Hello my friends and sorry for my delay again…
Finally gathered all my strength and can back with the very last English report for the last episode of Hikyo!
As you might remember,
Tamaki san joined a group of residents working on a field, planting red beans!
Then he was invited to get some rest in the shelter with them, and enjoy some read beans they produce in this area (Komoike dinagon).
He offered help to one of the ladies who were making onigiri, and started making one by himself…
This is not his first time doing this on the show…
And he had this fear every time that he won’t be able to do it since he is not good… well he wasn’t good but doing it over and over is the only way to improve XD
(Making a very serious face!!↑)
So this time…
Somehow…
He makes it perfectly and even surprises himself!!
Then he holds the nice shaped onigiri up in his hand and says:
“I got better at making onigiri!”
hahahahaha!!! You can hear everyone in the shooting team laughing at what he says… because they know what he means XD One of the great things he achieved during this one year of shooting hikyo ^^
Now it’s time to eat the onigiri with the red beans inside!
Trying a bite…
Tamaki san looks at the nigiri in his hand for a few seconds and says:
“The rice is tasty too!!… Soft and sticky!”
And while I was thinking…PLEASE say something nice about the red beans >__<“
he says:
“But if there were small normal beans inside instead, it would have been hard to taste them in your mouth…”
Matsuyama san agrees with him on that and says that the big size red beans mixed with the rice, have a stronger sense of presence in the onigri.
Then as the two men keep enjoying the onigiri,
An old lady on the other side says something…
Tamaki san cannot get what she says so he gets closer and says: “Hm?”
The old lady says: “You shaped the onigiri perfectly!”
hahahahaha!!!
Tamaki san laughs shyly and denies it in a cute way ^^
But I think it made him happy XD Finally being able to do it perfectly!
Everyone getting together, and enjoying the tasty food…
Tamaki san says that he thinks this is really luxurious!
It must be tough to plant and take care of the red beans,
but they get motivated because they know a day will come when they can eat it together and enjoy it like this!
Matuyama san says that they can produce this huge size beans only here in this part…
He also says that many people used to live here in the komuike village in the past,
but now there are only two households left with one resident in each!
Both in their 90s!! So very soon, the village will be all gone…
Thats why they are doing their best to at least keep the name of the village alive with their special red beans, komuike dainagon!
Wish then good luck!! ^^
(I love the way he keeps talking to the kids when the camera is not around!)
☆
Tamaki san’s next destination,
is the non-residential island right in front of the Ine town!
“Aoshima”
It is known as a protector of the Funaya! Keeping it safe from the unexpected bad weather situation and typhoons!!
Tamaki san goes back to Yamada san’s place…
Remember how they went on fishing together?
He promised that he will take him to Aoshima and show him around the island.
Yamada san was of course waiting for him on his boat.
It takes them almost 10 minutes to get to the island by boat.
It’s almost evening time and I think moving around all day long under the bright sunlight and on a hot and humid day like this, might have made our traveller a little bit tired..
But even on his way Tamaki san doesn’t stand still and keeps taking photos…
“Despite being a shore in the Sea of Japan,
this place has a very calm and peaceful atmosphere,
that’s what makes it possible for people to have a life style like that…”
Tamaki san says.
As they get closer to the island,
Yamada san stops the boat by the shore…
And they get off and start walking…
A tori (gate to a shrine) covered with a huge amount of wild greenery!
the tori means one thing for sure: There will be a long stairway!! >__<
Yamada san explains that the residents of Ine,
celebrate the 20th of August every year,
and hold out a traditional festival here at the Ebisu shrine!
They all come here by boat, visit the shrine,
and then go back on their boats…
while playing music and having their own traditional customs on the way back home!
On their loooong way to the shrine (^^;;
Yamada san points at a place by his hand and tells Tamaki san that he has something to show him.
So they change way and start waking into the jungle way!!
Tamaki san has no idea where he is being taken to…
Then Yamada san stops in front of a few stones which look like some kind of a grave…
and then Yamada san says that this is the grave made for a wale!!!
O__O A wale’s grave?! On the island?!
Seems like they used to hunt wales as a normal habit here in this island…
They used to put the bones here ad make a proper grave for them in the old days.
And one sad story…
There is also baby wale’s grave…
Yamada san explains that the little one didn’t part from her mother even after she died…
As a result, she/he died and the villagers just buried him/her beside the mother’s grave in the island.
Not eating it of course…
Just letting it rest here beside her mother’s bones for all eternity!
Building a graveyard for the wales, as an appreciation…
to thank them for the life the human beings took away from them…
So that they can keep living and survive in this island…
It’s a mysterious place…
Tamaki san chooses this graveyard as the
Kokoro no Hikyo #24
☆
The sun is almost about to set,
when Tamaki san and the shooting team come back to Ine.
The funaya houses in the shore are covered by a beautiful orange light…
Standing by the sea, Tamaki san says:
“The central city of Kyoto is of course full of famous places and shrines,
but here has again another unique face of Kyoto…
It has its own history,
And there are people who are still willing to keep the shape of the town just as it is…
But of course they have to adapt with the change of the time as well…
Seeing how they talk about funaya with a happy expression on their face,
was another remarkable think…
There are many people who are actually living their everyday life here…
But in my opinion, it can be one’s secret hideout in a way…” ^^
Wonder if he was imagining his own secret hideout with his own boat… Being able to ride into the ocean whenever he wants to… ^^
And Tamaki san’s best shot in Ine:
☆
And now… Tamaki san’s last words for the last episode of Hikyo…
Searching for the undiscovered but amazing places all over Japan for one year!
“Every journey is a once in a life-time experience…
depending on the weather of that particular day…(laughs XD )
Wonder how many times we got rain showers while shooting!
(laughing while counting with his fingers)
It was a journey, in which I was able to know about the things we always think we know about, but we actually don’t!
Despite being known as a tiny country, 
There are history backgrounds in each part of this land…
Of course there are still many many more things in Japan…
So I think there must be lots of other places with deep history buried in them.”
As the narrator says,
there are still many many places Tamaki san was not able to visitt in this one year of Hikyo hunting journey!
So let’s all hope… that there will be a day…
when we get to go on journeys with him again,
and see his natural and honest way of enjoying the most simple things…
wherever he goes ^^
☆
And now I need to thank you all for visiting this blog, and reading the hikyo reports all this time! I know what I did was never enough, but I just hope I was able to help you all know a little bit more about Tamaki Hiorshi and his character!
When I went to one of his talk show events two years ago (only two episodes of Hikyo had been broadcasted on TV Asahi by that day)… Somehow, I happened to be one of the 5 people among the 900 people in the hall, who won the poster of this show. When he took out my number with his own fingers and read it out loud… my eyes couldn’t see his face anymore! I thought “There should be a mistake!!” But there was none! I stood up and started walking to the stage while saying to myself for several times “This cannot be true!” hehehe!
Well I stood in front of him, said my name and he wrote it on the poster for me, with his signature of course… And then handed it to me with his own hands and that minute when I left the stage… That was when I decided that I should do something in return!!
And that’s the reason why I started these reports!! ^^
He gave me a special gift I didn’t deserve! So I decided to share all the hikyo moments with every possible details, with the fans who cannot go to talk shows and dream of meeting him in person. I was in that situation before so I know how much it sucks >___<
Thank you again! And please keep visiting…I will be around with other stuff as always ^^ And you can always visit the Naked Page on Facebook and contact me here or there!
AND…
Don’t forget to check out Tamaki san’s upcoming work:
October 5th, 9:00 PM on TV Tokyo
「巨悪は眠らせない 特捜検事の逆襲」
(The great devil won’t let you sleep, strike of the special investigation prosecutor)
AND
A fuji Television drama! Starting on October 9th, Every Sunday at 9 PM
「キャリア〜掟破りの警察署長〜」
“Career〜the law-breaking Chief of the Police Station〜”
afsantm2 