Visit to the Cemetery, Later, Lunch at Big Boy

Yesterday was the Fall Equinox. It is a time when people visit cemeteries to clean their ancestral gravesites. Baba and Aunt had gathered everything together; clippers, flowers, incense, lighter, small broom, water bucket, scrub brushes, and garbage bags. Everyone went to the car. I grabbed an extra pair of clippers and the pruner. Last time we went, Baba asked us to prune the tree next to the gravestone.

I was the last one to the car. I noticed that no one had put a plate of salt outside the gate. As I got in, I asked about it, and seeing Baba and Aunt comfortably sitting in the car, I ran back to the house to prepare the dish. I put salt into a small bowl and then covered it with saran wrap. I left it on the wall outside the gate before getting back into the car. Baba said "thank you" many times.

The cemetery was crowded. People smiled and greeted us as we passed along the stone walk. Big Sister clipped the bushes and Little Brother scrubbed the stones. Baba sat in a folding chair. The kinmokusei was blooming so we didn't prune it. Papa lit a handful of incense and put it in the incense holder. Aunt forgot to bring an offering of Jiji's favorite tea. I'm sorry I couldn't take pictures at the cemetery. My family considers it taboo. (Find the post for August 29th and you can see a picture of a family plot behind a house. Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

We ate lunch out. Before going through the gate when we got home, Papa unwrapped the dish and threw salt on each of us. Baba then took the bowl and threw a pinch of salt on the front and back of him. When we went to the front door we saw that Aunt had left the keys in the lock! Good thing we have a gate that locks!

We went to Big Boy restaurant for lunch. When I was growing up in Texas, we had a Kip's Big Boy restaurant in my town.





Looks like the same Big Boy we had.




At many family restaurants here, there are sinks at the entrance for customers to wash their hands.





Instead of writing our order down, the waiter used this. He punched in codes for our orders and it figured it all out. They've had this device in Japan for at least 18 years.




I don't think you would see this at an American restaurant. Stacks of ashtrays.
I'll show you more pictures later.

Loose Ends from Our Trip

There were a few pictures that weren't included in any posts about our trip. Perhaps someday there will be a gallery, but for now I'll post these as Loose Ends.




I took this picture and the next one near the inn where we stayed. These guys were using this long blue hose to spray water or pesticides on this field. I have a feeling it was pesticide or weed killer.





I have always been advised (by Papa) not to take photographs in a cemetery. The atmosphere here was different. This gravesite was in the wide open spaces of a rice field, behind a home, and next to a kitchen garden. It was part of the scenery and part of daily life.

It may look like a single grave but it is, in fact, a gravesite for a whole family. The long narrow stone bears the family name. Permanent vases and an incense burner are at the base of the headstone. There is a stone slab at the foot of the headstone and small altar. It covers a small hollow space or tomb. Ceramic jars of the bones of the deceased are placed there. There is a stone to the left of the tomb. The names of the deceased family members and the date of their passing are inscribed on the stone. Once, while scrubbing the stones and pruning the shubbery at our gravesite, I asked Jiji, Grandfather, how many jars could be placed there. He said maybe 15.





This is a picture of a "doorknob" at the inn where we stayed. It was on an interior sliding paper door. Our old house had these kinds of "knobs".





These were soybeans drying in the sun. They were near the foundation of one of the thatched roof houses in Ainokura. In the area outside the village, I saw small bundles of soybeans. They were hanging on the eaves of houses. Dried soybeans are eaten as a snack.





I took this picture of an old mouse trap at the thatched house where I lost my shoes (see August 24). Mouse traps haven't changed much over the centuries. Click the picture to enlarge. Compare the one I posted on August 8th.





A country road. This highway had two lanes and it had a view. Note, too, the signs (like in Tokyo) that tell drivers there is a telephone up ahead.

Garden Scenes in a Small Town, Niigata Prefecture

A board was put under this squash to protect it. Protect it from what? The rough concrete? Water? Or was it because of the angle of its stem? I'm not sure, but I'd rather sit on wood than concrete.




A gardener in his garden by a cemetery.




Morning glories are a common summer flower here. Every first grader grows them at school. Some people like our late Jiji, grandfather, continue to grow them all their lives.




More morning glories with balloon vine also called "love in a puff". When the green balloon or puff turns brown you can shake it and hear the three seeds tumble around. The seeds are round and black with a perfect white heart on one side. Very nice.



This lotus was standing high above its container of water in someone's garden. It was standing beside another one. Later that day they had closed. Maybe you know more about water lilies than I do. Do they close in the heat of the day?