TsukuBlog
Their Long Hard Run Is Over – Ibaraki`s Salmon ( and salmon in Japanese culture)
17 November, 2020
By Avi Landau
It was early one November morning. Michael Frei, Thomas Mayers, and I were still laying, eyes open, within the warm and snug confines of the futon mattresses which had been kindly laid out for us the night before by our host Takayama-san. The light shining through the windows of the old farm-house suggested a beautiful day, but still we hesitated to get out from under the covers, as our exposed faces gave us a hint of the frigid air which would hit us as soon as we did so. There was no heater in this house, except for the electric KOTATSU (a heated table which in accordance with traditional East Asian health principles roasts your feet and loins (lower body) while your upper body remains cold!), so it took a little while to build up the will-power to arise. The black and white photos of Takayama-san’s deceased grandparents staring down at me from