's history and the geisha heritage. Takeshi and Harugoma, two of our most talented geisha, then performed 'Chikuma Ko-Uta' with dance and song and shamisen. I think the editor was impressed, as he took a picture of the dance. He also asked about the Obasute legend -- were old people really thrown away at the mountain? I wanted to answer "Of course! There are lots of graves up there, and ghosts, too!" But a couple of guys from City Hall were there, too, so I had to stick with the official reply: in the year 768, a local man was selected as one of the Top 9 people in Japan for filial piety. As the legend's theme is also filial piety, the connection was made.
I thought the presentation was good for at least two stars. 🙂 (We'll be lucky to even get mentioned!)
Presentation Venue: Shibu Onsen
