Fox Village & Hanami

 

Reporter: Pasith Tangdhanakanond (Thailand)

What can I do and where can I go in Miyagi during spring? I started by doing some research on the internet in both Japanese and English. The results came differently in both languages. In Japanese, the result came out as to do Hanami. On the other hand, the result came out as to visit the Fox Village in English. I decided to go on one day trip to visit fox village on the morning, and do Hanami on the afternoon with my Japanese friend.

 

I asked my Japanese friend about Fox Village. Not so many people knew about it. Most of them said that they have heard, but never visit before. I did not quite understand why only few people knew about it if it was really a famous place. Located in Shiroishi, it took about an hour in total by driving from Sendai up to the steep mountain hill where the Fox Village was located. After buying ticket and fox’s food from the store clerk, she gave me guidelines and instructions of how to behave in the area. Some incaution behavior could make them bite. Inside the village, there were two main parts: the outer area and an inner area. The outer area was a familiar setting where the animals were in the cage. These animals also had names and age. This was also an area where I got to try touching the fox.

The fur was incredibly soft, and the fox did not move at all when I touched. I went into the inner area of the village. It was a very huge ground with foxes walking around freely. It was like an open zoo. If I was not wrong, there were 6 types of foxes. Some of the foxes are bigger than another, some of them were very small. But all of them were extremely adorable. I stride myself to the platform in the center of the ground area where every other visitors also gathered around to feed foxes from the top of the platform. While feeding the fox, it was the moment of epiphany for me. I looked around myself to the crowd of the visitors, and I realized that nine out of ten people were foreigners, not Japanese. This is why very few of my Japanese friends showed interested in this place. But why? What bring foreigners to the fox village? I tried to ask as many people as I could for the reason. Many of them gave different reasons, but there were two reasons which were common in almost every person’s reason. First, they saw the video about the fox village from YouTube and they loved it. There were nowhere else in the world where there would be hundreds of foxes walking freely in one place. Therefore, it became a default to visit fox village when travelling to Tohoku. Another reason was that to access information about the fox village in English was very convenient. I agree with this. When I searched about a place in Miyagi to travel in English, the first place that came up was the Fox Village. There were tons of direction guiding and reviews about this place. To be honest, I was not surprise why foreigners would love this place so much. The trip to Fox Village was very fun and pleasurable. It was something different, an experience I couldn’t get anywhere else. However, I wonder why Japanese are not so interested in this place. Is the Fox Village considered a very standard place in Japan? 

 

Before hitting the next destination, I decided to go for a lunch. I quickly searched for a famous food in Shiroishi using my phone. The result came up as Umen. I found a local Umen restaurant, and went in for a try. While waiting for my order, I was imagining what Umen would be like. Talking about Japanese noodle, I would think of Ramen, Udon, or Soba. I would never have thought of Umen. The dish finally arrived. The noodle was thin, short stranded, and white in color. The noodle tasted plain, and very healthy. It was very versatile, could be eaten in many ways. The reason for its healthiness was that once a man used Umen, which he got from the priest to feed his ill father until his father was cured. Japanese food is indeed a natural remedy.

 

After filling the energy, we were on our way to Ogawara for Hanami. While sitting in the car, many thoughts about Hanami came to my mind. I never understood the concept of Hanami. If Hanami is being translated directly, the meaning of it would be flower viewing. According to the description on the internet, Hanami would be something like picnic. I wondered how this picnic would be different from other picnic. Arriving at Ogawara, I felt as though I was in some beautiful paintings. The green from the grass blended with pink from Sakura, and contrast with blue of the water and sky. There were also many people in the area, and most of them were lining up in front of food stall to appetite themselves. I lined up and got forty-five centimeters long sausage. They called it Megadog; Mega size indeed!

 
   My friend and I chose a goood spot under Sakura trees to sit. We started talking on random topics while eating. I did not quite remember what we talked, but I remember the feelings well. Surrounded by vibrant pink color of Sakura, a gentle breezes blew across my face. Slowly, I forgot about the time, and I felt so free, so light. I scanned through Sakura trees. I could see each Sakura flower springing out radiated pink ray from the branch as though something new has begun, something bright and wonderful had happened. It was at this moment that I realized the reason of how this Hanami could be any different from other picnic, why Sakura would be just a perfect flower for Hanami, and why Japanese loved Hanami so much. Wonder never cease! 

キツネ村と花見

リポーター：パシド タンダナカノン（タイ）

宮城の春は何をできる？どこへ行ける？インターネットで日本語と英語で検索してみました。日本語と英語で検索した結果は違います。日本語で検索した結果は花見をすることです。英語のほうはキツネ村に行くことです。花見のやり方を分からないので、日本人の友達と一緒に行きました。この旅は日帰りで午前はキツネ村に行って、花見は午後に行くことに決まりました。

キツネ村について日本人の友達に聞きました。ぜんぜんキツネ村のことを知らない人と、聞いたことがあって行ったことがない人が多いです。「キツネ村は人気な場所ならなぜこの場所に知っている人が少ないだろう」と思いました。キツネ村は白石にあって、仙台から車で一時間ぐらいかかりました。キツネ村のチケットとキツネの餌を買った後に、店員さんが村の中に入ったら注意することを説明しました。無茶なことをするとキツネに噛まれます。村の中に入るとたくさん動物がいました。キツネを抱っこすることや、触ることができます。キツネを触ってみて毛並がとても柔らかいと思いました。触った時にキツネは動かず、おとなしくしていました。キツネは人を怖くないと思いました。ここにいる動物は名前と年齢が書いており、ケ－ジの中にいました。普通の動物園と似ていると思いましたが、村の奥に入ると私は間違いに気づきました。

 ここはとても広い広場で、百匹のキツネが自由に歩いていました。歩いているキツネは六つの種類がいました。大きいキツネもいますし、小さいキツネもいました。とても可愛いかったです。広場の真ん中に行くと休憩所がありました。そこでキツネに餌をあげることができます。キツネに餌をあげながら回りの人を見て何か気付きました。観光者の10人中9人は外国人でした。なぜキツネ村は外国人にだけ人気があるだろう？そこで色んな人に話をかけて聞いてみました。答えは色々ありますが、2つのメインの理由がありました。1つの理由は「キツネ村のことは YouTubeから見て興味があった」と言いました。

「世界の中ではここだけしか100匹のキツネが自由にあるいてる」と言いました。ですから、東北に来るとぜったいにキツネ村にいかなければならない場所になってしまいました。もう1つの理由はインターネットにのっているキツネ村の情報は英語が多いです。この理由は私もそうだと思います。キツネ村のことを検索した時に英語を使いました。私は外国人がキツネ村のことを好きであたりまえだと思いました。キツネがこんなに可愛いのですから。キツネ村の旅は面白くて、とてもいい経験でした。最後に、質問があります。なぜ日本人はキツネ村に興味ないでしょうか？キツネ村は日本では普通の場所でしょうか？ 

花見に行く前にちょっとお腹がすきました。携帯電話で白石の有名な食べ物を検索しました。結果は温麺でした。白石市内に行って温麺の店を見つけました。注文して待っている間に温麺のことを想像していました。日本の麺というと中華麺や、うどんや、そばのことをおもいます。麺は白い色で細くて短かったです。温麺を食べてみるととても自然でヘルシ－な味でした。和食は期待したように体にとてもいい食べ物でした。

昼食の後に花見に大河原にいきました。私はなぜ花見は特別な習慣なのか理解できませんでした。「花見」は英語にやくすと「花を見る」(Flower Viewing)ということになります。インターネットで調べると「ピクニックみたい」だとでてきました。ですから、花見て普通のピクニクと何が違うだろう。大河原に到着するすると、とてもきれいな景色だと思いました。草の緑とピンクの桜が似合って、空と川の青とコントラストがあり、絵の中にいるみたいでした。老若男女人がたくさん屋台にならんでいました。私はメガドッグを買いました。メガドッグは45センチのソーセージです。ホントにメガでした。桜の木の下で友達といろいろ話ししました。

あまり話をした内容を覚えてませんが、その気持ちは覚えてました。さくらの活気に満ちたピンク色に囲まれ、穏やかな風が顔に吹きました。時間が過ぎるのを忘れて、軽く、自由に感じました。桜を見て、木の枝から出てきて、新しい人生、新しいことが起こったみたいなように感じました。ここまで理解できました。なぜ花見はただのピクニクじゃないのかと、なぜ花見は桜を見るのかという理由が理解できました。花見はとても特別な習慣だと思いました。