Taking a break from the Present.- Looking back at Sendai, Japan.

The family just lost their mother and were still in mourning. till we visited them. The Sugawara Family.

ate, ken (prefecture), northeastern Honshu, Japan, bordering the Pacific Ocean (east). The greater part of its area is mountainous—dominated by the central Kitakami Mountains—and the climate is cold. The fishing port of Miyako on the eastern coast serves as the gateway to Rikuchū Coast National Park, which includes some rugged, scenic shoreline. The western fringe of the prefecture is part of Towada-Hachimantai National Park.

Agriculture, forestry, mining, and fishing support most of the population. Rice paddies occupy more than half the cultivated land, yielding only one crop per year. Morioka, located on the Kitakami River, is the prefectural capital and the site of Iwate University (1949). A major railway hub, the city produces ironware and charcoal. The first modern ironworks in Japan were in the coastal city of Kamaishi, south ofMiyako. Other cities—including Hanamaki, Kitakami, Ōshū (formerly Mizusawa), and Ichinoseki—are situated in the central lowland area .

There is no doubt that the Japanese countryside for me is one of the most serenely captivating landscape i have ever set my eyes on as there is a mixture of the cooler climate as well as the temperate climate the saw the vegetation of both these temperate  environment such as rice field with the back ground of pine forest covered hills which I visited on one of my travels in  Iwate Prefecture. 

1. Iwate Prefecture is the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka.Wikipedia

The Japanese were to me the most paradoxical people in their manners and behaviors and it is  not an easy thing to really understand what or how the Japanese thinks until you truly have earned their  respect and understanding of you and how or what makes you tick. In dealing with them as most other nations on earth, honesty is the best policy, it is best to let them know that you are ignorant then to make believe that you are full of wisdom. To be accepted into the typical home of the Japanese family especially the ones who live out in the more remote areas is an honor and a heart warming experience that you will take with you for the rest of your life. Her in Iwate my children and I were guests to the Sugawaras where there was a death in the family quite recently. We were invited by one of my wife's students whose mother had died at a young age leaving behind herself and two younger brothers, their father and grand parents all living under the  same roof.

I was unaware of the situation until I saw the family altar and the picture of the deceased and enquired about it with my host. As it turned out the presence of my children and myself in the house broke the ice of gloom and mourning that the whole family was still in the grip of I was told later by my wife's student. The family came back to life with the carefree playfulness of my children that even the father became cheerful she said. Here I got to learn of the lessons in life about how your presence can help make a positive change into someone else's when no effort was made to do so. By being who we were laughing and sketching and drawing, taking pictures and asking silly questions we helped the family to forget their tragedy.

A drawing done by one of the brothers.

Magnitude-5.2 earthquake jolts Tohoku

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2 jolted northeastern parts of Japan on Sunday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency reported. The quake struck at 2:24 p.m. at a depth of around 70 km on the southern coast of Iwate Prefecture, the agency said. In ...

MORIOKA, IWATE PREF. – A beach devastated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster in Iwate Prefecture reopened Saturday after three years of work to remove debris from sand and in the water to ensure safety.