Japan IX - Creature Comforts

If you haven't gathered the fact by now, Japan is a strange place...or rather it could appear to be strange if you let it bother you.  Accept it for what it is and the whole place is rather fascinating.  Most things  seem to be done with far more care, consideration and thought than anything we do and a good case in point is the Japanese Bath.

In the West, the traditional 'bath' (which I have to admit I had once a week as a lad....yuuuk!) appears to have been long superseded by the far more hygienic shower.  We tend to run a tub full of moderately hot water, jump in, wash all our bits and pieces...and then lie down in all that dirty, scummy water for a bit of soak.  Then we get out, towel dry and think we're clean but if you care to ponder a second about what you've just been lying in, you're anything but!

The 'Japanese Bath' is a completely different experience.  Firstly, once you've got completely starkers, you go into the washing area and perch on a little stool, where you wash and shower yourself completely clean.  In the West, that would normally suffice,  but in Japan...

...you then go into a hot tub, where a constant temp of about 44deg C is maintained.  The one above was in Takayama and was naturally heated.  The idea is that the hot tub is clean water (and thus other people have been in it) used just for soaking up to your neck and it's absolutely 100%, 24 carat gold plated....wonderful!  You can stay there as long as you like...30mins, an hour, whatever.  I lost track of the time on a couple of occasions so that I was cooked like an overdone lobster when I came out.  The only thing that was missing is a colder 'plunge' pool afterwards, but at Takayama all that was provided was another cast iron bath outside that was equally as hot...

...so I had to have a dip in both!

The traditional Temple lodgings at Nagano, delightful as they were, meant that we had to sleep using futons on the floor and our...

... room in the wonderful Ryokan Yoshimuzu in Kyoto, although smaller, meant that the futons were stored in the sliding cupboards on the right and had to be set out every evening. Now as a bit of a woodworker, I can vouch that although the Japanese use many different timbers, their floor boards are equally bloody hard!  No matter which way I moved, all the sticky-out bony bits eventually seem to make close contact with the floor and it didn't matter which way I turned,  after around thirty minutes or so I was wishing for a nice, soft comfy bed!  The only way that we could get a passable nights sleep was to fold each futon in two lengthwise to form a very narrow, but relatively thick mattress.

Fortunately, I didn't roll off.

Mention must also be made of the 'facilities' or 'Japanese Toilets'.  There are so many hilarious UTube clips that go into great detail, it isn't worth regaling them here, suffice to say that they're all true and that you need a PhD in toilet-savvy science to operate them. Perhaps one of the funniest is the 'Princess' loo...just don't fall off your seat (unheated, bidet-less, toilet variety) laughing!

Japan VIII - Kanazawa

The next port of call (literally) was Kanazowa, bordering on the Sea of Japan.  The first two pics were taken from the train and again show just how densely packed the houses are...I don't think a lawnmower business would do very well...

One of the highlights of Kanazowa are the Kenrokuen Gardens, supposedly one of the most famous landscaped gardens in Japan.  Some of the features were completely exquisite and totally beyond my feeble attempts to capture them on film, but the link and the following shots give just a flavour of the place...

Alyson on one of the many stone bridges spanning countless small rivers...


















....with a view of one of the main lake, complete with landscaped features.

















At the top of the hill, there was a large statue of the Buddha, beside which was a vast pine tree of some description where the branches were supported on wooden poles...

















...with another enormous tree, similarly supported, close by.  Note the deliberate 'exposed root' style of growth, where the small tree has been planted on a mound and over the decades, the soil has been gradually scraped away to reveal the roots, which then harden off.

We also paid an early morning visit to a Geisha district...

...before hordes of tourists descended.  Note also the deliberate and complete absence of electrical poles, which are...

























...one of the more unpleasant features of any town or city in Japan.  Being prone to earthquakes, I suppose it's a 'good thing' to know where all your power lines are in case any of them come down in a 'quake and probably also much easier to fix in the event of one of Mother Nature's little grumbles.

An interior of one of the geisha houses is shown, which is still a working business.  There will be more about geisha later in the Kyoto post, but suffice to say that hiring one of these ladies to entertain for the evening is not for the faint hearted.  Even more so if it's the end of the month and you're a bit short of cash as you'll need to stump up 60,000JPY...

...per hour!











































 One of the rooms in the house contained a display case of of the many types of combs that a geisha requires in order to effect their elaborate and traditional hair arrangement. I took this picture and really didn't think too much about it until I saw a shop in Kyoto later that specialised in geisha combs...a 'simple', two prong, black lacquer comb with extremely delicate inlay was for sale at a very modest price of 460,000JPY.

























There's also a very good Samurai district in Kanazawa and we paid a visit the the Nomura household, where the original armour of it's owner can still be seen in glass case.

 The house also had one of  the most delightful and tranquil small gardens of any that we saw in Japan.

 Finally,  London isn't the only place...

...with Boris Bikes, but these are a bit smaller!

Japan VII - Sublime to the Ridiculous

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, getting around the bigger cities is very easy, once their transport system is understood.  Getting around Japan as a whole, is even easier, especially as our JR passes meant that we had unlimited access to the...





























...Shinkansen, the Japanese network of fast express trains which means that it's possible to travel from one end of Honshu (the main island) to the other in a day.  They are never late and run exactly on time so if, as ours was, the Hikari 10.19 to Fukushima, it will arrive at the platform at 10.16 and depart precisely on time. Travelling on the Shinkansen is one of the experiences of Japan that shouldn't be missed as it's rather like flying at ground level but with a lot more space and without the interminable bloody waiting at airports...I'm quite convinced that if stubby wings extended from the carriages, at 180mph it would start to take-off!

The train pulls into the platform with a scant 100mm to spare and stops exactly, almost to the centimetre, at it's designated point.  The pic below shows the platform markings which correspond to the those on the carriages.  Note also the immaculately turned out young lady ready to assist you to your seat if needed.

That she looks like an airline stewardess is no co-incidence and in point of fact, all JR staff were similarly attired.

One of my particular little phobias is that I have to face forward on a train.  Unlike the British Rail carriages where it's 'pot luck' if you get a forward seat, they all face the right way on the Shinkansen because at the end of the journey...

...a small army of cleaners (complete with white gloves) descends on the train.  One of the things they do is to depress the lever on the seat (shown above)...and the complete thing turns through 180deg!

Having found your reserved seat, the train will very shortly start rolling. My estimation is that by the time the last carriage has cleared the platform, it's moving at around 60mph!  If seats aren't reserved, your ticket has to be stamped (there's a surprise!) by the inspector, who enters at one end, stands to attention, removes his peaked cap...and then bows deeply to the entire carriage before moving down it.

It came as no surprise to learn that all the announcements are firstly, in Japanese but also in English so that shortly after leaving, a voice is heard in a perfectly modulated, female, English accent (note 'English'...nowhere did we hear an American accent)...

"This..is..the..Shinkansen..suuuper.. express..bound..for..Toyko. We..will..be..making..short..stops..at.. Fukuyama..Okayama..Himeji.." etc etc. 

I rains a lot in Japan.  If you thought the current unseasonal heavy rain that we're experiencing in the UK is making for a typical English summer, you need to revise your estimates...

...upwards!

The Japanese never go anywhere without and umbrella and specialist shops can be found everywhere. They even have special adaptations to fix an umbrella onto the back of a cycle...

...shown above, and will even use them riding on a bike.

Physically, the Japanese tend to be a small race of people, but if you look carefully at the cycle in the first picture, it's typical of those found everywhere.  High handlebars with the saddle set at the lowest possible point.  Now I know the Japanese are small, but anyone of any reasonable height is going to get on one of those bikes and smack themselves on the chin with their knees each time the pedals go round!

Japan VI - Matsumoto & Takayama

Matsumoto was the next stop on the tour, but before I briefly discuss the main attraction of the town, the pic above may be of some interest.  As a woodworker, I can't resist a 'bucket of rust' and whilst browsing amongst the back streets (where all the interesting little shops are to be found) I came across a tiny place selling bric-a-brac, amongst which were these boxes of old Japanese tools.  Chisels, mallets, planes, hammers, saws...you name it, it was there.  I was sorely, sorely tempted to buy a plane blade, but the one I wanted (because it hadn't had the life beaten out of it with a bloody great hammer) was 30,000JPY which is just a little too much (and not really a bargain) when the provenance can't really be established...after all, it might be a totally useless, in which case I'd have been better off spending it on something else (which I did...eventually!)

Without doubt, the main attraction of Matsumoto is the 'Black Crow' castle and one of only four listed in Japan as a National Treasure.  What makes Matsumoto castle unique is that it's one of the few remaining castles built entirely of wood, though others are in a current state of preservation.  What is staggering is that this castle, along with many others, was due to be demolished in the 1870's, but was bought an subsequently preserved by a far sighted individual.




















































This pic shows the very top, or fifth floor which is where the Samurai lord and his senior retinue gathered when the castle was under siege whilst the...

...one above was taken directly into the apex of the roof and shows some of the intricate joinery that the carpenters used to build the structure.

















The floors, naturally enough, are linked by stairs and the pic above shows one of the steepest.  I estimated that it rose at around 60deg and the distance between each of the treads was approx 40cm...also bear in mind that although this was awkward for tourists laden down with backpacks and cameras, at one time, samurai in full armour, complete with weapons, would have been charging up and down.

And finally, on the way out of the castle, we were directed through the gardens where I snapped...


















...this absolutely stunning azalea and before you ponder, no, the image hasn't been Pshopped!

Having spent a day in Matsumoto, we then transferred by coach to Takayama, a small town further up into the foothills of the Japanese Alps...

...where I spotted this intriguing road sign, bowing to the traffic to inform it that there were road works ahead.  So sorry.

















The lodging house in Takayama was a traditional, family run ryokan, shown above...

















...with the 'lounge' or recreational area depicted above.  Note the low table, tatami mats and lack of footwear.

















Tom, our guide, took us out on a very pleasant tour of the town, after which we had some free time to explore on our own.  In many ways, these smaller towns are more pleasant to potter round than the very big cities, which can be a bit overwhelming (that is until you get used to them)  As we set off from the ryokan, I spotted this craftsman busy honing his chisels on the pavement.

















It's the tradition in Japan that most practical work is done at ground level, either seated or kneeling.  I stopped to have a brief natter (insofar as the language barrier would permit) and had a look at his chisels...they were as 'sharp as sharp' and very well used...see how short they are on the raised step.

The tour continued with some miso tasting at a local establishment where it was produced.  I intend to mention Japanese food at length in a further Blogpost, suffice to say though that this stuff was quite pleasant...in other places that definitely wasn't the case!  However the...

...sake tasting later on was much more to my liking, shown here being slurped out of a wooden cup.
One of the things that Takayama is renowned for is it's woodwork and during our free time I by chance came upon a contemporary furniture store.

What was astounding to me were the huge lumps of prepared timber that lined the wall, some with a price tag of around 800,000JPY or roughly £8000.  It seems that modern Japanese furniture, particularly tables is very much influenced by George Nakashima and I guess the idea is that the potential customer picks through the slabs of timber and having decided on a particular lump, it then gets made into a table-top for your dining room suite.

One of the highlights of our brief stay in Takayama was a visit to a local folk village just outside the town, where there were many traditional houses and crafts to be seen....

















...one of whom was a delightful lady called Mitumo Hiroko, who was producing her own woodblock prints, one of which found it's way into my bag.  By the entrance to the village was a traditional barrow with peasant garb, which the tourists were encouraged to don...

...so I did!

As I said earlier in this marathon post, Takayama is famous for it's woodworkers, especially it's carvers who can be found all over the town.  They work almost exclusively in Japanese Yew, which isn't dissimilar to the European variety and like our own home grown timber is capable of yielding work with very fine detail.

Remember that fundage that I had in Matsumoto?  I didn't leave Takayama empty handed, but, I hasten to add, my wallet was considerably lighter than 30,000JPY...

Japan V - Nagano

Having boarded the Shinkansen (of which a lot more later) the next stop on our trip was at Nagano, in the foothills of the Japanese Alps.  We were staying in traditional lodgings (above) attached to the Zenkoji temple and which were mainly used by visiting monks.  Accommodation was in the typical Japanese style with shoji (paper screen) windows, a tokonama (or raised display area, shown behind me) and tatami mats.


















It's a Japanese custom that whenever a house is entered, there is usually a single step up into it and it's at this point that shoes are discarded and slippers (if provided) must be worn.  When we were shown into our room, it had no less that eighteen tatami mats (and was the largest room in the lodgings) and on entering the room, slippers were removed in favour of either bare feet or socks as it's considered impolite to walk on a mat with slippers.  The Japanese size their buildings by the number of tatami mats it will accommodate, so if your bedroom is a '4 tatami mat' size, there's not much room to swing a cat, let alone lie down.  Conversely if you can boast that your apartment is say, 150 tatami mat size, that's probably a pretty big gaff!


















After lunch, Tom, our guide suggested that it might be interesting to visit a local sake brewery, for a little bit of imbibing...which we all dutifully did.  Sake is a bit of an acquired taste,  but it's a taste I soon acquired!

The highlight of this stop was a very early (5.30am) tour of the temple, given by a local guide (above) where it was possible...

...to see the head monk (under the red umbrella, above) blessing those waiting in line.  Unfortunately, at this point in the tour, I'd developed a nasty cold and didn't really feel up to this little excursion, but I did make the....



















...'delights' of the Japanese breakfast shortly afterwards.

















As ever, Alyson managed to get her Goshin Chou book signed at the temple by a beaming official.

Matsumoto and the 'Black Crow' castle next...to be continued