Watermelon Man

Chieko and I got back from Niigata, where we spent a few days with with her parents a her sister's family. Despite my previous statement, I didn't take my computer with me, hence no blog updates until now.
Our stay in Niigata was nice. Spring is coming on a little slower there than it is here, but it's gaining steam, which means that Chieko's parents are busy getting their farm up and running again. They grow a lot of things on their farm for personal use, but the only crops they produce commercially are rice and watermelons. Last time we were in Niigata, right around the end of March, her parents were preparing the watermelon plants by splicing them with a heartier plant at the base (sorry not sure what kind it is), and this time they were ready to go into the ground. Naturally, Chieko and I were recruited to help out. Here are some pics from the watermelon patch.









We'll be back in July to help harvest the watermelons, and I've been assured that there is nothing fun about that process, as it is hot, humid, and physically demanding work.
However, our day's work this time only lasted a few hours, and then it was back to the house to do two things: watch the Red Sox whoop up the Yankees yet again, and smoke some BACON!! There are few things I love in life more than bacon, so I was pretty excited about this. Our brother in law brought a giant bag of bacon cuts, which we strung up and hung in this kind of make shift smoke box.



About 6 hours later, it was ready to eat. And eat we did, along with tasty locally brewed beer. In the spring sun. It was idyllic.



Chieko's parents also gave us each a new hanko. I've covered hankos here before, but in case you missed it, a hanko is a stamp with your name on it that Japanese people use in lieu of a signature. For example, I've used my hanko to stamp everything from my monthly time card at work, to our marriage documents. Chieko gave me a hanko as a birthday present a few years ago, before I came to Japan, and that's the one I've been using until now. It has my last name, Bean, written in Katakana: ビン. For a while though, I've been wanting to get a new hanko made with my name in Kanji (Chinese characters). The Japanese word for 'bean' is 'mame' (ma-may), and the Kanji is 豆. Thanks to Chieko's parents, I've got a spiffy new hanko with my name in Kanji now. This one came with a nice carrying case with a built in ink pad. Cool!



As I mentioned in the last post we are in the midst of Golden Week here in Japan, so no work until next Monday. Now that we've gotten our familial obligations taken care of, we have a few days left to relax around our own neck of the woods. No plans to speak of, though I wouldn't mind taking a hike around the local bamboo forests. Other than that, I'll just enjoy having a whole lot of nothing to do for a few days.