Ramblings

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I have been relaxing and contemplating. I came to relax and to escape Australia for a while and clear my head at the same time as experiencing a world different to my own yet still one and the same.

My self absorbtion (laziness?) was interspersed with a few interesting activities.

Shopping.
I went to the supermarket to pick up a few things. Who would have considered a supermarket to be an interesting experience? At least when I was in Ecuador you could make an educated guess based on pictures and the words were similar in structure and script. Here I cannot understand the script at all so I have to rely on pictures and hope. There are many products that have English on them so I can use those words as a guide. I was amused when looking in the refrigerated section that there was a bottle of Drink Yogurt - the rational human in me knew that this was drinking yogurt but my inner fool could not help but think this was some other product that was merely advertising that we should "Drink Yogurt!". Come to think of it my calcium intake has been low since I have been here - good advice then? Shopping - an activity ordinarily considered boring, mundane and nothing more than neccesity. For me it is now a quirky insight into a country and culture that is not easy to understand. There is only one type of apple here - the Fuji apple and it is red and huge,　I see them individually wrapped and costing upwards of ten Aussie dollars each for the prime ones. Banana's on the other hand are imported from the Phillipines and cost between one and two Australian dollars for a bunch of three or four. The supermarket also gave me the chance to see marbled meat up close and personal. I think a dietician in Australia would be horrifed at the amount of fat in this meat but I have not yet consumed any so I cannot judge whether the dietician can go jump. I am no longer a large consumer of fermented beverages but the beer here intrigues me. Beer is available nearly everywhere and cheap by the can compared to single prices back home but there is no discount for buying by the six pack or carton - thus allowing a wide sampling of various beers but disallowing the almighty slab as a reasonable purchase. Beer is also seasonal here, there are the standard year round flavours but there are also beers that are only available in certain seasons - weird. Tooheys Christmas Ale anyone?

Feasting.
I have been priveleged since I have been here. I have been staying with an old High School friend of mine, Lance, and he has been able to offer me insights into the country that I would have otherwise missed out on. I was invited out to his company Christmas do. The literal translation for it was something along the lines of Forget Year Party, perhaps I should have paid careful attention to this translation. It was a rather intimate do with only about 18 people attending in traditionally styled Japanese restaurant, so we sat on the floor, the locals kneeling whilst I could not stay in the one position for more than a few minutes at a time and gave in to wriggling around all night in search of a comfortable position - something that eluded me. The staff at the company all made me feel really welcome and included me all night trying to make conversation in their, at times difficult, English which was greatly appreciated considering I was crashing their shindig. I am not sure that it mattered so much that I was there as it turns out that the night was an all you can drink affair - perhaps they really were planning on having a forget year party. There was Beer, hot Sake, cold Sake and Nihonshu (a variant of Sake) and as is Japanese custom your glass is never empty. Seems to me that all eyes were watching the glasses and as soon as I emptied my glass it was full again - I thought that they were trying to get me drunk. Turns out that it is simply custom and the overly polite, at least to your face, Japanese people feel they have failed if your glass is empty so the only way to avoid drinking any more is leave your glass full. The food was excellent with a sashimi starter plate with soy and wasabi dipping sauce. It was very interesting for me as I have never had fish this way before - I was quite prepared to be disgusted but the tuna and salmon was surprisingly good dipped in Wasabi and Soy (perhaps it was my love of all things Wasabi that got me through) the flavour wasn't all that strong or pleasing for me but the texture was certainly a surprise, not one that I can describe. I am not sure I would rush out and have it again but over time I guess I could aquire the taste for it. The sashimi was followed by crumbed chicken and crumbed oysters with dipping sauces - crumbed oysters? Yep, actually pretty good although I know all you oyster afficionados will call me sacriligious. This was followed by a pork dish which was delectable though I did not get the name for it. This was to be followed by the main meal of Nabe (Na Bay). If I wasn't full already I was after the Nabe, a kind of stew cooked in ceramic pots at your table. We had seafood and it was extremely tasty, I simply could not eat any more but fortunately for me I could always wash it down with my bottomless beer. Then came dessert - fortunately for me it was small and from what I could tell was really only designed to cleanse my palette because my belt had no more notches to go before my pants fell down.

Insanity.
The Japanese gorgings were to continue but first I had to wear off the previous meal before I could contemplate another feast. Lance, Matt (one of Lance's mates from Macquarie Uni who also works here) and myself all went mountain bike riding near Kamakura (an old capital of Japan). We got to see part of the Japanese countryside I would have otherwise missed, serene isolated temples that are obviously off the beaten track for locals and tourists alike. The magic of autumn struck me (literally) again as I was descending some the stairs from one temple. A chill wind struck up and cut through my sporting gear and forced me to look up, I stopped to see the yellow leaves falling, carried by the breeze that cut through me. I paused and could see nothing but the yellowed falling leaves against a green forest background - magic. I could have been in that temple in any autumn since it was built and experienced the serenity created by its hidden location. I was floating enjoying a mystical quasi religious feeling when, BAM - one of the leaves that had me entranced smacked me in the forehead. Those suckers hit pretty hard for leaves, Oh well back to work. What is it about mountain bikes that is so much like hard work (could it be the whole mountain thing?). Well I am seriously unfit at the moment so I found out, but the flattish and down hill sections were a fine balance between slightly scary, slightly insane and beautiful. Riding along single track with steep drop offs, close trees, fallen trees (some you really had to duck for), water, rocks and ground covered by fallen leaves so you never actually knew what the real surface was like made for an exciting time - I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind having a crack at it when I get home. The funniest part of the whole thing was the Japanese people walking the trails. We were riding down a reasonably wide trail with people going everywhere and the ones we passed were calling out COOL! (in Japanese of course) rather than telling others to watch out. Don't watch out for your friends just enjoy the crazy Gaijin whooshing past. Who is the crazy one here?

More Hilarity.
The hilarity of Japan had me smiling so hard I had to laugh out loud today, probably making the situation worse and make me laugh even harder. Initially I had been quite intimidated by the language barrier but now I find it fantastic. The Japanese people on the whole are far more intimidated by the language / cultural barrier than I am. They won't sit next to you on the train for fear that you will talk to them, which is great because the seats are designed for people with small shoulders. There was a fellow sitting opposite me on the train today was differently abled (he would have been called retarded prior to political correctness) and people were avoiding him and then they would look in my direction and sit next to the guy they initially wanted to avoid. I caught an express train between Yokohama and Shinjuku (Tokyo) and people would rather stand for 20 minutes than sit next to me. I can go to a shop and order (point usually) something or bring it to the counter and the staff will have a complete conversation without my interaction - the only things I pick up are ususally Gaijin-des and Arigato. I smile, give my Arigato's and continue on my merry little way. Hilarious - well for me anyway.

Museum.
The Edo-Tokyo museum is well worth the visit if you ever visit Japan and a history buff like me. The museum documents the life of the city from the Edo period until the Tokyo Olympic games in the 1960's. It is filled with interesting artefacts, articles, paintings, dioramas and has excellent english language notes accompanying the displays (unlike many other museums here). It is well known that the Japanese people are not told about World War II and this museum certainly demonstrated that to me. There was a section called road to war that finished in about 1936 and suddenly it was 1942 and the American's were bombing Tokyo - initially I was a little offended but I realised that it is simply how the Japanese deal with it. None the less it was surprising considering the museum went into some depth when it came the hardships relating to the massive reorganisation of Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the role of the government and the emperor in causing the people this massive and violent upheaval of their lives. Maybe over time and the passing of the generations that lived through the war there may be more open and honest discussion of the events that occurred.

Tattoo.
I have become fascinated by the Japanese tattoo. I visited a small tattoo museum in Yokohama the other day, in a back alley and off the normal tourist path (don't worry mum and dad I didn't get one). It was the pokiest little museum and the most expensive I have visited yet it was one of the best. There were no english language translations but the items on display spoke for themselves. There items relating to scarification and tattooing from every continent on earth. There was crude western flash from the early 20th century displayed on the walls and photo's of beautiful tattooing from all over Japan. What seemed to be instruments of torture up to two feet long turned out to be implements for tattooing - why would you do it to yourself?. The bloke who has the tattoo shop above (Horioshi III) is very well respected around the world and this shows in the museum pieces. Not only are there all the traditional implements but there is much paraphernalia that was donated, there are prison tattooing machines and uniforms from the United States and even a whole series of letters and tapes from none other than Charles Manson himself. The museum holds images of beautiful ornate colorful tattoos on Yakuza and their wives / mistresses and it holds old documents about the use of tattooing in Edo Japan as a way to identify criminals.

The Japanese tattoo intrigues me. A country that holds such disdain for the tattoo and prohibits them in so many places is the home of probably the most artistic and intricate tattoos in the world. There is great social stigma associated with people that have any kind of tattoo - even flash and fashion tattoos that gives them no association with Yakuza. The early tattooing that identified people as prisoners, through means of marks identified with certain prisons and prefectures probably created the stigma as early as the 18th century. Yet at the same time firefighters were often highly tattooed with the most expansive and beautiful forms of tattoos (I found an 18th century picture in the Edo Tokyo museum demonstrating this) and later Rickshaw drivers often were highly tattooed as it increased their trade. The sailors that came to Japan in the late 19th century are credited with taking this art back to he west and introducing it. Tattooing was banned during the Meiji restoration but pressure from the occupation forces after World War II caused a resurgence in the art form. I found it interesting to note that while so many other forms of dying Japanese traditions are now held as national treasures by the government and have funding and apprentices channelled into them but the best tattooing in the world is sadly not a treasure at all. I could go on for hours about tattooing as it fascinates me so.

Anywhere.
I was walking back to a train station the other day and I stopped and concentrated on the soundscape. It occurred to me that whilst the scenery may have been unique the sound track is not. The howling siren of an ambulance set me on this thought pattern, the siren was soon drowned by the electric whine of train accelerating away from the station. Followed by the noise of the amorphous crowd having unintelligible converations as the station emptied of yet another crowd of people. The airconditioner units rattling away and the hawkers yelling their wares at the uncaring crowd. Traffic whizzing past unconcerned with anything but their destination. Jackhammers and cranes both creating and destroying with their industrial music. Delivery men clattering their overloaded carts across rough bitumen and tiles. The city soundtrack led me to believe that I could have been in any city in the world, but there I was standing outside a Sumo stadium - how Tokyo.

Big guy?
The Sumo stadium itself had a whole bunch of locals hanging around the front gate snapping photos. Call me slow but it took me a while to realise that the people who were being photographed were all men and all dressed traditionally with top knot hair do's - They were Sumo! It took me a while to realise because I always had this impression that Sumo were giants among men but I was looking eye to eye with many of these guys. Admittedly they were broader than me and probably a good 50 to 60 kilo's heavier but they are not really all that tall. This gave an interesting insight into Japanese people. I guess at some stage that a lot of the Japanese were a much smaller race (not the case now) so Sumo would have been huge then. Some of the older generation really are tiny, I saw a woman who did not even come up to the bottom of my rib cage. These people are not uncommon sights but they are all of the same age. I can only place them as being raised during the terrible deprivations of the Second World War.

Yokohama.
A harbour as big or bigger than Sydney yet industrialised more than Newcastle. A tourist attraction for the locals, somewhat like Sydney but lacking in the natural beauty. Yokohama is a very important point in the history of Japan and a must visit for history buffs like me. Yokohama was the port that opened Japan to the world in the late 19th century. I would have expected the maritime museum there to have more in the way of English translations (like my guide book led me to believe) but alas it didn't. I was left to interpret many of the displays for myself. If you are like me and read anything that stands still long enough you would have been a little dissapointed. Not a museum that I recommend, however outside there is a beautifully cared for, four masted Bark (the Nippon Maru) that was built in the 1930's as a training ship for the merchant marine and was in service until the 1980s. A very well preserved vessel that is obviously much loved and kept in excellent condition. More dissapointing is the Hikawa Maru further down the Yokohama Waterfront. An ocean liner from the 1930s, supposedly the golden era of Japanese ocean travel and one of the symbols of the city. For what was once a grand lady of the sea is now in a sad, rusted state and never likely to be even close to seaworthy again - I find it hard to believe that it is in this state as it is supposed to symbolise Yokohama, a city that seemed to be vibrant and active to me. I am not a huge maritime history fan but I do have a certain affection for old machinery and I felt genuinely sad for the Hikawa Maru, if you believe that a machine can have feelings I am sure that she would want to be allowed to be let go from her present state, a tired, aging and stressed old lady that noone cares for any longer.

More amusing Japan.
I was cruising around downtown Yokohama contemplating what exactly it is I like about travelling to new places and seeing new things. The thought occured to me that I really like seeing different modes of transport and history and that I really love Japanese cars - really love them. So I walked into a Nissan dealership and asked for a few brochures on Japan specific models. This was all cool but the receptionist could not understand a word I was saying - I eventually got the brochures after much consultation of my trusty language guide and furious gesticulating. I could not help but laugh and think of an Australian receptionist if some crazy foreigner walked in and asked for stuff in a language they had no concept of.
Well it was hilarious for me anyway.

Australia.
I will be home earlier than I had originally planned. It is for a pretty good reason though. It seems that I got the marks that I hoped for at university so I will be back around the middle of February to commence my Honours year in Sociology. Nerd.

Christmas.
Strange. Just another working day and even more crass commercialization than at home.

Hints and Tips.
For those that asked. Japan is beautiful in autumn, it unusually warm this year and autumn (fall for all of those who claim to speak english and cannot understand me) has lasted longer than usual. It is also low season everywhere except the ski resorts so all the backpackers hostels are very quiet. Stay away from anything that attracts locals on weekends if you do not like crowds - you are a tourist, do it on a weekday.

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Photos

Ancient Coastline
This is near the old capital of Kamakura. Life seems somewhat more relaxed outside Tokyo.

Charge
The view out the front of the train on the Enoden Line. The houses seem close enough to reach out and touch at times. The driver had this routine where he checked his gauges and clock and gave handsignals to noone before leaving a station. ?

Obsession
I am quite impressed with the artistry on the ends of the tiled rooves. They seem to be all different.

Lucky Monks
Imagine having to live here? This is part of the Zen complex in Kita Kamakura.

Obsessed
More roof art.

Temple Life
Wandering between Kita Kamakura and Kamakura proper there must be a thousand temples. A great deal of peace to be found so close to Tokyo

Public Art
OK Dad and John. You seem to think you can do industrial art. How about 20 foot shipping containers?

Public Art
Through the shipping containers to the lighthouse representing Yokohama

Subway Spaceman
Me on the Tokyo railway system

Ultraman
One of the original anime / manga charachters. Turns out the studio is just down the road from where I am staying

Priority Seating
I can understand having to give up my seat, to the old and the infirm. But why do I have to give my seat up for large men with a taste for petite women who cannot control their passion?