I went an hour late to the Community Cafeteria (地域食堂 or Kid's Cafeteria 子供食堂) expecting the food to be gone but still be able to say hello and chat a bit with the people that make it happen.. They still had a lot of spaghetti and other goodies, lots of donated eggs!!, and one nice guy made little pizzas for everyone. A nice Mom came with her daughter and a fellow Kendo student and we ended up going to visit KuriHimeGo, Princess Chestnut the dancing festival horse... Two primary schools from the Free Night School よる学校 arm wrestling tournament event came too.. They biked 20 minutes to get there after enjoying the area's event the night before.

It seems like there has to be an ecology or constellation of projects so they all work out for great community time. The Kendo Mom and the Biking kids heard about the Community Cafeteria at a little store run by the same people, some combination of neighborly volunteers and the local Social Wellfare Office 社会協議会(？).. The sweet old lady that usually staffs the store on Saturday is one of the Community Cafeteria's founding members and has a poetry/reading time slot at the Free Night School.. She tells store-visitors about other things.. I got wrapped up in the Free Night Scool through the Community Cafeteria.. Another Fellow Foreigner Night School participant got there through the Cafeteria after seeing a flier about it at a little cafe run the same way as the little store..

The little store is a nice place to chat. And sometimes you find something useful. I think it's mostly nice stuff people had laying around the house, the needed to clear their clutter but couldn't toss a nice never-used thing so they donate it.. After decades of overproductions and hyperconsumerism there's lots of nice clutter. One place's clutter could be another person's thing of use. I knock kindling of split wood with a little ax found at that store...
#MimataTown #地域食堂 #栗姫号 #PrincessChestnut #PrincessChestnutHorse

A Modest Utopia!!
Great Weather on Sunday for HanaMi CherryBlossom Sakura gatherings.. Mimata's KamiYone Park is awesome, and it felt great, very convivial to be there with a lot of people enjoying the day.. I ended up running from the CherryBlossom Beauty slope to the other side of a neighboring 山 big hill to appreciate the big playground.. Lots of healthy bright-eyed people outside having a great time.. It reminded me of some lines from Paul Goodman's essay "A Modest Utopia" all we really want is good air, clean water, and the chance to grow up healthy and vivacious... all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...
#MimataTown #KamiYonePark #三股町 #花見 #上米公園 #三股町上米公園

#MimataTown #WaterSpirit #WaterGod #RiceFieldSpirit #RiceFieldGod #田の神様 #水神

The First Water The First Day.

#WaterIsTheBody #NatalieDiaz #TheFirstWaterIsTheBody
#OkimizuRiver #MimataTown
#沖水川 #三股沖水川

Mimata's KamiYone park: live music, open fire, SakuraJima view, a wonderful event. Third year going, hopefully it will go on for many many years, such an awesome time. Next year I'll wear more layers. it got cold.. The hot ginger drink from the one-one coffee booth was great, as was the BBQ meats.. Other booth dishes also had great reviews from friends.. A chocolate banana thing and other stuff..

#TheZenPak #KamiYoneZenPark #SakuraJimaView #KamiYonePark #MimataTown #三股町 #上米公園 #三股上米公園 #TheZenParkKamiYone #三股から桜島

A local lumber and home-construction company does a Marche every year. This was the first time I noticed, by accident, as I was driving by to another lunch-time event that got cancelled. So I ended up going to this event two days in a row. There were a lot of familiar people from the local Free Night School, both working booths and just enjoying some leisure weekend time..There were familiar faces from other events too, the Food truck couple making the Indonesian food really speak Indonesian! The young Japanese woman that makes the great Vietnames Pho and steamed spring rolls also has a place and cats on a nearby mountain by the big Shrine!! There's more time to learn when the event is just down the road from your house and your not in town sweating through a bunch of t-shirts dancing to the folk-punk band in August.. The roofer overseeing one of the parking lots was there both days. You'd think they'd get days off after this sort of weekend but apparently not...

#三股 #かんばらマルシェ #MimataTown #KanbaraMarche

This festival was in Mimata on August 11th. The painter Shogen and the singer keyco were there along with local singer hou and some nice DJs too. The weather was rainy and awful for a few days but we didn't get the sort of destruction they did in neighboring Kagoshima prefecture. It's nice to have a big roofed over space like this, it's the same space that is lit up for the Free Night School dodge ball fun and during the day it's nice to deal with sunburn or sudden squall worries. I was having such a great time making funny faces with the kids and talking with all sorts of people I forgot to take many photos. But there are professional photos and video on-line!! Halfway through the one video is me doing the I.L.Y. sign with a guy I had just met from Nichinan. He told me he used to work in L.A. so we were shouting Ozomatli when the nice Camera guy came by. This place is an after-school facility so kids could play in a little grassy playground between the squall rains. The local DIY shop helped kids make little seats, there was a tent for kids to play in, Dance Hall night people could groove to the music and families could eat and have a good old time. Impressive event: something for everyone!!
- Video I.L.Y.!! https://www.instagram.com/p/DNi16D8JZ8i/
- https://www.instagram.com/gohonmatsu_ongakusai/
- https://www.threads.com/@gohonmatsu_ongakusai/post/DL7Po_SpHX7?xmt=AQF0OQgW1tj7UOZ9Exr5GReV1HrKsud5SRPVoK9DQ1D_Fw

#MimataTown #三股町 #三股ごほんまつ #ごほんまつ音楽祭 #三股音楽祭

Mimata's Craft Fair... It's been a couple years since I went. Last year it was the same weekend (first or third Saturday) as Mimata's Children's Cafeteria (子供食堂、 地域食堂) and some other event so there wasn't enough leeway to go.. But this year it's the second Saturday and the weather is too rainy to do much around the house so... It's a great excuse to go and chat all day, lotsa nice people!! The only shopping I do is usually a 10-minute rush with a list through through a small, local supermarket, but this weekend has me buying all sorts of stuff. The phrases "No Kings, No Masters, All Crafts" kept running through my head. I got to thinking that buying here might help support independence in some way. I talked with a couple craftspeople about the trees that grew the wood they work with, and the psycedelic glass blower guy looked up the NoKings hastag. About a dozen people now respond to "What's so funny!" with "Your Face!". They'll be ready to deal with obnoxious Gringos if I can help.

#MimataTown #CraftFair #つくりびとのカタチ #三股町 #宮崎県三股町

Kirishima seen from Mimata Town's ShinBaBa park(and nearby places).
A plaque with a verse from Yoshio Tomimatsu's poem "Autumn and Kirishima":
三股町の新馬場公園(とその近く)から見た霧島と、 都城美術館の前になる富松良夫の「秋と霧島」詩の一部。

#Kirishima #MimataTown #MimataKirshima

The sun was coming up but couldn't quite see through the clouds, could just provide hints... Kirishima was mostly obscured, maybe just showing a foot..
#MimataTown #三股町 #新馬場公園 #三股町新馬場公園 #新馬場公園日の出