Mt. Kabuto Forest Park

甲山森林公園

Today, a friend and I went to this forest park, about a 30 - 40 minute walk from my house. We only hiked a small trail that did not go very deep into the park, but it was beautiful! I will definitely be going again throughout my time here.

It is so neat to go from hiking in the Nevadan desert to this lush, forested terrain. There was green everywhere; the shush of wind through leaves; and the constant twitter of various birds (as well as the noise of a nearby baseball game for about half of the hike). Every now and then, though, we heard a gong resound throughout the mountain, coming from the Buddhist temple located somewhere in the park. 

At first, all we could do was listen to the birds; but there was one lovely spot where we sat down for a while and were able to actually see the birds! There were many bulbuls (or hiyodori) and I (shamelessly) got some very good pictures. There were also crows (karasu), swifts (amatsubame), and a few birds that disappeared so fast, I couldn't remember any identifiers.

 

 Later on, I also saw kinkurohajiro (Tufted ducks) and one kojukei (Chinese bamboo partridge). The latter was gorgeous, but he was in the underbrush and, by the time I maneuvered myself to get a proper picture, he had vanished.

It was so nice hiking the mountain. I think with each trip, we'll go a little deeper and a little higher, exploring the paths and whatnot. Thankfully, my host family has been there multiple times and even let me take a picture of the map they have. It was also nice to get away from the urban environment, while still being close enough to not have to worry about transportation! Being surrounded by nature was quite refreshing, as was occasionally seeing a family in hiking outfits leaving or entering a trail.

I thought this would be a good chance to take a nice photograph of my Jizo Butsu (the Buddha of children, pregnant women, and travelers - if anyone forgot). And it was! He fits in with the green, I think.

Another great advantage to hiking this small mountain was amazing views! There were so many good vantage points, seeing the entirety of the city spread out along with giant machinery in the background. It had a sci-fi feel to it, with a fantasy foreground.

 

Concerning food! For lunch, I had steaming maage udon that is literally boiled on the stove and then put on the table just before you eat! Then, you dip the noodles in a cool sauce and enjoy, while the bowl continues to steam. I also had kakiage, basically fried clusters of vegetables. For dinner, there was a variety of sea food: octopus, leftover fish in the salad, and flounder (kare) topped with flounder eggs. I swear, my new favorite non-tuna fish may be flounder (because tuna has a special place in my stoma...heart). We also had oshiru soup today instead of miso soup. It's a bit sweeter and lighter in color and most often eaten in Kyoto. I apologize for this weird formatting around the food section - these photos kept glitching and this is the best layout I could land on.

I'm loving the food adventures as much as the sight-seeing adventures. Not only is it delicious, educational, and beautifully set out, but it is accompanied by (albeit stunted) conversation. Today, my host parents complimented my Japanese and I was so excited! I truly believe staying with them will help my language skills improve. I also found out that their second daughter is into archery and has already taken one of the three levels of tests before becoming a master. So cool!

Well, I'm off to bed early - have an early field trip tomorrow!