Kamakura

Chihiro's friend Tomoko works at Japan Rail, and wanted to use her staff discount to go on a daytrip somewhere with Chihiro and I. Chihiro suggested Kamakura because it's only a two hour train ride from Shizuoka, and it was the capital of Japan from the 12th to 14th centuries. Today it's more of a town than a city, though it does have a lot of stuff to see. The main temple, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, is apparently dedicated to the god of war, but the fiercest thing we could find was this dog-lion with a toothy grin. We also had our fortunes told at the temple, but none of them were very lucky. Mine did contain helpful advice such as "If your work is unbearable, you must work harder" and "If you have ill-health, see a better doctor". It may have lost something in the translation. We weren't particularly happy with our fortunes, so we decided to tie them to the back-luck rack (in the second photo) and unburden ourselves of the fortune associated with them. It seems like a win-win situation for the fortune tellers and the patrons no matter what the fortune is!

Lunch was included in the tickets, which was just as well because it was a fairly fancy meal. I counted 17 different types of food! Unfortunately there was none left over to give to the infinitely-hungry koi at the next temple. They must be well fed by tourists though, because they are very quick to flock to anyone passing by.

The main attraction at this temple was a 9m high wooden statue of the goddess of mercy, dating from the 8th century. It was an impressive sight, with the lighting giving it a very mystical appearance, though no photos were allowed. The rest of the temple grounds was also pretty interesting. Many of the statues had clothing of caps and bibs, and one statue could be "watered" by visitors.

In one part, there were many statues to guard the souls of children who had died or were lost through miscarriage. Some were clothed by the mothers to keep them warm, and others had childrens toys dangling from them. The place had a sad, but slightly odd feeling, probably because of the contrast between ancient things and modern plastic toys. After that, we browsed the prayer rack, which is always an interesting thing to do at temples. People buy wooden plates to write their prayers on, and a few of them are in English. I had to laugh at this cheeky prayer! (on the right)

The last place we went was the famous bronze "great buddha", which was very impressive. It is 11.4m tall, and used to have a building around it before a tsunami washed it away in 1495. We could go inside the statue through a narrow door, and I was joking about being too fat to fit through when I noticed a couple of very stout germans standing near us and not looking very happy at all... oops.

English Lesson

A friend is on holidays in Canada, and asked me to take one of his private English classes for him. I decided it would be an interesting experience, and the money sounded good too ($60 for an hour's lesson). The lesson was for 5 highschool students at a private "cram-school", and the lessons focus on practising speaking and listing. I wasn't too worried about what I'd teach at first, because I thought I'd just get the students talking about some things in English, and I'd correct and explain things when needed. This is alot easier said than done though. They were very shy, and reluctant to speak. I spoke slowly and clearly, and they could understand most of what I said, but I had to be very careful about what words I chose to use. It's actually quite difficult to explain some things with simple words. Luckily I had done a little preparation, and they had fun pretending to be in an Australian pub ordering food and drinks. Thankfully after that they were a bit more talkative, and I ended up staying for almost 2 hours. Overall it was a little more work and stress than I'd imagined, but very satisfying, because they noticeably improved even in the short time I spent with them. I don't think I could do it full-time though!

Hiroshima and Nagoya

Hiroshima was a much bigger city than I had imagined - modern, and bustling with life. Of course the first place we went was the ruins of the a-bomb dome, which contrasted heavily with the city around it. This building was the only one with any structure left standing after the bomb flattened the city in August 1945. The peace park nearby was somber in the gentle rain, and after going to the children's memorial I really started to feel sad for all the ordinary people who lost their lives.

Next was the museum, and that was where I really started to feel sick. It was pretty full on, showing scenes of total devastation, mutilated bodies, radiation-bleached stone with a human-shaped shadow, burns victims, and sufferers of radiation-sickness. It did have a lot of information as well, outlining the lead up to the war, the complete control the emperor and the military had over the population, Japan's brutal expansion, the desperation towards the end of the war, and so on. I knew the basics, but some things I didn't know was that foreign words and activities like music and ballet were completely banned. Enjoying yourself too much and playing was also banned. Absolutely everything was directed towards efficiency of the war-effort. School-children were made to work, as well as train to be soldiers. I also didn't know that when the US gave Japan an ultimatum, they didn't threaten to use the bomb. When they did use it, some of the reasons included a justification of the massive cost of development, and a show of power to Russia. I can't help but think that there must have been some better ways to demonstrate their power without killing so many civillians.

For lunch we met up with a friend Chihiro had met in Brisbane, and we explored more of the city. At night we walked through the entertainment district looking for a good place to eat the local version of okonomiyaki. We passed on the place that had this bizarre tanuki out the front, and found a local eatery serving cheap and delicious okonomiyaki skillfully prepared in front of us.

Strolling further through the entertainment district, we came across a place that reminded me of home... but we needed to send an email, so instead of going there we stopped at a large internet cafe. It was actually more like a library/restaurant/cafe. For a couple of dollars an hour, we could read books, comics, and magazines, use couches, pillows and blankets, get unlimited free soup, coffee, tea, soft-drinks, and ice-cream, order food and beer from the restaurant... oh, and use the internet. Some people actually pay for an all-night session (around $15) rather than going to a hotel!

Although my brother and Andrew couldn't stay for long, their rail passes were still valid for a few days so they generously gave them to us to save some money. I just had to pretend to be Andrew, and Chihiro pretended to be Rene. Luckily we looked like tourists and nobody checked up on us. Unfortunately, an approaching typhoon meant that we couldn't stay any longer in Hiroshima. They were closing down the railways as it approached, and we were lucky to leave when we did. On the way home though, we decided to stop by Nagoya to see a Van Gough exhibition. The Art Museum there was pretty spectacular in itself, with a glass and steel balcony structure that was covered in a layer of water. We also had dinner in Nagoya - mmmm my favourite!

Rene's Visit

A couple weeks ago my brother Rene and his PHD supervisor Andrew came to Japan on their way to a conference in Spain. It was fantastic to catch up and spend some time travelling with them, as well as just showing them around Shizuoka. The night they arrived, Chihiro's family welcomed them with a big sushi feast, and Chihiro's father attempted to get them drunk on sake. He partially succeeded, and at the end of the night we had a group photo of "the boys". Note Rene had to bend his knees a fair bit to fit in! Everyone was really amazed at how tall he was. The other photo is one of the many election vans that were roaming the streets at the time before the Sept 11 elections. They're incredibly loud, and kind of annoying because they just advertise themselves repeatedly without actually saying why you should vote for them. (They are polite though.)

They came along to one of my kendo lessons and took some photos, so now you can see what I do two times a week! The first photo is me waiting for the start of the beating (er, I mean lesson), while somebody demonstrates a no-shadow-leap move. The second is of the training in full swing.

The main trip we made was to Kyoto, where we hired bikes to ride around for a day. It turned out to be an excellent idea, as most sight-seeing spots are fairly close to each other, and you can get around much quicker than by bus or on foot. First stop was this magnificent Buddhist temple. There was an even bigger building next to it that had an entire warehouse built around it because it was being restored (approximate completion date: 2008). Some interesting things I found out about it was that the temple's sect was created by the ruler of Japan 400 years ago, to draw worshippers away from a powerful sect that opposed him. I guess it shows that politics and religion have always been related, and not even something as simple and personal as Buddhism is spared from the ambition of men. This, and the boastfulness of some of the exhibits ("this magnificent temple is recognised world-wide", etc) seemed to detract from actual spiritual feeling of the temple. It was amazing though, and the exhibit I really liked was the coil of rope made from the hair of female devotees. This was one of 47 ropes used to rebuild the temple in 1895.

We also stopped at the national museum, where I wanted to take soooo many photos, but unfortunately we were discretely tailed by one of the museum staff wherever we went. Some of the highlights were amazingly detailed and well-preserved wooden statues from the 8th century, original clothing, armour, and weapons from the Edo period, and some long and detailed scrolls telling Buddhist tales of suffering. Some of the scenes were incredibly imaginative, as well as being hideously grotesque and morbid. Actually, they looked a lot like the pre-cursors of today's manga comics.
Next was Kiyomizu-dera, which I had visited with Chihiro almost a year ago when I came to Japan for a holiday. This photo is of some tree-doctors who are performing a quadruple bypass and a trim. We wandered around the back of the temple away from all the tourists and came across a crime-scene investigation outside one of the temple buildings. There were a lot of police around, and the area was fenced off, so we didn't get a good look, but it was a strange sight amongst the surrounding harmony. Down a little path behind the temple were hundreds of small statues, each adorned with something that looked like a bib. Very strange.

We rode the bikes through backstreets in the temple district, stopping at a few parks and interesting places along the way. We didn't have time to go into many temples, but it was nice just to cruise around such an amazing city. Our last stop was closer to the centre of town - the imperial gardens. The palace itself isn't that picturesque, as it is a pretty low construction hidden by high walls. You need special permission to go in, and can't even peek through the cracks in the gates as Rene found out when he triggered a recorded security message that kept on repeating something in Japanese (probably "Bugger off!", though much politer of course). The gardens were phenomenal in size though. The immense gravel roads that criss-crossed the park felt so utterly vast and unrestricted after riding through the crowded city streets.

That night we came back to Shizuoka by bullet-train, and Rene and Andrew got to sample the delights of a station-bought dinner (and beer). The next day while Andrew explored Tokyo, Chihiro and her friend Chigusa took Rene and I to a Japanese garden and tea-house. We tried macha (really strong frothy green tea), and some delicious traditional sweets. Chigusa explained a bit about the tea ceremony, and how to appear sophisticated, and Chihiro helped the hostess translate some things into English so she could explain things to foreign customers in future. On the last night, everyone went down to the river to set off some fireworks. Illegal in Australia, so Rene and Andrew were pretty impressed, and Chihiro's sisters said they "looked like little boys"! And afterwards, off to the convenience store for ice-cream!

Shiga

Chihiro and I made a trip to Shiga a few weeks ago to see some friends of mine who have come to live in Japan for a while. They're teaching English for Nova, a nationwide corporation, and are very lucky they got stationed where they did - Shiga is a beautiful area and not far from major cities like Osaka and Kyoto. Like our last trip, we got cheap all-day tickets for around $30 and left around 5am to get to Shiga by 10. It's a great mode of transport if you don't need much sleep! Cat and Rhys met us at the station and after dropping our stuff off at their flat (much larger than mine, and with tatami mats too!) we headed off to Hikone near lake Biwa.

The museum at Hikone is the first I've been to with no signs forbidding photography, so we all happily snapped away!

The Hikone castle grounds were huge, and there was a fantastic view of the lake from the top. Outside the snack/souvenir shop stood one of the biggest tanuki statues I've seen, though this one seemed a bit savage with pointy little teeth and a blood-stained maw. Like all other tanuki statues though, he had enormous testes, so if he did go berserk it would be quite easy to kick him where it would hurt! On the way out, we walked past a moat with a large swan. After scattering some crumbs, a swarm of enormous carp emerged from the depths and started thrashing around. They were honestly the biggest carp I've ever seen, almost a metre long, and I think the swan began to get a little concerned.

For dinner Chihiro showed Cat how to cook a Japanese dish called oyakudon. We had a great night catching up and swapping stories about living in Japan. The next day we headed off to one of the three original ninja clan halls still in existance. It was a little touristy, but had plenty of ninja equipment on display and the building was full of trapdoors, rotating walls, hiding places, and escape tunnels. They also had a shuriken (ninja-star) throwing range where we could hone our skill at embedding pointy things in targets.

The ninja were actually much more concerned with using their smarts and technology rather than fighting or doing acrobatics. This is a flint-lock pistol disguised as a sheathed dagger, and several arrows that carried explosives. There was also equipment for preparing smokebombs, medicines, and other clever devices such as shoes for walking on water, tiny portable boats, and collapsable ladders. Essentially, they were the ancient Japanese MacGyvers.

As well as a rotating wall section, this photo shows a pull-out ladder to access the hidden level in between the main level and attic. Underneath the ladder is a red X which is a trap that leads a long way down into a dangerous pit. If you know where the secret tunnel is though, you can use it to escape from the hall if it is being attacked. The secret level allows you to access different parts of the hall, and also to attack intruders from above as they enter the front door.

While they were scholars to an extent, Ninjas did seem to use a hell of a lot of pointy things! Amazingly, the tetrahedral caltrops in the bottom right of the first picture are actually seeds from a tree rather than the man-made steel variety.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Chihiro and I really appreciated Cat and Rhys's hospitality, and we're looking forward to having them visit us in Shizuoka.