Delivery Buddhist Monk／お坊さん便

Amazon has started a unique service of delivery Buddhist monks.

Actually, the service is provided by their business partner.

We can order the service at a fixed price via Amazon.

We Japanese call a buddhist monk to our homes or visit a temple to ask a monk to read a sutra when we mourn for someone who has died. At that time, we have to pay some money to the monk as a token of gratitude or to the principle deity of the temple as an offering. The amount of money is not fixed clearly, so we tend to be a little bit concerned about it. 

A good aspect of the service provided by Amazon is to be fixed the price, so we don't have to worry about that.

However, I wonder what everyone will think of the service.

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Amazonが、お坊さんを配達するというユニークなサービスを始めました。

そのサービスは、実際にはAmazonの提携先から提供されます。

そのサービスは、Amazonを通して定価で注文できます。

死んだ人を追悼するとき、私たち日本人は、家にお坊さんを呼んだり、お経を読んでもらうため、お寺を訪ねたりします。

そういうとき、お坊さんに謝礼として、あるいは、お寺の本尊にお供え物として、いくらか支払います。

Gathering Cats ／ ねこあつめ

I like a game called Neko-atsume. Neko-atsume is a game application for smart phones. Various cats will come a little while after you set out food and goods in a field. They play with balls and relax on a cushions. I can take pictures of them. After playing for a while, they disappear, leaving behind small dried sandines called Niboshi as a token of their gratitude. I can use Niboshi for purchasing goods. Although I can also get Niboshi by spending money, I can enjoy the game enough without doing that. It is an endless game but the loose situation is also attractive. :D

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私はねこあつめというゲームが好きです。
ねこあつめはスマホで遊べるゲームアプリです。
フィールド画面に餌やグッズを配置して、しばらく放っておくと猫が来ています。ボールで遊んでだり、クッションでくつろいだりしており、その写真を撮ることができます。しばらく遊ぶといなくなってしまいますが、お礼に煮干しを置いていきます。煮干しはグッズの購入に使うことができます。課金して煮干しを購入することもできますが、課金しなくてもタダで十分楽しむことができます。終わりのないゲームですが、その緩さもまた魅力的です。

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わたしは ねこあつめという ゲームが すきです。
ねこあつめは スマホで あそべる ゲームアプリです。フィールドがめんに えさや ぐっずを はいちして、 しばらく ほうっておくと ねこが きています。
ぼーるで あそんだり、 くっしょんで くつろいだり しており、 その しゃしんを とることが できます。
しばらく あそぶと いなくなって しまいますが、 おれいに にぼしを おいていきます。 にぼしは ぐっずの こうにゅうに つかう ことが できます。 かきんして にぼしを てに いれる ことも できますが、 かきんしなくても、 タダで じゅうぶん たのしむ ことが できます。 おわりの ない ゲームですが、 その ゆるさも また みりょくてきです。

Snowy Mountain (谷川岳）

I went to a snowy mountain yesterday.

I had training in how to use equipments for snowy mountains there, for example, an ice axe and crampons, because I'm just an amateur in mountaineering of snowy mountains. I also practiced how to stop sliding down by using an ice axe.

I saw a surface avalanche during the mountain climbing, the roaring sound was a little bit scary.

I was satisfied with the mountaineering very much though I couldn't reach the summit of the mountain!
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“雪山”
昨日、私は雪山に行きました。
雪山登山ではずぶの素人なので、ピッケルやアイゼンといった雪山装備の使い方をそこで練習しました。私は、ピッケルを使った滑落停止の練習もしました。
登山中、表層雪崩を見ました。轟音が少しだけ怖かったです。
ピークハントはできませんでしたが、大満足の山行でした！
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“ゆきやま”
きのう、わたしは　ゆきやまに　いきました。
ゆきやまとざんでは、　ずぶの　しろうとなので、　ぴっけるや　あいぜんと　いった　ゆきやまそうびの　つかいかたを　そこで　れんしゅうしました。
わたしは、　ぴっけるを　つかった　かつらくていしの　れんしゅうも　しました。
とざんちゅう、　ひょうそうなだれを　みました。　ごうおんが　すこしだけ　こわかったです。
ぴーくはんとは　できませんでしたが、　だいまんぞくの　さんこうでした！

Amakazari-yama!（雨飾山！）(32nd challenge to 100 mountains)

Three holidays in a row in Japan, but the weather forecast said it would rain in the second day. So in the last day which the weather would be fine, I and my wife decided to go to a mountain where we could reach the top within a day.  This time, we wanted to choose a hard mountain because we would be with our teacher of mountaineering, but we thought that choosing high mountains like Japanese Alps was high-risk, so we chose easier one.

We searched a mountain with a camping site near the entrance, where we could stay there the night before. Then we picked up Yakushi-dake(薬師岳) and Amakazari-yama(雨飾山) . Finally, we chose Amakazari-yama because the hight is lower and the weather seemed finer than Yakushi-dake. This mountaineering would be 32nd successful ascent of the one hundred distinguished mountains in Japan.


The night before, we arrived at the camping site. After the rain, we pitched our tent and started drinking party in a log cabin there.
There were not crowded so I felt comfortable.

Nest morning, we started mountaineering from the entrance. It was fine in the morning.

Wet red leaves were very beautiful under the sunlight after raining.










After going up in the mountain path, we came across beautiful scene. It was the collaboration of red leaves and a rocky track.












Then, we went up in the steep trail, and after that, reached Sasa-daira(笹平).  It's so-called flat place with bamboo grass.We could see the top of Amakazari-yama from Sasa-daira! The shape of the mountain was like a bowl. And we could see the Japan sea from there. So impressed because we hardly have chances to see the Japan sea. And rice fields in Itoigawa-city were brilliant under the sunlight.

We finally reached the top! There were a lot of people there. I ate a cupped noodle, then started to go down from the top.

Brilliant white sand! Hoh-oh san-zan! (31st challenge to 100 mountains)

As 31st chalenge to 100 mountains, we went to Hoh-oh san-zan aimed at enjoying autumn leaves with a tent for camping.
Hoh-oh san-zan consists of three mountains, Yakushi-dake, Hoh-oh-san and Jizo-dake.
The route was from yashajin-touge (夜叉神峠）to hirogawara (広河原) via the peaks of Hoh-oh san-zan.

I was very impressed by things as bellow.
- South Alps natural mineral water gushing out near Minami-mimuro goya (南御室小屋)


- Beauty of white sand and autumn leaves under clear blue sky
- Magnificent view of Shirane-san-zan, composed of Kita-dake, Aino-dake and Noh-tori-dake (白根三山（北岳、間ノ岳、農鳥岳）
- Scenery of Fuji-san like one piece of a picture
- Yakushi-dake-koya with a homely atmosphere
- Pleasant walking along the mountain ridge of Hoh-oh san-zan
- Statues of Buddhism at Jizo-dake
- Huge rock on the top of Jizo-dake called an obelisk
- Going down a steep slope

Yarigatake (槍ヶ岳) like a theme park! (30th challenge to 100 mountains)

Sep. 20th to 22nd, 2015
As 30th challenge to 100 mountains, we went to Yarigatake!
The route was from Kami-kohchi to Shin-hodaka hot spring via Yarigatake.
We left home before 2 a.m., arrived at Sawatari-area around 5:30 a.m.
Then accessed to Kami-kohchi by a taxi.











===Impressive things! ===
- Excellent view of Asusagawa-river and Hodaka-dake
- Breakfast set at Michikusa-shokudo restaurant of Tokusawa-en hotel. Costed 1,300 yen and very delicious
- Large field for camping at Tokusawa-en hotel. Seemed very comfortable.
- Great Yarigatake under the clear blue sky
- The path to the top of Yarigatake was very congested. We took 3 hours to reach the top of the Yarigatake. The distance was only around 100 meters. It's like a theme park.


- Camping for two nights in a row. Camping site at Baba-daira is riverbed of a small river. Public toilet was very clean. The tent site of Yarigatake-sansou had already been full at the time of the morning. It's located at 3,000 meters high, separated for each tent, so very pleasant to stay. It's for only 30 tents, so you have to pay attention to the capacity.
- Beautiful starry sky without clouds
- Satisfied with the supper and the breakfast at Yarigatake-sanso.

Mt. Tyausu with various colors! (29th challenge to 100 mountains)

We went to Mt.Chausu as 29th challenge of one hundred mountains in Japan.
We also went Asahi-dake and Sanbon-yari-dake in addition to Nasu-dake because mountaineering only one mountain was not satisfiable to us.

In the beginning, we accessed Touge-no-tyaya by car. The parking lot was already full, but a woman of the facility advised to park our car behind the tyaya at a cost of just 1,000 yen. The badges of mountaineering of Tyausu-dake was sold in this tyaya. We started mountaineering from the tyaya.

We could come across the beautiful view soon after the start point. We could see next check point, Mine-no-tyaya, so we were reassured. There were a lot of flowers of gentian. Those brilliant blue-coulored flowers were very beautiful!


We took a short rest at Mine-no-tyaya, and then headed to Asahi-dake. We climbed up on rough mountain path to Asahi-dake, and reached the top! The silhouette of Asahi-dake was very rough.
We headed next mountain, San-bon-yari-dake. In the middle part of the path to San-bon-yari-dake, there is a flat field called Shimizu-daira. There was damp ground and well-maintained wooden pedestrian road for hikers. The sunlight from the sky was shining on the ground, we felt fantastic atmosphere. After climbing through the bush of small pine trees, we reached the top of San-bon-yari-dake! We took lunch there, and finally we started the last mountain, Chausu-dake.

The fog were gradually getting up, so we felt uneasy about the weather. The mountain road to Tya-usu-dake was very rough. I though this was because Mt-Tyausu was still active. The shape of Mt.Tyausu was like a upside-down bowl. That colored red and brown or yellow, white... anyway, we could enjoy various colors of the mountain. The road was also very rough, and felt uneasy to climb up. Hot gases were discharged from the craters and could hear the violent sound.

We were climbing up as listening violent sound from craters, and finally we reached the edge of the crater of the almost top of the mountain. It was about 100 meters in diameter, and we walked around the edge, and reached the top!

WE COMPLETED TODAY'S MISSION!
However, we couldn't see anything except for thick fog. What a pity.


Anyway, we could enjoy mountaineering of three mountains in Nasu, feeling various atmosphere. We were very satisfied with this mountaineering!