Occasionally, I like to go to Kyoto or Osaka to get a feeling of city life. Although I promote country life and I prefer living in the countryside, it is refreshing to be in cities from time to time.

Hino Festival held on May 2nd to 3rd in Hino Town, Shiga Prefecture is one of the first traditional Japanese Festivals to be held in Reiwa Era which began on May 1st. There were signs of the new emperor and Reiwa Era everywhere and it was packed by people, making a local festival be like Gion Festival in Kyoto.

We had a couchsurfer from England staying with us and went to Hino Festival.

We don’t usually go anywhere during the golden week because it is crowded everywhere and we can relax a lot more staying here. That is a treasure of living in Satoyama; every day is a holiday. We can go Satoyama walking, Satoyama cycling, and have a Satoyama picnic.

While sushi, ramen, and sukiyaki are well known as Washoku, none of them is a typical Japanese dish, but Miso soup is.

A lot of people around me don’t seem to be happy with the name judging from Facebook comments. If we interpret rei as commands or order, it sounds militaristic like harmony is ordered by the government. Considering the philosophy of our prime minister Abe, it isn’t surprising that he wanted to imply it in the name.