Hitoyoshi Trip: Saturday

As part of this class, we went on a trip to a place called Hitoyoshi, stopping at Arase and Kawabegawa along the way.

Firstly, Arase Dam (see below).

Our guide, Mr. Nakashima, runs a group lobbying against the dam that may or may not - although most likely never will be - built in Kawabegawa. He told us about how sweetfish were dying out in Arase because - thanks to the dams - the water can't flow properly so the sweetfish get lost and die because they have no idea where to go.
 However, good news! A 'fish ladder' (WOT) had been built so fishermen could still practise their livelihood....but for some odd reason there was no water in there at all as far as I could see.

After that - and a long ride up a high mountain road *turns green*, we stopped off somewhere to have a look at a little island and hear some more from Nakashima. Apparently, people used to live on it, but in reent times it's more often than not submerged due to the increase in silt in the river.

This done and lunch bought, we made our way along more high mountain roads (X&) to Kawabegawa. We went there as there's been a lot of controversy in Japan about whether to build a new dam or not for the past 40-odd years, and it's not over yet.

I'll attach a document Nakashima-san gave to us in another post explaining more about it.

In Kawabegawa, villagers have been made to move from low down in a valley to somewhere higher up due to the Japanese government's plans. Most of the buildings left down below are to do with industrial building, I think.

This done, we made our way to Hitoyoshi Craft Park, where I had a go at making a keyholder. Didn't turn out brilliant as it was my first time doing something like that, but I'm pleased with the results. Some other people made rings or knives.
 _:_:_
Everyone tried to make their way to the Akikake Gymnasium (where we'd be sleeping that night), but got a bit lost on the way.

However, we made it there in the end and the rest of the evening was spent relaxing; volleyball [which I was dire at, but no matter], TV and karaoke were just some of the choices of activities on offer.
 All good fun.
Except I got WRECKED and had a huge crying fit [for reasons I'm not going to go into]. Still, people here are genuinely nice so that's cool.