This morning I went to Fukushima City’s yearly Bus Festival.

It’s an opportunity to look at different kinds of buses and step inside them to look around.

I took three very short videos:

In the above photo, I’m in an Iwaki bus. (Iwaki City is on the east side of Fukushima Prefecture.)

Amy! Keep your eyes on the road!

We were allowed to flick the little switchies.

If the driver wants the bus to sprout wings and fly over the city, he/she/they will press the Big Red Button.

The Big Red Button is not often used.

It’s an automatic, not a manual transmission.

I asked.

This bus was neato! It’s a mobile library that travels through the rural areas of Fukushima Prefecture so that people who live in the smallest towns can check out books.

This particular bus travels through western Fukushima Prefecture, I was told.

This was my favorite bus of them all.

I spent a lot of time looking at the books in the mobile bus! I do know the books get changed around, and people can make requests.

Which do you like more, busses or books? Booses or Buks? Subs or Koobs?

A Fukushima City local bus. The bus that I see every day in our neighborhood!

Yesterday I rode my bicycle over the river to the south part of Fukushima City. I was headed to a coffee shop that also was a bit of an art gallery. I wanted to check it out!

Alas! While this coffee shop was surely charming in its heyday…it has gone out of business.

I found that to be sad.

The building was getting run-down…

…surrounded by lovely–but overgrown–vegetation.

I thought the plant in the photo was especially interesting.

I ended up getting a canned coffee from the vending machines right next to the former coffee shop.

The sign says: Don’t toss your litter on the ground. Keep your town beautiful.

I know that Japanese vending machines are famous in other countries. People have heard about them through the internet.

Yeah, lots of coffee. I chose the red Wonda.

100 yen for a can of coffee is super duper cheap for a vending machine. (Vending machine prices are higher than the prices in a regular grocery store.)

Mountain Dew! I never see that in Japan. Somebody tell my brother he can visit Japan—they’ve got Mountain Dew here, so he’ll be fine.

And now….do y’all know what’s in the photo above?

This is a vending machine that sells vegetables and fruit. (I’ve also seen eggs.)

A flower shop might have a fresh flower vending machine.

You’ll see these sorts of vending machines more out in the rural areas where the farmers live.

A field was next to the vending machines. This is a quiet neighborhood with houses (it’s not the true countryside,) but Japan tucks fields into available spaces. I’m guessing a farmer owns this patch of land and is still farming it.

Me and my coffee

Despite being disappointed that the charming coffee shop had gone out of business, it turned out to be a lovely day.

Recently I read a book called “Fukushima The Story of a Nuclear Disaster.” It details the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that happened in 2011.

When I say “details,” I really mean it! I bought this book a couple years ago at a bookstore in Sendai City, then started reading it. It was very dense and scientific…so I put it down and didn’t come back to it.

Recently, however, I picked it up again. I told myself, “Just read it slowly, Amy. Try not to get bogged down.”

So this time, I made it through the book. It’s a good book (though not most reader-friendly (?)) It’s definitely a book for adults, or for kids who are mature enough to handle the subject matter.

I went to the Fukushima Prefecture Art Museum over the weekend. The exhibit was photography Yanagi Miwa (Yanagi is her family name. Miwa is her given name. This is her website: http://www.yanagimiwa.net/e/  )

One room was filled with large photos of Fukushima peach trees. And so then when I exited the art museum, I bought some peaches from a farmer. I asked about business. She said that it dipped after the quake, but now it’s back again. That’s good.

This weekend I was reading some Japan Times newspapers (ink and paper versions) at our local library here in Fukushima City. I came across an article about the explosion in Russia (August 2019) which evidently released radiation.

Imagine my surprise when I came across this paragraph of the article:

It seems that Russian officials were brushing aside signs that Cesium-137 (a radioactive isotope) had entered patients’ bodies by saying that the Cesium-137 was due to having eaten Fukushima crabs.

According to this article: https://gizmodo.com/russian-health-officials-blame-fukushima-crabs-for-cesi-1837541107 seven people in the area of the Russian explosion have died. Obviously, something is going on. And how dare they blame it on Fukushima!

The previous article says the quote about Fukushima crabs comes from this Russian newspaper: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/08/22/there-s-no-danger-get-to-work

I was looking at Twitter last week and saw a photo of a badly deformed baby with the caption of “Tokyo Olympics Do you want babies like this?”

I live here in Fukushima and I definitely am not seeing any deformities.

The woman  is anti-nuclear–and she posts a photo of a deformed child and links this to the Tokyo Olympics? (And please note that I am ninety-nine percent sure the baby was not even Japanese. It was just a random photo of a baby with a deformed face.) So she’s implying that if you are pregnant during your two week visit in Tokyo to see the Olympics…your baby will be born deformed? None of that adds up, not at all.

Deformities in babies can be caused by lots of things, but Tokyo has a normal amount of radiation and thus that will not affect one’s pregnancy.

If a person wants to be against nuclear energy, that’s fine and good. But please do not start lies or spread lies.

Each region of Japan has its own delicacies. When people here visit other parts of Japan, they will usually buy a speciality from that area.

In the following link has a map of Japan that you can click on. I’m sorry that the regions of the map are only labeled in Japanese, but if you click on each little prefecture, you can see a specialty of that area.

http://omiyagemap.blog76.fc2.com/

Thus, if you click on my region of Fukushima Prefecture (blue rectangle at the bottom of the blue area,) you’ll see photos of Mama D`Or. It’s a snack that is so so so SO famous here! It’s the number one treat that tourists purchase to take back home to Yokohama or to Nagoya or to Sapporo or to Naha…

Here are some treats from Tohoku:

Macaroons from Sendai City (in Miyagi Prefecture)

Dried peaches from Fukshima…I buy this for my son because he adores peaches. Fresh peaches are only in season during the summer, so these dried peaches are nice to eat during other times of the year.

“Rusk” from the Aizu area of Fukushima Prefecture (in the western part of Fukushima Prefecture.)

Rusk is a popular treat in Japan. I’d never heard of it before coming to Japan and so I was a little confused by the name. It seems that “rusk” is basically a sweet toast. (Occasionally garlic flavored.)

I looked at Wikipedia and it says that it’s Melba Toast! I’m familiar with dry tasteless Melba Toast… Sort of.

Rusk in Japan has more flavor than Melba Toast, definitely.

These milk cakes are from Yamagata Prefecture (my husband’s home prefecture.) They are hard and slightly sweet. Not my favorite, nor my husband’s favorite.

Some more rus–maple on the left and plain on the right.

They are from Aomori Prefecture. I’m not familiar with Aomori at all, and I just googled “Nambu.” It’s a region of Aomori.

Meringue bites from Niigata Prefecture.

Kinako Mochi ball—Kinako is sweet soybean powder or um something like that. Whatever it is, it’s really delicious.

And these little soybean mochi balls are from Akita Prefecture.

White cream “sand” from Nagano Prefeture.

Sand is a kind of cookie here. I think the “sand” comes from the English word sandwich. It’s two cookies filled with creme–so it’s a “sandwich cookie.”

By the way, Nagano is not in the Tohoku area!

(Neither is Niigata, but it is sort of an honorary member of Tohoku because it’s so close to us geographically.)

When I was in the United States, I noticed a news story about a radiation increase in Russia. It was unclear (to those outside of Russia, and to those inside of Russia who are not privy to this sort of confidential information) what exactly had happened….

This is a very early news article soon after the radiation was noticed:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-idUSKCN1UZ0ZT

The above article says it was “a brief spike in radiation.”

Evidentally, the Russian government was not telling what happened, not exactly. The Soviet government also did not reveal what was happening during the 1986 meltdown in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Unbelievably, that incident was pushed under the rug until it was too hard to hide. The European countries said, “Hey, we’ve got a lot of radiation coming in from the east. What’s going on?” And the secret was out.

And now the Russian government is pretending the radiation spike is no big deal, carry on as usual. Nothing to see here. Move along. WE SAID MOVE ALONG!

And so, nuclear watchers/governments around the world scrambled to piece together what actually happened.

A Mysterious Explosion Took Place in Russia. What Really Happened?

It’s now August 30 and–um, I still don’t know if the world is getting the truth.

The following article says the spike in radiation and the explosion was caused by a salvage mission of a nuclear-powered missile.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-intel-report-says-mysterious-russian-explosion-was-triggered-by-recovery-mission-of-nuclear-powered-missile-not-a-test/ar-AAGvFWm?li=AA30Nm

But that’s what the U.S. intel is saying and I don’t think they’re going to tell us the truth anymore than the Russian Intel.

(Hey, I just finished reading “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold.”

Both sides–Bad.

Both Sides–Liars.)

Here’s another article:

https://www.thestate.com/news/article234380182.html

I could post articles until my fingers fall off, but we may not really know what’s going on…….

I went to the United States and stayed with my parents in Texas. It was a lot of fun!

Here are some photos of the cute Lange dogs:

My name is Lily Lange. I’m timid, but sweet.

Hey there! I’m Joey Lange! I’m awesome! I love everybody and everything!

My name is Sarge Lange. I’m the boss cuz I’m the biggest. I chase cats. That’s what I do.

I am Max Lange. I am scruffy.

Here is one of the two Lange cats.

My name is Kevin Lange. Meow.

The other cat didn’t hang around because he hates one of the dogs (guess which one) so I never got his photo.

My son’s vacation is starting this week, so we’ll be in Texas so he can spend time with his grandparents there (and other family members. They are all so sweet. <3)

The Texas sky is so big, so much bigger than our sky here in Fukushima City. You probably think, how can that be? It’s because Fukushima City is a basin surrounded by mountains. No horizon anywhere.

I know Kansas and Texas both very well, and the difference is that Kansas is humble, whereas Texas is proud and boastful.

Kansas is more like Fukushima. Texas is more like Osaka.

See y’all later! 🙂

Elections will be held here in Japan this coming Sunday (July 21, 2019.) Here’s a CNN article. I just sort of randomly chose it, but it’s interesting, and also you can see a list of the various political parties in Japan.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/18/asia/japan-election-women-abe-constitution-intl-hnk/index.html

In the weeks before an election, it is common for cars and trucks with loudspeakers to slowly drive through the neighborhood, loudly (and I mean LOUDLY!) proclaiming the benefits of its party’s candidate. I find the noise amusing, sort of, I guess, but it’s also really annoying. A few years ago I was taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) and a truck went by outside. It was blaring election issues into test room WHILE we were taking the listening section of the test! Luckily, it passed by between questions. But it would have been frustrating had the truck gone by during a question because each question is done only once.

Okay, so today I was out and about near my home in downtown Fukushima City. Here’s a video of me coming across one of the trucks.

(I say in the video that “candidates own the trucks.” I doubt that’s true. Forgive me, I was speaking off the top of my head with no knowledge whatsoever. I don’t know whom owns the trucks, but probably the political party does. Or maybe they are rented.)

The next video….

My mistake: Shouhi doesn’t mean tax, it was a silly mistake of me to say that. It means consumption. (In this case, referring to the consumption tax which is probably going to be raised. These party members are against raising the consumption tax.)

Looking at the truck, I can figure out what political party it is: 共産党　Kyousantou（Japan Communist Party）

This is the second time I’ve come across the Communist Party and taken photos, and I must say–both times they’ve been very nice!

My mom said Texas is very hot now. It’s interesting though because I’m in Japan now and Japan’s summer is STILL rainy! And while it is definitely warm, it’s not HOT. (Not yet.)

Ironically, all this rain and cloudy skies is not good for the growing rice, fruits and vegetables. We need sunny blue skies as well as rain for the crops to flourish.

Anyway, I took these photos last summer at the end of last August. (Japan had record-breaking high temperatures in August 2018. We’ll see what happens in August of 2019.)

Above photos are drinks that are in a freezer at the convenience store. They are blocks of ice. So I guess a worker buys one, and in an hour, the drink is deliciously sloshy.

Consumers can purchase the above items, stick it in freezer. It’s like wearing An ice cube scarf around your neck!

“Cool Sheet” hat for kids (above photo)