Ever Herd of Cattle?

I've procrastinated enough, time to tell you about Saturday. While organizing some trading cards on Friday night, I got an urgent message to see if I could perform a wedding ceremony early Saturday morning. I assented. (This after having been snubbed by this woman for more than two years, with the excuse of fewer weddings during Covid. Ironically, the reason she was in desperation is because her normal preacher caught Covid.) 

Among the mess of trading cards is an autograph from Anne Francis for Twilight Zone!

So I packed a bag and drove north for a few hours to a hotel in Oshu, Iwate. 

Uneventful pitstop en route. Nice display though.

This little guy greeted me in the lobby at the self-check-in.

Largest hotel room I have ever been in in Japan! The bathtub was longer than I was, a true rarity.

The next morning I joined a couple in Holy Monotony and I was impressed that they'd hired a clown dressed in orange to welcome the couple for the bouquet toss. The hotel itself had several pumpkins strewn about the lobby. 

 

 

I was done by 10:00 so I decided to see what Oshu has to offer. First up is the Oshu Space and Astronomy Museum. I listened to a thirty minute lecture on constellations (and politely remained awake), and then she showed me a model of the moon with the Kimura Crater* pointed out. 

A cute mascot.

Gators and a tanuki(?) in what I believe is an exhibition by writer Kenji Miyazawa. (Click my Miyazawa label to the left to learn more.)

Tardigrades!

*The aforementioned Kimura who discovered the Z term though darned if I could tell you what that is.

Chestnuts bursting on the ground. Prickly little guys.

A short drive later, I entered the Cattle Museum and it was exactly what I expected though with a few surprises.

Unsurprisingly inside were several stuffed bovine. (Please ad Cow puns in the comments.)

Surprisingly were a few whale and dinosaur fossils.

Maezawa's Water Whale is the first to be reconstructed in Japan. 

Cave drawings from Lascaux France. (More here)

I like the shadow on this.

Life cycle of the cow.

Nihon kamoshika (Japanese Serow). I once saw one running alongside the highway near this city.

Some ceremonial cows.

A coffin of Toraga from Indonesia. The buffalo-type is used by men and the pig-type is used by women. (No comment.)

Some cool masks!

Even the toilets are educational.

A view from the second floor of the museum. Nice.

All in all, a nice place to visit. Once. 

It's very mooooving!

On the drive home, I stopped at a Popeye place for yakiniku.

I filled up at Costco. Cheaper by about a dime a litre.

And I popped into Toys Am Us just in time for it to close at 8:00.

No Cow-Yokai that I know of, so here is Kijimuna, a mischievous Okinawan spirit who controls fire (to cook your beef?)

Way too cute to be included in a chapter on Cursed Yokai!

Since we're in cute mode, here Venom sits among his nemeses. Now I want to play with these in the bath.

For more cutesy stuff, check out Spooky Moon!

I think I need to watch a truly scary movie now to put some shiver in my timbers.