And another month passes! This month was one of those milestone kinds of months, in that I passed another one…(and I won’t say which milestone it was, but it was a big one – sigh). October is always one of my favourite months, since it isn’t only my birthday but also the month of Halloween. I get to put out decorations which are black and purple and orange, and which are bats and witches and ghouls, etc. Being in Japan, I also get to see lots of other similar decorations around town. There was (and still is, as of today) a massive black spider and web outside a nearby shop, so large the tip of one of its legs is resting on the ground and the opposing leg tip is at roof height! Very impressive 😊.

No trick or treaters, so we got the treats!

Weatherwise, we are on the downward trend to winter, with nearly all days this month in the low to mid twenties. We also had some typhoons pass through, along with some very heavy rain. We didn’t get hit overly hard this year – we still got a lot of rain (and an evacuation order was put out for areas around the Kamo river), but nothing like there has been further north/east of us. It has been incredibly wet there, with record rainfall in many places and many deaths, mainly from flooding and landslides. There is now so much rubbish built up in some areas that they have run out of room to put it all. Huge numbers of big items such as ruined fridges, washing machines, tatami and furniture, along with other rubbish line the streets.

On a lighter note, one night, just prior to typhoon 19 which is the one that did the most damage, they were talking about the need for people to prepare themselves on the English translated news on NHK, as this storm looked like it was gong to be very big and damaging (as it was). On NHK they have a few translators, who take turns on different nights and for different items. Some are much better than others – as it happens, the best one is an expat Australian, Murray Johnson. Anyway, the translator undertaking this very important role this night happened to be the one who struggles most with fast translating, and at one point she said ”…there is no way Japan could escape it’s path…”. Well, we just collapsed with laughter, imaging the population pulling out poles and oars in a valiant effort to move Honshu…

Speaking of tv programs, I accidentally happened across a special sumo ceremony on tv this month. It was the retirement ceremony for Kisenosato, a sumo wrestler who was in the top rank at retirement. Virtually all wrestlers end their career with a dampatsu-shiki (hair-cutting ceremony), during which their topknot is cut off. As he was a yokozuna, it was held in the Tokyo sumo stadium and televised live. There are many parts to the ceremony, but the main event involves many people who have a connection to the rikishi one by one stepping up onto the ring behind the seated rikishi and cutting a single strand of his hair with gold-plated scissors (as best they can).

The final cut, which removes the topknot completely, is made by the relevant stablemaster. Once the retiree has bowed to everyone present, the rikishi then heads backstage for his first cut and style in years by an ordinary barber. Of course there were tears, especially as the final cut was made. It was very interesting to watch, particularly as I had wondered how long he could retain his topknot after retiring from wrestling. As happens with many top sports retirees, he is now commentating the sumo events fairly regularly – it’ll be interesting to see him with an ‘ordinary’ hair style.

The unkindest or kindest cut?

One creature I didn’t mention last time that we have been watching in our backyard since late spring is a lovely orb weaver who decided our back deck was a good spot to set up home. We actually had two living on the deck, a larger one up quite high (thankfully) and a smaller one down low, but near the far edge of the deck (ie, out of the way). We assumed the larger one was a female and the smaller a male, which turned out to be correct. They are called Joro gumo here, and are members of the golden orb weaver family. They are quite attractive spiders (I know some will say no spiders are attractive, but we think these are). I nicknamed her Spike.

After a couple of months we noticed the male spider was suddenly resident on Spike’s web – so they became Mr and Mrs Spike. All well and good, until one day they decided to move house…around the corner to the area where we hang out our clothes; right across the path. So, then Mr and Mrs Spike were relocated to a new home in the backyard between the fig tree and the deck. There they lived happily (and took in another male, it seems) until the other day, when I noticed both males were gone and Mrs Spike seems to be getting a lot bigger (side note; females can and do sometimes eat the males after they have served their purpose, if they don’t get away fast enough…). Apparently they can lay between 400 – 1,500 eggs. I expect we’ll have some Spike juniors next year!!!

We had one major outing this month, which just happened to be on my birthday 😊! We had never been to Kobe, so when Craig suggested it as I was trying to work out what I’d like to do, I thought it was an opportune time to go. It is only an hour by train to get there, so an easy hop from here. As it happened it was a lovely, sunny day and comfortably warm. Our first destination was the harbour, with the very famous tower, Maritime museum and the Oriental Hotel along the water front.

We then made our way along the harbour edge, and found many interesting buildings and features along the way. One thing I noticed about Kobe is the multitude street art installations dotted around various locations, from the small to the very large, which included a giant work called Fish Dance. It was designed by Frank O. Gehry and constructed with the oversight of Tadao Ando. It is an amazing work. Of course, there were some other installations that I wasn’t exactly sure what they were or who did them, but interesting additions to the landscape, none-the-less.

We also walked through an area with a number of beautiful Art Deco buildings and some other European designed structures – not overly surprising in a port area that there would be foreign influence. We didn’t get to the Earthquake museum, but found an installation along the side of a road which had some pieces of very damaged structures and associated photos (from the 1995 Kobe earthquake). After this, we headed to the Chinatown area, to find a particular supermarket (which turned out to be disappointing) and then on to lunch at a vegan restaurant, which was nice.

After lunch, we went to find something I was very keen to see – the Tetusjin-28 robot, standing at 18 metres tall. It was built to commemorate the resiliency and strength of the communities affected by the earthquake and to stand as a protective figure against further disaster. Tetsujin-28 is a manga character from the very popular 1956 manga “Tetsujin 28-go”. It was a little out of our way, but definitely worth it – absolutely amazing, especially as I didn’t know how big it really was before I got there!

Yes, that’s me down there -again tried to look tall!

Our final destination that day was the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. There were three parts to the current exhibition: Form in Art ― Perceiving with the Hand (Hatta Yutaka); New Acquisitions and the Yamamura Collection (Gutai and the Japanese Avant-Garde 1950s – 1980s); Murakami Kagaku.

The first exhibition is part of an ongoing series of exhibits allowing visitors to touch and feel the art pieces. This was the 30th edition and featured the artist Hatta Yutaka’s (1930– ) Nagare (“flow”) series, which he began creating in the 1990s. Thee works feature shredded mulberry tree and other materials that he pasted onto flat surfaces using only his sense of touch. We actually decided not to go through touching the works, as it involved a number of rules, including taking off rings and I have a few which I can’t get off without significant effort (and possibly removing the finger ☹). Despite this impediment, we both really loved the works visually.

The Yamamura Collection was truly amazing, and it is wonderful that this gallery has the collection nearly in it’s entirety – he donated seven works by foreign artists, including Miro, to the National Museum of Western Art and continued collecting works from post war Japan.

As a post-script to our Kobe visit, that night on the news we learned that two yakuza were assassinated that afternoon, fairly near to where we were! According to the media report, the man who committed the crime is a member of a rival yakuza gang. Apparently he posed as a weekly magazine reporter when he was questioned by police shortly before the incident, after they became suspicious of him. While the officers were scuffling with him trying to check his belongings, the man pulled out a pump-action handgun and shot two men from close range as they emerged from their gang’s office. The police were stationed near the office to prevent any violence occurring…

Recently, when we went shopping at Aeon Mall, we were lucky enough to be there just as a Maiko was about to put on a dancing performance in the open atrium area of the mall next to the supermarket. It was a free performance, so of course we stayed to watch. She danced to two songs and it was very beautiful to watch, quite ethereal and gentle in movement. Unfortunately the photos don’t really do it justice, however, they give you some idea.

That’s all for now – cheers!!!

Another MOMAK item in their shop…

Zowie and Zo (Japanese word for elephant)

An Anpanman friend

This one’s for you Steven!

I tried to stand up tall!

Halloween in Kobe

Just some kawaii things

Ultraman bust display – a good shop!!!

???

…and so say all of us!

Halloween at my gym

Wine dressed up for Halloween

Me at the Pearly Gates – it seemed to early to me…

Me being angelic (or something)

What a lovely month September has been! The weather is definitely changing and the days at the moment are practically perfect even if overcast, like today. Temperatures in the high 20s and occasionally low 30s, though they are becoming less frequent. The first half of the month was still quite humid and well into the 30s, but we had some wonderful thunderstorms, which more than makes up for any humid heat.

There were two particularly good storms, the first of which I rated as 10 out of 10 on the Addams’ Thunderous Applause Scale. Yes, the perfect storm…The thunder and lightning lasted for over 45 minutes and was basically continuous – fantastic. It sounded and appeared as if Raijin was having a thunder deity conference, and they were all having a red hot go. I, of course, imagined Thor there amongst the others (yes, the Chris Hemsworth version, of course 😊). There was a variety of lightning of both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground types. I took about 15 minutes of video of the storm, but I won’t bore you with that (unless, like me, you are also a thunderstorm watcher and really want to see it). What I have managed to do is take some stills of the cloud-to-ground lightning from the video. There was a second thunderstorm which I rated highly, 7 out of 10, mainly because it continued for over three hours!

One of the other things I had mentioned previously about the summer weather here are the wonderfully monumental meringue clouds. These have continued on into this month and I set myself a task of trying to get some good photos of some of them. I probably should have used the ‘big’ camera for this, but often they were spur of the moment shots, so not brilliant, but they do give a brief perspective of the summer sky.

It has been interesting to continue watching the garden grow through the summer weather. Since the nearly daily rain has subsided, the garden has grown a lot more. I’m not sure if it is the increased sunlight, or that there was just too much water – likely both. The flying insects have also been taking advantage of the drier weather – we have had many different bees, wasps, at least one hornet, butterflies and moths. One of the latter provided me with an interesting search through the electronic oracle trying to work out what the hell it was.

You know when you have a “What the…?” moment, well, this was definitely one of those. Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera with me, so I have now resolved to always carry my phone when I go outside because I have also missed a few visits of the giant swallowtail butterflies; both the black and the yellow and black varieties. Anyway, back to the moth (which it turned out to be). It’s wings were moving extremely fast, although I could tell they were clear, and it was making a loud humming noise. One other thing I noticed was a very brightly coloured lobster-tail looking abdomen. This proved to be crucial in finding out that it was a Pellucid Moth, or Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. I found a couple of photos on-line – interestingly, one is feeding on a lantana, which is where I saw the one in our yard.

The one in our yard looked very close to the bottom photo

Continuing in the ‘creatures in our yard’ theme, we had an interesting visitor a few weeks back – a Japanese Weasel. The kids were outside at the time when we suddenly heard a ruckus. We assumed that one of the neighbourhood cats had come in to visit, but when Craig looked outside, he said “ah…stoat…weasel!!!!” By the time I looked over, it had run out of our yard and into the back block, but I saw it’s back end. It was a ruddy brown colour, not overly big. It moved very fast and so there was no photo.

As it happened, we saw another one the other day, when we went to a shrine for a festival. We were standing next to a deck, when we heard some people near us saying “itachi, itachi…”  (the Japanese word for weasel, which we had learnt following our experience). I looked down and it was about a metre away from me, a little face peeking out from under the deck. It was clearly trying to get out from there, but with the hundreds of people around, it was a bit wary. None-the-less, it eventually leapt out and ran across the deck (I was worried it would get hurt). I did, however, manage to get my phone turned on and focused in time to get it’s disappearing rear-end.

Other than unusual creature encounters, there were three major events we witnessed during September; the Harvest (full) Moon, the Seiryu-e procession and the Kushi Matsuri. The first – Harvest Moon, is the most important full moon of the year in Japan, and is celebrated at many shrines. It happened to fall on 13 September this year, which was a Friday! I had planned to celebrate this full moon by attending one of the shrines (one was giving a glass of sake to those who arrived early 😊), but it turned out that the guests who were arriving here that day, couldn’t get here until after dark. They said they’d arrive at 8pm, so any shrine visit was out of the question.

As it turned out, they arrived just after 7pm, so we were able to get out earlier, which was lucky because it had been cloudy all day but cleared up just after 7 for about an hour, then later after 10pm. My plan was to do the traditional Japanese way of moon viewing, which involves seeing the moon three ways: in the sky, reflected in a body of water and reflected in a cup of sake. We walked down to the river and managed the first two views, however the third proved much trickier than I thought. As a bonus, there were also little bats flittering around the bridge, which was wonderful.

After that, we spent some time at a nearby beer bar, which has a small courtyard at the front, so we could see the moon while imbibing. It’s a newish bar and it turns out the owner spent some time in Australia and experienced beer gardens, hence the courtyard area. It’s not overly common here, yet should be given the weather in the warmer months. Despite being outside, there was too much light for reflections in glasses. After we came home, I took my cup in hand and went in search of the reflection (it had water in it, but still…). I had significant difficulty but finally managed a shot using the flash, so not sure if the reflection is of the flash and the moon, or something else.

The Seiryu-e procession is held at Kiyomizu-dera and through the main shopping area nearby. There is a local legend that says a blue dragon (seiryu in Japanese), an incarnation of Kannon, flies to drink from the waterfall that is in the temple grounds every night. In 2000 this event began using an 18-metre long figure of the blue dragon which had been created to lead the way through the area, with prayers being given for regional peace and to expel bad luck. The dragon is carried by some men who perform the movements of the dragon and is joined by some monks and other attendants, who chant and play some hand held instruments. With most of these people wearing a blue green coloured outfit, it was somewhat reminiscent of the guards of Emerald City.

After we had some kakigori (shaved ice with flavourings) to cool down

The final event, The Kushi Matsuri, is held at the Yasui Konpiragu shrine in the Gion area. The shrine was built in its present form on the site in 1695, but its history goes back over 1,400 years. One of the deities worshipped there is Ōmononushi no Kami, a serpentine water deity. A legend says that he spent time hiding in his snake form in a woman’s comb case, and due to this association a burial mound (of sorts) for combs was created at the shrine (a kushizuka), Kushi is the word for comb and hence the matsuri celebrates combs, along with other hair ornaments and the hairstyles associated with them.

Ceremonies begin in the shrine in front of the kushizaka, then combs which have been donated to the shrine (ended their usefulness, etc) are added to the mound. After this, a woman dressed as a maiko performs a dance called Kurokami (black hair) on a stage in front of the main hall. Finally, the comb procession begins where each woman is introduced and her hair style and ornamentation is described. These may date back as far as the Kofun period (starting around 250CE) through to the present. After being presented they gather out the front and proceed to walk through the Gion area.

We were positioned in front of the stage, so didn’t see the commencing ceremonies as there were many hundreds of people there and if you moved, your space was taken. We should have guessed how crowded it was going to be – as it was we got there around half an hour before it started and ended up near the back of the crowd. Anyway, Craig was tall enough to get some good photos. There were 42 women in all in the parade and it was extremely interesting seeing the styles developing through the ages, from the very simple, to more Chinese inspired designs and finally to more distinctly Japanese styles. Some of the styles were so complex, I’m not sure how they kept them in place. The kimono they were wearing were stunning.

Well, that’s it for now – what will October bring I wonder?

Cheers

On the night of the full moon, the muse was upon me (or maybe the whisky I drank…)

The moon floats in the sky;

O, what a wondrous night;

A small bat flitters by;

When full moon’s in sight.

😂🤔🤗

Our street on full moon

Not sure exactly what this is – at the shrine and it looks like you can crawl through it

Young people standing round chatting?

You can buy transport here quite cheaply…

Zowie enjoying the cooler weather

Late season flowers – the one on the right is ours

Halloween pics

Autumn shikishi

Autumn grasses

The dragon suddenly entered this shop – then it emerged How did it fit in there???

Hello all, I am here yet again to sit and talk about what we’ve been up to, and anything else that takes my interest!!!. So here we are at the time when summer starts to recede and autumn should be advancing into our lives. Well, that’s the theory anyway. In fact what has been happening more and more recently both here and elsewhere (from what I hear) is that summer and winter are both getting longer, while spring and autumn are shortening, becoming more like inter seasons.

This year the warmer weather period has been very different to how it was last year. There have been significantly fewer typhoons this year; we have only just had number 12 move through Asia. In my last post I noted the rainy season, which I said appeared to be over, had lasted a lot longer than last year. Now we seem to be back into a rainy season – rainy season part 2. We have been getting some rain nearly every day over the last few weeks. Perhaps my statement that it appeared to have ended stirred up the two gods related to weather – Raijin and Fujin – who then decided to prove me wrong.

Raijin is the god of thunder, lightning and storms, while Fujin is the god of wind. They are feared deities in Japan because of the damage typhoons and storms have caused here over the years. In an interesting aside, apparently parents used to tell their children to cover their bellybuttons during storms, because Raijin likes to eat bellies! Anyway, they are often depicted in statues at the entrances to Shinto shrines, as protectors for the shrine.

Speaking of storms, this year we have had only one typhoon pass fairly close to us; number 10. It was a very large cyclone, and also very slow moving. It impacted the more westerly areas of Honshu along with Kyushu and Shikoku for quite a few days, causing significant rainfalls and associated flooding. For a while it looked like it was going to turn further east than it did, which would have brought the eye very close to us, however, it wasn’t to be, so we just had some heavier than usual rain (around 120 mls in about 7 hours).

With so much rain about, we have been spending more time inside, sometimes looking to see what midday movies are on BS Cinema (which plays in the original language as well as overdubbed or sub-titled in Japanese). Recently, a film was advertised – Johnny Oro, which the Japanese called Apple Kid (not sure why) – and they termed it a “macaroni western”. Interesting, so I just had to find out why this genre title was used.

Turns out that it dates back to the time when Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars was released in Japan around 1964. A well known Japanese film critic (Yodogawa Nagaharu) in his critique said that “spaghettis are thin and meagre”, which he obviously thought this was not, so he instead referred to this genre of movies as “macaroni westerns”, a name which has stuck here in Japan.

A DVD set

A CD

A book

Despite the weather, we have managed a few outings during this time, mostly trying to fit them in around the rain. The first outing was to the local Buddhist high school (Otani School) to view the Daimonji (fire) festival. People who live in our area are invited each year to go to the school and watch the fires from the roof. Last year we couldn’t go because I had a broken toe, so we decided to take up the offer this year, and we went with a friend who lives near us – Rachel.

Before many arrived

Daimonji is the culmination of the Obon festival, on 16 August, which involves the lighting of five fires on the hills around Kyoto. These fires form specific shapes and are lit as a send off for all the spirits of ancestors who have revisited the household altars during Obon. (Obon has been celebrated in Japan for over 500 years.) Specific families in Kyoto have the hereditary duty of organising all the logistics of the bonfires, and they spend many hours each year maintaining this tradition.

The teachers and students were very welcoming, with some of the students practising their English on us. There were many people there and you could see all but one of the fires, though not in one position. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any good photos of the fires – the limitations of a phone camera. I should have taken the ‘big’ camera. When we were leaving, some of the students were walking around passing out ‘yoyos’, which were actually small balloons with some water in them and a longish piece of elastic tied to the top. A bit of fun learning how to use them!

You can just see the orange glow of the front of the boat

The next day we met up with a Taiko friend from Adelaide, who had been travelling around Japan with a tour group. It was a hot/humid day, so we spent a lot of the time with her indoors, at Starbucks for a coffee, then Mumokuteki for lunch. This café is mostly vegan, so Dot (who is a vegetarian) enjoyed having a complete meal, as the tour group didn’t really cater well to her dietary needs. Later we walked across to the Gion area. It was nice, as always, to spend some time with someone from Adelaide.

Speaking of vegan restaurants, we visited another place which we hadn’t been to before – Yamashokuon – a vegan Indian restaurant. It is run by two Japanese people and they serve mainly south Indian oriented cuisine. Not sure how this came about, but the food was good and the restaurant was an interesting space as it was part of a hiking goods shop. One thing that really caught my attention is that they had two curry leaf trees growing in pots in the shop. I asked if they bought them here, but they said they didn’t – they did, however, offer to try to grow a sapling for us from one of the seed pods. We have our fingers crossed.

Our final outing during this period was to see a teamLab installation at Shimogamo shrine. You may recall we went to an installation of theirs in August last year, with many, many hundreds of other people. This year we decided to go during the week and it turned out to be a night which was slightly damp, ie raining. This, however, was a good thing as there weren’t anywhere near as many people there so we could move around quite freely, see things easily and didn’t have to wait for long periods to take photos.

The installation was a mix of some of last year’s eggs and spheres, with the addition of a long screen in the forest in front of the shrine, on which figures were moving along a virtual track. It was not a pre-recorded video, but rather a computer simulated creation using an algorithm which meant that it continually changed in some ways. There was also some music and sounds playing, including mooing of the cows/bullocks as they moved past. Again a fantastic experience.

So, that was August. There is one final incident worth mentioning – I call it “the Lizard Incident”. I have mentioned the skinks that live in our backyard, well Ziggy has recently started trying to catch them, as they are moving around a lot more at the moment. Despite the fact he is on a lead, tethered to the deck, he has managed to capture a few. If we see him do it, then we try to save them (at the moment we are at around 40% success rate, because they often die just from the shock).

The incident in question happened when I rushed outside to get him and he rushed inside with the lizard. As I battled to get it away from him, it escaped…into our house. After a bit of searching we found it behind the large cupboard which is in the lounge area. Following the removal of some weight from the cupboard, we were able to move it but couldn’t see the lizard. Eventually, we discovered it on a ledge underneath, and coaxed it out. Then we spent around half an hour nearly getting it in a container (it was very fast), only to finally lose sight of it. Some time later I noticed Zowie showing some interest in something in our spare room and finally, after another 15 minutes, or so, we caught it. Thank goodness it survived all that! Lesson learnt.

Cheers 😊

  Love dragonflies

More of these mouse/cat/bear creatures

This is outside the front entrance of a clothes shop…

Ah, my favourite time of year – Halloween is coming. Thankyou Costco!

The science of happiness?

A friend on our deck – note the food leftovers in the web, including other spiders

Would you buy these?

Just a lantern

There were three geckos grouped around this light – one on the other side, two this side – but one ran away

Finally coming into flower after being transplanted

Hello one and all, it’s that time again when I enlighten you with a little of what we have been doing and generally augment this with a lot of photos. This episode will be no exception, and, as is nearly always the case, I begin with a summary of the weather – wet then hot. Yes, that’s basically it, the rainy season extended well into July, but it appears to have ended and the heat is setting in, with most days now above 35C.

Having said that, we are still getting the nearly daily weather advisories which come directly to our phones. Most of these are for thunderstorms, although we are still occasionally getting advisories about rain; “heavy rain for ground loosening” or “heavy rain for inundation”. So the pattern for the last week, or so, is it starts out sunny and hot, with a medium level of humidity, then, in the afternoon the clouds start moving in – huge cumulonimbus clouds (or, as I like to call them, meringue clouds). Not that these advisories always come to anything; it seems that we get one actual event in about four or five warnings, and mostly it’s just the thunderstorm.

Meringues looming over our neighbour’s house

Recently, we have had a couple of days when we had the trifecta of warnings; thunderstorm, ground loosening rain and inundation rain. After a while, it becomes a bit like the ‘boy who cried wolf’, we assume it won’t happen, or is not very likely. I don’t know how long they have been transmitting these advisories via mobile phones, we only bought new phones here in the last year, but I do wonder how much attention people pay to them here. Still, we do get the clouds moving in and it could happen. Certainly if we were living in one of those areas where the rain events are reasonably regular, then I would pay them serious heed.

The interesting thing about this year is that both the cyclones and cicadas have started later this year. By this time last year we were into the high 20s of the numbered typhoon, while this year we are currently awaiting no. 8. It is interesting to me just how different these last two years have been. Anyway, we now have ‘the sound of summer’ happening, which I really do love, with the cicadas singing their songs for us.

Craig found this discarded exsuvia on our new fence post

I rescued this cicada from the side of the road, but it must have been on it’s last legs, as I found it where I left it later

Zowie being serenaded in the morning

In my last post I added some photos of lotus which were just coming into bloom. As a follow up to that, we made the pilgrimage to Tofukuji to see the large lotus pond there, which is a truly beautiful sight when in bloom. Tofukuji has many different garden areas, most of which you have to pay (separately) to get into. The lotus pond, however, is out in the free to visit area, which is an added bonus, and it is in front of the Sanmon gate, which makes a fantastic backdrop to the pond. Simply glorious.

July is also the month of the Gion Matsuri, a fantastic celebration which has been happening annually since the year 970CE (the floats became part of the matsuri in 999CE). Actually, it started out in the year 869CE not as a celebration but as a way to appease the gods thought to cause fire, floods and earthquakes. The floats in the parade are divided into two groups, the larger hoko and the smaller yama, collectively called yamaboko (or yamahoko). The nine hoko represent the 66 halberds used in the original purification ritual to appease the gods, and the 23 yama carry life-sized figures of famous people.

The lead float is always the naginata hoko (it has a halberd at the top of the spire) and on this float a young boy in Shinto robes and crowned with a golden phoenix rides up front. He is known as the chigo and is chosen from among the Kyoto merchant families as the sacred page (a great honour). He has to go through weeks of special purification ceremonies and is carried onto the float, as he is not permitted to touch the ground. The boy must also cut a sacred rope (shimenawa) with a single stroke of a real sword to begin the festival.

The naginata hoko (l)

What I didn’t realise until this year is that the floats are built in situ, on the streets, which we discovered from the tv show we watch fairly regularly. It never occurred to me that they were dismantled every year and then rebuilt literally from the ground up (but then, where would they be stored and how would they get there???). The floats are made with wood and held together with ropes – no nails or screws are used – and they are covered with incredibly ornate tapestries. So, while we have seen the floats before and the junko (parades) we hadn’t seen the floats being constructed, which meant I just had to go and have a look.

After watching this for a while, we went to buy new chimaki for our home (one for our door and one for the front door of the minshuku area) and then, to top it off, we went to one of my favourite places to eat, Engine Ramen, for a delicious spicy vegan ramen for lunch. Yum! Interestingly, on our way into town on the bus, we happened to pass the procession of the chigo going up to Yasaka shrine, where it is his duty to pray for a successful matsuri. He must have done pretty well, because the rain held off for both parades…

Speaking of eating out, the Kyoto vegan meet-up group recently had a get together, which was held at an Italian restaurant which only serves fish, vegetarian and vegan dishes, called Pettirosso. We decided that, as we were free, we should go. I’m glad we did, as we met some new people there, with the gathering including both Japanese and foreigners living in Japan, and the food was good. A very enjoyable night and surprisingly cheap, given the food we had.

Finally, I thought I would update you about my activities at gym and how it is going. I am still doing two ballet classes per week and really enjoying it. Both of the teachers are very good instructors and are also very good dancers. The teacher on Fridays spends a lot of time really explaining how to do things correctly, which is important since most of the class have never done ballet before. I have to say, I find it quite impressive how hard they try and how well they do, overall, since the majority don’t have the background in ballet like I do.

I’m happy to say that I have improved since returning to ballet, with my balance and flexibility much improved after a gap of nearly a decade. I have, however, changed the other classes I am attending; I am now doing Pilates before the Friday ballet class and there was an enforced change after Tuesday’s class, with a change of timetable from the beginning of July, when Zumba disappeared and a Latin class replaced it. I was a little trepidatious at first, having limited experience at Latin dancing, but I am loving it! The teacher is a professional dancer and he is teaching the correct way, starting with the Samba. He is very Strictly Ballroom, which I initially thought was somewhat hilarious, but it was such fantastic fun that I have continued on. The music is great and I think that I will end up with abs of steel if I continue on, with the exercises he gives us at the beginning of class, Pilates and ballet 😊.

I wonder if I should get an outfit like this?

Or any of these?

One other thing I should mention, before I sign off, I am now catching a different bus to gym, which is much less crowded and is apparently cleaned (somehow) to ensure the inside of the bus is a healthy environment, ie germ free. It is a bus line named “Princess Line” and has specifically been set up to service the Kyoto Women’s University and the all girls school near it. So, I am now chauffeured to gym in a big red bus, and when I say chauffeured, I am often the only person on the bus into town, mainly due to the time I catch it – just me and my chauffer. Oh, and their symbol is a pumpkin…

Princess Line with the sounds of summer. The only bus stop I know of where there are red couches to sit on…

Cheers!

A butterfly in our backyard

Yves St Laurent goes all dream catcher

Tomorrowland? Looks more like yesteryear…

Are you serious?

Just decorations in the gym building

There are so many interesting things to see here, sometimes you miss things – who knows how long this has been here and I didn’t see it?

Not sure I would want my nails done here!

You rarely see police stopping cars here for traffic violations. This poor guy went through a red light (I think) and the car that stopped him had 5 officers in it, who all piled out!

Hello there – funny meeting you here, especially as I am at home sitting at the kitchen bench…It seems I am now returning to the keyboard about once a month. I suppose we are doing less at the moment, in terms of visiting places, not because we aren’t interested in seeing new things, just we are spreading things out a bit more and we have had different things happening that require attention.

Weather-wise, we are definitely having a rainy season this year. We haven’t had many days with very heavy rain, but we are having much more frequent rain. Looking at the Himawari satellite images, it appears a lot of cloud is streaming up through here from the tropics. A small typhoon developed a couple of weeks ago, but otherwise we haven’t had any big storms here. That has not been the case in other areas – Kyushu, in particular, has been hit hard. In a recent five day period they had over a metre of rain in the south Kyushu areas. Unsurprisingly, it is becoming more humid here now.

Our backyard is nearly finished, in terms of plantings and ground cover. It is wonderful to be able to sit out there and enjoy the scenery of our yard, including the wall (which, technically, belongs to our neighbours). As I mentioned previously, the plants are growing quite fast, which is lovely to watch. I had to move the elephant a bit recently, as she was getting overgrown by the hydrangeas! I have had a few iris flowers, which are beautiful, although I haven’t yet seen the third iris because the gardener (NiwaShin) accidentally broke the stem of the one flower that was growing on that plant. The flowers on one of the irises are really interesting looking and the petals are quite textured.

The growth of one month…oh and everything now planted…and Ziggy  photo bombing

Anyway, the irises are gradually spreading, so I’m sure I’ll have plenty to look forward to next year. One of the hostas also flowered, which was a nice surprise. One thing this has done (apart from make me happy) is there are more butterflies coming into our yard, most of which are quite large, including a different type of swallowtail butterfly.

Around a month ago, we went to the nearby Four Seasons Hotel,at the invitation of one of the employees (Pin), to participate in a wellness activity. Pin had introduced herself to us as she lived in the area, had noticed our establishment and her and her partner are both vegans. She wanted to know if we served food to people who weren’t staying here. Long story short, we said we’d be happy to make a breakfast for them and they have since maintained some contact.

Pin is the manager of the Health and Wellbeing area of the hotel and she (along with other employees) were hosting some events over a weekend. We decided to join Pin in a ‘forest bathing’ experience. This involved walking from the Four Seasons up to part of the Kyoto trail and then ending up at the Toyotomi Hideyoshi mausoleum. At the mausoleum we put the yoga mats we had been carrying on the ground and lay down. It was very peaceful, especially after having walked at a reasonably brisk clip up the trail to the top of the hill.

Laying there, she encouraged us to listen to the forest around us and really relax. She then went around and gave everyone a short neck and shoulders massage, using an aromatherapy oil as part of involving all the senses. It was really very pleasant and I would recommend this to anyone who is able to do it.

Pin, if you are wondering, is from Thailand and has been living here for a while, working at the Four Seasons. She actually worked at the Four Seasons in Thailand, with the same General Manager, and I think she moved here at his request after he moved here to manage the new Kyoto establishment. In fact, the GM and his two daughters came on the walk with us, although we didn’t know who he was at the time and talked to him as if he was a tourist staying there 😊.

Pin has since contacted us to see if we would be interested in partnering with her to provide these kind of experiences for tourists, so that they stay with us for one night and Pin takes them on a longer forest walk here, then they go to Nara and stay in a farm house and do a vegan cooking class using the organic produce of the farm. We, of course, said yes. Unfortunately it means that Pin is leaving the Four Seasons to return to Thailand and work in a wellness type spa resort (at Ko Samui). Still, hopefully we’ll see her occasionally, if this business works out.

Returning to the Four Seasons, wow, what a place! It is amazing in many ways starting with the architecture. It houses nearly 200 hundred suites (can’t remember exactly how many) and also has a venue for weddings and conferences on site. The rooms start at around ¥100,000 per night! Inside they have a number of artworks, including paintings and ceramics. There is a set of three giant ceramic flowers, which are stunning, created by Yasuyoshi Sugiura, from Tokyo. I wonder how much they were???? Outside, there is a beautiful old garden on the property with two tea houses.

We have had one other outing which was just for enjoyment, to Chion-in temple. This temple has the set of stairs at the front which Tom Cruise runs up in The Last Samurai, if you’ve seen that (no, the stairs do not lead to the emperor’s palace). I thought it might be nice to go there while the weather was still comfortable (ie not really humid), because we hadn’t seen all of the temple. As it turns out, the second garden was closed so I didn’t get to see it, but we walked around and went to an area up the back of the grounds and also into the cemetery, although that was more to check if we could see the second garden from there.

The bell is supposed to be the largest temple bell in Japan, at 74 tons

While walking around the cemetery area I noticed a small man-made waterfall and went to look over the fence to see what it was like. As I was looking at the pond, I noticed something in the water, which looked like a lizard (I completely failed to notice the bright green frog very close to me, which jumped in the water to hide as I moved to get a better view of the ‘lizard’, ah wel)l. It wasn’t moving and I assumed it was a dead lizard, until I noticed quite a few more and some were moving around! In fact, they could move quite fast, in a sort of swimming motion. After much searching of the electronic oracle, I found out that they are in fact newts, called Akaharaimori, or the Japanese Fire Belly newt. They are endemic to Japan and are usually around 9 – 14cm in length, with the females being bigger than the males. In Kyoto they are listed on the Amphibian Red List, which means they are being monitored because they are nearly endangered, due to loss of habitat. An interesting discovery.

Another interesting discovery on that day, was that there is a nationalist group which drives around in black vans and buses that have slogans written all over them and many have the national flag and the military flag attached. They are called “gaisensha” (街宣車) or “propaganda trucks” in Japanese, and they blast right-wing slogans and songs through loud speakers. While Japan does have noise pollution laws, it also has free speech laws, so these vans are able to get the same licenses that allow political parties, and even religious groups, to drive around and broadcast their opinions. They are quite intimidating looking, and the men inside (we only saw men) were all wearing grey, military style uniforms.

The inscription says something about “defend to the end” and “loyalty to ruler”, also the Kuril Islands.

From what I have discovered via the electronic oracle, there are a number of right-wing groups, or uyoku dantai (右翼団体), and they have existed in Japan since the country opened itself to the West. Apparently some members are connected to the yakuza because it is difficult to arrest uyoku dantai members as freedom of ideology is protected by the Constitution of Japan. Hence some yakuza use them as camouflage.

I have to say, we were alerted to something going on while we were walking to Chion-in by the large number of police lining the roads and particularly on corners. As we approached Maruyama park there were many (many) police buses parked together, presumably to bring in extra police for the protection of the populace. They were wearing helmets and some had what appeared to be protective jackets on. While we were in the temple grounds we could hear very loud voices and music, not a very relaxing ambience, that’s for sure.

Finally, as a follow-up to the last post, we received an extension to our visa last week, for another year. We hope that next year they may consider giving us a three year extension…

Cheers for now

We found this on the road near home and thought it was dying, until it flew away!

Who is that man?

One of my hydrangeas

I was taking a photo of this flower, then something flew, then something photo-bombed it!

A carpenter bee, I think – big!!!

Some days you just want to stay in bed, by the fan

There seem to be more creatures here every time I go past

In memory of our lovely Serena

Hi all, here I am again in the starting blocks, with many things going through my head – “what shall I talk about?”; “what photos do I have?”; “what have I actually done recently?”; “etc”. Well, there have been some interesting things happen, but they mostly relate to the business and our future here. As most often happens, however, I will begin with the weather – it always seems a good place to start.

We have had some hot weather in the last few weeks, with some records being broken, as seems to be happening in so many parts of the world recently. May was unusually hot, with quite a few days in the low to mid thirties here. Unbelievably, the hottest day of the month, and breaking all records, was in Hokkaido with a temperature in Saroma of 39.5C! This is the hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere in Japan in May, with the previous high being 37.2C. Temperatures have never previously reached 35C in Hokkaido in May or 38C at any time of the year. Despite this, I have been enjoying the hotter weather, as I always do, especially as it hasn’t been accompanied by the stifling humidity that is the case here in summer.

One thing I thought I might mention, which is also about just generally living here, is the earthquakes. I find it interesting that while I was living in the flat, for around 15 months, there was not one tremor, not even a tiny little rattle. Since June last year, when we had the larger earthquake (quite a shock for me 😉) and the series of aftershocks, we have been having some kind of shake fairly regularly; around one per month. It seems to be a fact of life here. Most are little rattlers, but we have also had a few which felt like something very large hit the front of our house and one that felt like small waves under a boat (I was sitting on the floor at the time).

I take comfort in the fact that this area was extensively surveyed before the tunnel for the shinkansen was put through nearby, which apparently found that it was geologically very stable. There is, of course, the fault running through these hills, which does mean we are more likely to feel little temblors than in the city centre. I still don’t feel comfortable when they happen, but I think I am becoming more used to them. There was that one time when I was on the toilet when one struck…

Another hazard which we have recently discovered here, is what is known in Japan as ‘yellow sand’ (kousa). This is also called Asian dust and is carried on high winds from Mongolia, northern China, and Kazakhstan to North and South Korea and on to Japan. High-speed surface winds and intense dust storms pick up the dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles which are then blown further east by winds and jet streams.

There are records of these storms many centuries ago, so it is not a new phenomenon. It has, however, become much more of a problem in the last few decades with the increase in industrial pollution in China and the fact that these dust storms pass over areas where they pick up the pollutants and carry them with the dust. There is also the increasing desertification of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, increasing the likelihood of these storms.

Two weeks ago there was a jet stream passing directly over these areas and depositing the dust here, in Kyoto (and other areas). You could see a light dusting of yellow powder on the outside door handles. Unfortunately it seems that I am affected by this dust+ and for the first time since I left the rental house on Portrush Road in Adelaide I experienced asthma. Luckily I still had some Ventolin, so was able to use this help me deal with it, but I felt very drained for a week. It tends to mainly occur in Spring, although the season is apparently lengthening more recently. Anyway, fingers crossed it is over for this year.

Yellow dust – Osaka

In terms of our living here, we are once again in the process of renewing our visas, an expensive and slightly stressful undertaking. It would be wonderful if we could finally get a three year visa, instead of the 12 month renewal, but it is up to the government and there is some resistance to allowing foreigners to live here. We can only hope…

On the business front it has been very quiet, but we have had some positives. The first came via the ‘diethelper’, who contacted us and asked if a friend of hers from Tokyo could stay with us. She has been working with this friend and another person in updating a publication about vegan/vegetarian businesses in the Kansai area (which includes the prefectures of Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Wakayama and a few others). The publication is targeted at Taiwanese people, which is because around 13% of the population is vegetarian/vegan. They are going to include our humble abode in this latest version, which should be out later this year.

The previous book

A couple of weeks later, we received an email from a very well known and renowned publication, saying they were doing a new vegan travel series and they wanted to include us in this! They were asking for photos of our rooms, building and some shots of the food we serve. So, we bought a wide angle lens and set about trying to get the best shots we could (our previous photos weren’t that great). I have to say, though, that when I first read the email, which arrived late in the day, I thought it might be a hoax or someone playing a joke on us. We did do some checking before responding; it just shows how cynical I have become through observing the activities of those who like to spread sham information.

…and on the topic of ‘out of the blue’ contacts, last week a man who had been involved in the building and landscaping of our home turned up at our front door. He had come to look at how the plants were going out the front and to offer his services to maintain them once a year. Very enterprising! Anyway, while he was here, Craig asked him about our backyard, ie what plants we could use, given it’s aspect and the small size.

Long story short, today he is here starting the process of creating a Japanese style garden in the backyard 😊.Meanwhile, I have been creating a small garden area on the west side of the yard over the last few weeks, which has been fairly hard work, mainly because the ground was under asphalt for some time (the block was a carpark previously) and to compound this the builders had put road fill on the ground (which they called gravel and we thought they meant gravel as we know it – trap for new players) because they were worried the ground would become swamp-like in the rainy season without it.

My garden – a work in progress

A 100 yr old mochi bowl (water feature) and a mysterious rock ring!

The site for the mochi bowl and a before shot (with Zowie)

Today…

Planting a garden here is somewhat different to how it evolves in Adelaide, ie put in a smallish plant, wait up to a year or so for it to establish, hope it survives summer and start growing. Here it is; put in a smallish plant, wait a week or two for it to establish and watch it growing, literally, day by day. It’s really amazing and is a wonderful thing to watch. There are also so many plants that I would like to have, but there just isn’t enough room for them all, so I am having to strictly limit myself. One of the irises flowered for the first time today – wonderful.

We have only had one major sightseeing outing during this period, to Kuramayama. We were told by diethelper that there was a big full moon festival there on a recent Saturday night, and although I would have liked to go to this, it is a long way to get there and back so we decided to go the next day as we hadn’t been there since the typhoon went through. The temple there had been closed for some months after the typhoon because of the significant damage wreaked by the winds. On the news it was reported that over a thousand trees had come down or were severely damaged. It is one of my favourite places to go in Kyoto and I was feeling a little trepidatious about seeing the devastation. It turned out that it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it might be – there were areas where many trees were down, but there were other areas which were fine, and the very old and large trees were ok.

After we did the climb to the temple we had lunch at the vegan restaurant at the base of the temple area, which we always love to do. The food there is different to many places as it includes some mountain plants and the restaurant itself is very atmospheric, old Japan style. They also sell a few locally made items in the restaurant, and I couldn’t resist the little crocheted pig – very cute 😊.

On the ride home

Well, that’s it for now.

Cheers

A witches hat needs a hat?

Signs appearing around Kyoto – “Love Bicycle Tender”!!??

Ok, I don’t normally take shots inside women’s toilets, but it was so beautiful…the doors slide around rather than open in.

Hello and welcome to episode 7 (part 2), as previously promised. Last time, we had just been on the first of our three ‘big’ outings, interstate as it were (inter-prefecture???). Our next two ‘big’ outings also took us to places we had meant to go for some time but just hadn’t got around to it, for reasons of weather (ie too cold/snow on the roads, etc), time (all three of the journeys were day trips) and money…

Before I get onto them, I must mention how wonderful the weather has been since I last wrote. Barring a couple of days, the weather has been in the 20s and not particularly humid (I have all my fingers and toes crossed when I write this, which makes it difficult to write but I know the humidity is coming and I don’t want to hurry it along!). I’m hoping the weather will remain like this for a while longer, because we haven’t really had much spring weather since we have been here (or autumn weather for that matter). It seems as if summer and winter are just getting longer, subsuming the other two.

So,our next ‘big’ outing took us to Hikone, in Shiga prefecture, specifically to see the castle there. Hikone is one of the towns lining the shores of Lake Biwa, which is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. Apparently it is one of the oldest lakes in the world, dating to at least 4 million years ago. Lots of interesting archaeology there, no doubt.

Anyway, we took a route that did not involve toll roads to get there which took us over a bridge spanning a narrow part of the lake near Otsu city. As we started over the bridge, I started hearing some music and wondered out loud where it was coming from. We quickly realised it was being made through the tyres of our car running over grooves on the bridge!! It lasted for the entire span of the bridge (1.4km) and was truly an amazing experience. I think the song is called Biwako Shuukou no Uta (literally: Lake Biwa circumnavigation song).

Hikone castle is one of only 12 castles in Japan with the original keep, and it is one of only five castles listed as a national treasure. It was opened for use in 1622, although the keep was originally built in 1575 as part of Otsu castle and later moved to its current position by the Ii clan, who also moved their original castle (Sawayama castle) to this site and added other parts from Nagahama castle. As an aside, it constantly amazes me how many complexes here, including castles, are amalgams of buildings and parts from other sites, some a long way away. Otsu is approximately 70 kms by road from Hikone, though they possibly could have taken it via barge on the lake, I suppose.

The castle complex comprises a museum as well as the castle itself. We went into the museum first as it was outside of the main entrance to the castle proper. There were some very interesting exhibits in there, along with a fully functioning Noh theatre, where performances are still held. This stage was originally part of the residence of the Ii clan at Hikone Castle and was subsequently moved to the castle Museum and reconstructed in its original layout. It is said that the Ii clan were great lovers of Noh.

After, we climbed to the main castle area, which includes the keep and surrounding gates and buildings. It was a bit of a climb up many stairs with no ramps, so was quite difficult for the oldest member of our group, who is 92. In the end she didn’t make it all the way up, but gave it a good try 😊. It is a beautiful castle and the views up there of the lake and surrounding hills is lovely. Inside the main keep, as is the case with so many around Japan, the stairs were incredibly steep. How anyone would manage to run up and down them during a battle is beyond me. After we left the castle, we stopped and had lunch on the lake shore, which was most pleasant.

Note the mascot in the foreground

Next day we headed off to Miho Museum, which is located near the town of Shigaraki in Shiga prefecture. The museum was the vision of Mihoko Koyama (after whom it is named), who is the founder of a religious organisation known as Shinji Shumeikai. She commissioned the building of the museum in the 1990s and it was officially opened in 1997. The museum houses Mihoko Koyama’s private collection of Asian and Western antiques bought on the world market. There are over 2,000 pieces in the permanent collection, of which around 250 are displayed at any one time.

The museum complex is s stunning design which fits in with the landscape, while being large enough to house the collections and having a Japanese ‘feel’. The complex comprises a reception building, a restaurant and shop and the main collection building, which you get to via a tunnel through part of the mountain. The architect who designed the museum was I. M. Pei who has also designed many other well known structures internationally, including the glass and steel pyramid at the Louvre. His design was effected in the hilly and forested terrain and he apparently came to call it Shangri-La. Approximately three-quarters of the 17,400 m² main building is located underground, carved out of the rocky mountain.

The bus stop for the electric bus

There was a special spring exhibition at the time we went, entitled Living in Zen and the Daitokuji Ryōkōin Heritage. This consisted of an overview of 400 years of the Ryōkō-in temple’s history and also featured the Tennōjiya family treasures, Abbot Kōgetsu’s belongings that reflect the aesthetics of the Kan’ei era, works associated with historic figures the abbot revered, and objects owned by successive abbots of the temple.

After we viewed the exhibition and the permanent collection pieces, we headed back to the restaurant for lunch, which they kindly served us despite it being just before closing time. They had a mainly vegetable menu, although none of it was fully vegetarian or vegan. Once we asked if they had any options, they said they could make us a couple of dishes without fish stock and later asked us if we would prefer noodles made without egg. It was a very nice meal and they really were very helpful and accommodating.

On the last day of Steven’s visit (his friends had left the day before), we went to a festival in Okazaki park, which Craig had found out about via Instagram. When we got there it was like a walk back in time to a hippy festival in the late 1960s. There were many vegan/vegetarian food stalls and other stalls with mostly locally made items, as well as a line-up of musicians playing throughout the day. As we got there, there was a woman playing a keyboard and singing – and I use that term in the sense that she was trying to do so, since I think I could have carried a tune better than her – so, at that point, I was a bit concerned about the music side of the festival.

Following that assault on our ears and a brief respite, a band started playing, and very loudly at that, but they were amazing!!! They looked and sounded like they had just stepped out of San Francisco circa 1967. They all had very long hair and were playing very psychedelic style music. I have to say, though, that it was so loud it was hard to buy things at the stalls which were close to the stage area. Despite this, they were so good we watched them until they finished up (each band/individual played for around 30 minutes).

What the?

Feeling hungry, because the food looked so good, we bought some vegan burgers and sat to have a very delicious lunch. Following this we continued around to the rest of the stalls and bought some more food items (they really were very nice – we had them for dinner later that day). As we were thinking about leaving, the next band started setting up and they were also dressed up, but this time much more Marc Bolan-esque; very glam. While they were still setting up, the lead guitarist was wandering around on stage playing bits and pieces of songs, some of which sounded rather like T-rex songs. He was very good and so we decided to hang around to see what they were like.

The lead guitarist turned out to be the lead singer and he was a brilliant showman (very funny too). Some of the songs weren’t as good as the warm-up promised, but they were very entertaining and very good musicians – two women (bass and keyboards) and two men (guitar and drums). Again, the music was very loud, but it didn’t seem to worry the varied crowd. They were enjoying the band a lot and were getting into the songs, singing along and even making appropriate hand/arm movements. Needless to say, we watched the whole set, which was fantastic fun.

After that – the beautiful weather, wonderful food and great entertainment (except that one “singer”) – we decided to walk back via one of the canals, which is a lovely way to pass time too. It was so pleasant, we stopped at a small café along the way, had a drink and watched the world go by for a while. What a wonderful way to spend a day. I so love spring 😊.

The duck just stood there (yes stood on the bottom) quacking at me…

Before I sign off, I thought I should mention that the new emperor is now ensconced in the palace. Interestingly, though, the official enthronement ceremony is being held later this year, at which international dignitaries will be present. As a result of the abdication and transition to the new emperor, we are now into the Reiwa era, which officially commenced on 1 May. So, for official forms, the year is now Reiwa year 1. Up until the end of April, we were in Heisei year 31. A somewhat complex system, where you need to know not only the world standard year, eg 1970, but you also have to know the Japanese era and year of the era, eg Showa year 45, for 1970. So, here we are in year 1…Happy New Era!

Cheers

Hikonyan and Craig / the ‘royal swan’ / Hikonyan and me / me as Hikonyan (sort of)

A plane inside Aeon Mall…

Ah, Spring

Hello all – I have returned to the keyboard and it’s only been three weeks! It has, however, been quite a busy time with many ‘big’ outings and we had three visitors from Australia for the last two of those weeks. It took me half of Monday just going through the photographs (read: you’re in for a lot of photos). In fact, I have decided to split this episode into two parts, so that I can get the first one out faster and you won’t turn into fossilised beings while reading the full account of this period.

As is my wont, I will firstly mention the weather – there, that’s over…Actually, it has been quite variable, from cloudy to cloud free, with some rain, and from mid teens to mid twenties. Just when I thought I could pack away my winter puffs and thermals, I had to pull them out again. I did get to wear a t-shirt on a couple of days, though 😊.

Prior to the arrival of the Oz crew, we finally got to go to an exhibition I had been wanting to see – Kyoto Textiles: From the 1960s to the Present – which was held at the National Museum of Modern Art. The backstory to this is that I had met a woman at my gym who is Japanese but speaks very good English. On her first day there she came up to me and asked some questions about the ballet class. She wanted to do the class but was a little reticent, so I encouraged her and helped her through the class. Not sure why she picked me, but she was really nice and we ended up doing a few classes together.

After one of the classes she asked if I was interested in art, to which I of course said yes, then she offered me two free tickets to the afore mentioned exhibition. It turned out her husband is a famous ceramic artist, who comes from a very famous artistic family – his father was an avant garde ceramic artist whose works are exhibited in museums around the world (Yagi Kazuo) and his mother was a famous textile artist (Takagi Toshiko). So, we arrive at the connection – one of her works was in the exhibition. It was a very eclectic mix of styles, colours and textures and a wonderful visual experience.

A piece by Yagi Kazuo (L) and some by Yagi Akira (R)

The first exhibit is by Tagaki Tosjiko (it was huge, hung from the ceiling). The second was one of the many I liked and could find a photo of (!) (also very large)

A few days later the local kiln matsuri was held, which, sadly, we have been told was the last time it is to be held. There appear to be a few reasons for this, one of which is the ageing population amongst the local potters. We went around and visited them and bought a few items while we still could. It is unclear whether many will be closing down, but it seems there won’t be many opportunities to buy directly, and at discount, in the future.

Us at one of the potteries where we bought a couple of pieces

Two of our guests from Australia arrived during the following week; a friend of Steven (see previous post) and her mother, who is in her early 90s. They employed the services of our employee as a tour guide (which she is qualified to do) for the majority of the time they were here and we joined them for drinks, nibbles and dinner when they returned home each day. A few days in, Steven arrived back from his taiko sojourn and this time we were able to spend more time with him.

Our first outing was to an antique market held monthly at Toji temple. Steven’s friend and mother decided to join us in our visit to the market. I have to say that, over time, it seems there are more and more stalls selling items other than antiques at this market. Anyway, they decided to split up, as they were looking for different things, and we arranged to meet up after an hour (which ended up being more like and hour and twenty minutes…). Steven had three items he was looking for and it took so long to get around the market checking for these items that we were late getting back to the meeting spot. Steven did, however, continue trying as we were heading to the meeting spot.

We then had a look around the garden at the temple, which was lovely, with some blossom still open, some peonies and azaleas coming on. We also found a turtle pile on a rock in the middle of the lake in the garden, which was interesting 😊. While I was taking some photos on a rock crossing in the water, I was stalked by a bright orange koi, somewhat like a shark circling trying to lure me in!

The first of our ‘big’ outings took Craig, Steven and myself to Nara prefecture, to visit a temple complex we had seen on tv, Chogosonshi-ji, which is distinguished by the fact it has a very large bobbing head tiger statue in the grounds. This tiger is known as Fukutor, and is the world’s largest papier-mâché tiger. Information about the temple says that the tiger image used extensively in the complex comes from a story regarding Prince Shotoku, who was at war with the Mononobe clan in the 6th century. The story says that he went to the site of the current temple to pray to Bishamonten (protector of warriors and guardian of Buddhism) for victory, praying in the year of the tiger, on the day and the hour of the tiger, and his troops were subsequently victorious. The temple is said to have been built on the orders of the prince, in gratitude for this defeat.

The grounds of the complex are extensive with many buildings and statues of tigers, covering a huge area on Mt Shigi. There is also a brightly painted tiger tunnel, called Santora No Fuku Tainai Meguri, which supposedly makes you strong and brave if you walk through it, and also brings you luck. The entrance and exit of the tunnel is decorated to look like a tiger’s mouth (rather comic book style). We, of course, just had to walked through it.

There is also a trail that takes you up to the top of the mountain where there are supposed to be ruins of a castle – although we weren’t exactly sure where they were, in the end. None the less, it was a good climb up and the views from up there were lovely, if a little hazy. On the way up, I noticed some paw prints in the concrete stairs (two sets, in fact), which were quite large and very cat like. We speculated as to what it might be and, on the way back, asked a groundsman who spoke pretty good English what he thought. He said there were large cats (feral, I presume) on the mountain. They must be big…

Part of the ruins? (R)

Yes, I know, I should have put something in for scale…

There are photo opportunities at every turn at this temple, it is a beautiful and peaceful place, thanks to there being very few tourists there. We spent at least two hours there and I enjoyed every second. Despite it being a bit of a hike from our home, and having to pay some fairly hefty tolls to get there in around an hour and a half, I would definitely take another opportunity to visit.

Cages for statues?

Before I sign off, I should mention that today (30/4/2019), is the last day of the current emperor’s reign. He is officially resigning in a few minutes. Tomorrow is the first day of the Reiwa era. I hope they get a chance to really enjoy their retirement.

Cheers

Post Script: We ended up watching the official abdication ceremony, which was late yesterday afternoon. It was quite solemn, with many (important) people in attendance. The PM made a speech, then the Emperor made a speech; his official abdication speech. He looked like he was trying very hard to subdue emotions. It was over in around 20 minutes – the analysing of the whole ceremony went on for hours…

Saw this sign near my gym – what is it? Apparently Bump of Chicken (yes, it is meant to have an i) is a band…and they have a new album coming out soon.

Other random items at the gallery

At the entrance to the car park

It was cold????

…and another month rolls by. This time we have been very busy, while at the same time I have been somewhat unwell. On the business side, we have had some interesting guests, some taking up quite a lot of our time, and we finally had a full house! All five of our rooms were occupied for a few days, and otherwise we have had most occupied, Along with this, we have had a friend from Australia staying in our spare room. While all this was happening, I was carrying a cold which lasted around three weeks. Poor Craig had to carry the full load for a few days, thankfully however, Takako was able to came in and help us on a few days, despite having had a run in with a bike.

Weatherwise it has been rather up and down again. Some fairly cool days under 10C max, and then we have had some glorious days over 20C. The blossom is now very close to the peak and there are many, many people out enjoying hanami (literally flower viewing). Luckily, we have been able to take the opportunity to go out and do some viewing ourselves.

During this time we have been up to Ohara twice, taking two of our guests up there during early March and then our friends (we had another friend drop in for one night to meet up with Steven and then accompany him to Fukui for the taiko workshop the following day) there on Sunday. The first time we went it was quite cool and wet, however, on Sunday it was warmish and sunny. Regardless of the differences in weather, it was quiet both times. We suspect that many people had been very early on Sunday and then gone on for a hanami outing, because many of the stalls in both markets had very little left for sale. We also went on to Sanzen-in after visiting the markets both times.

Having been sick, I missed going to my dance classes for two weeks, which was disappointing since I was feeling a lot stronger in ballet prior to that. Last week I decided to try returning just to the ballet classes as I still wasn’t 100%. Steven joined me for a trip into town, did some looking around while I was in class and then we did some shopping after. Following the first class I went back to, I took Steven to a building near my gym which is very upmarket and has some quite alternative shops to have a look at. While walking around we happened to find a new Starbucks in there – I needed some coffee after my class!

The Starbucks certainly lived up to the style of the building and was like no other Starbucks I have ever seen. The fit-out is amazing and has some very interesting artworks and sculptures. They have also made a feature of the exposed air-conditioning ducts by making them look like a large silver intestinal tract! I always enjoy looking around in the BAL building and now there is even more reason to go there 😊.

Later that week, we decided to go to Kameoka, a city within Kyoto prefecture, which is a twenty minute train ride from Kyoto station. We had found out there is a 1km walk there through blossom trees and thought it might be worthwhile, especially since not overly many tourists go there. We tried to follow the directions to get to the walk, but couldn’t find where the bus stop was at Kameoka station, so didn’t ever get to the walk. We did, however, find many buses to a boat ride on the Hozugawa (Hozu river).

After a quick check of the electronic oracle, we decided this might be a good thing to try out, since we had caught glimpses of lovely gorges as we passed through the mountains between Kameoka and Kyoto. The ride is 16 kms long and takes around 2 hours, starting near Kameoka station and ending at Arashiyama. It follows the water route used for transporting wood before Kyoto existed. Later, when Kyoto was being built, many logs from the mountain range area were bound together into rafts and sent down the Hozugawa to Kyoto. In 1606 a wealthy merchant opened up the ravine further to allow for boats.

The boats used for the sightseeing rides are not motorised, but rather rely on three oarsman to propel and steer them. One man is on the oar, one uses a pole to both push on the bottom of the river in the shallower areas and push on and away from rocks and the final man steers at the back of the boat. During the trip they rotate through the positions, as the front two are quite physically demanding. As you may have guessed, they have to walk down the side of the boat to do this, which also provided some entertainment as one of them yelled “don’t push, don’t push” while he walked along there, then “push, push”, when it came time for the others to walk down the side.

They all were Japanese and spoke very little English but still managed to say some very funny things, other than this. Along the route, there are certain places where it is crucial to push the boat away from the rocks, mainly in the rapids. Over 400 years, the bamboo poles have gradually worn smooth holes into the rocks, so they used this too as part of the entertainment, seeing if they could accurately push the poles into the small holes, not always successfully.

It was a lovely sunny day, around 20C. The scenery was lovely, the river had beautifully clean water (tinged green with minerals) and the ride varied through some flat and calm areas and then through some rapids. The latter were not overly vigorous, we weren’t belted in and only had a small life belt on (just in case), although Steven did get a lapful of water at one stage. The most dangerous part of the trip was actually at Arashiyama, where many people were out in little row boats, and didn’t seem to understand that our boat was bigger than theirs and they may be knocked out if they collided with us. The oarsmen were nearly sent hoarse yelling out at them!

Some fallen trees courtesy Typhoon 21

One unexpected part of the journey happened towards the end of the trip, when a motorised boat came up beside us and the oarsmen attached our boat to it. It turned out to be a floating konbini (convenience store), which mainly sold food and drinks, including sake! The Oarsmen also got some rest at this point, letting the motor on the other boat propel us in a very smooth part of the river. The whole journey was a lot of fun, well worth the fare, and I would definitely do it again – probably in Autumn to see the colour.

We had two other sightseeing outings on the weekend, one was climbing part of the Kyoto trail which passes near our home, through the hills to Kiyomizudera, which was also lovely on another glorious day. The other was later that day, when we went out to dinner (through the massive crowds around the Kiyomizudera, Gion and city centre areas). After dinner, we went to Maruyama park, where the annual hanami festival was being held. There were many dozens of stalls lining the walkways of the park, most of them selling food, though not desserts or sweets which we were looking for. We did find a couple of stalls doing so in the end, one of which was selling toffee apples and other toffee treats. I had a stick with a strawberry and two grapes, which was quite good 😊.

Some fallen trees courtesy Typhoon 21

So, that brings us to today, not quite as warm but still sunny.

Cheers

Hhmmmm

Tiny garages

Look, I found Tomorrowland!

My favourite – Godzilla

A happy bear watering plants

Three trucks like this lined up at a motel-a touring band?

Not sure

Aaahhh

Sometimes the bus drivers sound like they’re on sedatives…perhaps they need them to cope with the huge crowds on the buses.

Hello all! I have finally returned to the keyboard again, to talk about life as I have experienced it since last we spoke. It has been a long time, I know, and I don’t have too many excuses, although I have not been idle. I have spent some time getting my bookkeeping house in order and am now up to date and ready for tax time, which is nigh. In fact, the company’s tax year ends at the end of Feb, mainly because it was created early in March…but, enough of that!

Last time, I recall I mentioned that I thought the snowfall we had (with photos) was likely the last of the season – all I can say is ‘famous last words’. While there hasn’t been a heavy(ish) fall since, it did snow on three days in the week following my assertion. Perhaps my statement was taken as a challenge by the weather gods 😊. Since that week, we haven’t had a day below 10C, which is very nice. I have even been out for a walk a few times recently without a puffy jacket on!!!

Spring is definitely in the air, and the weather people are suggesting that the cherry blossom will be early again this year, perhaps as early as the middle of March. Right now the plum blossom is out, which we have made an effort to view. Around the middle of February we went to Kitano Tenmangu jinja, which has about 300 plum blossom trees in its grounds, to check how far along they were but it really was early days then.

Prior to going there we went to a vegan restaurant which is nearby and which many of our guests had been to and said was very good, called Itadakizen. The menu was not overly large but they had daily specials, so we chose one dish from the daily specials and one from the menu. I won’t say I was disappointed, but it didn’t really live up to the hype for me. After lunch, we walked to the shrine through an area known as Youkai Street (literally monster street).

As legend has it, thousands of years ago, after a big seasonal cleanout, many old items were thrown out. After they were abandoned, the ‘antiques’ had a gathering (as old items do…). Apparently they were very angry and decided to turn into youkai (monsters) and hundreds of them then invaded what was the northern most area of the old Kyoto (which is known as Rakuchu). Many (many) years later, the owners of shops on this street started to construct monsters as a celebration of the legends. Some of them are based on Japanese folklore, while others are just a mishmash of things put together to look like a monster.

 ??? Not sure…

We had seen a story about this street on tv (as so often we find out about things and sites around Kyoto!) and thought we’d take the opportunity to see the street, since we were in the area. It is a fun area, though some of the monsters do look a little the worse for wear. Will that make them even more angry? Lucky we are on the other side of Rakuchu!

The blossom at Kitano Tenmagu was only in the very early stages of blooming, so we decided to make a return visit after a couple of guests left us, later in February. So, on 25 February we returned there, although we didn’t actually take any note of the date until we arrived at the shrine. Now, for those of you who have been here before, you may realise the significance of that date and venue – for those who don’t, a large market is held at this shrine on the 25^th of every month. You may recall we went there on xmas day last year.

As a result, while I thought there may be quite a few people there to see the blossom, there were, in fact, many people there both for the viewing and the market. Anyway, it turned out the blossom was still to fully develop, so there weren’t as many people as I initially feared walking through the garden area. It was an absolutely glorious day, one of those days I wasn’t clad in puffiness. The temperature was around 18C and the sky was a really intense blue, which worked particularly well with the pink of many of the plum blossom trees.

We also took advantage of the market to buy another shikishi, to complete our seasonal set (the frame is such that they are easily interchanged), and I bought another pair of the fabulously warm and comfortable fleecy lined Japanese style pants. I am now fully kitted out for cold weather 😊.

After we left there, we went to another vegan restaurant which we were told was very good; Vegetarian Ren a Taiwanese vegan restaurant (not sure why it’s called Vegetarian…). This time, the hype was true to word. The food was fantastic and on top of that it was also very reasonably priced. We liked it so much, we went back there yesterday for lunch with Takako. Yum!!!!

During this period, we have also had some local visitors to our humble abode, who we had invited here. The first was a woman who goes by the moniker ‘diethelper’ on Instagram. She lives in Kyoto and has made it her mission to go around to restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels to talk to them about vegetarianism and veganism and how they can make their establishments more veg ‘friendly’. She also highlights those establishments that are fully vegan/vegetarian. I found her on Instagram and added a comment to one of her posts, which she immediately responded to and said she’d like to meet us.

So, we invited her over for morning tea and showed here around. She took many (many) photos and some video and we also talked about how Kyoto is gradually becoming much more veg friendly. She was the one who put us on to Vegetarian Ren. After her visit, she put up two posts about our place, with many photos, plus video and a lot of description, which was wonderful. One other thing she told us is that the universities here (of which there are quite a few and well respected, at that) often have visiting academics and there are a number who are veg, which the universities aren’t quite sure how to deal with. She asked if we would mind if she gave them our details…😊.

Before I sign off, I thought I would talk about advertising on tv here. It is a different experience overall compared to watching ads in Australia (and probably many other countries). There are many times when we aren’t quite sure what the ads are about – but then that was the case in Australia, at times – but what I really like here are the characters or, perhaps, youkai that are used in advertisements. It’s sort of like the mascots which are used for a particular company, or city or anything else really, but on ads, they can be much more anthropomorphic, or people can morph into something else entirely.

I read an article about Japanese advertising written by an academic who studies advertising, and he said the difference is that, while ‘western’ ads try to sell a concept, Japanese ads try to sell the essence of the product. I’m not sure exactly what some of the essences are, but I do like watching their ads much more, on the whole, than the ads in Australia. One example is the ongoing series of ads for Aflac, which is a company that sells life insurance, and all of it’s ads involve a talking white duck. They are really good ads to watch with the duck doing many things, including yoga, but there is very little mention of life insurance. The duck even has it’s own Facebook page.

There are many much weirder creatures, and I managed to capture a couple:

 A drum playing plum…

I think this is about encouraging acceptance of credit cards

So, that’s all for now

Cheers!

 My kind of shop!

Me blending in with the trees

A local Shiba enjoying the sun

Illustrating the pine pollen measure…

Just more blossom shots

A very different kind of flower