The professor's snoring had kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. When I awoke, the reading light in the hostel's upper bunk was still on and a copy of "The Legends of Tono" lay open at the page where I had dozed off. With that book being full of hobgoblins, ravaging wolf packs and rural satyrs, it was surprisingthat I'd got a wink of sleep.

A place of mystery, saturated in superstition, folk beliefs, ancient customs and stories of hideous creatures and apparitions, the well-watered Tono Basin in Iwate Prefecture, known for its paddy fields but surrounded by hills smothered in dark forests and orchards, is about as traditional a Japanese agricultural landscape as you are likely to find.

These post-3/11 days, however, it's more likely that those staying in Tono will be involved in relief or reconstruction work in the nearby stricken coastal areas.