67. Claude Monet’s Garden in Japan
Last week, I went to Claude Monet’s Garden.
However, I didn’t go to France but to Shikoku in southwestern part of Japan.
The garden locates in Kitagawa Village, Kochi prefecture.
The climate is quite different from that of France, where most of his masterpieces had been drawn.
Still, the gardeners are trying to understand his favorites and have reproduced the scenery of France.
The garden consists of three sections: Water Garden, Flower Garden, and Garden of Bordighera.
In Water Garden there is a pond with various colored lotus flowers floating.
In summer blue lotus flowers bloom, which are impossible to grow in France.
This is Flower Garden.
A gardener said there are more than 1,600 kinds of plants.
In Garden of Bordighera various tropical plants are growing.
This summer Japan entirely has been suffered by heat wave. The temperature reached 39 degrees Celsius in some places. The earth is about to boiling actually.
Under this climate, the gardeners have to work harder to keep plants.
I hope everyone find comfort with various plants under this unusual climate.
66. Medical Herb Garden in Tokyo
The other day I went to Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Herb Garden (Tokyo-to yakuyo shokubutu-en).
It is a medical herb garden for education and experiments purpose, and thus the real medicinal herbs as well as dangerous plants are planted.
Now, many opium poppies (Papaver somniferum and P. setigerum) have gorgeous flowers.
Other than poppies, we can see many medical plants.
In Japan, Kampo, a way to prescribe herbal medicine has developed based on the Chinese medicine.
The Kampo, and the Chinese medicine use many kinds of herbs, so there are great many of medical plants in Japan and other Asian countries.
I learned those plants at my college , while I haven’t seen some of them.
This garden has any and every plants for medical usage and interested me very much.
65. Furikake
I have heard that Japanese furikake is now booming overseas.
Furikake is a dry Japanese condiment sprinkled on top of cooked rice and so on, according to Wikipedia.
We usually eat boiled rice, which has no particular taste. To improve appetite as well as to add nutrition, the Japanese used to sprinkle various kinds of fragmented foods, such as processed fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, as well as condiments like sugar and salt.
When I was a child, sesame seeds and salt; shaved and seasoned dried bonito (tsukudani); processed small fish or seaweed and the like were popular.
As freeze-drying techniques have developed, various kinds of foods are freeze-dried, such as barbecued meats.
Today, we have wide variety of furikake, and I have heard that Western people get some furikake as souvenirs.
Furikake is useful not only for rice but for pastas, sandwiches, fried potatoes and so on.
64. A Tuna Cutting Demonstration
At a supermarket in Tokyo I saw a demonstration, in which the whole tuna fish was cut into chunks using a broad-bladed knife.
Such an event is sometimes held at a fishmonger’s in a department store or a supermarket to attract customers.
The salesperson said the fish was from southern sea of Japan and weighed fifty-five kilograms except for the viscera.
A fishmonger holding a knife of thirty to forty centimeters on his hand cut the large body of tuna.
Usually the knife to cut tunas is longer and thinner, like the ones I had posted in my previous blog. But those knives are expensive and difficult to handle.
Firstly he cut the head out of the body. The tail had been cut off beforehand to indicate its quality and freshness.
The head meat is called Kama and valuable because it is only a small amount per fish.
Then the knife was inserted along the backbone.
And the upper body was further cut into two chunks.
Next, the backbone was removed with some meats on. This meat, called Naka-Ochi, contains less fat and I like it very much.
Finally the rest of the body were cut into two chunks.
And each chunks will be later cut into small chunks and further sliced, and then be sold at the store.
If you are lucky, you can see such a demonstration somewhere in the fishmonger’s.
And if it is not shown publicly, a lot of fish are cut everywhere in Japan.
63. Flowers Season 🌸
In this blog I have mentioned Shinjuku-Gyoen park several times.
I visit this park often, especially in the cherry blossoms’ season.
This park has many kinds of cherry trees, which have flower even after the famous Japanese Somei-Yoshino cherry flower season ends.
This year spring came earlier than usual and Somei-Yoshino trees were at their best in the middle of March.
And now other kinds of cherries are blooming and the park has less people than ever.
So, I think, now is the best season to visit Shinjuku-Gyoten park.
Other than cherry blossoms, many kinds of trees are having flowers now, such as dogwood, azaleas, and peonies.
It’s spring 🌸
62. Helsinki, a Huge Town
After leaving Tallinn I went to Helsinki, Finland by sea.
Not only being famous for Moomin and Marimekko, I found the town of Helsinki clean, safe, and anything huge.
Buildings were much bigger, and sizes of parks, stations, open spaces, and even the holes for subway trains were much larger than those of Japan.
When I took subway (or, underground railway), I realized why the station had so much space.
They should become shelters when something happens.
The TV news on Kiev occurred to me.
When attacked, Helsinki people would seek evacuation into those subway stations.
And the hole for trains were superfluously large because some other means than train were supposed to go through them.
Subways/ underground railways in Japan and other peaceful countries are only for transportation.
They are made as small as possible to reduce the cost.
The news of Russian invasion to Ukraine have surprised many people, while it should be a threat, or a menace for people in neighboring countries.
The tour guide lady in Tallinn, who was an Estonian and spoke Japanese fluently, said that Estonia has no such natural disasters as earthquakes and tsunamis but it is always under possible man-made disasters.
The same thing can be said for other countries neighboring Russia.
I wish the day never come when the subway/ underground stations are used as shelters.
Followed by peaceful Helsinki scenery I saw and experienced.
61. Tallinn, a Town of Medical Herbs
Last week I went to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
Tallinn faces the Baltic Sea and most of the sightseeing spots concentrates on Vanalinn, the old town.
The center of the town was Raekoja Plats, which was surrounded by old buildings.
Among them I found Raeapteek, one of the oldest existing apothecary.
In the apothecary, which sold current medicine, displayed were ancient instruments and devices to dispense medicine exhibited, as well as old medicine and various natural materials/ ingredients to make up medicine.
After walking around the town, I had lunch at a restaurant in the city center.
The dishes were decorated with various herbs and very nice.
Also, I saw many souvenir shops, where handcrafts, honey, chocolates and other sweets were sold. Many of them were made with a variety of herbs.
Tallinn was beautiful, quiet and comfortable town. I recommend you visit there someday.
