Took my dog, Miki and my melon, Melony to make Japanese washi at our local paper craft-person (Kamisukiya in Kijima Daira).

Ueno-san had made some fresh rhubarb jam. I thought maybe she might want some of the 200 jars I have in the house that are looking for a new home. If you are in Japan and make jam, these are prefect size to use to gift people when you visit their house or whatever.

When I got there she had a bus-load of Australian visitors, so I took Miki for a walk around the area. He enjoyed drinking from one of Japan's 100 famous water. You can see people in the background filling up tanks of water to take home.

Miki loved it so much he jumped right in. I would have let him splash around, but I was not sure if the other people would be offended.

He also, apparently, peed on the boot of one of those old ladies cutting weeds. I did not see it, but one of the tourists told me he did.

He also loved getting so much attention, not just from the tourists, but also some people from the area stopped their car just to pet Miki.

I have not yet asked permission to post this, so I may have to delete it in the morning.

One of the inns I love has been working on this outdoor bath (only one person, old-style) for years and every time I come I bug them to PLEASE FINISH THE BATH!

This time they had it all cooking and warm when we arrived. (heated by firewood underneath)

When I arrived the owner told me that he had "lit a fire under it". I told the customer that the only reason is that I have been lighting a fire under the owner's butt for several years to finish it. He put the finishing touches on it today knowing that I would be here and give him shit if it was not usable.

Najyomon history museum and park takes you back to the Jyomon period of Japan, the earliest period in Japanese history.

Just to prove to his wife that he was actually here working, Wes from Hiking in Japan insisted (at rice-cutting-blade point) that I post these photos.

With the help of Wes and our faithful local assistant Maiko, we're on track to finish the rice harvest today. The weather couldn't be better - sunny skies after a few days of typhoon. It also doesn't hurt that we only grew half the amount as last year.

Mona helped as well, but due to child labor laws, we had to give her outrageous amounts of break time, which she more than happily took advantage of.

The typhoon wasn't so great for most of the neighbors, though.

On the first night of the storm, Mr. Neighbor was ordering Mrs. Neighbor to come help him harvest the rice by hand - starting at 8pm, in the dark and rain. She said he was crazy. He said something along the lines of "If you want rice this year, then…" (I'm paraphrasing - I have no idea what was actually said, but that's how it looked.)

Why the rush? Their field is closest to the river, and it had been raining for two days straight. I went down in the afternoon to at least tie our metal drying racks to a tree so that if the river did flood (as it does every few years), we'd still lose all our rice, but maybe the racks would survive.

So far, no flooding - but it takes time for the water to work its way down from the mountains, so even though the rain has stopped, we're not in the clear yet. If the water stays down, we should be able to finish harvesting this weekend.

Thanks to the rain, many of the rice stalks have toppled. When the grains get too heavy, the stalks fall over, which makes it harder to harvest. Instead of just running a machine through the field, farmers often need a second person to hold the stalks up with a stick and guide them into the machine's blades. And when the rice is heavy and wet like it is now? Not fun. But if they wait too long, the rice might start sprouting in the field.

No one is happy about the rain. What surprises me most is how everyone acts like they didn't see it coming. I've been here four years, and every year it rains before the harvest. Every year the rice gets heavy with water and falls over. Every year we worry about flooding. Am I the only one who's gotten used to this?

More on the Rice (and Ninjas)

You'd think the ninja would be a big help in the harvest - you know, handy with blades and all. Think again. I'm proud to say that even though I'm not a ninja myself, I'm hands down the fastest with an ine-kama.

Next week is dakkoku time, so I've gotta start practicing with my ashifumi dakkoki - that's the good ol' pedal-powered rice-kernel-off-the-stalker machine.

Spent some time in the back garden this morning making sure Mona didn't bug mommy too much. Luckily, Mona can find lots to do on her own with bugs and frogs and just eating dirt, so I was free to take a few photos.