Ogi-machi

After a very chic breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we set off for a small visit of the other sites of Gifu prefecture. These included some marvelous little local markets, and a nice natural source footbath.

Then for lunch, we decided to go to another main point of Gifu life: ayu fishing. Now ayu are mainly plant feeders, and so the main fishing method is to tie a live ayu to the fising wire and attach hooks all around it. You then throw the live ayu in the water, where it (hopefully) swims into another ayu's territory and gets attacked, thereby snaring the other ayu on one of the hooks attached around it.

Ayu grilled in salt over coal

Seeing the enormous number of ayu eaten every day in this region alone, it is obvious from the start that traditional ayu fishing cannot be the only way of catching them. And indeed, it isn't. The most used way of catching ayu is a huge bamboo fish trap contraption, in which the river water is diverted and falls quite fast onto a bamboo mesh, stopping the fish from going through, and, I assume, stunning them enough that they cannot jup back into the stream above.

What neither I nor any of the japanese had expected to find while visiting a temporarily closed ayu trap, was the huge giant salamander, quite dead, that had washed up on the bamboo slats. Having only ever seen it in aquariums, it was sad to see the first wild one so totally dead, which kind of punt a damper on the party for a while (it is a "natural monument" in Japan, although everyone agreed the translation was rather odd).

We did eventually find an open ayu farm, but had only ayu from their stock, as the fishing was not good at this time, it having been raining too much. More rain is what we got just as we were finishing lunch, but that, if anything, just made the countryside even more beautiful, filling the valleys with spirals of cloud.

And the rain was really just a shower, so everything had nicely dried up by the time we reached the small village of Ogi, near Shirakawa. This is a UNESCO world heritage site, and well worth the protection. The village is entirely made up of old traditional wooden houses, for the most part with thatch rooves, and what is even more excuisite, is that the village is still inhabitted, and people live and farm there.

It being a high-mountain village, it does look quite similar to the old villages one finds in the Alps, but those hardly ever have japanese ornamental gardens.

And here (an unthinkable thought in the Alps), there is not a geranium in sight. I did not see a single one in the whole village.

And, of course, the thatch is made of rice stalks...

We stayed till closing time, then made our way back through the mountains at dusk, and out into the kansai plains on the other side. An amazing visit.

Hachiman

We set off saturday morning at 2am for Gifu prefecture, and at around 7am drove into one of the most beautiful montain villages I have ever seen.

Hachiman, also known as Gujo-Hachiman as it's part of the bigger city Gujo, is a smallish town in a beautiful mountain valley, with 2 rather nice size rivers flowing through it, and many many many small streams. Every road and alleyway has gutters of gurgling water, and there are innumerable canals running between the houses, most of them filled with an amazing number of huge carp.

The houses themselves are still very traditional, which means they don't look solid enough to last through the winter, and yet have obviously been there quite some time.

They also look as if whoever constructed the second floor did so in complete disregard of what style might previously have been employed to build the first floor. This makes the 2- and 3-floor houses look like something from the children's books where you can flip the pages to dress the characters in different clothes.

As the town started to wake up, we had a pleasant little visit, enjoying the cool morning air, before moving on to one main attraction of this town: the plastic food company! Japan is known for its displays of terribly life-like plastic food displays outside of restaurants and bars. And here is one of the places where such displays are made!

Look but don't eat! It's all silicons gel....

We even got to have a little hands-on class of tempura-making. (On the photo I am making the decorative lettuce leaf).

As we got into afternoon, the coolness quickly evaporated to be replaced by a swealtering heat only confined valleys can achieve. And so the local youth moved on to what appears to be their favorite summer occupation: jumping off the bridge into the (freezing cold) river below. Or at least the boys do. The girls either cheer them on from the bridge or get their wet suits on and paddle around in the swimming area near the bridge.

Leaving the rest of the party to swim around in the river, I wandered up to Hachiman castle, one of the main features of the town.

Like seems to be rather common in Japan, this castle spent its lifetime being beuilt, torn down, rebuilt in a different style, burnt down and finally rebuilt again, so that this actual castle is from 1933. It is wooden covered in white plaster which makes it really quite beautiful, sitting atop the mountain. I did not go inside it, though, as there is only a museum in there, and as far as I can tell, they re-built it as a museum in 1933.

And finally, after a delicious dinner of fish, fish and more fish (the local specialities), we got to the point of our trip, the Obon festival! And all dressed up as we should be!

This is half traditional, with a small band platform with singers and a few musicians, which sets in the middle of a square, while the crown join in the traditional dancing, moving up and down the roads on each side of the square. The other side of the town saw a normal village fair, with some small attraction stands (shooting and darts are really big here), and lots and lots of food stands, many of them selling unknown things fried in batter.

It was a very fun evening for all (we had some extra excitement when we had to fish one of the girls' telephone out of the carp pond), but I was glad to slip into bed for some well-deserved sleep!

Kyoto

Maiko-san

My friend Nanae most kindly invited me to come to go house in Hyogo (near Kobe) for a few days with her, as she was going back on vacation.

So after work on Friday we packed into her car, and set off towards Hyogo. The countryside changes drastically once you get past the coastal plains of Kanto, and, driving West, with the haze of high humidity, it was like driving through an old japanese ink painting.

We then drove through a huge tea-growing area, which makes some of the finest tea in Japan. I am rather unsure of the electic fans on poles, but every single field we drove past had them, so I am guessing it is an essecial step of tea-growing.

This week-end was a big holiday all over Japan, as the 15th of August is the day the ancestors come back from wherever they usually are. And so everyone goes back to their family home, to put flowers and offerings on the tombs, to show the ancestors they aren't forgotten.

This means there is a huge rush of outgoing traffic from Tokyo, and even more so going towards Kansai, as the tradition is strongest there.

So it took us quite a long time to get to Nanae's house, and about half of it was in night-time, the sun setting quite early here.

Modern art created by long exposures on a bumpy road

Nanae's family is absolutely charming, and quite as crazy as she is. And they live in a beautiful big old wooden house with perfectly-kept japanese gardens. A true delight.

But the point of my vacation was not to just mope around the house! So after a rather short night, and after a small ceremony to the ancestors, we set out for Kyoto.

Kyoto is a huge city, but luckily, most of the old quarter is huddled around the central hill, all in easy walking distance. Well, the distance is easy. The fact it was an absolute scorcher of a day with not a whiff of wind in sight made it all an exhausting experience.

But we did not let meer meteorological factors stop us, and had a very nice visit of all the temple complex and old shopping streets surrounding it.

Although the temples around Yokohama are staring to all look a bit the same, these were refreshingly different, and, as in Okinawa, clearly stated 'we are the hub of the kingdom'. This was true for many years in Japan, and still is, for many Kyoto and Osaka residents.

August

August is an absolutely horrible month to be in Japan. Summer is not my favorite month at the best of times, and I will certainly not be changing my mind this year!

It is not actually that hot, usually being closer to 30° than 40°. But as the normal humidity levels are around 70 to 85%, one tends to melt after even the smallest physical effort.

All this to say that long hiking trips and such are absolutely out of the question.

But all this is no excuse for not posting on the blog for so long, as I haven't been not doing anything all these weeks!

It being so hot and humid out, the first things one wants to do of a week-end is to go to the beach! This I did with a friend from the house, to make it even more fun.

Fist, we went to the beach at Zushi, it being the closest by train. It was like a completely different beach from what I had previously seen, the road-side lined with bars and beach booths, and the sand literally crammed full of people, all with parasol and tents.

We finally found a spot for our towels right at the edge of the swimming area, and had an enjoyable afternoon in the water, with Fuji-san peeping through the clouds in the background.

The week after, we decided that although Zushi was close, there were just too many people, so we set off to find ourselves a smaller beach. This we did, and spent a very enjoyable day at a minute little beach further down the coast from Zushi. The water was beautiful, and there were hardly any people at all, so was totally worth the longer time to get there.

Another fun event of August was the beach volleyball contest held at Uminokoen, near Kanazawa-hakkei. I had head of it through the folks at the lab who were participating in it, and decided to go cheer them on. What I had not realized, was that it was a huge event, with more than 400 teams participating!

Despite some of the JAMSTEC teams being quite good, they just could not compete with teams from volleyball clubs, and so by late morning everyone had retired to the blanket they had set out for the consolation prize, which was a cooler full of beer.

And of course, one of the biggest events in August in Japan are hanabi, firework displays. They are literally everywhere, and on week days, too. As it gets dark quite fast, most fireworks are from 7 to 8pm, which leaves time for everyone to get home, and doesn't make anyone miss work. This means everyone can go, and it is traditional to wear your yukata to go.

A few weeks ago I had in fact bought a yukata, and so my friend Nanae, with whom I work, shoed me how to tie it all up, and off we went to see fireworks! I would like to point out this point that it was by general concensus rather than personal choice, that my yukata is pink.

It is very fun going to the fireworks, both the fireworks themselves, which are absolutely magnificient, and simply watching all the people, both in traditional and modern wear.

wisdom

Japan, land of wisdom and meditation.

Land of succinct thoughts.

However, when our mind gets awed by the haiku and sayings of the japanese elders, we can always step down into modern-day Tokyo, and find a different kind of wisdom on the walls of the pachinko parlours.

The shop where is filled with pleasure full loading, smiles.

More entertainment space best more happily comfortably.

We are brought up by warm encouragement of local people.

If enjoy a pachinko and a slot; from where if spend time of the best, it is wrong here, and is not is comfortable, and happy!

Not that this is any less deep, as I have yet to grasp the whole concept of the last line. Shall have to meditate a bit longer on this one.