At the Hachioji Junction, we wondered whether we should continue straight ahead or take the Chuo Highway. I was lost for a moment, but decided to take the Chuo Highway.
中央道を長坂ICで降りて、清里を通って佐久に出るコース。途中、野辺山の辺りはこんな雪景色。
We got off the Chuo Highway at Nagasaka IC and headed for Saku via Kiyosato. On the way, the area around Nobeyama was covered with snow.
更に進むとホワイトアウトしそうになってきたが、そうはならずに済んだ。
As we continued on, it looked like it was going to be a whiteout, but it didn’t turn out that way.
中部横断自動車道の佐久南ICで降りて、道の駅ホットパークに寄り道。
We got off at the Saku Minami IC of the Chubu Cross-Island Highway and stopped at roadside station Hot Park.
ワタシは降りたくありません、って顔してるけど歳会えずオシッコだけ済ませよう。
Konatsu looked like she didn’t want to get off the car.
ここは小さな道の駅ですがこの地方ならではのモノをいろいろ売っていて､､､
This is a small roadside station, but they sell a variety of local products…
Among them is this frozen tofu. It is said that only four shops in Japan make handmade frozen tofu, and that the taste is so good that no machine can make it. I got it!
そこから30分で軽井沢に到着。今回もレジーナリゾート御影用水に泊まります。
From there, we arrived in Karuizawa in 30 minutes. Again, we will stay at Regina Resort Mikageyousui.
今回も信州割のお世話になります！ 到着が遅くなったから一休みしたらすぐ夕飯だ。
Once again, we’re getting the Shinshu Discount! Since we arrived late, we’ll have dinner right after we take a break.
こなつは抜け毛の季節だから毛を撒き散らさないように洋服を着てレストランへ。
Konatsu is in the season of hair loss, so we put on clothes and went to the restaurant so as not to scatter the hair.
As usual, as soon as we entered the hospital, Konatsu’s body started shaking and the people around us laughed at us, but the vaccination was successfully completed.
家に帰ってきたらワクチンの事なんか忘れたかのようにオモチャをピポピポ鳴らしてドヤ顔してる。
When we got home, she was beeping her toys as if she had forgotten about the vaccine.
It is hard to believe that she is an old dog who is about to turn 13 years old. We lost our previous dog at the age of 13 years and 3 months, so we want her to live to be 15 years old first, and then 20 years old if possible. In order to achieve this goal, we need to take good care of Konatsu’s physical condition, but when I weighed her at the hospital, she weighed 19.5 kg, which is almost 1 kg more than she weighed at the end of the year. We need to cut down on the snacks!
The news has been reporting since yesterday that the Kanto region is about to experience heavy snowfall. Such is the case, but I have been in Gunma for work since yesterday, and as of 9:00 a.m., there is still no sign of snow.
まもなく雪が降り始め、一気に積もりそうな感じになってきた。
Soon it will start snowing and it looks like it will pile up all at once.
According to the weather forecast, it looks like it is going to snow more and more heavily, and looking at the information on the highways, various restrictions and road closures due to snow are starting to appear. If I continued to work until the evening, I might not be able to go home, and the director, worried about that, cancelled my evening work.
そんな訳で昼過ぎには仕事を終え、これは上信越道を走っているところ。
So I finished work in the afternoon, and this is where I was driving on the Joshin-Etsu Highway.
It snowed quite a bit up to Hachioji, which is at a high elevation, but onIce I passed Mt. Takao, the snow turned to rain, and I felt like I could have worked until the end.
February has arrived. My business closes at the end of January every year, so I have been too busy to update this blog, but Konatsu is doing well as usual.
If you look closely, you can see that Konatsu’s winter hair has grown long and shaggy. I made an appointment to have her shampooed and cut this weekend.
散歩の途中に気が付いたのだが近所の肉屋にちょっとした変化が見られる。
While walking Konatsu, I noticed a slight change in the neighborhood butcher shop.
つい先日までこの肉屋が売ってるのは宮崎牛だったのに､､､ ↑
Just a few days ago, this butcher shop was selling Miyazaki beef…
But before I knew it, it had changed to Yamagata beef. Moreover, the name on the signboard at the entrance has changed to “Nishikamakura Butcher Shop”. I wonder what happened to it…? It seems that the price is still the same, though. I bought some cheap meat for Konatsu and returned home.
Snow is predicted for the Kanto region in the latter half of this week. It’s been a pattern lately of saying it’s going to snow but it doesn’t, but what will happen this week? Speaking of snow, I found a video of Konatsu playing in the snow five years ago. Konatsu was 7 years old at that time, running around energetically, but she can’t do it anymore.
When I took her to the veterinary clinic last month for a tartar removal, they pointed out that her periodontal disease had progressed to the point where her teeth were slightly shaking, in keeping with her age. She doesn’t have much tartar on her teeth yet, but it’s important to brush her teeth!
しばらく歯磨きをサボっていたのでこれを買ってきた。
I bought this for Konatsu since I haven’t brushed her teeth for a while.
Konatsu will comply with brushing her teeth and applying eye drops even when she knows it’s something she doesn’t want to do. This is a very good thing about Konatsu.
歯磨きが終わってベランダへ
After brushing her teeth, she went to the balcony.
For several years now, I have heard that foreign visitors to Japan have been saying that service areas on Japanese highways are fun or that they are like theme parks. Since nearly half of this blog is accessed from overseas, I thought I would introduce the service area (SA) I visited today.
私は毎月群馬に仕事に行くときに関越自動車道を走っている。その途中､､､
I drive on the Kan-etsu Expressway every month when I go to Gunma for work. On the way there, …
ここは埼玉県と群馬県の県境にある上里SA、ここで休憩することにした。
This is Kamisato SA, located on the border of Saitama and Gunma prefectures, where I decided to take a break.
平日の午前９時頃だが結構混んでいる。
It was around 9:00 a.m. on a weekday, but it was quite crowded. I guessed there were about half commercial vehicles and half tourists.
最近はあちこちのSAでスタバを見かける。が、ここは素通りして先ずはトイレ。
Recently, I have seen Starbucks at many SAs. However, I passed by this place and went to the restroom first.
I can’t take a picture of the inside, but the toilets are always cleaned by cleaners and of course equipped with electronic toilet. I guess that kind of thing is attractive to people from overseas.
この日は２台のキッチンカーが営業中。手前が焼きそば、奥のはホットドッグ。
On this day, two food trucks were in operation. The one in front is yakisoba noodles and the one in the back is various hot dogs.
本館に入ってみよう
Let’s go into the main building.
広いフードコートがあって、ラーメン、うどん、かつ丼などファーストフード系の店が7店
There is a large food court with 7 shops serving light meals such as ramen, udon, katsudon (pork cutlet served on top of rice), etc.
デザートもあれこれ充実している。
There is also a wide selection of desserts.
フードコートの隣にはショッピングコーナーがあり、この地方の特産品などのお土産が売られている。
Next to the food court is a shopping area where souvenirs of the region are sold.
その更に奥にはレストランが営業中だけど、この時間には殆どお客さんはいないね。
Further in the back is a restaurant, but at this time of the day, there are hardly any customers there.
ATMに、宝くじ売り場、チケットカウンター。こういうのがあるのも海外のSAでは珍しいのだろうか？
There is a bank ATM, a lottery ticket booth, and a tour ticket counter. Is this kind of thing rare in SAs overseas?
いろいろ見てるうちに、このパン屋のパンとコーヒーが欲しくなり､､､
While I was looking around, I wanted some bread and coffee from this bakery…
車に持ち帰って、オヤツタイム！
I took them back to the car and had a snack!
ガソリンは満タンにしてきたから私には必要ないけど出口付近にガソリンスタンドがある。
There is a gas station near the exit.
無事に目的地に到着し、今日から二日間ここで仕事です。
I arrived safely at my destination and will be working here for two days starting today.
For the past few days, the weather forecast has been calling for a once-in-a-decade cold wave. It is said to be especially cold starting today, so this morning I dressed Konatsu and went for a walk.
It seems that as dogs get older, they become more vulnerable to the cold. Konatsu has an undercoat, so she may be better than single-coated dogs, but she is already in her late twelfth year, so I guess she needs to be prepared for the cold.
Since the planned trip was cancelled, so, we decided to have a drinking party…
ビール・日本酒・ワインがテーブルに並び、これはビールを飲み終え日本酒に移るところ。
Beer, sake, and wine were lined up on the table, and this is when we finished the beer and moved on to the sake.
ワタシも食べたい！とアピールすると､､､
Konatsu said, “I want some too! I want some too!
出てくるんだよねえ、こなつ用の刺身が
Sashimi for Konatsu!
このあとも沢山いただきました！ ここからは我々のオツマミです。
Konatsu had plenty more after that! The following is our meal.
焼いただけの下仁田ネギ。皮1枚を剥いて食べると中はトロトロで旨い。
Shimonita leeks, just grilled. When you peel off the skin and eat it, the inside is tender and delicious. It’s hard to describe the food from here on out, so you’ll just have to guess from the pictures.
刺身の盛り合わせ
蛇腹ポテトと言うらしいが、モスラみたい､､､(笑)
大根と蕗のとう味噌
御殿場のミートプロ鈴木の馬刺し
ワタシ、まだまだイケるんですけど､､､ お手して催促(笑)
I can eat more… Konatsu said.
結局もらえちゃうんだよねえ｡｡｡
Then, this is what happens in the end.
ドライいちじくFigLogと生ハムとチーズのサラダ
ブロッコリーの唐揚げ（ニンニクとめんつゆに浸して揚げる）
蒟蒻白和え 菜の花白和え
ウィンナーとピーマンの炒め物
たくさん食べて満足顔のこなつ。
Konatsu looks satisfied after eating a lot.
最後にとらやの赤飯大福、これも美味しい！
Finally, Daifuku for dessert! Daifuku is a rice cake stuffed with red bean paste.
これはもらえないと悟ったこなつは諦めて寝る態勢。楽しい飲み会でした。
Konatsu, realizing that she would not get it, gave up and went to bed. It was a fun night.
Today is the day my wife goes to the dentist’s office in Motomachi for a routine checkup, so Konatsu and I decided to go with her to Motomachi and take a walk around the area while we wait for her to finish.
まだ商店街は開店時間前。ママを下ろして港の見える丘公園に向かった。
It was still before opening time in the shopping arcade. I dropped my wife off and headed for Harbor View Park.
The park is divided into several blocks, and this is the English Rose Garden. Unfortunately, the roses are not in bloom because it is not the right time of year.
気温は低いが日差しが強くて、歩いていると暑いくらいに感じられた。
The temperature was low but the sun was strong and it felt hot as we walked around.
ここからは横浜港の眺めが良い。
There is a nice view of Yokohama Harbor from here.
その一角にあるガンダムドック。動くガンダムは健在のようだ。
The Gundam dock is located in one of the corners. The moving Gundam seems to be alive and well.
今年の3月末で公開終了らしいので見たい方はお早めに！
Apparently, it will be closed to the public at the end of March this year, so if you want to see it, be quick!
公園の向かいにある外人墓地
Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery across from the park.
こなつには興味無さそうな場所だね。こうしているうちにママの治療が終わり、合流して場所を移動。
This place doesn’t seem to interest Konatsu. Meanwhile, my wife’s treatment was finished, and we joined her and moved to a new location.
ここは山下公園に隣接する駐車場。そして、その目の前にあるのが､､､
This is a parking lot adjacent to Yamashita Park. And right in front of it is…
I have previously presented the top countries with the most access to this blog, and today I will look at the countries with the least access. Two and a half years have passed since I started this blog (Ver. 3), and in that time I have had access from 97 countries. The 20 countries in the table below shows that only one person came to see this blog during these two and a half years.
By the way, I don’t know how many countries there are in the world today, so I looked it up… The number of countries approved by Japan at this time was 195. And there are three countries that Japan does not recognize: North Korea, Palestine, and Taiwan. According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Japan has refrained from official government-to-government contacts out of consideration for China, but has been handling various business matters on the assumption that Taiwan is a recognized “state”.
ワタシにはそんな難しいことは分かりませんが平和な世の中を願うばかりです！
“ I don’t know how difficult it is, but I just hope for a peaceful world ! ” Konatsu would say.
Around the beginning of the New Year, when I was cleaning up the room on the first floor where my parents used to live, I found an Ofuda from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It was probably more than 10 years old, so it was dirty. ※Ofuda is supposed to ward off bad luck
このまま捨てるわけにもいかず八幡宮に納めに行こうということになった。
We could not just throw it away, so we decided to return it to Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine.
I wondered how far dogs are allowed to go in the park, and found out that they are allowed to go as far as the stairs at the back of the park. Even so, it was a weekday today, but it was quite crowded, so we decided to take Konatsu as far as the arched bridge, and my wife and I would take turns going up to the end of the bridge.
While waiting for my wife, we stayed at the left side of the bridge where we could see Heike Pond. There were few people here, and Konatsu could wait without being scared.
ママが戻ってきたので今度は私が行く番。
My wife came back and it was my turn to go.
奥の方に古いお札やお守りを納める場所がある。
There is a place in the back to store old Ofuda (amulet)
八幡宮の八の字が鳩の形をしているのは有名な話だが､､､
It is well known that the figure eight in Hachimangu Shrine is in the shape of a dove…
境内には鳩がたくさんいる。
There are many pigeons, the symbol of Hachimangu Shrine, in the precincts of the shrine.
狛犬と､､､
Komainu (statue of dog, you will find them at the entrance of a shrine) and…
Our family’s Hatsumode (first shrine visit of the New Year) is to Suwa Shrine in Katase. This year we went on the 7th because it is crowded on the fiert three days of January.
こなつも一緒に行ったのだけど境内には入れないので､､､
Konatsu went with us, but she was not allowed to enter the shrine grounds, so…
一緒に歩けるのはこの辺りまで
we can only walk around here together.
犬の像の所でお留守番する？
Can you stay at the dog statue?
こんな小さな神社だけど1300年もの歴史があるらしい。
This is a small shrine, but it has a history of 1,300 years.
Let’s go through the hoop to purify our body and soul and purify our health. So we are following the instructions and repeating the left turn and right turn.
神社に来るとどうしてもおみくじを買いたくなるんです。
When I come to a shrine, I really want to draw an omikuji. (Omikuji is a fortune slip.)
結果は中吉。まあまあ悪くないでしょ。無事に初詣も済ませて帰宅。
There are seven levels of fortune telling, from great blessing to great curse, and I was the third from the top, middle blessing. Not so bad. We finished our Hatsumode without incident and returned home.
この日は七草粥の日でした。これも欠かせない年中行事だから毎年食べている。
It was the day of the seven herbs porridge. By eating the porridge on 7th, we believe that we can get rid of bad luck, and the custom has been passed down from generation to generation.
For all the fun I had been looking forward to, New Year’s Days passed by without me doing anything. It was a good thing that Konatsu seemed to be having more fun than usual, with friends coming to visit and my daughter coming to visit.
Yesterday, my daughter and I trimmed Konatsu’s hair. We couldn’t do it as well as a professional trimmer, but I think we got a reasonably clean cut. By the way, this New Year’s Day, we had a lot of GosetsusHI that we bought and my wife made, so there is still a lot of Osechi left after the three days of the New Year.
残ったお刺身は昆布締めにして食べたが、昆布の旨味が浸み込んでこれまたイイ感じ。
I ate the leftover sashimi by kombu-sandwiched flounder sashimi , which is also good because the flavor of the kombu soaks into the sashimi!
煮物もまだまだ沢山ある。
There are still a lot of simmered dishes.
まだまだこんなもんじゃない｡｡｡
This is not all…
特にお正月感がある訳ではないが、おでん
It is not particularly New Year’s feeling, but oden
玉子料理あれこれに栗きんとん。まだまだ終わりじゃない､､､
egg dishes, and chestnut kinton (sweetened sweetened chestnuts).
最後は日替わりのお雑煮。初日の御節の他にこんなに料理があったら、そりゃなかなか食べきれないよなぁ。
Since there are so many dishes besides the first day’s Osechi, it’s hard to finish all of them, isn’t it?
On New Year’s morning, I went out to walk Konatsu as usual, but as soon as I left home, the roads were jammed.
湘南海岸は初日の出を拝みに来るスポットだから県外ナンバーの車がやたらと多い。
Shonan coast is a spot where people come to see the first sunrise of the year, so there are a lot of cars with license plates from outside of the prefecture.
This is the railroad crossing in front of Kamakura High School Station, famous for the “Slam Dunk” movie. It usually takes me 5 minutes to get here, but today it took me more than 20 minutes.
R134もちっとも進まない｡｡｡
R134 is not going any faster…
日の出の時間が迫り、振り返ると富士山がピンク色に染まって見えていた。
As sunrise time approached, I looked back and saw Mt. Fuji turning pink.
日の出を待つ人々が海岸に大勢見える。良く見ると砂浜は人で溢れている。
Many people can be seen on the beach waiting for the sunrise. The beach was full of people.
私もギリギリ日の出に間に合い、この写真が撮れた。
I was just in time to catch the sunrise, and was able to take this photo.
更には、江ノ電の窓の中に上る初日の出が撮れた！
I was also able to take a photo of the first sunrise in the window of the train!
そして、いつもの七里ヶ浜の広場に移動して
Then we moved to the usual park at Shichirigahama…
アンズちゃん、今年も宜しくね！
Anne, I wish you all the best this year!
ハウル君も宜しくね！
Howl, you too!
そして家に戻って、新年祝いの膳。今年も稲村ケ崎「虹」の御節です。
Back at home, we had a New Year’s celebration breakfast “Osechi” “Osechi” are traditional foods which are eaten by a lot of Japanese on New Year’s Day. It includes many kinds of Japanese traditional foods, and they are packed together in “Jubako”, which is a special box that resembles bento boxes.
11月に金沢に行ったときにお正月用に買っておいた御神酒
sacred sake
こなつも我々も健康で幸せに過ごせる1年でありますように！
May this be a year of health and happiness for Konatsu and for us all!
The year is almost over. Yesterday, we were going to have a drinking party at our house with our neighbor’s friends, and as we were preparing, Konatsu sniffed the first whiff of something…
かなり早い時間から外の様子を見に行ったり､､､
She went to look out the window from quite early in the afternoon…
「まだ来ないのかなぁ」と玄関まで降りて行ったりしていた。
She went down to the front door and wondered if they were coming yet.
そして夕方に飲み会スタート。乾杯はちょっと珍しいベルギービール！
Then we started drinking in the evening. A toast with some rare Belgian beer!
このあと、こなつママの料理や友人が持ってきてくれた料理が次々と出てきて､､､
After this, dishes that my wife cooked and friends brought were served one after another…
My family temple and my wife’s family temple are both located in Shizuoka Prefecture, so we visit their graves about two or three times a year. This time, we visited both temples before the New Year’s holiday.
先ずは私の方のお寺から。藤枝市にある長楽寺。
First, we visited my family’s temple. Chorakuji Temple in Fujieda City.
Konatsu went with us to the gravesite, cleaned it, offered flowers, and that was the end of our visit. A volunteer who temporarily took care of Konatsu when she was sheltered lives near here, so we met her again after a long time..
Konatsu looks happy in every picture. Konatsu was doing whatever she wanted, going upstairs without permission, etc. Even after more than 10 years, Konatsu still remembers the person who rescued her, right?
最後にはたらちゃん(左)、なつめちゃん(右)と一緒に写真が撮れた。
This family also has a shelter dogs. Tara (left) and Natsume (right)
たらちゃん。こなつと同い歳だけど若く見えるねえ！
Tara is the same age as Konatsu, but looks younger.
なつめちゃんは一つ年上だったと思う。来年もまた3頭で会いたいね！
Natsume is one year older than Konatsu. I hope to see all three of them together again next year.
