Nothing amazing happens here. Everything is ordinary...

塩尻市 is a small town located off the Japanese Alps. It is considered the “highlands.” It’s about 2500 feet above sea-level, and it’s pretty far away from any sort of coast, so it’s pretty dry in regards to the humidity factor. There are mountains all around, and the city limits are in a valley, so to speak. Although peaks surround me, my part of town, the central area, is relatively flat. When I first discovered this, my initial thoughts were “Damn! Just like Houston. Flat, flat, and more flat,” but when I got here, I was pleasantly surprised. My place is slightly uphill from the downtown area, and I’m about a half mile from some decent foothills.

West side of town from library roof.

East side of town from library roof. I live on the horizon near grass and rice paddies.

The population of my town is about 68,000. This is a relatively small number compared to what I’m used to, but it’s nice. Shiojiri is one of those places,much like in the U.S., and every country for that matter, that has sucked in or annexed several small surrounding towns and villages. One of which is Narai-juku. This cute little post-town was featured as my timeline cover photo and I was taken by my supervisor to visit it last week. It’s pretty cool. If you wanna know more, you can follow the link above.

I'm thirsty...

Shiojiri reminds me of Justin Moore’s Small Town U.S.A. Even though there are 68,000 people, it has a small town feel. As I zoom through the narrow streets on my mama-chari (bike with bell and basket- we don’t have a word for it), I feel compelled to speak to every stranger I pass. “Ohayou Gozaimasu! Konnichiwa! Konbanwa,” depending on the sun’s location. Most residents speak back with a smile: The man who owns a locally grown produce shop down the main drag, the cute octogenarian who prunes and waters her plants every morning, even the adorable four year old who never tires of riding his kid-powered ride-on truck back and forth in front of his parents’ toy shop.

The weather in Shiojiri can be described by a Houstonian as mild. Granted, I’ve only been here for a few weeks, I would say that late July to the middle of August would be the brunt of any northern hemisphere summer. To save everyone time, myself included, I will refer to temperature in Fahrenheit. In the morning around sunrise, which is before 5 AM (No Daylight Savings Time here), the temperature hovers around 68. As the day progresses, it gets to about 90 on a really hot day. The sun sets by 6 PM, so the evenings are cool and breezy, making it an easy segue into the mid 60s for the dead of night.

Shiojiri is considered a minor transit hub. I know many of my friends and family may think that I’m in Tokyo (Pronounced TOE-KEY-YO for us Texans). I’m actually in central Japan. Nagano-ken to be exact. I would like to think the whole world revolves around me, and if the whole world were the four islands of Japan, I would be correct... sort of. Technically the geographic center of Japan is somewhere in Gunma prefecture, but no one's doing the math. For those of you who know Japanese geography, it takes me two hours and some change to go east toward Tokyo, and about three hours west to Osaka. Being on Honshu, the main island, is beneficial for for rail transit, and since bike and train are my only mode of transportation for the time being, I consider myself lucky. Some folks don’t even have a train stop in their town. Lucky for me, it’s an 8-12 minute bike ride from my apartment to the JR station, depending on how lucky I am with stop lights.

All in all, Shiojiri reminds me of Mabase from FLCL, minus the Medical Mechanica plant, of course. For the few of you who get the reference, great. For those of you don’t, even better. This placement seems very well balanced. It has a lot to offer in way of location and basic small town amenities. I’m not in an igloo or a sweat lodge. I don’t live in the urban jungle or the sticks. Shiojiri is not Houston. Shiojiri is not Tokyo. Shiojiri is home. I think I will like it here.