Japan (19) - Vending Machines

17 July 2010 - One of the things that always surprise me in Japan is the number of vending machines in the country. They seem to be everywhere: in stations, in the hotel, on the streets and in the back streets. Most machines accept bills and give back change, and I have already met a few machines that talked to me. In Japanese - so that did not help. Lots of things can be bought from the machines: coffee (cold and hot), soft drinks, snacks, candy, but also flowers, umbrella's and batteries. Amazingly, cigarettes are also sold practically everywhere, and I read that until recently beer and rice wine was also sold in the machines, but underage drinking got out of control (it seems Japanese do not mind underage smoking?). I also read there are vending machines that are blank by day, but light up at night: selling pornographic comics. I would love to find one!

Japan (18) - Kyoichi Tsuzuki

17 July 2010 - I did not only visit the Peace Memorial Park area in Hiroshima, but also visited the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), which had an exhibition of Kyoichi Tsuzuki on display. Tsusuki is modern Japanese artist who casts a fresh eye over the state of Japan today, and shows what is on display in Japan's streets around us. The stars of the exhibition are the anonymous Japanese street people and - and that's another point - people who are not in the cultural spotlights. I copied the following quote from Tsuzuki which explains what his work is about : "What is it about the creative purity of these individuals, who would never in a million years imagine themselves to be artists, that we find so much more uplifting, both visually and spiritually, than the "artworks" hanging in galleries? Why is it things that ought not to be "art" appear infinitely more artistic?" I enjoyed the exhibition, because Japans' streets are indeed the cultural frontline, which is one of the reasons why it is so much fun being here.

Japan (17) - Food

17 July 2010 - Japan is not only the country of sushi, tempura and sashimi. There are many different types of Japanese cuisine, and I am sometimes eating things that are totally unidentifiable. However, the presentation is fantastic, as dishes are designed to appeal not only to the palate but also to the eye. One of my favorite places to shop for food is in the big department stores. Located in the basements, the food sections are the next best thing to local wet markets with uniformed vendors yelling out their wares and crowds of housewives trying to decide for evening dinner. Different counters specialize in different items - but my favorite place in the sections for desserts, cakes and sweets. Every possible cake I can think of is available, and there are chocolates, jelly cups and biscuits wrapped in beautiful boxes. Traveling in Japan is an exploration and there is lots to discover in the food section, like the lemon-flavored crunchy white chocolate bar I bought yesterday. Never seen before.

Japan (16) - Hiroshima

16 July 2010 - On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, a B-29 approached Hiroshima from the northeast, passed over the city and dropped the first ever atomic bomb. The bomb exploded 43 seconds later at an altitude of 570 meter in a huge fireball, followed by a mushroom cloud of smoke that rose 8,910m in the air. There were approximately 350,000 people living in Hiroshima at the tme of the bomb and almost half of them lost their lives. The heat from the blast was so intense that it seared peoples' skin, while the pressure caused  by the explosion tore clothes off bodies and caused the rupture and explosion of internal organs. Flying glass tore through flesh like bullets, and fires broke out all over the city. But that was not the end of it: people who survived the blast were subsequently exposed to huge doses of radioactivity. Even people who showed no outside signs of sickness suddenly died, creating panic and helplessness among survivors. Today, blast survivors continue to suffer from the effects of the bomb, with a high incidence of cancer, disfigurement and scars. Through my work I see the impact of war on peoples' lives - I felt I could not visit Japan without making the trip to Hiroshima. Today I went there and saw the impact of war..

Japan (15) - Radio and TV

16 July 2010 - Japanese TV is a disaster. In  most hotels there are at least 10 channels available, but it is all Japanese. The outside world does not exist here. I did see some foreign films while zapping from channel to channel, but they are all dubbed into Japanese. I was told that some hotels have CNN - in Japanese ... On the plus side there is radio in most rooms. It is Japanese radio of course, but there is a great variety of channels, from Japanese hip-hop to classical to honey-voiced crooners. I even like the radio channels where they mainly talk - it is somewhat calming to hear the friendly whispering voices. Like meditation. My travel guide explains that in cheap hotels there are TVs with coin boxes attached to their sides, but I did not see them yet. Can you imagine having to struggle with those coin box while watching the World Cup Final? Damn.

Japan (14) - Pachinko Slot

15 July 2010 - I learned a new word: Pachinko! All over Japan pachinko slot parlors can be found: businessmen, students and housewives sitting in front of vertical pinball-like machines. The game originated from Nagoya, and different from pinball there are no flippers and a larger number of small balls. The player only controls the speed in which the ball is released, but otherwise there is very little to do. Points are collected according to which holes the balls fall into, just like in pinball. It is illegal to win money in Japan, so you can win cigarettes, food, watches, calculators and the like. However, I read there are many places where you can change these prizes into cash, with police looking the other way. The pachinko parlors are a bit like hell on earth to me - noisy, bright, mind-numbing, but millions seems totally hooked, so it is just another example of Japanese life that is alien to me.

Japan (13) - Nagoya

15 July 2010 - Most people skip Japan's fourth city of Nagoya, but I wanted to have a look. Nagoya was almost completely destroyed during World War II, but rebuilt with wide, straight streets. One arrives in the ultra-modern JR Nagoya Station, which is officially recognized by Guinness Book of Records as being the world's largest building containing a railway station. It also contains 50 floors with the Takashimaya department store, offices, restaurants and a hotel. The main attraction is Nagoya Castle (see picture), but I only found out on the spot that it is a replica built in 1959, as the original was also destroyed during the war. Although people make effort to point out that it is an exact replica, it has an elevator up to the fifth floor. In sum, it looks better from the outside than from the inside. 

Japan (12) - Japan Rail

15 July 2010 - Today I start my adventure with the Japan Rail Pass. The last time I did something similar was when I was 16 and train-traveled Holland, but I feel just as excited. Trains are probably  the best way for any tourist to move around in Japan as all trains are punctual, comfortable, dependable, safe and super-clean. Train stations are normally located in the center of the cities, so it is a great way to arrive at a new destination. It is my plan to take the famous Shinkansen bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo later this week. I start with the Hida Limited Express, which runs from Takayama to Nagoya. It has specially designed wide-view vehicles for panoramic scenes of the beautiful forests deep in the mountains along the Hida River.

Japan (11) - Write it Down

14 July 2010 -As an island nation with few natural resources, Japan's 130 million people are its greatest asset. I am sorry to fall for generalizations, but people seem hardworking, honest and incredibly polite. Every task is performed to their best ability, no matter how insignificant it may seem. I had already multiple experiences with people making their best efforts to help me, although they had zero English and I have zero Japanese. In the hotels people speak some English though, although the advice to write things down was a very good one. Most Japanese have studied some English at school, but the emphasis is on written rather than oral English. Many English teachers cannot speak English themselves ...

Japan (10) - Temple Hiking

14 Juky 2010 - Despite a hopeless map as provided by the local tourist office, I managed to complete the Higashiyama Hiking course, which connects a string of 13 temples and five shrines on the wooded hill on the east side of Takayama. The town of Takayama was founded in the 107th-year reign of the Kanamori dynasty that began when the command of Nagachika Kanamori subjugated the area at the command of Hideyoshi Toyotomi during the warring states period (sorry for this complicated last sentence - I copied it from the tourist brochure). The Kanomori dynasty established and transferred many temples on the east of Takayama, copying the lay-out of Kyoto. I loved the walk (took me 3,5 hours) but sometimes it felt walking from graveyard to graveyard, so not sure if my Hong Kong friends would appreciate this hike as much as I did?

Great Picture (6)

14 July - Hey, I may be in Takayama, but I am secretly thinking of Amsterdam, where the Dutch football team was given an open-boat tour through the cities canals yesterday. Hundreds of thousands lined the waterways to cheer the squad. A banner criticized referee Howard Webb and read "Webb, go to Robben island.". I love good old Amsterdam humor. The picture is from ANP.

Japan (9) - Tatami

14 July 2010 - When I arrived in the Takayama Ouan Hotel yesterday, I was immediately requested to take off my shoes. That's kinda normal in Japan, but this hotel is one big tatami mat. It is probably one of the marketing points of this place, because once up in my room (see picture above) I found a note saying "The touch f tatami that you first felt on your arrival must still be lingering in your feet. The floors within this hotel are all tatami. Please feel free to walk around barefoot, and feel the delightful warmth of the tatami on your skin." That's true, but there is more. There is also a pyjama (it's called Samue robe, but I don't know what that is), and an onsen on the roof of the hotel. The onsen has an indoor and outdoor bath, where you can enjoy a view of the surrounding mountains while relaxing in the water. There is a note in the onsen "Persons with tattoos may not use the bath.". Do Japanese think tattoos are dirty?

Japan (8) - Plucked Eyebrows and Fake Eyelashes

13 July 2010 - After a few days in Japan I am amazed by a phenomena that seems everywhere around me: young men with plucked eyebrows and young girls with fake eyelashes. I am sure they believe its ultimately hip, hot and trendy, but I really have to control myself not to stare. I googled "plucked eyebrows", which is a bit difficult here, as 90% of the sites provided are all Japanese, but one site revealed that the guys pluck their eyebrows because their girlfriends want them to. I don't find that a very satisfactory answer, it must be a matter of pure vanity. I also learned that male Bollywood stars pluck their eyebrows too, but they tend to be more hairy than the Japanese? The girls just go for the gothic Lolita-look; and they aim to look like Victorian dolls. There are hundreds of web pages explaining how to get the perfect look. Strangely, boys and girls look really fake, like walking straight out of the latest Tim Burton movie. Fashion?

Japan (7) - Takayama

13 July 2010 - It is raining today, but I arrived in Takayama (aka little Kyoto in the mountains). This town is surrounded by the 3000 meters peaks of the Japanese Alps, so the bus ride here was breathtaking - sometimes scary. It's an old town - founded in the 16th century - and it is modeled after Kyoto. With a rich supply of timber provided by the surrounding forests, its carpenters are supposed to be legendary, creating not only the merchant's houses here but also the Imperial Palace and temples in Kyoto. The streets are narrow and clean, and flanked by tiny canals of running water as it rains here a lot. Rising from the canals are one - and two story homes and shops in gleaming dark wood with overhanging roofs. Theer are also six sake breweries her, so I will try to find and sample some sake.

Japan (6) - Hot Bath

13 July 2010 - A trip to Japan is not complete without a regular visit to the onsen or bath house. Japanese baths are fantastic, although it takes a while to get used to the routine. Japanese are strict about their rules and etiquette, and it's in the bathhouse that I am most worried about making a 'barbarian' mistake. Maybe, it is the nudity that makes me feel vulnerable, because the first thing to do is to strip absolutely naked. After walking into the bathing area (I hate the slippery floor), it is easy to find a stool and the scrubbing, splashing and polishing process can begin. Only when absolutely - and I mean absolutely - clean, the dip in the hot bath is allowed. Soak forever. All stiffness, stress and tension slowly ebbs away. Perfect.

Japan (5) - Matsumoto

12 July 2010 - I am in Matsumoto. The main reason why I am here is the Matsumoto Castle, which is over 400 years old and the oldest in Japan. It is listed as a National Treasure, but somehow not very well known. The five-roofed, six-story tower was built in 1594, so only a century years after Columbus' discovery of America. The castle has a 'moon-viewing' wing, a secret third floor and small windows that were carried over from the warring states period. Inside, it seems all thick pillars of wood and gloss black floors. One has to take off your shoes at the entrance, so the floors are well kept. Each floor is connected by steep stairs, which also provided defense against attach. From the top of the tower, there is a wonderful view on the Japanese Alps and Matsumoto city.

Silent

12 July 2010 - In all fairness: this picture was taken before the final of the football World Cup in South Africa. These guys are still having a good time, but a few hours later they would have to swallow defeat, as Holland lost the final against Spain. Still, I like their smiles, because the Dutch team did well and should be a proud vice-world champion. It was not third time lucky, but I prefer to lose 1 - 0, instead of penalties. It was a great World Cup, congrats to Spain, congrats to South Africa - I am silent now.

Japan (4) - Time

12 July 2010 - After two days in Japan I am struggling a bit with letting go off time. Although Japan is a hyper-modern society, its pace is very different from its bullet trains. The bus from Tokyo to Matsumoto had a maximum speed of 80 km per hour, and people take their time in shops, cafes and restaurants. I have not been to the bank yet, but I was advised to plan carefully. I am so much used to the super-efficiency and "time-is-money" attitude in Hong Kong, that it always takes some effort to slow down. Everything here moves in its own pace, orderly and somewhat predictable. Possibly it is impacted by the fact that Japan has one of the world's fastest-ageing populations. About 18% of its population is over 65, and by 2010 that figure is expected to be 25%.

Japan (3) - Lost

11 July 2010 - This is going to be fun, because I already managed to get lost on day 1 of my trip. I have been to Tokyo before and somehow I remember it as not too complicated, I forgot that hardly any streets are named and that - of course - most signs are in Japanese. So effectively that means are more than 12 million people are living in a huge metropolis without any street names. Maybe that is why Tokyo sometimes feels like an ant's nest. Of course major streets  and thoroughfares like Ginza or Shinjuku received names after WW II at the insistence of the American occupation forces, but for most of the part Tokyo's address system is based on a complicated number scheme that must make the postal workers' job a nightmare. I was told that some streets have been given nicknames that only the locals know. This is going to be an adventurous trip.

Japan (2) - Tokyo

11 July 2010 - Tokyo is an ugly city, yet I really like it. I love the crowds and the urban feel - the energy and the vitality. People rush around and always seem to have a purpose, a destination in their daily life. Tokyo was almost completely destroyed twice in the 20th century. In 1923 a massive earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale (similar to the quake that destroyed Port-au-Prince earlier this year) destroyed more than a third of the city and claimed more than 100,000 lives. Disaster struck again at the end of WW II, when allied bombs laid more than 50% of the city in ruins, killing another 100,000 people. The city survived all of that, and has grown into a buzzing metropolis. It is also one of the safest cities on earth - so I really have to be careful not to be too careless and - standing almost two meters tall - I feel like walking around with a sign "tourist" around my neck. And we remember what happened to Gulliver when he visited the island of Lilliput....