JAPAN WITH JET

OK - This is going to be a big entry covering about a week spent travelling around with Andrew, Luke and Nik - the latter two having popped over for a visit and to attend the Japanese reception party. They arrived in Japan on November 15th, and turned up in Kyoto a day later having spent a day in Osaka.

We are using my In-laws house as our main base of operations for most of their visit, but we don't plan on spending too much time there. After getting them settled in we started off small, with a local trip to Universal Studios in Osaka - my second time there, but my first time on the Jurassic Park ride as that was closed last time.

The highlight of the day though was seeing how scary Nik looks standing next to the metal frame of a terminator!

At the other end of the scary scale we also got to see the incredibly twee Christmas tree light up show; I'm sure I saw Luke shed a tear :-)

Ok that was fun, but it was also enough typical tourism. The main thing I’ve planned for their visit is a three day trip to take in some roadside Japan, and for that we headed down to Hiroshima Ken.

The first day was mostly taken up with driving, but we've planned pit-stops at two unusual shrines along the way. The first one I discovered in a Japanese book and although I was intrigued by the photos I didn't really know what it was. Obviously I know now - but have a look at the pictures first and see if you can figure out what kind of shrine this is.

Any ideas - well, the answer is a cow shrine. All of those collared plastic and metal bands are 'Henagar', or nose rings, from cattle that have been that have died so we can have meat, leather, milk and so on. The shrine was built on the remains of an old mausoleum - whose mausoleum isn't known. It had been lost and forgotten, and when it was rediscovered it was decided that a shrine should be built on the site - the founder then decided to make a memorial to all the cows that give their lives for human needs. However, since every part of the cow was used (the meat, hooves, bones, skin etc) there were no remains go to the shrine. That's when he began to collect the nose rings; I can't even imagine how many there are now in that main pile - they estimate that there are over 7 million now. I have mentally dubbed this place 'Cowschwitz' - by which I honestly mean no disrespect, I have visited Auschwitz in Poland and uncountable piles of glasses, false teeth, hair that they have there really came to mind looking at the hanagari in this shrine, which is also a testament to death on a grand scale. Every April 18th a festival of remembrance is held in this shrine. In Japan vegetarianism is almost unheard of, and I myself am a meat eater, but I think it is important to be reminded and acknowledge that out food comes from something more than a supermarket.

OK - to counterpoint that rather sobering point, here are some comedy breasts!

Actually, I'm not sure they are intended as comedy. This breast shrine was the second of our 'odd shrine' stops and for me it makes the full set of bodily shrines having already visited a penis and vagina shrine before. Actually I'd guess that it was a fertility and motherhood shrine, as symbolised by swollen milk heavy breasts. As you can see though it was already dark by the time we got there so we didn't hang around for long trying to decipher the information boards - we still had to find some accommodation for the night as we had set off without any reservations!

Our main target for the next day is Ookunoshima, a small island off the Hiroshima coastline. Luckily after a bit of searching we managed to get a big Japanese tatami room for 4 people in a hotel not far from the port. They also had a pretty good spa with a wide range of baths, including one with a mild electrical current in the water - which I didn't know until I jumped in. Shocking! (Best read in a, Roger Moore, Bond voice with raised eyebrow).

Anyway, next morning we were placed only a short hop from the ferry port and we were soon skimming across the water to Ookunoshima.

The best way of getting around the island is to rent bikes and then you can easily cover the whole place in a couple of hours taking in the winding paths, sandy beaches and great views.

Luke was even lucky enough to have this close encounter with a rabbit along the way.

Actually - he wasn't that lucky! The truth is the whole island is infested with rabbits and is locally known as 'Rabbit Island' - that's why we’re here. Everywhere you look cotton tails are dashing around and they aren't afraid of approaching people either. In fact Nik ended up with his own security detail of three rabbits for a while.

Again all this cuteness comes from a rather dark place though. During WW2 this small island played a key role as a production centre for poison gas that was used against China. Having signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of chemical warfare, Japan was keen to keep this new chemical weapons plant a secret when its construction begun in 1929. At that time it mainly produced mustard gas. Later on the island was even removed from some maps, its very existence denied. At the end of WW2's hostilities the factory was taken apart under Allied supervision and the remaining lab animals were set free.

Luckily for those rabbits the island was too small to have any natural predators and they thrived until they became the symbol of the island. In 1988 a small museum was opened on the island that addresses the 'secret' history of the island, displaying items and photos from the old factory.

The fact that ruminants of some of the old defensive and industrial building are still standing was the second reason for visiting the island. At the height of its military significance the island was defended by 10 small forts. All that remains of these are a few low walls, one or two gun ports and some underground storerooms. The almost catherdralesque shell of another building can be found looking out over the open sea on the side facing away from the main land. Exactly what this building was I don't know - but it was probably connected with the gas production judging by the strings of origami crane (a Japanese symbol of peace) left on alter like stones.

By far the most intact edifice still standing is the old power station. Although it’s totally stripped inside, the skeleton of this two storey building is still pretty imposing to look at.

After returning the bikes we spent the time until the next ferry back looking around a small, but nice visitors centre and then we were off. I really enjoyed visiting Ookunoshima, and would really recommend it to anybody looking for some interesting 'off the beaten track' spots to visit. Having checked Rabbit Island off our list of things to do though, we were pretty much wandering aimlessly now.

We set of along the coast briefly taking in hill top castles and roadside porn vending shacks as we passed by. Yes, every so often in Japan you drive past a kind of porta-cabin at the road side that houses adult shop goods in vending machines to avoid the anxiety of having to buy such things from a real person. I'd only seen such places twice before, but oddly enough just as I was explaining this phenomenon to Luke and Nik we passed one - so a brief stop had to be made.

Eventually we ended up stopping in another big four person tatami room in a hotel by the coast, you can see it in the picture below; the tall white building on the right.

The view from the hotel window was really nice too! I snapped the panorama below shortly after we checked in.

Once we got settled in we decided to check out the facilities on offer - trying the (not as good as the last hotel's) onsen and playing perhaps the most bizarre game of table tennis any of us had ever participated in (it would take too long to explain).

It also turned out that on the roof of the hotel there was a small hot tub looking out at the same view that was open in time to watch the sun rise - so Andrew and I dragged ourselves out of bed and upstairs at about 5.30 am. I have to say it was worth it though - watching the light creep over the horizon, shatter into bright shards on the water and illuminate this amazing vista was spectacular.

Having spotted another small port in front of the hotel we decided to do some more island exploration, so after breakfast we very back on another ferry. This time we knew nothing about this island we were heading towards (not even its name). The fact that it wasn't so well known meant that we pretty much had the place to ourselves though. We saw almost nobody else as we wandered around the beaches and coastal paths.

The weather was cool and crisp, and the water was so clear that we could see all kind of beasties below.

As well as various small silver fish we could see quite a lot of fugu (puffer fish) and even one or two busy little cuttlefish - which I've never seen outside of an aquarium before. A spot of rock pool exploration also turned up masses of tiny hermit crabs.

After getting back to the main land and into the car it was the last leg of the trip - time to head back. However we still had half a day and a lot of road between us and home. Plenty of time for a spot of haikyo hunting!

I'd thrown the guide book into my bag as I usually do on these road trips, so we decided to take a little detour and try to track down a nearby old hotel - and this is what we found.

At some point I will eventually catch up on backlog of places due for write-ups over at my haikyo blog, and then I'll write about this place in more detail there. For now though here's just a taste of the interior of surprisingly large and complex building.

That was the last stop on the main road trip. We spent the next night staying over with my In-laws near Osaka, and although the main road trip was over we still had plans for the next day back in Kyoto - monkeys and momiji in Arashiyama.

Next time.

Today's entry is basically just going to be a short photo gallery from the Kimono photoshoot that Haru and I had two weeks before the Japanese reception party. This was my first time wearing the traditional man's Hakama, which is the name for the 'skirt' I'm wearing in these pictures (though a Hakama can be divided like trousers or undivided like a skirt). Men don't get as much choice as women as men's kimonos are always dark subdued colours whereas women have a wide choice, the black and gold kimono that we chose for Haru was really beautiful. (So if anybody was playing the 'Guess the colour of Hau's Kimono game I set up last time, you now know if you were right or wrong - no prizes, sorry!)

The photoshoot took place in the Kyoto botanical gardens, just across the road from the reception party venue on a lovely Autumn day. Oh, and we saw a Kingfisher fishing in the garden's pond as well :-)

O.K. that's enough preamble - enjoy the pictures.

Actaully they snapped so many photos of us during the course of the shoot, that I was able to put together this rather natty 'flickbook' movie of the day!

The same day, my friends Nik and Luke arrived from England for the upcoming reception party, and we soon embarked on a three day road trip with Andrew - which I'll be reporting on next time!

A few years ago the Japanese national TV station, NHK, produced a film about life in the special areas where mountains slopes ease out and farming starts - these areas are called Satoyama and are often typified by terraced rice fields on the lower slopes. Shiga Ken has a lot of Satoyama landscapes around the area I live in, made extra special be the fact that on the side not bounded by the mountains we have the vast expanse of Lake Biwako. Maybe that's why the producers chose this spot, and maybe that's why David Attenborough decided to act as producer (and voice) for an English language version of the film.

You can see most of the English language version here (I say most as part 1 of the 6 parts is missing, but the rest is there) -

http://www.youtube.com/user/ShiraiV

As it turns out the location where this film was made is only one train stop along the line from where I live, and thanks to the increased interest in the area following the film there are now regular eco-tours around village focused on how the water from the mountain streams is harnessed by the local people.

So I rallied the Takashima JETs, called in my friends Yoshii San and Kusuoka San to act as translators, and arranged a tour.

After meeting at Shinasahi train station we walked down to meet our tour guide and started by sampling the local spring water.

We were then taken to several local houses where we could see how the water is run into special 'kabata' that the local people use for washing food and dishes. The kabata are like stone troughs located just outside the house, though many residents have pumps and heaters to use this water in the house as well. They also have a very eco-friendly method of getting rid of the scraps, huge koi in the separate part of the kabata!

There are also a lot of koi in the waterways outside the houses, which we got to feed :-) Interesting fact #4'693 - Koi have teeth, not in their mouth, but half way down their throat somewhere around the level of the gills!! Live and learn.

Koi weren't the only creatures we saw though; in fact it was a bit of a sub-urban safari. We also encountered grey herons, black kites, crayfish, land crabs and in one of the kabata there was a soft shell turtle and a giant salamander - an amazing creature that's unique to Japan.

We also had a chance to check out the local temple and shops, like this sake brewery.

Another local speciality on sale here is 'funazushi' a kind of fermented fish meat that's made by laying down the fish to... mature between layers of salt and rice. I didn't try it but I've been told it's more like blue cheese than fish. Andrew was the only person brave enough to buy any!

For me it was a strange feeling, after years of jealously admiring David Attenborough and all he's seen and done, to discover that the site of one the programs he produced was so nearby. The world isn't a place that's always happening somewhere else, sometimes it's right on your doorstep.

MEANWHILE - in the Batcave Haru and I were still gearing up for the Japanese reception party that we'd be holding in November.
So here is a bit of a teaser for next time. Some photos from the dress and kimono trials that we had to go to choose what she'd wear. Write ups of the kimono photo shoot in Kyoto and the reception party will be coming in the near future, but between now and then you can all have fun trying to guess which kimono and which dress Haru chose.

Despite being a quite out of the way spot, away from the lake and off the main train line, I've ended up in Taga several times now. Twice to help out with bat research, and once haikyo hunting and visiting Abe San at the Taga museum. Through this connection I got an invitation to join a special event in Taga, for one day only the lower levels of the cave system where the bats roost were going to be opened for a guided caving tour. In my mid teens I did a lot of potholing in the peak district (around the area where we had the wedding) and I was excited to have the chance to poke around in underground Japan.

After a brief orientation at the Taga Museum, we headed out to the cave and I finally got to slip beyond the locked door I’d seen on my last two visits here.

The route we followed after that was a mix of very narrow crawl ways and huge open caverns, and while it wasn't a beautiful as some systems I've seen there were some nice features including some cave coral, drapes and stalagmites.

In a highly Japanese twist on things after a couple of hours we everybody stopped one of the larger caverns and the guides unpacked a small stove and began brewing drinks, cooking soup and handing out snacks.

After a good chat to some university students I met there, and a group picture (above bottom left) it was time to head back to the surface.

By the time we resurfaced we were all dirty and tired but happy, and as a nice footnote to this story I got a lift back to the train station (quite a long way away) from a really nice couple I'd never met before - the kindness of strangers :-)

Actually, this was also a busy time in the calendar of events at the school with both the local English speech contest and the school culture festival coming up. Unfortunately I have to be very careful about posting student pictures so I can’t put much up here - but I will boast that out of the four kids I coached for the speech contest three of them won prizes!

And here is a small taster of the culture festival.

Including a video of me *singing* in Japanese with the PTA chorus,

and a perfectly timed photo of the moment I managed to split the back of my trousers wide open jumping to catch a frisbee - which meant I had to sneak home and change my trousers before sneaking back again.

The culture festival took up most of my weekend that week, so the following weekend Haru and I decided we should do something together. There are still several smaller interesting spots around the lake that I know about but haven't had the chance to visit yet. One of those is the Omi-Hachiman Outsider Art Museum, so we decided to go and check that out.

In fact the museum is actually housed in... well, a house. It isn't very big at all, but it has a regularly changing collection of Art Brut (Outsider Art - simply put art made by people outside the world of trained artists, this can often include art from amateurs, people with disabilities or social outsiders such as prisoners).

One of the fun things about the museum is spotting the many scattered objects from the collection that have been set in odd places, be it a bright yellow bull dog or a hand reaching up from under the stones of the path. Outsider art is quirky and unusual, but not in a self promoting kind of way, it simply is what it is because of the equally quirky and unusual people who made it.

There's often a pop art element to this type of art and that was very evident in the collections we saw with models that looked like a manga brought to life, enlarged and highly detailed replicas of collectable figures, yokai rendered out of tape and coloured paper, toy soldiers turned into twisted mutants with some kind of spray foam and a black pen.

Other oddities included a centaur that had been rudely hacked from a far more conventional carving of a horse, an army of angular pigtailed girls and a stained pillow monster.

I actually really enjoy seeing this kind of stuff, there's a lack of pretention about much of this work that helps it side step the debates about what constitutes art or the correct placement of public funds. You can't help but feel that the people who made these bizarre objects would have made them, and will continue to make them, with or without an audience or wider support. You're simply being given a glimpse of what goes on in another person’s head, what makes them tick, what excites or amuses them - and that is always interesting.

Going to see the cormorant fishing, or Ukai as it's known here, is something I've wanted to do for a while now so I decided to ask the other JETs if anybody was interested in going and arrange a trip.

Despite conflicting schedules, troublesome sports days and bad weather we eventually overcame all odds and got a small group (Andrew, James, Nick and myself) together for an evening of Ukai on the Uji river in Kyoto.

The reward for our perseverance was a relaxing, interesting and very Japanese experience.

When we arrived in Uji it was still raining as it had been all day, but as it began to get dusky the rain stopped leaving a fine, fresh early evening that was far better than we could have hoped for. The area around Ujigawa is really pretty with old style tea shops and little red bridges scattered around it’s banks.

We headed down to the small island that the boats launch from, bought our tickets and found a good place to sit. Soon we’re gliding down the black river…

On the far shore they’re preparing the flaming brazier that they hang over the side of the fishing boat to attract the fish up to the surface. Then it’s about to start, the fishing boat eases its way between us and we get a brief introduction to the birds and their handlers. There are very few women who practice ukai, and Uji is proud of it’s skilled handlers - apparently the main handler works in Uji tourist office during the day and demonstrates ukai by night (like some awsome, yet very traditional, superhero figure).

She has selected five birds from their collection for fishing today. Each is tied to its own line in a way that doesn’t hamper it from using it’s wings to propel itself underwater. It also has a collar that prevents it from swollowing the fish it catches so the handler can retrieve them. The skill with which she tracks each bird, keeps them from becoming entangled with the others and recalls them if they catch a fish is incredible.

The demonstartion lasts about an hour, but seems much quicker. Then we’re being punted back to the pier.

After getting back to land the cormorants are taken from the boat in large wicker baskets and returned to their friends where they all get fed from the nights catch, and I also got to meet the fisherwomen and get them to pose for a picture :-)

As I said, Ukai is something I’ve wanted to see for a long time, and we all agreed that it was well worth going. It was certainly different to anthing else I’ve seen in Japan. Something about the dark river, darting birds and graceful talent of the handlers was very calming and I’d happily go again (maybe next year), and on the way back home we had a random encounter with a tanuki (Japanese racoon dog) by the roadside.

Bonus!