Wooden Insects

This is our omiage, souvenirs, from our trip to the Ninja Park in Nagano Prefecture. They were slipped into these paper bags. Click to enlarge and you can see the little ninjas on the bags.

This is a bamboo cicada. Hold the stick and twirl. As the cicada spins, it sounds like a cicada.

This is a dragonfly on a painted bamboo stem. It's just a decoration.

World Heritage Site: Gift Shop and Restaurant in Ainokura

We shopped at this shop. There were trinkets on straps or chains that can be hung on phones or bags or used as key chains.




A paper decoration.





There were also souvenirs of traditional items like these straw snow boots and this wooden instrument used for a regional dance.




These eel traps could be used as decorations.




The shop also had tables in the front where customers could sit and order soba and rice balls to eat. The baskets along the side are part of the shop and are for sale.


I've included this close-up of the table because of the beautiful piece of wood. A container of chopsticks, a menu, an ashtray, and a bottle of soy sauce sit on top.




This is part of what we ordered. These noodles are called soba. We ordered them cold. It can also be ordered hot. It is dipped into a small cup of sauce made of soy sauce, mirin, and seaweed broth. There is a small plate of shallots and mushrooms on top of this cup that is scraped into the dipping cup. There are rice balls and pickled vegetables on the black plate shaped like a leaf. The bamboo "plates" are sold in the shop. You may be able to see them under the eel traps in the picture above.