After our visit to the storehouses, we were split into groups of three, and moved to the farm houses that we would be staying at. I was in a group with Michael, and Manoke, and we stayed at the ‘Ookawasou’ guest house. Mr Watanabe and is wife, who run this guest house deep in the mountains of Kitakata, have recently celebrated their 60th birthdays, and are as friendly a couple as can be. Our long awaited meal for the day was, far more splendid than we could have ever imagined. Mrs Watanabe’s food was of a professional level (She is the proud owner of a cooking license!) and reminded me of my mother’s food. Unfortunately when we woke up the next morning, it had begun to rain. While we were hard at work with the rice, Mr Watanabe’s wife was busy preparing another special activity for us. We also got to help with deseeding cotton! Back inside the house, we noticed that there were commemorative photos decorated on one wall of people from all over the world who had stayed at the guest house before. Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar…. According to the Watanabes, they originally ran a lodge for fishermen, but converted it into a guest house 8 years ago. ‘When we started the guest house I thought, can we really manage this without being able to speak English? but we have somehow managed to continue up until now.’ Mr Watanabe reminisced about the time when the guest house was formed. When I looked back I realized since coming to Fukushima, I could count the number of nights I’d spent outside of my apartment on one hand. My thanks go out to Mr & Mrs Watanabe of the Ookawasou guest house! (Posted by:Xu) |
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