Tag Archives: Ishihara-san

Ocean 6

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This weekend we visited Ocean 6 again. We did much of the same thing we did the last time, which was doing as little as possible 🙂 The weather was cloudy but that was actually quite nice as the temperature quite comfortable, and I did not burn up this time even though I slept in the hammock.



To tell the truth, I was actually not that lazy. I helped out cutting some bamboo and mowing the lawn, at least part of it. In fact I cut bamboo until my skin broke on one of the fingers. I nice little flesh wound the size of a one yen coin. I also helped out painting in one of the 6 apartments. I have a painting specialty compared with many Japanese people, I can paint high up on walls without ladders 😉

When I was not working hard I joined Chie at the pool side relaxing, reading and sleeping. We sent most of the weekend like this, just taking a break from relaxing to have lunch and dinner. The meals were always prepared by the hosts while Chie and I always took care of the dishes afterwards.



In summary, a very relaxing weekend.



Visit to a Summer House

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On Saturday morning we departed Tokyo together with Sachi-san and Toku-san for a 3 days weekend at their summer house. It is located a 1.5-2 hours drive north east of Tokyo, just passed Chiba. We had no clue about the summer house and was surprised when we finally arrived. A wooden wall with a small “Ocean 6” written in blue on a sign. It looked like a big boat house.



But walking through a small door in the wooden wall we found that inside it was a large building dressed in unpainted weatherbeaten wood. They had found the land 25 years ago and together with 6 friends built the summer house, or rather private summer resort. 6 units in one building with the same general layout but with totally different interior decoration.

First floor in all units was an open space kitchen dining living room area with a large window wall towards the large wooden deck with a pool and ocean view. The second floor was an open space with the same glass wall as downstairs giving the bedroom an ocean view. In the back on the room was a wall of wardrobes with one door not being a wardrobe but a door into a large bathroom behind the wardrobes, bright with a glass roof.



The summer house was like another world. Surrounded by the wall on the back and green bushy forest of various trees and bamboo. No other houses in site. No sound but the wind and the ocean. And about a billion dragonflies buzzing around all day long, like in a fairytale. It was easy to relax here.



When it was too hot after staying in the sun or helping out cutting down some bamboo we cooled off in the pool. Chie was a great pool manager, keeping the pool clean 🙂 But besides pooling, cutting bamboo and cleaning the pool there were plenty of time to do just nothing but relaxing as well.



During evenings we had dinner together, talking about all things and nothing at all. Just enjoying spending time.



The last day we went down to the beach. It was a long sandy beach… And really hot and humid. Very different from the summer house just a few hundred meters away. We spent some time there walking around looking for shells and other things that have washed up on the beach.



Monday night (national holiday) we had dinner before returning back to Tokyo. It was a very nice extended weekend 🙂

Dinner with Ishihara-san

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At 7:30 pm Chie and I joined Ishihara-san and a few of the people in her group for dinner. Basically it was the people from the latest flea market and trip to Tohoku. We ate, talked and had a fun time 🙂

Party at Ishihara-san’s

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Met Chie at home after work today. 19:45 we took the car and drove to Ishihara-san. She had invited some people that have been volunteering to support Kobuchihama. It was really fun and the food was very good, especially the thin sliced meat that was grilled on a teppan (big flat frying pan).



When most people had finished eating an ad hoc meeting started. We discussed how we should continue support Kobuchihama. We all agreed that Kobuchihama need to work on getting self-sustainable since donations and volunteer work will not continue forever. But they are in a tough situation.

Basically the only income they have is from fishing, but most of their boats were destroyed along with forklifts and ice machines etc that are needed for commercial fishing. Also, it is a very small village and all governmental aid is directed towards the big towns were it has most effect. So whereas some places have got their big fishing industries going again Kobuchihama can barely manage to feed them selves with their fishing.

The only income they have today is that they every day go to another area where they will work with cleaning up debris that are still left after the tsunami. For that each person get 2000 JPY a day (~157 SEK or ~17 EUR). For that kind of money it is quite difficult to survive and even more difficult to rebuild their fishing industry so that they eventually can become self-sustainable.

Chie and I left just before midnight, but many stayed until 3 am. Chie and I could totally understand that because we are the outsiders, meaning we are the only two people in that group that have a “normal” job where you have to be at 8 or 9 am in the morning. The rest are working in boutiques, as designers, photographer, chefs in restaurants etc. Many of them also owns their own company. And one of them don’t need to work anymore… But it’s not me 🙁

Though we are different it is fun. They are all very nice people and easy going. And it is always fun to see the world from another viewpoint. Though my viewpoint is the correct one 😉