Autumn

The last two months, once again, haven't been all that exciting, but I've got a few nice piccies, so I thought I'd whack them up for your amusement. If you've been checking Facebook, you've seen the first ones already, so I'll just show the highlights. Frustrated at the lack of time and money to travel, Midori and I decided to go for a bike ride to Heiwa Park, one of the larger parks in the east end of the city, which just happens to be half cemetary...


The rest of the park was rather less ominous and more pleasant...




A nice place, with a nice pond, but I think I'd be a little more hesitant about fishing in a place so close to so many dead people...

It was a nice day out, though, and after all that refreshing exercise and fresh air, it was of course necessary to go and char some meat over an open flame.

Unfortunately, there haven't been any comparable days out since then, so the rest is a bit of a hodgepodge of things from daily life. Since the summer, I've been watching these workers giving my building a bit of a facelift, scrubbing down the tiles and replacing the grout between them. Those who have a problem with heights need not apply...


Around Halloween, Andrew and Michiyo came to visit again, which was brave considering that the Aussie dollar has nearly halved its value since they last came in July. Not so good for them, or most of you reading this, but I'm pretty stoked about it. Its a great time to be getting paid in yen, and it almost makes the overtime bearable. I just hope our school survives the winter...

Anyhoo, although I don't have any pics from our time out and about (shamed as I am by camera envy), they were kind enough to bring some souvenirs from Hokkaido I can share...

Yes, those are beer chocolates, direct from the Sapporo brewery...

...and "Genghis Khan Caramel", the chewy treat that tastes like real barbequed lamb!

Of course, once Halloween was over, it was time to haul out the Xmas decorations!




Xmas is a special time in Japan. Its not so much about the bunny in the red suit being nailed to a tree, as it is about a time to sell more stuff, consume enormous quantities of electricity, and arrange for the hottest date of the year! Fun stuff, but I'm still looking forward to spending Xmas on the beach with a meat pie in one hand and a James Squire in the other.

And last, but not least, being autumn, it's time for Kouyou - the autumn colours. Alas, this year I haven't had the chance to see them anywhere but the park behind work.




Kirei da ne? Well, that's it from me for now. If you're really lucky, I'll get around to one more post before the holidays, but if I don't, I'll just say I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone once I get back there next month. My ticket is booked and paid for, my paid vacation time for this year has come through, and I'll have about three weeks from Dec. 18th to Jan. 8th to escape the winter cold, guzzle cappuccinos like they're going out of style, and find out what's been going on over the last two years. Oh yes, and at some stage, a slab of dead cow will have to be in order...

Rest in Peace, Malcolm

Today was the funeral. I still can't really believe it's true. I still don't really know the details, except that it was a heart attack, and it was sudden. He was still pretty young, only about 50, and apart from smoking, didn't have any serious vices, didn't drink and played tennis regularly.

I first met Malcolm at Sydney Uni, at the archery club. He came along to try it out one day, and soon became a regular. After archery, we would relax over a cappuccino and chew the fat. He was always quick with a joke, or to share his encyclopedic knowledge of movies, or to impart the insights he'd gleaned from his latest book. He used to come (and give me a lift) to archery tournaments, just for the fun of a day out, helped me move house several times, and was always there if I needed advice, or just a sounding board, or a dose of reality. Even after he gave up archery, and I got too busy to shoot, we met every week for a quick dinner, a coffee or two and a chinwag. When I came back from Japan for the holidays two years ago, we caught up at the same cafe, and it was like I'd never left, except I had some interesting stories for a change. He wasn't much for emailing, so I hadn't heard from him since January, but I'd expected it would be much the same when I came back this year for the holidays. I'd just been thinking about emailing him after I booked my ticket, when I got the news.

He was a great guy - decent, loyal, funny, sharp, thoughtful, easygoing. He was one of my best mates. He'll be sorely missed, but he'll be fondly remembered.

Utsumi and Seto

It's late September again (where does the time go?), the blazing heat of summer is gone, autumn is moving in, and it's just about time for my favourite time of year - boot season! This year, I'll try and get some pics... no, really!

Just a short update this time. I'm afraid this year's been a little boring - lots of work and not too many new places to go and see left, so apart from a little three day jaunt to Tokyo to meet up with the Steak Night crew (see Facebook), I haven't been doing much since March. The most exciting thing I've done since then is take Kyuudou lessons. That was an adventure. It rekindled my love of archery, and I'm glad I finally gave it a go, but they really do know how to take all the fun out of it. Counting steps, doing everything just so, and breaking my ankles trying to sit seiza just wore thin after awhile, so I don't think I'll go back to it. I'd love to get my bow sent over, but it's proving to be prohibitively expensive. I think it'd be cheaper to buy a new one here...

Anyway, on to a couple pics from a couple of recent day trips. The first was a quick trip to Utsumi, one of the few decent beaches in this neck of the world. Of course, we thought we set out at a reasonable time, but once again, the train service in the inaka set out to confound our plans, so that we reached the place just in time to watch the sun go down. At least it wasn't crowded...




Of course, a little thing like darkness didn't stop Midori from having a swim. I was tempted, since the water was very pleasantly warm, but there was nowhere to change nearby, so I contented myself with an extended wade. After a bit of a hike, we found a great little restaurant that's apparently quite famous around there, and I had to figure out how to eat a bowl of miso soup with a half a boiled crab in it. A hassle, but delicious!

The next weekend we went for a trip to Seto, on the eastern outskirts of Nagoya, for a festival they were having there. Now, Seto is most famous for its pottery, so the vast majority of the festival consisted of yatai selling pottery and yatai selling all those festival favourites, like frankfurters on a stick, takoyaki, grilled squid, yakisoba, yakitori, karaage, etc. Basically, if you can fry it, someone's got a stall selling it.

The yatai were interesting, but it was well over thirty degrees with very little shade and crazy crowded, so we ducked into an arcade and found a breezy sit-down restaurant to have lunch at. Whilst refilling our plastic cups of water (classy!), I noticed this great bit of Engrish on the water cooler, or should I say "Gear Gan".


For those of you who can't read the fine print, I shall transcribe the contents in all its glory: "Sometime fiercely, Sometime tenderly it shows various expression by the great nature. Be loved and loved of nature we feel nature more closely. Green land, Blue sky, Such beautiful nature and we feel fully on the body." When people ask "Why are you laughing?", what can I say?

For a break from perusing the yatai, we found this little shrine and had a poke around...



I was intrigued by the foxes, but nobody could explain what they were for. In fact, very few people have been able to explain anything about any of these shrines, other than what to do at them. It's one thing I think to read about campaigns to exterminate indigenous cultures in history, but quite another to see one withering all around you due to apathy. Then again, considering what happened last time they tried to share it with the world, maybe that's a good thing...

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for more when I get around to it. Sometime soon, I feel I'm going to have a need to go on an extended rant about that plague of modern Japanese society, the mobile phone. Until then, I bid you a good night.

Here we go again...

Once again, apologies to the dedicated few who've kept up with my decidedly intermittent postings. The current spate of inaction is due, as I suspect most of you know, to its defacto transfer to Facebook. A combination of laziness and user-friendly software means I can do in half an hour there what took me most of a day here, especially when it comes to the picture-intensive travelogues. Because of this, I've decided to stop pushing that rock up the hill. If you want to see the pretty piccies, come see me on Facebook. Most of you are there already, anyway, as are all my recent travel pics. As for this blog, so as not to render it completely defunct, I shall grace it with the occasional picture, but for the most part will confine myself to actual news, events and good old-fashioned rants about the state of things in my life and my current surroundings. It will be as blogs were meant to be - and perhaps those of you who miss my scattered musings will feel some measure of satisfaction at their resumption.

So, without further ado, on to the stuff...


Over the last two weeks, they've been flogging the debut of a movie adaptation of a popular manga series, "Twentieth Century Boys", in the lobby of the Nadya Park Building. After two weeks, I'm thoroughly fed up with hearing the theme song on an endless loop, and after several viewings, I'm afraid the movie looks like crap, but I still think it was really cool to have a giant inflatable mech at work, even if it is a rip-off of Robocop.

In other news, if you'd checked recently, you might have noticed that Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, resigned today. If you hadn't, here's the link. I'm sure deep down he's a really nice guy, and will probably be much better off for spending more time with the grandkids, and, after all, he did last much longer than the last guy, but in a month's time, people will be asking "Fukuda who?". He did his best, and some of his policies weren't too bad, but I guess he doesn't want to be remembered as the PM who faced his party's most humiliating defeat ever, and was the one who dug in his heels against Japan's first experiment with real democracy.

It's understandable, I guess, since most people here really have no idea of what democracy really is, possibly even resenting it as one more thing the Americans foisted onto them. They did a real good job of making it look like one, and even have all the things you'd expect - an upper and lower house, elections, opposition parties making lots of noise, polls in the newspaper, etc. But one simple statistic flies in the face of all that - since the party formed in 1955, it has held power. 53 years without a change of government!

OK, there was that one time years ago, when the opposition got lucky, and after seizing the chance to grab as much of the gravy train as they could, got hastily trounced out of office inside a year, but that hardly counts. Probably they'll do it again this time, too, because they, just like everyone else, don't honestly believe that any real change is possible or even desirable.

Japan is still authoritarian at its heart.

They plod along, and as long as they don't make waves, and keep all the institutional corruption quiet, and keep the trains running on time, people vote for them time after time after time. I have no doubt that Fukuda lasted as long as he did because he was a moderate, unlike the guy before, and probably the guy after him. But at the heart of it all, the real reason he gave up was because the opposition is in control of the upper house, and they keep sending his bills back to the lower house. After a lifetime in the LDP, he's just not used to having to bargain or negotiate, and he's upset that they're slowing the whole process down. It probably galls him just to have to listen to the opposition, even if it is mostly hot air.

It certainly won't come overnight - it might even take another generation of deadlocked parliaments before people realise that the upper house has a purpose beyond rubber-stamping bills and giving shiftless, nepotistic politicians a place to grow old and fat. And that the lower house might have to take account of the interests of someone other than themselves and their cronies. When it happens, they will look back and see that this is where it all began. Fukuda doesn't want to be around for that, and I can't blame him, but I won't be shedding any tears for him, either.

Sakura

This will be a short post, just to warm up before I get to my latest spot of travelling. Being April, the cherry blossom season has come and gone, and maybe just a little earlier this year. Anyway, a good few very pretty pics to enjoy, so enjoy...


And along with sakura comes the hanami, one of too few nationally-accepted excuses for a big piss-up, involving laying out a tarp under the trees in the local park, bringing some friends, snacks and a slab, and whiling away the day and night enjoying the ambience.


The trees look even prettier after a few beers...



As day turned to night, my phone camera began to show its limitations. General drunken revelry was interspersed with spectacles such as bellydancing (sorry, none of those turned out) and pro-wrestling (aided by good timing and someone else's flash).


And much fun was had by all.

Look! It's a log shaped like a thingy...

Every March, there's a rather unique local event, which I always seem to miss for some reason. This year, the reason was work. I had promised the previous month to cover my boss for a certain Saturday, and only afterwards was I reminded of the event occurring on that particular Saturday by other friends who go every year. After vainly begging my colleagues to take my shift, they all went to this event themselves, but at least were kind enough to send me some pictures for your edification and amusement. The event, known to the locals as the Hounen Matsuri, a celebration of the renewed fertility of springtime, is also affectionately known among the growing number of foreign attendees as the Penis Festival. And here's a picture...


This is the centrepiece of the festival, the mikoshi which is carried through the streets in a procession from one shrine to another. In addition, revellers can partake of all forms of similarly shaped items, such as the obvious wiener on a stick...


...lollipops...


...and souvenirs for friends back home.




And then, amid much cheering and banner-waving...


...the procession gets underway.




A great day was had by all - except me, who was stuck in the office. Maybe next year...

Little World

Spring has sprung! At last, I can turn off the heaters and enjoy a couple of months of reasonably sane power bills. It's hard to believe that only a few weeks ago, this was the view from my balcony...




...and my poor little half-dead garden - we'll see if it pulls through this year.

As I mentioned before, when the weather becomes more clement, then the travel bug strikes. Midori and I decided to cure our cabin fever with a trip to a place that was not too far away and not too high on my list of places to go, but amusing nonetheless - Little World.

"The Little World Museum of Man" is a popular local tourist trap that has collected houses and other buildings from around the world (or from the Meiji Era in the case of Meiji Mura (which we checked out last summer, but which I can't seem to find any pics of for some reason), or from the early Edo Era in the case of Hida no Sato in Takayama), transported them here and lovingly restored them, so people here can travel the world without ever having to leave the safety and convenience of Japan. The alarm bells started ringing when I spotted a sign on the highway from the bus that read リトルワールド, and, since all the traffic signs around Nagoya (I expect due to the internationalising effect of hosting Expo '05) have names in both kanji and the Roman alphabet, provided the painstaking transcription "Ritoruwaarudo". This is despite the fact that the area has plentiful and prominent English signage, provided by the "Museum" itself. Alas, I was too stunned to think to take a picture.

So, on to the world tour! First stop is from around my hometown: a lodge, complete with totem pole, from the First Nations of British Columbia.


Bali




Somewhere else in Indonesia


Samoa


Bavaria


A French farmhouse


Apparently, this was collected from a remote mountain village in Italy, but I wonder how many people now think all Italians live in places like this...


Zimbabwe


Nepal




Thailand


and, last but not least, Korea


By the end of the day, we both agreed the highlight of the trip was the authentic Indian food (being cooked by a real Indian-looking guy!) available in the Indian section, and thought it might be worth returning for Octoberfest in the Bavarian section. At least it was a pleasant day out, and now Midori can't complain that I haven't shown her the world... ;)

To wrap up with, another beautiful Nagoya sunset...


...as the sun vainly tries to burn its way through the thick haze. This haze, in distinction to the regular summer haze, is called Kousa, yellow dust from the deserts of China, Mongolia and even Kazakhstan, whipped up by the late winter winds, and carried all the way to Japan. For those with delicate respiratory systems, it forms a triple-whammy with the onset of hayfever season and the inevitable change-of-season colds, making facemasks a very popular fashion item. Fortunately, it only shows up for a day or two at a time, but there's supposed to be another one coming any day now. Better take in the washing...