Saturday, April 1st, cloudy @ Karuizawa, high 17 °C, low 3 °C

Today was April Fool’s Day. In France, we call it “Poisson d’avril” (April Fish), a game in which we secretly paste a picture of a fish on a person’s back. I often saw fish pictures and chocolates on the streets. Easter and April Fool’s Day are both events that remind me of spring.

About the bean sprout that I ate several weeks ago, soaked the seeds in water and left them in the kitchen, and they regenerated beautifully ! Spring is delightful !

@ Karuizawa, high 17 °C, low 9 °C

I tried my hand at printmaking at a woodblock printmaking class in Karuizawa. It was the first time for me to do printmaking by layering colors, so it was fun! After wondering what kind of picture I should make, I decided to make that scene that was so shocking to me. It was early in the morning on a day in midwinter when the temperature dropped to -15 degrees Celsius, and the water dripping from the bathroom tap was frozen solid.

Sunday, March 19, sunny @ Ueda, high 5 °C, low -1 °C

I saw a French film called “Petite Maman” by Céline Sciamma in Ueda Eigeki. When I heard the name of the director, I remembered her film “Portrait of a Girl on Fire” that I saw on a plane a few years ago. At that time I did not know her, but I was very surprised by the beauty of the images in this film.

As for today’s film, there were also a number of very impressive scenes and I thought again that I love this director. This film gave me a feeling of strangeness, as if the border between children and adults disappeared.

The French children are very independent and mature.

Saturday, March 18, snow @ Ueda, high & °C, low 0 °C

I went to listen to a biwa (Japanese lute) playing the story of Heike Monogatari. It seems that there are many types of biwa, and this time, it was a satsuma-biwa. The biwa is not played horizontally, but vertically, and the plectrum is very large, like a fan spread out, which surprised me.

She rubbed the strings with the plectrum to express the sound of the wind, or hit the belly board hard to create a rhythm. It was really great! She told us the famous stories of [Gion Shojya] and [Danno-ura] as well as [Kurikara-ochi] and [Tomoe], which she chose to tell us about the part of the story related to Yoshinaka Kiso, because the Maruko district of Ueda city is the place where Kiso Yoshinaka raised his army.

The interpreter was Mrs. Sae Ishida. I felt a little strange because her name was the same as mine.

Friday, March 10, sunny @ Koenji, high 22 °C, low -13 °C

I spent a night at my aunt’s house after my training in Tokyo. The Kuu-chan dachshund has a shiny coat. He has a dignified profile. When I talked to him, he turned his head to look at me. How lovely !

It’s been two years since I moved from Grenoble, France to Karuizawa town in Nagano prefecture.

Time just flies by as I wonder what to do with this site ……

I want to do something! So I decided to change the title.

The new title is …

↓↓

Something like “Enikki”.

Yes. In fact, the title “A Japanese woman in the Alps” is no longer appropriate. Besides, I can’t narrow it down to one theme for this site. I got lost…I think pictures would help my writing, so I call it “something like “ENIKKI” (diary presented with pictures). I hesitated to say it’s ENIKKI. So I said something like “ENIKKI” . I thought it was a good idea.

If I don’t do anything, I’ll end up doing nothing, so I’d like to take it a little bit at a time, thinking as I go.

Thursday, February 23, cloudy @ Karuizawa, high 8 °C, low -4 °C

The hyacinth flowers are swelling up as the daytime warms up.

Wednesday, February 22, cloudy @ Karuizawa, high 3 °C, low -9 °C

As I was about to park my car in the parking lot, a wagtail crossed the street in front of me.

I parked my car and peeked out the window.

As the wagtail walked, the soft feathers on either side of the wagtail swayed and fluttered.

Wednesday, January 18  Sunny @ Karuizawa High  4°C, low -5°C

I bought some hyacinth bulbs at the local flower shop. It Looks cold.

Wednesday January 1 Sunny @ Takasaki High  14°C, low 1°C

I spent New Year’s Day at my parents’ house. I never get tired of seeing killifish and kawaebi in the aquarium. The kawaebi have transparent bodies and float around in the water, wiggling their legs in small movements.

Wednesday November 23  Rain @ Karuizawa, high 6 °C, low 4 °C

As the weather turned colder, Ivy’s green leaves began to turn brownish.

As I approached the plant to see if it was okay, I found a small ladybug.

Wednesday, October 17   Cloudy, then rainy @ Karuizawa High 17°C, low 11°C

I saw a daurian redstart on my walk. The red belly and the white triangular pattern on its back are distinctive.

According to a folk tale from the Nishi-Seto region, the sparrow and the daurian redstart are sisters.