To the art island...

Last time we went to Naoshima it was freezing cold.

 

Naoshima has a special place in my heart. Pumpkins, beaches, galleries, cool art oddities scattered all over the place and a laid back vibe. It’s one of my favourite places in Japan. K and I will be visiting for an overnight stay this weekend. We’ll be camping in a yurt next to the beach. If it remains dry, then it should be a beautiful, relaxed weekend. If it rains then…well let’s just hope it doesn’t rain.

I’ve been quite health-focused recently. I’ve done a lot of exercise and am keeping an eye on what I’m eating and drinking. I’ve also barely (with a couple of exceptions) smoked since coming back from Tokyo. To be honest, I love smoking to the extent that it almost feels like a hobby. But it’s not quite as awesome as it used to be. I really hate giving up and the side-effects that go with it-that’s as good an incentive as any not to lapse. I have very weak willpower and I do like chocolate an awful lot (particularly when it’s covering Macadamia Nuts or involves green tea), so I slip into bad habits sometimes. I also find it difficult to eat food in sensible quantities. Even when I eat stuff that’s healthy, I tend to eat too much of it.

In possibly-related news, I’m going to (for complicated reasons) be getting a free, sporty car when I get back to the UK. When you put all of the above together-exercise, weight gain, practical wearing of tights in winter, shaving of head and driving of a silly car I suppose it does sound a bit like a mid-life crisis. But they’re meant to happen when you’re 40, right? Seriously though, I think it is just a coincidence, but it does feel like a lot of grown-up things are all happening at once right now. I’ve even started to get a thrill from gardening recently. Maybe I should just do a Mark Oaten and get it over with? Probably best not to.

A Trip Round The Islands - Shiraishi

Shiraishi Island is one of those places that’s great not for any intrinsic qualities, but because of the fun times you have there. The beach isn’t especially pretty and the hikes, whilst enjoyable enough, are not particularly spectacular in my opinion. There’s only one bar. The beach isn’t all that clean.

But this was the second time we’d visited the island and we had a supremely awesome weekend. The first occasion that we came to Shiraishi was last August for a “group bonding” day. It was fun to hang out with the other JETs and we did a pretty but painfully hot walk up to the island’s observatory. This time, we decided to take it easy and spend as much time as possible on the beach.

I’m not really a beach person-I enjoy reading in the sun for about an hour, but anything more tends to get a little dull. However, Shiraishi has a friendly bar on the beach run by a Japan Times journalist and her husband. The bar keeps things moving along nicely with reasonably priced cocktails, offers of food and by making a bonfire to keep people out there until late at night.

I really wanted to swim but there were loads of jellyfish on the first day. I’d never seen jellyfish in the wild before, so it was pretty cool. I did get to jetski for the first time which was amazing, though I had my eyes shut for most of it and almost crushed the chest cavity of the guy who took me out. Never take me out on a fast moving vehicle. I will crush your chest by mistake.

Back at the International Villa, we bumped into the other guests and one couple offered to cook dinner for everyone else staying there. We were incredibly grateful for this and had one of the most delicious, enjoyable meals since arriving in Japan. They wouldn’t even let me wash up, no matter how much I insisted. Gyoza, duck, salad, crackers and all sorts of nice things. The guy next to me kept trying to get me drunk on shochu and semi-succeeded. If this kind of thing didn’t happen so often I’d have been blown away by it. This type of kindness is one of the main reasons why I’d recommend Japan so enthusiastically as a place to live.

School feels like a slog at the moment. There are 2 months left and I’m not sure I want to be teaching my (increasingly rowdy) students for the rest of my time in Japan. But I do usually enjoy the lessons once they get going.

I also completed my first week of running and found some beautiful Okayama countryside. I just need to cut out the huge slabs of cheese that I’ve been consuming and I’ll be fine. Mmm. Cheese.

A Quiet Thursday Night

I like going to see movies in Japan. It’s comforting to do something that is such a regular part of my routine back in the UK. I’m a member of the British Film Institute and will usually see at least one movie a week if I can, either at the National Film Theatre or the Soho Curzon (depending on how much money I have at the time). Since coming to Japan, my visits have become much less frequent. We have an arthouse cinema in Okayama which shows the occasional offbeat foreign film. Meanwhile, the larger cinema chains will show major US films, particularly the action/superhero ones. At the same time, we don’t get everything. Many of my friends in Okayama are annoyed that our prefecture will not be showing The Muppets movie. Having seen and enjoyed it, I think they’re right to be disappointed.

So last night I headed to the local shopping centre/mall with some friends to see The Descendants. Now I’m a great fan of the film Sideways, which is by the same director. I love Paul Giamatti, the California countryside looked beautiful, I felt great empathy with the characters and it was very funny indeed.

The Descendants has many of the same ingredients, a similar style and some strong performances. But it isn’t quite as good. At times it’s quite affecting as it shows people’s imperfections and a family dealing with the grief process. At times it’s also lightly funny in a small smile rather than David Cameron-Rebekka Brooks LOL TORIES=NUMBER 1!!! way. Great soundtrack too.

But it’s not really smart enough or funny enough to really make it for me. For a start, the plot is quite predictable, especially if you’ve seen any of Alexander Payne’s other movies. Then there’s the family dynamic which starts off chaotic but then has everything seemingly resolved a couple of scenes later. The older daughter appears to become a responsible adult over a time period of about three days.

As for George Clooney-as always he’s charming and competent. I didn’t believe in his character for a moment because he was, after all, George Clooney, but he did a decent job. I think they might have been better going with somebody less good-looking and maybe even less sympathetic. Jack Nicholson would have been great (Yeah-I know I’m not exactly sticking my neck out here as Jack Nicholson is almost always great), or even Bill Murray.

It reminded me very strongly of A Serious Man, one of the Coen Brothers’ greatest films and maybe the one that deals best with disappointment and family breakdown. Unfortunately, Clooney isn’t really in the same league as Michael Stuhlbarg, but nobody is, really. Clooney’s actually made a whole series of so-so films now. I really disliked Up In The Air and this is a much better movie, but that’s not a fair comparison maybe. All in all, one for a Sunday night on DVD maybe. But hey, we have limited opportunities here and it was fun to invade the multiplex and practice Japanese with the subtitles.

Afterwards we wandered to Ario Mall for churros and were then predictably chucked out by the security guard. So we sat outside the mall, feeling a bit like teenagers. I enjoyed that.

I'm Gonna Miss This Place

Yesterday I received a letter from my BoE that made me tremble slightly. “Dear ALTs, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all of you for your contribution to the promotion of English education and international understanding in our prefecture…you should decide the date of your departure…obtain an estimate for your plane ticket home…to your departure airport….”

Yes. It’s time to book my flight home. I’m getting out of Okayama on the first or second of August. I will be flying back to Heathrow Airport where I will laugh at my home country’s woefully inadequate immigration procedures for the Olympics. I will then have a few days to get my affairs in order, pick up the Daisycat from our friend and get my things out of storage. On 7^th August, I will return to my UK job working 9 to 5 for the British government.

The new JETs are now starting to get their placement information. I remember when I received my letter this time last year-“Okayama Prefecture”. I had absolutely no idea where it was and went on a google-blitz, dragging up amusing youtube videos and unreliable Wikipedia pages saying that it was famous for its rural character and sunshine. “Famous” being a word that is greatly over-used in Japan when describing tourist destinations.

I have been so lucky to live in this beautiful part of Japan. To get Okayama City was a lucky break. I’ve had access to the city life that I can’t do without, whilst being surrounded by rice fields and some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve seen. Meanwhile, the shinkansen station is a 5 minute journey away, making travel around Japan straightforward and easy. It’s possible that I would have been delighted with any placement, but I still feel like this is a very special place. I’d love to live in Tokyo for a year or two. But if I were to stay in Japan long term, I’d be content to live somewhere as friendly, relaxed and pretty as Okayama. I am madly jealous of all the people who will come here for the first time. Flying into Okayama Airport, drifting and rising over the lush, green hills below us was an experience I will never forget.

K Chan and I are agonizing over where to go for our final Big Trip In Japan. At the moment it’s between Tokyo and Okinawa. We haven’t been to the latter before, but it’s more expensive and there’s a lot that I still want to do in Tokyo. On the other hand, the idea of a few days at the end on a tropical island is very tempting.

Stomping Through The Rain

You’re not always aware of how much you’ve missed people until you see them again after a long time apart. Two good friends of mine came to visit me in Okayama yesterday and it was such a dramatically awesome day that I’m faintly dreading my return home to an empty apartment tonight.

It’s starting to heat up. Rainy season is just around the corner and it won’t be long until I’m wearing shorts on a regular basis. I really hate the way that shorts look on me. There has never been a tall person who looked good in shorts-it’s a karma thing to make up for our being able to see the stage at gigs. But anyway, shorts will be worn and sweat will be wiped. I’m even thinking that I might invest in one of those towels that old Japanese men sling round their neck all day in the staff room. I think they’re very becoming.

Meanwhile, this month is all about islands. Rabbit island last week, Shiraishi island this weekend and Naoshima the following weekend. Shiraishi is a reasonably pretty sunbathing spot in the Seto Inland Sea. We’re looking forward to some chilled reading time and a balmy evening stay at the International Villa there. Fingers crossed that the rainy season holds off for another weekend.

It will be our third visit to Naoshima, one of my favourite places in Japan. I have fond memories of wandering the island in torrential rain and being hugely impressed by the Tadao Ando architecture and random bits of art. But this time we are camping in a yurt by the beach. Hopefully there’ll be sunshine, relaxed times and tasty picnics. In practice, it may not turn out that way.

Inspired by my recent ill health, I went out for a run on Monday and I’m probably going to do the same again tonight. It felt good to explore the area round my house and the surprised faces of the elementary school children at a gaijin running directly towards them made me giggle. I cut a fairly ludicrous figure when I run, but that’s part of my supposed charm I guess.

With Your Incessant Talking

Rabbit, rabbit, rab­­bit. If you can’t make a Chas n Dave reference after visiting an island populated almost entirely by rabbits, then what’s the point of having a blog at all?

As well as having some of the most beautiful and interesting tourist attractions in the world, Japan also has some of the tackiest. Recreations of European cities, The Island Where The Fictional Momotoro Slayed A Fictional Demon complete with ACTUAL DEMONS, Dejima, anything that involves a “local specialty” etc.  I’ve taken great pleasure in visiting some of these less worthy destinations. They are sometimes quite charming, with a bit of luck involve figurine recreations of past events and you can usually buy a funny gift or two.

Okunoshima or “Bunny Island” sits somewhere on the borderline between “tacky destination” and being a genuine place of interest.

During the Sino-Japanese war, the government began using the island to research and manufacture chemical weapons. These weapons were used during the following decades to obviously tragic effect. The island was removed from maps of Japan and the work was hushed up. Apparently, train conductors would draw the curtains of carriages as they passed the island so that it could not be seen by passengers. Not sure how effective that would have been. The manufacturing processes were primitive. Many workers and residents of the island became ill, suffered or died as a result of the work.

Industrial Remains

At the end of WW2, the factories were closed and the chemicals destroyed. Rabbits were introduced to the island. They multiplied prodigiously (tame joke avoided) and nowadays the island is known primarily for the large population of tame rabbits who you can feed, pet and generally make a fuss of. My students love the place and quite a few of their “What I did during Golden Week?” presentations involved a trip to the island.

The journey over was pretty painless and we saw rabbits almost as soon as we stepped off the boat. I had a steady supply of carrots that I used to basically buy cuddles. I also had a stick that I carried round with me for a hilarious metaphor-based joke. That didn’t actually happen. I liked how many different types of rabbits we came across. They were all shapes and sizes, ranging from mangy and wild looking to Disney-cute.

Bunny Party!

I’ll maybe admit that I did get a bit bored of the rabbits after a while. But the island itself was quite pretty. We did a pleasant hike up and around the centre of the island. We even saw Japan’s Tallest Pylon (official). It really was very tall!

Japan's tallest pylon!

We also checked out a museum about gas production on the island. Japan’s issues about openly discussing its own history are too complex for me to cover adequately here. But in the 1980s, a museum was opened on the island to show the history of the chemical production. Like the Hiroshima Peace Museum, it has a strong anti-war bias. And like the Peace Museum it is not merely inward looking. In addition to illustrating how gas was made on the island, the museum looks at the effect of the gas in war and makes strong statements against its use, with some unpleasant pictures of its effects during the Iran-Iraq war.

I’ve seen so many museums about war-not just in Japan but in the UK of course, where my favourite museum remains the Imperial War Museum. Japan’s museums on the subject vary tremendously-I have still not visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine and seen the “alternative” viewpoints about the war there. The war is a subject that I avoid as much as possible with my friends here. But anyway, this particular museum was very impressive for its thoroughness and outward perspective.

Now then. Here are some cute pictures of rabbits:

The mysterious and enigmatic K Chan tempts a rabbit.

Unwell Ramblings

Apologies for the lack of updates recently but I’ve been a little under the weather. Last week I started to feel a little strange during my special needs school visit and I haven’t been able to shake it off since. Nothing too serious, but enough to put a dampener on things.

I’m really excited for next week because two of my oldest friends are coming to visit. I haven’t seen them for ages and, well, I miss them. So it will be great to catch up and amuse ourselves with embarrassing teenage memories of kissing the wrong people and suchlike. Also, it will be good to show some friends around my patch as I haven’t really been able to do that yet. Doubtless this will take in yet another trip to the beautiful Korakuen. I must have been there 8 or 9 times now. I always enjoy it but each time I go am irritated that I never bought myself an annual pass as I:d have saved about 20 quid by now.

I was at my special needs school again today and it reminded me of what I meant to say in my last post. Going to the special needs schools has been in many ways a happy experience. But it has also been a little depressing and saddening at times. Many of the students will lead very limited lives in which there will be constant boundaries on what they are able to do. You get a huge outpouring of happiness from them. But speaking to the teachers, they tend to focus on the long term. One teacher commented that she finds it sad because so many of the students will grow up frustrated and irritated by the things they are unable to do. She also said that she finds it difficult knowing that a fair number of the students she teaches may not live that long. Dipping into the school is fine and the nature of my visits means that the students are generally happy because they are pleased to see me. But in many of the ways that matter, they can sometimes be deeply unhappy. When I think about my own circumstances and the things in my life that make me happy-the truth is that many of those things won’t be open to these kids as they develop into adults. It’s desperately sad, when you think about the reality of it.

I’m trying hard not to generalize too much here and I know the above does go slightly against the grain of what we are encouraged to think about disabled/differently abled people having as much potential for achievement and happiness as anyone else, so I hope I don’t sound like an arse in the above paragraph.

In other news, I’m heading to a rabbit-filled island on Sunday. It used to be a research and manufacturing centre for chemical weapons-now it is marketed like a petting zoo. Japan is strange sometimes.

Why don't you like Justin Bieber? Look at him.

Yesterday I was at one of my special needs schools. Of all the unexpected things that I’ve done here, this is the furthest outside my comfort zone. As I’ve said before, teaching was not the reason I came to Japan. It was merely the means by which I could live abroad and see an interesting country. I’d never spent any sustained time around special needs kids and I didn’t know what to expect really.

This particular school is massive. It has elementary, junior and senior high kids. It has the biggest staff room I have seen since arriving here-it’s like an aircraft hangar. There are often as many staff members as students in the lessons, particularly where the students require a lot of help and attention.

In some of the lessons, I have been introducing myself with my well worn self introduction materials that I have probably used about 30 or 40 times now. I’ve had to change them in order to keep it interesting for myself and I recently added AKB48 to my list of “Dislikes”, not because I especially dislike them but just because it always gets a reaction and I enjoy that. Previously, I used Justin Bieber for this purpose but sometimes younger students wouldn’t know who he was. In saying that, one of my students at my base school is always coming up to me with pictures of Justin Bieber and thrusting them under my face with a “why don’t you like him. Look at him Ben-senseii! Look at him!”

We also played some games in which I had to sing. I can’t sing. Not at all. I was okay at singing when I was very little but ever since my voice broke it’s been a fairly dreadful noise. But it was fun. None of the students or teachers could sing either and it was all about just trying to be enthusiastic and not being “above” it or letting on that you’re tired/embarrassed/whatever. I think they appreciate that. So much of being an ALT in Japan is about just doing exactly what you’re told to do but doing it with the right attitude and going out of your way to please people (whilst at the same time not showing too much initiative). In the end, people on youtube/forums/whatever go on and on about what this job is really about but I don’t think it’s all that different to any job back home. Regardless of your level of ability, just being professional, co-operative and calm goes 80% of the way to doing the job well. There’s a 20% which is natural teaching ability which, frankly, I don’t have. But there are other ways you can make up for this and if you are self-critical you can definitely improve over time, like in any job.

Anyway, it was a pleasure to play games with friendly kids all day. I’m really going to miss these random, testing experiences that I come across on a regular basis in my Japan life. I’m constantly having to stretch myself and that’s a really healthy thing. The other thing that I like about the special needs school is that it’s in a really beautiful part of Okayama and surrounded by the greenest rice fields and hills that you’ve ever seen. Every time I go there I get a huge buzz just from looking out the window.

In case it isn’t obvious from the above and from recent posts, I’m starting to freak out about leaving.

Tokyo - Part 3 - The Comedown

Tokyo raises your blood pressure. There are so many endless possibilities that you always feel as if you are running out of time. By the time I left, I felt like I wanted another week in the city to get to grips with it. When I was 21, I went to Barcelona for a week. It was my first time in what subsequently became my favourite European city. That was the only time I have stayed in a foreign city on holiday for anything more than 3-4 days. It makes such a difference to have a big block of time that you can put aside to see everything and mix in some time idling in cafes. I haven’t seen a fraction of what Tokyo has to offer.

It’s absurd that, after living in Japan for a year and having travelled extensively, I will leave the country sick that there wasn’t time to do all the things I wanted to do. I’m starting to see why people freak out on return to their home lives and end up running away abroad again. It will be very strange to go back to my UK day-job less than a week after finishing my contract in Okayama. To suddenly not have the possibility of visiting Tokyo for the weekend will feel very odd indeed.

So we had one day left in Tokyo. I felt slightly sick on the Sunday morning as I had made the bold decision to mix meishu, sake and beer with karupis and shochu. A schoolboy error. Nonetheless, after stuffing a pastry down my neck I felt a little better and we headed to Akihabara. Akihabara is a sort of playground for all your most childish impulses. Some of them not healthy. We headed to the arcades and quickly tracked down the retro-gaming section, my favourite part. I love the simplicity of some of those older games and their relative cheapness.

My friend and I got slightly addicted to Bomberman and an epic tournament began. It was much like being 14 but with marginally more facial hair and a new range of TV comedy in-jokes. After a while, I started getting quite competitive. We almost had to be dragged away from the machines.

So next was purikura. It was fun to show it to our friends and let them design the photos themselves. It’s novelty Japan, but in a good way. Spending so much time with K’s friends from the UK made me wish that my best mate and his wife from back home had been able to visit Japan whilst we were over here. Unfortunately (well maybe unfortunately isn't the right word) he happened to have a kid not long after I arrived, so he never made it out here and I will always be a bit sad about that. The kid’s pretty cool though-he’s only 9 months old but he likes Idlewild and everything.

We took the slow train back to Okayama and I was excited to get my first ever glimpse of Mt. Fuji, which was shockingly beautiful. It’s sometimes called “Fuji-san” here as mountains are often referred to in this way. That means that the direct translation is Mr. Fuji. As in, “don’t the clouds about Mr. Fuji look beautiful today.” This strange non-translation always makes me smile.

The tiger umbrella was lost. Somewhere on the Japan public transport system someone picked up a bright orange umbrella that makes growling noises at uncontrollable intervals. It was truly a sad day. I used my last 1000 yen note to get a taxi home, safe in the knowledge that I could survive on rice for the rest of the week. I spent almost all this month’s pay-check in Tokyo. It was worth it though.

Tokyo - Part 2 - Is this cool or not cool?

Oh Tokyo, I love you. Osaka and Hiroshima have their charms. Okayama feels like home. Kyoto is patchily beautiful. But Tokyo…I want to live there so much. I want to live there to the extent that I would happily commute to Westminster each day if I had the money. I love big cities and I love the sense of overwhelming possibility and fun that you get from somewhere like Tokyo. It really feels like whatever you want and whatever your interests, you can pursue them there. It felt so good to be surrounded by a real mix of people without the homogeny of styles that you see in Okayama. I like the feel of it, the way people are more relaxed when you go out at night, the little communities, the patches of green space inbetween the ugly boxes and the feel of being in a real city with all its faults and problems.

By Saturday, I really needed some time to explore things at my own pace. I love my friends who I was with, but I was desperate to spend some time being selfish. In that vein, I split off from the group and headed to Shibuya to meet my Internet Friend. I’ve never met up with an Internet Friend in real life, but they quickly became a Real Friend and made me envious at their life working in Tokyo. I got introduced to a cool little café near Shibuya and we ended up heading to Shimokitazawa. It was a great little neighbourhood, which felt a bit East London. Lots of little independent shops, plenty of vintage clothes and records on sale. Also plenty of posers of course, but I was in a good mood and had actually missed posers slightly. Besides, I was wearing the scruffy tie look so I’m slightly culpable of posing a little too, albeit rather ineptly.

It was fun to hang out, drink coffee and talk about the perils of Tokyo nightlife. I was a little sad to leave but felt refreshed and more sociable by the time I caught up with everyone at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku. It’s a cool little place, full of oddness and pretty things with a shop that would have stolen all my money if I had had any.

The night started with conveyor belt sushi, progressed to a cheap but crappy gaijin bar, took in a posh high rise look-out spot and ended messily jumping around on the furniture in a karaoke box. We even did Anarchy in the UK for the first time since coming to Japan in a full on Lost In Translation homage. I sort of hate myself for that a bit but it was so much fun.

Tokyo - Part 1 - Adventures In The Rain

Monkeys in the rain.

When I was learning Japanese back in the UK, we used the “Japanese for Busy People” textbook. The book is primarily aimed at business people which meant that, stupidly, I knew how to say “I am a lawyer” before I knew how to say “I’m from England” or “I’m 30 years old”. Anyway, in the style of all classic language text books, there is a chapter about going on vacation, in this case, to Nikko. Ever since reading it, I’ve wanted to go to Nikko. I have a similar wish to visit La Rochelle as described in 5 years of the Encore Tricolore French textbooks at secondary school, but anyway.

Nikko is about 2 hours outside Tokyo and getting there was a big hassle. It was Golden Week, which meant that half the population of Japan was either leaving or arriving in Tokyo. The situation wasn’t helped by torrential rain and signal failures which caused big delays on the trains. By the time we arrived it was late afternoon, pouring with rain and we were irritable with hunger. But we managed to track down some awesome deep fried azuki bun things and jump on a bus to a sightseeing area not far from the centre of town.

We decided to go for a hike. This was what is technically known as a “mistake”. The rain continued at a frightening rate. After about 5 minutes of walking, it became clear that my umbrella was somewhat faulty. Rain trickled down my neck and soaked my arms and legs. Clearly, the T-shirt and suit jacket look was not appropriate today. Still, we continued. Nikko is so green. There’s moss everywhere and the other tourists had (wisely?) stayed away due to the awful weather. We crossed over a terrifyingly strong river and made our way onwards, with a forest to our left and a cute, deserted park on our right. I was squelching by this point-Converse shoes are not built to withstand a puddle, let alone a thunderstorm. But we traipsed on.

(By the way-sorry the photos are such low quality- the iphone pics didn't upload in the correct definition - but hopefully they give the general idea - that we were very wet!)

Hopefully you can make out the torrential rain here.

The further we went, the more it felt like a brilliant act of folly. Yes, we were wet, but man, Nikko is beautiful. Yes, it was probably a mistake but it was also a little adventure and the rain made it more private and satisfying. We cowered under doorways and jumped over huge puddles before eventually making it to a row of monkey statues, all dressed in red bibs, worn down but looking perfect in the rain. Many photos were taken and I continue to be impressed by my friend’s tiger umbrella, pictured here. It even makes growling noises when you press a button (and sometimes by malfunction when you don’t-tiger social faux pas alert!). That umbrella would be an ever present right until the very end of our trip.

The tiger umbrella!

By the time we made it to the hostel we were exhilarated but a little grumpy. The hostel is run by an American guy called Scout who made us feel really welcome. And thank god, for the kotatsu, Japan’s greatest invention of all. My feet were toasty warm within half an hour.

No swimming for us...

My favourite thing about this hostel was that it was located right next to a huge river. We had hoped to go swimming, but as you can see from the photos, the storm had made that impossible. It was cool to sit outside by the water though, having to shout over it as it battered against the rocks. Even better, the men’s shower area overlooked it, so you got to expose yourself to it the following day.

In fact, the following day was mostly spent sitting in onsen and being extremely lazy. Being lazy is one of my favourite things. This was also nice because it meant that K got to spend some quality time with her friend who was visiting as I was starting to feel a bit guilty that they weren’t getting enough time together just the two of them. Maybe this splitting down the ranks by gender is part of the appeal of onsen, like a gentlemen’s club or a hen weekend. One of the guys in the onsen had a huge tattoo covering almost his entire back which no-one seemed to react to in a bad way. Tattoos are generally not welcomed in onsen and those with them are sometimes prohibited. It’s reasonably likely that the guy was yakuza but you can’t exactly ask in that situation. “Excuse me, I can’t help but notice that you have an incredibly intricate tattoo covering your entire back-is that because you are a member of an organised crime organization or do you just like snakes a lot?” Anyway, it was nice to hang out with my mate from back home. We probably should have talked about sport, guns and women. I don’t think we talked about any of those things.  I’m rubbish at being male, I really am.

I loved all the moss in the forest.

Cowering from the rain.

Inbetween Cities

I’m inbetween cities right now. Osaka has been and gone. This time there was no drunkenness or stress and the seediness was happily avoided. Instead, K and I met up with a friend and went on a relaxed wander. In the course of our visit, we saw the aquarium, rambled around a park, found a happily grotty bar and ate terrifying volumes of food. All as it should be.

Osaka is a rough around the edges sort of place and that’s comforting as a Londoner and ex-Manchester resident. Almost immediately after arrival we got talking to a Japanese couple who were in town for a concert, one of whom was sporting a Spiritualized T-shirt. This made me realize that in 9 months of living in Okayama, I have never once seen a Japanese person wearing a T-shirt for a band that I like. I have missed alternative culture a bit (okay-I can see how ridiculous to use “wears a band T-shirt” as some kind of barometer for whatever alternative culture may be, but it sort of makes sense to me.) and it felt good to be surrounded by a greater range of going out options and asymmetrical haircuts. I also like how much more relaxed things are in the city without the risk of being spotted by teachers, parents or, god forbid, students.

Although I head to Tokyo tonight, I realized that I don’t actually have much of a schedule yet. For example, we’re going to visit Nikko and stay nearby-but I don’t actually know very much about Nikko. I feel a bit tourist-blind about it all. We also made the decision to stay in a nice-sounding hotel in the Nikko area, which will be fun-but part of me is like “why aren’t you spending the full 4 days in Tokyo as that’s what you’re interested in?” I also feel like I really need to have some independent time in Tokyo at some point and I’m looking forward to meeting up with friends there and maybe doing some solo exploring too.

Finally, I have become an uncle again. I have an awesome new niece called Martha who I will meet in a few months time. She’s pretty cool, from what I’ve seen so far. It does sometimes feel like my family spawn every 60 seconds, but I’m okay with that.