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Environmentaly friendly hobbies
Mrs. Sasaki holds up two "goten" balls. The one on the right resembles a cherry blossom flower. On the left is an uncomplete ball filled with rice chaff. 99.11.08/Temperature: 8C/ Weather: Rain / Wind Direction: NW
Start: Matsugasaki, Honjo City Latitude: 39 29 59 N Longitude:140 02 44 E
Destination: Nikaho-cho, Latitude: 39 18 21 N Longitude: 139 58 05 E
Distance Traveled: 23kmIn the small coastal town of Matsugasaki I discovered a women who has made a hobby out of turning trash into her own treasures.
It is said that the town of Matsugasaki used to extend out over the ocean. The relentless sea has slowly moved the shore further inland and houses now rest just meters from the shore. Most houses and small fields are fenced in to keep out the salty, cold, and harsh west winds of the Sea of Japan. Tiled roofs of the village lined the street I passed down in the late morning.
Mrs. Sasaki, whom I met along the small shoreline drive which wound its way into Matsugasaki, explained to me how in the old days, "people didn't know what it means to throw things away". She was even so bold as to say that she still doesn't know how to throw things away. Running back into the corner of her small knitting shop she brought out samples to show exactly what she does with her trash.
Holding up a beautiful decorative "goten" ball, Mrs. Sasaki asked, "What do you think is inside this?" The ball was perfectly round and had a beautiful flower pattern on either side. Tassels dangled from its sides and bottom. Shaking the ball slightly, I couldn't imagine what might be inside. "I use all kinds of trash. Old cloth, string and yarn, you name it, I use it," she said and disappeared again into a back room. Handing over an incomplete version of her decorated balls, she showed me that the core of the ball was filled with rice chaff (rice husks) . "Lately the burning of rice chaff is a pollution problem. I use the chaff in my decorative balls and don't have to burn any of it." Mrs. Sasaki's skillful winding of thread around the core of trash results in a work of art so prized in the area that she has been asked to give workshops on how to make the balls.
Both houses and small fields along the coast in Matsugasaki are surrounded with protective fences. Interested in what other clever ways to deal with trash might come up, I pressed further. "I divide plastic bags by size and store them so I can reuse them as necessary. I even leave a bunch out by my fields so I can carry back harvested crops. I end up using the bags at least three times." She also shared with me that most of the household's vegetables come fresh from the garden and her husband often brings fish fresh from the sea. There seems to be little trash circulating in the house to begin with.
What struck me as most interesting about Mrs. Sasaki's daily household cleverness is the fact that it brings meaning to her life. "Making these decorative balls keeps me going everyday" she said. "Going out to my fields every morning also keeps me going. It is important to enjoy a task which you have done over many long years.
She has come up with several resourceful ways to deal with trash as well as found meaning in doing so. Most remarkably, her cheerful smile told me that she finds joy in her daily routine. "If you don't have a hobby, you can't live," she said.
I was happy to have discovered another person who has made a hobby of being environmentally friendly and environmentally clever.
What are your hobbies?
Greg
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