About Daisen
Daisen is a granary region covered in lush mountains and rice fields situated in the south of Akita. The surrounding mountainous landscape changes dramatically season to season and the area supports a long history of local events, traditions and festivals. Known as Hanabi Town and famous for the annual national fireworks competition, Omagari Hanabi, Daisen boasts a display for every month of the year.
This page features a collection of articles written by current and previous members of the Daisen City Board of Education team, sharing some of their favourite places around town. Hopefully their stories provide some insight into what life is like in rural Northern Japan.
Life in Daisen
Life in Daisen — Heather Warne
2020-09-01
It is often said that Japan has four distinct seasons. For years these four seasons and their different appeals have been celebrated in Japanese art, poetry and gift shops. Looking around me, I might argue that four is selling it short. Apart from the white of winter, Daisen's landscape never seems to stay the same for more than a few weeks. The rice fields go from winter white, to brown, to mirroring the mountains and sky, then green with growing rice, then yellow until it is harvested. In early spring I was delighted to find that the town was full of daffodils, both in people's gardens and growing wild in empty lots. As these faded, an almost fluorescent pink ground-covering shrub appeared. Then the magnificent cherry blossoms that Japan is famous for. Then tulips. Then salmon pink azaleas. Now, the hydrangeas - my base school has some of the loveliest I've seen.
Thanks to my schools, I am able to take part in some of these changes too. I've enjoyed planting new flowers and digging up sweet potatoes. Some crops are entirely new to me - last year, I asked about a bag full of strange, lumpy cucumbers in the staffroom, and was given a goya to take home. On the advice of a BoE colleague, I used it to make goya champuru. I was also lucky enough to join in the rice planting at one elementary school. My students showed me what to do as we stepped barefoot through the mud, pulling seedlings from bunches and pressing them in at even intervals. They opted to count in English as, together, we pushed a long, cylindrical metal frame to cut further guide lines into the mud. I now get to watch the rice grow.
Last weekend, my friend Meghan expressed a wish to go somewhere botanical, and we settled on an excursion to the lavender fields in nearby Misato. I had visited them previously, but they would now be in bloom. We picked up some cakes from a patisserie in Rokugo on our way out. The usual lavender festival had been cancelled due to social distancing efforts, but we were still fortunate upon arrival to find a babahera stall, just in time to purchase her last two cones. The cooling sorbet was just what we needed in the summer heat.
The lavender fields were busier than I'd last seen them, but still quiet enough for groups to keep a safe distance. Having never much liked the smell of lavender, I was pleased to find these varieties had only a light fragrance. The mountains in the background made the scene especially striking. We strolled through the lavender, then sat in the shade of a tree and made a picnic of the cake we'd bought en route. I might have been a little disappointed to miss out on the excitement of a festival, but the place was too beautiful and peaceful to feel anything but contentment.
The following week, a colleague asked me "Were you at Misato Lavender Field?" She had seen us from her car. She told me that I had seen the lavender at its best - without the noise and crowd of a festival; without the incongruous smell of food. I realised that in some ways, the cancellation was a blessing in disguise. Of course, I also look forward to enjoying next year's lavender festival.
We're now approaching the time that I arrived in Daisen last year, so the seasons have almost come full circle. I'm glad I have this second chance to enjoy them, and to catch anything I missed first time round. I'm looking forward to revisiting some of my favourite spots once they're lit up in Autumn colours. The rice I helped plant will soon be ready for harvest - only, this year, I'll get to take part in the harvesting. It will be another new experience, and I know my students will help make it a memorable one.
Life in Daisen — Liam Mortimer
2020-09-01
My journey to Japan has at times not been a straightforward one, there were numerous spin-offs along the way, and it often felt like I may never get to this point but I’m here now and from the bottom of my heart I have no regrets. This is now home, and it really does feel that way. That isn’t to say this is my first time in Japan. I have been here three times previously and each time my stay has been longer than before, the most recent being for six months, however my previous experiences were limited to the usual tourist places such as Tokyo and Osaka. You can imagine my surprise when I learned I would be working and living in a small town in Akita Prefecture, which I honestly couldn’t have placed on a map.
I will admit I had concerns that this may be too far a cry from the city life I had grown accustomed too. How would I occupy my time? How would I meet people and make friends? Well, not only has this proven to be far from true, I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to see the less travelled parts of Japan, such as Akita, to take that leap of faith and get off the beaten path. Doing so has proven to be the best decision of my life so far. So, let me reflect a little on this place called Daisen that I call home.
I will admit I had concerns that this may be too far a cry from the city life I had grown accustomed too. How would I occupy my time? How would I meet people and make friends? Well, not only has this proven to be far from true, I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to see the less travelled parts of Japan, such as Akita, to take that leap of faith and get off the beaten path. Doing so has proven to be the best decision of my life so far. So, let me reflect a little on this place called Daisen that I call home.
You’ll often hear Japanese people enthusiastically exclaiming that Japan has four seasons. At first, I would hear this and internally think “Okay we get it, but Australia has four seasons too” but it isn’t until you’ve experienced the range of temperatures, colours and weather patterns here that you can truly understand what they mean.
When I first arrived, it was the middle of summer and everything was green as far as the eye could see. Contrast this to summer in Queensland, Australia, where summer means everything is brown and dry, and you can see why I was so amazed. On a clear day the mountains which surround Daisen really do look like a postcard and they’re certainly unlike anything I have ever seen before. The numerous festivals that occur really add to the feeling that summer is here, such as the Kanto festival in Akita city, or the Japan famous Omagari Hanabi competition. This has been covered by others on here and so I will simply say that I now find all other fireworks displays to be sub-par. I may genuinely never be impressed by a new year’s fireworks displays again. The trip to Daisen is worth it in summer for this one event alone, which attracts around one million visitors each year.
Once all the festivals and heat die down the temperature really starts to drop quickly, the upside of this is it signals the arrival of autumn and more specifically the rather breathtaking autumn leaves. I have now seen reds, oranges and yellows that I didn’t think were possible in nature and I will no longer see autumn as the sad precursor to the cold of winter. It is now a reminder of just how breathtaking the natural world can be when you take the time to stop and really take it in. Some good places to see the leaves are Dakikaeri Gorge, located on the edge of Daisen, the Oyasukyo gorge down near Yuzawa, or the Naruko Gorge and onsen village, located just across the border in Miyagi.
After autumn came the season I was most excited for. My first ‘real’ winter. Now for some people the idea of snow falling from the sky during winter is a perfectly normal occurrence, I however, had lived through twenty-six winters without the slightest glimpse of this thing people called ‘snow’. It was something I saw in movies or TV but surely it wasn’t real life. I’d been warned ahead of time that Daisen receives heavy snowfalls each year, despite the fact that this year was the mildest in a long time as my friends constantly remind me, but nothing really prepares you for that first time the ground disappears, or when walking and driving feels like skating, or when you cant even see where the road ends and the rice fields start. It was truly amazing and I’m already looking forward to next. I’d advise anyone wanting to come here in winter to make sure they get out and see the numerous winter festivals on display. Two nearby highlights being the Kariwano Giant Tug of War, involving possibly the heaviest tug of war rope in the world, and the Kamakura festival in Yokote where people build small snow huts and sit inside them enjoying Mochi and Amazake.
At the time of writing I am yet to experience Spring in Daisen, so I won’t say too much, but I have lived through a spring in Japan previously and the blooming of the Sakura (Cherry blossom) trees is the most popular tourist event of the year in Japan for a reason.
Lastly, I would like to thank the people of Daisen city for making me feel welcome at every corner and never failing to offer their hospitality. The way of life here is far slower than in the major cities and this seems to allow people more time to make genuine connections and appreciate their surroundings. The pride the local people have in their town, culture, local traditions and way of life really does rub off on you quickly and before you know it you too begin to share the same sense of pride. I have only been here a short while and have surely only scratched the surface but for me this really does feel like home and I look forward to further exploring and experiencing my own little corner of Japan for years to come.
Life in Daisen — Celine Chan
2019-09-01
I started off on this journey last August in 2018. Time passes by so quickly that 2019 will come to an end soon and take its leave before we welcome the arrival of 2020. Being in the last month of the year puts me in a reflective mood. As the year comes to a close soon, I am taking time to reflect on the past year and the entire time I have been here in Japan since arriving here last year.
Looking back at the past 1 year and 4 months, I couldn’t be more thankful to be placed right here in Daisen out of the entire of Japan. Being here in rural Japan has been one of the greatest blessings I can ever receive. The experiences here in Japan have been nothing but simply amazing. Growing up in the city, it has always been a dream of mine to be experiencing life in the countryside. When I first got to know of my placement, I had absolutely zero idea of where Akita is. Doing a search on Google about Akita yielded little results to help me understand about a place I will soon be calling home for the next few years. I still remember the very first information I got about Akita was the Akita dogs! “Surely it is more than just Akita dogs!” I thought to myself then.
To prepare myself to be ready for life in a place that will be home to me while I am away from my loved ones, I started looking up for more information on Daisen and I got really thrilled when I chanced upon a video of fireworks in Omagari, the town which I have been calling my home since arriving here last year. You have to be here personally to witness the beauty of the creative fireworks here. It’s the best fireworks that I have ever seen and it will honestly be hard to find another place with a more elaborate display of fireworks that are so beautifully synchronized with the mood and rhythm of the accompanying music. If you are placed here right in Daisen and especially in Omagari, you are in for a treat to random but beautiful fireworks. After all, this is a town known to be a fireworks town and the locals living here are really proud of it. Here are some photos of the beautiful fireworks. However, the photos don’t do justice to how beautiful they really are. You have to be here physically to be mesmerized by it.
Looking back at the past 1 year and 4 months, I couldn’t be more thankful to be placed right here in Daisen out of the entire of Japan. Being here in rural Japan has been one of the greatest blessings I can ever receive. The experiences here in Japan have been nothing but simply amazing. Growing up in the city, it has always been a dream of mine to be experiencing life in the countryside. When I first got to know of my placement, I had absolutely zero idea of where Akita is. Doing a search on Google about Akita yielded little results to help me understand about a place I will soon be calling home for the next few years. I still remember the very first information I got about Akita was the Akita dogs! “Surely it is more than just Akita dogs!” I thought to myself then.
To prepare myself to be ready for life in a place that will be home to me while I am away from my loved ones, I started looking up for more information on Daisen and I got really thrilled when I chanced upon a video of fireworks in Omagari, the town which I have been calling my home since arriving here last year. You have to be here personally to witness the beauty of the creative fireworks here. It’s the best fireworks that I have ever seen and it will honestly be hard to find another place with a more elaborate display of fireworks that are so beautifully synchronized with the mood and rhythm of the accompanying music. If you are placed here right in Daisen and especially in Omagari, you are in for a treat to random but beautiful fireworks. After all, this is a town known to be a fireworks town and the locals living here are really proud of it. Here are some photos of the beautiful fireworks. However, the photos don’t do justice to how beautiful they really are. You have to be here physically to be mesmerized by it.
I arrived here without having much information about Akita and didn’t know what to expect. So, I came with lots of anxieties and excitement, as well as with no expectations. Leaving my home and bidding farewells to my loved ones wasn’t an easy decision but I couldn’t be more glad that I made that difficult decision to come out of my comfort zone. Now that I have experienced life in Daisen, there are so many things to share with you about Akita, right from the festivals to attend, breathtaking sceneries to marvel at, places to visit and food that you can look forward to enjoying while being here. The distinct seasons here always make me look forward to what each season has to offer. The sunrise and sunset here are just like beautiful masterpieces painted in the sky to welcome the start of each day and to bid goodbye to the end of the day.
In this write-up, please allow me to share with you more about a unique part of Japanese culture. I am always very amazed by the Japanese culture. Personally, the best way to experience Japanese culture is to learn it from the locals. I am still learning about how intricate their culture is and it never fails to blow my mind away every single time. One of the unique aspects of the Japanese culture I got to learn is “一期一会” (Ichigo Ichie), the belief that an encounter only happens once in a lifetime. I really love this Japanese proverb a lot. It reminds me that the meetings or gatherings in life will never be repeated in the exact same manner, and that one should treasure each of these moments. This taught me to really treasure every encounter I have with the locals here and helped me to understand the intricacies of Japanese culture.
Daisen is a beautiful place to live in and if you are someone who appreciates nature, the fresh air and the quietness, you will grow to love this place. It may be a countryside but you won’t have to worry about traveling far to get your groceries. Living in Omagari, I have many favourite places I enjoy going to and one of the places is the supermarkets. Going to the supermarkets is something I always look forward to because I get to bump into my teachers, students and parents. It is not uncommon to have students running up to me being very surprised to see me there and excitedly introducing me to their parents and grandparents. Once, I even had a cashier introducing herself to me as the parent of my student while I was at the checkout counter to pay for my items! So every visit to the supermarkets makes me very excited.
I have a number of special and favourite places here in Daisen but it is more than the place that brings me excitement and made it special. It is always the people who bring me surprises whevener I bumped into them at the supermarkets or while taking a walk around the neighbourhood when they called out for me excitedly right from their cars whenever they drove past me. Beyond the physical place, it is the many light-hearted moments shared with the locals at any place that made a place so special to me because of the memory attached to it.
Connections and relationships with people are extremely important to the Japanese. From my interactions with my Japanese co-workers, students and the locals, it is the human connections with them that make the best memory for me. Everyone has different ways of making the best of the moment to get the richest memory. For me, I derive great joy in going all out for the locals here and being present for them. If I could capture my whole experience here in Japan in one word, it would be “一期一会” (Ichigo Ichie). This has helped me to make the best out of each moment and to treasure the moment with the people here. And the best part of it has to be developing strong and close relationships with the local folks here who have become my family here. So to whoever is reading this, find your own community and make a deliberate effort to be out there for the locals. You will be pleasantly surprised by how special the experience here will be for you. After all, you attract what you are seeking.
Having been here for more than a year, I came to the realisation that Japan is a very ordinary country. And being ordinary, it is therefore extraordinary. There is something sublime that doesn’t lend itself to words, but can only be experienced. Beauty, after all, needs no words to sing her praises. I feel like I’ve been living here for a long time. I fell in love with its people, with its nature, and with every single passing moment here. The experiences I have had surpassed all my expectations and they made me Japanese at heart.
As I am writing this, I really miss my family and friends back home and I can’t wait to see them and be reunited with them again this Christmas. Yet, I know I will be missing my own Japanese community who are my support system here in Japan. When it is time for me to leave here one day to return back home, the hardest thing for me will be to bid goodbye to the people who have become a family to me here while I am away from my own family. Before I leave this place I call home, I am looking forward to many more special moments spent together with the locals here and the precious memories we will be making together. It is because of the interactions with the people here that made my experiences so valuable and special.
Happiness is found in the simplest things and the best things in life are the people we love and the memories we have made along the way. Just as how the sunrise and sunset are different each day, treasure every moment you will have with the people here because each moment is special in its own ways and only happens once. I hope you will find reasons to be happy and to be thankful for during your time in Daisen. And I have great faith that you will grow to love Daisen as you take time and make effort to know the people here.
Daisen is a beautiful place to live in and if you are someone who appreciates nature, the fresh air and the quietness, you will grow to love this place. It may be a countryside but you won’t have to worry about traveling far to get your groceries. Living in Omagari, I have many favourite places I enjoy going to and one of the places is the supermarkets. Going to the supermarkets is something I always look forward to because I get to bump into my teachers, students and parents. It is not uncommon to have students running up to me being very surprised to see me there and excitedly introducing me to their parents and grandparents. Once, I even had a cashier introducing herself to me as the parent of my student while I was at the checkout counter to pay for my items! So every visit to the supermarkets makes me very excited.
I have a number of special and favourite places here in Daisen but it is more than the place that brings me excitement and made it special. It is always the people who bring me surprises whevener I bumped into them at the supermarkets or while taking a walk around the neighbourhood when they called out for me excitedly right from their cars whenever they drove past me. Beyond the physical place, it is the many light-hearted moments shared with the locals at any place that made a place so special to me because of the memory attached to it.
Connections and relationships with people are extremely important to the Japanese. From my interactions with my Japanese co-workers, students and the locals, it is the human connections with them that make the best memory for me. Everyone has different ways of making the best of the moment to get the richest memory. For me, I derive great joy in going all out for the locals here and being present for them. If I could capture my whole experience here in Japan in one word, it would be “一期一会” (Ichigo Ichie). This has helped me to make the best out of each moment and to treasure the moment with the people here. And the best part of it has to be developing strong and close relationships with the local folks here who have become my family here. So to whoever is reading this, find your own community and make a deliberate effort to be out there for the locals. You will be pleasantly surprised by how special the experience here will be for you. After all, you attract what you are seeking.
Having been here for more than a year, I came to the realisation that Japan is a very ordinary country. And being ordinary, it is therefore extraordinary. There is something sublime that doesn’t lend itself to words, but can only be experienced. Beauty, after all, needs no words to sing her praises. I feel like I’ve been living here for a long time. I fell in love with its people, with its nature, and with every single passing moment here. The experiences I have had surpassed all my expectations and they made me Japanese at heart.
As I am writing this, I really miss my family and friends back home and I can’t wait to see them and be reunited with them again this Christmas. Yet, I know I will be missing my own Japanese community who are my support system here in Japan. When it is time for me to leave here one day to return back home, the hardest thing for me will be to bid goodbye to the people who have become a family to me here while I am away from my own family. Before I leave this place I call home, I am looking forward to many more special moments spent together with the locals here and the precious memories we will be making together. It is because of the interactions with the people here that made my experiences so valuable and special.
Happiness is found in the simplest things and the best things in life are the people we love and the memories we have made along the way. Just as how the sunrise and sunset are different each day, treasure every moment you will have with the people here because each moment is special in its own ways and only happens once. I hope you will find reasons to be happy and to be thankful for during your time in Daisen. And I have great faith that you will grow to love Daisen as you take time and make effort to know the people here.
