家族でＮＨＫの大河ドラマ、風林火山、を見ていました。終わったら、うちの子供たちが｢勘助のお墓を見たい｣と言い出して、早速連れて行きました。亀清から車で30分ぐらいです。風林火山のファン、皆様どうぞ！
This year, national broadcaster NHK's year-long historical drama has been Fuurinkazan, about the famous samurai battles at Kawanakajima. Our kids watched the show and wanted to see the grave of one of the famious samurais, Kansuke Yamamoto. So I took them there today. It's only about 30 minutes by car from our inn.
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... We got a dusting of snow this morning. Last night, the kids and I took a bath in our outdoor bath, enjoying the beautiful stars. This morning, we woke up to everything covered in a beautiful white blanket of snow. Our outdoor bath takes on a new look with the snow.
夕べ、子供達と一緒に露天風呂に入った時に星の光りも浴びれました。今朝、起きたら全てが白くなっていて、ビックリしました。やっと露天風呂の雪景色が見えました！
Click here for Kamesei Ryokan website.亀清旅館のＨＰはこちら
上小の１年２組 1st Graders
年に２，３回ぐらい地元の上山田小学校の英語のクラスにヘルプしています。ボランティアの気持ちでお陰で町の子供達の顔が段々と覚えてきました。私が正式的な先生じゃないのに、どこへ行っても子供達に｢タイラー先生！｣と呼ばれています。恥ずかしい！
2 or 3 times a year, I get to help out at the local Kamiyamada Elementary School with their English program. I enjoy the chance to volunteer at the school, and it is an opportunity to recognize the kids in the town. Most of them call me Tyler-Sensei, even though I'm not even close to being an official teacher.
千曲市がインドからの留学生をホースティングしました。私が活躍している国際交流協会も関連したいました。協会がこの集まりを開きました。芸者さんの踊りにインドの伝統的の踊り、最適な交流でした。
そして、留学生が日本の温泉旅館を体験すると言う事で、私共の亀清旅館に一泊しました。皆さんは温泉を気に入ったようですが、和食はちょっと。。。朝食のご飯の上にヨーグルトをかけました。(ビックリ！）
Our Town, Chikuma, hosted a group of exchange students from India. The Int'l Exchange Assoc., of which I'm an active member, hosted a banquet for them. We were entertained by both our local geisha and a traditional Indian dance! International exchange at it's finest.
In order to let the students experience an onsen ryokan, they all spent the night here at Kamesei. They seemed to enjoy the mineral bath, but the traditional food was a little challenging. Pictured is one student with yogurt over her breakfast rice.
ご飯とヨーグルトの上に今度とがらしをかけた！
この間、クチコミでお風呂の椅子が古いと言うクレームがありました。従って、新しいのに取り返っておきました。なお、桶も新しくしました。お客さんからクチコミを頂いて、非常に嬉しいです。こうやって改善していきたいと思っております。
We recently had some customer feedback to the effect that the chairs in our mineral baths were too old. So we went ahead and replaced them, along with the buckets, too. Please keep the feedback coming -- we are trying our best to improve Kamesei.
晴れている日に朝風呂を入ると、横から流れてくる太陽が湯気をイルミネートする。幻想な雰囲気です。
When you take a morning bath and the sun is out, the sun rays enter at a low angle, back-lighting the steam coming off the mineral bath. It creates an ethereal effect.
亀清旅館のＨＰはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website
My proposal for the Kara-Koro Project
昨日のからころ勉強会のついで、今日は具体的に何をするかと言う話し合いでした。案の段階だけですけど、目的が戸倉上山田温泉の歴史を大事にしながら、周辺の川辺と山々を行かせること。私は特に千曲川の事を考えています。現在はこの町が川を背中にしている。この素晴らしい川とのふれあいを増やしたい。従って、この案を出しました。
Following yesterday's study session, today we had another meeting for the Kara-Koro Project, the purpose of which was to make some concrete proposals for how to proceed with livening up the town. We're still at the proposal stage, but the goal is to build on the onsen's history while making better use of the surrounding mountains and river. I especially think we need to better utilize the Chikuma River. Right now, the town is putting the river to its back. We need more interaction with this spectacular river, hence this proposal.
滝沢先生（右）の説明 Prof. Takizawa's talk at the Onsen History Museum
戸倉上山田温泉は長野県から協力金を頂きまして、「からころ」という町興し行事が行っています。もちろん、この青い目の若旦那も参加している。今日は温泉資料館で勉強会を。滝沢先生に言われて、一番感動したのは「この資料館は物を見せる為ではなく、その物の向こうの事を感じさせる為だ」との事。
Togura Kamiyamada Onsen is receiving some support money from Nagano Prefecture, hence our current 'Kara-Koro' Project to improve our town. ('Kara-Koro' is the sound wooden 'geta' sandals make, with the idea to get people out and about to liven up the town.) The thing that most impressed me by Prof. Takizawa's talk was 'The purpose of this History Museum isn't to display objects -- it's to get people to think of the world behind those objects.'
亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan's website.
亀清旅館のロビーにクリスマスツリーを飾っておきました。私達家族が10＋年間を掛けて集まったオーナメントを掛けました。欧米からのクリスマススピリットです。
Back in the States, it's an annual ordeal to try to keep in mind the 'reason for the season' as Christmas tends to get bogged down in over-commercialization. In Japan, all the stores play Christmas music and decorate (complete with Christmas trees that always say 'Merry Christmas' on them -- otherwise I guess you wouldn't know it's a Christmas tree?). But here it's a hollow 'season without a reason'.
Here at Kamesei Ryokan, we're trying to keep it real for our kids, as well as share a little Christmas spirit with our guests. So once again, we managed to get a fir tree for our lobby and decorate it with ornaments that our family has collected over the years.
亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan website.
飲線所もライトアップ
戸倉上山田温泉の真ん中の公園で灯篭と和風イルミネーションの祭が今日から、バレンタインズディーまで行います。私達旅館青年部が飾り付け作業を致しましたので是非、このウインターマジックをご覧になってください。
The park in the middle of our onsen town, from now until St. Valentine's Day, is lit up at night with illumination featuring Japanese 'toro'. The other junior innkeepers and I put them up over the last couple of days. Come enjoy Togura Kamiyamada Onsen's winter magic!
亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for Kamesei Ryokan's website.
