It's hard for me to describe how much I loved Kanaya, but you can ask my mom, I've already oohed-and-ahhed about it to her multiple times! For starters, Kanaya itself is a small town between the bay and a mountain. It is definitely a small town and boy have I missed small town atmospheres since moving to Tokyo. When I first arrived, I met my host's friend and went to hang out at a share-space in the town called Kanaya Base while my host was at work. I didn't hang out in town long enough to fully understand the share-space, but it is what it says it is and most of the members (aka, all the members I met) are friends. For dinner, we each payed 500 yen for home-cooked deliciousness.
After dinner, my host took me home and oh boy was the house amazing or was the house amazing.
1) The house is in the foothills of a mountain, surrounded by trees and supposedly there are monkeys in the forest (I sadly didn't see any).
2) At the base of the hill the house resides on is a beach, which also means the ocean, which I could see from my bed. This also meant that the waves on the beach lulled me to sleep.
3) Because it is a traditional house, I was expecting to have to sleep on a futon but instead I was treated to a night on a pillow-top mattress (which I haven't had since December!!)
4) In the morning I was able to walk around the neighborhood in complete peaceness and calm, relax in a hammock, and then eat delicious somen (a summer noodle dish) prepared by my host out on a makeshift deck.
Let's just say it was superb and I could not have asked for better.
1) The house is in the foothills of a mountain, surrounded by trees and supposedly there are monkeys in the forest (I sadly didn't see any).
2) At the base of the hill the house resides on is a beach, which also means the ocean, which I could see from my bed. This also meant that the waves on the beach lulled me to sleep.
3) Because it is a traditional house, I was expecting to have to sleep on a futon but instead I was treated to a night on a pillow-top mattress (which I haven't had since December!!)
4) In the morning I was able to walk around the neighborhood in complete peaceness and calm, relax in a hammock, and then eat delicious somen (a summer noodle dish) prepared by my host out on a makeshift deck.
Let's just say it was superb and I could not have asked for better.
Saturday after breakfast, my host drove me back into Kanaya so I could climb Nokogiri-Yama, a mountain called "sawtooth" because of the shape it got from being a stone quarry. I planned to climb alone, but ended up getting "adopted" by a family of three who hiked with me and tried translating phrases into English long after I told them it was okay to just use Japanese.
We summited and were able to visit the 1,500 faces (small buddha statues with different faces scattered through temple grounds), Hundred Shaku Kannon, and the largest DaiButsu (big Buddha) in Japan (also the largest pre-modern stone carving of Buddha) at Nihonji, the temple at the top of Nokogiri-Yama.
Then we came back down the mountain and I went back to Kanaya Base where I was invited to join the group as they built stands for one member's guesthouse's garden. It was fun doing some get-your-hands-dirty physical work for a couple hours and then I was invited to another 500 yen home-cooked meal! YUM.
We summited and were able to visit the 1,500 faces (small buddha statues with different faces scattered through temple grounds), Hundred Shaku Kannon, and the largest DaiButsu (big Buddha) in Japan (also the largest pre-modern stone carving of Buddha) at Nihonji, the temple at the top of Nokogiri-Yama.
Then we came back down the mountain and I went back to Kanaya Base where I was invited to join the group as they built stands for one member's guesthouse's garden. It was fun doing some get-your-hands-dirty physical work for a couple hours and then I was invited to another 500 yen home-cooked meal! YUM.
And then my trip was over and I had to head home. It was sad leaving and even sadder having to return to "civilization" and the city. Hoping I can go back there before I leave!
Well, that's what I've been up to recently. Hope you are enjoying my adventures, until next time!
またね。
Well, that's what I've been up to recently. Hope you are enjoying my adventures, until next time!
またね。