The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Tag: nature

  • ⛩️ Hoshikawa, Odawara 星川, 小田原市

    6th January 2026年1月6日

    🔵 I wake up in the middle of the night. My feet are freezing. Socks, that’s what I need now. Hiking socks 🧦!

    But why is my room so cold? I think of that photo I posted last week. Of the wooden framework of a new house being built. Japanese houses do not have central heating 🤔. When you enter a cold room you just flick on the air conditioning unit, which doubles as a heater in winter. And a very effective one at that. A completely different concept of heating compared to that in Europe. It makes sense.

    1月は寒いですが、晴れています

    🔵 Since New Years Day Japan has been in a holiday modus. Look: here is Japanese man enjoying his Austin Healey Sprite…….

    星川の古い英国製スポーツカー

    Everyone has time – to eat, to drink, to take a walk, to go shopping – to relax in other words. Time to wear a kimono,time to bring the children on an outing. Time for the family. And I notice how strong that latter tradition is.

    🔵 Let’s start with New Year’s Eve.

    At my host family’s house in Hoshikawa, relatives, guests and friends are all gathered………

    まずは大晦日から始めましょう。

    It’s a make your own sushi job…..first grab some Nori (rolled out seaweed)……add some rice and off you go…..yummy!

    I lost count of the courses……

    Yu-san seemed to be in charge of the sake, which flowed freely……

    酒はゆうさんが担当のようでした

    Whilst Bibi, Isabell and Lavi share a joke in one corner…..

    🔵 Before the stroke of midnight we all had to eat Soba noodles. It’s a tradition…….

    そば

    🕛!

    夜中

    Then it’s coats and shoes on and off to the Shinto shrine……

    Tachibana Jinja
    橘樹神社

    🔵 It’s at Tennocho, only about 10 mins walk from the house. We shuffle forward in the long queue, passing under the sacred Tori gateposts…..

    The moon looks down from above…..

    Photo: Misako-san

    🔵 We finally approach the shrine. Here, two by two, we shake the thick bell rope, throw in our offering, bow and clap hands together. We wish for good fortune in the coming year….

    🔵 At the stand nearby we collect a yummy (free!) sake from a tent and huddle around a big warm fire. I notice that the local Yokohama fireman have taken over the responsibility here. I feel privileged to be a part of this really rather intimate old Japanese tradition.

    🔵 The next day, New Year’s Day, the celebrations continued. With a very special meal, using tableware brought out only once a year…..

    ……and bearing the Kanakura family crest – a cross formed by two feathers….

    Photo: Isabell

    A special teapot…..

    Lavi helps by making a sweet brocade egg cake called Nishiki Tamago (錦玉子)……

    Photo: Isabell

    Thank you Misako-san for all the delicious cooking 👏👏👏!

    🔵 Yes, the nights are cold. But the days are bright, dry and sunny.

    I need to get out and take in the fresh January air. With a benevolent air of politeness, cleanliness and punctuality, the Tokaido Line train deposits me in the coastal town of Odawara. It is a charming place, with a pretty castle, a wide open beach and a busy fishing port. It also happens to be on the route of the Ekiden – an annual running event. Spot a runner…..😅

    小田原市. (駅伝)

    The castle is easier to spot…..

    小田原市

    You enter the inner ramparts via a bridge over the moat…..

    …….and pass through one of the imposing gates..

    🔵 Soon you can see the heavy toll that the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake  had on the place. At one point a whole section of rampart simply slide down the hill and has been there ever since…

    But thanks to restoration and rebuilding the clean lines of the Edo-era castle can be appreciated….

    Early plum blossoms near the inner moat….

    …a display of wattle and daub….

    …the impressive main keep rises up at the centre of the complex….

    🔵 Usually there is very little to see inside these buildings. There are lots of very steep stairs and slatted windows. You climb up to the top for the view of course. But today the holiday crowds had formed a long queue at the entrance, so I headed down to the sea instead.

    🔵 Whimsical manholes were set into the pavements……

    And even the drains received artistic attention….

    Ignoring google maps, I found a way under the main road to reach the beach….

    小田原市.

    …a beach not unlike Brighton in Sussex….

    ビーチはイギリスのブライトンを思い出させます

    With a Wiltshire touch..(bizarre!)

    ストーンヘンジ!

    ……someone had built little stupa to adorn the scene….

    ….and at one point, in one of nature’s flourishes, a fresh water stream meets the ocean…..

    小川が海と出会う

    I headed for the harbour.

    🔵 When I first came to Japan I had a naive image of a land where ladies played the koto or strolled in their kimonos under parasols. Of ancient wooden houses nestling in valleys, neon flashing cities and, and, and, and. All this is still there.

    But I was not prepared for the daring civil engineering – a necessary skill in a country where roads and railways have to use the limited space available, especially along the coast. There is beauty here aswell……

    私は日本の大胆な土木工学に感心しています

    …..which sits cheek by jowl beside the traditional…..here a fish restaurant …

    …a boat enters the harbour undeterred…..

    船が港に入る

    It is a day boat,. The fish market has already dealt with todays’ haul….

    今日の魚市場は終了です

    …and a young heron perches on the roof eyeing any available left-overs….

    サギ

    🔵 Being a tourist can be hard work, and sometimes you just need to sit down, open your rucksack and enjoy whatever it was you bought at that convenience store……in this case a dorayaki…mmmm….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki

    But the boats never rest…

    whilst the birds circle above….

    Time to head home…..

    家に帰る時間です

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🏯

  • 🎍 Happy New Year from Japan 🍶

    日本から新年あけましておめでとうございます!

    2026年1月1日🎉 January 1st 2026

    👉 You see this picture? It’s the stereotype of Tokyo isn’t it? The glittering glam city on the Eastern edge of the world…..

    新宿

    👉 Well, it was the film that brought us here. A newly released Japanese drama directed by a Sang Il-Lee, a Korean director. It’s called Kokuho, and deals with the world of Kabuki Theatre and the Yakusa (Mafia). Well worth the 3 hours! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k9Y-irvOE

    新しい映画「告白」を見に行きました。最高でした！

    👉 That’s if you can bear the thought of a cinema on the 9th floor in the Shinjuku district……

    👉 It’s a crazy time to be in Japan. “Christmas” has promptly been dismissed, and everybody is on holiday for the New Year. The decoration has already appeared on the gate of “my” house…

    日本人ならご存知でしょうが、私にとってはとても興味深いです😉

    👉 It’s not as cold as it should be. Climate change no doubt. The gingko fruits are scattered on the ground…….

    銀杏

    …and the sun is really quite warm….

    ….filtering through the late autumn leaves…..

    地元の公園で…素敵

    and onto the ground……

    There are tasty things in the shops……

    このたい焼きが大好きです！

    👉 I had one of these Taiyaki (a waffle shaped like a sea bream and filled with sweet beans ) with a coffee….having got lost in the local mega store.

    Looking for a thermos flask, I found myself in the wheelchair department for some reason…..may need one of these some day……!

    私たちは皆、いつかは年を取ります…..

    …Do I need a shrine?….er….no…..

    …or maybe a tasty fin?………

    美味しい？よく分からないけど…

    👉 As you know from my blogs from Langen, I am fascinated by building sites. I am sure you share my enthusiasm…….ahem……well….what’s this then? On a very steep slope in Hoshikawa they look like they have built parking spaces…I couldn’t work it out – especially the little trees….

    家が建てられているのを見るまで、私はこれらの空間が何なのか理解していませんでした

    👉 but oh no….of course….you dimwit….they will construct wooden houses in these spaces. Like the one down the road…..perfect high quality woodwork….very impressive…!

    👉 Whilst we are looking at what Nigel can see from his bedroom window we can pause and look at the fantastic evening light the other day…..The View of the Towers

    塔の眺め

    Not appreciated by all. Miro-chan has other priorities…..

    ミロちゃんには他に優先事項がある

    👉 You will remember* that last week I mentioned playing music (* I expect you to read all my blogs diligently of course) .

    Portrait of a ‘cello at Senzoku-ike railway station….before…..

    智子さんとの音楽…….🎵

    ….and after….

    👉 Well, this week Tomoko and myself finally got it together…..(no, I am not inserting the recording here. Nobody wants to hear two amateur musicians scraping away 😅)

    👉 So if you are not playing chamber music or sitting in the luxurious seats of a Tokyo cinema, what can you do here in December then? Well, go to the beach of course. No, not to swim. They are horribly crowded in summer, but in winter?…….let’s have a look at Muirakaigan – only 45 mins south of Yokohama……

    ビーチに行こう………

    👉 Hello Japan in winter.……yes, it’s a kite….

    凧が見えますか？

    ….and there are horses….

    and pretty shells…..

    きれいな貝殻ですね…。

    ..and odd things….like radishes drying in the sun…

    天日干しされた大根

    and….well…what’s this?…..

    これは何ですか？

    …..a fish left high and dry…poor thing !

    彼は海にいるはずだ……

    ………a fishing boat that didn’t make it home….

    この船も港にいるはずだ

    …and always that seductive sound of the sea…..

    海の音は魅惑的です…

    👉 I love to see what efforts have been made in the past to haul boats out of the water. Either with muscle power….

    or with the help of a motor……

    古い機械…。

    But the sea always wins in the end…..burying the boats…..

    最後は必ず海が勝つ

    or carrying nutrients to the rock pools….

    海は栄養分を岩のプールに運びます…

    or by it’s mere presence….See those people? They were collecting shells, and had a little saucepan of water to clean them.

    blue is the colour……

    青、青、青……。

    👉 So there you are. No Kimonos, no cosplay, no temples…..but I did find a few Buddhas…..They crop up in mysterious places….like in Oppama further up the coast….

    …some are even coloured……….

    追浜の近くには岩に彫られた仏像があります

    Some are too big to be coloured….

    👉 Sometimes you find an old book of Sutras to pray with……However, the elements or the ants have got to this one …

    👉 No Japan blog is complete without this scene is it? I was of course photographing the power lines when I noticed that volcano in the background….

    この風景なしでは日本のブログは完成しませんよね？もちろん、電線を撮影していた時に、背景の火山に気づきました…。

    Well, that’s all for this week. Take care everybody. Try and avoid the ‘flue, and again …🎍あけましておめでとう…akemashite omodeto…Happy New Year!

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🍾

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり✨

  • 🥂 A swig on a cold morning 乾杯！

    🥂 A swig on a cold morning 乾杯！

    December 12th 2025年12月12日

    “….Let’s get this ceiling done today, right? Yeap, I’ll drink to that! Prost!..”

    今日は天井を仕上げましょう！乾杯

    “….steady as she goes….”

    ご注意ください

    👉 There’s no doubt about it. It’s hard, cold work on a building site in Germany at this time of year. Sometimes the work is heavy and rough, at other times it’s exacting – carefully measuring walls and corners with a hand-held cm guage.

    This is the view from my desk, so I can hardly avoid it.

    This is a view from a cable car in Kobe…on the same day….

    一方、同じ日に神戸では

    👉 It can be odd to have these two climates, cultures and time zones impinging on my consciousness on the same day. Yes, my teacher Miki-san has just had a day out in the forest above Kobe, near Osaka. The leaves are changing colour…..

    紅葉

    ….and there is even the occasional flower!

    …and it is only a little bit fresh at 13°c. It is bright and dry….

    Photos: みきさん

    👉 Whereas here the tough little robin perches boldly in the naked branches of the Offenbacher Stadtwald…..

    Photo: Kilic Ummahani ロビン – オフェンバッハの森で

    👉 We had started out our hike at the Goethe Turm (tower) in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. Being the first Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt there was just about to open. But we first covered about 12km through the forest before we paused, and then at the Oberschweinstiege….

    ハイキングの後の暖かい火

    – what a name! It is in fact a very civilized Ausflugsrestaurant (“day outing restaurant” badly translated) north of Neu Isenburg.

    …my fellow hikers wanted to hear about my profession….😂

    これがバイオリンの弾き方です😂

    👉 So it’s not all gloom and doom in Germany’s dark December. Our book group enjoys an Indian meal in Seeheim- Jugendheim…..

    読書会 – 寒い冬の日のもう一つの趣味

    …discussing the merits of “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. I’ve already mentioned this in my October blog, and was quite enamoured by it….https://wp.me/pgFtpk-o6….. However, with at least two of our group having worked with ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) opinions were mixed……..

    👉 Eat up your greens! my mother used to say. Well will this do? A nice Broccoli from Aldi to ward off the winter woes……

    母はいつも「野菜を食べなさい」と言っていました

    👉 Or maybe a Feuerzangbowle? That classic German alcoholic concoction which invoved setting a sugar loaf on fire over a glass of mulled wine. Here seen in action near Bensheim Auerbach…..

    フォイヤーザンゲンボウレ（翻訳不可能）…燃える砂糖が入った熱いアルコール飲料

    Along with Glüwein, it’s an antidote to all those forbidding castles…..

    陰鬱なドイツの城…👻

    👉 But hey ho, time for a silly selfie…….😅

    Apart from snuggling up on the sofa with a good book, my other antidote in these dark days is music. The BBC has however become un-cooperative for ex-pats ………

    それは複雑です……..

    👉 So it’s up to us to make music. Here is “music minus one” Pianist Sabine agreed to be my “sparring partner” for the Andante from Mendelssohn’s Trio Nr.1…without violinist ☹️. The latter is in Tokyo waiting for a real rehearsal with piano, violin and ‘cello…….!

    メンデルスゾーンのピアノ三重奏曲（ヴァイオリンなし）。ヴァイオリニストは東京でバンドの集合を待っている…

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🎻

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    ⛄

    終わり

  • Japan Flashback : 📮Nostalgia なつかし

    Late April 2025 年4月

    Warning! This is a long read. You may need two cups of coffee….

    Random Notes: Do you chew your toothbrush? don’t. You never know what you might be eating…..

    歯ブラシを噛まないでください！

    Do you like fermented Natto for breakfast?  (er….no)  Grab the offer whilst it lasts….

    納豆は好きですか？

    Same day service.  Mr. Quick-san will fix it…..

    Quick-san. Hodogaya. 自転車の修理

    Saw these in Ena city – best described as “container hotels” !?

    エナの小さなホテル

    Need  a nostalgic TV to fit into your bag?

    🌏

    It was seven years ago when I made my first trip to Japan⛩️.  I did it the hard way – alone, and determined to practise the language. As I don’t like tourist spots I decided to stay in an ordinary town in Gifu Prefecture. It had an interesting river gorge nearby. Ena  (恵那市).

    Nobody had heard of it, and when I mention it to my Japanese friends now I always get this quizzical look, like “where’s that?” or “why would you want to go there?”.

    Never be put off by a railway station. Even on the Chuo Line……

    恵那駅

    And never be put off by “significant delays”. In Japan this means the train might be 3 mins. late or something. But don’t mess with earthquakes. Get the earthquake app.

    It was a unnerving but eye-opening experience 🤔 (I mean the trip in 2018, not the significant delays): The shock of entering the breakfast room of the hotel to see everyone tucking into noodles, fried fish, salads and goodness knows what else; the sense of achievement in borrowing an old bicycle from the local bike shop (no bike apps then) and sailing off on two wheels 🚲 down a country lane without an internet connection.

    So this year I decided to revisit the scene of my former adventures. Even using the same hotel.

    私が初めて日本を訪れたのは7年前のことでした⛩️. そこで今年は、冒険の舞台となった岐阜県恵那市にある同じホテルを再び訪れることにしました。

    The hotel has been smartened up a bit, but there are still no cereals for breakfast, and I had to ask for butter (what a wimp!) . The view from the room has not changed – a “western” clothing store sign….

    素晴らしい景色

    But how much more relaxed I feel, with some command of the language! I even find the bike store. The couple who run it are pleased to hear that I was a former customer, and point out the dog, who is now snoozing in the corner. The guy gives me an old but perfectly good 3-gear town bike and charges me 300 yen for the afternoon. That is about 1.85 Euros. Taking the same route as I did in 2018, I head for the Ena gorge and its dam. I am seeing so much more this time, not being worried about getting lost or making some faux-pas or other.

    A rural postbox…..

    田舎の郵便ポスト…..

    The route to the dam….

    恵那ダムへのルート

    It has been an unusually dry spring here, so the water levels are low on the Kiso river.

    水位が低い

    A pause to think thoughts….💭

    考え

    Years ago, when I first started doing calligraphy classes in Germany with Rena Kato, one of the first characters she taught us was this:

    石

    it’s a simple character, so I recognise it immediately here on this sign. Stones.

    危険

    Being in red, the warning of falling stones is a little disconcerting. Further on I discover the remains of the old suspension bridge crossing the Kiso river. That was 1907.

    木曽川にかかる古い橋

    In 1926 they built the dam, then much more recently: this road bridge. Confident and inspiring…..What about that for a nice piece of civil engineering…….take note GdLL 🙂.

    素敵な新しい橋

    On the subject of engineering, there are impressive road improvements underway nearby…….

    日本のエンジニアリング

    Riding back past a screen of bamboo…..

    竹の壁

    This is hot work. I park the bike and take a well-earned slug of green tea……

    一時停止

    They don’t seem to sell postcards here any longer. So on the way home I am denied the fun of slipping one into this postbox……(“Greetings from the paddy fields of Gifu Prefecture. Wish you were here……”)

    ここではポストカードを売っていません。残念です。

    The next day I board a local train to get to the start of my planned hike. But first it’s time to charge my transport card. The platform machine quite clearly displays the notice: 1.000 yen only. As if 1.000 yen would get me very far. Oh what the. I’ll stuff a 10.000 yen note in and see what happens…….

    ナイジェルはミスを犯す

    Naughty Nigel!  A red light flashes🚨 and a piercing alarm goes off. Out of a nearby door a uniformed station master pops like a jack-in-the-box 💥 Boing 👨‍✈️ !

    With a degree of self-assurance which I never had before I just say “don’t worry – I just put the wrong note into the machine….”. But he has to open the machine, type a code in and clang the thing shut before peace can then descend on Ena station. Honestly. These foreigners.

    I have to alight at a place called Nakatsugawa, where a bus takes me up into the mountains……..

    “Welcome to Natsugawa” is written in a local dialect. Better not tread on it…..😂

    行きます!

    Off we go. It’s a local bus, but it is modern, comfortable and air-conditioned with, I noticed,  UV protective glass. It goes without saying that the windows are crystal clean. Not a spec.

    We wind up into the hills, getting higher and higher, until at least we grind to a halt at Magome- juku. This little town has retained much of its Edo-era charm, however it feels a bit sanitized. There is no horse dung in the street, the loos are automatic and there are no prostitutes in the back alleys. But it is still a hotch potch of wooden houses and shops clutching to a steep winding street. It was a post town on the Nakasendo – the trade route built by the feudal lords in the 18thc. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). “Nakasendo”  – it sort of rolls off the tongue, conjuring up a wild mountain pathway in the age of the Samurai. Haha. Today it’s mostly tourists. But it is fantastic.

    馬籠宿。中山道

    There was another route down in the plains called the Tokaido. But this one, as its name suggests, went over the mountains. But it wasn’t just a road. It spawned a cultural phenomena. Artists arrived to draw it – The famous woodcblock illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige, for example. In his prints you see labourers struggling along with huge loads, and the occasional daimyō  (feudal lord) on horseback. The surface of the road was mostly stone slabs, which must have made it hard work in wet weather (a bit like the Appian way in Rome). This print rather romanticizes the whole thing.

    歌川広重

    It’s all very picturesque (かいがてき  絵画的). Somehow these mountain villages avoided the Japanese post-War economic boom and subsequent construction mania. Power lines have been hidden. However, there are strict rules for residents. Even if a historic building is decaying and you as a foreigner offer to restore it, you will face immense bureacratic hurdles.

    素敵。でも、きれいすぎる

    I pass a colourful field of clover further up the hill,

    クローバー畑

    a Buddha or two to help you on your way…..🙏

    仏

    The trek is easy for me, with my modern hiking boots, bottle of green tea and iphone in the rucksack….

    著者

    Soon I had left the village behind me. Along the way some eccentric local was actually inviting people to come into their garden…..

    ニース 🙂

    Where whimsical things abounded…..

    offerings invited….

    I climbed up higher into the forest towards the boundary of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures. Those cedars….phew!

    中山道の杉

    Those bears……(you ring this to warn them off)…

    🐻!

    Ocasionally the modern road bisects the path. The mirror is there to help you. Except that this one was totally opaque. I’m sure Hermione Granger would have known the spell…….

    Those flowers. It’s as if a god has picked up several National Trust Gardens in the UK and scattered them around the mountains here. Of course in history it was the other way around.

    ….cherries are still blooming up here (the’ve long since disappeared from Tokyo)

    in so many varieties….

    …this looks like a wild orchid…..

    …and then, just after the Magome pass…(which is actually not very dramatic)….

    790 metres

    …. those waterfalls…..there are two quite near each other…

    Medake Falls

    Odake Falls

    It was a hot day. Needless to say, the cool water was delightfully refreshing…..

    素敵な冷たい水

    The route is not really a wild hike and is always clearly marked.

    Japanese families with their teenagers were ambling along in what looked like nothing more than town shoes. I met a father sitting on a rock, mopping his brow. He said his wife and daughter were faster than him………I think he had been persuaded to come, and would have preferred to be on the sofa at home watching baseball….

    🔩

    I often see a pride and fascination with all things mechanical here in Japan. As I left Ena in the morning I had passed a monumental steam engine parked outside the library……

    Then later in the day whilst walking I discovered this strange foot-operated machine. I hope one of my violinmaking colleagues  (Paul? John?) can work out what it did. I couldn’t….

    これは何ですか？

    And later on at the end of the trail, after I had passed through Tsumago en route to Nagiso station, there was another steam engine. An even bigger one this time…….just sitting there.

    南木曽駅。帰りの電車。

    The notice explains…………

    蒸気動力

    Back to the Nakasendo. They “do” decay well here. There was no hope of a coffee at this establishment….left to rot in the woods…..

    ここにはコーヒーはありません…

    メールもなし

    About 9km later I entered the post town of Tsumago. Could almost be a film set. Except that it is genuine. An elegant family drift by…..

    This has been a long post, but there is so much to write about! I will leave you in a Japanese lane…….

    As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🖋️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    THE END 　終わる

    Oh, just a few more buddhas to send you on your way…..

    THE END 　終わる

  • 🍴 Fancy a bite? ちょっと食べたい?

    October 10th 2025年10月10日

    Fancy a bite? Someone does in these woods, but I assume they know what they are doing….

    お腹が空いていますか？誰かが……..🤤

    Because they always leave these guys alone….

    Perhaps the black and white pattern is a warning sign…

    誰もこれを食べない…..🤮

    Of course none of this is noticed by the passengers sitting in the cosy seats of their Inter Regio train which roars by…..

    乗客はこれらの小さなことに気づきません!

    I’m on a little walk between Neu Isenburg and Langen. Right beside the railway. My archaeological training is spurred to life by the sight of this bronze age artifact….a weapon of some sort maybe?…..It is well preserved I must say…….

    奇妙な物体

    However, on reflection…..hmmm. Has a rather late 20thc. aura about it.

    Back to those mushrooms. I prefer the fruits of trees. Like this one. The fig tree outside my door. The sensation of biting into that soft flesh – ever so slightly grainy and subtly sweet- so soon reduced to the mere stalk and then the need for the next one….

    イチジク！美味しい！

    Preceded by some Gyozas and a Kirin and I am in heaven…or at least in Takumi….(Mendelssohn Str. Frankfurt)

    天国

    Autumn………I must have been in an “flowing” mood when I drew this Kanji character…..

    まあ、ここでは翻訳は必要ありません！😅

    The turn of the season seems to affect different trees in different ways..The Acacia looks like it is getting a disease….

    …and reminds me of the time I once drew the Kanji character for tree (Ki), but realized after the first stroke that I didn’t have enough ink in my brush……😮

    ああ、まずい。インクが足りなかったんだ😐

    It is also easy to get too much ink on the brush. The ink itself has this extraordinary tendency to create forms – here the silhouette of a man’s head (?)………

    奇妙な形….

    Being confined to home this weekend with some bug or other I turned my attention to my calligraphy efforts. Of which there are many…..(!)

    今週末は体調が悪くて家にいなければならなかったので、書道を見つめ直す時間になりました…。

    With a well-loaded brush you can make music…🎵..The first character means “sound”, the second one “fun/enjoy”. Nice!

    🎵

    In the meantime I have found another little “bit of Autumn” ちいさい秋みつけた [Chīsai Aki Mitsuketa]…..This maple leaf has drifted graciously to earth…..

    ~

    What shall I cook today?

    Certainly none of those mushrooms near the railway…..Maybe some hearty European stew…? after all, the parsnip was a rare find in Aldi…

    Aha….let’s add a bit of Asian pep…..mmmm….

    In fact a warm vegetable stew was just right for the chilly downturn of the weather this week….

    寒い日には温かいシチューがぴったりです…

    ~

    The other day a Chinese friend of mine called round to pick up a ‘cello case. With her 3 yr- old son bounding about with far too much energy, I decided to dig out some childrens’ books 📔📚 as a distraction. Of course they were all in English, but this didn’t seem to matter. However, later on I found the book which I had been looking for the whole time.

    Lao Lao -🐉 is an old Chinese folk tale about a simple good person being maligned by a greedy emperor. The poor woman is forced to sit in a cold tower and produce paper cuttings ad infinitum (rather like the girl in Rumpelstiltskin who has to weave gold thread). However, in the end good conquers over evil through the intervention (Deus ex machina – rather like a Handel opera) of the dragon who roams the earth, who sees and hears everything.

    子供向けの本当に素敵な本

    The text is in Chinese and English and is beautifully illustrated…

    …..following the main theme of the story – paper cuttings…….

    切り絵

    …with the chance at the end to have a go yourself. This is a very special children’s book. I thought the story was probably an old Chinese classic, but my friend had never heard of it. One wonders what they teach children in China these days….

    ~

    Well, I’m told a typhoon is approaching Japan this weekend. And I see I once tried to paint the character. Not a good example of brushwork, but very fitting to the current season! Literally “great wind”…….🍃

    あまり上手な書道ではありませんが…

    And it also seems to be the season for that home-made plum wine…………..☺️

    Photo> 友子

    ~

    👉 Well, thank you for reading this, and feel free to pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. These days you can translate a web site instantaneously with A.I. or Google translate.

    さて、これを読んでいただきありがとうございます。興味があると思われる方に、遠慮なくお伝えください。

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    終わり

    🍄‍🟫

  • 🌤️ Castle in the sky 天空の城

    12th September 2025 年9月12日

    Welcome back to another episode of The View from the Towers in the UK…☺️

    👉 I have drunk 3 bottles of very nice Whitby Bay Craft beer 🍺 since arriving here in Somerset. So what should I do with the empty bottles? Without much thought I bring them back to the local shop for recycling. There I am met with a blank look of incomprehension. “Don’t you recycle them at home?” they say. I had forgotten. You can’t bring bottles back to shops in the UK. This is just one example of: It’s a funny feeling being in the UK.

    👉 I notice little things. UK instead of GB on the back of cars 🚘, impatient drivers in London, overseeing the fact that I am driving a foreign car. The fact that my 20 pound note is out of date.

    私の20ポンド紙幣は期限切れで無効です

    A lot of flags. Beers I have never heard of. And of course: I don’t have to use a foreign language to communicate, and people (who are generally very friendly) assume I live here.

    👉 But let’s move on……writing as I do rather like H.V. Morton in his 1929 book “In Search of England”. Except that he drove a bull-nosed Morris, and myself a 15 yr-old Audi…..and that “England” has changed beyond recognition – or has it?

    👉 Dunster castle is not for purists. Yes, It towers magnificently over the eponymous village, but all is not what it seems. It’s not just a medieval castle. Over the centuries the Luttrell family added to and changed the original structure, culminating their work in the 19th century with a vast comfortable Victorian residence.

    From the rooms you get great views…..

    ダンスター城は中世の城を改築した、快適な19世紀の邸宅です。素晴らしい景色が楽しめます！

    In the dining hall the table is set for the Indian polo team, with a place set for the Maharajah of Jodhpur……this is all very British Empire stuff……

    食堂にはインドのポロチームのためにテーブルが用意され、ジョードプルのマハラジャのための席も用意されている。

    While the clock still keeps the time……

    時計はまだ動いている

    You can flaunt yourself on the grand staircase….

    この階段の上であなたはとても大切な存在だと感じます

    …or play a Victorian game…….

    ビクトリア朝のゲーム

    Or be grateful you don’t have this plumbing any longer…..

    モダンな蛇口があってよかった

    You can visit the horse stables…..(if you like that sort of thing). However there is no muck or smell here…..or horses for that matter….(you’d have thought they would have a token horse🐴 munching hay….?)

    馬小屋

    (but I loved the cobbled floor……)

    床が気に入った

    The house is all a bit gloomy inside. However, The National Trust are at pains to point out that this is due to the UV filters on the windows – there to protect the fabrics.

    To be honest, I found all this heavy emphasis on conservation and preservation a little oppressive at times. It was at moments like this when I was reminded of the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi – 侘び寂び – the beauty of imperfection and impermanence. A world view, an aesthetic and a way of life so distant from Western ideals. Both have their merits, but not when pushed to extremes…

    👉 However there is a bright conservatory…….

    家は少し暗いですが、明るい冬の庭があります

    …and a fun hat and costume room…..

    帽子を試着しました

    ……..and then the gardens. Well that’s a different story: ……..we are at a castle, so why not float into the sky with Laputa?

    p.s. I hope they bring this piano in when it rains….

    天空の城

    …In the grounds a climbing project had been set up . Needless to say I was happy to remain a spectator…….Not so my tough Japanese companion….

    私の日本の友達は私よりも健康です！

    A short walk down the road is the water mill with its picturesque wheels and packhorse bridge…..

    水車

    which of course led us to the…..

    二人でお茶

    👉 The classic National Trust tea shop. But oh what was this…..? “Sorry the dishwasher is broken” said the girl serving….”we are using disposable cups and plates today….” Now what would H.V.Morton have made of this? The coffee and cake were fine….it’s just that I had had this fantasy of a traditional English afternoon tea….not a McDonalds-type beaker and a cardboard plate……😢 We had charming company though…..

    好奇心旺盛なコマドリ

    Dunster Castle. Don’t miss it if you are in the South West of England…..https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/somerset/dunster-castle-and-watermill

    Apart from the castle, the village is a pretty place but not designed for those hulking fat SUVs which people feel the need to drive these days. We had a look into the church with its fine medieval screen……

    地元の教会

    ….somber monuments trying to look permanent despite our impermanent lives….

    古代の墓

    …..towering arches……

    …..and some rather tasteful Victorian stained glass…

    素敵なステンドグラス

    Well, that’s all for now. Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね ☺️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    🪶

    終わり

  • 🖋️ The View from the Desk 机からの眺め

    August 9th 2025 年8月10日

    👉 The view from my desk can sometimes be rather distracting. I don’t remember, for example, having ordered a coffee table……

    コーヒーテーブルを注文した覚えがない😂

    So I must retain some fudoushin ふどうしん( 不動心) and remain imperturbable . I read this word in Japanese today and didn’t know what on earth it meant. But seeing that character 心 at the end should have prepared me for something deep. 心 means mind, heart or spirit, and I even have it on my wall at home as a calligraphy exercise!

    心

    I would probably never use imperturbable here in Germany because I know I would have to explain it. Here is the Oxford English Dictionary…

    難しい言葉 🙄

    So there you go. Pearls of knowledge from a building site.

    👉 There’s nothing quite like a spontaneous hike with friends. But with such a hot weekend a cool route is called for. So no to the open vineyards of the Rheingau or ruined castles baking in the heat. What we needed was a route almost entirely in the shade.

    東京ほど暑くはないけど、十分暑い！

    Those who can’t come offer you a colourful range of situations they find themselves in. The globetrotters: “I am in Brazil and flying to Chile tomorrow, otherwise would definitely join! The thinkers: “I am thinking about it”. The organized: “Sorry, I have a prior arrangement”. The unfortunates: “I feel worse and worse” (all sympathy here). The stay-at-homers: “I need a day at home”. The mysterious: no reply.

    Well, in the end there were only two of us left. But there are advantages to that – flexibility is one of them.

    👉 The route took us through the shady woods south of Darmstadt. It was very quiet – only the odd dog walker or jogger trudging by. Maybe everybody was doing their shopping. It was a Saturday morning after all. Nature stood still. Not a breath of wind :

    レストランのある静かな池

    At times the luxuriant vegetation was higher than myself….

    花は私よりも背が高かった

    One area of the woods was devoted to art installations. An imaginative “rain machine”……

    アート。「雨の機械」

    A dome which teased the eye – was this art or trees? It seemed especially designed to be photographed to produce a deception in your camera…..

    欺瞞的な芸術

    ………….chiming, tinkling, boat-at-harbour-like tones……

    フェーさんが「サウンドインスタレーション」に挑戦
    これは港の船の音のようだった

    👉 Climbing up a steep path, passing an observatory, we arrived at the Ludwigsturm (Ludwig Tower) on the Ludwigshöhe. From here you get a panoramic view of Darmstadt, and on the horizon, Frankfurt.

    展望台からはダルムシュタットとフランクフルトの景色が見える

    The rather impressive 19thc. tower has never been open all the times I have been here. And the adjacent restaurant was shut because the owners were on holiday (The summer holdays are a sacrosant period in Germany. My customers don’t pick up their violins, the Opera houses and schools don’t pay their bills…all because it is Ferien (holidays). Let’s not worry about that violinmaker who still has to pay his overheads. There is even a word for it: The Sommerloch (The “Summer hole”)).

    👉 I forgot to mention one piece of art poised between two trees. It was made up almost entirely of oyster shells……curious….

    カキの殻

    Is this art?

    それは芸術ですか

    👉 Well, thank you for reading this, and feel free to pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. These days you can translate a web site instantaneously with A.I. or Google translate.

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    🚶‍➡️

    終わり

  • 😮 Quick! 急いで！

    3rd August 2025年8月3日

    Quick ! Quick !

    The cat’s been sick.

    Where ? Where ?

    Under the chair.

    Hasten ! Hasten !

    Fetch the basin.

    Alack ! Alack !

    It is too late,

    The carpet’s in

    An aweful state.

    No ! No!

    It’s all in vain,

    For she has licked it

    Up again.

    👉 I’ve been clearing out. Weeding out those books that I will never read again and adding them to the street library on the Bahn Str. in Langen. But this is one book I shall never throw out. Iona and Peter Opie were a remarkable couple who collected children’s rhymes and riddles in the 40s and 50s. And I have the definitive edition with illustrations by Maurice Sendak

    子供の童謡集

    Here’s a link……

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona_and_Peter_Opie

    So there you are 😅 No point in getting out the vacuum cleaner

    私と掃除機

    👉 In East Asia, summer is the time to remember your ancestors …your ancestors…. you may ask? In the west we may visit the graves of our grandparents (in my case in Ireland) or parents. We may pause awhile and leave some flowers. In Asia there is a widespread belief that you are connected to those who went before you. A strange concept for us Europeans maybe. But this concept of lineage is a part of Asian culture. So it is no surprise that, for example in Japan, the rituals are well established.

    In Frankfurt we have a special Japanese dance group that perform the Obon (dance) every year. And at this year’s Main Matsuri Festival there will be such a dance….see the link…https://www.main-matsuri.com/programm/kuenstler/nichi-doku-bon-odori-kai-ev

    ぜひメイン祭りに来てください。とっても楽しいですよ！

    👉 Another late summer festival is the Lantern floating ceremony. In Frankfurt the fast flowing river Main would not be suitable for this. But usually, with those who have gone before you in mind, you write your message or thought on a lantern, which floats out on the water….Tomoko sent me this picture of one such ceremony which took place recently at the lake in Senzokuike Park in Ota city, Tokyo.

    洗足池公園

    Many who have taken part in this ceremony express a sort of relief that they have been able to commune* with their grandparents or parents, and have returned home with a lighter heart. The actual lanterns may be retrieved after the ceremony and used again next year, or burnt, as is the case here……(* the verb “commune ” is not easy to translate)

    👉 There is even a ceremony in the UK, organized by the Shinnyo-en branch of Buddhism….https://www.shinnyoenuk.org/about-shinnyo-lantern-floating

    👉 The days are still warm here in Germany, and the really hot heatwaves have hopefully left us now. Torrential showers flood my local building site.. see that square in the middle? That is not a garden pond but the lift shaft!

    ドイツはまだ暖かいですが、激しい雨が降ることが多く、向かいの建設現場は浸水してしまいました！

    👉 However, nature only seems to use these showers as a chance to promote growth: Witness my walks in Langen and Frankfurt…….Honeysuckle seems only to send out its perfume in the early morning or evening….

    スイカズラ

    Otherwise it’s a free for all……clover in the meadows….

    クローバー

    Succulents at the botanic garden in Frankfurt….

    フランクフルトの植物園の多肉植物

    Hydrangeas relishing the rain…..

    アジサイ

    ……………and the water lilies preparing to burst open…..

    睡蓮

    An Elfenbein Distel…..an Ivory thistle….

    アザミ

    And looks who’s here….the European oak…..

    ヨーロッパのオークの木

    And these will become walnuts, believe it or not….

    クルミの木

    …and as for the local squirrels….well…it’s either territorial issues or finding a mate…I’m not quite sure what’s going on here…..

    フランクフルトのクレイジーなリス

    👉 Well, thank you for reading this, and feel free to pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. These days you can translate a web site instantaneously with A.I. or Google translate.

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    終わり

    😉