西山町のハクチョウ Nishiyama day trip

Niwayama-sensei took me and a few other teachers to his hometown, 西山 Nishiyama (about 2 hours' drive). Nishiyama is a really remote residential town with an aging population where there's a big lake which is home to a few hundred ハクチョウ(hakucho) white swans every winter.

Actually, there were many grey swans and various kinds of ducks too.

It was fun feeding the swans and ducks. Did you know that swans live in families and bully swans from other families by pecking their necks, bodies and tails when fighting for food?

(Yoshida-sensei tosses bread crusts at the swans while his wife looks on)

Niwayama-sensei's father feeding the swans with rice (?!) He has been feeding the swans for more than 20 years. He drives for about an hour to pick up 50-60kg of unwanted bread crust for the swans from a bakery in Nagaoka city every week. He religiously keeps records of the swans' visits and daily feeds every year. He's appeared in the newspapers as the swans' caretaker.

Traditional hina dolls set up at the Niwayama family home for the 2 granddaughters. This is a full set of 8 tiers that cost about 200,000-yen (S$3,000).