Japanese people are extremely generous, they are always giving you things
Lifts in their cars and taking you to Festivals from Mino to Guji-Hachiman's Bon Odori
Helpful advice from my Kyoto guest house Bokuyado
Showing you around the beautiful refurbished Nipponia hotel in Mino
Making you laugh, offering you Sake and lifts and giving you gifts in the Ballarat Clunes guest house in Mino ..........and calling you Dight all the time, even shouting it at you from their car
Making you paper beetles in the Mino Washi paper goods shop
Wrapping your suitcase up in plastic to save it from the rain and giving you a homemade leaving gift in Kanazawa Share House GAOoo
Giving you tea
And in Chizu where I stayed the longest I was helped very much by the lovely people there, particularly these two who organised so much for me and introduced me to many other people
I was taken to look at Theatres in Tottori prefecture
Introduced to the art of Bunraku at the Ningyo Joruri puppet theatre in Sinden, where I was invited to have a try
And invited to come back and watch a live rehearsal
To stay in the Ningyo Joruri house next door in the most beautiful of areas
To share a traditional dinner
To have dinner with a lovely family
A barbecue with another
With fresh caught fish and many home grown vegetables
To share food with some of the Forest nursery school families where I was staying
I was given home grown and home made food by new friends and random strangers in the street
Given breakfast in my room
Taken out to many cafes
Taken for walks in the beautiful cedar forests
Given lovely places to stay in and work in
Had my picture taken
Invited to interesting talks given by a Professor of Plant Physiology
A very interesting man who gave me this piece of Acacia resin from a project he was working on in the middle east
I was invited to see some interesting things
Had baths run for me and even offered one after a family dinner
I witnessed how small communities were coming together and doing things for the benefit of the wider community, the land and it's future.
Above all I was given a lot of wonderful, open-hearted friendship, it was positive, life-affirming and made me very happy