Mashiko

Hello all,

I wasn't able to post anything lately, since internet wasn't connected yet in our apartment. Apologies for that, but there was nothing I could do about it. Too bad.

Anyway, I've been on the road a bit with my girlfriend and made many pictures. We've settled in our apartment in Sagamiono, Kanagawa prefecture, and are not far away from the station. Maybe a few minutes, just outside of the bustling commercial centre.

It's really a nice place to be and not very chaotic at all. Especially compared with the neighbouring town, Machida in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, it's a clean and orderly place.

After new years day, we went to Mashiko, as I said the the previous post, to buy some new tableware for our apartment. I was really excited about this, since I love Japanese earthenworks and Mashiko is a centre for some great and rough-style pottery.

We made a great haul for a low price. A few plates, large and small, a few containers for liquids and an 'Atsukan' (warm saké, or Nihonshu) flask with matching cups.

Machiko itself is a nice and small town with many old-style houses and a lot, I mean a lot, of smaller and large earthenware shops and stalls. Also, a small dyeing plant in  Tokugawa-era style was preserved. The speciality is blue dye, and they made some great and classic patterns on textile.

Unfortunately, the price was shockingly high to buy a small piece of cloth...

We went to the pottery market to buy some cheap pottery as well, since they sell stuff with mistakes there. Making it 'less desirable', but even more interesting in my opinion.

What I didn't expect though was to talk to a guy who lost his shop in the great Tohoku earthquake of 2011. We bought a saké-set from him and I wished him all the best of luck. It was my first contact with one of the direct victims of the 2011 disaster. I guess it won't be the last one...

All in all, it has been quite an interesting day at Mashiko. A nice day out with the family of my girlfriend, albeit the small car and chilly weather (it's still pretty comfortable for me here with 8˚C).

That day, I think I got very well accepted by the parents of my girlfriend. Or, at least, I feel that way. Especially the mother likes me and was constantly asking me if I was hungry or asking me 'strange' questions on European stuff.

Let's see if I can do another update today!

Cheers!

Toni

P.s. if you hover over the pictures, you can read a short description of the contents.