Emily has grown a lot since our last bump-a-de-bump video. She no longer rides in a child seat on my mamachari bicycle and instead has a bicycle of her own which she enjoys riding all around our little valley. 

The nice man we meet at the end of the video is Emily’s grandfather who lives around the corner from us. He uses a very old fashioned wood-fired bath and must light a fire in the burner each evening to warm the water. The bucket full of sawdust he is carrying will be used to help light the evening bath fire. The sound of grandpa chopping wood on the concrete kitchen floor at sundown is a very old and special part of life for our family.

My apologies for the extra bit of footage at the end. This was an alternate ending I had planned to use from another run we had done that same afternoon (Emily and I must have done the Bump-a-de-bump circuit a least 10 times that day) but which I forgot to delete.

Learn more about Japan at www.Shinto-Religion.com
Or visit us on eBay at The Old Tokaido