Driving the back lanes to work

I have an eight mile commute to work. There are two sets of traffic lights to negotiate. It takes about 15 minutes from home to work if I rush, but it’s more fun to meander a bit. I don’t think there can be many better commutes possible. Often, I take the back lanes that wind their way through rice fields and the woods. Some of the lanes pass through farmyards, the road splitting the farm in half. Here you're alone, unaccompanied by anyone or anything bar farmyard smells and noises. The animals themselves are phantoms. You get the occasional glimpse, but they are severely cooped up compared with back home. The cows get to stretch their legs every now and again but they don’t get to roam free. Their commute from work to home is a few paces. Even these pigs seem to get more space. But porkers aside, it’s mainly cows around here. Locally produced milk is good, and the beef from down the road in Jinseki is as juicy and tender as it is famous (in the area).

Of course, most of the farming around here is of rice. Ricefields fill the valleys, and the valleys are hemmed in by wooded hillside. Irrigation is provided by a series of ponds. The ponds, when low, have the tell-tale signs of man’s creation. They are concrete basins. But when they are full, the water meets the roots of the trees at their edge. No man-made evidence is on show, and they really are quite beautiful. On a bright morning (or a light evening), it's uplifting when you turn a bend in the road and see the sun on the water. The world looks good in reflection.