Last Days in Shikoku

Above life, the sunsets can still be enjoyed and are much more vibrant and revealing in the less populated areas. I rode a good 6 hours today to find an Internet cafe to catch up with the rest of the world. I applied for a few jobs that gave a more viable pay check. Hopefully, hopefully.

Kagawa Sunset

Kimochi Warui

Kimochi warui roughly translates as "gross", "disgusting" or "this makes me feel sick" which is exactly what what this part of the work day awards you with. You get used to it but those lettuce have been fermenting disease like curd that smells like what I would imagine rotten brains would be like. They get put into the crates you see in the photo then transported to a rotten lettuce graveyard on the hill.

Clean up

Over Kan-Onji

And on a hill towards the center of Shikoku, I was given instructions to dump the rotten multch lettuce. From there I was able to grab a glimpse of this lowly populated area abundant with concrete.

Kan-Onji

Lettuce

This is one of thousands of stone laid walls that will not be soon forgot. Every day I'd make boxes then climb around walls like these and stack lettuce on the truck. But before the lettuce goes in the box you gotta check it. Is it too small? Is it too big? Is it starting to rot? Have bugs been eating it? etc. All the ones you see in the picture are left to rot or grow then rot then get collected then dumped in a giant sess pit of rotting lettuce. The other good ones get sold.

Lettuce after harvest

Farming

The days were long, hard and with not much reward. Tonight was different though. The boss left some meat packs which turned into Nabe (A kind of Japanese stew). I'm not a big meat eater but when you've been starving for a few weeks, this goes down really well.

Days were passing. Every night some of us would go for a mandarin hunt. They were everywhere and now was the season. That was the highlight of my stay in Shikoku. Munching on stolen mandarins.

Mysterious Blue UFO

Still working

No Beach?

I was in Shikoku and I really wanted to see the beach so on our day off, me and Kobayashi-san set journey to the water in which we could always see from our workplace. Little did we know, by foot, it was a four hour journey. We arrived to find out there was no beach! Just giant concrete blocks and walls. People used this place to dump their rubbish. I think this was the projects of Shikoku. Lots of delapidated apartments, rubbish and no one to be seen. Interesting.

Pits of Shikoku, Kan-Onji

Kobayashi-San

Concrete, so much concrete

More concrete

Christmas Nears

As every year starts, Christmas is not far away. Actually it's November but a good reason for a few to get a head start with the lighting. The farm is cold and my fingers freeze planting those damn lettuce. It's good being outside. Much healthier air than Tokyo.

Christmas is on

Lots of little lettuce

Working in rain kinda sux

Something you don't see in the city

The Long Journey Home

On the long trip home, I took a rest at Zentsuji Temple. Just down the road, the military still operates. Just the same as any country, camo, guns and grenades. Military people get quite provoked by cameras so I thought I'd better not.

My feet were killing me. My toenail jabbed the other toe on every footstep. That really sucked. The temple was the perfect rest. Fresh water and a quite place to sit and take in the nature. The trees grew like nothing I've seen before. It felt like the atmosphere of a fairy tail roll playing game.

Zentsuji Temple Entrance

One Old Tree (No Hugging)

Enlightened Ones

Still on Earth

Konpira-dai-gongen

And further up the hill is the actual Shinto temple called Konpira dai gongen. The temple sits on Mt. Zozu in the town of Kotohira, Kagawa prefecture of Shikoku. There's a good view over the northern territory of Shikoku. I couldn't help but think it'd be easy to spot ninja spies infiltrating from up this high.

It feels somewhat holy seeing the town below from so high. This is what the gods must feel like. And also what kings and queens and rulers of old must have felt like.

Konpira San

A Memorial to Greatness

Ending Autumn

Over Shikoku

Konpira San

After a few days of solitary work, I needed to get out. Takahashi San was driving out of town and dropped me and a co-worker off. I misunderstood that he was coming with us. He went straight home after dropping us off. I didn't bring any money at all. It took me roughly eight hours to walk home.

The temple I was to see was on top of a mountain. Luckely there were big concrete steps to walk up, 1368 of them. I decided to climb them alone. I tend to deal with things better that way.

The path is lined with carved stone monuments of all the people that donated their earnings, time and effort to bring this place into existance.

Signatured shrines

Love moss tree

Serenity

Half point Angel Light Temple

Farewell Kei

The sun warmed the land and thawed my morning chilled face. Kei had decided to leave and worked his final day today. It was in his heart to escape this slave labour and see Kyushu before renting a shop in Nozawa Onsen. I would meet him there and sell hand made hokey pokey ice cream. Before he left, Kei revealed his whole life to me. It's something that I hold with warmth. He eased my pain and soothed my soul every day with his words and actions. Unfortunately, this would be the last time I would see him. Kei, thank you for your spiritual guidance, your kinship and your company. May your spirit be free of it's bonds to Earth and disperse it's way to the universe. We will never forget you.

Kei Sato passed away in hospital twenty days after this photo was taken. He was diagnosed with cancer in his blood. He called me from his hospital bed and we could laugh about this strange life we have. He was optimistic to the very end.

里（旅人）系 Sato (Travelling Man) Kei - 25.2.1981 - 1.12.2008

My last day with Kei

Shikoku Kagawa Kanonji Udon

Yama no mizuna

Aki no owari

Clouds and Sunset

Work was long at tedius today. We were putting arches in the ground to protect the lettuce from the cold weather. We were doing that aaaaaall day. We managed to keep our sanity by fooling around on our breaks.

'What I think of this job' demonstration

Lettuce below the clouds

And the clouds light up

Because I've been in the city for so long, I forgot that the sky produces sunsets. Shikoku is a relatively small island to the south. It has a small, spread out population and the place is famous for its great tasting udon noodles. This is the birth place of Hanamaru, hyaku yen udon :)

Negi (Spring Onion)

And the first day of work we spent in the murky weather. It was work. It felt good to be outside even if there wasn't sun. We were picking and boxing spring onions. Nothing too interesting really. First you uproot them, then cut them, with scissors then wash them back at base. After that, they go into a box and shipped to where ever they get shipped to.

Picking the onions

Cutting the onions

Leaving Home

Me and Kei headed to Shikoku to start work on the farm. It was a long trip on the bus and I didn't sleep at all. We were greeted with rain. Luckely, we didn't work the day we arrived.

Cheap Camera Tricks

The Ripple Effect

A tiny portion of what we were to farm

The Day My Heart Broke

Life took a turn for the unexpected today. I have been knocked off my path and put to swim in soft sand. The comfortable place in my heart called home has invited chaos into both of our lives. It has become sad, empty and drowning in its own turmoil. She calls it a maze. And it's a damn difficult one to solve.

I enjoy a bit of chaos but not like this. I need time. Time to heal. Its natural for me to close up at times like these. This one might take a while. I'm not as strong as I thought.

Welcome to Aroni: Wednesday = closed.

Tamagawa

Tamagawa

Tamagawa

Goodbye Tamagawa.

Interesting Finds

More walking missions with Kei led us to a few different plants and sculptures along the way. Today was inorganic day. That's when everyone throws out their old junk and big, but mini rubbish trucks zip around and collect them. Of course in Japan, many people consider last months television or toaster to be junk. Me and Kei collected a dinner set, a large m&m green hot plate, a retro blender and a few other miscellaneous items. If we had the day we could of furnished our house!

The sign of Autumn

Straight from Mars

Iron battle whale

Hiding in the rocks

Harappa By Night

At night, the old school projectionists emerged and broadcast Japan of the 60's onto sheets hanging from the trees. It was an intriguing show of daily life, strange and wonderful and raw footage of things around at that time. The men giving the show for well into their 70's keeping their era alive by sharing their works. I was truely consumed by what and how it was presented. What a treat.

Old fashioned movie editing effects

Beauty from the 60's

Organic interdimentional projections

China Cats Trips Band

This band projected what looked like a giant spherical lava lamp onto the stage mast. It was achieved with layered clear plates with coloured water and oil squished between projected with an overhead projecter. Jee these guys are clever!

Harappa

Lone didj

Mystical Trees

Vibrant Paintings

A few of the wonderful cooks