Miyagi Prefecture

(June 26, 2011) This week’s article is about Miyagi Prefecture which is part of an area that has been has been in the news a lot since March. Sendai and the cities nearest it that were devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami are in Miyagi Prefecture. Sendai, the nearest major city to the epicenter, is the capital of Miyagi Prefecture and is one of two cities north of Tokyo, along with Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, with a population greater than one million. Miyagi Prefecture with its 36 towns and cities offered a rich history and cultural experience to visitors prior to the earthquake and tsunami.  Matsushima which is located on Sendai Bay a half hour by train northeast of Sendai was noted for its scenic beauty and was designated as one of the three most scenic coastal places in Japan.  The bay at Matsushima was dotted with hundreds of pine clad islands. My wife, Kayo, and I took a sightseeing boat tour through the bay some twenty years ago with Tamami Saito who had attended Stillwater High School as a Rotary Exchange Student a few years earlier. There was great concern for Tamami and her family for several weeks after the tragedy but she and her family were eventually found to be okay.  No doubt Matsushima suffered heavy damage as did the entire coastline of Miyagi Prefecture.  Sendai was home to three professional sports teams, the Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball team, the Vegalta Sendai soccer team and the Sendai 89ers basketball team. One of the two Rotary International exchange students from Sendai we hosted in March 2010 was a involved with the Rakuten Golden Eagles is some capacity, maybe as a bat girl, and she loved it.

Japan's Rainy Season

(June 19, 2011) Word from Kameoka is that the rainy season is right on schedule. The rainy season, or “tsuyu” which means plum rain because it coincides with the ripening of the plums across Japan, starts in early June in the Kameoka and Kyoto area and lasts about forty days. To the south it begins earlier and to the north a bit later, but over all of Japan except the northern island of Hokkaido, it lasts about forty days.  Hokkaido gets most of its moisture from heavy winter snows and is affected very little by the rainy season. For some the rainy season is a gloomy time, but for others it’s a good time to visit Japanese gardens which are very pretty during a gentle rain. Many varieties of flowers bloom profusely during “tsuyu” , especially hydrangea which has become sort of a symbol of the rainy season. Quite a number of places have planted large numbers of hydrangea to brighten people’s spirits during the gloomy days of the rainy season. One such place is Mimurotoji Temple in the city of Uji about an hour by train southeast of Kameoka. While most Japanese gardens incorporate a very limited number of blooming plants into their design Mimurotoji Temple has included 20,000 azalea and 10,000 hydrangea shrubs in their garden that attract thousands of visitors. One’s spirits are bound to be lifted with such a dazzling display of color, even on a rainy day.

OSU-K Reunion

(June 12, 2011) Around 11 pm one evening in late May 1990 a very tired group of 151 young people from Japan arrived on the OSU campus. They were welcomed to Wentz Hall by several  members of the university staff,  several members of the Sister Cities Council and others.  After studying English for a year many of the group went back to Japan and enrolled in general education classes at Oklahoma State University-Kyoto     (OSU-K).  This pattern of coming to OSU for a year of English language instruction, going back to Japan and enrolling at OSU-K for their general education classes before coming back to OSU for their upper division classes continued for several years until OSU-K was forced to close its doors due primarily to the downturn in Japan’s economy. Through the six years or so that OSU-K existed some 450 to 500 students from throughout Japan studied on the OSU-K  and OSU campuses and many are proud OSU alumni. On June 25^th many of them will go back to the former OSU-K campus in Kameoka for a 20^th anniversary reunion of the first classes offered at OSU-K and they’re bound to have a great time as they share time together and renew friendships.