Exploring Kamikochi

As I arrived in November, my dreams of going to see the absolute dreamland which is Kamikochi were shattered for anywhere in the near future. But this meant that when I got an invitation to go and see the place, I couldn’t be more excited.

Fresh air, running rivers, snow capped mountains and even a few wild monkeys scampering around; Kamikochi was everything I wanted it to be and more. Luckily we had managed to visit on one of the days that there were very few visitors compared to what we’d expected, so we were able to enjoy everything to its’ fullest potential. Unfortunately we only managed a few hours there, but it doesn’t matter too much.. it definitely won’t be the only visit.

The Monster Party

150 years ago, Mr Frankenstein lived in the small house in Switzerland. But he was very boring in this town. He couldn’t go outside in daytime. He could only walk at night time. One night he saw a strange black coat man. He was Mr Dracura. He was tired of Switzerland too!
So they decided to move another country. They went to Holland.

Ride a ship, they thought it will go to England. But they go to East Island Japan. They didn’t know that, they got off the ship midnight, and went to the mountain. They saw some red monsters. They were very surprised and went down the mountain, hiding in the forest daytime. The red monster called Oni were surprised too. They talked about last night monsters with Hitotsumekazo and drunk sake. They fell asleep.

Midnight, Mr Stein and Mr Dracura went to mountain again. They saw many sleeping monsters. They had many bottles with their hands. Mr Frankenstein and Mr Dracura were scared but a nice smell came from the bottles. They couldn’t stand, they drunk sake. That’s wonderful, excellent! Suddenly Oni and Hitotsumekozou got up. Both monsters surprised each other, but Mr Dracura and Mr Frankenstein gave them their beer an wine. Both could not understand their language, but they didn’t need worlds they love alcohol! Alcohol make friends all over the monsters that night, people heard strange voices from the mountains.

Posted for Misuzu.

My favourite mountain-top

When I was a child, I often went to the top of Small Mountain with my friend who lives near my house. There was a shrine in the mid of the mountain. It was easy to go there as we go to the shrine 3 to 4 times per year for taking part in the annual event with our family. There were steps from the bottom of the mountain to the shrines, one is the small one and another is the big one.

In order to go up to the top of the mountain, we have to climb a trail without maintained. Although it was not maintained, we could enjoy to climb up as it doesn’t long way. The mountain has a lot of pine trees and the other trees, but there were small space without trees in the top of the mountain. It was filled with the silky white sand there. We could play with the sand, find some strange shape of stones and enjoy beautiful scenery. Sometimes my mother stopped me to go there as there was some cliffs, but I often went there as I could see a lot of sceneries in four seasons.

Posted for Reiko

Diggers & wheelbarrows

Originally uploaded by ijiwaru jimbo

Today was such a lovely sunny morning we couldn't stay indoors forever. We'd sung the "How's the weather?" song and got a resounding "It's SUNNY today!" response. We 'did' our letter /Mm/ words and could see the mountains clearly from our big windows, with their snowy peaks against the blue sky.

Shoes and coats on for a wander down the riverside, where some workmen were spending our taxpayers money, slowly. The girls were really interested to see the men choosing the right sized rocks for the holes they had, and then knocking them into position & cementing them there. They had a dirty old truck, a clean yellow digger, and an old blue wheelbarrow to help them.

We sang songs from the Billy Goats DVD as we walked - "There's green green grass, over the river" we had to change to 'brown'; we looked for a nasty Troll under the bridge but couldn't see him; and we sang about the 3 Billy Goats living on the mountain yonder!

On the way back, we found a ladybird, which bit Naomi. We counted its black spots before it flew away. We also looked at the buds on the trees - spring is coming, so we'll have to come back and check on their progress in becoming leaves soon.

Back at school we finished some colouring - today we read a Potato Pals book about "In the morning" and our daily routines. We also had a big I Spy with /Mm/, /Ss/ & /Rr/ words...and so much more. The walk was the highlight though, as you can see. We haven't been out for ages and now the weather is getting a bit nicer, maybe we can explore some more soon!

Where I live - Matsumoto

I live in Matsumoto, which is a small city in the center of Japan. It has a population of 227,240 people and it's the second biggest city in Nagano.

It’s a beautiful city, and it’s great for walking around. There are lots of narrow streets, and it’s full of historic spots, and shops. It is famous city for the tourism. Matsumoto castle is popular with tourists.

The weather here is very comfortable because it little rains and there are a lot of days of fine weather. The winter can be very cold, and it sometimes snow for day. The summer can be very hot in the daytime but can be cool at night.

Matsumoto is famous for horsemeat dish (but I don’t like it). Kamikochi is popular with tourists too. There are some beautiful ponds, and some hot springs near. A lot of tourists visit seeing the autumn tint in autumn.

I think the best thing about Matsumoto are the beautiful nature enclosed by mountains. I enjoy the changes of the seasons of the mountains. I like natures and history of Matsumoto city.