A taste of Oz

I left Japan from Nagoya, the cheapest gateway to Australia. The shinkansen ride there got a bit exhausting, not having been able to secure a reserved seat, I ended up standing in the corridor for 2 hours. Nagoya airport was nice enough though for a last coffee and goodbye calls to my friends in Japan.
JetStar is Quantas low-cost subsidiary and is flying from Nagoya to various destinations in Australia. I had opted for Cairns, for a taste of tropical Northern Oz. The flight was an uneventful 6-hours and brought me from chilly Japan to warm and sunny Australia.
I spent the 2 days in Cairns relaxing mostly. Cairns is a pleasant, smaller town with a distinct tourist character. I stayed in a budget hostel right on the beachfront which is made up of numerous restaurants, tour operator offices and budget accomodation to suit backpackers tastes.

There are a lot of trips on offer, from simply coach tours to 4x4 adventure tours to Cape York or sailing trips, but they were all pretty expensive packages and some too long for my short time budget as well. So I explored the vicinity of Cairns by public bus and spent some time relaxing on the beach in Palm Cove. I met a guy who used to live in Japan as well, Tom and we cooked some Japanese curry together and went for a dip in Cairn's public swimming pool on the Esplanade late at night which resulted in being told off by the security guards. I also enjoyed some hearty Aussie meals and noticed how much bigger portions are in that part of the world compared to Japan (also more expensive).
After this short 2-day glance I headed off to Kiwiland via Brisbane to Christchurch with Virgin Blue, one of the regional low-cost carriers. I'll be back in Australia in late November.

The sad word goodbye

I am about to head off for the airport now. And I can't say that I am too happy about leaving right now, although I tell myself I should be excited for the holiday in Australia and New Zealand that is lying ahead. But in these past four months in Japan I have really enjoyed being here and having taken the decision to come back here and try to live in Japan for a while, I don't feel like leaving. I'd rather focus on networking and job search onsite right now and really establishing my life in Tokyo. But it is what it is.
I am flying from Nagoya to Cairns tonight. I'll spend two days there and will then head over to Christchurch in New Zealand where I meet my sister. I'll go back to Oz after a 3 week holiday in NZ and will spend around 2 weeks there before flying back to Switzerland from Sydney. Actually sounds like a nice plan, eh?
So that's the plan for the next weeks, then I'll settle my stuff in Switzerland, say goodbye to everyone and head back around Mid-January. No, I don't have a job yet (my search hasn't been to intensive yet either), but I am sure I want to try this. Considering that the worst-case scenario is running out of money and having to go back to Switzerland, I think I can take the risk. I've wanted to work abroad for a long time already and this is the perfect time to do it. I didn't think it would be Japan, but since I feel really at home here and am going through the "pain" of learning this language, I want to give it a shot. It certainly isn't the best and easiest place to look for a job as a foreigner with limited language skills, but again, I won't give up before having tried it... I am ready to head off for the uncertain and trade in Swiss stability, good money and well-known surroundings and a great social network for something new. I have been thinking a lot about plans for the future during these past months and I've met some inspiring people too and I've come to realize that I fear remaining stagnant and being bored more than whatever challenge lies ahead of me trying to settle down somewhere new for a while.

A taste of anime

Some of my housemates and me went on a "house-trip" last week. We decided to visit the Ghibli Anime museum in Itaka. It seems that a lot of Westerners who are interested in Japan, have a great interest in anime. I've never been too into it so far and honestly know very little about it, so I was interested to learn some more. Ghibli is the name of the premiere anime studio in Japan, by the way.
The museum building as such is already quite a sight. A fairy-talesque form and surrounded by a large garden with numerous anime hero statues, it makes a great location as a "place of worship" for anime. Unfortunately the building and the park are the only thing you can take photos of, the museum's interior is off-limits to photographers.
The museum shows how anime technique evolved from the former model based set-up to computer animation. A few of the models used for the older anime were on display, it's quite cool to see how they used layered 3D models to create a more spatial visual effect.
On the second floor there was a recreated drawing studio and a recreation of the Louvre. Haven't really understood the latter's relevance to anime though... There were also small rooms where you could watch anime excerpts. I really have to catch up on this, that would make the museum more interesting as I didn't understand many of the references to films. Still, the museum is a lovely place and worth a visit. Besides buying a cute "Totoro" (obviously a pretty famous anime figure) keitai pendant, we had a hard time resisting the incredibly delicious-looking strawberry cake in the museum café... But dinner was near.

Japan - finding its new role

I recently came across the homepage of a Tokyo based semi-academic organiziation named The International House of Japan. http://www.i-house.or.jp/en/index.html It's goal is "promoting cultural exchange and intellectual cooperation between the peoples of Japan and those of other countries." They have public lectures on Japanese or Asian issues a few times a month.
I signed up for a lecture on Japanese foreign policy "Japanese Foreign Policy: Balancing off Asia, Europe and the United States", held by a professor of Asian Studies from the University of Berkeley, California, T.J. Pempel. The lecture focussing on Japan defining its new role within the international community due to the rise of its larger neighbour China seemed a highly interesting subject.
The lecture started with a historical backflash to WWII and the Cold War to explain why Japan has had very close connections with the US since and has refrained from building strong economic ties with China (Cold War pressure). So Japan developed a unilateral strong bond with the US while neglecting cooperation with the rest of Asia and Europe.
Today both economic and military connections with the US remain strong. The Bush government has put the emphasis on unilateral relationsships and has therefore continued the existing predominant type of interaction. Should the democratic party win the presidential elections, this would change. Obama's team has already announced that they would focus on multilateral interaction rather, involving various parties in Asia.
With Asia, economic ties have been severed in the more recent past and China has become Japan's major trade partner, replacing the US in that role. Korea has experienced the same shift in Political relations with China and Korea remain somewhat difficult due to what is perceived by both countries as Japan's neglect to deal with the historical legacy, something the country will need to address in order to establish stronger ties with its neighbours. There is a military threat from North Korea and the lecturer suggested a perceived threat by China as well. Ties with Europe remain rather weak, but have had a multilateral nature and are increasing in importance for Japan.
Professor Pempel stated that Japan will remain an important partner for the West in Asia, but will loose the exclusive status of Asia's core economic and democratic center. While Japan is afraid of loosing its dominant role to China, it is likely that Asian-Pacific economic and political institutions will be steered by several different players including India, Australia and Japan. Pempel predicted that a more European-style model of governance would emerge in Asian institutions, with multiple players sharing the lead.

No mobile, no friends

I brought two (Swiss) mobile phones with me when I came to Japan. What I didn't realize is that Japan uses a different technology and our phones do generally not work here. I was annoyed, but thought "what the hell, I have lived without a mobile phone before". Yes, I have BUT a) hardly anyone else had one back then b) I was not in a foreign country frequently meeting people I had just met and c) most importantly I was not in Japan where a mobile phone is the key to social life (it's pretty much become that in Switzerland too by the way).
I soon noticed that Japanese mobile phones are way more sophisticated than ours and that the Japanese use them for many things we generally don't use them for. GPS, dictionary, weather forecast, checking e-mails, blind dating, kanji translator, health and fitness supervisor, cash machine locator, etc., etc. There are few things that you don't seem to be able to do with the more sophisticated versions of the product.
The "keitai" as is its name in Japanese is essential for social life and survival here. And I didn't realize what the consequences would be of not having one. Japanese love to exchange phone numbers. So whereever you go you'd be asked for your phone number (not just by guys ;-). I thought giving an e-mail address would be an adequate substitute. But turned out it was not. These days, a lot of Japanese do not use their web e-mail anymore, but use e-mail over the phone. To filter out spam, all e-mails coming from the web are blocked, only those sent by phone are received. So I ended up being frustrated over failure messages, before I finally found out what had caused these.
Well, a Japanese mobile phone had been on my "must have" list since the beginning of my stay here anyway. Funny, because I never cared about them at home, but here they are just too seductively fancy, hightech, stylish - you name it... They seem to be of quite a different, more advanced breed and I am amazed that they have not spread over to Europe yet. So after having made the mistake of renting a phone for 2 weeks, which cost me a horrendous 70$ while a cheap new phone is 60$, I purchased my own keitai. The guys at the Softbank (Japanese mobile provider) shop got slightly nervous at the prospect of having to explain their deals in English, but somehow we managed to conclude the business (despite my lack of a Japanese address which was a problem too).
It's great to be able to reach people again. I've now had the phone for 2 months and I notice that it's also pretty good to learn Japanese. Writing and receiving text messages really improves my kanji reading and writing skills. I had to first figure out how to write on the mobile phone, but it is actually pretty simple once you've gotten into it. So I can claim that my keitai is useful in more than one way...

This week's sample...

... of J-Pop music... This time I'd like to cite the not-so-scientific book "Dirty Japanese" that mentions the subject, but the author's speaking my mind... :
"Speaking objectively, I have to warn you that Japanese pop music is relentlessly horrendous crap. This is a quantified fact, but also one of the world's great misteries. I mean, Japanese visual arts are uniformly amazing, right? Japanese fashion is light years ahead of everybody. Japanese cuisine is nothing less than delectable. And Japanese video games have invented the industry. So why is J-Pop so unlistenable? Oh yeah... They don't have black people in Japan."
I love "relentlessly horrendous crap" - couldn't find a better expression to describe the J-Pop phenomenon! All the flatteries are correct too, especially the one on fashion, Japanese people tend to look like stylish time travellers from the 22nd century. The last comment has to be corrected though, there are black musicians in Japan, but they now sing Enka, traditional Japanese folk songs, or "Schlager" as we call it in German. I am refering to Jero, the black singer I've read about in a magazine in July and who's now all over tv channels in Japan. A HipHop-looking guy singing cheesy Japanese songs.
Well, here's the J-Pop hit of the week. I handpicked it for my dear blog readers for it's poor quality music and the examplarily silly video. TV watchers of MTV Japan and other music channels are tortured with it every day right now...

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=DIm5lpWaEWc
If you think Enka might be your relief from J-Pop, have a look at Jero's work:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=YEmeVeQe56U

The art of bento

If you are short on time for having lunch in Japan or are just about to catch a train, there's a solution for you: Bento. These are basically lunch boxes, divided into different sections and containing a few mouthfulls of various ingredients.

A typical bento contains noodles or rice, some grilled meat or fish, mini sausages, Japanese pickles, Japanese sour plum, soy sauce, maybe some salad or an omelett, nori and if you're unlucky some natto (rotten soy beans). But there is a vast selection of different bento boxes on offer, in different sizes and for different shapes. Some are containing mostly fish (sushi, salmon roe, sashimi), some are vegetarian (though rarely, this is NOT a vegetarian country), some have a well-balanced, healthy mix of small dishes in it, others are contain the not so balanced tonkatsu (fried breaded pork cutlet with a thick brown sauce).

Bento boxes can be bought everywhere, in department stores, konbini, at the station. Many people also make their own bento at home the evening before. The picture shows a fish bento from Hokkaido in a lovely patterned box (form is as important as content here).

What Japanese tourists want

I travelled through Japan for 6 weeks and since the vast majority of tourists in this country are domestic travellers, I have gained some insight into the needs and preferences of Japanese tourists. Here are my top recommendations to Swiss tourist destinations (doubt that they will read that, though...) what they should provide to Japanese tourists...

1. Give them "kawaii-ness"
   Two of the most (over) used words in Japanese are "kawaii" (cute) and "sugoi" (great, cool) and the Japanese always look for opportunities to use these. So, if you want to please (younger) Japanese tourists, provide them with something that gives them a pretext to use either or both of these words. It is not hard by the way. I have heard Japanese scream "sugoiiiii" at the sight of bones and skulls in the prison museum... Or when reading a story about a woman who has been thrown into a deep fountain in the 16th century... (the Japanese are said to be so over correct, but I sometimes find their choice of words slightly, hmmmm, inappropriate? or just silly?). While fighting animals, not-so-common behaviour (such as shrugging your shoulders) and many other things are labelled as "kawaii". Basically - whatever you give young Japanese tourists, you won't be able to stop them from screaming "kawaii" and "sugoi". So that's an easy one!
2. Give them collectibles
   While young Japanese tourists go for the "kawaii", older Japanese seem to prefer paper proof that they have been to certain places and done certain things. In Japan any railway line, castle, trail, museum etc. provide rubber stamps with the place's logo. Ideally you provide them with a card to put the stamps on. If you run some castle-type-of-place for example, invent some circuit around the place, draw a map of it and print it on a card. Put a specific stamp into each room or other points of significance (like "the most Eastern point of the castle park"...). Hand out a card to each Japanese tourist and they will gladly follow the trail and collect their stamps. It's even more effective to give some incentive for collecting ALL stamps. Usually it's a 50% reduction on the re-entry fee (well, you know they are not likely to come back anyway). You will see that this very structured sort of entertainment has a great appeal with elderly Japanese tourists. Note that they also like to collect stamps on the train. So dear SFF managers, do provide your train staff (ticket clerks and the minibar vendors) with rubber stamps. It's a job-enrichment for your staff and will create additional turnover with Japanese tourists! By the way, I pledge guilty to having collected stamps as well. It was an attempt to understand its attraction, so cultural research. Haven't come to a conclusion though.
3. Give them Mobile accessories
   The "keitai" (mobile phone) is a central part of social life. The Japanese like to decorate their (already super fancy) model with gimmicks. You find thousands of different pendants for sale here. Usually they follow the above described "kawaii-ness" rule or they have some local flair - or both. The prison museum in Abashiri for example would sell keitai-pendants depicting a run-away prisoner and a prison guard, the product being hand-made by prisoners. I suggest something in the line of "cow sitting on a piece of cheese" hand-made by your local farmer. But please refrain from offering gimmicks like "local youth smoking pot". They DO depict Swiss culture, but the Japanese are extremely wary of any type of drugs and don't want to be associated with them in any way.
4. Give them natto
   Natto is one of the things that foreigners will probably never understand about Japan. Why would you want to eat something that is basically rotten soy beans for breakfast? I have tried it like three times and I can't even describe how disgusting it smells, looks, tastes! But fact is, natto is hugely popular in Japan and it's mostly eaten for breakfast, although they also use it to wreck other meals and dishes. So if you run a hotel, spoil your Japanese guests with a bowl of natto for breakfast or create that super edgy Natto-Fondue or Natto-Röschti... It should be a bit hard to get, but as I indicated, it's basically rotten soybeans. Get some of these beans and put them in your cellar to rot. Don't be surprised if neighbours complain about the smell, though.
5. Give them Anime figures
   Japanese love Anime and its heroes (see the kawaii-ness article above). They like to assume that their anime figures like to travel too and love to buy articles that show either "Hello Kitty" or "Doraemon" on the beach in Okinawa, on a shinkansen to Tokyo, in the lavender fields of Furano or whereever. The preferred article are towels, so why not print some "Hello Kitty crossing the Kappelbrücke" or "Doraemon eating Fondue" towels? If you don't know who Doraemon is or if Hello Kitty makes you puke (that's the case with me by now...), don't worry. Heidi is THE best known anime figure of European descent and she is Swiss after all! By the way, did you know that Heidi has travelled to Sapporo (see picture).
6. Give them safety and punctuality
   As hinted at in previous posts, the Japanese seem to have a preference for the organized, punctual and risk-free. That's probably one reason why Switzerland is one of the very top dream destinations here - because it's so ridiculously safe and trains are super punctual. So great natural conditions, not much to improve there. But please make sure you do not translate your brochures for adventure sports like bungee jumping, canyoning and the like into Japanese. It might damage the safe image of your destination. Any activity that you sell to your customers should have a clearly defined schedule with a lot of details (including photo stops of course). Free-style travelling is generally not much appreciated. There are those risk-seeking hitchhiking travellers, but they usually can't afford to come to Switzerland, so not your target group. If you are looking to make some extra money with Japanese tourists, try to hint at some minor risks (like sunburns) and immediately offer a solution (e.g. ultra-sunblock and sun gloves covering the entire arms - they are super popular here). You are sure to have a thriving business!
7. Give them sweets
   At every train station there are several "omiyage" (souvenir) shops. The most popular article are sweets, very very sweet sweets. When Japanese people go travelling, their family and colleagues at work expect them to bring home something edible. Boxes of sweets should be nicely wrapped in printed paper. Everything here is nicely wrapped and selling a plain box with just a picture of the product printed on it will seem very shabby. The more wrapped, the better. So wrap each and every sweet in the most lovely paper, put them in a beautiful box and wrap the box in even more delightful paper. And don't forget to put the souvenir in a pretty bag before you hand it over to your Japanese customer. By the way, almost all sweets here contain "azuki", a sweet red bean. So how about starting to grow them in Switzerland and add them to our chocolate and so on?
8. Give them super friendly
   Service in Japan is notoriously superb and employees in any shop are smiling and bowing constantly and in a seemingly permanent happy, friendly, sweet mood. When customers enter they scream a loud "Irrashaimaseeeee" (welcome), they are not being pushy or following the customer around, but are there to support if you need them to, they wrap your purchased goods in lovely printed paper and put it into a cute little bag and thank you many times for kindly considering their store. They are not always competent, but you would never get annoyed about that, because they are just simply too sweet. NOW -imagine Japanese tourists entering a Swiss store!!! Not that Swiss shop assistants are always grumpy individuals, but they are not simply not as capable of hiding hang-overs, broken marriages, disgust for the customer in front etc. So they will never ever be able to provide the service level that Japanese tourists are used to. A German friend of mine who was tasked to take care of Japanese exchange students at her home University told me the story of a Japanese girl who went to H&M and called my friend afterwards in total despair. The guy at the cash desk had been unfriendly with her and she thought she had made some serious mistake... If you think about giving some intercultural training to your staff - I don't reckon they will be able to reach Japanese levels of friendliness. Better hire some Japanese staff for your customers.
9. Give them "purikura"
   Anyone in Switzerland knows how crazy Japanese tourists are about taking pictures. They take them anytime, everywhere and people always need to be on the picture. Landscapes alone are boring and would not prove that they have actually been there. Striking a V-sign always looks really "kawaii", so when posing with Japanese, be sure to strike one. But besides taking pictures on their own, another Japanese picture obsession are "purikura" (J-inglish for "print club"). These are small, passport size pictures with various backgrounds. Purikura booths are ubiquitous in Japan and attract mainly girls. They take numerous pictures with their friends and edit them afterwards, adding little hearts, flowers or whatever gimmick. At tourist destinations you can choose various local scenes as a background. I couldn't resist making some at Mount Aso... Some purikura booths also provide costumes in which you can dress up. A purikura booth in Zermatt with Matterhorn backgrounds, Heidi's and goats as add-ons and traditional Swiss costumes to dress up with, how about that?
10. Give them fashion
    The Japanese, especially young Japanese are not just fashionable, they are from from another planet, called "Planet Fashion". Walk in the streets of Zurich (priding itself as Switzerland's most fashionable) and any random Japanese city (not to speak of Tokyo) and you'll see the difference. Japan is daring, fashion-forward, often over-the-top, but always really, really progressive fashion-wise. Trying to compete is no option, failure would be certain. Reaching a fashion average like here is quite impossible and I have seen it nowhere else in the world. Hell, like this grandma I've seen recently, she's like mid 70's, but wears this stylish coat and her walking stick has a really cool flower design on it. Of course there are people who are not so well-dressed, but on average the Japanese's sense of fashion and style is really impressive. They really like to shop, but will surely find merchandise in Swiss shops less than exciting. How to still make some money? a) International designer brands - although these are available in Japan too, the Japanese are crazy enough about labels that they would feel the urge to buy them in Switzerland too. The opening of the new Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo recently attracted masses of women camping outside the night before. b) Vintage - it's very popular here and since it's already past fashion you can't make a fool of yourself by being a step behind. c) Swissness - something that is not necessarily current fashion, but originally Swiss (made). I've seen Swiss "Sennechutteli" (traditional mountain farmer's vest) being sold here for ridiculous amounts of money.

Well, these are some thoughts of mine on how to better cater for Japanese tourists. Obviously it's not all meant to be dead serious, but the underlying observations are real. What would be "no-gos" for Japanese tourists then? As indicated, I think the biggest problem is the service level / mentality and that is something that can not be changed on the fly I guess. Anything messy, unorganized and risky will not be appreciated either. As for prices, I have the impression that quality is the criteria N°1 and the price is less important. A big "no-go" are "Made in China" products also. Chinese products are considered inferior and the recent food scandals have strenghtened this image. I am sure an expensive "Swiss made" is much more attractive with Japanese tourists.

Settling down

After my first night in that disastruous guesthouse I made sure to have a look at the new place first. There are several agencies in Tokyo that are specialized in providing short or longer term furnished accomodation. I first surfed a couple of sites on the internet to check availability and prices. I again wanted something that is not too far off and not outrageously expensive. There was not much available on such short notice, but "Sakura House" did have a few suitable openings. About double the price than the first place (around 800 CHF/month), but much nicer looking too. I decided for a guesthouse in Ekota, about 15 minutes by subway from Shinjuku.
The house is in a quiet residential area and has 10 bedrooms, three bathrooms and three toilets, a livingroom and a big kitchen. My room is about as big as the one in Fukuoka, so not super spacious, but fine enough.
I have quite a few housemates of course. A couple of Americans, a guy from Mexico and a Dutch and Italian guy. It's quite fun to come home in the evening and hang out in the livingroom with flatmates, comment on stupid tv shows and do other random things. Funnily enough usually everybody hanging around in the livingroom also has a Japanese book in front of him and her and tries to study besides... Well, I have some victims for the oral exercises like that. Karen, Michael (US), Sander (Dutch) and Daniel (Mexico) are the ones that are around most and the most social minded so far. They're fun to be with, really can't complain. Patrick (US) is a recruiter and terribly busy. Comes home late, goes right to bed and gets up very early. Japanese lifestyle I guess. The girl next to me, Susan, is the one I like least so far. Walks around with a super pissed look on here face, doesn't bother to say a friendly word, quarrels with her boyfriend all the time (in the room next to my) and stomps around at night and wakes people up. Some others are getting a bit annoyed too... Ah, there is an Irish guy here too, but he is really invisible. Comes home says briefly "hi" and disappears into his room, not to be heard or seen again.
Michael has been in the house for quite some time and he's a good source for stories on former housemates. It seems that the current combination is rather a decently quiet one. One former housemate had a Japanese girlfriend and when he broke up with her she started stalking him. She had the doorcode and would just come into the house whenever she wanted. Or she started banging on his or other people's door at night. So they had to urge "Sakura House" to change the door code asap. Another housemates, in the room next to Michael's, operated some "business" in the house. She advertised her "services" on the internet and performed them in her room. Michael described it as "a business that involved the use of whips and chains". She was soon voted out of the house too...
http://www.sakura-house.com/english/premise/shin_egota.php

Cheap housing in Tokyo?

After having spent a few weeks on the road I have now settled down in Tokyo and will stay here until the end of my stay in Japan. Which is not that far away by the way, which feels strange. But I am coming back, so that's ok.
My arrival in Tokyo should have been smooth, I had booked a guesthouse in advance and thought the accomodation would be settled. The place had looked nice enough on the internet and was both cheap and central. When I went to pick up the keys I paid half of the one month rent already. But the place turned out to be - eeehm, well, it's hard to call it anything else than a rathole! Imagine an old shabby building next to a noisy railway line. Two walls of your "room" are not real walls but 1) a thin-"hear whatever your neighbour does" panel separating it from the next room. While a second wall consists of a row of metall lockers where people put stuff in and take some out all day and night. And yes, metall lockers DO make noise when being opened. Other features of the proposed accomodation would be a tiny dirty kitchen and and equally tiny and dirty bathroom, squeaking doors, lacking isolation and a leaking roof that requires pots to be placed everywhere to collect valuable natural rain water... And I am NOT exaggerating, this place was a dump.
I tried to convince myself that it was not that bad, but I felt really uncomfortable there.
So I went to tell the agency the next morning and told them I intended to stay just one more night and wanted my money back. Well, they could have made troubles about the money, because the contractual notice period is 2 weeks (and I had paid for 2 weeks..). Maybe it was my luck that they were Japanese, instead of making trouble they apologized a thousand times and gave me back the money without any discussion. The harmony seeking nature of Japanese culture can be an advantage sometimes...
And I learned that you really can't have a cheap (380 CHF a month), central AND nice apartment. You need to make some concessions. And I decided that next time it would not be the "nice" part...

Happy onsen end

I decided to treat myself to some onsen baths at the final stop of my trip across Japan. I went to Tazawa-ko which is situated in Akita prefecture in Northern Honshu, offers some nice Onsen (hot springs) and has a direct shinkansen connection to Tokyo.
I found a lovely "jazz hotel" named "That sounds good". It's located at Tazawa-ko's lake which is the deepest in Japan and its owners are huge jazz fans. Jazz music is played all day and they have all the equipment to hold ad hoc jazz concerts which they occasionaly do. Pretty rooms, excellent food and an onsen in the house with jazz music are compelling reasons to stay there. How nice to have a late night bath in the onsen listening to some jazz music!
The lake is really nice to take some walks or you could rent a bike too. A cafe at the lake has delicious unusual pizza with beer dough.I visited an onsen in the mountains as well. An hours walk through the forrest with great views gets you there from the last bus stop. The water is turquoise green, everything in the bath is wooden and the location in the mountain forrest is just divine. Tazawa-ko made just a perfectly relaxing final part of the 6-weeks trip.

From prison to Olympia town

My last two stops in Hokkaido were Abashiri in the West and the prefecture's capital Sapporo.
Abashiri to Japanese is above all known for its prison. The area can get really cold in winter and it used to be sort of Japan's version of sending people to Siberia. The most hardened criminals would be sent there to endure very cold winters in grim and cold prison cells. The prison is still there, but has gotten a bit more accomodating. I visited the prison museum which shows artifacts from the former prison and tells some inhabitants' stories. Unfortunately only some information was given in very poor English. I also visited the very attractive "Museum of Northern people" which tells the story of Hokkaido's indigenous people, the Ainu and compares it to the culture of other Northern people.
Sapporo is Japan's fifth biggest city and was hosting the Olympic winter games in 1972. So I went to see the ski jump area and the nearby Olympics museum. The view over Sapporo from the ski jump's top is just amazing. Scary to look down and imagine you had to ski down there... The museum is really fun and interactive, you can try out your winter sports skills in all sorts of simulators from ski jumping to figure skating to ice hockey. I found out that I'd make a decent speed skater or ice hockey goalie, but a lousy ski jumper. Alright then, I'll adapt my career plans accordingly! :-)

Lavender fields

Furano is the geographical center of Hokkaido and is well-known for its lavender fields in summer. The region draws a lot of wanna-be-artists (and real ones I guess) who are coming here for drawing the fields with some impressive mountain scenery in the background. Asahi-dake is Hokkaido's highest mountain and the whole area is a national park too.
I stayed in a lovely youth hostel in Furano which is a farm too, so sort of a farm-stay. A young family runs the hostel and for breakfast and dinner they serve home produced vegetables and fruit, homemade jam, etc. Really homely place and the couple had some of the most egalitarian work division I've come across which was nice to see. Father also taking care of the baby and caring it around on his back. I shared my room with 3 Japanese girls and got to speak a lot.
The weather was not that great, but I still decided to go for a hike on nearby Tokachidake. It was a really lovely view of the colored autumn leaves around, despite being really cloudy and a bit cold. I just thought of the bears that are living around there which made me feel a bit uncomfortable during the hike (repeating the mantra "throw yourself on the floor" to myself). When I was back at the bus stop I would have had to wait for almost 3 hours for the next bus and it was cold too, so I decided starting to walk down. Luckily an old man in his oldtimer car picked me up. We drove at about 40 km/h, but had a good chat in Japanese and he insisted on driving me right to the youth hostel's door.
I concluded the day with a visit to the pretty touristy lavender farm Tomita. The lavender is not blooming that time of the year of course, but they had some other flowers on the fields. And delicious lavender-flavoured ice-cream :-)

The island of eternal craziness

The reason for travelling to the very North of Japan had actually not been Wakkanai, but a small island next to it, Rebun-tō. It's part of a small national park that also includes its bigger neighbour island Rishiri-tō. Rebun-tō is a hikers paradise and in summer it's covered with many rare flowers. These were some of the reasons why I wanted to go there, but also because I am an island-addict and because of it's famous youth hostel. I had heard of the youth hostels reputation from several Japanese, it really seems to be well-known across the country and is said to be one of the craziest places there is in Japan.
The ferry ride from Wakkanai takes 2 hours and the island does not look that spectacular when you arrive. It's neighbour Rishiri features a far higher volcanic peak and the flowers are getting scarce in September as well. At the ferry port a guy was standing waving a large flag like a madman. It looked like a cross between traditional Swiss flag waving and "One flew over the cookoo's nest"... So I figured he should be a representative of the said hostel. He threw my luggage into the hostel's van and then gave me a map and told me to walk there, since they would only drive people who were totally unable to walk. Fine with me... Nice 1-hour walk over the hills. The hostel was tucked into a corner of the cliffs on the West coast, very scenic location. The house is an old fishing building and the only neigbouring building is a small hut with a café inside.
I was a bit tired, not from the walk, but from accumulated lack of sleep, so I decided to have a short nap. This was soon brutally interupted by a guy screaming some incomprehensible stuff over the loudspeakers that were placed allover the house. And if I say "scream" I mean it and with a harsh, rough voice. I started to see where the "crazy" label came from...
Recognizing sleep was not an available option, I went downstairs to fill out the registration form. I got handed a list of the "house rules":

1. Momo-Îwa hostel is not in the standard Japanese time zone (the rest of the island is by the way), but +1/2 hour. So all times indicated are half an hour earlier in Standard Japanese time
2. Getting up is at 6 o'clock. Everybody who goes on a hike needs to get up at 5.10 (which would be 4.40)
3. Every evening at 5.30 a compulsory meeting is held to discuss plans for the next day
4. Later, at 7.30, the daily community meeting is held. Staff presents a varying program and guests are expected to participate
5. At 10.30 lights go out and everybody goes to bed
6. Alcohol is forbidden

Hm, this sounded a bit like a school camp with very early get up and bed times. Surprisingly though, about a third of the people staying at the hostel were clearly in their 40s or 50s. And talking to the other guests I found out that most of them had stayed in the hostel before, some would come back every year even. This place must have some kind of broad appeal obviously! The crazy shouting over the loudspeakers continued. At 5 o'clock it would announce that the meeting would be in half an hour. 5 minutes later it said the meeting was in 25 minutes and you should start getting prepared. And so on... So in the evening I attended the two meetings. The first was a quick overview of the planned hikes for the next day, you could either sign up for a 4 or 8 hour hike. They gave some information about the route, the weather forecast, etc.
The second meeting was more interesting. We were again repeatedly urged over the loudspeaker to participate. The show started off with 5 guys from hostel staff running in in diving suits, women's wear and other strange costumes and starting to perform a song. This was just the beginning of 2.5-hours of pretty disfunctional, but funny behaviour. We were singing a lot of songs, then learning some strange dances, the staff performed some pantomime and a quiz show on the islands flora. The prize for the quiz winners were vouchers for a free night at the hostel, a curry lunch or a cup of coffee at the nearby cafe all for 2009. The twist was that these vouchers were supersized and heavy or fragile and they have to be brought back in the exact same form in order to check in the prize... The whole show was really hilarious. It was also funny to see all these 40-something salarymen doing weird dancing and really enjoying it. One told me that he came here every year, but his wife didn't really approve and thought he was being immature :-).
10-minutes before bedtime, children's sleeping tunes were played over the loudspeaker and we all went to bed. Had to get up early enough anyway. By the way, early in the morning the staff also held a morning gymnastics session...
I had signed up for the 8-hour hike. We were driven to the North end of the island and then started our hike to the Southern end, about 30 km. The coast reminded me very much of the Irish West coast in Donegal. Strikingly beautiful, green and very windy. The hike was really enjoyable and in good company. Got to practise my Japanese a lot too! We made a few stops in between. Actually we even had to, the hostel required us to call them 3 times... There were the inevitable photo breaks as well of course to immortalise the group on pictures striking the typical V-sign. We also had a lunch break in a small village on the coast. Three snack stands were lined up for hikers there. I think the guy at the first stand quite pisses his competitors off. He immediately chatted us up and got us to sit down at his place, the others looking quite frustrated.
When we finally got back to the hostel a dancing and singing show was performed, the hostel staff standing on the roof, to welcome us back.
I really enjoyed my time on the island and the hostel was a major reason for that. Despite it being a crazy mix of a school camp, hippie community, military boot camp, madhouse, workshop for expressive singing and dancing and so on, it's a really heartwarming place, full of enthusiastic and fun people. Who knows, I might be back as well... In any case I will go to the big reunion party on October 18, at Tokyo's Shinjuku station.

The very North

From Osaka I took quite a jump towards the North. Well, "jump" is not the right word since I went there by train and obviously spent many hours on Shinkansen (bullet train) - in the best case - and other, slower trains. Well, I do like to travel by train, you get to see quite a bit of the landscape on the way and also it was great to study Japanese.

I travelled from Osaka to Morioka in Northern Honshu, then to Sapporo and spent a night in both places. And then a long journey of 6 hours to the very Northern end of Japan, Wakkanai. It's definitely worth travelling up there, although really far off. The landscape somewhat reminds of Siberia and it's very scarcely populated. It would be a good journey to do by car since it would make stops and side-trips much easier than the train that runs only about 3 times a day.

This Northern landscape really looks quite different from the rest of Japan. For nature lovers this is a true paradise and a rather unknown one as well. Domestic tourists do appreciate Hokkaido (despite the bears, which is surprising considering the risk-averseness of the average Japanese), but there are few travellers from abroad. Well, some Russians obviously visit Wakkanai and its surroundings, but these are mostly fishermen. It's enough to have most street signs in kyrillic as well and the city also offers quite a few booze-only stores (not usual elsewhere). And Wakkanai is the only place in Japan where I have seen quite a few Jieitai (Japanese self-defense force / army). Locals confirmed my suspicion that all of the above is correlated to the presence and vicinity of Russia...

Wakkanai is not that spectacular. A sleepy small town that lives from fishing and from being a the Northernmost point of Japan and a jump-off point to Rishiri-Rebun-National park. It was pretty, pretty cold as well, evenings get really chilly already in this place. The youth hostel, although nicely situated on a hill above the city, was not heated at all and I had to wear my jacket inside as well.

Here a "Thank you" to my friends who gave me the Jack Wolfskin voucher! This is definitely the best jacket I have ever owned so far. And it saves me from freezing to death in Hokkaido. The bight pink color might attract too much attention from the bears however, but that was my choice.

Japanese tv export

Whenever I switch on Japanese tv, chances are that I come accross a somewhat crazy game or quiz show. Candidates (and presenters') behaviour tends to be a little immature, giggly, strange - you name it. And usually they voluntarily make complete fools of themselves in front of the nation.

You may remember "Takeshi's castle", a popular Japanese tv export on German channel DSF. A sportsy game show with the goal to conquer "Takeshi's castle", a cardboard castle defended by Takeshi and his followers. On the way there the 100 starting participants had to overcome several strange obstacles. They were disguised as pinballs for example and an oversize was rolled down the hill towards them. Those who fell would be eliminated. Another popular obstacle was a pond full of mud crossed by a moving bridge from which most contestants would fall off. Takeshi, the show's father, by the way, is not some infantile unknown, but the acclaimed film director (e.g. Hana-Bi), actor and lecturer at Tokyo's University for Fine Arts, Takeshi Kitano.

One of the later successful Japanese tv export is "Human Tetris". The show has been bought by American, British and Swedish tv channels among others. The game is a life-size Tetris game with human game figures. A wall with cut out shapes is moving towards the candidate(s) and they have to slide through the provided holes. If they fail, they fall into a pool. Watch and enjoy some scenes from the show on YouTube:

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=592BJSEP-ZU

I wonder why the Japanese have such a taste for funny tv shows. Is it the need to compensate for the not-so-funny work life they are confronted with?

Ōsaka

After visiting Kansai's cultural center, I paid its economic center a visit. Ōsaka is not famed for its touristic appeal, but I had met some "natives" along the way whom I wanted to visit and also it offers some good museums. It's the second biggest city in Japan, with a population of about 2.5, so despite being a big city it's a dwarf version of Tokyo.

The first evening I met a guy I had met in Okinawa. He first took me to a Takoyaki shop to taste this local staple. Takoyaki are fried squid balls and it is pretty delicious. Ōsaka by the way also has a special version of my of my almost favourite dish, Okonomiyaki. We walked around the neon lit streets of central Ōsaka. Restaurants, game parlours, shopping arcades, etc. whereever you see. A lot of very trendy shops line the street of "Amerika miura" (American village) and its adjacent streets. You see that reflected in people's dress. While the Japanese are very fashionable in general, this is even more pronounced in big cities like this. Very avant-garde and you feel tempted to spend a lot of money... Just the thought of my already too heavy luggage made me step back and think twice :-).

The next day I visited some of the museums. Ōsaka's aquarium features a giant whale shark. I had wanted to see some other aquariums in Japan, but somehow never got around to doing it. This one was really nice, you could walk in tunnels with fish all around you. And the tank with the whale shark and several mantas was just huge. Of course the Japanese visitors were screaming "kawaii" (cute) non-stop (this word for sure is the most over-used in this country!). But some people are still being a bit reasonable. There was a family watching the seals and they kept repeating "kawaii, kawaii". Then the father said: " Well, actually they are fighting and biting each other, that's not so "kawaii"". Made me applaud almost... This word can get on your nerves at times, because everything is "kawaii" here.

Situated right next to the aquarium is the "Santori" museum which features an excellent art collection and an IMAX cinema, I visited both of them as well. "Santori" by the way always reminds me of the film "Lost in Translation". Bill Murray's character in the film is in Japan to do a commercial for "Santori whiskey" and he has to drink the stuff over and over again, struggling to look cheerful.

The museum I was most interested in was the "Human Rights Museum". It talks about human rights in Japan and the various groups whose human rights have been violated in the past or present. There are two domestic ethnic groups, the Ainu (from Hokkaido) and the Okinawans who have been forcedly "japanized" and whose culture was marginalized for a long time. These days there are increased efforts to preserve their culture and language. Another group are the "buraku", the lowest caste (Japan used to have a caste system) who were tasked to bury the dead or produce leather. They were considered "unclean" and discrimination has long remained even after the caste system was abolished, e.g. they were discriminated against on the labour market. A special exhibition talks about the Korean population in Japan. Many Koreans either voluntarily emigrated to Japan or were brought here as slave labourers during Japanese occupation of Korea. They continue to be disadvantaged on the labour market until today. The exhibition talked about other groups as well such as disabled people, women, day labourers, etc. The museum features a good introductory part that hints at Japanese society's desire to streamline lifestyle and objectives and the related tendency to marginalize outsiders that do not fit into the common lifestyle model. The old Japanese saying goes: "The nail that stands out gets quickly hammered down".

Kyōto

The Kansai region is the second biggest economic centre of the country after Tōkyo and is made up of several large cities: Ōsaka, Kyōto and Kobe. The two former capitals of the country are located here, Kyōto and Nara and these make Kansai a cultural centre as well. I have decided to visit Kyōto and Osaka. They are conveniently located on the main Shinkansen line (fast train) which makes onward travels easy for a J-Pass user.
Pictures from Kyōto are probably some of the best known Japanese scenery abroad (besides Tokyo and Mount Fuji). The many temples and Japanese gardens and the Geishas and Maikos (Geisha apprentice) from the Gion district are famous all over the world. Kyōto really stands for traditional Japanese culture and has the sights to match the expectations. Also the location amidst mountains adds to the romantic charm of the city.
When you arrive however, the picture is a bit different. From the main station you see a modern city with neon lights and the not-so-pretty Kyōto tower in front of you. Arriving at dusk and in slightly rainy weather adds to the impression that Kyōto is maybe not the magical place you thought it to be. Well, let’s be fair, I was also busy with dragging my luggage to the only (run-down) hostel I could find in Kyōto (I happened to be there on one of the many public holidays). I was lucky to get a bed even for a second night. Kyōto is such a popular tourist destination and during the many public holidays it is overrun by tourists. I walked around and suddenly someone was calling my name. It was Anne, whom I had met at Genki JACS a few weeks before. Her and two friends stayed in Kyōto for 3 days. They asked at their hotel whether I could stay in one of their rooms, so I found an asylum for the night finally.
Later I went walking around the district and started seeing what the magic of the city is. You can not walk too far without stumbling upon a beautiful temple. You could probably spend weeks to explore them and all the Japanese gardens around the city and its vicinity. At night it is an amazing, somewhat unreal sight, see the pictures. Even simple side streets with more traditional houses look magical. I could have wandered around for hours.
I visited a few temples and gardens, but I think I only caught a glimpse of the city and I wasn't blessed with good weather either, so I will definitely need to go again and spend some more time exploring the city's cultural heritage. A modern sight that I didn't get to see is Japan's international Manga museum, would love to visit it too.

Another pearl of J-Pop

I like a lot of things about Japan and some that I didn't know of before I came here. J-Pop is not among them. I find it decidedly horrible. Maybe it's just a deeply hidden love or I haven't heard the right groups yet? Let's see as time goes by... But please slap me when I start defending crimes on vinyl as this one.
So the musical pearl that I wanted to share with you today is by a group called Kat-Tun and it's called "Make U wet". Suggestive title, poor English, guys who get undressed and lame tunes make up another J-Pop classic. Also read the comments of the YouTube viewers, as usually this is half of the fun.
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=i63tK97GYfM&feature=related
And another sample from the same group. Here they try to be more, eeeehm? Gangsta??? Whatever... Maybe I should not put them in the J-Pop category after all?!
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5vqXRpT6dE&feature=related
Enjoy!

Miyajima and Himeji

Miyajima is one of Japan’s most famous photo objects. The island used to be a sacred place that could only be entered by the clergy. The torii – the entrance of the shrine is in the water (when the tide is high) and anyone coming to the island would pass through this gate. The red torii in the water is a definitely a worthwhile photo object.
I was on Miyajima in the late afternoon and was really lucky. The tide was high and I got the classic view of the torii surrounded by water and the sunset made great pictures. We also visited the island’s shrine.
Miyajima is also home to a lot of deer that walk around in the streets freely and are not shy at all. In fact I was warned that I should take care of my properties and not walk around with an open bag, the cheeky beasts would soon snatch something. They were indeed very tame and we could walk next to them and even touch them.
My next stop was Himeji, one of the remaining original wooden samurai castles in Japan and one of its national treasures (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The castle is towering over the main street of Himeji and looks quite imposing. It’s beautiful with its alabaster towers, but was used for not so pacifist purposes. Strategically located at the foot of the mountain and with view to the sea, it was a heavily armed fortress. Arm chambers and retreats for the fighters from where they could attack are found everywhere. And there is also a large food storage area, because the shortage of water and food was often a decisive factor when a fortress was being in siege.

Hiroshima

After paying a short visit to my "hometown" Fukuoka and some people there, I travelled to Hiroshima. The city that has gained sad fame for being the target of the world's first atomic bomb dropping, is nowadays a bustling larger city in Southern Honshu. Still, it is a strange feeling to come here, you feel the weight of the city's history. A bit more than 60 years ago this place was witnessing a massacre before unknown to mankind and almost entirely destroyed.

In the city center, in the epicenter of the bomb, a park reminds of the tragedy. there are numerous memorials for the victims. The most touching is maybe the memorial for the many children who fell victim to the bomb. School children were summoned for clean up efforts in the city center that day, in the immediate vicinity of the epicenter. There is also a monument for the Korean victims. About every tenth victim was a Korean or Chinese forced laborer in Hiroshima's armament factories. Next to the park you see the remainders of the former industrial promotion hall. The building was right next to the bombs epicenter and it's ruins were left as an eternal reminder of the tragedy.

The park and the museum are being visited by large numbers of visitors from all over Japan and a lot of school children who sit in the park having their bento lunches. Also the park is host to the many homeless that do not necessarily appear in official statistics.

The peace memorial museum in Hiroshima is really worth a visit. It is very moving and quite heavy, just like the one in Nagasaki. But unlike the latter it has a by far more critical outlook and openly describes Japan's role in WWII and its wrongdoings against other Asian nations. It is still a less overt criticism of the nations's past than you would see in a German museum for example (but Germany's way of "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" is quite unique anyway), but historical facts are described in a balanced fashion. It enabled me to concentrate on the victim's tragedy much more while in Nagasaki I had been constantly looking for ANY critical description of Japan's past, but in vain.

Quite a large number of cities had originally been sought out as potential targets for the first atomic bomb, and these were spread over all majorly populated areas of Japan, among them the Tokyo urban area. Four cities were "shortlisted" then: Hiroshima, Niigata, Kokura, Nagasaki. Kyoto had been eliminated from the list because it was considered an important center for post-war reconstruction of the Japanese state. These cities were then spared with conventional bombing, the cynical logic was that the effect of the atomic bomb could be studied better if the city had before been relatively untouched. While on August 9, 1945 the sky over Kokura, the primary target for the second bomb was clouded and the plane detoured to Nagasaki, on August 6, the sky over Hiroshima was clear and its fate sealed.

Numerous accounts from survivors tell the story of the day that must have been hell on earth. The city shattered to pieces, fires burning everywhere, survivors with their skin peeling off and in unimaginable pain. Many couldn't stand the pain and jumped into the river which was soon filled with bodies. Black rain fell from the sky and many were drinking the poisonous water. People were writing messages on the leftovers of buildings in the hope of finding their relatives. Children's clothes were later donated to the museum, each with the story of a high school student who had died shortly after the bomb had been dropped. Some made it back to their parents only to die there within hours. Many more would die in the course of the next years. One of the best-known victims was Sadako Sasaki, a schoolgirl who had survived, but later developed leucemia as a result of the radiation. She started folding paper cranes - according to an old belief she thought if she managed to fold 1000 paper cranes and endue each one with the wish with getting well, she would survive. She died before one year was over, but the paper cranes have since been a symbol for the victim's tragedy and schoolchildren in Japan fold them and bring them to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Why was the bomb dropped on Japan? The museum states that the US considered the risk that the Germans would be able to draw knowledge from it if the bomb was dropped over Germany and would be able to produce a bomb in return, unlike the Japanese. Also the US had to justify the enormous cost of the development of the bomb. I personally think the knowledge theft argument is rather weak. An already weakened Germany after the dropping of such a bomb would hardly be able to counter in a short time, altough of course research on the bomb was already somewhat advanced in Germany. I think there are some more reasons that were not mentionned in the museum or in the US official documents. The awe of dropping an a-bomb in the heart of Europe while Japan is an island. Or the fact that POWs would be affected as well. Hiroshima was specifically selected because it was thought that no POWs were nearby. Note that the Korean and Chinese forced laborers were not considered there. And that leads to my third suspicion that there is something inherently racist about the decision to drop the bomb over Japan and not Germany. Victim's who come from a different cultural sphere seem to count less and this is still the case these days. See the media coverage for the tsunami and the disproportionate attention for the Western victims for example. I am convinced that even this inhumane, criminal German regime was so less likely a target because white victims just count more to white people - there are numerous events in history where you can see that...

The Hiroshima city officials have been writing a protest note for every atomic bomb test carried out since then. The museum shows the arsenal of atomic weapons over the world. It is frightening to see the masses of bombs that lay in the hands of non-democratic and very questionable regimes such as Russia, China or Pakistan. Seeing the recent developments in Pakistan for example where islamistic movements gain more and more territory or watching Russia's war engagement and its thorough lack of respect for civic rights makes you more than just worried.

Okonomiyake - oishii!

In Hiroshima, the local speciality is Okonomiyake and I was told that I should absolutely try it here. We had already gotten addicted to this dish in Fukuoka. Unlike Sushi, Sashimi, Ramen or Tofu it is quite unknown in Europe, but very popular here.
Okonomiyake is resembling an omelette and consists of flour, cabbage flakes, egg and other ingredients like cheese, beef or seafood. The dish is topped with a sweetish soy dressing and fish flakes. The Hiroshima version also contains noodles.
Usually Okonomiyake is prepared on a hot plate right in front of you. Each table features such a cooking plate in the middle and you eat right off it when the dish is ready. Super delicious! Oishiiiiiii!

Vending machinomania

You are thirsty late at night? Nothing at home? Bad luck for you if you are in Switzerland, unless you happen to live close to a motorway and one of the 24-hour shops along them. You find vending machines at the station, but they charge 2-3 times what the bottle of Coke would cost in a shop.

In Japan both vending machines and "kombini" (24-hour shops) are incredibly ubiquitous. If you have to walk farther than 20 meters to the next vending machine, that indicates you reeeally live somewhere far off. They are just everywhere, prices for drinks are the same as in any shop and they look really fancy too.

The kombinis are another phenomenon. These shops are open 24-hours, 7-days a week. And there is not just one in every area of the city, but literally at every corner. From my dormitory in Fukuoka for example, I could reach 5 kombinis within 5 minutes walk. For me it's incredible that it makes economical sense to have that many shops. They offer food mostly take-away and convenience food, hygiene articles, mangas and magazines and drinks, some serve as a small post office as well. Supermarkets on the other hand seem to be rather scarce.

A bottle of shampoo

I am obviously still travelling - that is why I did not update the blog in the last few days. I`ve spent some enjoyable days on a small island and both had a lot of fun and learned quite a bit of Japanese. Will post a thread on this later on
Now I am back on the mainland, in Kagoshima and soon taking the Shinkansen (fast train) to Fukuoka to visit some people. Tomorrow I will travel on to Hiroshima.
Just a funny episode from another 24-hours ferry ride. I met these two guys who are both riding their motorbikes across Japan, one being a Harley Davidson. I chatted with one of them till late. Meanwhile my bag was lying on the chair next to me. I noticed he was watching it nervously and I asked what was the matter. He said I should hold the bag on my lap, it could be stolen otherwise. I said I considered that unlikely since a) I could watch the bag b) there were just two other people around except for us and c) Japan was not the kind of country where things get stolen often. He said it was not true, Japan were indeed dangerous. I asked for an example of someone who had actually been robbed. Guess what he said?! He said, a friend of his had travelled to Hokkaido (the very North of Japan) and his bottle of shampoo got stolen... I couldn`t help it, but burst into loud laughter! (Yes, it`s inappropriate, of course).This over-perception of dangerous is sooo Japanese, I`ve seen and heard so many examples. For us it`s just hilarious. I then asked whether I should go and get my bottle of shampoo and keep it on my lap as well...
I also had to ask about the rumour I had heard. That is, Japanese families like to go to KFC for Christmas, because it`s the closest they can get to an American turkey Christmas dinner. He confirmed this. I do acknowledge that Japan has no Christian tradition and may therefore interpret the event a bit differently. But the thought of spending Christmas eve at KFC is just hilarious.

The Ryûku kingdom

Okinawa was only finally annexed by Japan in 1879. Before the islands were an indepdent kingdom known as Ryûku. Naha was the capital of the kingdom and the main port of this very active trading nation.

These days you can still see traces of the ancient Ryûku kingdom on Okinawa. Part of the cultural heritage had been destroyed in WWII, but the castle where the Ryûku kings used to reside is still intact and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The castle thrones over the city of Naha, with a great view of the city and the port area. Around the castle lies a ringwall with watchtowers, all painted in red like the main building. The inner wall surrounds the main building where the kings used to hold their meetings and where his and the queen's living quarters were located. Around the central square several other buildings were located, some living quarters for the kings subordinates, other working space.

Ryûku also used to have it's own distinct language that differs from Japanese. It is still taught and spoken on Okinawa. Some of the elderly citizens are said to master only this language still, although Japanese has been the official language for many years. In Naha you see posters for the courses and the promotion of the Okinawan language and culture.

In recent years, the Ryûku palace was the location for a G8 summit. The museum shows pictures of Clinton, Chirac, Putin, Crétien and Co. dining in the king's hall.

Should I stay or should I go?

Zamami is another small island in the Southwest of Okinawa main island, belonging to the Nansei Shôto like Tokashiki. It is supposed to be a snorkeling paradise as well with sea turtles and from January through March whales are often spotted near Zamami.

I arrived in Zamami in the evening and got a list with accomodations at the ferry port. The only one mentionned in the guidebook was again a bit pricey, so I looked for a cheaper alternative and found "Yuyu". The room was quite like the one in Tokashiki and just half the price. But there was nobody except for me staying there. I didn't have a library at hand and was too tired to read my Japanese textbook, so I got really bored. Walked around the village and found this small pizzeria where I was the only guest too. The pizza was good, but of I felt even more bored. I decided to take the ferry backt to Naha the very next day, this island was just too quiet for someone travelling on her own.

After dinner I continued my tour of the village (it's not a very big tour, really, just a couple of small streets). I walked by this house that looked a bit like a barn. And there were quite a few people sitting outside, having a barbecue party. They immediately invited me to join in and the evening got really funny. The place was "Akabana", a laid-back hostel and really the only place on Zamami where some fun is going on.

Well, instead of leaving the next day I ended up staying at "Akabana" for 10 days. It's people that make places, really.

I learned definitely more Japanese than I learned at school in the same period. There were usually 1 or 2 other Westerners, but most people were Japanese. I started hanging out with the staff and got free Japanese lessons on the beach. Nice surrounding can make an efficient learning environment, really! In the evenings I learned the more informal Japanese. My little book with the title "Dirty Japanese" was very popular as well by the way, just that they learned the English equivalents with it. I was being taught some interesting phrases as well. Guess what "o-shiri o misete, kudasai" means...

Besides studying and partying I also went hiking a bit and snorkeling of course. The nicest thing was to swim with the sea turtles. They are not shy and you can swim and dive with them. Ama beach where they are is pretty quiet because the snorkeling and also the infrastructure are not so good. But that is where the turtles are, so they don't get too much tourist distraction.

The whale watching would be a great thing to do, but I have been there the wrong time of the year. You see picture of whales everywhere. Just feels a bit strange considering that they are being hunted and eaten here as well...

The time on Zamami was just great, both relaxing and educational.