index.xml (55357B)
1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?> 2 <rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"> 3 <channel> 4 <title>Japan on Chris Bracken</title> 5 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/tags/japan/</link> 6 <description>Recent content in Japan on Chris Bracken</description> 7 <generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator> 8 <language>en</language> 9 <lastBuildDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://chris.bracken.jp/tags/japan/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> 10 <item> 11 <title>Winter Sounds in Japan</title> 12 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2011/04/winter-sounds-in-japan/</link> 13 <pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 14 15 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2011/04/winter-sounds-in-japan/</guid> 16 <description><p>There are a lot of uniquely Japanese sounds. But the two I&rsquo;m writing 17 about today appear on cold winter nights, and echo eerily through the 18 dark, empty streets between dinner and bedtime.</p> 19 <p>Japanese winters are cold. They&rsquo;re not -30C cold, but what they do have on 20 Canadian winters is how drafty Japanese houses tend to be, and the distinct 21 lack of central heating. All across the country the appearance of convenience 22 store oden and yaki-imo wagons mark the arrival of winter.</p> 23 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2011-04-25-yakiimo.jpg" 24 alt="Yaki-imo wagon"> 25 </figure> 26 27 <p>Yaki-imo are sweet potatoes roasted over flames in wood fired ovens in small 28 mobile carts or trucks. They&rsquo;re served up wrapped in newspaper, and are not 29 only delicious, but keep your hands warm too. But the most distinctive thing 30 about yaki-imo is that the sellers sing a very distinct <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P9yctE9_hQ">yaki-imo 31 song</a>. They typically make the rounds until just after dinner time, 32 and I always found their song a bit eerie drifting though the dark streets.</p> 33 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2011-04-25-hinoyoujin.jpg" 34 alt="Hi no Yōjin"> 35 </figure> 36 37 <p>Central heating is near non-existent in Japan, one result of which is the 38 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu">kotatsu</a>, but another is that kerosene and gas heaters are still 39 commonly used for heating. Every year, housefires result from people 40 forgetting to shut of their heaters before bed. As a reminder to shut off the 41 heaters, people walk through town late at night, carrying lanterns and clacking 42 wooden blocks together, calling out &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFqRIKoVckA#t=20s">hi no yōjin</a>&rdquo;: be careful 43 with fire. The sound of the blocks typically carries for many blocks, and you 44 often hear their calls echoing through town, coming and going for up to half an 45 hour as you lay in bed.</p> 46 </description> 47 </item> 48 49 <item> 50 <title>Ride to Okutama-ko and back</title> 51 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2008/10/ride-to-okutamako/</link> 52 <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 53 54 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2008/10/ride-to-okutamako/</guid> 55 <description><p><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1qLR0za_apX5qMJi32cqDoNYESRI&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;hl=en&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=35.67441532772013%2C139.44887900000003&amp;spn=0.214689%2C0.47083&amp;t=p&amp;source=embed&amp;z=9">View map</a></p> 56 <p>I haven&rsquo;t ridden a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_ride">century</a> since I moved to Japan but with a bit of 57 spare time on my hands before baby number two is due, I decided I was going to 58 get back into decent enough shape that I could pull one off. I&rsquo;ve been using 59 mornings and weekends to get back into riding longer distances, and slowly 60 building up toward the goal of 160 km by riding further and further up the Tama 61 river every weekend.</p> 62 <p>Five minutes looking at Google maps yesterday morning at 6 am convinced me that 63 Lake Okutama was exactly the necessary 80 km away, so without a minute to lose 64 I got dressed, headed out the door and rode north up the Tama river. Here&rsquo;s 65 the <a href="https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/18311395">activity report</a>.</p> 66 <p>The ride along the river is gorgeous, one of the few places in Tokyo you can 67 ride uninterrupted through a green belt that runs from the ocean at Haneda 68 airport all the way into the mountains in the northwest corner of Tokyo. The 69 bike path ends at the south Hamura dam, but by then it&rsquo;s pretty <a href="http://www.ehimeajet.com/inaka.php" title="Inaka: rural Japan">inaka</a>, 70 so you can continue by road from there without much worry about traffic. At 71 the north Hamura dam, I crossed over to the west side of the river, to pick up 72 Route 411 through the towns of Oume, Sawai, and Mitake before leaving the city 73 completely and starting the climb up into the mountains.</p> 74 <p>The trip on from Mitake is a long, slow ascent along a narrow, winding road 75 through small towns and villages while criss-crossing the river. Particularly 76 this time of year with the leaves changing colour, the trip is visually 77 spectactular, with the mountainsides lit up bright orange and red. Okutama is 78 the last major town before the final hill-climb up to the lake. At its 79 westernmost edge is the world-famous Tokyo <a href="http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia19/en/feature/feature05.html" title="Conbini: Let's enjoy convenience store life!">Conbini</a> Shuten—the final 80 convenience store of Tokyo. Complete with latitude and longitude figures on its 81 sign out front, it is a site of pilgrimage for cyclists headed up to the lake 82 and the border of Tokyo and Yamanashi prefectures. Too bad it&rsquo;s a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Yamazaki">Daily 83 Yamazaki</a> and not a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FamilyMart">Famima</a>, but either way it&rsquo;s got 84 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocari_Sweat">Pocari Sweat</a>!</p> 85 <p>From the town of Okutama to the lake is a 13 km hill climb up through tunnel 86 after tunnel to the dam at the edge of the lake. My the one route change I&rsquo;ll 87 make the next time I do this is to go <em>around</em> the tunnels instead of <em>through</em> 88 them. I can&rsquo;t possibly imagine why someone felt the need to put (very 89 expensive) tunnels in on this road given that almost every single one can be 90 bypassed on the road. I can only assume that this has something to do with the 91 government trying to buy the powerful rural vote with thousands of unnecessary, 92 environment-destroying <a href="http://www.iwanami.co.jp/jpworld/text/publicworks01.html" title="The LDP and pork-barrel politics">construction projects</a> per year.</p> 93 <p>The good news is that once you hit the top, the views are spectacular, the 94 roads are flat, and you&rsquo;re back in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68908288@N00/141327403/" title="Jidohanbaiki: Let's vending machine!">jidohanbaiki</a>-land where 95 Pocari Sweat and Aquarius are available in abundance! I&rsquo;d accidentally left my 96 cycle computer off for a 3km stretch out of Okutama, so I cycled 3 km down the 97 road to make up for it and be able to claim a <em>recorded</em> 160 km. I ran into a 98 German cyclist named Ludwig who&rsquo;d also ridden in from Tokyo; he had a 99 drool-worthy Canyan carbon-fibre bike, and interestingly, it turns out he&rsquo;s 100 part of the <a href="http://positivo-espresso.blogspot.com/">Positivo Espresso</a> cycling group whose blog I&rsquo;d 101 been reading for a couple months.</p> 102 <p>Ludvig continued on up towards Yamanashi-ken with the plan of packing up his 103 bike and taking the train back when he got as far as he wanted to go. Good 104 plan, and something I&rsquo;ll give a try next time. I turned my bike around for the 105 long trip back home. The best part of that trip was the 30 minute descent back 106 down out of the hills at car speed, before hitting Mitake, and heading back out 107 to the flat cycle path along the Tamagawa.</p> 108 <p>All in all, a pretty awesome day of cycling and a trip I&rsquo;d definitely do again. 109 While the trip included a nice hill-climb, it wasn&rsquo;t severe, and didn&rsquo;t last 110 more than 15 km. I&rsquo;ve included the GPS map—there are a couple errors where I&rsquo;d 111 accidentally switched it off for 3 km near Okutama, and for about 5 km near 112 Hamura on the way back.</p> 113 </description> 114 </item> 115 116 <item> 117 <title>Monkey Madness</title> 118 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2008/08/monkey-madness/</link> 119 <pubDate>Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 120 121 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2008/08/monkey-madness/</guid> 122 <description><p>How many police does it take to catch a monkey in one of Tokyo&rsquo;s busiest train 123 stations? Apparently a lot more than the <a href="https://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbhEJ2NUxE">40 or so that 124 tried</a>.</p> 125 <p>The monkey was first spotted around 9:45am on top of the Tokyu Toyoko Line 126 schedule display, possibly one of the best choices for people-watching in 127 Shibuya Station, strategically positions between the exit of the Tokyu 128 department store and the entrance to one of Tokyo&rsquo;s busiest train lines.</p> 129 <p>It hung around for close to two hours while commuters, shoppers, news crews and 130 a posse of net-wielding cops showed up, before finally deciding to 131 <a href="https://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=AKFh-Wc7KSE">make a break for it</a>. Police never did catch the cheeky 132 monkey, and its current whereabouts are unknown.</p> 133 <p>Apparently this is the third incident of a monkey getting into a train station 134 in Tokyo in the last few weeks.</p> 135 </description> 136 </item> 137 138 <item> 139 <title>Apple Reinvents the Phone?</title> 140 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2007/01/apple-reinvents-the-iphone/</link> 141 <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 142 143 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2007/01/apple-reinvents-the-iphone/</guid> 144 <description><p><em>Update (2009-02-28)</em>: Alright, guilty as charged. &ldquo;No wireless. Less space 145 than a nomad. 146 <a href="https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/Apple-releases-iPod">Lame</a>.&rdquo;</p> 147 <p>After watching the Steve Jobs iPhone keynote, I have to say I&rsquo;m a little 148 disappointed. While this phone has a slicker GUI than any other phone I&rsquo;ve 149 seen, it&rsquo;s not so much the $499 US price-tag, but the stone-age functionality 150 of the phone compared to what we have here in Japan that makes my jaw 151 drop.</p> 152 <p>Here in Japan, 3 years ago in 2004, for 1 yen, I had the following in a 153 cellphone:</p> 154 <ul> 155 <li>3G download speeds of 50 Mb/s.</li> 156 <li>Two-way video-phone.</li> 157 <li>Built-in fingerprint scanner (for security checks).</li> 158 <li>MP3 player and download service.</li> 159 <li>Edy BitWallet (like Interac, except you swipe your finger on the 160 phone&rsquo;s scanner to accept the transaction).</li> 161 <li>Can be used as a <em>Suica</em> train pass.</li> 162 <li>Can buy movie tickets and scan in at the theatre, bypassing the 163 lineup.</li> 164 <li>Can wave it at vending machines for food and drinks.</li> 165 <li>Will figure out train routes, transfer locations and times, and 166 ticket prices.</li> 167 <li>Can scan barcodes which take you to websites – eg. scan at the bus 168 station to pull up the schedule or scan a magazine to order a 169 product.</li> 170 <li>MP3 player and download service.</li> 171 <li>Decent email (+ attachments), SMS, calendaring, notepad.</li> 172 <li>Automatic location triangulation (by determining which antennae are 173 nearby) and location-aware mapping, shopping/restaurant listings.</li> 174 <li>Interactive mapping of current location with zooming and scrolling.</li> 175 <li>Integrated graphical web-browser.</li> 176 <li>1 megapixel Camera, Video camera.</li> 177 <li>Display/graph your phone usage to the day.</li> 178 <li>Can write and deploy your own Java/C/C++ applets.</li> 179 </ul> 180 <p>If you go for a high-end phone with more than the above (e.g. built-in TV 181 tuner), you&rsquo;ll need to pay more than one yen, but the price range is normally 182 below ¥20,000 ($200 Canadian). In its current state, the iPhone won&rsquo;t sell in 183 Japan even if it&rsquo;s free; Apple is going to have to do some major work if it 184 wants to compete with even the bare-bones models on the market in Japan.</p> 185 </description> 186 </item> 187 188 <item> 189 <title>A Mystery Solved</title> 190 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2006/09/mystery-solved/</link> 191 <pubDate>Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 192 193 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2006/09/mystery-solved/</guid> 194 <description><p>One of my biggest complaints about Japan has always been the complete and utter 195 lack of garbage bins in this city. There are none to be found.</p> 196 <p>If you buy a (most likely seriously overpackaged) snack, you either have to 197 carry all the wrapping and leftovers around with you until you get home, or 198 toss it on the street. But the streets are impeccably clean here, which had led 199 me to believe that like me, the other 12 million people out for a walk this 200 afternoon, will be carrying their litter around in their backpacks and shopping 201 bags.</p> 202 <p>But it turns out this is not the case: an article in <a href="http://www.metropolis.co.jp/">Metropolis</a> 203 unveils the answer to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190222191348/http://archive.metropolis.co.jp/tokyorantsravesarchive349/315/tokyorantsravesinc.htm">The Big Tokyo Trash Mystery</a>.</p> 204 </description> 205 </item> 206 207 <item> 208 <title>Happy 139th Birthday!</title> 209 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2006/07/happy-139th-birthday/</link> 210 <pubDate>Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 211 212 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2006/07/happy-139th-birthday/</guid> 213 <description><p>Canadians in Tokyo got a head start on the Canada Day celebrations, kicking 214 things off at 8:30 am with a pancake breakfast at the <a href="http://www.maplesportsbar.jp/">Maple Leaf Bar &amp; 215 Grill</a>, followed by a Canada Day barbeque at Yoyogi Park including 216 hot dogs, yakitori, a massive Canadian Flag cake, and imported Canadian beer. 217 By 6pm things, as started to wind down at the park, people started the long 218 trek back to Shibuya and into the Maple Leaf, where it was standing room 219 only.</p> 220 <p>Some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbracken/sets/72157594183420453/">pictures of the event</a>.</p> 221 </description> 222 </item> 223 224 <item> 225 <title>麻酔お願いします!</title> 226 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/10/masui-onegai-shimasu/</link> 227 <pubDate>Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 228 229 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/10/masui-onegai-shimasu/</guid> 230 <description><p>Yesterday was my first trip to the dentist in years. The last time was just 231 before moving to Mexico, in the summer of 2001. As you might imagine, I was not 232 entirely expecting a clean bill of dental health. The fact that I had once 233 again ignored my dentist&rsquo;s advice to floss daily was not improving my outlook 234 one bit.</p> 235 <p>So it was with some trepidation that I went to see Dr Nakasawa yesterday 236 afternoon at 3 o&rsquo;clock. I stepped into the office, swapped my shoes for 237 slippers, filled out some forms, and took a seat in the waiting room, 238 attempting to pass the time by reading ads in Japanese for Sonicare 239 toothbrushes.</p> 240 <p>Eventually, I heard the receptionist call out &lsquo;Bracken-san!&rsquo; The door swung 241 open, and I was escorted to a chair and told to have a seat and wait for a few 242 moments with nothing to do except stare at the assortment of torture 243 instruments laid out on the table in front of me.</p> 244 <p>Now, in Canada, this is the point where the hygenist comes in, cleans your 245 teeth, tells you what a poor job you&rsquo;ve done of brushing your teeth over the 246 last six months, asks you whether you&rsquo;ve actually bothered to floss even once 247 since the last time you came, then takes off and the dentist comes in and pokes 248 around. In Japan, it goes only slightly differently. The dentist comes straight 249 in, cleans your teeth, tells you what a poor job you&rsquo;ve done of brushing your 250 teeth, asks you whether you&rsquo;ve actually bothered to floss even once since you 251 last came in, then starts poking around. Normally, that is.</p> 252 <p><em>Chotto akete kudasai.</em> I opened my mouth. Dr Nakasawa looked around for a 253 moment, poking at things with his tools, then paused.</p> 254 <p><em>Kono chiryou wa Nihon de moraimashita?</em></p> 255 <p>&lsquo;No, didn&rsquo;t get &rsquo;em here. I got all my fillings in Canada.&rsquo;</p> 256 <p>Another pause. <em>Aah, Canada-jin desu ka? Daigakusei no jidai, Eigo o benkyou 257 shimashita kedo, mou hotondo wasurete-shimaimashita.</em></p> 258 <p>&lsquo;That&rsquo;s ok, I&rsquo;ll try my best in Japanese.&rsquo;</p> 259 <p>Dr Nakasawa takes another glance in my mouth, does a bit more poking and says 260 to the hygenist &lsquo;Number 14 looks like an A. 18 looks like a B. 31&hellip; is A-ish.&rsquo; 261 Dr Nakasawa sits back in his chair. Another pause.</p> 262 <p>&lsquo;These fillings&hellip; the grey ones,&rsquo; he says, &lsquo;how long ago did you get these?&rsquo;</p> 263 <p>&lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know, maybe when I was in middle-school. A long time ago. I haven&rsquo;t 264 had a filling in years.&rsquo;</p> 265 <p>&lsquo;They&rsquo;re really old. This one here looks like it&rsquo;s chipped away on the edge and 266 the tooth underneath has a little bit of discolouration that may well be a 267 cavity. We don&rsquo;t really do this style of filling in Japan anymore, but what I&rsquo;d 268 suggest — it&rsquo;s up to you — is that we remove these, check for cavities 269 underneath, do any cleanup you need, then replace them with modern fillings.&rsquo;</p> 270 <p>&lsquo;Sure, the last dentist I talked to mentioned these were getting pretty awful 271 too, so sure&hellip; sounds good. Let&rsquo;s do it.&rsquo;</p> 272 <p>&lsquo;Okay, I&rsquo;m particularly worried about this one here, so let&rsquo;s start with this 273 one.&rsquo;</p> 274 <p>&lsquo;Sounds good.&rsquo;</p> 275 <p>&lsquo;Would you like to book a time next week, or if you have time I could do it 276 today?&rsquo;</p> 277 <p>&lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got no plans for the rest of the day, let&rsquo;s just get it over with.&rsquo;</p> 278 <p>&lsquo;Alright. <em>Masui wa dou desu ka? Hitsuyou desu ka?</em>&rsquo;</p> 279 <p>Now here I want to remind you that although I can get by in day-to-day life and 280 carry on a conversation in Japanese, one of the unequivocal facts of gaijin 281 life is that there are some words you simply don&rsquo;t know, and to keep the flow 282 of conversation going, you skip them and pick up the general idea from context. 283 So when someone says to you &lsquo;What about <em>masui</em>? Would you like it?&rsquo; in a tone 284 that suggests that really, you probably wouldn&rsquo;t, your instinct tends to be to 285 say &rsquo;no, no.&rsquo;</p> 286 <p>One of the wonderful things about living in another country is that 287 occasionally you&rsquo;re pleasantly surprised by turn of events that leads to an 288 experience that you&rsquo;d almost certainly never have stumbled your way into back 289 home. These experiences often upend long-held, fundamental beliefs that you&rsquo;d 290 have never even thought to question in your life.</p> 291 <p>However, I am going to tell you right now that there is no question at all that 292 getting your teeth drilled with no freezing hurts almost exactly as much as 293 you&rsquo;d imagine it does.</p> 294 <p>The full meaning of Dr Nakasawa&rsquo;s question, and of what was about to transpire, 295 became crystal clear as he picked up the drill, looked me in the eyes and said 296 &lsquo;Open wide, and put your hand up if at any point you can&rsquo;t handle the pain.&rsquo; I 297 swear I detected just the slightest hint of a smile on his face as he said this 298 to me, but I didn&rsquo;t have long to think about it because it was it was at this 299 point that I began focussing my entire being on keeping my hands clamped in a 300 death grip on the armrests of the dental chair.</p> 301 <p>I walked out of the office that day with a shiny new hole in my tooth and a 302 temporary filling while they create the permanent one. I managed to do this 303 without once raising my hand, but Dr Nakasawa&rsquo;s lucky his chair has still got 304 its bloody armrests attached.</p> 305 </description> 306 </item> 307 308 <item> 309 <title>結婚してくれますか?</title> 310 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/07/kekkon-shite-kuremasu-ka/</link> 311 <pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 312 313 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/07/kekkon-shite-kuremasu-ka/</guid> 314 <description><p>The big news is that Yasuko and I will be getting married in November at 315 Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto. For the desperately curious, I &lsquo;officially&rsquo; proposed 316 in February at <em>Souvenir</em>, a French restaurant down the street.</p> 317 <p>In Japan, getting engaged isn&rsquo;t strictly just proposing. You&rsquo;re really not 318 truly engaged until you&rsquo;ve &lsquo;officially&rsquo; proposed, which means not just deciding 319 to get married, but getting together with the finacées parents and proposing to 320 them. A long time ago, one might typically say <em>O-jou-san o boku ni kudasai.</em> 321 &ldquo;Please give me your [honourable] daughter.&rdquo; I decided I&rsquo;d pass on that line.</p> 322 <p>In any case, after a few trips back and forth to Kyoto, we settled on a 323 Japanese ceremony just before noon, followed by a party with friends and family 324 at a restaurant. The <em>nijikai</em> party in Tokyo will be western-style, but we 325 haven’t even begun to think about when or where yet.</p> 326 <p>For those questioning the sanity of a November wedding, keep in mind that in 327 Japan, this is <em>kōyō</em> season, when all the leaves turn red and Japan is at its 328 most beautiful. As Fall and Spring are the two most beautiful seasons in Japan, 329 we were lucky to reserve when we did, back in April. Even then, some 330 restaurants we talked to were already booked solid until mid-December.</p> 331 <p>In any case, with the shrine and restaurant out of the way, all we have left to 332 figure out is wedding rings, kimonos, invitations, flowers, food, gifts, 333 speeches, photos, &hellip;</p> 334 </description> 335 </item> 336 337 <item> 338 <title>桜吹雪</title> 339 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/04/sakura-fubuki/</link> 340 <pubDate>Sat, 09 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 341 342 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/04/sakura-fubuki/</guid> 343 <description><p>Last weekend, the temperature shot up to 23 degrees, and in the space of two 344 days, the cherry blossom trees erupted into bloom. The Japanese take this 345 opportunity to throw impromptu picnics, dinners, and random sake-drinking 346 events under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom">sakura</a> trees all across the country.</p> 347 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2005-04-09-sakura.jpg" 348 alt="Cherry blossoms near Naka-Meguro"> 349 </figure> 350 351 <p>The street behind my building is lined with sakura for as far as you can walk, 352 so it’s been packed with everyone in the neighbourhood until almost midnight 353 every night this week. With the cherry blossoms falling like snow since this 354 morning, the whole thing will be over with by early next week, so Yasuko and I 355 plan to get in one last hana-mi event tomorrow evening before heading back to 356 work on Monday.</p> 357 </description> 358 </item> 359 360 <item> 361 <title>Huh?</title> 362 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/03/huh/</link> 363 <pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 364 365 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/03/huh/</guid> 366 <description><p>As I stared blankly out the window of the train on my morning commute, 367 something caught my eye. As the train flew along its raised track, whizzing 368 past the rooftops of Gakugei-daigaku at 80 km/h, I swear I saw a guy 369 standing on the roof of a building alongside the track, dressed in a red cape 370 and wearing a giant fish on his head, wailing away on a guitar.</p> 371 <p>He was gone from my view before I was able to catch a second glance, though.</p> 372 <p><em>Update (2008-03-20):</em> I’m glad he’s <a href="http://jiyugaoka.keizai.biz/headline/171/">not just a figment of my imagination</a>.</p> 373 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2005-03-29-gakugeidai.jpg" 374 alt="Man with fish on head playing guitar"> 375 </figure> 376 377 <p><em>Update (2011-04-27):</em> Found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DbvxgmEAtE">YouTube video</a>.</p> 378 </description> 379 </item> 380 381 <item> 382 <title>明けましておめでとうございます!</title> 383 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/01/akemashite-omedetou/</link> 384 <pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 385 386 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2005/01/akemashite-omedetou/</guid> 387 <description><figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2005-01-05-yasaka.jpg" 388 alt="Buddhist monk ringing bell"> 389 </figure> 390 391 <p>今年も宜しくお願いします!Jumped on the Nozomi Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama 392 station on the 31st to arrive in Kyoto two hours later. It was dumping snow 393 from Nagoya onwards; and by the time we hit Kyoto, about 10 cm had 394 accumulated.</p> 395 <p>After stopping by friends’ for the traditional osechi-ryouri and soba dinner, 396 Yasuko and I did hatsumoude at Yasaka shrine from 11 at night until 2 in the 397 morning in the midst of the blizzard.</p> 398 <p>Spent the next few days shopping in Kyoto, visiting more friends, and 399 re-visiting shrines and temples before heading back to Tokyo on the 3rd—though 400 on the return trip, I had to stand from Nagoya onwards since the trains were 401 booked to 120%.</p> 402 </description> 403 </item> 404 405 <item> 406 <title>Fresh Snow</title> 407 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/12/fresh-snow/</link> 408 <pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 409 410 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/12/fresh-snow/</guid> 411 <description><figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2004-12-30-fuji.jpg" 412 alt="View of Mt. Fuji from Ebisu Garden Place"> 413 </figure> 414 415 <p>I came into work to a nice surprise this morning. Sipping on hot green tea, we 416 all crowded around the windows to check out the view.</p> 417 <p>With the recent cold snap, the views this morning are incredibly clear. A 418 little less so when passed through the tiny lens of my cell-phone camera. To 419 see it in person, it really does dominate the horizon; and at over 100km away, 420 that’s a pretty big feat.</p> 421 </description> 422 </item> 423 424 <item> 425 <title>寒い!</title> 426 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/12/samui/</link> 427 <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 428 429 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/12/samui/</guid> 430 <description><p>With the last days of 2004 upon us, it appears the weather has taken a turn 431 from the relative warmth of November and December to plummet sub-zero 432 overnight. What started as a light flurry this morning has progressed to a 433 full-out blizzard, and it’s still coming down like crazy as I write 434 this.</p> 435 <p>In unrelated news, I’m off to Kyoto for Oshogatsu from the 31st to the 3rd. 436 This time, I swear I’ll post pictures!</p> 437 <p>Hope everyone had a happy Christmas. See you in 2005!</p> 438 </description> 439 </item> 440 441 <item> 442 <title>Apartment Hunting</title> 443 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/11/apartment-hunting/</link> 444 <pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 445 446 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/11/apartment-hunting/</guid> 447 <description><p>Through a stroke of luck, I think I may have actually found a permanent place 448 to live in Jiyugaoka close to Toritsu Daigaku station.</p> 449 <p>I have my current apartment in Ebisu until the 30th, so the plan is to move the 450 weekend of the 27th. In the meantime, to placate people asking for pictures, 451 here’s the view from my balcony here in Ebisu. The upside is that Ebisu is an 452 incredibly central location in Tokyo with a ton of great restaurants; the 453 downside is that tea costs 735 yen at the coffee shop across the way.</p> 454 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2004-11-04-balcony.jpg" 455 alt="Tokyo Tower viewed from Ebisu Garden Place"> 456 </figure> 457 458 </description> 459 </item> 460 461 <item> 462 <title>東京に引越しする!</title> 463 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/09/tokyo-ni-hikkoshi/</link> 464 <pubDate>Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 465 466 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/09/tokyo-ni-hikkoshi/</guid> 467 <description><p>After two years back in Canada and several trips back and forth to Japan, I’ve 468 signed a full-time contract as a software developer with a firm in Tokyo and am 469 permanently re-locating to Japan. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can get 470 around to it.</p> 471 </description> 472 </item> 473 474 <item> 475 <title>Summer 2004 in Japan</title> 476 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/08/summer-2004-in-japan/</link> 477 <pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 478 479 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2004/08/summer-2004-in-japan/</guid> 480 <description><p>I had originally planned my summer vacations for May, then July, and finally, 481 in an effort to match my summer vacations with those of friends in Japan, ended 482 up shuffling them back to August. Aside from the scorching heat, August is a 483 fantastic time of year to visit. The heat this summer was more than a little 484 bit scorching though, it was the hottest summer in ten years.</p> 485 <p>It turned out, however, that I would have something more pressing than the 486 weather to keep my mind busy though. In the middle of the night, somewhere over 487 the Pacific ocean I woke up from my sleep in a cold sweat. My heart was 488 pounding. The airplane cabin was surprisingly silent; everyone around me had 489 dozed off to sleep and all that was left was the low drone of the jet engines 490 and the gentle hiss of the air vents. Slowly, I reached for the back pocket of 491 my backpack. My hands trembling, I unzipped it and slowly pulled it open. With 492 a huge sigh of relief, I pulled out my wallet. I hadn’t forgotten it at home 493 after all. Dropping it back in, I turned back toward the window and fell back 494 asleep. It wasn&rsquo;t until the next day in Osaka, as I opened my wallet to pay for 495 my hotel that I realised I’d forgotten my bank card at home.</p> 496 <p>This would not have been a problem, except that in a flash of brilliance, I had 497 decided to forgo the usual traveller’s cheques and use post office bank 498 machines to withdraw from my accounts back home. This had worked fantastically 499 last year and would save the hassle of cashing traveller’s cheques at a bank. 500 Fortunately I had a credit card on me. Unfortunately, Canadian credit cards 501 can’t be used to withdraw more than 20,000 yen a day, and then only at special 502 Visa bank machines which tend to be incredibly hard to find. Or, as I would 503 find out, impossible to find outside of Osaka or Tokyo. Fortunately I was able 504 to get hold of Mum on the phone relatively quickly, and she FedEx’ed the card 505 to Yasuko in Tokyo. By my math, I had just enough cash to buy Shinkansen 506 tickets to Shizuoka, then Tokyo. All I had to do was ensure that I reserved a 507 hotel in Shizuoka that accepted Canadian credit cards. No problem.</p> 508 <p>I spent the first night in the Umeda ward of Osaka, mostly because it’s so 509 close to Osaka station, and I was planning to catch the train first thing next 510 morning out through Kyoto, then Otsu, to Imazu-cho to meet Annie. Aside from 511 spending most of the next day in Osaka desperately seeking out Visa ATMs, I 512 can’t say I had that bad a time. Well, the weather was alright anyway.</p> 513 <p>Annie put me up for a few days in Imazu-cho, where I had the chance to meet up 514 with some friends from last year, and do a little exploring of nearby bits of 515 Shiga-ken. Caught the ferry out to Chikubushima, an island just 30 minutes out 516 from shore into Lake Biwa. The amazing thing about Chikubushima is the temples 517 and shrines you find in this remote location. The wood for the buildings did 518 not come from the island itself, but was ferried out by hand hundreds of years 519 ago. Chikubushima is one of several locations in Japan where the godess of 520 artistic inclinations, Benzaiten, is worshipped. Benzaiten, or Benten as she is 521 more often called, is the only female among the Shichifukujin¹ and is often 522 depicted as a woman carrying a lute. As she is a river godess, temples and 523 shrines dedicated to her often appear on lakes or near water.</p> 524 <p>After a few days in Imazu, I decided to head to Shizuoka. The best way to get 525 there was to catch local trains to Maibara station, on the other side of the 526 lake, then take the Shinkansen from there to Shizuoka. As I was running a 527 little late, I ended up sprinting through Imazu, suitcase in tow, to the train 528 station. With 100m to go, I saw the train pull into the station, so I threw it 529 into high gear. I quickly bought the 900 yen ticket from the ticket agent, who 530 told me to run for track 3, and remember to change trains at Nagahama station. 531 I sprinted up the stairs, and threw myself headlong through the train doors 532 seconds before they closed. 20 minutes later, the train driver called Nagahama 533 station over the crackly radio, and I hopped off. I was the only one. The train 534 pulled away, and I was left standing on the train platform with nothing but the 535 scorching heat and humidity, and the chirping of cicadas. It was then that I 536 read the station name: Nagahara. I’d misheard the name. There would surely be 537 another train in ten minutes though, so I staggered down the stairs and noticed 538 the utter lack of automatic ticket gates.</p> 539 <p>An old woman sat in the station-master’s booth. She looked up at me with a 540 half-surprised, half-worried expression and asked me for my ticket. I handed it 541 over. Noticing the apparent discrepancy in train fare she asked, “where are you 542 headed?” I answered “Maibara.” She said, “that’s on the other side of the lake. 543 You’re at Nagahara.” I said “I know. I’d meant to change at Nagahama…” at which 544 point she started laughing. ”The next train’s in three hours.” Three hours. I 545 asked when the next train to Oumi-Shiotsu station was. It was one station to 546 the north, at the junction of two train lines, so there’d be a much better 547 chance of catching an earlier train. She said ”That&rsquo;s the one. The next train 548 anywhere is three hours from now. There’s a bus in two though. Or I could call 549 a taxi, if that would help.” Maibara had to be at least 80km from here. No way 550 I could afford a taxi. But I could probably get a taxi to Oumi-Shiotsu, which I 551 did. And was laughed at some more over my mistake.</p> 552 <p>Turned out I wasn’t the only one. When I arrived at Oumi-Shiotsu, I was greeted 553 by three Japanese backpackers from Kyushu who’d apparently gotten off at 554 Nagahara the day before, and decided to stay the night at a nearby hotspring 555 and continue on to Maibara the next day. We sat for an hour, jumped on the 556 train, and eventually arrived at Nagahama, changed trains, and completed the 557 journey to Maibara. From there, it was the Kodama Shinkansen to Shizuoka.</p> 558 <p>I crashed the night in Shizuoka, then spent the next day exploring town. I 559 visited Sumpu-jou, a small castle in central Shizuoka, and Sumpu-jou Kouen, a 560 nearby park where I was invited in to try a whole series of green teas. 561 Shizuoka is famous for green tea, and as I had been the only foreigner that 562 week, I was treated to a detailed history of tea cultivation in the area, an 563 explanation of the many varieties and styles of green tea, and a pile of free 564 desserts! They asked if I had some spare time, as they’d love to take me on a 565 guided tour of the rest of the teahouse, and show me the private gardens in the 566 back. It was pretty spectacular.</p> 567 <p>After Sumpu-jou Kouen, I tried to find a bank machine that would allow me to do 568 a cash advance on my credit card, but finally gave up while I still had my 569 sanity. I bought a Shinkansen ticket for Tokyo with the plan to meet Setsuko at 570 Tennodai station at 9pm.</p> 571 <p>On the train, I met a professor with the Shimizu Univeristy Naval Engineering 572 school, and we ended up chatting the entire way to Tokyo. He was originally 573 from Kyoto, but had lived in Holland for years, and half-way through the 574 conversation, I discovered that he also spoke flawless English. He was 575 incredibly polite and put up with my fairly dodgy Japanese the entire way. It 576 was pretty good practice for me, though we did switch to English as the 577 conversation got into ship-building and a few other topics I knew nothing about 578 in Japanese.</p> 579 <p>In the end, I got to Ueno station a little bit early, stuffed my suitcase in a 580 locker, and ended up exploring the park for a few hours. I ended up doing a 581 huge survey on what I thought of Ueno Park, which was also great Japanese 582 practice, and I got a free pen out of the deal, to boot. I also discovered a 583 big festival going on at the far end of the park, near a temple that Yasuko and 584 I had visited last year. I wandered past the booths selling onigiri² and 585 kaki-kori³, listened to the music, took some pictures, and stopped by the 586 temple for a bit. It sits in the middle of a large pond full of blossoming 587 lotus flowers, and combined with the smell of incense wafting over the pond, it 588 makes for a very peaceful experience.</p> 589 <p>Eventually, I grabbed some onigiri and headed back to the train station to 590 catch the next train for Tennodai, in Chiba. Got there just in time, sat down 591 and waited on the platform for Setsuko, who arrived 5 minutes later. It was 592 crazy to see her again on the other side of the world. We headed off to the 593 supermarket, grabbed some food for dinner, and headed back to her apartment to 594 eat.</p> 595 <p>The next day, we did some shopping around Kashiwa station in Chiba, and I ended 596 up ordering a hand-made traditional futon. They measured me, we selected 597 fabrics and they said to come back in ten days to pick it up. Grabbed some 598 chinese food for lunch and some snacks, and did a bit more shopping. Eventually 599 we headed back, and I went to sleep. I remember being woken by an earthquake at 600 about 2am, but falling back asleep before it was even over. I can’t stay awake 601 for long on futons; they’re incredibly comfortable.</p> 602 <p>Yasuko and I arranged to meet at Shinagawa station early the next morning under 603 the big clock by the central ticket gates. It was great to see her again, and 604 we immediately bolted off to drop my gear at the apartment in Shinagawa she’d 605 rented and head out for lunch at an Italian place nearby. The rest of the week 606 was spent eating some of the most amazing sushi, soba, French, and Italian food 607 you can imagine, and checking out two huge fireworks festivals. Aside from all 608 the eating, we also visited art galleries in Ueno park, and did a bit of 609 shopping in Jiyuugaoka and Ginza. I got to visit Apple’s flagship Ginza store 610 which is a noble goal for any true Mac fanatic. Well, technically I also needed 611 a new AC adapter, since I’d accidentally destroyed mine earlier in the day.</p> 612 <p>After a week in Tokyo, it was off on a business trip to Oita, on Kyushu. I’d 613 never been to southern Japan before, and I was looking forward to meeting some 614 of my Japanese counterparts for work after many email conversations. Not only 615 did I get to visit a Japanese shipyard and see firsthand the incredible 616 precision with which they manufacture their vessels, but I also got to visit a 617 rural Japanese town, and meet Matsumoto-san and Kato-san, who treated me to 618 some of the most memorable karaoke of my life. After the business trip to 619 Nagasaki, we headed out for one last night together, with an amazing 620 traditional Kyushu-style sashimi and sushi dinner, and karaoke until two in the 621 morning.</p> 622 <p>For my final day in Japan, I was scheduled to fly out of Oita airport, arriving 623 at Tokyo Haneda airport at 12:15. At 5pm, my return flight to Canada departed 624 Tokyo Narita airport. In the intervening 3 hours, the brilliant plan was to 625 jump from train to train at breakneck pace and make it to Togoshi-ginza station 626 to meet Yasuko for lunch, then jump straight back on the train and make it out 627 to Narita just in time for my flight. I made every single train as the doors 628 were closing. Literally, with under two seconds to spare every time&hellip; but we 629 did have a fantastic Italian lunch, and make it to the airport with such 630 impeccable timing that by the time I arrived at the gate, everyone had boarded 631 but ten people. You can’t cut it much closer than that.</p> 632 <p>Once again, one of the most memorable trips of my life. The best part is that 633 I’ll be permanently moving back to Japan within a couple of months, so I’ll be 634 even closer to all the places I’ve been looking forward to visiting. Thanks to 635 everyone who put me up again this year: Annie, Setsuko, and Yasuko! I can’t 636 wait to be back.</p> 637 <h3 id="glossary">Glossary</h3> 638 <ol> 639 <li><em>Shichifukujin:</em> The seven gods of good luck.</li> 640 <li><em>Onigiri:</em> Rice balls, often stuffed with pickled plum or fish.</li> 641 <li><em>kaki-kori:</em> Shaved ice covered in flavoured syrup such as strawberry, 642 blueberry, or green tea.</li> 643 </ol> 644 </description> 645 </item> 646 647 <item> 648 <title>Biking Japan 2003</title> 649 <link>https://chris.bracken.jp/2003/08/biking-japan-2003/</link> 650 <pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2003 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate> 651 652 <guid>https://chris.bracken.jp/2003/08/biking-japan-2003/</guid> 653 <description><figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2003-08-17-cycling-in-japan.jpg" 654 alt="Brodie bike parked beside vending machines in front of restaurant"> 655 </figure> 656 657 <p>The plan was to travel from Osaka north to the Japan Sea, northeast along the 658 coast to Joetsu, south through the alps to Nagano, then southeast all the way 659 to Tokyo — a total distance of close to 1200 km, entirely by bicycle.</p> 660 <p>Unfortunately for me, disaster struck just over half-way, in the form of 661 150km/h winds and torrential downpours. Typhoon Number 10 ploughed straight 662 through Japan, following a track from the island of Shikoku through Nagano 663 before it died out, dumping up to 650mm of rain a day, and flooding out every 664 town and village in its path.</p> 665 <p>I arrived in Osaka the night of July 28th and promptly hauled my bike, 666 panniers, and tools through customs and immigration, across the airport, and 667 into a hotel. I’m not entirely sure how happy they were to have a 668 grotty-looking guy assembling his bike in his hotel room overnight, but no one 669 said anything, and I snuck out around 6am anyway.</p> 670 <p>It’s unbelievable just how slowly you start and stop when your bike is loaded 671 with 40kg of gear. Sort of the cycling equivalent of driving an 18-wheeler. The 672 weather was a scorching 36C, with the humidity hovering around 85%. Over the 673 first 70km from Osaka Itami Airport to downtown Kyoto, I consumed 8 litres of 674 Dakara, Boku, Miu, and the oh-so-deliciously named Poccari Sweat, crashed 675 twice, and got lost every 5 minutes. Took a break in Kyoto, stopping by to take 676 a look at Sanjuusan Gendo, take some pictures, and chat with Taxi drivers, the 677 police, and anyone else who wanted to know just what the hell I was doing.</p> 678 <p>Eventually, after a few more Poccari Sweats and some ramen for lunch, I jumped 679 on my bike and started the trek to Otsu. Half an hour later, winding my way 680 slowly uphill, along a narrow shoulder on a bridge 30m above a cemetary, I had 681 the first major close call of the ride. Fortunately, through a combination of 682 luck and skill, I deftly avoided flying over the railing and plummeting 30m to 683 my death. Unfortunately, I did so by launching myself headlong into a traffic 684 barrier, failing to release my toe-clips, breaking the seat right off the post, 685 and trashing both my leg and pannier on the pavement in the process. Pretty 686 sure my leg was broken, I lay there for a few minutes contemplating the 687 resounding success of my bike trip thusfar while the last of the Poccari Sweat 688 drained out of my water bottles into my shoes.</p> 689 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2003-08-17-fireworks-in-fukui.jpg" 690 alt="Fireworks in Fukui"> 691 </figure> 692 693 <p>Suffice to say that the rest of the day went uphill from there (both literally 694 and figuratively) and I arrived in Otsu, on the edge of lake Biwa, in one 695 piece. Annie met me at the JR train station, we ditched the bike in a parking 696 lot, and rode the train back to Kyoto, where we met up with the entire 697 complement of Shiga JET Programme teachers at The Hub, an Irish Pub in 698 Karamachi. After a few beers, some fish &amp; chips and edamame, Annie and Brent 699 hauled me back to their apartment in Imazu, where they (and I am forever 700 indebted to them for this) put me up for three days.</p> 701 <p>Although I didn’t get to go to SummerSonic in Osaka, I did get to pick up my 702 bike in Otsu, ride 95km back north to Imazu, and spend the evening at Imazu’s 703 Natsu-matsuri¹ with friends of Annie’s and Brent’s (Josh, Yo, and Hatsumi). 704 Natsu-matsuris involve many elements, but some of the most important factors 705 are: fireworks that put ours to shame, music and dancing, traditional Yukata², 706 and vast quantites of food and alcohol. After the festival, we dragged 707 ourselves to Bumblebee Twist, a local bar, and had a few more before eventually 708 hauling ourselves off to bed to recover.</p> 709 <p>The next day, we were all invited to a barbeque. The one thing that any 710 foreigner will immediately notice about a Japanese barbeque is that you can’t 711 just light the barbeque using zip-lights or lighter fluid. No&hellip; the correct 712 way to light a barbeque in Japan is for one person to heat the coals with a 713 torch while the rest stand around fanning the flames with uchiwas³ until the 714 barbeque, in a moment of glory, bursts into flames and the cooking begins. We 715 had music, more food, beer and Chu-hai (a sort of cider), snacks, and more 716 fireworks. It was totally great, even though I was beat over and over at some 717 kind of pirate game by a three-year-old.</p> 718 <p>The next morning, I said bye to Annie and Brent, then hurled myself off 719 northwards up the highway towards the north coast. For 30km, the road winds up 720 through the mountains over a narrow pass toward Tsuruga. In the scariest 721 downhill of the entire ride, I plummeted down the winding road, drafting behind 722 semi-trucks at 70km/h, flying in and out of tunnels and around hairpin turns 723 for the 8km down into Tsuruga.</p> 724 <p>Tsuruga sits on the ocean at the edge of the Sea of Japan, at the beginning of 725 the long road leading northeast to Fukui and Kanazawa. Unfortunately, it also 726 sits at the beginning of a 95km-long leg of straight uphill running along the 727 edge of a cliff with no shoulder. Fortunately, it’s some of the most beautiful 728 riding you could possibly hope for. Even more fortunately, midway through the 729 ride, as I sat at the side of the road huddling in a tiny corner of shade at 730 the edge of a cliff, two motorcyclists from Osaka pulled up and offered me 731 something to drink, a look at their road maps, and some encouragement in 732 Kansai-dialect. This was reinforced over and over throughout my ride by 733 children hanging out of car windows waving and shouting &ldquo;ganbare!&rdquo; at the top 734 of their lungs.</p> 735 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2003-08-17-lining-up-for-okonomiyaki.jpg" 736 alt="Lining up for okonomiyaki"> 737 </figure> 738 739 <p>Eventually, I wound my way up through the mountains to Fukui, where I almost 740 had to spend the night camped on a park-bench by the river. Just when I’d 741 almost given up hope of finding a hostel, someone walked up to me and in 742 perfect English, asked if I needed a place to stay for the night. Turns out her 743 family ran a hotel downtown, and she and her sister had spent several years 744 living in Australia. Their mom invited me in for tea and snacks after dinner 745 and we all stayed up late with their little boy, Ryu, yakking about travelling 746 and good Japanese food.</p> 747 <p>The next day it was off to Kanazawa, which it turns out has a lot in common 748 with Kyoto. While it’s much smaller, there were many beautiful old sections of 749 town. There are temples and shrines everywhere, Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen — 750 probably the most famous Japanese garden in the world. There’s also a crazy guy 751 dressed in a cape and John Lennon glasses who runs around dragging people to 752 convenience stores. Too embarassed not to buy an ice cream treat from the 753 shopkeeper, I grabbed some ice-cream mochi balls, borrowed the phone and set up 754 reservations for Nagano.</p> 755 <p>Because of the typhoon, I ended up doing the rest of the trip by train. I found 756 a bike shop and spent the day yammering away in pseudo-Japanese to the little 757 old grandma and grandpa who owned the shop. Turns out that he had done almost 758 the exact same bike trip about 40 years ago! He had also cycled across 759 Australia and much of the rest of Japan. Pretty amazing! If I hadn’t found 760 them, my bike would probably be lying in a crumpled heap in a landfill right 761 now. It took hours, be we did manage to pack everything into an unbelievably 762 small bag that I could haul onto the train with me.</p> 763 <p>From Kanazawa, I caught the train to Nagano, taking local lines and limited 764 express trains the whole way. Nagano was the site of the 1998 Winter Olympic 765 Games, but has since reverted to its pre-Olympic small-town feel. It was a 766 beautiful place to visit, hidden away in the Japanese alps, surrounded by 767 Japanese hot springs and ski hills. I can’t wait to visit in winter. Nagano’s 768 biggest feature is probably Zenkouji, a Buddhist Temple which houses the first 769 Buddhist images to come to Japan from the Asian mainland. Underneath the temple 770 is a pitch-black maze of tunnels that you can wander into, pushed along by wave 771 after wave of school-children on field trips, people on pilgrimmages, and 772 curious tourists. It’s almost impossible to tell just how fast you’re moving, 773 or how far you’ve gone&hellip; just disembodied voices in the dark. Eventually you 774 arrive at the “key to salvation”, which you can’t see, but you can feel. A few 775 shakes and rattles, then you’re swept away down the tunnels again.</p> 776 <p>From Nagano, I caught the Asama Shinkansen into Tokyo. At 280km/h the trip 777 takes just about two hours. The train tore through the edge of the hurricane at 778 breakneck speed and we were in Tokyo on schedule to the minute. You can’t help 779 but love the Japanese train system.</p> 780 <figure><img src="https://chris.bracken.jp/post/2003-08-17-akasaka.jpg" 781 alt="Akasaka at night"> 782 </figure> 783 784 <p>Met up with Yasuko in Tokyo, and we spent the week bumming around town and 785 catching all the sights: Akasaka, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Odaiba, the Tsukiji fish 786 market. Took a side trip to the art gallery a few hours away in Hakone 787 Prefecture where a mix of European and Japanese art is on display. There were 788 some absolutely amazing pieces of Japanese pottery in their collection. Back in 789 Tokyo, we had the chance to see a Kabuki play. I wasn’t entirely sure what to 790 expect, but it was great. The most striking thing is perhaps the movement. It 791 was absolutely incredible. I wish I were able to describe it, but the best I 792 can do is recommend that if you’re even in Tokyo, you go see a Kabuki play!</p> 793 <p>I returned home on August 17th. Ate breakfast, lunch and dinner in Tokyo, 794 jumped on the plane at 6pm and had another breakfast and lunch. Arrived back in 795 Canada 8 hours before I left, and had lunch and dinner again, for a total of 796 seven meals on the 17th. Not bad! It was a pretty wild and crazy trip, but it 797 was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I can’t wait to go back.</p> 798 <p>Thanks to everyone who put me up along the way! In particular, Annie &amp; Brent, 799 and Yasuko! You guys are the best!</p> 800 <h3 id="glossary">Glossary</h3> 801 <ol> 802 <li><em>Natsu-Matsuri:</em> every village’s traditional summer festival, usually in 803 early- to mid-August, near Obon, the Day of the Dead.</li> 804 <li><em>Yukata:</em> traditional light cotton kimonos that come in a variety of colours 805 and patterns.</li> 806 <li><em>Uchiwa:</em> Large, flat traditional Japanese fan.</li> 807 </ol> 808 </description> 809 </item> 810 811 </channel> 812 </rss>