Happenings around Chibaraki

In an effort to improve my Japanese reading skills, I’m researching local news stories. Most of them are about crime, crime preventions and accidents today.

Yomiuri reports that early this morning a body was found in a burned out car. Tokyo Shinbun has a brief mention of a one-day anti-cybercrime awareness campaign at Matsudo Station led by a teenager in a policewoman’s uniform. Toride City emergency services held a short course in how to deal with assailants after a knife attack in December.

Bah, it’s all grim news.

On a happy note, if you look Mainichi’s Chiba video gallery, you’ll see some happy signs of spring, such as the swans returning to Inzai and fishery workers bringing carp and unagi to Teganuma.

This weekend, I hope the weather will settle down for a few hours for Tenoichi-Yasaiichi market at Kashiwa Shrine. The market is all day Sunday. See you there.

ポチたま会 Good Dogs and People in Chibaraki

Pochitamakai is a non profit organization based in Ibaraki Prefecture that  takes in abandoned dogs and cats to find new homes for them and educates the public about the plight of homeless and unwanted pets. The Potchitamakai website instructs new pet owners about pet issues such as mixing kids and dogs, vaccinations, and the costs associated with spaying and neutering pets. A big cheers to the Potchitamakai for teaching people about how to provide a happy life for animal family members.

 This is Marie, their poster girl. She’s so sweet, and she greeted friends and strangers in front of Kashiwa Station this afternoon, and snoozed through the pan pipe busker on the other side of the plaza.

Tone River Jam Pictures

Yesterday’s Tone River Jam had a good turn out and some great bands despite being typhooned on. The light was flat, and wasn’t conducive to photography.

There were lots of vendors, including tasty Thai food and some drink stands and  Kashiwa City’s PokaPoka and Pokaraiyo.  Amongst the tents was a little booth where the vendor displayed her photos and took mercy on and provided shelter for the enthusiastic but damp foreign crowd. Keiko Niiyama , a Kashiwa City resident, shoots photos with a vintage Minolta camera. When she left a career as a dental assistant some years ago, she laid eyes on her old camera and realized that photography was something that interested her. She was discovered by some people during a public service event in Kashiwa City. The rest is history. You can see her dreamy, vividly coloured photos here.

Tone River Jam 2008

Tone River Jam

Next weekend, local community folks are putting on a party, The Tone River Jam, at the Tonegawa Yuyu Park. This free event features Metal Guinee, an African-influenced group that leads drum workshops in the area, the Allman/CCR influenced The Brother Woods,  the hard and loud KamomeKamome, and mysterious Hoshi.

I want one of those cool t-shirts!