I was in the small town of Suwa on Sunday, and had lunch with friends at a cafe owned by an Iranian man. The coffee was good and the chicken curry with flat bread was excellent. We lingered over our coffees, visiting and occasionally chatting with the owner who of course asked where we were from because that’s just what you do here when you see other non-Japanese. Three of us are from America, one is Canadian. When it came time to leave, we each paid individually and I was the last to pay. As he said goodbye, the owner added — quietly and with a pleasant smile on his face — “Please kill Saddam Hussein.” It was so unexpected I wanted to double-check to see if I’d heard correctly. But it really wasn’t something I wanted to hear again, so I just smiled, waved and left. I’m still wondering if it’s what he actually said or something I imagined.
Category: Life in Japan
Zenkoji Go-kai-chyou Receiving Ceremony
Last Sunday saw the unofficial start of Nagano’s most important festival — the Zenkoji Go-kai-chyou. This festival is held only once every seven years at Zenkoji Temple, when a sacred statue of Buddha is revealed to the public. I’m still trying to put together background information on the festival and on Zenkoji, so I’m going to save that for a later post.
The event on Sunday was to celebrate the delivery of a wooden pillar from Matsushiro (a neighboring city) to Zenkoji. The pillar plays a central role in the Go-kai-chyou festival.
I’ve posted photos of the procession and the subsequent ceremony at Zenkoji, along with some videos and sound clips. The video clips will be up on the Photos & Flicks page for a limited time.
The photos are here.
Hirosaki Trip
I had a four-day break from work last weekend, so I took a trip up to Hirosaki, a medium-sized city near the northern tip of Honshu, the main island of Japan.
To get there, I bought a special ticket called the seishun juuhachi kippu, which is only offered during periods that coincide with student holidays. For about US$100, the ticket gives you five nonconsecutive days of unlimited travel on local trains. Cheap, but slow. Travel between Nagano and Hirosaki took 15 hours each way. But I had time to spare, I love riding trains, and the scenery was great.
I rode on six different trains, taking me through many cities and towns along the way:
Nagano –> Arai
Arai –> Niigata
Niigata –> Murakami
Murakami –> Sakata
Sakata –> Akita
Akita –> Hirosaki
Much of the trip between Niigata and Akita was right along the coast of the Sea of Japan. The weather was spectacular and the views were great as the trains traveled through small coastal villages.
Through the mountains between Nagano and Arai, and then again between Akita and Hirosaki, there was still a lot of snow. In Hirosaki, banks of snow remained, but it was melting quickly in the warm, spring sunshine.
I visited Hirosaki because it’s where my great-grandfather lived in the last years of the 1800s. There is a museum in Hirosaki that contains family photos, letters, diaries and more. My grandmother visited the city in 1991 along with her four children for the dedication of the museum. I’ll be posting more about this part of my visit to Hirosaki soon.
I’ve added two photo albums of the trip:
Local trains to Hirosaki:
I love trains.
Nagano to Hirosaki:
Scenery as seen from many trains, and photos of Hirosaki.
I’ve also added nine video clips taken during the trip.
Stern Man
An extreme close-up of a photo I took of a politician speaking from his soundtruck near the station. Typically, Japanese politicians will stand on top of a large van — with huge speakers pointing in all directions — and disrupt the peace with campaign speeches that no one pays attention to.
The man in this photo is not the politician, but one of his entourage who saw me taking the picture and evidently didn’t like what he saw.
Teaching The Kids About War
While flipping through the channels last Saturday night trying to pick up news on the war, I came across a show that was teaching kids about the conflict. It looks like the show (or segment) is called Kodomo Nyusu (Kid’s News). They were using toy props and cartoons to show a trio of very glum-looking kids what was happening in Iraq. It was too bizzare to pass up, so I grabbed my camera and started snapping photos.
Here’s my report…
Sunset Near Myoko
Had a great trip last weekend. I’ll be posting some words and pictures about my travels in the next couple days. In the meantime, here’s a photo I took from the train on my way back to Nagano on Monday. The sun is setting over the mountains between Arai and Myoko-Kogen, about an hour north of Nagano. This was taken while riding the Shinetsu Line (local), the last leg of my 12 hours on local trains. More soon.
Chopsticks Or A Fork?
I got confused tonight about the appropriate utensil(s) for eating salad. (I haven’t really been eating western-style salads over here in Japan, so this hasn’t come up before.) I automatically grabbed some chopsticks, but after a few bites I thought to myself, “This just isn’t right, is it?” So I got a fork, which I’ve always used to eat salad. But it didn’t feel quite right either. I went back to the chopsticks, but now I have no idea which feels more natural in this situation.
Matsumoto Party
Went to Matsumoto last night for a party at a small bar near the station. DJs, dancing and drinking. Caught the 8:40pm local train from Nagano with Rachel. Angelique came north from Shio Jiri, and we met up with Dean in Matsumoto.
Matsumoto Party photos here.
Smoking Girls
This image was on a flyer at the local Japan Railways ticket office. It looks like it’s advertising a gallery exhibit sponsored by JR. Here’s the website. The exhibit is the one called “Kokuren Shonen (UN Boy).”
Hana Anticipation
Spring is just around the corner, and that means the cherry blossoms will soon be spreading across Japan like a pink tide. Starting from the southernmost tip of the country, the progression of blossoms will move steadily northward, followed with rapt attention by the media and a population ready for the annual cherry-blossom viewing parties (a chance to have fun and get drunk outside after the cold, winter season).
Like the ever-lengthening creep of the Christmas season (soon to begin right after Labor Day weekend in America), marketers in Japan appear to be starting the sakura season early.
Suntory has introduced a special flavor to its Super Chi-Hi line of alcoholic drinks called Hana, the Japanese word for flower. Flavored with cherry blossoms (I’m guessing artificial cherry flavor) and lemon, it’s packaged in the lovely pink cans you see above.
Although the cherry blossoms won’t “arrive” here in Nagano for at least another month, the eager folks at the Midori department store just couldn’t wait that long. Earlier this week, they planted two trees in front of the store which were meticulously grafted with plastic cherry blossoms. They looked a little out of place in the falling snow the other day.