Other People = Dangerous

[Disclaimer: I very, very much like living in Japan, which is a beautiful and inspiring country; this is at least partially because my friends are not IDIOTS like, for example, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara or the vast majority of Japanese politicians]

Today Japan began a new policy of requiring fingerprints and photographs from all foreigners entering the country, including those with residency rights. (But excluding diplomats, which has been a good enough loophole for terrorists elsewhere in the past...) In a country the institutional racism of which makes the Bad Old Days of British policing look like a diversity-themed children's picnic, it is worth remembering that Japan is one of the few countries in the world with the glorious distinction of being a net exporter of terrorism.

Not only have all of the numerous political assassinations and occasional acts of domestic terror in the past six decades been carried out by Japanese citizens (including of course the Tokyo sarin attack, the only terrorist incident to have ever successfully used any kind of WMD), but the Japanese Red Army merrily spent the 1970s and 1980s hijacking, bombing, and murdering their way around the world; including the massacre at Tel Aviv's Lod Airport in 1974, which was carried out 'on behalf of' the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

This is also a country where the JAPANESE murderer of a FOREIGN language teacher can escape, without wearing shoes, from a significant number of police (and still be evading capture months later). I suppose one argument for harrassing everyone at the border could be that the police are far too incompetent to do anything once any potential terrorists have already entered the country.

If we perform the marvelous I-can't-see-what's-right-in-front-of-my-face-because-I'd-rather-not act (so beloved in Japan) in order to ignore the all-pervasive power of Japanese organised crime in the shape of the Yakuza, then it would be possible to suggest that foreigners made a significant contribution to crime in Japan. And, let's not forget, it's not foreigners who are cutting off their mother's head and carrying it around in a sports bag.

Phew... Rant over!

Hachijojima Photos

It's got everything, from the typhoon and the derelict hotel to the stinky volcano island and the helicopter... A picture paints 1,000 words, so here are 29,000 words to keep you going...

Hachijojima

I'm clearly just not cut out for this blogging lark

My laptop committed ritual suicide at the shame of being taken into exile on Hachijojima, and its replacement has only just arrived, complete with the shiny confusion of Windows Vista to mess around with.

Work at UNU is very interesting, as is being within the UN system (even if only on the periphery). The most bizarre aspects so far have been the mandatory security training (don't play with landmines, don't let your convoy get hijacked, etc. - all of which seem especially ridiculous in Tokyo), and the UN Day celebrations, including a sampling of WFP fortified biscuits (really quite tasty):

and refugee porridge (absolutely disgusting). Also had a chance to sing happy birthday to the UN - extremely surreal. Didn't eat any of the cake I'm afraid, but here it is:

While the Cat's away...

So... Homestaymum set off this morning for a two-day trip to Tokyo, leaving me in the capable hands of Homestaydad. The only problem is, he Can't Do Food, so tonight I went to Homestaydad's cousin's house (around the corner - this is a SMALL island) for dinner. This swiftly became drinking and discussing his opinion on how the end of the arms trade would generally improve the world. Just as I thought I might be about to head home, we went next door to visit a friend of his, precipitating more drinking and a looooong conversation about the imminent privatisation of the Japanese postal service. At the next point that I thought the night might be drawing to a close we adjourned to the local hostess bar - Hachijo must have more bars per head than practically anywhere else in the world. Songs were sung (in English and Japanese, by Japanese and English people - bearing in mind there are a maximum of 4 Westerners on Hachijo, and I've been informed this is a comprehensive total), more drinks were drunk; and finally we headed home when it became apparent that Homestaydad's cousin could no longer be effectively woken up. All in all an interesting night! The idea of paying such a premium for drinks in order to receive flirting as a bonus seems decidedly strange as an industry, but after all I'm here to observe and not to judge...

I'm never going to mock the weather again (probably)

This picture's from the day before yesterday, which is why I was able to take it at all...

Went for a drive yesterday morning to see the waves before the worst hit, but taking photos outside the car was practically impossible as the wind was just too strong to stand still. Also enjoyed 6 hours without power (and with shutters over the windows - rather dark). Homestaydad retreated to the car (outside, in a typhoon) because he claimed he couldn't stand being inside with no aircon. Oh, and the car has a TV too.

Woke up this morning to a level of wind noise pleasantly remeniscent of sailing, not the house-shaking, typhoon-shutter-slamming, banshee wail of yesterday. The disaster warning radio is still updating us every so often, but the rain has stopped and we're certainly out of the worst of it now.

Not sure this really does justice to the noise or force, but it gives a bit of an idea...

A light breeze

All going very well on the island - I've already started bumping into people I've met the previous day, demonstrating just what a small small place this is. Went for a run up (and round) Mount Fuji. Hachijo Fuji that is, smaller than the Honshu version by a factor of about 5, but the view here is probably better if you ask me. There's a field up at the top where a herd of Friesians and Holsteins are at work producing delicious milk. They're not milking themselves, but you know what I mean... The local alcohol is indeed delicious, the stinky fish product is indeed stinky (should have guessed that I suppose).

Today's excitement is the visit of Fitoh, "Beautiful Flower" - who names these things?! Should be up to a blustery Force 13+ this afternoon. Went out earlier (in the car, walking not possible) to take some photos of the waves, but it was pretty much too windy to hold up the stupid camera. Will try again when it's gone past, as the waves should persist for a while I suppose... The typhoon shutters are shut, the power is currently still running, and so there's nothing for it today but to sit indoors and study, accompanied by the howling of the wind.

H.O.T.

I'd assumed it was just the unbearably hot Summer that we'd been promised (in a characteristically melodramatic fashion) for the past few months. However, apparently yesterday was the hottest day in Japan ever, and twelve people died from heatstroke. Tokyo has been in the high 30s for a few days now (instead of the low-to-mid 30s) and I honestly don't think it's that different. But what do I know, I wear a t-shirt in the middle of winter so I'm obviously unqualified to talk about temperature.

Very relieved to have the final school exam out of the way after a looooooooooooong 11 months of constant testing. It's like being... well, in school I guess. I now know considerably more about Taiwan and Korea than I did last September, and I think I may even have accidentally picked up some Japanese grammar along the way.

Planning continues for my one-month exile to the Australia-of-Japan next month. I now have a list of what I'm told is ALL of the exciting things on Hachijo (geothermal powerplant included) and two weeks tomorrow I can start ticking them off. It's going to be very strange being in such a resolutely un-'Tokyo' place, but I'm certainly not complaining because that's specifically what I had in mind. Am hoping to be able to go along on a proper commercial fishing trip when I'm there, with any luck not to anywhere that will involve being captured by the Russians.

Oh dear, too busy actually DOING things

Er... rode my bike a around a lot, climbed a few more of the Hundred Famous Mountains, surfed the end of the typhoon, climbed Fuji, watched a lot of fireworks (23,000 apparently), confirmed that I'll be spending September here (most fun if you zoom out; also, the island's most famous product is a type of salted fish that's basically called 'stinky' in Japanese - can't wait!) and October-April here. Just witnessing Abe getting a drubbing in the Upper House elections, but I refuse to believe that'll change anything.

Will honestly try to update this a bit more frequently on the off-chance there's still anyone out there...

From the Taker of the Clouds to the Hawk's Nest

Two-day hike was the next adventure on the cards, finally getting up to over 2k, and staying in a hut overnight. The hut was very pleasant indeed, although I could have done without the Japanese hikers' desire to get up at 04:45... The first day was rather more challenging than planned, when the temporary loss of the path prompted a 45-minute-plus scramble up a very steep slope, gripping onto one tree after another. I promise never to complain about steps ever again.

Kumotoriyama

Kurayami Matsuri

The most atmospheric, and noisiest, festival I've seen so far. A very, very large taiko drum and a whole set of 1200kg+ portable shrines made for a memorable, and memorably deafening spectacle. The videos just can't do it justice I'm afraid. Unless maybe you turn the volume up to maximum and put your head right next to the speaker...

Kurayami Matsuri

Jitensha Adventure II

Cycled from home to the sea (well, Tokyo Bay) and back. The ruthless management of nature means that on the river-side of the huge flood-defence banks there are plenty of golf courses, baseball fields etc. Confirmed that Tokyo is better than Kanagawa (of course). Also, the view got steadily worse and worse, so turning round was certainly a relief...

Jitensha Adventure II

Hojo Godai Festival, Odawara

What happens if most of the inhabitants of a reasonably-sized town dress up in Shogunate-era costume and parade around. Not sure what was my favourite, although the musketeers certainly had the best costumes, and the best boys' toys of course...

Hojo Godai Matsuri

Tanzawasan

The following day headed to Tanzawasan in an attempt to shake off the infirm by choosing a slightly more challenging hike. However, it was still swarming with the over-60s, generally kitted out in gaiters, fleeces and all. Interesting 'ladders', which wouldn't have been much fun if it had been wet.

Tanzawasan

Takaosan to Jinbasan

Started Golden Week (a whole load of public holidays all stuck together) by going and climbing Takaosan with grannies, infants, girls in kitten heels, and one blind person (and they were the ones who didn't take the cable car). Didn't feel particularly heroic, although the views were pretty good, especially on the less crowded stretch to Jinbasan. Ran the last section downhill in the twilight - standard. Oh, and drawn to the roadside by an odd frog-like noise (whose source was never located) I was surprised to find a crab.

Takaosan to Jinbasan

Waseda-Keio Boat Race

Joined the Waseda supporters for the races, and were rewarded with their victory in all of the various races. Why didn't we ever get either cheerleaders or scary fascist-looking rabble rousers...? Bonus points for fist-clenching and giant flag, although the serious note was somewhat undermined by the balloon-sitting contest.

Waseda-Keio Regatta

Long, long overdue update...

I'd claim I've been busy and that's why I haven't written anything for ages, but I'd have to admit that it's not just grammar and kanji that are occupying my time...

Komazawa Olympic Park - built for the 1964 Games, now amusingly retro but somewhat depressing too.

Komazawa Olympic Park

The wit and wisdom of Ishihara Shintaro

I dearly love the Governor of Tokyo, re-elected yesterday for another four years.

On Koreans and Taiwanese: "with Sangokujin [a wartime and post-war racist slur referring to Koreans and Taiwanese] and foreigners committing serious crimes, we should prepare ourselves for possible riots that may be instigated by them at the outbreak of an earthquake". He is presumably advocating their being beaten to death by mobs like the unfortunate Koreans after the 1923 earthquake.

On foreigners: "Roppongi is now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans — I don't mean African-Americans — who don't speak English are there doing who knows what. This is leading to new forms of crime such as car theft. We should be letting in people who are intelligent."

On the unsuitabilty of French as an international language: "it is a language in which nobody can count".

On women: "old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin". In refusing to apologise for this comment, he suggested that criticism of him was driven by "tyrant old women".

His current major target: hayfever.

Easter Holiday / Spring Break / Haruyasumi

I made the most of our meagre one week holiday from school by travelling pretty much as far west as I could, using only very very slow trains, thanks to a strange rail pass. As I live here I can't get the fantastic pass that allows everyone on a tourist visa to swan around on the bullet trains (on condition that they leave the country after a maximum of 90 days...) This meant that my travelling may have cost less than £40 in total, but everything took about three times as long as it would have done by bullet train. Oh, and just because it runs during the night, you can't claim it's a 'sleeping' train if you NEVER TURN THE LIGHTS OFF AND MAKE LOUD ANNOUNCEMENTS EVERY 20 MINUTES. Still, plenty of time for kanji learning... I'll fill in some more details in a couple of days, but here are the photos from my various adventures:

Some sightseeing in Tokyo before I left. Can shiny (but nonetheless fundamentally restricted) redevelopment for the super-rich ever truly benefit a city? Discuss... Oh, and I got Ando to sign a book (or two in fact). Excitement!

Sandankyou gorge, near Hiroshima. I was worried that it might rain. It didn't, choosing instead to snow, heavily, for hours. Concerned that I might miss the bus, I chose to run most of the downhill sections of the way back. Mmmm, slippery! Also, the waterfall that I had been assured was the most beautiful had been turned off by the dam at the head of the valley. JAPAN!

Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrine. One of the 'three great views' of Japan, enhanced I'm sure by getting up at 6.45 and sharing it for the first few hours with only the deer and the monkeys. Lesson of the day: if Japanese people say a climb is hard, they're not joking.

Asosan. Like a mountain, but with a hole in it and loads of poisonous smoke coming out. Ash-ridges that look like they might a) provide a good viewpoint for a photo and/or b) be fun to slide down may in fact be perched on top of a sheer drop to the crater floor.

Oh, and of course no April in Japan would be complete without cherry blossom. It was actually really nice to be reminded that nature still exists in Tokyo, even if this reminder mainly consisted of sitting on blue vinyl sheets drinking a lot (along with hundreds of thousands of other people), and taking a ridiculous number of photos of what is, when all's said and done, a tree.

Sunset, Sea and Spa

Last Wednesday was the Vernal Equinox, otherwise known as 'day off school', so I decided to head off to the end of one of the train lines that runs near to the flat. For the princely sum of about 3 quid I got to travel in comfort all the way to the mainland side of the bridge to Enoshima, a small island to the South-West of Tokyo, near Kamakura.

Photos are here. The island was mainly sold to an English merchant in the 19th Century when Emperor Meiji was on his drive to promote state Shinto in favour of Buddhism. Nothing remains of his house, although there's an excavation of the 'interesting under-floor heating system', as well as a garden with various areas dedicated to twinning with such glorious locations as Kunming and Miami (well, Fujisawa is apparently the 'Miami Beach of the East').

The particularly Japanese crowning glory of the island is the observation tower / lighthouse. It towers (obviously) over everything else, and while the view from the top is certainly pretty spectacular, I can't help being rather worried by my seemingly Japanese acceptance of this particular piece of scenery-destruction.

The brand new spa on the island was surprisingly cheap and luxurious, and boasted the nicest public bath facilities I've been in since I got here, as well as two floors of in- and outdoor pools with great views over the sea. And even a light show, which was much better than it sounds.

All in all, not a bad Wednesday afternoon. Downsides: Thursday felt like Monday, and a two-day week isn't really enough to build up any desire to punish self with kanji. Next week is Spring Holiday (finally - I've gone from 24 to 44 weeks of term), I promise to do something interesting...

Fire-walking at Takaosan

Having just about dragged myself out of bed on a rainy Sunday morning (and bearing in mind that it seems to be sunny here almost all the time) I decided to head out to the West of Tokyo to a festival I'd seen mentioned on some posters in the station. The train ride provided a great opportunity for some exciting homework, although I'm not sure it really improved my handwriting. About 15 minutes before the destination I was accosted by the Japanese guy who had sat down next to me, who seemed overjoyed that I could speak Japanese and asked me where I was going. He claimed to know nothing about the festival, and so announced that he would come along with me to have a look. When we arrived at the station and I looked a bit more carefully at the signs I realised that (having not bothered to try and read the kanji before) it was actually a 'Fire-Crossing' Festival. My decision to leave my futon seemed to be an increasingly good one...

The festival itself consisted of a great deal of chanting and, unsurprisingly, a large bonfire which was very carefully and ceremoniously lit and then similarly precisely raked out by a group of 'yamabushi' - the modern inheritors of a warrior-monk tradition that mixes both Buddhist and Shinto elements. The participants variously carried extremely heavy things; stood very close to a great big bonfire in order to perform different ceremonial functions; whipped themselves with bamboo saplings soaked in boiling water; and of course, in the grand finale, walked through the raked out, still-smouldering ashes of the fire.

The final part of the experience was the audience-participation stage, preceded of course by a suitable amount of (extremely orderly) queuing. I would say that by the stage I crossed the sacred rope, the pile of purifying salt was rather brown, and the ash was warm rather than hot, but it was certainly still an experience, and I received another blessing to help me through my studies. Also, in a pleasantly karmic fashion, I had my photo taken (without having to ask), by a yamabushi in spectacular purple robes, whose picture I had taken a few times already.

Then the last few gulps of the delicious clean air and back on the train for Tokyo...

Here are some selected photos:

26 - Takaosan Hiwatari Matsuri