JAPAN WITH JET

Recently this blog has slipped further than it's ever slipped before, and I'm now several months behind on my updates. Unfortunately whenever I get behind it's always because a lot of stuff has been happening which makes catching up even harder, fortunately it'll be the winter break at the school soon so I should have some free time to slave over the keyboard then.

Anyway, as winter begins to dig it's frosty claws into our bones let's travel back to a simpler time! It's almost the end of July and we've decided to make a return trip to Shikoku in the two week gap between mine and Haru's birthdays. The idea is to head down to the a popular white water spot on the river to do some rafting, and to try out a bit of canyoning at the same time. We're both bringing a single friend along to wallow in the smug glow of our recently married bliss as well, so Andrew and Yoko are joining us.

The place we're headed to, which takes the best part of a days driving, is a middle of nowhere spot called Oboke. Which only seems notable for having a connection to the creator of Anpanman, a popular bean-bread-headed cartoon character, who we saw on the side of a train in Oboke station.

The rafting place we're booked in with is mostly run by New Zealanders and we're staying in a very basic guest house run by one of their guides. We stop by the rafting centre to check in and some of the guides offer to drive ahead of us to guide us to the guest house. If we hadn't already known that they were Newzealanders we'd probably have figured it out when they made a detour to buy beers from a vending machine for the drive home (in case you didn't know Japan is a zero tolerance on drink driving country). Despite a fair bit of tutting and surprise in our car we arrive intact, without a police record and settle in for the night. Basically we've got a big tatami room for the four of us, a kitchen and a charcoal grill outside that we're sharing with two other Japanese guests.

One BBQ dinner and a reasonable nights sleep later we're ready to slip into our wet suits and... well, get wet.

We're doing a half day of canyoning first, which is a new thing for all of us. Even as we ride the mini-bus up the hill to the start point Haru and Yoko don't really know what they've signed up for, and if you, gentle reader, don't know either let me explain. Canyoning is basically an assault course style descent along a mountain stream.

We begin with a bracing shower in the stream and a couple of team photos (so the bodies can be identified later) then it's straight into it with a slide over the lip of a scarily high waterfall. Take a deep breath, tuck in your elbows and bombs away!

We then proceed via a series of climbs, dives and zip lines to work our way down the mountain side.

I've since found out that in the summer there's a canyoning course pretty much on my doorstep in Takashima, which I'll try out next year. However, this was a great introduction to the sport and we had great fun, next up is a spot of lunch at the base and an afternoon of white water rafting on the Oboke river.

Rafting wasn't so new to me, but it's one of those sports that really changes depending on where you are and who you're with. In this case our seasoned river guide, Gordy, with a taste for the fun side of reckless really added a lot to the experience. The river was a mix of rapids and quiet stretches, and on those stretches Gordy had several tricks and games to ensure that everybody got booted, dropped or hurled out of the raft several times. This really kept us on our toes, and one stretch where we just glided downstream in our life jackets, without the raft, was really enjoyable.

Unfortunately, we didn't get such nice pictures as we did canyoning so we didn't buy the disk - meaning that all you're going to get is this place holder photo of a raft. (That is until we go back again, we all agreed that a full day rafting on the more intense Koboke river would be a great trip too!)

The second evening we retired to a more comfortable spa hotel to relax after the action packed events of the day, which meant much needed hot baths and beds.

Our third and final day begins with a spot of yokai hunting, just behind the hotel there's a yokai trail winding off into the hills scattered with some very tattered carvings of various beasties and things that go bump in the night. The most famous of these is Konaki-jiji (Crying Uncle) whose story seems to have originated from this area.

Konaki-jiji is another classic yokai who has enjoyed a recent popularity boost as he's strongly featured in the manga 'Ge-ge-ge no Kitaro'. The story is that stray travelers would hear a crying like a child, and if they looked for the child and didn't quickly escape the area then Konaki-jiji (who was really the source of the crying) would jump on their backs and make them carry him around. The biggest problem is that Konaki-jiji can make his body get heavier and heavier until it's like stone and collapses the poor person beneath him.

The apparent explanation for this is that in some areas rotting matter would create a natural gas, one side effect of breathing this gas would have been a ringing in the ears (crying) and a feeling of heaviness in the limbs dragging them down like having a heavy little rider on their back.

I'll post a full set of Oboke yokai photos on my haikyo and yokai blog eventually, for now here's just a quick taster.

We still had one last point to visit before the long drive back home.

For that authentic Indiana Jones experience, I really wanted to visit a wood and vine bridge built over a rocky river gorge not far from Oboke.

The original bridge was built long ago, and, despite the fact that the modern version has concealed steel cable to keep visitors safe, it's still pretty scary being about to look down (and through) the gaps between the supports at your feet and see the river and the rocks waiting below.

There's still a lot I want to see and do around Shikoku, and the islet spotted inland sea that separates it from the main island. This is my second trip down that way, and it won't be my last, that's for sure. In fact I was back again in November to check out a couple of the smaller islands down near Hiroshima - a trip that included a poison gas factory, free range fugu, the cutest rodent infestation I've ever seen, praiseworthy breasts and the cow equivalent of Auschwitz... as I said I've been busy!

It's July, the end of my second year in Japan and the arrival of the new JET intake is fast approaching.

That means hot weather, long days and beautiful red streaked sunsets are all in season.

I'm just about to start my third year on the JET program, I'm pretty well versed in the job and very comfortable in my role as an ALT now, so I've decided to step it up a notch and have volunteered to be the block leader for Takashima this year. Exactly what that means is quite flexible, but what I want to do is ensure that there are regular events that are open to everybody in the block (13 ALTs in all) and go beyond the boring 'Hey, let's go out drinking' type get togethers that have dominated the last two years (and are the main reason I never spend time with the other JETs - except my travel buddy Andrew).

So I'm trying out a proto-block trip this month before the newbies arrive by suggesting a day out hiking in Takashima. Actually we're heading back to the 8 waterfall hike near Gulliver's village that I walked with Leila almost 2 years ago. Four of us are going today, Haru, Andrew, Natalia and myself.

Hopping across the fast flowing stream from rock to rock clinging onto a chain is grade 'A' fun in my book - though I'm not sure Natalia would agree after nearly loosing a shoe :-)

Still we all made it to the top safe and sound with big grins all round.

We headed back down the way we came up, but I've since learned that if you know the route you can actually continue along the mountain and come down further south near the next train station - I'll have to find that route and try it one day.

Of course summer is a good time for just generally getting out and exploring, so this wasn't the only hike I did. Here are a few highlights from another trek into the woods with Andrew. We were actually haikyo hunting (following up a very flimsy rumor of a lost village out here), and while that came to nothing we did at least see a huge handsome toad!

Summer is also festival time in Japan and one intriguing event I've managed to miss the last two years is the Biwako Birdman Competition. On the surface it sounds very interesting - every year a large launch is built over the lake and teams compete in distance and time trial unpowered flight competitions. So lot's of wacky folks in winged costumes jumping off a high board, right?

Well, no! That's how it is in the UK at the Birdman competition, but it's a more somber affair here with more serious teams flying gliders.

Even then, it could have been quite exciting watching the gliders pitch off the launch and either pull up and fly or plummet into the water - like this one.

The big problem though was the huge gap between launches when the debris of the last glider was cleared away and and next one was set up, this could take 20 or 30 minutes - and if the next glider dropped like a stone that mean a few seconds of action before another long wait.

Still I've finally seen it with my own eyes and I know it's not worth repeating again next year.

One thing that has been a very positive influence on this summer though has been meeting Rika and Junpei, who work to promote Shiga as a tourist destination. As part of that work they arrange trips for local foreigners (all expenses paid) and take lots of pictures of you to use in promotional material and websites they run.

After getting hooked up with them via my friend James I found myself heading down the BSC Water Sports Centre to try my hand at windsurfing for the day! We spent a whole day there, chatting to some kids who were doing kayaking on the same day, having lunch and then windsurfing!

As there is no firm evidence to the contrary I'm just going to say I was awesome and a complete natural at windsurfing who never fell off his board once - and anything anybody else says is a lie!

Since then I've been on another trip organized by these lovely people and I'm now working to try and get a strong link between them and the Takashima JETs so we get first dibs on any other interesting things they have going on :-)

If you're interested you can find the o.Biwako main site here or their facebook page here.

As you can probably tell by now, my summer as pretty hectic and some tough choices had to be made. One of those was whether I was going to go to Nagoya for the world Cosplay Championships again, that would mean two days of costumed fantasies floating around but it would mean missing a potential weekend out with Haru. In the end we made a compromise by going to Osaka together for a smaller Cosplay event there, so here are some costume pictures taken around the Asian Trade Centre in Osaka at 'Cosjoy 2011'.

I just love the way that girls in Cosplay costumes pretty much all seem to be ready and willing to pose in any way you tell them to. Try walking up to any other group of cute girls and asking them to kneel down and gaze up adoringly at you while you snap pictures. They would (rightly so) tell you exactly where to go, and what to do to yourself when you get there. Cosplay girls, however, usually say - 'Ok!'

Another advantage of going to Osaka instead of Nagoya was that there was also a beetle exhibition on at the Trade Centre on the same day - so Cosplay and big bugs with my wife :-) I was a very happy man!

So that's hiking, exploring, gliders, windsurfing, cosplay and bugs out of the way - phew! Just the fireworks left to go! August is firework season in Japan, with almost everywhere having a firework festival of some size. The biggest and best in Shiga is the Otsu firework show which takes place over the southern most part of the lake.

I caught the in my first year just after I arrived in Japan, but missed them last year for some reason. This year I was down on the lake shore in a prime spot as the sun began to set over the water.

Once it was dark the sky exploded in a spectacular light show that no pictures can do justice to - it really is a great show.

Unfortunately, Haru wasn't free to join me in Otsu, but we were determined to actually see some fireworks together this year. So a few days later we headed down to Uji to see the fireworks there. We arrived late and barely got outside the train station before the show started. I have to say, the Otsu show is far more impressive (and comfortable), but I was really happy to finally go to a firework festival with Haru - in a yukata (summer kimono)!

I actually bought a second hand yukata just for the fireworks this year, complete with geta (traditional Japanese wooden sandals), Haru was in a nice blue yukata too. The last time she wore one it was a rental one and she got changed in the rental shop. This time though it was her own yukata, so finally I'd get a chance to find out the answer to one of Japan's greatest mysteries - what do Japanese women wear under their yukatas?

If you want to know take a peek below.

Not very sexy is it - lol

I'm standing in a highway rest stop shop, and if there was any doubt left in my mind that I'm back in Japan... well, then this selection of delicious snacks soon erases that.

Crunchy baby crab anyone?? Some how this feels like it belongs in a Monty Python chocolate selection, though Haru assures me it's actually very nice... I think I'll just take her word for it.

We're heading north, out of Shiga, through Fukui and into Ishikawa prefecture. This is our second twixt-birthdays-trip, Haru's birthday is July 16th and mine is August 2nd. Making her the older one (by two weeks), whether she likes it or not! Last year we decided to split the difference and take a trip around the end of July, and that's exactly what we're doing again this year again this year.

The main things were traveling to see are the gardens in the prefecture capital, Kanazawa, which are considered one of the top three gardens in Japan, and the nearby prefectural art museum.

We only have a loose plan for this trip, but this is one of the places we wanted to see.

The gardens in Kanazawa, considered to be one of the most beautiful in Japan. Again seeing something so traditional and Japanese after being away for a few weeks was really refreshing. Our favourite part was a pond in the shadow of a small hill with a nice tea shop on it's banks.

Our next stop was the near by prefectural art museum, where we spent the rest of the day.

The complex is divided up into a mix of paid and public spaces, comprised of external features and rooms inside. Highlights included a disco room, painted with a 360 degree disco scene.

(I tried to find a way to add this picture as a 360 panorama, but I failed - which is a shame because it looks great like that).

Also there was a large selection of amateur art which was really varied and interesting, here are a few close ups from some of those.

That about wrapped up our day out in Kanawaza, so Haru drugged me and I blacked out until the next day... probably. At least that would explain why I have no recollection at all of where we stayed that evening, what it more likely means is that we stayed in a cheap but bland and ultimately forgettable business hotel somewhere near Kanazawa - I really don't remember. That's what happens when you get three months behind on your blog.

I know that we did a lot of driving the next day, Haru was letting me combine a general sightseeing drive with checking out some local haikyo spots from my haikyo guide book. There seemed to be a lot of spots in this area and checking a few out while we were in the vicinity seemed like a good idea (with a view to planning proper haikyo trips with Andrew later). In the end this chance to recon a few Ishikawa sites proved invaluable, as it looks like all the places we might have visited were already gone - which saved Andrew and I a long pointless drive all the way from Shiga.

One interesting thing we passed along the way was this chain of restaurants, which Haru pointed out to me.

Might look innocent enough, but apparently they're all closed now following a food poisoning incident in this area recently. Several people actually died after eating bad meat, bought cheaply and served in these restaurants. Scary.

Our next stop as at this car museum, which we only stumbled across as it was near the location of one of the missing haikyo.

Now, I can't drive and I don't know anything about cars, so don't expect any deep insights here, but I can tell you that there were blue ones, red ones and green ones :-)

If you're into cars then these pictures will probably mean a lot more to you that they do to me, and feel free to fill in some details in the comment box.

One thing that did amuse me though was the toilets. The gents basically served as another exhibition - of urinals from around the world! Which I had to photograph as Haru was really curious after I told her about it.

All day we've been slowly heading back south and homeward, and by the afternoon we reach the hotel Haru has booked for the second night. Which is much nicer and more memorable than wherever we stayed the first night.

And there the story pretty much stops, we spent the rest of our visit just relaxing in and around the hotel - enjoying the food, the fireworks over the lake in the evening and just spending time together.

This was a bit of 'us' time, so I'm drawing a discrete veil over the the last leg of the trip. Instead, I'll leave you with this nice collection of origami that we saw during a pit stop on the way back home the following day.

Next time - a full summer spectacular with thrills, spills and full pyrotechnics!!

Chair socks? CHAIR SOCKS??
This can only mean one thing - I am well and truly back in Japan!

Not that that's a bad thing, after my time away in Europe I'm in the mood to appreciate a bit of classic Japanese culture so I've decided to hit up a couple of the 9 million or so local temples that I still haven't seen.

The first one I've chosen is Daigo Ji, which is a quite large and famous temple on the outskirts of Kyoto - plus it's only a couple of stops away from Haru's flat and I have some time to kill while she finishes her shift at work!

The lower area of the temple is a quite standard classical layout complete with pagodas, bell towers and great halls.

I did really like the large koi pond though, which was so peaceful. I ended up sitting there for quite some time simply enjoying having the place pretty much to myself.

Beyond this area lies the entrance to a mountain path that leads up through the woods to another collection of temple buildings higher up. Although I hadn't planned this I quickly stocked up on snacks and drinks and decided to tackle the trek despite the hot weather.

The lower end of the path took me past some nice pastel coloured flowers and moss encrusted carvings, while higher up there was a thin tumbling waterfall and vistas opened up over the tree tops.

In the end it was a beautiful, but grueling, walk to the top. Though I was amply rewarded with a rich collection of Buddhist figures at one of the halls at the end of the path.

The second spot I wanted to see (a couple of days later) was Nenbutsu-Ji which I'd heard was somewhere behind Arashiyama (west of Kyoto centre). Luckily tracking it down with Haru's sat nav didn't prove too difficult.

Nenbutsu-ji is a quirky little place, where if you look carefully you might just spot one or two little cute carvings peeping out of the grass like this.

Actually, I'm teasing - the name Nenbutsu-ji means something like 1000 Buddhas, and the place is crawling with these statues.

They've been carved by various artists and no two are exactly alike, in fact many have unique quirks - such as bizarre expressions, or possessions (such as one above with a camera taking your picture).

Exploring between the rows and rows of figures was an entertaining way to pass a pleasant afternoon.

Yes, our European adventure was wonderful and romantic, but it's not a bad thing to be back in Japan :-)

Time to say goodbye to my family and friends in the Uk and slowly begin to head back to Japan, but on the way we're stopping off in Prague for a few days. Prague is a city I have a bit of a history with, but Haru has never visited it.

We arrive in the early afternoon and get picked up by the hotel taxi at the airport. As we drive I'm surprised how much I can still understand on the radio and from the signs we zip past. My very basic knowledge of Slavic languages is being kicked back into life. Suddenly the driver pulls an intersting manoeuvre and starts reversing, at a reasonable speed, down a narrow road on a steep hill. This is a slavic style short cut, we're now going the wrong way down a one way street, but by reversing the driver can switch to going the 'right' way at any moment and avoid trouble (in theory). I don't think you'd get that in Japan, but he does get us to the hotel in one piece and in good time.

By the time we've checked in and freshened up a bit, it's getting dusky already. Our hotel is located on the old town side of the river though, and it's close to a lot of the really famous sights so we head out for an evening stroll. Charles Bridge is just at the bottom of the hill so I take Haru there to her a first taste of classic Prague.

After a good nights sleep we're up bright and early (well, before lunch anyway) and ready to explore. The hotel is located just a couple of minutes below the castle district, so that's where we're going first.

The castle district is actually a lot more than just a castle, it's the heart of what would once have been the old town and one of the most prominent buildings there is the wonderful gothic cathedral.

Both inside and out it is a really impressive piece of work. It still stands in the centre of the old square surrounded by complimentary architechture, unlike St. Paul's or Westminster in London, so it's easy to imagine how this scene may have looked long ago when this was still a walled medieval town.

One of the most famous spots in the castle district is Golden Lane, a narrow street full of small houses muddled in the space between the square and the defensive outer wall. This area was once home to many craftsman including the goldsmiths from which it gets it's name.

These days the old houses either are either preserved exhibits of how they used to be, or are craft shops in the tradition of the street. For example, the blue house on the top left is now a second hand book shop trading on that fact that famous Czech writer Franz Kafka once lived there.

Deeper in the walls and under the floors there is rather dark trend towards arms, alchemy and torture in the rooms you come across. A stark reminded that a world lit only by fire was capable of casting some dark and twisted shadows.

We really enjoyed exploring around this area and ended our tour of the castle district with a look at the Old Royal Palace. A wonderful building full of immense halls and fantastic vaulted ceilings, I love the sense of space and awe inspired by these kind of designs and really enjoyed this building. I also liked the story of how the citizens of Prague used to deal with politicians who failed to meet their expectations -

- see that window on the on the top right above the wall? Well, they threw three politicians out of that for a start. Amazingly none of them sustained any serious injuries on the way down.

After leaving the Old Royal Palace we slowly made our way down to the river, taking our time to explore some of the small backstreets and winding stairways as we went.

Eventually we came down to the river and had a great view of Charles bridge upstream.

Eventually, all streets in Prague seem to lead back to the main square, with its famous Astrological clock, where almost every conceivable type of tour is on offer to the multitude of tourists. Do you want to see Prague by land train, classic car, segway, hot-air balloon, boat or (the most photogenic) horse and cart.

We're already planning to spend some more time around the square, and really explore this side of the river, tomorrow. So for now we content ourselves with a quick look around before picking up our reserved tickets and going to check out one of Prague's several black light theatres (bottom right below).

The basic principle behind black light theatre is that performers wear costumes that are partly as black as the backdrop, and partly coloured in a way that is picked up by UV lights. In this way they can create some interesting effects and quite surreal scenes. As you might expect of an art form conceived mainly to get tourist bums on seats it's light and entertaining, but overpriced.

By the time we came out of the theatre it was getting dark and rainy. Time to head back to the hotel for the night, luckily Prague is one of those places that for a visitor is actually quite pretty in the rain. Sharing an umbrella, holding hands and crossing Charles bridge in a summer shower is really quite romantic.

Of course it wouldn't stay romantic if it just rained all the time so we we're happy to see that by the morning it had cleared up and was promising to be another lovely day. We had a lot of ground to cover today and our first call was to the senate gardens below the castle. Many of the features here are typical of a nice formal garden, such as the fountains, lawns and statues. Even peacocks are quite common in such places, but never before have I seen an albino peacock like the one we saw here. Such a beautiful creature.

There was also a rather interesting grotesque wall, man made but created to look like quite natural until you notice hidden faces and creatures in it's folds.

Today though we're heading over the river again to take a look around the new town.

The main objective today isn't any famous sight, it's finding a branch of the bank I used in Slovakia when I lived there, and finally closing my bank accounts; they won't let me do it by post. To be honest this was the biggest single reason for stopping in Prague at all, and when we finally find a branch of CSOB bank it's like a kick in the head being told that the Czech and Slovak banks (despite having the same name, logo and parent company) are separate and I still can't touch my accounts. Meaning I still have a few thousand pounds sitting in account in Slovakia, that I cannot access in any way, shape or form. F**k!

Shaking off the disappointment as much as possible, we head back down to the main square for a less rushed look around and some shopping. We're also in good time to see the astrological clock striking the hour today, cogs whirr and mechanisms click into life and as the clock chimes a pararde of wooden saints wheel past small windows and a grinning reaper tolls a bell.

We are already tired. Yesterday most of what we saw was contained in quite compact area, but today we've walked much further. However, there's still time to cross back over Charles bridge and take in some of the streets that follow along the riverside (we even managed to find the Japanese Embassy much to Haru's delight).

We agree that we'll return and explore the riverside more tomorrow (our last day) and head back to the hotel to rest up for a while. Despite having seen a lot of nice things today, we both agree that the castle district yesterday was more impressive. So, having rested we decide it'd be nice to go and see the area by night as it's so close to the hotel. This turns out to be a great idea, not only is it the atmosphere totally different at night, but the crowds are gone as well, giving us almost the whole cathedral square to sit by ourselves and soak up the ambiance.

The next day I leave Haru in the hotel and head out on business again, after the disappointment with the bank I've decided to try going to the Slovak embassy thinking that they could help me get some official proof of identity acceptable by the bank to verify postal instructions... well, I got a paper, but the bank still won't accept it. B****rds!

Anyway, we did a lot of walking yesterday, and I thought this would be a pretty dull walk in a more residential area of the town, but in the end the route took me behind the castle and presented some nice views that I regretted Haru missing.

Hurrying back to the hotel as soon as possible we decide to pick up where we left off yesterday, down by the riverside. On the way I'm snapping pictures of address stones that I was reading about in the guide book last night, markers that served as physical addresses for illiterates. So your address might be, the baker under the three fiddles, or the apothocary under the golden snake. Spotting these old stones, or shops that still bear their names is quite interesting.

We're not following the guide book today, just exploring, and the first thing we find is the John Lennon memorial wall. The Beatles are still popular in this part of the world, and here fans can come and remember and pay their respects to the late, great John Lennon in their own way.

We want to take it a bit easier today, so we decide to hop on one of the many tour boats running up and down the river. Which provides not only another perspective, but also a welcome break from all the footwork of the last two days.

Refreshed, we have just enough time to explore one last riverside park, before returning to the hotel.

That's it, we have to pack and jump back into a taxi for the airport. We have a long flight back to Japan ahead of us.

The honeymoon is over!