Warning: This Box of Plastic may contain traces of Chocolate!

Things tend towards being overpackaged in Japan. I think possibly as a result of the Japanese axiom : Clean=Beautiful. This is literal. The word for Beautiful, Pretty, Nice is Kirei. This is also the word for Clean.

If you buy something – say, some chocolate – you get: Chocolate pieces, individually wrapped in plastic, inside a box, which is wrapped in plastic. This is then put into another plastic bag, unless you resist mightily. You are a space alien if this doesnt make complete and obvious sense.

This is a Gross Generalisation, which I wouldnt normally make, except that the sheer amount of packaging I am being bombarded with is getting me down just a little.

Maybe I just need a haircut…

Panoramic fun and games

No particular topic for today, except that while over here, ive been having fun making panoramas. A lot of things just don’t fit into the viewfinder of a camera, so stitching multiple shots together can sometimes give a better sense of size and scale. And its also just a lot of fun! Cant afford a bug-eye 15mm lens? No worries. take a series of shots and then use something like Autostitch to simulate one…

At the top is the shinkansen platform at Nagoya station. Just above is the first of the big bridges I rode my bike across while traversing the inland sea (Full story of that in a future entry). Below is another of these mammoth bridges.

Ive used panoramas in previous entries – koto-in, the alpine route, etc. Some panoramas are obvious, but others can be quite subtle. Here is a shot of my favourite buddha-in-a-cave on top of a mountain. It is a composite of just two shots, and some clever photoshop clone-tool work to fill in the black gap at the edge. Normally, I’d just crop, but in this case it would have destroyed the composition.

Here is an interesting one. This is a stitch of six separate photos of a mural in a subway in Takamatsu. The tricky thing about this one, is that when you take a series of shots for a panorama, you usually stand in one place and just rotate while taking shots. In this case, however, that wasnt possible, since the mural was along one wall of a subway tunnel. I also wanted to preserve the mural without too much distortion, so i just walked along the length of it, taking shots of the panels. Autostitch was still able to handle this – in theory, this is no different from a bunch of shots taken from a single virtual point a long way away, with a telephoto lens.

The one below, taken in Shirakawago, is unusual in that it isnt just a horizontally linear series of photos. its a whole bunch of shots, 14, in fact, in two strips of 7, one catching the top of the island and the sky, the other the bottom and the river. Looks like something out of Riven or Myst…

I could go on, but I really ought to do some flute practice. So just one last panorama. 🙂

Temple #32

Chichibu is in a river valley, surrounded by impressive mountains. Very much like the Blue mountains, except the people live in the valley, not on the tops. The tops are too pointy, and as Ive said before, the forest tends to eat anything that stands still. There are 34 temples dedicated to Kannon (Quan Yin in Chinese), the god/ess of compassion, dotted in and around Chichibu, and Number 32 is one of the most beautiful. This is (IMHO) directly related to it being one of the most remote and hard to get to.

So it was on the bike, in search of. I’d visited once before with Megumi and some of the shakuhachi crew (photo at right), so I knew where it was. Kind of. First attempt saw me ride off somewhere completely different.

A lovely ride, but no temple.

Another day, another attempt – but this time, I had a map. The aim was to be up there mid afternoon, and stay for sunset.

The Love Bike has undergone extensive modification during my time here, from innocent little commuter cycle, to hardcore child-eating monster. Note the chunky downhill mountain bike cranks, sporting a very creative chainring setup. The big ring is in the middle position, but using the original middle chainring (and some extra washers) as a spacer to try and achieve the correct offset. Vaaaast improvement. longer cranks now mean much more cranking power, and the bigger chainring means a serious top speed boost. A new seat, and decent brakes also help. Not shown in this photo are the in-wheel coloured light effect units it now sports.

All this adds up to the bike being much more fun to ride, especially in the mountains. So, off to Temple #32, Hōshō-ji. It was on the other side of a pretty serious ridge, and the new bike setup really proved itself on the climb. The downhill run on the other side was a hoot! I did take note as I whizzed down, that the amount of fun I was having would be directly proportional to the amount of effort required to return home…

So, I duly arrived at Hōshō-ji, chained up the bike where it wouldnt bite passers by, and headed up.

The temple itself is on the side of a mountain, in a number of parts. The main hall is not far up from the entrance. From there you follow the gulley up to a smaller temple, tucked partly into a rock overhang. The wood on the floor and beams was polished smooth from years of use. Very beautiful, secluded and peaceful.

On the path just underneath this building was the first of my three favourite statues in Japan.

From here, the path winds up a gulley, through dense forest – it felt very much like some walks in the Blue Mountains. It goes up a long way, and eventually you pop out onto a large rocky outcrop, right up on top of the mountain, with spectacular panoramic views of densely forested mountains and valleys, with bits of town visible off in the distance.

The path forks here, and I took the upward fork first. This path leads to a near vertical cliff face, with stone footholds chiselled in, and a chain dangling down from somewhere above.

On top, you find youself in the company of a life size bronze buddha, tucked into a tiny cave right on the very top of the mountain. It looks like its been there for a long time. Since before helicopters and airlifting anyway. Gives one food for thought. This is the second of my three favourite statues.We had lunch together on top of the mountain, and I played a bit of shakuhachi. No complaints from my lunch partner, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. He seemed to be into collecting beads, mobile phone danglies and other interesting bits and pieces, so I made a teeny paper crane from the foil wrapping of a biscuit I had with me, and attached it to the bundle.

The only other person I met since leaving the main temple down below was a Japanese pilgrim, doing his circuit of the 34 temples (this is usually done over a period of weeks, in stages). He was rather surprised to find me sitting up on top having lunch with my friend, but didnt seem to mind.

Down the chain, and back to the junction. It was getting pretty close to sunset by the time I got to where I was going, which was the prow of section of cliff that jutted right out over the valley. I played some more shakuhachi, a piece called San-ya (Three Valleys), which seemed appropriate, and which echoed nicely off down the valley.

I wasnt entirely alone though – I was in the company of the third of my favourite statues, some images of which I managed to capture, right on sunset…

More Autumn

Remember this shot from the Kyoto entry a while back? Slightly more colourful this time around. I wish i could go back again in about 2 weeks or so. And then again in winter… and spring…

Last entry saw us staying at Watanabe Onsen in Toyohashi.

The finest onsen west of Fuji, Watanabe Onsen’s cooked breakfasts were very special times – though on one occasion, I decided to eat leftover handrolled sushi from the night before – something Nobuko’s mum, Hamako, found a bit strange, but I had no problem dealing with 🙂

Evenings at the Onsen were even better – dinner, then waiting for the bathtub to sing its “I’m ready, and my temerature has stabilised at 42 degrees” song, a wonderful soak in the healthy, lifegiving water, followed by a relaxing massage in the Massage-O-Matic Chair (which put anything I’ve seen in Australia to shame, including many human masseurs).

Watanabe Onsen’s heating needs are taken care of by a Mark IV Ion Plasmacluster, whose radiant blue glow we all bathed happily in.

One of my missions while in Japan was to obtain a pair of kimono for two young friends, and Hamako proved to be an extremely willing and helpful resource – taking us all to the local department store, and getting the kimono department jumping to assist us. It was decided that yukatta (summer kimono) would be the go, and after examining every suitable sized yukatta in the store, two were purchased, along with simple obi (waist belts). Above and beyond the call of duty, Hamako then proceeded to tailor the kimono to the exact measurements provided, and turned the rather plain obi into something special, by tying appropriate bows and knots, and stitching them so they wouldnt come undone. I have complete instructional video footage of how to dress, and tie the obi properly. I wont provide photos, as the friends in question may just happen to read this, and I wouldnt want to spoil the surprise.

Instead, heres a picture of a gorgeous Autumn kimono we saw on the next part of our voyage, which saw me return to Kyoto.

We had some kind of deal that enabled us to stay in a rather nice hotel in Kyoto for very little money. The only catch was that Nobuko had to pretend to be her sister, which was fine, but Andrew doesnt look terribly much like a Japanese husband, and I look even less like Japanese Granddad. So we waited outside while she checked in.

We visited a kimono museum, which was also a studio where they dyed and hand-painted kimono silk. Watching the painters paint extraordinarily beautiful and delicate designs onto hand dyed silk, with rock steady hands and extraordinary accuracy was really special.

From there, we checked out the Nishijin Textile Centre, where we got to see people weaving silk on 150 year old Jaquard looms, and met a very friendly fellow, whose business is painting the family crests onto kimonos.

We chatted to him for ages, and he ended up doing designs for us on bits of scrap silk. He uses incredibly fine brushes, scarcely more than a hair, and has the steadiest hands ive ever seen. As he pointed out, when painting a crest onto someones mega-yen hand made kimono, you only get one chance, and it has to be perfect. He painted Andrew a very cool butterfly design, and I got him to paint my little cloud logo.

Next day, we headed straight for Koto-in. The grounds of Daitokuji were extremely quiet – much more than when I was there last time – a real bonus. Koto-in was cemented as my favourite place in Japan. The wonderful trees and beautiful buildings I’ve already shown plenty of, but here are a few of the other reasons…

Ahh ok, I couldnt resist just a few more trees and buldings…

Kyoto was a bit of a gift shopping bonanza this time, with Nobuko and I proving to be dangerous company for each other, while Andrew observed with amusement. Lacquered bowls, a hand-felted bag, wooden things, ceramics, fabric, books, magazines. The familiar cry of “Argh! How am I going to get all this home!”

After Kyoto, it was back to Toyohashi for the night, and then A&N wanted to show me a little of Nagoya, where they lived and worked before coming back to Australia. I really liked the feel of Nagoya, possibly because I was in good company with local knowledge, but even so, it seemed to be a nice city.

We found a wonderful bookshop, called Mountain-Route, which appears to be part of a small chain of maybe half a dozen shops in Japan. It was a wonderful place though – full of life and the effort of the staff (and patrons) to make it something more than your average bookshop. the place was laid out beautifully, with nooks to sit and read (there was even a teeny room under the stairs, no more than a metre an a bit high, complete with bookshelves and cushions. Their stock seemed very carefully selected, by people with very interesting taste, and consisted mostly of wonderful kids books, art books, poetry, and art-picture-story books for kids and adults. A lot of very accessable but incredibly deep and moving works. I bought a few books that seemed to be perfect for various people, but really didnt want to leave the shop. They had a ‘tree’ with flat perspex branch/shelves, and when you bought a book, you got to write something on a coloured leaf and add it to the tree. the perspex shelves meant the colours of the leaves were visible, and you could also read what people had written (tho mostly in Japanese, of course)

King Kong in a baseball cap above wasnt part of anything – just a weird bit of public sculpture, or obscure advertising maybe. Not uncommon in Japan. King Kong, I mean. Or obscure advertising for that matter… Take the Zen Mall in Harajuku (Tokyo) for instance…

After wandering around Nagoya a bit, it was dinner time, and Andrew had major plans for visiting a strange Nagoya chicken-wing chain, run by some crazy guy who in Australia would be on telly advertising two dollar shops.

The wings were seriously addicive however. Some of A&N’s friends from Nagoya came along, but I had to leave, despite very much wanting to stay. The shinkansen waits for noone. I was getting Nobuko to write down a basic translation of the storyline of one of the books I had bought however, and this meant a last minute dash for the train. I literally stepped onto it, and the door closed behind me, and off back to Tokyo it was.

Here is a photo of Fuji-san I took on the way over, just because Fuji is so nice.

Japan continues to show me its best side. Everyone assures me its rare to see Fuji, but every time I’ve gone past, the view has been great. Even driving into Tokyo today with the crew, we saw Fuji, poking up to the west. It really is an impressive mountain. Much much larger than anything else around, and it’s shape is beautiful – no wonder its so revered, and features large in the minds and arts of the Japanese.

And one last detail, just to remind you… Autumn…

Autumn

My wayward laptop has finally returned. Much has happened since the last entry, which was about Kyoto. Since then, Ive come back to Chichibu, studied, explored more of the surrounds, been in and out of Tokyo, and most recently, been travelling for a week with my wonderful friends Andrew and Nobuko. Appropriately, this has seen me return to Kyoto again, and I was able to revisit some of my favourite places from the first visit.

This time however, it was Autumn…

I really can’t describe how sublimely beautiful Japan is in Autumn. Japanese poets have been trying for centuries, but still can’t get even close. The intensity of the colours, the subtlety of the gradients, the superb shapes of the trees, the luminous translucency of the leaves, the freshness of the air…

In Kyoto, Koto-in, a subtemple of Daitoku-ji that I talked about in my last entry, was even more superb this time. I can only imagine what it must have been like to live there, watching the seasons change day by day.

Travelling with Andrew and Nobuko in Japan was pretty special – its been something Andrew and I have been wanting to do for a very, very long time.

We met up in Nagoya railway station, and immediately headed out on a train to Takayama, in the north of central Honshu. The train took us through mountains in the grip of Autumn, and the scenery was spectacular.

In what was to develop as a theme for our travels, we had about 2 minutes in Takayama to find and board a bus that would take us onward to Shirakawago, a village that is world heritage listed, for its wealth of traditional thatched roof gassho-zukuri farmhouses. The name literally means ‘hands in prayer’. They are built entirely with wood, rope and straw and are quite beautiful. We stayed ryokan-style in one, which included delicious cooked dinner and breakfast.

In the mornings, when the sun hits the thatched rooves, large clouds of steam are generated, producing a quite spectacular sight – visible in the photographs.

It was also here that I was introduced to mitarashii dango, a kind of mochi (pounded cooked rice) that come as balls on skewers, grilled, and dipped in a special soy based sauce. Im going to try and make them when I get back home, so you may get to taste them if you are lucky (or unlucky, depending on my measure of success). Our Mochi-Man had the technique and the secret sauce perfected, and we visited him three times during the morning for more. Nobuko tried to talk the secret sauce recipe out of him, with some, but not complete success.

From Shirakawago, we went further north to stay in an onsen town, called Unazuki Onsen. Our hotel had both indoor and outdoor onsen, which we duly enjoyed, tho the outdoor onsen was less natural than I imagined – more like a large shallow heated pool, surrounded by rocks cemented into place, and ‘natural’ hot spring water piped from somewhere down below.

We decided to take the Tateyama-Kuroba alpine-route, to its high point at Morodo, which involved a train, then a bus ride way up into the Japan Alps. I was very happy to see bits of snow appear by the side of the road, and by the time we got to Morodo, the snow was knee deep.

While the tourists assembled on the roof deck for their group photos, we wandered off into the wilderness for a bit of an explore.

Snowballs were thrown, and a snowman, which I called Yukihito (literally ‘snow-person’) was constructed, mostly by Nobuko, who was the only one of us with gloves.

In this photo, he is grumpy about not having a bottom bit. Actually, he was a bit like a buddha statue, in that his expression was somehow completely different depending on what angle you looked at him from. Joyous, grumpy, indifferent…

From there, we headed back to Toyohashi, to Nobuko’s parents place. They really are lovely people. When I was best man at Andrew and Nobuko’s wedding, Nobuko’s folks seemed to take a real shine to me, and her dad, Yasuhiro, was very emphatic in inviting me to come and visit in Japan. Which, finally, I managed to do.

I’ll post this entry now, and continue from here tomorrow. Just in case you had forgotten, its Autumn here…

Kyoto is a Nice Place

I almost finished an entry about my further adventures in Takamatsu, then clicked the ‘Back’ button on the browser and that was that. no more entry 😦

I’ll retype that one later. The short of it was that I ended up using the magic rail pass to get to Kyoto, arriving on Saturday afternoon. On the train I figured out a hostel that sounded good – and has indeed turned out to be rather lovely, not to mention cheap! Its called “Tour Club” and at 2300 yen a night (dorm accom) is worth every teeny little aluminium 1 yen coin.

Shower was bliss after two nights camping, and a lot of cycling around. Ate big, slept like a log and woke up ready to check out Kyoto.

I headed out north along the Kamo River aiming to wander up to a couple of Rinzai zen temples northwest of the city, but in no rush. it was only 8am, so nothing much was open, and the city was relatively quiet. Riverside is wonderful – a whole little scene of its own – by day fishermen gather to fish and chat – under one bridge they literally have a kind of cafe set up – chairs and tables theyve brought along, and an amazing collection of plants and bonsai! they just stay there at night – noone touches them.

I headed through the Imperial Palace gardens, which were lovely, and filled with people playing sports or games or just wandering. I watched a friendly but serious baseball game, which was fun. Lots of laughing and yelling “Play Baaa”. Saw the best petanque player ive ever seen – beware the One Armed Man – he’s deadly accurate with a cannonball.

My incredible good luck continues, and I wandered into Koto-in completely at random. Well, not totally – the surrounding bamboo forest looked good from the outside – But I certainly wasnt specifically looking for it. It turned out to be the most beautiful, serene and inspiring place ive yet been to in Japan. Its a ‘subsidiary temple’ of Daitoku-ji which is a large Rinzai Zen temple. I wandered in and felt immediately comfortable and open. I wandered around, but eventually returned to the wide porch, clearly a spot designed for sitting and contemplating the garden. The garden itself, at least the view from the sitting spot, is a masterpiece. Ive never seen anything like it. Designed by a famous tea-master who’s name eludes me, sitting looking at it induces a very deep serenity. I just sat for about an hour and a half. When time came to move on, my legs had completely gone to sleep and I had to massage them before I could actually stand. Photos of it fail miserably to do it justice, so I havent included any of the ‘sitting spot’. You’ll have to make do with my description and the other photos of the temple grounds.
In fact this one will have to be communicated in person when I get back home. E-communication just isn’t up to the job. 🙂

After Koto-in, I visited Daitoku-ji proper – which, to be honest wasnt worth the admission fee, especially after Koto-in, which was free. The one thing it did have that was great was squeaky floorboards. Almost musically so. It must be deliberate. I have a recording which I’ll get up on the web some time. It was interesting sitting and listening to how people walked and interacted with it. Some people were completely oblivious. Clomped around with their heads full of other things. Others, perhaps more open to their immediate environment, trod lightly and with curiosity. Others walked as if they were playing a musical instrument 🙂

Next, I rode on to Ryoan-ji, another Rinzai temple with a very famous rock garden.

The grounds of which were also very beautiful. Japanese maples have to be one of the most beautiful trees. Soft layers of leaves that seem to have their own internal glow when backlit by the sun.

I got to hear zen nuns singing and playing bells at another temple as I wound my way through the back streets towards the city centre again. There really is a temple garden or shrine on every street in Kyoto.

Some gift shopping amongst thronging but happy crowds, then back along the river – At night, the scene is mostly young people strolling and spending time with friends and loved ones, watching the city lights refected.

Thats Kyoto so far…

I do however continue to get a lot of amusement out of the fact that the Japanese, who love rules and regiment, also love nothing more to ignore the same when it suits…

Camped under an orange tree…

In Takamatsu again today. Tried to ride to the top of a nearby mountain last night, but it has a tollroad leadin up to the top, and the gatekeeper said emphatically NO BIKES. 😦 So I found a nearby orange grove and camped under an orange tree. 🙂

Saw the most gorgeous little buddhist temple at dawn this morning. The gatehouse especally had the most extraordinary attention to detail, and patina of age and use.

Thunderstorms forecast this arvo, so will find a spot in a hostel here tonight. Hopefully tomorrow down the coast to a place called Naruto, where the narrow Naruto Straits have famously large tidal whirlpools. This afternoon, off to see Ritsurin Park.

Ben-san de Takamatsu ni ikimashita…

but unfortunately, Ben-san no jitensha de Okayama ni ikimashita!

Warning: putting your luggage and yourself in different train carriages is a very bad idea. Seems like common sense, doesnt it.

Lucky for me I was blessed on Miyajima the other day.

After an utterly incredible 2 day bike ride from Onomichi, on ‘mainland’ Honshu, to Imabari on Shikoku, via a chain of bridges and islands across the inland sea – an experience that was absolutely unforgettable, and will get a blog entry of its own, once I get the photos off the digital camera, and some decent net time – I ended up taking the train to Takamatsu this morning.

Train platforms in Japan have a series of numbered signs along their length to indicate the carriage numbers of the train. My seat was in Carriage 1. So I line up under the number 1, and board the train with my bike. I stow the bike in the luggage spot of the carriage, and try to find my seat. 6D. hmm… this carriage doesnt appear to have a seat 6D. Aha! it appears this train, for some unfathomable reason, has the carriages numbered in opposite order to the platform markings. I appear to be in carriage 8. We are already underway, and there’s no way I’m going to carry the bike through 8 carriages of people. So I leave it in “carriage 8” and go find my seat in carriage 1.

A scenic but otherwise uneventful trip. We stop at a number of stations. Then, about 2 stops short of Takamitsu, we stop. For quite a while. I get an uneasy feeling…

I make it to carriage 4, to see the back of carriage 5 just starting to pull away… I look at the guard who was waving off the half of the train containing my bike, tent, sleeping bag, trangia and thermarest. Its immediately obvious, with no words necessary, what the story is. “Doko?” I say… “Okayama” he responds sympathetically. Okayama. The place that just won’t leave me alone. Site of my first day blues trying to find Metho for the Trangia, and lugging the bike in and out of the train station repeatedly.

Not much I can do now 🙂 So back to my seat, to rehearse in my head the Japanese I would need to muster to explain the situation to the station staff in Takamatsu…

With the aid of clever diagrams, and the slightly off-white belt in Japanese awarded me by Michiko-sensei, I manage to communicate the situation. The heroic station master springs into action. He makes the call to Okayama. Asks me what the bike looked like. Luckily, I took a photo of it, folded up ready to go, on the platform in Imabari. I show him. He gets off the phone, points to some seats and tells me “please to wait”. I wait. 15 minutes later, he waves at me, and it appears that the bike has made it safely to Okayama, and is in the hands of the station staff. 🙂

He then points to a train sitting on the closest platform. “That train, Okayama.” The gratitude I feel is tangible. “Domo arigato gozaimasu!” I reply as I dash for the train.

It seems the blessing from Miyajima appears to have worked.

A wonderful train ride on an old train with lovely curved glass windows, across an incredible bridge – or series of bridges joined together end to end – and 40 mins later I am in Okayama. Again. Lost and Found. The bike! w00t! but the torn sidewall from the earlier island hopping has blown out. Puncture, and a dead tyre. Well – my plan was to find a new tyre in Takamatsu anyway, so I ask at Information if there is a nearby bike shop. Near station’s west entrance, Im told. This means carrying the dead bike up and down flights of stairs and taking the station underpass. Okayamagoe… (shakuhachi in-joke) But I find the bike shop. no 20 inch tyres. “Any other nearby bike shops?” I manage in Japanese. The bike shop guy tells me maybe at the giant shopping mall down the street a ways. So off I go. 3 doors down is another bike shop that the guy somehow has never seen. they dont sell parts tho. even spare tyres. another 2 doors down, there is a small shop that appears to be, and in fact is, the nearest thing i’ve found to a bicycle service station. The first bike shop guy must be blind. 2000 yen and 15 minutes later, I have a new tyre and tube, expertly fitted, brakes adjusted and chain lubed ready to go, Sir! Waved at the surprised first bikeshop guy on my way back past 🙂

I’m really starting to wonder about that blessing. That priest was *good*.

So back on a train to Takamitsu, to pick up where I left off. 3 hours down, but the bike all fixed, and a good story to tell. Im happy with the exchange. Takamatsu felt great from the start. (Still does) I ride the wrong way out of the station – or at least I think I do – so i come back. only to run into a second hand market, and the first thing i find on the table is a near new bike bag! for 500 yen! cant believe my luck. Ive been trying to find one of these things *new* for days. Ive been using a flimsy scooter-cover for the last while, when station staff get thingy about the bike not being in a bike bag. dodgy, and now full of holes, but its got me by. But now I have a funky bike bag!

What did that priest *do*??!

tee hee. but really – its all in the mind – allow yourself to feel the flow of things and go with it, and disaster is revealed to be perfection. hard to explain, but it works. And in all this, the secret gem – I got to see a smiling stationman’s unseen flag flourish.

Shika no Tone

Ive been in Hiroshima since Sunday, and today will head down the coast along the inland sea. But I’ve packed a lot into the last few days…

Friday night I got to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra play in Tokyo – when i turned up on Marty’s (fellow student of Kakizakai-sensei) doorstep in tokyo friday afternoon, he said “want to go see some music? ive got some free tickets…” 🙂

Saturday morning I caught the Skinkansen to a place called Okayama – about a 3 1/2 hour trip west. The plan was to check out Okayama, then ride across the Kibi plain – camp that night on the plain, then catch a train back to Okayama the next day, and the skinkansen on to Hiroshima to see a shakuhachi concert that Bronwyn was performing in.

I got into Okayama at about 2pm, but while on the train I realised I had not obtained any metho to fuel the trangia (camping stove) – bad mistake. So I rode around Okayama trying to find metho. No luck. I found a camping store that sold Trangias, but according to the staff, they didnt sell fuel for them. This needed to be obtained from a Drug Store. This conversation took place in bad japanese, with a lot of pointing and gesticulation. So I visited a number of drug stores, but no luck. By this stage things were getting lateish, and I was pretty over it, so I decided to head out anyway and just have a cold dinner.

Definately the right move, and as soon as I was out of Okayama, I felt 110% better. Being on the Kibi plain at sunset was just wonderful – its more of a long, flat bottomed valley than what my Australian mind identifies as a plain, but japan is mostly mountains, so any piece of flat land larger than a postage stamp is considered a plain. Usually this means its covered in city, but the Kibi plain is mostly farmland. Rice paddies and a few veggie plots. It’s networked with teeny bike-sized access roads though, and riddled with shrines, burial mounds, ruins of temples and other interesting sights.

It got dark before i found a camping spot however, but eventually I came to a burial mound – a large terraced artificial hill, and pitched the tent on one of the terraces, with a superb view out over the plain. It was still early, so i did a bit of shakuhachi practice (hee hee – I wonder if anyone though it was a ghost!) and went to sleep pretty soon after. Up early next morning, and caught the sunrise over the plain. I saw nesting cranes too! Didnt see the nests, but saw cranes, and they were swooping passers by (including me), so I assume they were nesting. They are really impressive. BIG. and when they swoop, they fly in silently and then when they are right on top of you, do a left-right zigzag that makes a big whooshing noise, and then fly off. Certainly caught me by surprise first time…

I caught a local train back from a place called Soja to Okayama, in time to catch the Hikari Rail-Star to Hiroshima. A very impressive train indeed – looked more like something about to launch into space. And it is indeed extremely impressive when you pass another one coming the opposite way, at a range of about half a metre, with a relative speed of about 600 km/hr! the whole train gets sucked sideways for an instant as the two pass. In all, the shinkansen feel like being in a plane that is about to land, with a small amount of turbulance.

Arrived in Hiroshima, with about an hour to find the concert venue. Found it, after a bit of riding up and down, and went in to wait for the concert. Anne Norman was the featured performer – another Australian (Japan seems to be *full* of us) who has been playing for about 30 years. Though an amateur concert, the standard was great! Anne played some solo pieces, and there were some ensemble pieces with a bunch of other local shakuhachi players. She also did a duet with Bronwyn, called Shika no Tone, which is about the calling of the deer. Afterwards I was invited along to the after-party/dinner which was a hoot! first time ive had a chance to interact with the japanese in relaxo-mode over a huge meal and plenty of beeru. When it was discovered that I had no accom sorted, I was invited back to Mende-san’s house, where Bron and Anne were also staying.

Mende-san was largely responsible for organising the concert, and the hospitality shown by him and his wife was really extraordinary. Lovely people. He finds it baffling but wonderful that foreigners would spend their hard earned money and spend extened time away from loved ones, just to learn an obscure Japanese instument and be interested in Japanese culture. It moves him quite deeply, and as a result he goes way out of his way to help us. In this photo, we have, Right to left, Mende-san, Bronwyn, Anne, Keiko (Mende-san’s wife), Fuji-san’s wife (whose name I cant remember – terrible, since she was so lovely and I had a great conversation with her in Japlinglish), and Fuji-san.

Monday, he took us all sightseeing, to Miyajima island. Fuji-san, one of the other players in the performance had organised with the (famous) shrine on Miyajima, to have us all blessed, and for Anne and Bronwyn to be able to perform Shika no Tone at the shrine.

Quite an amazing experience. The piece was especially relevant, since Miyajima has a population of wild deer, that wander at will through the whole town/temple complex, eating people’s guidebooks and both enchanting and terrifying small children (and adults!) in equal measures. The shrine itself is built on pylons out over the water, and has the famous ‘floating’ Torii (gate) out in the water.

After Miyajima, we were taken to visit the Peace Park and A-Bomb Dome, which was an extremely moving experience. Just standing in front of the memorial, looking through it to the A-Bomb Dome is extremely powerful, and just thinking about it again I am close to tears. The strength of feeling was quite unexpected, and I’m still digesting the experience. I think it was also magnified by the fact that our hosts all had relatives whose names were written on the registers housed inside the memorial. Fiji-san’s wife told me that they were happy that the names were there.

I parted company with the group after going through the museum, deciding that I didnt want to impose on Mende-san’s hospitality any further – I cant repeat enough how wonderful his generosity, especially with his time, was. After visiting the train station and checking out routes and times, I decided that I would rather spend the night in Hiroshima, so got a room at a hostel near the peace park, dumped my gear, and took the bike out for a look around town.

Peace Park, once the centre of a devastated city, is now a lovely and indeed peaceful place. At night, people wander around it, sit by the river with friends, or just play. I saw three girls practicing their dance routines in the reflective windows of the museum. People playing guitars and fishing under a bridge. Homeless and travellers alike sleep quietly and undisturbed on some of the benches.

The A-Bomb Dome at night is a quiet and beautiful place. Lit quite minimally, it radiates a kind of easy stillness that is simultaneously extremely welcoming and quietly thought provoking. Peace Park really is a wonderfully peaceful place.

The photo at the beginning of this blog entry is a moss stain on the wall of Okayama castle. Painted by nature and circumstance, and as beautiful (I think) as any Japanese landscape painting ive seen – it seems to me to be the scene of a moonrise over the forested mountains.

Time for me to head off and see the inland sea… but ill leave you with one last photo…

we apologise for the disconnection…

My Laptop died. Just like that. Using it one minute, turned away, turned back… black screen. 😦

Which is why the blog has been quiet of late.

Im in Tokyo at the moment, after staying at a friend’s house so i could get an early start on the Grand Tour, which begins today 🙂

Beginning with a 9:30am Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to a place called Okayama, which is an hour this side of Hiroshima. about 4 hours on the train. I’ll probably sleep most of it – had a late-ish night last night after being unexpectedly taken out to see the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra – which was a real treat… AND I got to ride the longest escalator in the world! w00t!

anyway – heres a pic of Shinjuku at night – the raw image is very large – straight from the camera. no chance to edit it to a more reasonable size – so dont click on it unless you have broadband, or time to spare 🙂