Wednesday, May 24th, 1989

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Monday I got up and cleaned the apartment.  Kayo came at 1:00, and we had a difficult lesson, so Kayo was discouraged.

After she left I mailed a cassette to Robin, and a pkg. to myself (my rice bowls).

I went to A-Coop and bought groceries, then went home & listened to music and wrote letters.

Akira and Hiroko came at 7:30.  We ate tacos and I sang 4 songs for them to choose 1 for their wedding.  They ended up choosing 3 of them.  I think I'll be singing "We are an Offering" at the church and "Friends" and "Love in Any Language" at the reception.

Tuesday I taught my classes.  I still didn't feel 100% well, so it was a long day.  I also taught my Mizoguchi classes, so by the time 9:00 rolled around I was really ready to be home!

When I got home I took a shower, and went to bed.  During my Mizoguchi classes lately Kohei has been telling me about his weekend rice farming, so here's how a rice field is prepared for, and, planted (in Mizoguchi):

First the weeds around the outside of the field and inside the area are cut down.  Next the walls on the outsides of the fields are lines with either clay or plastic to hold the water in.  Next the ditches which will carry the water into the field are cleaned out (debris, mud, grass).

In Mizoguchi (and many areas) a large lagoon is emptied into all of the paddies so the farmers have to establish a set date to be ready, and to flood the fields.  Next the water is let into the field.  If the farmer is using a rice planting machine, the ground is leveled (under the water level) then drained (the paddy) so that when the machine comes through to plant, the machine won't make waves knocking over the new plants.  After the machine has planted the field it is reflooded & the rice grows from then to harvest.  If it is planted by hand it is flooded, leveled, and left flooded during planting.

Rice plants are bought at nurseries in the area.  Kohei plants enough to feed his family all year, with a little extra to sell.

In preparing his field, he works on weekends and his wife and mother help prepare & plant the field.

Every ten years the lagoon is drained (by a series of gates) and the people of the community go into the muck and collect the fish to eat.  Some grow to be very large.  Then the lagoon is refilled and restocked with small fish.