Okuchichibu (1)

Hello and I’m back again!

(●>ω<)ﾉﾞ

Every week there is more news about Tamaki san’s new projects and I just hope he stays happy and healthy with all the work he is dealing with right now… once again, let’s wish him Good Luck ♡

OK! Back to our Hikyo research XD

This week I’m going to write about Tamaki Hiroshi’s Journey in

Okuchichibu, Saitama prefecture.

It’s a place surrounded by the beauties of nature.

Tamaki san starts his Journey in the town.

Visiting a nostalgic shopping street

which still has the atmosphere of the Showa era (1926–1989)

He finds a small restaurant called “Pari (Paris)”

serving western style dishes.

Looking at the showcase, Tamaki san says that

in restaurants like this (Western style),

actually the Soba is always unexpectedly delicious! XD

Continuing his journey,

Tamaki san meets a a group pf three ladies and a little girl

in the streets of the town.

The little girl panics and hides behind her mother.

XD

Tamaki san laughs but gets closer and greets them all.

The girl comes out and then she suddenly says

“You are very handsome!”

ahahahahahaha!

Everyone laughs!!

Tamaki san too XD And thanks her

while smiling at her with the kindest look in his eyes XD

Then he asks the ladies if they live here

and they answer with yes.

There’s also a beauty salon right in front of them and

two other ladies are standing by the door!!

Judging from the outfit, Tamaki san says

that they were obviously busy inside XD

He starts walking again and heads toward the salon.

One of the ladies says that she is watching his

drama series on TV!! (she menas “zannen na otto”)

He thanks her and while he is still talking to them,

suddenly another lady appears in front of him

holding her daughter in her arms!

hahahahaha!! Leave him alone already XD

Then she asks him for a handshake and he shakes her hand.

The mother looks pretty happy

but the daughter is kinda scared of him XD again!!!

Tamaki san says hi to the little girl and shakes her hand too!

She smiles…

Then Tamaki san tries holding her in his arms…

The girl is scared but her mother says:

“Look! He’s cooler than papa!!” 

ahahahahaha!! Poor papa (^_^;

Hope he wasn’t watching!!

As soon as Tamaki san takes her from her mother,

the little girl starts nagging and struggling…

but Tamaki san says: “It’s OK… It’s OK!”

And starts playing with her and taking her up in the air XD

The girl starts laughing XD

But when she comes down she starts crying again >_<

Tamaki san says that it’s OK,

and he’s learned how to deal with children lately.

It is true!! Before he plays in zannen na otto,

he couldn’t even hold one in his arms properly XD

But the girl is still nagging.. trying to get away!!!

He uses the trick and tosses her in the air again.

She laughs out loud again and everyone laugh with her XD

It’s obvious she is enjoying it XD

But as soon as he stops…

she starts screaming again (^_^;

Finally Tamaki san gives her back to her mother.

and when he is about to leave,

the little girl waves while smiling at him!!

hehehehe I wish she could be this kind when he was holding her!

Tamaki san asks the ladies in the beauty salon

if they are having their hair permed or busy coloring!

And when they answer “Perm”

he wishes for a good result XD

☆

Leaving the ladies behind.

Tamaki san gets back on the road again and starts walking.

He finds a meat shop selling fried food.

He gets close to the small window and greets the lady

who is frying the meat in the shop.

The lady becomes surprised seeing him!!

Saying that she just thought that a very handsome man

has came to her shop… but it wasn’t just that XD

Tamaki san tells her that the good smell of the fried food

attracted him to the shop and asks her

if he can have a Korokke (Japanese croquette)!

The lady says that right now she

only has Menchi ready…

Then Tamaki san immediately says that

menchi (menchi-katsu) is fine and asks her for one!

Then while they are talking the korokke becomes ready too and when she asks him which one he would like to have…

Tamaki san says:

“OK… then one menchi and one korokke please!”

He pays the lady and thanks her.

Then he starts eating them right there in front of the shop.

He starts with the korokke he wanted to eat XD

Delicious, he says.

Then he starts walking again while

saying that there used to be more shops selling

fried food like this before in every neighborhood…

But these days you don’t get to see many of them around.

And the are cheap! Only 150 yen for both!!

Still enjoying the menchi katsu in his hand,

Tamaki san notices a cafe with a very old building.

Says that the young generation have started to use these

kind of old buildings lately, and turn them into

interesting shops or cafe!

Then he suddenly finds a narrow passage between

two old buildings!

He can’t resist entering the passage XD

Gets in and starts walking…

On the other side of the passage which leads to

another street, there’s an old man watering the flower pots.

Tamaki san greets him and then asks about the old buildings

lining in a row in this area. They are being kept just as they were!

Actually this area, was a very crowded place in the old days.

Being famous for the well-known “Chichibu meisen silk”,

the place was a center of fashion for the ladies during the

last years of meiji to the starting years of showa.

The old man says that people would have come here

from Tokyo and even Osaka to get the product.

And amazingly, they have kept the tradition alive!

And there are places making the meisen silk with hand,

even now after all these years.

☆

Back to wondering around…

Tamaki san finds another shop!

This time a bakery…

The board outside the shop says:
“Handmade koppepan, been in business for 91 years”!!

Tamaki san enters the shop and greets the shopkeeper.

Then asks him about the koppepan (Hot dog bun)

and he strongly recommends him

to try one and see how tasty it is for himself! XD

Then Tamaki san reads the sign behind the man:

“Best handmade bread in Japan!!”

He asks for one loaf of keppepan and

the man (Matsumoto san) goes back to the kitchen

to get the bread.

Tamaki san prepares the money

and waits while looking at the showcase…

But suddenly a lady’s screaming voice makes him surprised XD

It’s the wife XD Matsuko san!

She’s excited to find Tamaki san in their shop!

She hands him the bread with a super happy face XD

Tamaki san takes out the bread from the paper rapping,

and asks them if it has “an” inside. (Sweet bean paste)

“An with butter.” Matsumoto san replies.

Tamaki san gives it a try and takes a bite!!

“Delicious!” he says… but Matsumoto san says:
“Be honest!” ahahahahaha!! He is being honest!!

Tamaki san insists again: “It’s really delicious!”

Also says that it’s been a long time since last he ate this.

Matsumoto san says that the bread is alive XD

And also says that

he and his wife are always working hard together to make

delicious bread… and the bread is always giggling and smiling

at them when they take them out of the oven… XD

2 seconds of silence and then Tamaki san says:

“The bread?!”

XD

hahahahahaha!!

And when Matsumoto san says:
“Yes… the bread!”

Tamaki san says: “Isn’t that your imagination?”

ahahahahaha!! That was harsh! XD

The wife laughs out loud with everyone else in the bakery!

When Tamaki san and the filming crew are about to leave,

Tamaki san calls out for Matsumoto san outside the shop,

and asks him about the sign on the window!

“Did you make a mistake writing this part?

I can see the black dot behind it…” 

he asks while pointing at a white piece of paper

which is pasted to the glass to cover the writing mistake

XD

Matsumoto san and his wife are surprised of

how he could find such a tiny spot…

But Tamaki san insists that it was too obvious…

He could clearly see the dot

when he looked at it from inside the shop XD

hahahaha! And is wondering why they didn’t consider

writing it one more time XD

Everyone laughs at the way he is interested in that dot!

☆

after having that delicious koppepan,

Tamaki san leaves the chichibu city and goes to a village nearby.

There aren’t many people passing by of course.

But Tamaki san finds a man and goes to him.

After greeting and asking him for a chat,

Tamaki san finds out that the man (Tatsuzawa san)

was in the middle of making “Surikogi”

or the Japanese style Mortar

(The stick they use for grinding the ingredients into powder)

Then Tamaki san reaches his hand for the stick and while

touching the surface, asks Tatsuzawa san

what kind of tree’s wood did he use to make these.

And Tatsuzawa san replies “Sanshou”.

Recently I’ve been wondering if Tamaki san is actually

interested in trees and the different types of them.

Then they keep talking about the sticks and

Tatsuzawa san kindly offers him to take one for himself.

“You can take them all if you want!!” he adds!

hehehehe!

“No no, you’re going to use them now, aren’t you?”

Tamaki san says while laughing.

But Tatsuzawa san says that he can always go to the mountain

and gets more for himself XD

But of course Tamaki san doesn’t

really need more than one XD

So he says that he will take one if it’s OK!

Then he looks at the stick again and asks if this is

the best one among all…

Tatsuzawa san takes a better look and then change it

with another one: “This one may be better!” XD

hehehehehe!!

Tamaki san now has his own Surikogi!

☆

Tamaki san goes back on the road again…

Wondering around the village,

he finds an old lady working on her farm.

He greets her and then asks if she

has been living here all her life.

She says yes and while she is telling a story

about going to Kawasaki,

she suddenly starts climbing up and

surprises Tamaki san! XD

“Are you gonna climb up from there?”

Tamaki san asks nervously!!

I bet he doesn’t hear story anymore! XD

He holds both his camera and the surikogi

with his left hand and

makes one if his hands free to help grandma!

But she keeps talking while climbing XD

Hahahaha!! It’s funny how he wants to help

but doesn’t know what to do!

The old lady (Muratake san) comes up and sits down.

Tamaki san sits beside her and listens to her talk.

She says that she’s been living here alone

for 10 years now.

Tamaki san is shocked of course…

She is 90 years old she says.

Not the perfect age to live a lonely life in a village.

Tamaki san is amazed but he looks at her and says :

“But you look quite well!”

Muratake san says that she is not!!

She has different kinds of pain all over her body.

>_<

But Tamaki san insists, saying that she can

still walk and be this active in her own house.

Muratake san talks about the difficulties of farming

here in this field.

It’s steep and quite dangerous you can say!

But Tamaki san is trying to cheer her up again and says:

“But it’s so quiet and nice here!”

She agrees on that with him.

But also says that there are both

good and difficult things to take care of here in this area.

A little bit hard to leave her alone and move on…

But there is no other choice!!

☆

Tamaki san gets back on the road again…

He reaches a place where it seems to be a shop…

The flag says “Tenku’s Oyaki”

Tenku is the name of the village,

and oyaki is a kind of a Japanese dumpling.

Tamaki san gets inside…

He finds three people,

two ladies and a man sitting in the yard.

He stands where he is and greets them.

They are of course surprised to see him and

the filming crew!

Then he asks them if this is a shop…

The man explains to him that they make

the traditional oyaki here.

He is surprised to see Tamaki san

coming all the way to the mountain XD

Then asks him if he wants to try their oyaki

and of course he accepts the kind offer.

Tamaki san asks if he can sit in the yard with them and

the man kindly guides him to where the tables are.

He greets the two ladies

and sits down on one of the chairs.

It’s warm outside in the sunshine.

Here comes the oyaki!

The people living in this area

have been eating it since the old days.

It’s still warm!

Tamaki san goes for a bite!

Delicious he says! Then asks them if the ingredients they

put inside the oyaki is different in every house…

And the man says that he’s right.

It’s different in every house.

Then while eating…

Tamaki san says that he just heard a stomach growling sound

coming from the filming staff members XD

hahahahahaha!

Someone’s hungry and watching Tamaki san eating that

oyaki so deliciously must have been hard to bear! XD

The man explains to him that this area has been the

source of inspiration for many famous haiku poets as well.

Then unsexpectedly he adds:

“Now that you have come all the way here,

do you wanna try it out?”

Tamaki san is troublled… hehehehe!

writing a haiku?!

He always says yes immediately

but this time he really looks troubled.

But he takes the challenge XD Let’s do it!

Each of them takes a wooden board

to write the haiku on,

and start going up to the mountain.

On their way up,

suddenly a lady with her dog appear in front of them!

Tamaki san greets her and the lady almost screams XD

saying she watched him on TV last night ^^

Tamaki san thanks her and she asks him “WHY?!”

hahahahaha… why he’s here she means I guess!

Tamaki san says that he’s just taking a walk…

but she doesnt let him finish and says:

“Small face!!” ← (considered attractive in Japan (^_^;)

Then she keeps going:

“You look lovely in the TV… handsome…

interesting…

very interesting… please shake hands with me!”

Tamaki san who kept denying everything

she said and thanking her all the time,

thanks her one more time and shakes her hand.

Then she starts again:

“My hand is cold right? But yours was warm…

(His hands are REALLY warm all the time!! >__< mukyaaa)

… Your voice is lovely too!!”

He denies and thanks again (^_^;

please let him go now!

“Meeting such a lovely man in person… 

I’m feeling dizzy now!!” ahahahahahaha!

Tamaki san laughs and denies again XD

But it’s really time to go…

He says goodbye and thanks her again.

Heading to the mountain,

they need to take the mountain road.

The old man says that they probably

won’t meet any living creature from now on XD

They reach the top and it’s time to write the haiku!

Tamaki san takes a look at the beautiful landscape,

and then starts writing…

After finishing the poem,

Tamaki san gets closer to the old man and

looks at what he has written and says:

“OH! Great, isn’t it?”

The old man tells him that he could not give him anything special or a souvenir to take home with him…

but he wants to delicate this haiku to him who came all the way here to this village in the mountain.

Tamaki san says that this is the best gift… perfect he says!

I won’t translate it because I never translate poems… (^_^;

but I will write it down in Japanese in case you wanted to

check out the meaning by yourself:

『天空の里のみやげの冬景色』

Now let’s see what Tamaki san has written for us XD

『奥秩父おやき片手に時忘れ』

hahahaha!!

They laugh but the old man praises him

and says that he is amazing! I agree!! He is XD

Then he says that he regrets not taking his oyaki

with him up here and eating it all right away! XD

Standing there and keep watching the stunning view,

it really makes you forget about the time!

☆

Tamaki san gets on the train and goes faraway again…

The last stop is the mitsumineguchi station!

The most western spot in Saitama prefecture.

Getting outside the station…

Tamaki san continues his journey…

not really knowing what else is waiting there on the way for him XD

But let’s follow him around on the 2nd part…

It will be a very interesting journey

so please stay tuned!

See you!!

bai bai　(´・ω・)ﾉ

☆☆☆

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End of part 1

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