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.