Hello fellow ‘isolationers’! Here we are keeping ourselves away from as many people as possible, pretty much like the hikikomori (reclusive Japanese adolescents or adults who withdraw from society and seek extreme degrees of isolation and confinement) , except that we are doing this so as not to endanger the health of ourselves or others. As a result, ironically, we all have more time to notice the outside world and the movement of time, which seems to be slowing down and speeding up depending on what you are doing in your isolation. It is easy to forget what day it is when you aren’t following your usual routine.

Anyway, speaking of time passing, now that we have reached May the weather is lovely, for the most part. At the moment we are experiencing a run of days all in the 20s, mostly sunny with some occasional rain. The growth in our garden is really picking up and we are getting more flowers blooming and nearing that time. The Dutch iris I planted late last year are in flower. The peony has formed flower buds, which I am awaiting with anticipation 😊. The bearded iris are somewhat behind at the moment, but there is one bud already. The blueberry, tomatoes and cucumber all have flowers – I am particularly keen to try the blueberries, as the bush didn’t do much last year.

The Hostas booming!

Hydrangeas on the way; Dogwood flowering

One month ago

Today

In terms of our day to day life, we are still taking the occasional walk, I am now doing three ballet classes a week thanks to the Dutch National Ballet, and otherwise we busy ourselves with reading, playing games, watching tv, cooking and keeping up with some people both here and elsewhere in the world (mostly via electronic means). Miro continues to settle in with us – she now often comes to lie next to me in the morning while I have a cup of tea in bed. For those who are interested in ballet, the Dutch classes are good, with the sound and visuals very clear. They are available on YouTube and generally last a bit over 35 minutes. Barre and centre work are separate classes, but unfortunately I don’t have the necessary space for proper centre work. Much thanks to Ernst (teacher and artistic director) and Rex (pianist) 😊.

Lovely tv program about an older man and his cat (a Scottish Fold)

Ernst and Rex

The blossom finished up by mid April, while the azaleas and rhododendrons are out still. The last photos I got of the blossom were on 10^th April, and I know this because that is the last day I went to gym, only to find out that all classes had been stopped. I wasn’t the only one caught out, but I did wonder when most of the people who usually are waiting for the gym to open didn’t turn up. Not to be thwarted in my attempts to get exercise, I decided to walk home – about 3.5 km – and I was able to get the photos.

The canal pink with petals

The footpath next to the river

During the past month we went for two walks for sightseeing purposes, and we also walked home from town after visiting the tax office with our accountant (we arranged to pay our land tax monthly, rather than in four payments [which are not paid quarterly…]). The first was to Fushimi Inari via the Kyoto trail. This is quite a physically demanding walk and we actually pushed it further this time by taking a different route, once we reached the edge of the shrine mountain (about half way up the mountain), which took us down to the bottom of the mountain again, around the back and then up to the summit and then all the way to the bottom again.

No-one around…

We had never done this walk before and certainly noticed it in our calves the next couple of days. Having said that, it was a beautiful walk through nature and we also ended up walking through an area where new torii had been and were being installed. It was interesting to see this area and go through parts of the huge shrine complex we had never been. Along the way we passed a set of stairs which went off in a different direction, which we will explore in the near future…

L: a new section / R: one nearing completion, just the concrete to be smoothed over

L: a hole ready for the next torii / R: where does that set of stairs go?

Our other sightseeing walk took us along the Kamogawa, always a nice saunter, especially on a sunny day. We left home mid morning with the intention of buying a take away lunch to eat on the banks of the river, about 3 km from home. There were a reasonable number of people out enjoying the sun, exercising and generally being outside, and, interestingly, a few people out practising their instruments – notably one violinist and one shamisen player. We have to assume that living in close quarters can make it difficult to practice without upsetting some neighbours (we have one neighbour who is learning the violin…).

They are going ahead with the construction of the balconies for summer

There are a few places where you can cross the river on large stepping stones – some shaped like turtles

Unfortunately, when we reached the restaurant we had planned to get our lunch from we discovered they are closed on Thursdays ☹. We had never been to this place and were keen to try their bento style lunch, while listening to the shamisen player, but it was not to be. We decided to catch the train up to a restaurant we had been to before, knew the owner and were pretty sure would be open. I was disappointed that we wouldn’t have the music to eat to (it was a long way back to where the shamisen player was and we were hungry!), but we still went back down to the river to the nearest bridge (you have to be under cover to avoid the hawks attempting to snatch your food). As we neared the bridge we could hear loud yelling, laughing and screeching. A group of young people were sitting under the bridge making all this noise, and we were immediately frustrated by this din but too hungry to go further along to the next bridge.

Waiting for the train, by ourselves

We found a spot as far away from them as we could and settled down to enjoy our lunch. Just as we started eating, some voices rang out in song…it was the young people, who turned out to be choristers and singing quite intricate chorale music – and pretty well at that! We were stunned, especially as they appeared to be very young, ie early teens and younger. There were two male voices – one quite deep – and three female voices. Their voices were all amazingly mature. So, our lunch turned out to be very pleasant after all, including musical accompaniment. I should know better: never judge a book by it’s cover.

A very nice lunch

For the walk back from the tax office we decided to go via a route back home that we hadn’t taken before. We ended up walking along another canal to the back of the buildings near the art galleries and Heian Jingu. Along the way, we came across a section of the path which someone who lived nearby was obviously tending, and decorating. It’s interesting how people find ways to have gardens even when they physically don’t have any land to create a garden in. The many pot based gardens are witness to this and it is interesting to watch how they are moved around and re-planted year round, year-on-year. In this case the person has planted out some flowers, including irises, and created a little place using public land which they can visit and enjoy, as well as passers-by, like us.

L: Someone had drawn in the sand at the park near Heian Jingu / R: A different angle of the giant torii

As we arrived home that day, there was the woman from Muku restaurant at our front door, with a bag of food for us! She had contacted us via Facebook a few days prior to see how we were going. Craig had responded and also talked to her about her business and whether she was doing take away, as many are now doing. She said she was so Craig indicated we would drop by and get something in the near future (support your local businesses). Lo and behold, she took it upon herself to bring us a mixed bag of items left from the day’s lunch trade – and she wouldn’t accept any payment for this. Yet again we see the generosity of people here, particularly from what we have come to know as the vegan community.

Thus, life continues, even though it is definitely not in a way that any of us expected (except for some sci-fi authors).

Cheers for now, and here’s to a return to some form of normality in the not too distant future.

Vale Tim Brooke-Taylor and Florian Schneider

Social distancing on the train

Is that it’s name, or the owner’s?

If I had a bike, I would, I think…?

I’m glad it’s not this world!

I ordered some hair colour (purple) and it arrived in this box

?????

Some cats of Fushimi Inari

 Miro on my bed, and Miro the climber

Adaptation

Gardening in pots

Hehehe

This is Amabie, a Japanese yokai (literally a monster). It is said that if you look at a picture of Amabie, you will be cured of illness caused by an epidemic.