Higashitani-san has a charcoal oven.  We visited him on a rainy day and he explained that the oven can’t be used, it needs fixing.  The ceiling has caved in and it needs re-building.  We look forward to helping with the renovation sometime in September.

There were lots of charcoal pieces in storage.  The air in here was very fresh and the charcoal stumps beautiful.

Higashitani-san’s place is very interesting.  There are lots of things going on.  He is growing shitake mushrooms in logs and he had a tree that smelt of melon.

It was also good to have a chat about trees (he is a woodsman and I almost became a forester myself).  He is a very respectable gent; precise, with no wasted energy and very calm.  He might be the coolest person I have ever met.  He even had a nest attached to the underside of his roof.