So the 4^th of July is no big deal here in Japan but I thought I would celebrate a little by waving my American Flag on Mt. Norikura.  The day was amazing, though maybe a little too sunny and hot.  The previous day had been cold and rainy so I liked the sunny and hot better for it made for better field work.

Couple of photographs from my day.

Near the top of Norikura where some of my timberline plots are located.

View of the distant mountains Mt. Yari and Mt. Hotaka

Keigo making his way through the dwarf pine krumholtz (Pinus pumilla), the dwarf pine is anywhere from 50cm to >2m tall and so much fun to walk through.

The 7^th of July is a deal here though, at least in Matsumoto.  The 7^th of July is Tanabata, “Evening of the 7^th “, I didn’t know anything about this day until I came into the lab and out of the white board there were branches of bamboo (sasa) with little pieces of paper hanging from them.  I had seen these bamboo Christmas trees elsewhere but didn’t know their meaning. Each paper strip holds a dream, everyone in the lab wrote one of their dreams on a slip of paper.  Mine is to be able to hold a simple conversation in Japanese and be understood.  Others were more silly “I don’t want to meet a bear” (from one of the undergrads who had just seen her first bear from the safety of a car)  and “I want to eat rebasasi, again”(I am not clear on what rebasasi is but it is either liver or raw horse meat).  (sorry no picture of our bamboo tree I’ll try to add one later).