As I travel around Japan, especially at this time of year, I seem to almost be assaulted with Christmas, it is inescapable. Just when I thought I would get a break, I’m proven wrong.
The Asunaro is a small train line located in Yokkaichi city, Mie which would be a bus route in any other city. It’s small, cheap and great value for money, it is so much smaller than the Iga tetsudo line but amazingly it has 2 lines.
However Christmas is here as well. Admittedly it was a lovwlth offering but it was so out of place. Yokkaichi is an extreamly Japanese city, even on the train they use ございます(gozaimasu) instead of です(desu) for station names, not even the JR line does that.
Into this mix christmas flows as easily as reading the city’s name: 四日市市 which is easy once you know it (Yokkaichi-shi) but trying to work it out from the Kanji alone is troublesome.
This is a post I’ve been thinking about for a while hence the 2 week wait since receiving the late ticket and this post.
Firstly a bit of background information. Everyone has heard the wonderful stories of German and Japanese trains never being late, always arriving on time to the second and arriving in the perfect position each time. This is simply fiction. Even if everything is fine, there will always be something that either delays the train or off sets it’s position.
On November 14 I was riding the JR line from Takachaya Station (brilliant name and they use the old Kanji for station 高茶屋驛) the problem was the train was running late. The problem was the last train to Nabari is at 2315,and I still had get to Ise-Nakagawa first.
An announcement came over the tannary and stated the train would be late. 15 minutes later it arrived.
I always had the image of train attendants handing out late tickets to commuters like confetti. This was not the case. I had to go to the JR officev at Tsu Station and ask for one. I got a brilliant look of ‘what the hell’ from the attendant before he reluctantly printed one off stamped it and gave it to me.
Ignoring the customer service skills, which left a lot to be desired, the impression left was of blame. They seemed almost outraged that I dared ask for it. Completely shatter my nativity why don’t you.
For those of you wondering, the lateness ticket or certificate of lateness is called a 遅延証名書 or chienshomeisho, a word that I cannot seem to remember. Japanese railways give them out (should give them out) to allow a person to prove they were late. Which is an even more troubling statement come to think of it.
I will be fair, I have ridden the JR line in Mie on multiple occasions and it has been delayed or late on multiple occasions as well. It’s not to say that they can’t be on time, but they choose not to be.
This blog has now 100 posts- many pictures and many details about my life in Japan. So let’s celebrate a little! This post is going to look at Nabari Dam in a bit more detail, a HOW2: for Place names and a product review as well. I hope you enjoy this 100th post and happy reading.
Additionally, on the homepage, there are 2 new sections:
A pictures in Japan section
A western calendar to Japanese era conversion page
Let’s start the post!
Full Review: 青蓮寺ダム Shorenji dam aka Nabari Dam
A nice, pretty picture of the dam
I have previously talked about Nabari lake and I have mentioned Nabari Dam in passing but now well look at it in a bit more detail.
Nabari Dam was constructed in response to the Ise typhoon disaster in 昭和34年 or 1959. Nabari experiences wide spread damage and thus the dams construction was finished in 昭和45年7月 or July 1970.
The Dam is 275 m long, 82 m tall which allowed the formation of lake with an area of 1.04 km 2 containing over 27 million m 3 of water- which is quite a bit.
Around the dam, there are signs which highlight the 5 main advantages of this dam:
safety: the dam allows Nabari and other cities down stream (Osaka, Nara) to remain safe in extreme weather
ecosystem: the dam provides a constant stream of water supporting life downstream
household use: allows a water supply to Nabari and other areas (from drinking water to bath water)
agricultural use: allows water to be used for rice farming within the Iga area comprising of 1,150 ha at 1.72m3/s
electricity generation: green electricity is generated
The slight problem with the dam is the road that was constructed along its’ top.
There is a single carriage way which requires cars to move the the side to allow them to pass. There is a lovely video of on my social media pages.
Along the lake side there are many parks, tennis courts and picnic spots and just above the dam is the viewing spot which is also known as the famous sakura viewing point- somewhere to go in April.
The views are spectacular and are well worth a visit for those in the area. With the amount of thing available (from sports, to eateries, to hikes, photo opportunities etc) I would definitely recommend a visit. Think of this place as a trip to a national park or just a larger park: plenty to do (including an Italian restaurant that is always booked nearby), plenty to enjoy and plenty of places to relax.
Just remember: take only photos and leave only footprints.
HOW2: Japanese place name ~ヶ丘
One thing that you need to be aware of with place names is the ending ~ヶ丘 or ~gaoka meaning “one hill”. Examples of this around Nabari are 梅ヶ丘、つつじヶ丘、桔梗が丘 etc. There are many examples across Japan but with the ending, you should expect extremely steep hills, that even cars struggle to climb.
The kanji is quite strange. ” ヶ ” is an ichi-dan counter used as a suffix to count objects and ” 丘 ” means hill- in such combinations as 丘上-きゅうじょう meaning hill top or 丘疹-きゅうしん meaning pimple (there are other combinations out there).
Near the Top of Tsutsuji-gaoka or つつじヶ丘
This was a fantastic view of Tsutsuji-gaoka just before my arrival at the dam. What you cannot see in this picture is the extremely tall hill that it is built on. Additionally, each settlement that can be seen in the distance is an entire other area- either Nabari city or small settlements surrounding it. The name should definitively be it’s warning when cycling or walking. You could argue that it should be つつじ山 instead.
The reason that you must be aware of its name is simple put: google maps. Google maps do not show you how steep the hill you climb are when using the app (they do during the planning stages on desktop).
Product review:
A vege bowl- with meat
The last product made me smile when I found it and that was a simple salad. In Japan vege salads refer to salads being made up of more vegetables than normal- which is a weird phrase now that I think about it. But to the rest of the world, a veg salad is (or at least should be) a vegetarian salad. My favourite was a salad bowl with massive shrimp on it stating vege salad.
The salad was extremely good- all crispy fresh veg, a nice mix of oats and rice and a sort-of miso dressing (extremely Japanese) but went well never the less.
Strangely enough, there was no problem with this product- even with the Japenglish. Check them out in Aeon supermarkets.
Thank you for reading and here’s to many more blog posts to come.
One of the ‘key sites’ in Nabari is the heavily advertised Natsumi temple ruins but what is it all about?
This review will just look at the temple grounds (or what remains of them) not the museum that accompanies it (mostly because it was closed when I visited).
Firstly the site, it is a beautiful site with a brilliant view of wider Nabari, which is in full autumn mode. However, there is something sad about seeing the remains of a much larger, and historically important site. The site was excavated in 平成2年 or 1990.
A popular excavation method in Japan (after the archaeological dig is over) is to place a marble block at the point where the foundation lay. The idea is to allow you to form a visual of what once was. But, it never quite seems to work- you get an idea of the scale of the site but none of the majesty or enormity of what once was.
There is some information about the temple dotted around the ruins, but this information is slightly unnecessary- the information just highlights the size of the construction- giving the dimensions of the temple. There was only 1 sign on its’ history- there may have been more within the museum but that is yet to come.
The site dates back to 894 CE (or AD) and the main temple was a 3 story pagoda that lay within Iga Province and it was famous as a center for learning and for health.
Iga Province or 伊賀国 an exceptionally old style of dividing Japan which was first referenced after 680 CE (天武天皇9年) and was Incorporated in and became Mie-prefecture in Meiji 5 （明治5年 or 1872).
The site is much smaller that it once was and the world has changed around it- but people seem reluctant to allow it to pass into the pages a history without showing the importance of what once was. While slightly harsh, as what remains is extremely scenic, and while it was an extremely important temple which was commissioned but the emperor at the time, none of its majesty remains- it is not even a shell but perhaps a shadow of it once was.
I hope that the museum will tell more of its’ historical significance and give more of a reason why it was resserected but for now my review is as follows:
It’s a nice (quick) walk and it is interesting to see how the Japanese preserve their ruins and archaeological sites but if you are not interested in these things or are looking for a longer walk, I (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) recommend looking and exploring elsewhere. Will I go back? Yes, (I do exercise in the mornings after-all and its’s a nice site) but I cannot recommend it as an attraction.
Books arude is a hidden gem in the Minowanakamura district of Nabari or in Japanese 箕輪中村- which well off the beaten track for all visitors but for locals it is a well loved book store.
The store has a great range for a book store in the countryside but luckily for me it focuses not just on books bur stationary, games and seasonal -products.
One of the pleasing things about this store is the attention to detail, all rows of books, for example, are set up in such a way to dray your eye to the row ahead.
One of the main focuses for this book store seems to be books for learners i.e. books for elementary, middle, and high school students and more importantly books for the JLPT exam (which I have yet to sit….moving on).
The other focuses for this bookstore are magazines, short novels and stationary. The problem with this store is that it is isolated and, to be quite honest, once you have been to one book store, you have been to them all.
Do I personally like this bookstore, yes (it has books) and more importantly it local for me.
Alas, if would you like something a bit more unique or something just a bit, well, more- I would recommend going to a main bookstore (Maruhan) in either Nagoya or Osaka. This book store is good for locals but not worth putting you-self out for if you are either nor in Iga, Nabari, or located just inside Nara prefecture.
Today’s journey was a short one- covering 3 prefectures, about 47 Km, and just over 4 hours (including breaks). Let’s look into my journey in a bit more detail.
As always my journey started in Nabari city- which is on the outskirts of Mie prefecture and located just 25 km from Kyoto Prefecture (or 京都府 in Japanese) and I decided it would be good idea to cycle there.
Just so you get the full picture, the bike I have was woefully terrible for such a journey. The bike is called a ママチャリ or mother’s bike. It has 6 gears, a basket on the front and is designed for inner city rides- not hills (which is everything in the Nabari and Iga areas) so the distance I covered was, in my opinion, miraculous.
Similar to my previous cycling post- the journey from Nabari to Mihata, I traveled to Komo following Nabari river- which as I found out is no-where near the most dangerous road in this area. Upon arrival in Komo, I turned left at the t-junction and cycled onward for quite a while.
Katahira 大字片平
The road between Nabari and Nara Prefecture (called the Nara-Nabari way/ line 奈良名張線), is a beautiful road. It snakes along Nabari river and up some steep hills (there were professional cyclists there who did pass me). I did have to walk up this rather large hill but it opened up to reveal a tiny village/ hamlet Takahira, Nara.
Imagine a place where nothing seems to happen and most people just know it by “the place you pass through”- this is Takahira. There are a few houses, many chickens, a shrine and not much else. But the views of Nabari river were spectacular.
I continued and I discovered, what I am calling “the road of death”. It is a tiny carriage way, with a massive drop into the river on one side, a steep cliff on the other (with signs warning you about the possibility of falling rocks) and many, many blind corners.
I worried for naught, no car came but it was awesome- speeding around tight bends on a bike, while enjoying nature all around me. After this section I came across a camp grounds with the best name you can imagine form Japan “hell ground skate-park” no name analysis needed here- but i did look pretty awesome and seemed to be extremely cheap!
Following the skate park from hell (no more puns I swear), I had a decision to make, up the mountain or down by the river? I chose the river and I descended the hill for 3-5 minutes (I may have burnt my breaks a bit descending safely). I arrived at Hirose (大字広瀬) which was bigger than the last village but not by much. The highlight for me was the bridge which allowed me to get this shot of the river:
Hirose (大字広瀬)
In the top right of the picture is half of the hill I descended. This village is a boarder town between Nara and Mie Prefecture with the river (sort-of) acting like to boarder.
Moving on from Hirose, the roads (actual roads) seemed to be a repeating theme of my bike being the only vehicle on the road and it is here that I ran over a snake (I’m unsure if it was a snake or a branch or if it was alive before I ran it over).
It was at this point, that I stopped taking photos and focused on my destination to get to 三県境 or the 3 prefecture boarder. The problem with this, I seemed to forget how much Mie and Nara Prefectures love hills. I rode through hamlets, villages, back roads, main roads in isolation- completely enjoying myself and my journey.
The only problem I faced was near the end of part 1 on the outskirts of Shirakashi, Iga, on the Shimagahara way (島ヶ原線). This road was entirely uphill, up a very steep hill- too steep to ascend while cycling.
The ironic thing about this picture is that it was at the start of the descent back down but it opened up to what I will call the city of hawks.
Hawks are solitary by nature but there were so many here- along with either ravens or crows (the difference between is a matter of a pinion- sorry clever pun).
The problem with my destination was simple, there were no signs, no clear path- nothing to mark out where it lay. I cycled up and down a not inconsiderable hill for a while. Eventually I found where it was. Just opposite from the sign below is a small lay-by. From this point it is a hike to the 3 prefecture boarder. However, I has turned 1500 and as all roads taken were country roads, I had to leave to get back before nightfall- which was a disappointment.
Proof of my journey
The way back was slightly more enjoyable as I found my portable battery pack so my phone (and google maps) allowed me to find a good was back.
There were a few gems on my way back and now I had a charge, I could once again take photos- so I was extremely happy. But more importantly, I was able to see more of Nabari (Mihata, Kikyougaoka, and Nabari city)- which is exactly what I wanted to do.
When I got back into Nabari, it was quickly going dark, and getting cold. Even though I am sad that I didn’t quite see what I set out to, I got to experience an awful lot and I got back safely.
The ironic thing about the length of time it took is that by car it is just a 50 minute return trip- cycling and walking did slow down this time- as well as getting repeatedly lost or doing in the wrong direction.
The victims of this cycle were the (possible) snake, my hands (i forgot my gloves) and my bike (which now skips while cycling). Perhaps the cheap bike designed for city living couldn’t handle a mountainous journey.
It occurred to me that I have spent a lot of time looking into the Iga and Nabari areas and I have seemingly ignored the rest of the Mie. So I decided to explore somewhere I have passed while changing trains but never looked around and I got to say I’ll be back. But on with the review.
I arrived at Matsusaka train station on the Kintetsu line and I headed out of the JR exit and headed out into the wide world. My first point of call was 継松寺 or Keisho-ji temple.
When entering the grounds of Keisho-ji, it as if you have entered another world. The temple is well maintained, with a candle burning in the middle to allow people to buy incense and offer prayers for the dead, but there was no-one there. I was alone while visiting this large, historic center with the world passing all around me.
I ascended the wooden staircase to make an offering and pray and the temple is fantastic.
The rope hangs down attached to a gong to allow the gods to know you are there. But for visitors, there is so much old art, shrines, artifacts to look at that will grab you and make you appreciate them.
The best thing about this temple was its’ construction. So many temples in Japan feature concert staircases or use more modern building techniques but the main temple rejoices in old-world construction techniques. The other building are what you usually see- a mix on traditional and modern architecture.
The next stop on my journey was Matsusaka visitors center- which surprisingly a good stopping point. The staff do have some limited English but if you can (like always) please speak to them in Japanese. The center functions as the Matsusaka museum and information center which has an entire floor dedicated to the history and importance of Matsusaka- which is extremely interesting and worth the price of entry (it’s free). There is also a film about key events and people from it’s history and, more importantly, it has subtitles in English and Japanese and is worth a watch.
The gift shop offers 名物 or famous products from Matsusaka which ranges from flavored green teas (I may have bought a few), traditional お土産 or souvenirs which are usually a sweat treat for people to enjoy, and of course they have 松阪牛肉 or Matsusaka beef- of of the 3 greats of Japanese beef.
Surprisingly, the beef theme continued at the museum of history and folklore. The museum, which I was going to visit on my next trip was only 80 (that’s eighty- 8 0) JPY- it was a price I could not resist and indeed I did not. The current special exhibition is on Matsusaka beef and the museum features this quite heavily.
First note, the price- it’s exceptionally cheap which is brilliant. But there was a downside, the special exbition took center stage. The museum can be split into two parts: general history and the exhibition. Put it this way: I learnt more about the history of Matsusaka from the brochure with the ticket than I did at the museum. General history and information on the city is almost overlooked. The musum is keen to highlight the famous products that are prodiced here- rather than the history and culture surrounding it.
I did learn that the city had a thriving cotton trade and is one of the green tea centers of Japan along with its’ beef. I do recommend checking it out, but please wait until the next exhibition. It’ll make it a more enjoyable visit.
Now the main reason for my trip the castle. Matsusaka castle (ruins) is one of the 100 famous castles and the second one located in Mie-prefecture. To see the first check out: Iga castle.
I will not go into the history of Matsusaka castle (your safe for now) instead please enjoy the following photos:
After seeing the ruins of the castle [built in Tensho (天正)16年 or 1588 and originally consisted of the 本丸 (castle walls), 天守 (inner keep), 二の丸 (outer citadel ) and 石垣 (stone walls)] I continued onward to the former Ozu residence which for non-Japanese speakers is just a portal back to Japanese life during the Edo period (江戸時代). Interestingly enough, the Japanese just states “built after 1700”, which is extremely descriptive.
THe building is over 1000 meters squared, and has many different rooms of many functions along with small gardens dotted around- which is typical of Edo construction (for the wealthy of that time at least). It was an interesting side-note to my first official tour of Matsusaka and for 160 JPY it is worth the price. But if you are not interested in Japanese history, please don’t waste your time.
There was also a leaflet in “American” as they called it. I was not amused. The last thing of note I saw (which was closed but did make me chuckle) was a cafe called “Merry England”- which offer conversation in English as a selling point.
That was my first quick trip to Matsusaka, the next will be a 集印の観光旅行 or a shrine stamp tour of Matsusaka.
Thank you for reading and happy exploring.
The overview:
Keishou-ji temple
Price: free
Matsusaka Visitors Centre
Price: free entry. Be aware of the gift shop (I spent a lot)
As I live in the area, some of the nuances that tourists seem to love are a bit lost on me. Nevertheless, I was a tourist but 5 years ago when I visited the city as a foreign exchange student. But, new age I hope comes experience and today, we’ll look at my journey through Iga city.
Firstly, here’s a bit of cute- which was advertisement for the ninja costumes you can rent while touring the ninja city (mostly popular with young children and families).
Who’s a cute dog?
Upon exit from the Ninja train station I was greeted with this cute sight- which doesn’t happen when commuting to work. These 3 are adorable and even the taxi driver (there is a taxi rank located behind me) got out and took a picture.
But onward I went, until I came to the main reason for my visit: the NINJA experience. Firstly, the downside: when I last came I only took part in the Ninja experience and museum and this is exactly the same: from the actions taken to the displays. However, this does not mean that it is not worth doing.
Firstly price: to visit Iga castle, take part in the Ninja experience and visit the lantern hall (called the だんじり会館) it is 1750 JPY- which is the combined ticket price. Buying this is easier and it does save a bit of money. But, If you only want to visit 1 or 2 of the sites, pay for a single entry- it is cheaper. Firstly, we’ll look at Iga castle.
伊賀上野城 or Iga castle has been present on the site in some form since it was built. The castle dates back to 1585 or 天正15年 when the ruling family started to build it. The site once held smaller building surrounding the castle and it was once a hive of activity.
Just north-west of the castle is the ruins of the castle hall- which served as the living spaces for the castle helpers, the attendants and everything else which the main castle would have needed including housing the kitchen area, the tax office, and other offices a head of state needs to have.
All that remains of the heart of the operation
The site of the castle office, now seems to be ignored by locals and tourists alike as just a part space. The boarders you can see marked out show where each room once stood and markers name the rooms both in English and Japanese. but still people walk on past.
In 1611 or 慶長16年 building work gor underway around the castle and 30 m 本丸 or walls were erected- which was and still is the tallest of any castle in Japan, making Iga castle one of the “100 most famous castles in Japan”, one of the reasons for a high volume of Japanese visitors.
A lovely look at the 本丸 and the wider Iga area.
The castle was once a central part of nationwide defense as there was a high risk of rebellions due to the climate at the time and after the erection of the increased defenses in 1611, on the 2nd of September 1612, the Tenshu (天守 or castle tower was destroyed in high winds. The decision to not rebuild the castle was made in 1615 at the start of Genwa 天和元年.
Fast forward to 1935, 320 years later, Katsu Kawasaki (川崎克) started restoration/ rebuilding the castle out the tensho was created out of wood- which is what can be seen today.
The castle is also known as “white phoenix” castle.
The castle is a fantastic thing to explore but it is NOT accessibility friendly. There are no lifts at all and all stair cases are extremely steep, but it is worth it. The castle has almost become a community center, showing the history and culture of Iga and of the Iga district. In addition to this, the castle hosts many artifacts from the castle era, showcasing the strange articles of war, war time documents and art and poetry created by the castles inhabitants.
There are many things I could point I which I liove when I visit but I will do but 2. Firstly, on the top floor, there are 46 individually created from many different people. Secondly, the view of Iga- take a look for yourself:
You can actually see Nara-prefecture from here.
The next stop was the ninja experience, and I got to say it was a bit of fun. Admittidaly I did end up speaking to a Japanese professor and we did have a bit of a laugh, mostly at my height and being in a tradational Japanese house. Nevertheless the tour. There are 2 types of tour on offer: with or without the ninja weapons exbition- I went for without (but I went with previously).
A ninja’s house
The attendant who guided the group around, explained that the roof was so steep by design- it made it harder for enemy ninjas to enter the property. Which bring us nicely to the first point- the fist part of this is a group guided experience and it is wheelchair friendly.
Upon entry, you must take off your shoes (it is Japan), you are guided into the living room where some ninja tricks are performed- along with the explanation of how and why. There are tours in English, but there are a lot more in Japanese.
The guildes explain quite a bit about the way of the ninja and what precaustions they took to ensure everything remained safe while ensuring that everything was done to amaze and amuse.
Following this, the tour leads onto the museum where exhibits are presented in English and Japanese which show ninja artifacts and tell you how many things were done. As this tour is designed for children and adults in 2 different languages, the explanations given are more of an overview but helpful never the less.
There is just one artifact that I will talk about in more detail: the 4 sided shrunken. What I will say is that there is no problem with the Japanese side- there is a problem with western cultural knowledge. This shuriken is known as a Manji-shriken and is written with the kanji: 卍手裏剣, see the problem. To make matters worse, the translation of 卍 or まんじ is swastika which really does evoke any positive feelings to a European’s ear.
Finally, there was but more more building which housed further information and a gift shop with some brilliant books about the history of ninja and plenty of general ninja merch including T-shirts, rubber kunai, pens, etc.
The last stop was the lantern hall- argubuly the least impressive of the 3, especially for any non-Japanese speaker. However it is from here were ninja costumes may be rented for your grand tour of Iga.
This hall houses the large lantern floats used in various festivals happening in Iga (all of which I have missed or am unable to attend….). Each display has been painstakingly created to best highlight it’s beauty and artistic style. All explanations are given in Japanese and while it can be enjoyed without, it does make the experience longer.
Upon entry, you are told that there is a 12 minute starting at the start of the hour on the second floor and to be honest, even with this, you are only going to be here for about 30 minutes to an hour.
The floats of lanterns used in festivals
At the end, there is a large gift shop with ninja anything and everything: sake, rice, chocolate, alcohol, ice cream, t-shirts etc. If you love ninja, this is not to be missed.
All in all, it was a brilliant way to spend a day. There is a lot more in Iga to explore (the main city for example) but spending a day looking more into Iga’s history was well worth itだってばよ！( BTW that was painful to write but if you don’t get that reference, do you even ninja?)
I went shopping, like many do on their day off, and after buying my weeks produce, I suddenly discovered that the Aeon supermarket was more of an Aeon mall- which sells a large variety of products. The embarrassing thing about this is that I have lived in Nabari for quite a length of time and I had never noticed this before…..never mind.
On discovery of this, I ascended the building and on the 3 rd flood (UK 2nd floor) I discovered the gaming centre. Unlike the Sega gaming center, it offered a variety of games, prizes and seemed to attract more people to it.
The first “strange” game I discovered was the raffle ticket style claw machine. First thing to note, because getting a prize is not guaranteed, the claw is extremely strong. Secondly, you must open each ticket to check if you have won. Finally, is it 100 JPY for 2 plays- which is an exceptionally cheap price.
I spent 200 JPY (4 plays) and the results were:
2 winning tickets and an example losing ticket
2 winning tickets which were marked C賞 and numerous tickets marked はずれ. Winning tickets went from C to special (C, B, A, and special) and the rarity increases as the prize improves. I won twice and came away with Disney erasers, so I am quite happy with that.
In addition to this game, they have numerous UFO machines with official products including Anpanman, Disney, Doraimon etc.- which attracted the attention on children, and strange adults alike.
There was a small selection of more adult machines including pachinko and slots (only 10 in total). This game center is definitively more catered towards children rather than adults but was still extremely bit of fun and not too expensive as long as you keep a strict budget.
Anpanman
The other game strange game on offer was a ping-pong ball drop, if it entered the Takoyaki cooker with the colored spot, you can choose with prize you want of the corresponding color. I did not win as it is mostly down to change.
Please do checkout this arcade, or similar ones located around Japan.
When you live in another country, occasionally it seems as if there is nothing going on. But I would like to quell that idea and give you an idea of local events going on in Nabari and Iga.
The information on local events comes from the regional free newspaper “You!”. There are quite a few events in the area but I’ll cherry pick a few.
On November 17th (Sunday) the rainbow group will be performing a concert starting at 14:30 at Yamato Fuji Hall. The group has hosted a charity concert every year since the 2011 disaster and precedes go to support these groups. For more information, or booking, please call 090-6911-9818 (Japan).
On Saturday the 16th, Nabari High school tea ceremony club will be hosting a free event at Nabari library (booking is not required). The event will be taking place in the tatami room and starts an 1330.
On November 16th from 1530 to 1830, Nabari kindergarten are hosting a winter illumination event. Participation is free.
Classically trained Ayaka Tanimoto is taking part in an Opera in Nabari at ads Hall in Masasaki-cho (a 15 minute walk from Nabari station). Doors open at 1400 and tickets are 3,000 JPY for adults and 1,000 JPY for high school students and younger and are limited to 80. For more information call (Nabari) 64-3478.
Finally, the asd Hall are hosting the 10th Cancer awareness event which offers to give further information on cancer, types and diagnosis. This is to be hosted on Thursday the 28th from 1430 to 1630.
There are a lot more events happening, and if you are interested please check out some of the listed events.
The world of languages 