I know I've been slacking a bit on basic everyday stuff, so here's a quick rundown of the typical day.
When I first got here the schedule was a little different, but except for the first few days, it's been get on the bikes to work at 6, short break at about 8, usually with cold tea and store bought snacks, stop at 10 for lunch, then back out at 2 or 3 and work 3 more hours with another short break somewhere in the middle. There aren't enough working bikes for everyone all the time, so if there are a lot of people staying here, we'll split up and do a couple of different things on the same day. There are fields down the street where we grow our own food that always need work, and there's a community garden we maintain that supports the house. We do also get food in lieu of payment from the farmers, so there's always more than we can actually eat. Some of the farmers are just up the street, but others are a bike ride and then a quick car ride on top of that. If we're working at a farm that's too far to ride bikes to, we usually stay at their house for lunch and then start work again earlier than 3. The long lunch break is an attempt to avoid some of the hottest hours of the day, and it works to an extent, but I like getting back out and finishing early a lot more. The farmers in this area are almost all all older people - 65-80 at least, I'd guess. They're tough as hell, though, and you can walk down the street any time in the morning and see some 80-something year old farmer, permanently bent in half from working in fields for so many years, patiently weeding in the sun in what must be a 90-95 degree day, by 7 AM. They're often out in their fields with us, working alongside. I can't talk to them much since my Japanese is so spotty, so the few wwoofers who can actually hold a full conversation usually go over the work we're to do and answer most of their questions. I try sometimes to jump in, and I can understand more than I can contribute, but for the most part I just can't say much.
The weather is actually pretty nice out here at 6 am, which makes it a lot more pleasant to work despite the early hour. At this time of year, the work is mostly weeding/mulching. The plants seem to have a mild but irritating defense mechanism that we've been noticing lately - the backs of my hands are on fire right now. It's like touching a stinging nettle, but not nearly as severe, or else it would be impossible to tolerate. We're almost always working in fields somewhere, but some of the guys will also stick around the house when the occasional deer comes in - wild animals are a problem and shooting deer is always legal around here - so when a farmer gets one, they bring it to the house, and a couple of the wwoofers will clean the thing and freeze the meat. The freezers are all full of deer meat right now, but there are so many vegetables at this time of year, meat usually seems like an afterthought in a majority of the cooking.
So anyway, as far as the work goes at the moment, we have also recently been staking all the bean plants and running wire along the rows because the coming typhoon season will blow them all flat if they're not supported. We hammer metal and bamboo stakes into the rows at the ends and at different intervals depending on the farmer's preference, and then string this plastic wire down them to hold the plants up from the side. It's too bad I won't get to see typhoon winds in action, though I'm sure the house shakes and rattles like crazy when it does. There was a slight breeze last night, which hasn't really happened since I've been here, and although it felt great, it made the house rattle surprisingly often. The houses are wide open and the transition from outside to inside is nothing like houses in Boston. When you ride up the street, you can see right into people's living rooms through the genkan because people leave things open all the time, at least when they're home. It really is an extraordinarily 'safe' place. Oh yeah, speaking of safe, we did go hitchhiking over our weekend. More on that soon. So either over the crazy-long lunch break or after work at 5-6, we always go up to the swimming hole in the river, which is AWESOME, then come back and cook. There was a while when we had about 15 people here, and the kitchen was a circus around dinner time - but now there are only about 6 people here and so it's easier, but quiet and kind of lonely after all that. Even though most people only stay here for 2 or 3 weeks on their way to another host, we all spend a lot of time working and talking together and getting to know each other pretty well considering the time period, and it's always sad when people you've just gotten to know and really like take off. This is one instance where I keep thinking 'thank god for Facebook!'. So even though it's really hectic with 15 people staying here, it's certainly not preferable to see it dwindle down to 6 or 7.
In addition to the hitchhiking race and the day-camp thing with all those kids last week, we also went to a festival that was held at a local shrine - I think it was about a 10-15 minute ride east- not far at all! I got some great, though blurry, photos. There are a few more festivals coming up in Sasayama and in Sanda that I'm going to miss, and I'm pretty bummed about it - but it's always interesting here, even on a Tuesday afternoon.
It's getting closer to the end of the trip now, and I need to start deciding where I'm going to go before I have to fly back on the 17th. I assumed I'd try staying in Osaka for a day or two and then go back to Tokyo for a couple of days, but I'm trying to think of other options before it gets too late to plan. Amanohashidate was great, and not difficult to get to at all, and I'm sure there are a million other places I could stay at if I'm a little more creative than just assuming the big cities are the only things to choose from.