My in-laws’ just hosted a Shinto ceremony at their house, a very rare opportunity and one with much respect placed upon it and accordingly them.

The family had our own personal ceremony and now after lunch the roadshow is off to the local schools before returning to Ōmura shrine.

various folk, some in Shinto attire are unloading a very shiny mobile shrine from the back of a white kei truck. same folk, still maneuvre-ing the shrine from the truck. the mobile shrine, very old, is a shiny structure of gold black and red, there is a gold bird on top and various red torii gates around it.


Tonight’s dinner was a pumpkin and barley stew using ingredients from this village! Turned out to be very tasty.

A black pot holds an oranges hewed stew of pumpkin, barley, carrots, onions, celery, parsley, celery leaf, cabbage and spinach. A white bowl with brown rim holds white rice, the pumpkin and barley stew and some toasted French bread.

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This morning we climbed a mountain near our house to clean the grounds of a shrine for a ceremony later today. The shrine is on the site of a former castle/fort, apparently. Was a good but sometimes challenging climb for the older group members and the decline was super dangerous and the older lady in attendance slipped about a dozen times which was pretty scary.

That’s the second of the village mountains I have climbed in the past few weeks and definitely my second favourite..

A simple shrine constructed of wood and corrugated metal sits in a wooded area at the top of a small mountain, sunshine bursts through the trees illuminating the area.


On a business trip to Tokushima and looking out the hotel room window this morning and I saw this..

.. objective for today is to find “The Morag”..

(Agnes is an old-fashioned Scottish name, rarely used these days, provokes the image of an old lady with blue-rinsed hair and a two-wheeled tartan shopping trolley)

(Apologies to any Latinx Agneses, no offense intended.. I have a feeling it’s still a common name and adorned by many young people of Iberian decent)

a largely white rooftop view from an 11th floor hotel room, one of the taller buildings has a sign on each of its visible walls saying "The Agnes"


Head is somewhat tired from a day of researching for an assignment and the girls are all at the in-laws’ place for dinner so I just through together some sort of dirty fries number..

Not sure whether it was a complete success or not but pretty tasty, pretty gooey and my mouth afterwards has a chilli buzz so I think it was alright if unconventional..

.. on the fries were an aubergine (diced and cooked in an Asian chili paste), sliced soy meat in its own sort of marinade (from a company called Next Meat in Japan), some sun-dried tomatoes, olives and jalapenos, some corn and a couple of different vegan cheeses on top.. as well as some sriracha, some jalapeno tabasco and some sort of yuzu & togarashi seasoning..

A colourful shot of the dish described in the status, semi-melted vegan cheeses of white and yellow colours with some stripes of red sriracha, a reddish seasoning and some green chili sauce, the various ingredients mentioned in the status can be seen underneath.

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Yesterday’s #vegan “Giant Burrito Cake” or a heat-free representation of it with the available substitute ingredients here in rural Kochi.

A glass bowl filled with slices of red, yellow and green peppers as well as sliced red onion all coated in reddish spices. A circular tray covered with slices of baked sweet potato (satsumaimo). A tortilla wrapped parcel sits atop a dark brown wooden chopping board. The giant burrito cake with some slices cut out revealing the layered contents inside. a slice of burrito cake on a white plate.

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A little trip to the Hirome Ichiba food market in Kochi city today for lunch.

Beer made by my friend Ken (next batch to be bottled is one which I helped brew)

Tacos by my friend Masa!

I love eating and drinking things and knowing the people who made them.

A wooden table with mask related request sign, on top of which is a brown bottle containing sweet potato stout beer, it has a primarily white label with gold and maroon highlights and black text. In front of the bottle is a plastic tray containing a colourful handmade vegan taco.

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Been quite the journey, I suspect this will be his default state for a day or two.

The head and shoulders of a black and white dog asleep on a grey carpet tiles floor.

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