Out On My Own

There is a mountain nearby the city of Tsukuba; tall and proud it’s two peaks stand guard over the people. Everyone we had talked to at Tsukuba seemed so proud of their dear mountain so I and a few others thought it would be a good idea to go and see it for ourselves. We had another free morning and wanted to use it to go up to Mt Tsukuba. However, when I knocked on Cynthia’s door at 7am to check that the trip was still a go, she and Shannon said that according to what they had looked up we would not have enough time to get up there. I went back and perused the internet again and after confirming the bus schedules four times over I went back and told them that I believed we would have enough time and that I was going to go. They opted out, not wanting to be late for our trip in the afternoon with the other students. So on my own and scurried down and caught the bus down to the transfer station and then switched to the 700 yen bus that would take me out to the mountain.

It was a 40 min ride through rural Tsukuba. It was also my first time getting to really see a lot of the traditional architecture in the houses. I’ve decided that I love the look of the Japanese homes, not just the building itself either but the whole package. The building and all the beautiful landscaping all wrapped up in one fascinating and gorgeous package. Me want….. :P

The bus dropped me off at the base of the mountain, from the visitor center I walked up a small road lined with old school shops and vendors until I reached the Mt Tsukuba shrine. As I made my way up through the paths I got to admire the beautiful statues and waterfalls and other elements making up this peaceful and sacred place. Past the shrine I caught the first cable car of the day up to where the mountains two peaks split off (unfortunately I didn’t have the time to climb all the way up). From there I chose the head left up the taller peak (since I only had time to climb one). Here on top of the mountain, the ground was still covered with snow and ice. I had to be very careful as I picked my way across the slippery rocks. As I reached the peak, I saw another shrine perched at the top. Making my way up the last little bit I looked out over the horizon. The day was fairly clear and I could see for miles all around the beautiful valley, off in the distance I caught a small glimpse of Mt Fuji.

As I got back to the cable car station I was suddenly struck with nervousness. The next tram down didn’t leave until 10 and I had to catch my bus at 10:30. The ride took about 8 minutes and then I’d have to run off the mountain through the shrine, find some place to break a stupid 10,000 bill so I could pay for the bus and then all the way back to the bus stop. If I didn’t make this bus there wouldn’t be another until after 12 which meant I would be very late to meet up with everyone else for our trip. As the tram slowly rolled into the station I paced back and forth wringing my hands and praying for a miracle. The ride down the mountain was the longest 8 minutes of my life. Then I was sprinting down through the shrine taking two steps at a time most places. As I ran by a vendor I stopped and bought the first not too expensive thing I found, turned out to be a stick (whose purpose I am still baffled about) that cast me 4oo yen or about 5 bucks. A friendly Japanese guy helped point me in the right direction from there as I sprinted down the side street and popped out by the visitor center and the bus stop at 10:25. As I checked the bus schedule my heart sunk.

First I noticed that the sign said 10:40 and not 10:30, but then from what very little I could understand I got the impression that the 10:40 was only running during certain time of the year, and this was not one of them. Without being able to read the characters I couldn’t be sure so I paced around the stop for the next 15 minutes trying to figure out what I would do if the bus didn’t come. It came down to two options: be late for the meeting, or call a taxi. In the end I decided that if it came down to it I would call a taxi, despite the fact that it would cost and arm and a leg and my first born child to make the 40 min trip back to the bus transfer station.

As 10:40 ticked by I was about to get up to find a phone to attempt to call a taxi when the bus came trundling around the corner. I literally leapt for joy, and sent a quick thank you heavenward and then boarded the bus back home. I got back to the university about 20 minutes before we were supposed to meet, so I sat back and relaxed taking a deep breath, proud of my uncanny ability to get myself anywhere despite not knowing the language in a strange city.

Cynthia and Shannon smiled as they saw me, happy to see that I had made it back safe and on time. Our first stop for the day? The JA co-op headquarters. There we were given a brief explanation on how a co-op works and how they run it here in Japan. A quick breakdown: a farm consists of a central company that farmers can choose to join by paying a yearly fee. In exchange they get to sell their products through co-op stores, use the co-ops various assistance programs, and use the co-ops name.

After visiting the Tsukuba branch office we went to visit one of the co-op stores, where farmers can sell their crops and produce. A lot of the food was cheaper and we stocked up on some veggies that we were going to cook for dinner. I also got some oranges, some of the first fruit I had eaten on the whole trip, and some yummy lemon ice cream.

After the store was my favorite part, visiting one of the actual co-op farms. The man (who spoke no English) took us on a tour around his farm as Namora- Sensei translated for us. It was cool meandering through stores of crops, inspecting the farming equipment and learning a little about the farming techniques.

I think most of us agreed that the best part of the farm tour was when we entered the Shitake mushroom greenhouse. Rows and rows of chopped-off tree trunks leaned against wooden poles filling the warm room with the musky scent of wood. Growing from each log were 10-15 mushrooms of various sizes. The farmer explained how they drill holes into teach piece of wood and then insert spores into each hole that would slowly grow the delicious mushrooms. It takes 1 year to mature each log of mushrooms. It was pretty awesome, and worked well for this small-scale farmer although the method would likely be impractical for a farm any larger than the one we visited.

As we got back to the school I grabbed a bike and ran to the grocery store with a few of the others to pick up some last minute items for dinner. It was the first time I’d ridden a bike since before I left for China; boy have I missed it ::D When we got back we began cooking the veggies and meat to make a delicious stir-fry and Crista cooked up some scallops she had bought at the fish market the other day. We brought it all down to the community center where we met up with the Japanese students for a good old home-cooked meal.

After our bellies were full we headed over to Big Echo to party the night away. As it turns out Karaoke is as big here as it was in China (no surprise of course;D). So the students took us out for an exciting evening of rocking the night away in a rented karaoke room just like the KTV ones in China. Basically you rent a room with your group where you can stay as late as you want until it closes at 6am and sing your heart away. We all stayed until about 1 and then ditched out for the 40 min trek back up to campus, the Japanese boys however, rocked it all night long, staying until the wee hours of the morning.