A Day in the Life of Ashigara

A Day inthe Life of Ashigara
Morning: We’ll drive to the mountain region of Hakone, located about 55 miles southwestof Tokyo.
Along the way, we’ll make a stop in Ashigara, where we’ll participate in A Day in the Life. This is a great chance to see what life is like in the Japanese countryside, where day-to-day rhythms continue on much as they have for decades. Our first stop is to a local market run by the town, where we’ll get a sense of the various types of fruits, vegetables, and
traditional snacks that are sold there.
We’ll next continue on to the Seto Community
House. The house previously belonged to the
Setos, a Samurai family that helped lead and
protect the town for more than 300 years.
Under the Samurai system, locals were required
to pay a “resident rice tax” to the Samurai
family in exchange for this protection. In 1955,
a descendent of the Seto family donated the
house to Ashigara, and since then it has been
used as a community center. The grounds
feature a children’s playground and watermill,
and the house often hosts seasonal festivals and
local artists’ exhibitions. Despite these changes
in function, you can see still a prominent
vestige of the house’s past: a special front gate beyond which no one besides the Samurai and
his family were allowed to pass. Happily, today
the center is now open to all.
During our time here, we’ll be greeted by a
group of local women and given a tour of the
house. Then, it’s time to roll up our sleeves
learn how to make a traditional Japanese meal.
With the local women as our instructors, we’ll
learn how to properly wash and cook rice using
firewood, and then prepare our very own rice
balls. We’ll also help make an authentic miso
soup—all in the 300-year-old kitchen of Seto
Community House.
Lunch: We’ll sit down with our hosts for a
lunch of rice balls and miso soup, served with
fresh and pickled vegetables. With the help and
translation of our Trip Experience Leader, we’ll
chat with the women about their childhoods
in Ashigara, their daily routines now, and
their concerns about the town’s traditions
fading away in the face of modernity. Our small
group size allows us this in-depth, culturally
immersive experience.
Afternoon: After lunch, we’ll enjoy some free
time to explore the grounds and the village
beyond it. You might pause to pay your respects
at the village temple and graveyard, or simply
admire the scene of a quiet country rice paddy.Leia mais