Wireless LAN available :)

The subject line says it all. Not easy to set it up for an old man but you never know what you can do till you try!

You can have internet access through your own PC with LAN card in our place while you stay here.

Hayaokidori website

How long can a computer survive?

5 years? Most of my computers survived only around 5 years.
My main laptop was dead previous October, I needed to repair it with some $$$$.
Got it back this month but the problem occured again.
I went to the pc shop I had bought it and a staff worried if I had installed any softwares or not. He said it might have caused the problem.

I thought if we still lived in a primitive time! If it were 10 years ago, it might cause it because I was often told that. But can we survive with computers not installing any softwares? I don't think so.

I just tried to control my emotion when he said that. Went back home and reformat the C drive but the problem occured again and again.
I gave up and ordered one online. The $$$$ I paid is just for the lesson fee!

Probably we need to be ready to get a new one every 4-5 year.
:(

Hayaokidori website

Hakuba ski slopes available!

The subject line says it all, some upper ski slopes in Hakuba will get in business tomorow - Nov.21st 2008. Hakuba Goryu, Hakuba47, Hakuba Happo one, Tsugaike are ready to go! Stay tuned!

Hayaokidori website

QR code

Finally I created a QR code which leads cellular phone web accessings to one of our web pages for cellular phones when it is scanned right by your cellular phone camera.
Since I just renewed my cellular phone, still have hard time to handle it.... I am not sure this QR code was created oorrectly to work or not lol....
Does your cellular show the page right?

This is the page you should see in your cellular phone monitor.

Hayaokidori website

A mysterious fax

I got a mysterious fax today. It says it's from IRS(Internal Revenue Service). I don't run any business in the states, don't invest any stockmarkets there. So I really wonder why I have to get it. Made a call at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo to ask it. They sent an e-mail with some references.

One of them

The fax might be a phising, not sure. I have to make it clear.
It's getting more convenient day by day lately but at the same time, we also get some mysterious things. We need to judge correct things carefully.

Hayaokidori website

New mobile phone

Got a new cellular phone today. It seems that this is what we call "Kishu Henkou" - something like "replacing a cell phone (to new one)".

Actually I had not had a cellular phone for long. If I remember right, I got the first one somewhen around 1999 or 2000. I don't care the model number or the function because I think anyway I am too old to understand how the functions work completely lol....

Also, I don't make calls so often through my cellular phone because usually it means I need to make calls somewhere outside where usually it's noisy. A lot harder to listen to what the other says. So my monthly fee for my cellular has been just a tiny bit.

I was surprised that my monthly fee will be 1/5 ( one-fifth )than before by this replacing with some plans, some discounts etc. I wonder what I have paid for.
I advice you to think about it to replace your cellular phone into new one which means you will get a new contract. This might improve your expense :)

Now I am reading the explanation to learn how this new one works, which is tough for an old man like me :(

Hayaokidori website

At Milan central station in 1990

Found this below in YouTube.

Several trains arrive/depart there from / for neighbour countries. Good old days, I am not sure this kind of scenery is still there or not.

Hayaokidori website

Harvested potatoes

At this time of the year, we always harvest potatoes we grow. It's the hottest time in the year. But Hakuba provides comfortable climate so it's okay. Thanks god we are not in Tokyo! :-)
　After harvesting potatoes, we have to dry them in the sunshine maybe for some days. If you didn't do this, they go bad. We don't want to miss them so we have to do it.
Sometimes ravens steal some while we put potatoes in the sunshine, I didn't know they steal even potatoes.

Hayaokidori website

Small green frogs

I am not good at sepcifying what kind of frog it is. A small green one which is found here and there around our house and farm. In the farm we can find other kinds of frogs as well, they are definately a lot bigger and different color. Probably this small frog try to hide itself from any enemies which would like to eat it! When it is on a green leaf, perhaps hard for enemies to find it though it is not that hard for human beings. Perhaps our eyes can judge a lot more colors.
At the time of transplanting rice pots, they sing a lot one after another. It's a kind of countryside symbol.

Hayaokidori website

Pronounciation and description

When we Japanese people pronounce Japanese words described in English alphabet, we just do it as it is described.
For example

OBI ( Kimono belt/s )
ODAIBA ( An area name in Tokyo )

How do you English speaking people pronounce above? :-) Actually the BI for OBI should be pronounced as in BI for BIG, not as in BI for BI-LINGUAL.
But in most cases, English speaking people pronounce that BI for OBI like BI for BI-LINGUAL, so there's always confusing with Japanese people especially if what they pronounce had other meanings. They never accept Japanese way of pronounciation for that OBI lol.....
And when Japanese people say OBI in their own way, English speaking people always write it down "OBE" :o This has been a big "why?" to me, but I noticed that BE is just like BI for BIG for English speaking people. They always pronounce BE as in BI for BIG e.g. "Would BE", "MayBE" etc.
When we say ODAIBA, English speaking people often write it down "ODIABA". I think because a lot often a consonant plus "i" sounds as if that consonant plus "ai". Like Giants, Bi-lingual, Simon, Like etc.

When we notice this tiny thing, we can pressume it easier what English speaing people would describe. But I am not sure when English people notice the correct way to pronounce Japanese words which Japanese people describe in English alphabet :p
Maybe it needs more time :-)

Hayaokidori website

Companion plants

Some plants could work for other plants to avoid harmful bugs. This marygold is a kind of companion plants for our cucumber. Marygold smells strong, it smells like a mosquito coil, but a lot stronger. It's getting the time to harvest cucumber, actually reliable because it's we who grow the cucumber but when it's harvesting time, usually we are to keep having them for a while which is a bit tough sometimes :(

Hayaokidori website

Summer greetings

Summer greetings from Hakuba.
It seems that it's been hot in big cities in Japan, I hear something like the max temperture in a day is 39C somewhere in Japan, sorry to hear that.
Like as usual I hope this cool picture helps them to feel cool.
Though it's very cold and snowy in winter in Hakuba, we spend easier time than in big cities in summer. Hope everyone could make it to spend some time here in summer.

Hayaokidori website

Blueberry 2008

We have some blueberry trees in a tiny field and grow them. The flowers are white, just look like what we call suzuran ( lily in the valley ?) flowers.



Blueberry fruits look like pomegranate fruit but a lot smaller. They look light green in this picture but actually dark blue.
I hear blueberries are good for your eyes but I think it's too late for my old far sighted eyes lol...

Hayaokidori website

Scenery from Kaufbeuren station.

When I traveled in souhern part of Germany called Schwaltzewalt, I was on local railways which needed me to change train some times. Not so many services available, perhaps once in 2-3 hours while express trains in major lines provided frequent services like once an hour. Needed to spend some hours at tha station but if there's this kind of beautiful scenery around, it never bored me.

Kaufbeuren is located on the way from Lindau to Augsburg.

View a bigger map
Here's a scenery from a train from Lindau to Kaufbeuren. The second picture is that.

Hayaokidori website

A ladybug with many stars

Found a ladybug walking around in our garden. It was enough big and outstanding for a couple of far sighted eyes of an old man :-) If the black marks on its back were 7, we call it "Nanahoshi tentou" because this "nana" means 7. But this one had a lot more. Wonder what's its name though.

Hayaokidori website

Mulberry jam

Picked some mulberries and made its jam. Mulberries are sweet but look like almost black rather than red. So if you don't brush your teeth after having some, your teeth look like almost black which is like Ohaguro that married women had in old Edo era here in Japan:-) Maybe good for women to avoid sukebe guys around lol....

Hayaokidori website

Airconditioned!

Finally all the guest rooms in our place got airconditioned. Hope everyone likes it.

Hayaokidori website

Passing through Kuwabara siding

A 383 series limited express train "Shinano" running downhill from Obasute and passing through Kuwabara siding. It's a siding with a double crossing point. When trains pass through it, they make a noisy sound which could be interesting to train fans!


A 115 series local train running uphill for Obasute

115 series train has a traditional face which began at 153 series. That face looks cozy to an old man like me.

Hayaokidori website

Playing with web map

When we try something new, we just had better try it before wondering this and that too much. See what infants do, they always try anything new with curious eyes. We can learn someething from them :-)

I just tried to customize a google map for our location.

View Larger Map

Hope this helps you to find us!

Hayaokidori website

Vertical motors transferered from Yamashina, Kyoto

One of regular poster in my Japanese blog "Yamashina no tecchan" sent me 10 vertical motors the other day. This type of motor was main one when I started collecting model trains 40 years ago. The gear system is called " inside gear" I guess because gears are all set inside the two wheels. I have never heard "outside gear" yet and I don't think they can set gears outside of the wheels lol....

But anyway, this motor is a bit bulk for HO scale train cars, so it occupies rooms in a train car or a locomotive. Nowadays people tend to enjoy putting interiors as well, so they prefer other system motors which are smaller and they can put them under the floor so that they can put interior in the car.

Hayaokidori website

Checking ED70

Been checking a model train locomotive ED70. When I do this, I make it into pieces to see what is wrong. Usually some dust are around gears because sometimes we need to put some oil there.
With my old eyes, it's a bit tough to keep doing this kind of things for long hours. Need to finish in an hour or two then keep trying next day or later...

Hayaokidori website

Inpatience after raindrops

Japanese sometimes talk about baby bamboos after raindrops because they grow very fast after raindrops. I have never heard of it if it's impatience but they seem to grow faster after raindrops than in fine dry days though they don't grow that fast while we give water when it's not rainy. This shows how nature works.
I made this pot full of vermilion flower since I would have liked to make a small vermilion spot in green.

Hanging baskets. A combination of vermilion, pink and white. Hanging baskets gets dry sooner than other pots which are for example unglazed pots. We need to manage water for them. From my experiences, as far as we put inpatience in the shade or half shade, we had better keep them a bit dry rather than moist. If it's moist, impatience tends to die.

A combination of vermilion, red and white. White makes its contrast very clear. But hum.... looks each and every pot grows as they like lol.... Maybe I had better cut them a bit sometimes to keep the looking better.


A combination of vermilion, red and pink. There used to be a kind of pink which was a bit dark and was in good combo with white. But I have never found that pink anywhere recently. Probably they don't grow that one any more.

Hayaokidori website

Fine day at Hakuba Goryu Alps daira

Went up to Hakuba Goryu Alps daira botanical garden to pick up weeds there. I prepared some towels to protect my neck from sunburns and a hat to do my head. Noticed that when we get older, we prepare something different for different purposes which we never needed when we were young lol......
Pay attention at the left side pole which is a bit vended. Some pulleys for chair lifts wire are hanged at the middle that may look a bit funny for skiers and snowboarders who visit ski resort in winter. They hang the pulleys lower in summer beause if they leave them at the top as well as in winter, passengers are to move very high in the air which might be a bit danger. This is why they hang them lower in summer if the lifts were in service. Only for this event, they need to get an authorization, Japan is full of authorizations here and there!
As we get 2 - 3 meters snowfall here in winter, they need to hang them upper in winter.

The altitude of Alps daira is around 1,500 meters. It was 20C today with cool and dry windblow which made us comfortable to do the work.

Hayaokidori website

Spain the winner of Euro 2008!

They won the Euro 1964 which was 44 years ago, this is the second tire for them to be the winner. Congratulation!

Final : Spain 1-0 Germany
Semi final : Spain 3-0 Russia
Quarter final : Spain 0(PK4-2)0 Italy

ED70 doesn't work :(

One of the couplers of my ED70 was replaced into American one as it started to work to pull an American rail cleaner car. But suddenly this ED70 seemed to get some troubles and now it does not work right. I overhauled this one.


No wires are disconnected, so I really have no idea what is wrong :( Perhaps I had better take another similar locomotive into pieces to compare! Wonder how it will go though...

Hayaokidori website

Coffee glinder

Nowadays I get a lot of sales advertise for some package coffee which is already glinded by fax or e-mail.

BUT

I believe that the best way to serve some coffee is to glind the coffee and brew it soon before serving some. Maybe using some "package" stuff is a lot easier but tasty stuff needs you more time to prepare. We can get a can coffee with a hundred+ yen through a vending machine but that is not what we provide. Each and every time when customers show up to the breakfast tables, this simple process is repeated in our place. It just takes some minutes to 10 at the longest. Perhaps this is something tiny accommodations can offer :-)

Hayaokidori website

Strawberry 2008

Time for harvesting strawberries! We grow some strawberries but it seems that it might be a bit cold for them to grow here in Hakuba. Never seen any bit ones sold in markets. Strawberries are red but the flowers are white like you see.

Strawberries attract birds with their red fruits, so we put some nets to protect fruits. But the nets are not very small, just need to protect them from birds. Bugs can go through the nets because they are to work for pollination :-)

Making some strawberry jam. Add some sugar and leave them for an hour or so. Water comes out from the strawberries then simmer the pan. Add some lemon juice. That's all, easy isn't it!? Wish the jam itself also looks this beautiful but actually it looks a little bit darker in color.




Icecream, strawberry jam and spare mint. The color combination is like Italian flag. Would like to have it but I am still on my diet to lose some extra weight!!! LOL

Hayaokidori website

JR 383 series train going uphill

JR 383 series limited express train "Shinano" bounds for Nagoya going uphill before Obasute. 383 series train has a pendrium system which enables to run faster at curves. It looks like the train rushes to go there. It does not look so fast because it's a bit steep there - roughly I guess 2% uphill. After the train gets out of a tunnel, finally it gets closer and closer to Obasute.

Hayaokidori website

Inpatience 2008

We started transplanting some inpatience flowers in our garden. They bloom better in the shades rather than under sunshine. When we hang some like this picture, we use lighter sand.

Another shot from a bit further distance. It's a little bit tough to choose flowers if your house is painted in red like our house because many flowers are like red in color but not so many other colors like blue, yellow or white. If we choose red flowers, maybe you can not find them good if they are located just close to our house. And still can not find any favorite flowers which can be in bloom good at the shade in our garden because we left some trees around which make shades. After all, we are to choose inpatience because they bloom in the shade and we like them.

Sometimes we put pots full of red flowers which are the same color of our house in some area full of grasses around for our customers to see from their rooms. They look pretty especially after some rain falls. We make our garden little by little :-)

Hayaokidori website

3 kinds of desserts made from vegitable geratine.

I often cook something from vegitable geratine which we call "Kanten". It's made from sea weed. We can get dried kanten in some shops easily. When you cook something from vegitable geratine, you just put some vegitable geratine in some water then simmer/boil it in some water. Vegitable geratine is one of healthy food, you can use it just like geratine. Maybe I had better inform you that vegitable geratine would never be melt again even if you heat it after you curdle it while normal geratine do.

Plain Kanten with sweet black beans. If you don't add any sugar when you boil kanten, it does not taste at all which is a bit tough to eat lol... So usually we add something sweet. When you add some fruit in this plain kanten with sweet black beans, that is what we call "Mitsumame" here in Japan. Actually this plain kanten with some sweet black beans is my diet menu!!! I eat some of it ( usually 150 grams ) BEFORE I have dinner to avoid eating too much yummy stuff :(

Fruits terrine Gyunyu(milk) kan ( abbreviation for kanten ). We can try any fruits. I've noticed that we have many kinds of fruits which are like yellow in color but not so many in other colors. Peach, pineapple, banana, apple, orange etc are all like yellow but if it's red - maybe strawberry, rasberry etc and if it's green- kiwi? Bananas feel great when they come into my mouth, as grapefruits are a bit sour , it would be outstanding in the gyunyukan, so I think some love it love it very much but others don't love it don't love it very much.

Fruit terrine I made last year. I guess this could be one of bad example in the meaning of combination. Too much fruit in it. If it's too much, it easily gets out of shape when you get it out of a form. I guess maybe that's a good idea to put as much fruits as it does not get out of shape :-)


Mizu Yokan. Made from vegitable geratine, anko ( sweet bean paste ), some water and sugar. Now trying some combinations : how much water , anko , sugar for some vegitable geratines. Mizu Yokan is one of popular sweet thing especially in summer I think because usually we eat them after we cool it very good.
Which one is your favorite?

Hayaokidori website

Luggage cars running the layout!

One day after the Golden Week a group of model train fans about 20 people stayed in our place and enjoyed the layout. I was busy to serve a buffet dinner so when I got some time to chat this and that with them, most of them were already in their rooms :(
This time someone brought a set of power pack which was a thyristor control one. It made some unique noise which I had heard before when I got on a train which was controled by thyristor motors.

Figures have been added little by little, a bookstand and a seller and customers around.

Arriving people. You see a man almost falling down backward. I guess perhaps he is asked to pay "some more" additional fee and the "some more" must be unbelievable much! lol...

Moms and kids. I guess probably I had better find somewhere else to put this figure. Maybe somewhere in the town scenery is a better location rather than in a station.

Marinated salmon. One of popular dish in a buffet dinner.

Hayaokidori website

Blue-and-White Flycatcher which did not move.

The other day I found a blue and white flycatcher ( Ooruri in Japanese )at the front in our place. It was definately a male judging from the color. It didn't go away when I got close to it and didn't defence at all even when I slightly touch it. I wondered if he was diing. I put a dish of water beside it to observe for a while.

As there are ravens and hawks in the forest, it was clear that his life was not guaranteed if I got away. I knew a small bird like that didn't understand what I said but I could not help talking to it like "Are you okay?". I felt as if I were a stupid boy. Blue and white flycatchers are small birds like sparrows. Perhaps a little bit bigger than them. Males and females of this bird have totally different body color. Male ones are clearly blue, white and black as you see. But female ones are moss green if I can describe. With that tiny body, they fly over than thousand kilometers from the south to Japan to spend their time in summer here to breed. After they reach Kyushu island, they can fly along the shore, rivers, roads, railways whatever on the ground but before the Kyushu island, they have to fly on the sea which is tough.
I am not sure now it's time for them to be tired after the long distance flying. But if we can help them something to servive , I would.

Unfortunately people seem to feel it uncomfortable to have swallows around their houses nowadays because if they nest there, their poops drop off the nest and make mess around. I guess probably I don't feel it nice if my suit gets any from them, but for me it's more important to protect that kind of small lives. If we are to live somewhere where they can not survive, I don't think we can survive with that circumstances. Maybe we can for some dozens of years but probably not so long.

Hayaokidori website

Golden Week in Hakuba

I am not sure how often I have ever described the GW scenery here in Hakuba. But a picture could describe much more than words do. Japan North Alps mountains with snow around the peak at the background, maybe you can find the Hakuba Goryu ski slope Alps - daira gerande there. You can also see some cherry blossoms are getting in bloom in the pic.

Hayaokidori website

Making flowerbeds for spring 2008

The other day I transplanted more than hundred pots of pangies into our flowerbeds. Since we still get some frosts even at the last half of May, we can not put any summer flower there. If we would do it now, probably better have them in some flower pots then move them below the roof when we get some frost notices.

Someone told me that rosemaries would survive outside of the house even in winter so I tried that way but see, they were all dead! Actually they looked almost surviving in March but they got worse and worse in April. I think Hakuba is not an easy place for them to survive.


I purchased some new rosemary pots. Would keep them inside of the house in winter because we need them for cooking.
I was at outdoor whole day long when I transplanted the panties into the flowerbeds maybe that was why I got hay fever for the first time in my life. No headache at all but it felt itchy deep in my nose, kept sneezing a lot and had a runny nose which looked like zombie lol....

Hayaokidori website

Went to Obinata outdoor hot spring

Went to Obinata outdoor hot spring after a long interval. This one is buried deep in the snow in winter, so not available then. I was only person who got in the onsen when I went there this time. A little bit too cold to enjoy outdoor hot spring here in Hakuba at this time of the year, it still snowed a bit :o. But maybe good chance to relax because the hot spring was just for me!


Some bunch of snow were still left in the onsen as well. Spring has not come here in Hakuba yet. Maybe we need one more month for it.


Hayaokidori website

Verb for perfume

Japanese people don't use perfume too much. Or I can say "seldom". Not sure why. Maybe we have not found so many materials for perfume. Been wondering what is the correct English verb for perfume. I expected "use" ? "put" ? Hmmm...
Wear !
I happened to hear somebody said
What perfume do you wear?
OMG, does wear work for that? Hmmm... "wear" sounds as if we wear some clothes. Never expected it would work in this case. Hard to find this kind of phrases in any dictionaries and textbooks. Perhaps this does not work to take an English examination in school though I am not young enough to take any in school lol...

Hayaokidori website

Is this also a "push-pull" train?

Usually we call it a "push-pull" train in Japan if a train has at least 2 locomotives ( 1 at the head, another 1 at the end ) here in Japan. But wonder if this below is also called a "push-pull" train or not :-)

A locomotive is located at the middle of a train!
Can never find this in Japan.
Basically I feel it's a bit vague which is a "locomotive", which is a "passenger car " and which is an "electric passenger car" there in Switzerland. For example an electric passenger car has 4 big motors and pulls other 9 passenger cars ( totally 10 passenger cars ). I think it must be an electric locomotive if it's in Japan. But things go different there.
Actually they don't need to replace the locomotive even when they need to do that if locomotives can be located at the middle of a train like that. My point is why we can not find this way in Japan? Maybe because some restrictions for safety or what?

　By the way, you can find a train for cars around 0mins 50 seconds of this clip above. I think that is a car train which takes cars, buses, trucks through the European Alps to the opposite side because in some points there are no tunnels for cars while there is a tunnel for railway. Maybe ancient people might have guessed someday in the future people need to control to exhaust CO2 :-)

Hayaokidori website

Hakuba tainscope vol.2

Train scope car following another train, looks as if they competed.

When I was a small kid, I enjoyed it when this happaned in some what we Japanese call "fuku-fuku sen" (4 tracks line, 2 in each direction ). What do you say it in English? I don't find the word for it in my dictionaries. Anyone?

Hayaokidori website

Hakuba trainscope vol.1

Successed to take clips into computer from a trainscope. Now I share it to everyone :-)

With the analogue ( not with DCC ), I charged the battery of this train scope by putting the freight car on a track to which maximum electricity was provided for hours because when it goes slow, sometimes the clip does not see good. Does this look good?

Hayaokidori website

Replacing a signboard

As the old one was a little bit tough to stay longer, so I replaced it. It's getting warmer and warmer day by day after a long winter,everything shows up badly when snow melts.

Hayaokidori website

Obasute vol.2: EH200 pulling a freight train.

When I moved my car to Haneo direction from Obasute station, I heard an unique noise of some motors which were definately locomotive ones. I set my camera expecting some EF64 were coming.


EH200 super electrick locomotive going a 2.5 % uphill pulling 13 cement freight cars. Wonder how many cement freight cars can a EH200 pull on this steep uphill.

Hayaokidori website

47 years old Japanese inn master skiing Hakuba 47 in March 08

Finally I got a chance to ski for the first time this season when it's March. Wish I could make it earlier in January or February, but a lot often tough to do that.
Anyway, I visited the Hakuba Goryu & Hakube 47 ski slopes which are my home ground with my guests. One of them seemed to take a movie clip, I didn't know he did that.

It seemed I skiied a bit too fast, no one followed me (^^;;
What a bastard inn master when his customer tried to take a clip!
I should have known it!!
Once again he took another one and I was informed he would.

It was very warm today, the temperture was going up and up and up, very slashy there. Even hard to turn correctly. It was a past story for me to ski very fast, I am getting older and maturer, don't ski that fast any more but would like to handle any situation - powder or wet snow, fast or slow skiing to be a good veteran old fart skier :-)
Thanks for my customers, they made my day!

Found this kind of stuff at the Hakuba Goryu Escal plaza.
Air guns which take snow off from snowboards and skis. It seems some compressers were hid in the wall besides them, tough to hide that kind of stuffs from train fans while trains have some compressers to open/close the doors. We are used to the noise, so we know what's inside the wall! :) Seems very convenient to skiers, snowboarders.

Hayaokidori website