May 2004
Well, it’s been a long time since the last update, but I’ve plenty to write about and a bonanza of photos (in the PhotoLinks section). My dad’s just returned after a whirlwind trip around Japan, and I’m absolutely exhausted, templed out and sleep deprived. So here goes…
Day 1
Thought I could introduce my father to Tokyo gently. Coffee in Ueno, a short train ride to Asakusa to see the Sensoji-temple, followed by a river cruise to the Hama Rikyu Garden. It quickly became apparent though that I’d forgotten about all the little things that make Japan weird to the freshly arrived foreigner. People sleeping on trains, sleeping standing up; grown men reading comic books; people who are employed in useless jobs - three policemen to direct people across a pedestrian crossing, one person to sell a ticket and another to tear it along the perforated line; the efficiency of the train service; the hideous overcrowding of trains in Tokyo at rush hour; enforced greetings, nods and bows from store employees; all levels of mascots and stuffed toys dangling everywhere; total inaccessibility i.e. few English speakers, totally different written script, ATMs which won’t accept foreign cash-cards etc; Pachinko…complete sensory overload...etc. The River Cruise was fine if uneventful, Hama Rikyu Park a miracle of old Japan surrounded by super modern dockland developments. Not a bad start.
Day 2
We needed to verify dad’s Japan railpass, which involved going into Tokyo again. We stopped off at the Metropolitan Buildings for some views over Tokyo. It’s just a big sprawling conurbation, magnificent in its ugliness. Unfortunately, finding our way from West Shinjuku to East Shinjuku through the train station was a task in itself. It’s incredible just how huge the train stations are, especially after a couple of department stores have been dropped frivolously on top, and all useful signposts taken away! We rounded off the afternoon in the Imperial Palace East Garden, and got back to Shiraoka in time for an evening at Toshi’s carefully selected traditional Japanese restaurant.
The restaurant was maybe the highlight of the week. It’s owned by an ex co-worker of Toshi’s who made an 8-course feast, and was good enough to explain all the courses, what they were made of, which foods were seasonal etc. We had soy-bean curd and sashimi (raw fish), shabu-shabu (an ingenious dish; you cook the beef in boiling water, held by treated paper which miraculously doesn’t catch fire!). The most incredible part of the meal appeared in an innocuous little bowl. I looked inside; a small fish was lying still, then suddenly started twitching! This is “dancing eating” Toshi explained, “very popular in Kyushu”. “Have you ever seen Indiana Jones” I replied, “in particular, the “snake surprise” scene”? Once swallowed, we did our best to end the misery of the small fry by washing it down with beer and wasabi. Unfortunately my only picture didn’t come out, and I don’t think I can put the movie I took on the net.
Day 3
Rest day…kind of. I’d heard there was a bonsai village in Toro, 3 stops from my town. We got off at Toro, and I went to the Police Station to ask if they knew it. Three police-men, small town, and they clearly don’t know what exists beyond their own noses! When we did find the place, it was about a mile long area thick with just about every aged person and bonsai tree in Saitama, and surely worthy of note by the local policemen! Not a single person under 50 in sight.
Day 4 Kamakura
We travelled to Kamakura to meet Kyoko and do a hike from the top of the hill, down to the Dai Buttsu and Hase-dera temple. Unlike when I came here in the summer, the heat wasn’t repressive, and I had a camera, joy! The Dai Buttsu (1252) is still cool, and Hase-dera was very scenic. There were some pretty little gardens and impressive views over the bay area. The weather began to deteriorate by the time we got to Hachimangu-shrine and we elected to call it a day. A nice day, Kamakura still holds many more treasures.
Day 5 Rantesque
I just lost it. I absolutely lost it. I discovered just how clever the Japanese aren’t this day. Japanese Banks. I hate Japanese Banks. I hate them so much, that on this day, I was ready to buy a one way ticket back to Britain. Except that I couldn’t have. Because I wouldn’t have been able to withdraw the money for a one way ticket!!! Golden week – four bank holidays in a row:
Q: Where are the ATMs?
A: Inside the bank.
Q: Why can’t you go inside the bank?
A: Because they’re closed!
Q: How about ATMs in convenience stores?
A: Well, they’re switched on, but programmed not to give out any money.
Q: How about paying with a credit card or switch card Andrew?
A: Are you joking! Most places don’t except them, besides which (irrelevant sidenote) Japan is stupid, and I hate it.
Q: But Andrew, you can use a convenience store to buy fatty junk food, alcohol, tobacco and pornography 24 hours a day. There are also Vending Machines outside every house which sell all of these things. The trains run on time and are more frequent than your temper tantrums. Do you mean to say that you can’t withdraw money to purchase or use these wonderfully CONVENIENT services?
A: YES!!!
So, I decided to interrogate the woman in the Tourist Information Office in Omiya, because after all, she is solely responsible for the state of the banking system in Japan.
Me: “Excuse me, I have no money, none. I need money, to eat and survive. Where can I get money?”
Her: Have you tried the convenience store, for example, 7-11? (short phonecall later) Erm, sorry, you can’t withdraw money from 7-11 today. Why don’t you try tomorrow?
Me: Because I need money today!!
Her: Have you got a post office account?
Me: NO!
Her: I’m sorry, but this is a special week. (Sidenote: - No Japanese person I have spoken to can understand my problem. They’ve never experienced outside ATMs which work 24 hours a day, every day. Nor can they fathom the idea of a bank card that can be used to access money from rival banks. Nor have they ever heard of interest. The tone of this woman’s voice betrays a lack of any sympathy; I mean, how could she possibly sympathise with an idiot foreigner who doesn’t remember to calculate the exact amount of money he is going to need for a week and then walk around with it in his pocket not having it stolen from him?).
Me: - Exit with scowl, without grace, without saying thankyou, possible parting shot at her backward crappy stupid country -
The day did get marginally better after this, but marginally. We went to Harajuku in Tokyo to get some souvenirs, then onto the Meiji Shrine in time to see a foreigner marrying a Japanese girl in a traditional Shinto ceremony. However, didn’t the stupid bony ugly chicken-built security guard then tell me not to use a miniature tripod for my camera on the stone ground. The same stone ground hundreds of people erode with their feet every day! Then it started to rain.
Kyoto Trip (5th-8th)
This was the most interesting, yet physically and mentally exhausting part of the week. It was my first time in the Kansai region; if there’s one place, other than Tokyo, that all foreigners feel compelled to go to while in Japan, then it’s the cultural heart of Japan in Kyoto.
One of the best parts of the whole trip was just getting there. We took the “shinkansen” (bullet train), an amazing experience in itself. It’s probably comparative in price to aeroplane over the same distance, but there’s no waiting time and less of the discomfort involved in air travel. It’s much better than normal trains because the tracks are welded together making movement silent and seamless. We booked the “Hikari” semi-express and reserved the seats, so I like to think that we travelled in the best style available! The Shinkansen are clean and comfortable. A trolley service goes past about twice a minute, and the female attendants turn round and bow to you as they leave the carriage…all highly amusing.
Kyoto city planning, in particular the destruction of large swathes of traditional housing and the building of huge modern structures like the station and Kyoto Tower have drawn a lot of criticism. Some quarters point out that they ruin the skyline and are totally out of keeping with the traditional building style which had survived the 2nd World War intact only to be destroyed in the name of progress. However, I found it quite a clean and tidy looking city centre, without the hordes of people, dirt and stress so apparent in Tokyo.
Before getting to our admittedly basic but superbly located hotel, we had time to explore a few of the sights in the town centre, including the tallest wooden structure in Japan (the Toji Pagoda), and Nijo Castle. The Castle was well worth it. This is where the shogun (samurai overlord) resided. He lived in an inner sanctum where only women were permitted, was security paranoid and filled the castle full of secret areas for spies to hide. The wooden planks or “Nightingale floors” squeak as you walk on them, and were engineered this way as a means to alerting the shoguns bodyguards to intruders.
The two nights we stayed in Kyoto were spent wandering the Pontocho and Gion areas. Gion is where, if you’re lucky, you can spot a Geisha (or Geiko) rushing to an appointment. Gion is an enclave where the traditional small wooden houses and narrow streets of old Japan prevail. It’s a highly secretive world lacking windows, with streets than lead nowhere or turn in on themselves, restaurants with no menus or prices (presumably if you have to ask, you can’t afford it)! Businessmen arrived and departed in big chauffeured cars, the female staff of the establishments bowing sycophantically even as the sloshed suits stumbled away into the moonlight. On certain corners very elegant and well-dressed “hostesses” waited to be picked up for appointments, and on the first night we managed to catch a Geisha braving the tourist paparazzi on her way to entertain guests. I’m very pleased we got to see a Geisha. There aren’t so many left in Japan, and I don’t know how many women of the next generation will be willing to devote their lives to being a living piece of art. Like bonsai, tea ceremony, old streets and buildings, it’s a part of old Japan that I imagine could become extinct very quickly.
Pontocho, especially the area fronting the river, was picturesque at night. Expensive restaurants had already put up their summer “piers” where people can dine outside with romantic views. For the average tourist it’s inaccessible, and despite being here for 10 months now, so many of the menus were so thick in Chinese characters that I couldn’t even come close to understanding what they sold. On the second night we went upstairs into a relatively expensive restaurant with a view over the river. We ordered a few beers and selected a meal. After 45 minutes waiting, I asked if the meals were ready yet. The rich businessmen beside us had received two courses and copious amounts of alcohol, yet we’d received nothing. The waitress was visibly embarrassed and fobbed us off to the manager. He stood there, looking sheepish, and disappeared again. We decided to leave, which triggered the manager to kneel on the floor and bow repentantly as we exited without offering to pay for the beers. I can’t help but wonder however, if the whole nonsense hadn’t been engineered to get rid of a few foreign tourists from a classy restaurant, without causing a scene. A bit like saying “Perhaps this establishment doesn’t exactly cater to the needs of your type of person, Sir”. We dined instead at Wendy Burger.
We must’ve walked close to 50 miles in 3 days! We did the Higashiyama walking tour, the Philosophers walk and the Northwestern route along some of the main temples. Northern Ireland has one UNESCO World Heritage site, Kyoto has over 20. Whereas any normal person might go to one, maybe two sites on a day, we tried to do them all in a short time. It was a bit like putting together a sticker album, as we ticked off all the temples on the list. At about 500 Yen a pop, it became rather more expensive than anticipated, and in my memory all the majestic old wooden temples are molding into one.
Nevertherless, there were highlights. On the second day, the road towards Kiyomizu dera was full of art shops and coffee shops, old streets and tourist traps. It was thronging with school groups, and we ducked into a coffee shop for respite. It just happened to have a pond with the biggest prize winning carp I’ve ever seen! The owner had stacks of trophies for carp that were as big as my arm. As we approached Kiyomizu dera the schoolchildren got more irksome. I reprimanded a group of schoolboys spouting idiotic English, who had been following what they assumed to be stupid Americans. I only told them to shut up in my best angry Japanese, and you’ve never seen a group of teenagers become shocked into silence and disappear so quickly. They hadn’t reckoned on that!
Equally crowded was Kinkakuji (the golden pavilion) where we were carried along by groups of schoolchildren, but the world-famous rock garden at Ryoan-ji was almost deserted, and was interesting merely because I’ve seen pictures of the rock garden dozens of times before and never known where they came from. We “collected” Nanzenji (another nice set of paintings and rock gardens), Ginkakuji (nice view and nice garden), and finally made our way to the Heian Jingu (replica of the first emperor’s palace) which in scale if nothing else was impressive. Exhausted, sweaty, sleep-deprived, it was with some relief that we boarded the Shinkansen, having really only skirted the surface of Kyoto despite intensive sight-seeing.
And that more or less wraps it up! Whilst we had a very interesting time, I must say I fear for any foreigner who tries to come here without a guide. Japan is currently trying to change its image to increase tourism, which remains at paltry levels compared to other countries. There is no sign that much is being done to counter the financial system which denies access to foreign cards, is barely acquainted with credit cards, and even less so with travellers cheques. The only real way of remaining financially active in Japan is to carry all your money in tangible notes from day one and pray to god you don’t lose it or have it stolen. Furthermore, lack of signposting in many places can make it rather difficult to get around. We didn’t however find the Japanese as Xenophobic as they are often reputed to be, bar the people who preferred to stand than sit beside us in trains; most of the people who made the effort to communicate were incredibly friendly, even entertaining. I also think I didn’t give my father credit enough for being such a good traveller and for putting up with culture shock and jet-lag. It’s certainly been a week that’ll live long in the memory!
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