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.