Jike Hometown Village / 寺家ふるさと村 -- Part 4

We'll wrap up this series on an educational, working farming village in rural Kanagawa. 

Part 1 HERE         Part 2 HERE           Part 3 HERE 

In the previous post, I highlighted the many uses of Japanese charcoal. The president of our lecture group made her own sumi, by burning disposable chopsticks at home. She handed them out to group members after the lecture. I broke the chopsticks into smaller pieces and arranged them in a jar (which is kept in my home)...

After our visit to the sumi house (see Part 2), we had reservations to eat lunch at a restaurant. This shop was tucked into the side of a hill; we climbed stairs through a Japanese forest to reach the restaurant's entrance. 

A group member stops to photograph the view:

Due to the rain, another group cancelled their reservation, so we were the only ones in the restaurant. I ordered what the other ladies were eating -- a traditional Japanese bento box lunch. It looked like this:

Let's open the box! Inside, you can see: egg, assorted boiled vegetables, grilled salmon, braised pork, pickles, konyaku, and sticky potato. Soup, salad, rice and tea completed the meal.

The shop owner gave us special service -- free ice cream! (with a little Japanese origami = paper folding). Mine was the famous children's movie character, Totoro.

Other ladies got various origami animals. They loaned them to me so I could take a picture of our "zoo". ^_^

After lunch, I explored around the restaurant and saw a potted tree with something yellow in it. What is that? I wondered.....

 ...Ah ha! They were ducks! Enjoying the rain .... ^_^

I found another duck, hanging out with some ceramic frogs....I have a thing for rubber ducks recently. Haha... ^_^

We walked back to the bus stop to head back to Aoba-Dai Station. I got a photo of the bus stop sign for those who which to travel to the village and explore on their own:

This was my first experience to join a cultural interest group and I wasn't sure what to expect. However, despite living in Japan for 13 years now, I realized there are still many learning opportunities. I hope to join this group again for more cultural excursions. 

For the next post, I'll write about a mountain climbing group based in the Kanto area (Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, etc). See you soon! 

~ Information ~ 

Jike Hometown Village is located near Aoba-Dai Station in Kanagawa. 

Access: 

-- Den-en-Toshi line from Shibuya to Aoba-Dai station.

-- Change to city bus #30 or #31. Get off at "Shiki no Ie".

-- Walk to the village (follow the signs).

The restaurant requires reservations and is for private parties. Open: 10:00 ~ 17:00. The phone number is: +81 045-961-5863 (Japanese only). It's closed on Tuesdays.