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