Nigel

Dec 2, 20245 min read

🌭Goethe ate a sausage here ゲーテさんはここでソーセージを食べた

December 1st 2024年12月1日

I have been wondering about this sign ever since last year, when I literally walked over it in the town of Miyako in Iwate prefecture. It had to be something to do with the fire brigade, but what were these funny umbrella-like things?

この奇妙なデザインは何ですか？

クラゲ？

Were they jellyfish? (after all Miyako is a fishing port). Answer: NO. いいえ、違う。

I had my chance last week when I went to the flea market in the Japanese Cultural Centre. There were prints for sale, and I saw this thing in one of them. I immediately asked the Principal, who was sitting right beside me. "Oh," she said "in the Edo period, when there was a fire, 🔥 all the different firemans'groups would rush to the scene. The first one to locate the fire would plant this standard (yes, that's what it is) to indicate where the fire was. It's a Matoi.......(纏/まとい)......see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matoi

So now you know.

A decorative paiting on wood from 1833 (note the ladders on the left)

Yes, that flea market ( the nomi no michi.....蚤の道 )......Sieves for ramen, plates, kimonos, fans.......business was brisk.....these are just snapshots.......

For me, the crowning glory was finding this old set of Fude - ふで - calligraphy brushes - and knowing the family from whence they came - a happy bonus....😊

Outside, Autumn winds are still trying to sweep the room clean for winter.......

外では、冬が残っている葉を吹き飛ばそうとしている

but not all branches are bare......

and the winds have never managed to sweep away this umbrella. It must have been here for at least a year.....

誰かがずっと前に傘をなくした

At least there is food for the birds......

鳥の餌

The end of the year seems to be the time to close your business. It's odd when a familiar shop (in this case the chemist Apotheke Rosen) literally disappears over the space of 24 hours. It has been there ever since we moved to Langen over 20 years ago......

ランゲンで馴染みの薬剤師が閉店

I am hungry. That means I have to go shopping. Oh no, off we go.....I hate shopping 😒. Same old stuff in Aldi - look....I've seen these guys before I'm sure...don't they ever get their beards trimmed? If you ask me they look a trifle sinister......."buy me!"...."or else....!"

お腹が空いた。買い物に行かなきゃ...。買い物は嫌い！

No. I need vitamin C for one....so have loaded up with fruit juices......

ビタミンC

Back home. Now let's get down to work. Knife please. Have I washed that red paprika?

食事を用意します

Fennel, peas, broccoli, onions, garlic....in they go........( in the end I forgot the Zucchini )...now....a slash of sunflower oil ( have you seen the price of olive oil?! forget it ).....

フェンネル、エンドウ豆、ブロッコリー、玉ねぎ、ニンニク

At this point my imagination goes East, as I discover some powdered Udon sauce and some Soba (buckwheat) noodles which Tomoko-san had brought....

日本の食材を加える

The buckwheat noodles have a unique taste....delicious...

美味しい

Will this work together ? I have no Japanese cook beside me to advise me. Oh well, let's try......the result? A sort of European hotpot accompanied by Soba noodles. Tasty! Note the cat - thank you Phe!

Tomorrow is December 1st, so the temperature has dropped appropriately to 1°c.......

明日は12月1日なので気温も1℃まで下がりましたね……。

Time to take advantage of the sun. Let's go to the Goetheturm (tower) in south Frankfurt. Easy. S- bahn to Lokalbahnhof and then a bus. I am already imagining a superb clear shot of Frankfurt from the top. I check my phone. "Temporarily closed". Oh great. Such spoilsports. Turns out it's closed during the winter in case anyone slips on ice. Well then. Why can't they just say "ascend this tower at your own risk". Beats me. So I took a walk through the forest.....

Don't forget, it's only 1°c.........

フランクフルト南部のゲーテタワーへ行きましょう。

But the light is good.....

There are strange things to be found here....especially near the tower itself.....Rumours have it that Goethe ate a sausage whilst sitting on this.....

ゲーテさんはここでソーセージを食べたのかな？

...and the children's water playground sports this great fish......

I remember bringing some Main Matsuri artists here in 2022...after a long flight from Tokyo they loved it.....but that was summer of course....

2022年にMain Matsuriのアーティストを何人かここに連れてきたのを覚えています...東京からの長いフライトの後、彼らはここをとても気に入ってくれました...もちろん、それは夏のことでした...

Today it's cold and the Sachsenhausen Weihnachtsmarkt is getting ready to open...

I plunge into the forest. After a half hour walk I reach a lake called the Maunzenweiher... you would hardly know it, but it is actually right next to Offenbacher Kreuz - a huge motorway junction.

But peace reigns here...

森の中は平和だ

...apart from the jumbo jets taking off from Frankfurt airport of course. But you all know what a jumbo jet looks like...note the vapour trails.....

jouki no ato?

Incredibly enough, I noticed a man walking into the water with nothing on except swimming trunks....I did NOT film him. Really.

Then "ping" goes my phone. OMG. Miki-san has been walking in the woods above Osaka......I know you should not compare your lot with others but really......

携帯が鳴りました…ミキさんは大阪の裏山を歩いていたようです…("mobile phone ga narimashita" what an odd transalation. Is it a good one?)

Ouch. This is seriously beautiful...... The famouse"kouyou"......こうよう.....紅葉. Forget the Manga and the Karaoke....this is Japan.....

ここは日本だ !

So Autumn is in full glory - at least in the Kansai. This place is called Mino-o 箕面(みのお) というところです

If that was Japan, then this is Germany.....We happy band of hikers are off to Steinau an der Strasse. A small town with a monumental castle about 60km East of Frankfurt. I have never been here before.

The view from the train is a bit chilly......

電車からの眺め

.......but once we had completed our modest 15km walk we ended up back in the town.....in the Christmas market.....all in a massive castle presiding over a small, modest town....

素敵なクリスマスマーケット