Cycling to the Windmil

One of the handful of defining characteristics of Sakura (the other being the National Museum of Japanese History) is this windmill, which is visible when you take the Keisei Line to Sakura Station. It is about a forty-minute walk from Keisei Sakura Station, but you can rent bikes close to the station.

It was built 20 years ago as a symbol of Sakura's historically strong ties to Holland, dating back to the Edo era.

In a town with a fiercely aging population, the windmill serves as a rallying point for the community. The area is famous for the flowers planted by schoolkids from neighboring districts: tulips for spring, sunflowers for summer, cosmos for fall.

About seven years ago, the area surrounding the windmill, Inba Marsh, underwent a fairly major reshaping. Rivers leading to the marsh were filled up, and the bike paths leading to it were paved. While it was fairly controversial at the time, it also seems to have led to new constructions such as this: directly across the windmill is a market filled exclusively with locally-grown produce.

There is also locally-grown rice. In fact, the land immediately surrounding the windmill is all rice fields.

Another community project: the small patches of garden rented out to different groups. One had a blackberry bush, which I duly plucked fruit from.

Some of the cosmos were already in bloom when I visited in late July, but they're meant for fall.

More crawfish than I'd ever seen, fighting each other on the edge of a rice field. I was reminded of how much kids like catching them. 

The Keisei train, snaking past.

Polpo

Polpo, a family-run Italian restaurant a couple minutes' walk from Sakura Station on the Keisei Line.

While JR Sakura is fairly bustling, Keisei Sakura has been declining steadily in the past decade or so. This is one of the few proper restaurants in the area, and while the menu and decor have remained unchanged for at least twenty years, its dependability is definitely a virtue.

Despite the solid, inexpensive lunch and dinner sets, I always order my favorites à la carte. First, their vegetable soup... 

...and depending on my mood, their chicken salad with balsamic dressing, or their fried chicken. (Admittedly, I always choose the least Italian things on the menu.)

Vegetable peperoncino, a first for me and off the day's menu.

My Old Elementary School

While I was visiting Sakura, I stopped by my old elementary school. Every time I visit, I marvel at how essentially unchanged the school and the surrounding area is. 

The monkey bars that no-one ever seemed to use are still overrun with tadpoles at this time of the year.

Many of them do not make it.

 

I don't particularly have the best memories of elementary school, but I always loved that we had chickens and rabbits to take care of.

There were less bunnies than the last time I visited.

The Middle Ground between Suburbia and Farm Country

Sakura, in Chiba, 20 minutes from Narita Airport. This is the town where I was born. There is very little in the way of entertainment there (even the bookstore near the train station closed down about 4 years ago), but I love how suburbia soon gives way to farms and nature.

This little farm was about 15 minutes' walk from the station. Walk up the main street, turn a street, and you find yourself surrounded by beautiful houses (often recently remodeled) and small farms.

Eggplant flower.

This house is about 25 minutes from the station, straight up the main road. This is the house that separates the suburban homes and the farms beyond. Just to the right of the photo...

...is a chicken coop.  

They have a surprisingly vast space to roam around in.

Right around the corner, in the suburban area, a man sits on his roof, trimming a backyard bush.

Keeping Cool While Ruling the Roost

(In Sakura, Chiba.)

Up Close and Personal

At Sakura Joshi Koen (Sakura Castle Park), blue dragonflies can currently be seen in abundance, particularly near the Ubage pond. Their gossamer-thin wings are still substantial enough to have a shadow.

Water lilies are in bloom on the pond, though they can only be viewed in the morning. By mid-afternoon, the flowers are all closed up. Oddly fierce turtles swim underneath the lily pads (if you wave at them, they make a beeline for you). Less visible are the fat frogs that sit on the pads, giving themselves away only when they croak.

For some reason, the park is home to a handful of semi-feral cats. They race along tree branches like any self-respecting animal in the wild, yet someone seems to be supplying them with store-bought cat food.

Odd Rooster Out

On the school grounds of an elementary school in Sakura, Chiba, a lone rooster is cooped up in a rabbit pen. It opens up into a larger space for the animals, but even the rabbits are not allowed out for extended periods as crows mercilessly hunt them down.

Rabbits so cute and stylishly spotted, the belong in a Chanel ad.

Torii in the Background

A Hachiman shrine in Sakura, Chiba. Rumor has it that a local let some unwanted rabbits loose on the grounds, leading them to multiply. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen on the day I visited.

Ancient sugi (Japanese cedar) trees like the one on the above right were individually tagged for protection.

Bonsai Sanctuary

In the backyard of a modest farmhouse in Sakura, Chiba. The best sunlight is saved for their bonsai collection.

Please Mr. Postman

(In Sakura, Chiba.)

Guarded by rocks and a block of concrete, a rusted-over mailbox (or a box used as a mailbox that has rusted over) sits, waiting for the arrival of the post. If it weren't for the telltale 〒 (which, despite popular misconception, is not a T but is the Japanese postal mark), you'd never be able to tell what it was for.

Buzzkill

(In Sakura.)

A hornet's nest has made itself quite at home. The owners of the house are either oblivious, or they have learned to coexist with the hornets.

Fish that Fly

Koinobori (carp streamers) flown in honor of Children's Day, a day to celebrate children and wish for their happiness and general well-being. This one was in front of someone's house in Sakura, in Chiba prefecture.

The koinobori range from abbreviated versions with only two carp, to extralong streamers that stretch across bridges, like this one in Katsutadai, in Chiba. In their own way, they denote the families with children. With the decreasing population, there is a sense of comfort in seeing these carp blowing in the wind, fastened to apartment balconies or someone's rooftop antenna.