Hey guys! Welcome to Iwate Prefecture!
I am in Tono right now
I've decided to come to this farming village
It's actually a reconstruction of a traditional farming village
I thought it would be really cool to see because I've never experienced anything like that
This place is called Tono Furusato Mura
It's about a 25 minute drive from the station I would say
I'll put all the instructions on how to get here down below
I just arrived, and we're gonna go check out some of the buildings now
Here's a map of the place, it's pretty large actually
So this is where we arrived
And we're just headed up to this place up here
Apparently they have some horses in these buildings
And I'm gonna be making some traditional crafts a little later on today
Some other stuff to see here
And we're also going to be eating some traditional food from Iwate
Which I am really looking forward to!
It just started snowing! So that's interesting...
It's not bad, as long as it doesn't rain I'll be happy
They've given me some cute pink boots to wear
so that I can walk through the snow
These houses are bigger than houses nowadays
So a few hundred years ago these would have
been considered gigantic
All right let's go inside!
There's dolls in here... oh there's a little writeup about them
Look at it, check it out! That's huge!
Wonder what they use it for
Is this what I think it is...
Well this is interesting...
It's lucky I guess?
Okay let's read about it
"Straw Dolls"
This is a male
Yeah we uh... noticed that
There used to be a female doll too apparently
but it somehow became just the male
These dolls protect you from sickness
So people would pray to them for health
And put money in the...
Exactly
So these buildings actually aren't reconstructed
They moved them here from their original places
That's really cool
Smokey in here
Good morning
We're going to see the horse now, there's a horse in here apparently!
Hello
So cute
Umagama: Used for heating water for the horses
This is an old bathtub
The beginning of the Showa Period is when they used these
We're just gonna walk around now and look for some more horses
and check out the other buildings and see what they have in there
Wow
It's huge!
I think this is the one they told us was 17-18 years old
That's apparently around 70 in human years
It's so big! I've never seen such a big horse!
I guess you guys can't really tell how big it is but it's huge
Look at the view! Isn't that beautiful?
All the buildings have the same layout
The cauldron in the floor here
In the back is the kitchen
This area is where everyone hangs out, the living room
Over here is the room for entertaining guests
And in front of that is the bedroom
This wide open area was used for work
The bedroom was only used for sleeping
So they didn't need a light
There are no windows either
So it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter
I heard there was a hidden entrance in here
So at first glance you can't tell there's a second floor
She was just explaining that there are some hidden rooms in this house
They're not sure exactly why this house had those hidden rooms
They don't know what they were hiding in there
One theory is that they were Christians in a time when being Christian wasn't acceptable here
So they had those rooms so they could pray and not be seen
They would have one patch of land where they would grow the grass for the roofs
And it would be just enough for one roof
So each year they would change the roof of one house
So they would choose like "This year will be this family!"
That's cool that they grew all the materials themselves and changed the roofs themselves
Nowadays they don't do that, they get a pro to do it
But I thought that was really neat
Traditional craft time!
We are going to be making some "take tonbo"
Bamboo flying toys? Don't really know how to translate that into English
But it's a traditional Japanese toy and we're going to make them today!
Ok it starts like this and then you have to shave away the sides of it
And end up with something like that
Can I do it?
Stop laughing at me!
It's getting a little thinner!
I did it! (maybe)
I don't know if it will fly
Take-copter from Doraemon
Yay it's time to eat lunch now!
So we've come to the little restaurant that they have on site here
And they've got some special Iwate dishes so I'm gonna try a couple of those
There's this one made out of mochi that I've been really looking forward to
I looked it up and they have it here so, awesome!
Hittsumi is one of the most famous local dishes of Iwate
Dough made of flour and water is flattened and pulled off into small pieces
and put into a soy sauce broth
and it also includes lots of vegetables like carrot, mushrooms, burdock root, onions etc!
It looks really delicious!
It smells really really good
it smells amazing
I'm dying to try one of these noodles
Itadakimasu
Mmm so good
The broth has a really simple flavour
Like a light soy sauce... kinda tastes like chicken broth
That's so good. Great for the winter for sure!
Nice and warm and filling
I'm excited for this one, I love desserts
Especially traditional Japanese desserts and mochi!
Let's try it!
Oh wow it's really squishy!
There's red bean paste inside, can you see that?
It's really soft! Like you took a daifuku and melted it a little bit
and made it really squishy
It's really good
Well that's it guys, it's time to go home
I hope you enjoyed Tono Furusato Mura with me
I had a great time!
It was a really interesting experience
I learned a lot about traditional Japanese farming culture
and I got to eat some really really good food!
So if you happen to be in the Iwate area
Which you should be! If you're coming to Japan
I really recommend that you come up here
Definitely check out this place because I had a really great time
They've got lots of cute stuff that you can buy for souvenirs and stuff
So also check that out
Thanks for watching guys and I'll see you soon! Bye!