venison

Click to enlarge

A good food alone is enough to make me very happy.  If my purpose in life was to spread happiness I probably would have aimed to be a chef.

The above picture is a venison with cherry sauce, recipe of which I found online.  We Chiiori were fortunate to have a neighbor give us venison as "samples."

Locals say that venisons are best as Sashimi (raw), but I was not so sure about that so I tried several cooking recipes.  The thing about venison is that it has so little fat, so if it is cooked thoroughly it becomes very dry. (And I prefer to cook it thoroughly because I am not sure how safe the meat is.) That is when a sweet sauce like this cherry sauce comes in.  I tried it with pineapples or apples, and they were also very good.

Unfortunately I cannot guarantee the safety of eating this venison, so I cannot offer it to the guest staying at Chiiori.  I'm still alive so far.

Overpopulation of deers are becoming problems in Japan, just like it is in US.  Unlike US, Japan does not have a naturally returning wolf population and sports hunting is extremely rare.  Only recently Japanese are becoming aware of the problems associated with deer overpopulation, as plants are getting decimated across the countryside, and so are the crops.  More and more, people are talking about the use of venisons, and soon there will be a deer meat processing factory in Tokushima as well.  That alone would not solve the problem of deer overpopulation, but at least it is more of an environmentally friendly source of meat.

Standing tree

Click to enlarge

A single standing tree in middle of the thatch field.  Oddly picturesque scene.  It would be a good place for birds to perch on.  Once the thatches are removed, the field will be very open and visible from above.  Maybe a bird of prey will perch on this tree to look for its prey.  When I look closely the tree has several holes.  Perhaps a woodpecker pecked on the tree to look for insects.

In a human-controlled environment such as cedar plantations, dead trees are usually not left standing.  Such trees would be removed to make room for living trees.  But a tree like that has its roles in the ecosystem.  As we Chiiori tries to manage the thatch field, if we are also going to value nature we would have to think about what to do with trees such as this one.  I imagine they burn down fairly easily....

Click to enlarge

Found just in front of the house.  It may be slightly difficult to see in the picture.  It is a Japanese five-lined skink (Eumeces latiscutatus), though this particular individual seem to have lost the five-lines.  Apparently the lines are more distinct when they are still young, which means this one is rather mature.  It was larger than most skinks I have seen so far.  

It stayed still even though I was just staring at it.  I went inside the house to grab a camera, and it was still there in the same spot when I came back.  Even though it was sunny, the air was still chilly and this lizard probably needed to sun-bath before it could move well.  Until then, it's safety depends on the camouflage and being still.  

I guess the fact that this lizard is out of hibernation means the Spring is here.  Even though it snowed only two days ago... 

Up the river

Moving away from Iya just a bit,

This is a picture taken on the way to Kochi, south of Iya.  It is the Yoshino river so far up the river that there is not enough water for rafting, but definitely good for other small river recreations.  The river goes on like this for a while along the road.  A scenery that made me want to go all the way to the source of the river.  Unfortunately the road veers off from the river before it reaches the source.  I wonder what the source area of the Yoshino river looks like?

When I was a child, I once visited, with my family and friends, a wetland near the source of a river that was running near my home back then.  Catching small aquatic animals, insects, and small fishes at that wetland is still a good memory for me.  From what I heard, that wetland no longer exists.  It makes me very sad that place in my memory, and it makes me just as sad to know that younger generations have no opportunity to experience what I have experienced back then.

Even though people's view toward the environment and ecosystems have changed, rivers like this will most likely keep on disappearing.  I hope we can somehow keep these rivers.

I almost forgot, I did see the source of the Iya river.  Maybe not quite what I have expected....

On the side note, supposedly a grassland retains water better than a forest.  Another reason to protect and maintain thatch fields.

My job here in Chiiori is to gather thatch for the roof.  To do so, I have to investigate the thatch field.  Chiiori's interest is "how can we maintain the thatch fields so that we can re-thatch the roofs." My interest is "how can I use the thatched roofs to maintain this ecosystem of the thatch fields."

The thatch field, Susuki (Miscanthus sinensis) dominated grassland, is an ecosystem that requires regular disturbance.  Otherwise the shade-loving plants and trees will take over the field.  In other words, human activity is necessary for these grasslands to remain.

So, now that the snow has melted and I can go up there again, my job has turned into managing the mowing of these grass so they will have plenty of sunlight to grow again.  After the snow, most of the susuki has fallen to the ground.  But some are still standing and not only do they make shades over other plants, those still standing but old thatch have to be removed before they are harvested next fall for the roof.  Otherwise the old thatch will degrade faster and from there rains start leaking.

The best way to maintain the grassland is with the use of fire.  With fire, even the thatch that has fallen would be removed, ashes fertilize the ground, and overall make the environment favorable for grassland species to grow.  But to use fire in controlled and safe manner, much preparation and labors are needed, which is very difficult to get in Iya.  But even before that, I don't think I can persuade enough people to use fire in the first place....

Sighting

Can you see it in the above picture?  I did not see it until after I took the picture.
Let me get a focus on it a bit more.

Still not quite easy to distinguish.

I guess it's just impossible to get a good picture.

I've seen many of its tracks around the house before, but this is only the second time I've seen it moving.  It's a mole.  I cannot tell which species of moles it is, cause I could only see its butt.  It digs in head-first, so of course it's almost impossible to see the head.  Because I can only see its butt, it looks like a constantly squirming fur-ball.  As I watch it with a camera in hand, it wanders about completely mindless of my presence, bumping into a stone, nearly falling off the edge, going back and forth, backing up the way it has come from, and just wandering around seemingly without any destination in mind.  It was oddly peaceful thing to watch.

Its fur is short and dense, very velvety.  I would love to touch and feel its fur, but its claws are big and sharp.  Touching it could result in getting myself hurt.  But I was content enough in just watching it wandering around.

Kingfisher

This is actually not a picture from Iya.  It is from right in middle of a large city of Matsuyama, the biggest city in all of the Shikoku island.  It was the first time I saw a kingfisher alive, but as soon as I saw it I fell in love with it.   When I first say it, it took away all of my attention in its beauty as it flew through the corner of my field of vision.  My eyes chased after it, and it was just perched nearby and not moving, as if to pose for my camera.

In Japanese, this "common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)" is called Kawasemi, which is sometimes written as 翡翠, meaning jade.  Its beauty was definitely that of a jewel, but I must say it was even more beautiful than a jade stone.  It would make me extremely happy if I could just watch it fly once more, glowing in the sunlight.  If they are around in Matsuyama, they must be in Iya as well.... but then again apparently they do not do so well in the cold.

Just a brief biological note.  Its iridescent color does not come from the pigments, but from the structures of the feathers.  The feather reflects and deflects the light in such ways that we see its color as such.  That also means the color of its feather changes depending on the angle you look at it.  I must say one of the charms of this bird is in the way it displays multitudes of colors as it flies through the air.

Earthquake

Shikoku of course did not feel the earthquake.  But its effects are slowly being felt.  A lot of the large events, gatherings, and festivals have been cancelled.  Nationwide forum that was supposed to be held at Tokushima was cancelled, probably because so many of the people cannot attend the forum due to the earthquake damage and its effects on the traffic.  Music festival that was supposed to be held at the Kurashiki was cancelled, because the musician groups that was supposed to perform were from the area hit by the earthquake.

But some of the events that has been cancelled does not seem to make much sense.  For example, a flea market in Ikeda?  I would think only locals would attend such event.  Or the burning of the Shizokua Kogen area to maintain the grassland?  The timing of the burning is important in maintaining the grassland.

Sure many people would be unable to attend the national forum, but I would think there would be even more reason to hold a large gathering, to ask people for their donations in helping out the people affected by the earthquake.  The same could be said with the flea market.

What can be gained from cancelling the events?  Is this not the time to work even harder for the economy so that we can continue to help the suffering people?

Sure there may be people who would say, "we should not be holding festivals and such when others are suffering," but cancelling the events is not going to help anybody, and it could even make things worse by slowing down the economy.  Are we trying to save ourselves or the people hit by the earthquakes?

Twisted

Found an interestingly shaped tree while walking in the woods nearby.  How did this branch grow like this?  Every other cedars nearby are growing straight, while this one tree is somehow getting all twisted.  Somehow I felt oddly fond of this particular tree, not being like everybody else.

Unfortunately I was not carrying a camera at the time, so I took this picture on a cell phone.  But I guess the cell phone now a days have much better camera than a digital camera from some years ago....

Snow again

Flowers and blossoms bloom, tadpoles swim around, pollens cover the floor.  Signs of spring was everywhere.  But, today the weather was snow.  Everything turned white yet again.  Right now it is -3℃ outside, water has frozen inside the pipes and nothing comes out from the faucet.

I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for the spring to come to Iya.

Japanese serow

One of the wildlife I encountered almost as soon as I came to Iya.  They are called Japanese serows, or Nihon kamoshika.  Though many Japanese confuse them to be a kind of a deer, partially because the shika means deer, they are in bovine family, like cattle.  For one thing, they have horns instead of antlers.

Maybe because they are bovids, many of the locals who have eaten their meat say they taste better than the deer meat.  I'm guessing they taste like beef.  But they are protected by Japanese government as a "natural heritage," so it is unlikely that I will ever taste one.

Like deer, their numbers have declined in the past due to hunting.  Like deer, some protection measures have been placed, and the number have continued to increase since.  Unlike deer, they are still protected.

Also unlike deer, they are solitary and territorial animals, and a hunting pressure could cause the number to decline rapidly.  The solitary/territorial behavior means their population density is low and thus the damage to the crops and such that deers often cause are not really significant with serows.

Of course, if they are caught by animal traps or if they are accidentally shot, most locals do not report to the government as they are supposed to do.  I probably would too, if I happen to be in their place.  I would want to have to deal with bureaucrats as little as possible.  The so called protection is not really all that effective.

First post

So I will try to keep the blog going both in Japanese and in English.  Hopefully I will update 5 times a week or so, talking about the nature and wildlife found in Iya.  Most likely I will update less than that and stray off from the topic of natures and from Iya.

As a start, here is a picture of a dawn in Iya.

It is kind of dark, but you can see the roof of a house "Chiiori" at the lower left corner.  

In Iya, the sun rise above the mountains quite some time after the sky lightens, and goes down behind the mountains quite some time before the sky turns dark.  The day in Iya is short, and there is many things that must be done while it is light outside.  Living a "slow life" is not an option here in this countryside.  Life here is not an easy, relaxing one.  But, at least there are very little noises here.  All the public announcements that nobody is listening to, all the silly endless musics from all the shops, all that car traffic, all those little noises that almost drive me insane in Japanese towns and cities are not heard here.  There is only the sound of river and and the songs of the birds.