[Travel Japan] ようやく徳島県の神山町に行く心の準備が整った | 書店めぐり、うだつと阿波踊り | Kamiyama, Tokushima & amazing Awaodori
good morning Nenrin-ya’s baumkuchen for breakfast (This one moves automatically…!) Flight to Tokushima I had various thoughts and suddenly decided to go to Tokushima. I also do travel journaling. I haven’t seen my aunt and cousin in about 10 years. It was a good opportunity because we rarely see each other. A nostalgic coffee shop Participated in a book talk event at a café called 14g (No video recording) I decided to go out for a bit with a friend I met at a book event in Tokyo. as a child, I didn’t have time to see beautiful scenery. I didn’t know much about the beauty of Tokushima. My father is from Tokushima, and we used to visit there as a family during summer vacation. I was taken to various places, but Now that I’m an adult and my grandparents are gone, I finally realize how beautiful Tokushima is. Bookstore and old private house guesthouse A very cozy space A wide selection of publications related to Tokushima Wakimachi flourished during the Edo period as a center for the production of Awa indigo. It is known as a town of udatsu because of the merchant houses with “udatsu” on their roofs.
It is said to be known as a town of udatsu. Udatsu is a firewall built on the second floor of a building to keep fire from spreading to neighboring houses. They say it became a symbol of wealth and status because of its enormous cost. It is a tourist destination that retains its traditional townscape. You can also feel people’s lives. This is probably my first time here. My father is from Tokushima Prefecture, but I have never lived in Tokushima myself. After many years, I feel like I am rediscovering the charm of Tokushima. Tokushima Gourmet at a restaurant in front of Tokushima Station. fish cutlet Tokushima dumpling Awa o dori chicken BBQ The sea bream rice was delicious (I forgot to take a video). It was a wonderful day. good morning I have an appointment, but before that, I’m going to have a delicious breakfast. The open space is stylish You can choose small dishes made with ingredients from Tokushima. Charcoal iced coffee with Tokushima bamboo charcoal The customer next to me was drinking it and it looked delicious, so I was just visiting the Tokushima Shimbun newspaper. Actually, in June, there was a fairly large article about the translation and publication of “When Rain Clouds Gather.” I am very grateful that they decided to write another article about me. I visited for an interview. I am in Tokushima Prefecture. Is it the park of Tokushima Castle? I came to Tokushima for various reasons. Japanese translation of “When Rain Clouds Gather” was published in May 2025 That’s the Japanese translation of author Bessie Head’s 1968 novel. It took me about 28 years to get this published. A lot has happened since I published. Things that make me feel very grateful. Impressive feedback Why Tokushima Prefecture? Well, first of all, my father is from Tokushima Prefecture. My father is from a small town in the mountains called Kamiyama, about an hour’s drive from Tokushima City. My father’s family home used to be a sake brewery. There is a very large sake brewery building that was built during the Edo period. My great-grandfather’s generation was a sake brewer. My grandfather was a retail liquor store called Yokoyama Sake Shop. My family closed down the house several decades ago, during my father’s generation. My grandparents passed away and my father cleared out that old ancestral home. We’ve been looking for a way to clean it up and hand it over to someone else. More than a decade ago, that Yokoyama Sake Shop building passed into the hands of someone else. That person is a woman and not much older than me. Renovate the Yokoyama Sake Shop building. Open up some kind of old house bistro. It seems that it has now become a B&B. Anyway, it’s a very nice building and beautiful. I wonder if that was really a good thing. That was over a decade ago. But I don’t know that person personally. My younger brother seemed to have been communicating with her, but I never did. Well, now The place I was talking about earlier was a nice little place But then the old man came and suddenly started doing exercises. I didn’t feel like I could shoot, so I moved on. Kamiyama-cho is where my father is from, and Yokoyama Sake Shop is in the hands of this lady. Now it’s a B&B. I have been working as a development consultant in various international cooperation fields. I’ve been trying to translate Bessie Head’s book for many years, and I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error and hard work. Even so, I have veen feeling a sense of unease and complexity for a long time. I felt frustrated with myself for not being able to translate and publish even one book by Bessie Head. I couldn’t even get this one and only book published. I was turned down by a lot of publishers. Even as a consultant, I had a string of unsuccessful bids for jobs, and things weren’t going well. That period lasted a long time. I’ve avoided communicating with that new owner I wasn’t mentally prepared to face it. This is my personal business. It’s none of the other person’s business, though. I haven’t even been able to publish a single book, and I couldn’t even protect my ancestral home. Of course, I don’t have that kind of capacity or money. A woman of about the same age as me, or close to my age, buys it alone. And turns it into a stylish spot. Well, that’s a wonderful thing. It’s really wonderful that an old house is being renovated like that. It costs money, and not every old house can be converted. When the old ancestral home of Yokoyama Liquor Store was about to be demolished It’s amazing that it has become such a wonderful place thanks to the hands of so many people. I really appreciate it. That way, she gets featured in various media outlets. She is quite famous. It is called B&B On y va! People who visited there also wrote somewhere about how wonderful it was and how great it was. There are a lot of them out there. Amidst all this, I began to feel increasingly empty and a little sad. Of course, it was the house where the Yokoyama family’s ancestors had lived, and I couldn’t do that. My personal problem So I couldn’t face it. Probably many people see the wonderful aspects of On y va! and its surroundings. It’s great that they say it’s a wonderful activity. That’s very true. I really think so. I didn’t have the mental capacity to face it. I avoided it. I thought that if I met her, I would probably feel hard. It took me about 28 years to publish Bessie Head’s book called “When Rain Clouds Gather.” The long years when it could not be published It was incredibly heavy and with such a feeling. I knew I couldn’t do this either. Of course not, I’m not the type to run a bistro. B&B either It’s expensive and requires a lot of effort. Of course I understand that I cannot do such things, leaving that aside I felt like I was being confronted with the fact that I couldn’t do it. There was a period of time when my work wasn’t going as well as I wanted it to. I hadn’t even been able to publish a book for a very long time. I didn’t have the confidence to face it unless I did my job properly. So I have avoided But in May of 2025, I was able to publish a book called “When Rain Clouds Gather. The book is great, but… Apart from that, it was a huge burden for me, like a curse. It’s like a curse that’s been rejecting me for so long. I’ve been told so many negative things. I had a lot of people supporting me. Because it took too long to achieve. Then I was finally free of it. It is a historical event for me. So, apart from publishing the book, I personally feel liberated from something important. So I think I’ll finally be able to go to Kamiyama. I thought I might finally be able to visit the site of the former Yokoyama Liquor Store, so There were also various circumstances involving other acquaintances. Also, there was the opportunity to be featured in the Tokushima Newspaper. I met with the Tokushima Shimbun newspaper. That story came at just the right time. Then I thought maybe I should come to Tokushima now, so I could come. So, I’ve been here since yesterday. Well, I was glad to see my relatives. So, I think I’ll finally head to Kamiyama-cho tomorrow It’s been about 11 years. It’ll be my first time meeting her. I’ve never met her at all, because I’ve been avoiding her all this time, of course. But now I’m finally ready to meet her. So I’m thinking of going to Kamiyama Town tomorrow. I want to shoot a video too, just to see what the house is like. I have many memories of my grandparents. For my father, it was the house where he was born and raised. Ancestors, grandpa, great-grandpa, and the house where their ancestors lived Visiting there feels a bit like a ritual. Publishing Bessie Head’s book was more than just a simple publication. A lot of things are happening in my life. I think it would be a really good opportunity. In the future, I will probably enter a new phase I shed myself, who had not been able to publish “When Rain Clouds Gather.” Freed from a long, long curse I’m thinking about what I can do next. So this trip to Tokushima was very important for me. I got to meet some relatives yesterday. Now that the rain is over, I think I’ll relax a bit and move on tomorrow. I definitely wanted to shoot this before moving, so I shot it at the park today. So, that’s it for now. Since it was the bookstore that stocked “When Rain Clouds Gather,”
I decided to pay them a visit. The first floor is a bookstore space. The owner kindly showed me the second floor space. It feels like a secret hide-out! This place used to be a woodworking shop. I think they still make simple things and so on. It seems this was each of their worktables. There are still tools like this. Each person works at one workbench Processing is done on the second floor and shipped to the first floor The product was removed from the opening and closing floor. The upper winch lifts and lowers part of the floor. It lifts up. It seems that it has been cleaned up quite nicely. They have plans to make this space useful. It really feels like something out of a movie. The old time is still going on.
Atmospheric and charming place Atelier, shared space, etc.
It would be wonderful if it could be used in various ways. In the evening, it will be a “learning house”! It’s called shakuhachi because it’s 1.5 feet and 8 inches long. The exhibit was very interesting, but Here was something I really wanted to see! “Awa no Kaze”, an exclusive troupe, performs four times a day in the afternoon. At night, various groups of dancers take turns dancing. I went to see the noon performance on this day. High level with quite spectacular stages. Both slow songs and fast songs are cool in their own way. The formation and choreography were stunning! I have been dancing belly dance for many years, so I am very interested in dance. The complex formations are amazing. Taking a break at this café I had a relaxing day in Tokushima City. It was a wonderful time. I fell asleep at the hotel. It was getting late, so I had just one drink at the station bar Tomorrow, I’m finally going to Kamiyama. sweet dreams…
雨雲出版で『雨雲の集まるとき』を出版し、ようやく父の郷里の神山町に行く心の準備ができたような気がしました。
阿波おどり素晴らしかった
#徳島
#徳島新聞
#阿波踊り
#阿波おどり会館
#神山町
#雨雲出版
#雨雲の集まるとき
#アフリカ文学
#ベッシーヘッド
#ボツワナ
#翻訳
#翻訳出版
#海外文学
#まるとしかく
#本や学びやmerkki
＃独立系書店
#書店めぐり
#うだつ
#うだつの町並み
#徳島グルメ
#徳島ラーメン
#朝昼ときどき晩ごはんDoor!
#尺八
#bessiehead
#kamiyama
#tokushima
#awaodori
#awadance
#dance
#traveljapan
#travelvlog
#vlog
#solotravel
#publishing
#translation
#africa
#dji
#djipocket2
#ジャーナリング
#journaling
ベッシー・ヘッド『雨雲の集まるとき』5月新刊！
https://rainclouds-pub.stores.jp/items/67dd3c60b5a95931e1ccabf8
雨雲出版のオンラインストアよりお買い上げいただいた方へ特典冊子を差し上げます。
0:00 intro
1:06 徳島
2:24 まるとしかく
3:22 うだつの町並み
5:15 徳島グルメ
5:37 朝昼ときどき晩ごはんDoor!
6:27 なぜ徳島に来たか、神山の話
17:15 本や学びやmerkki
21:57 阿波おどり会館～阿波踊り公演
ーーーー
【雨雲出版】 https://rainclouds-pub.stores.jp/
【note】 https://note.com/africanwhale
【Blog】 「あふりかくじらの自由時間」http://africanwhale.blog.jp/
【Twitter】 https://twitter.com/africanwhale @africanwhale
【Threads】https://www.threads.net/@africanwhale_rupuraramoon
【instagram】https://www.instagram.com/africanwhale_rupuraramoon/
【note】
「ベッシー・ヘッドとアフリカと」
https://note.com/africanwhale/m/m72ab…
「雨雲のタイプライター」
https://note.com/africanwhale/m/m5d6f…
【音声配信】「雨雲ラジオ」
■Stand fm
https://stand.fm/channels/628a9138fd1be6fc4636c33c
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=====About me=======
Art, Africa, Dance, travel …
-Rain Clouds Publishing
-Bessie Head researcher
-Owner of Rupurara Moon African Beads & Craft https://rupurara-moon.com/
-Africa Business Consultant
-Bellydancer Amelia
雨雲出版
南アフリカ作家ベッシー・ヘッド研究
Rupurara Moonアフリカンビーズ＆クラフト https://rupurara-moon.com/
アフリカビジネス/国際協力コンサルタント
ベリーダンサーAmelia
プロフィール https://note.com/africanwhale/n/nc75faab04694
【主な著書】
『雨風の村で手紙を読む ベッシー・ヘッドと出会って開発コンサルになったわたしのアフリカ旅』
https://rainclouds-pub.stores.jp/items/655c85f3e14cf800311377e3
『水面をすべるモコロのように:作家ベッシー・ヘッドと出会ってボツワナを旅したわたしは、ひとり出版社をはじめようと思った』
https://rainclouds-pub.stores.jp/items/66420a7832510f0844fd09eb