Jez In Japan

Oh, I'm back aren't I.

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 18:43:48 +0200

Got back yesterday, safe and sound. although now I really wish I had stayed out there longer. Had a really fantastic time out there and have a lot of great memories, but looking back it all seemed to go by in a flash, with so many things left undone. I didn't want to stay out there too long because of the cost, but compared to the cost of flying out there again ... looks like I'll have to start saving!

Expect a massive left-over photo update (and the Himeji and Miyajima photos) shortly.

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Sorry Osaka, I've Got A Long Walk Home

Tue, 31 May 2005 01:41:11 +0200

Its sad to think that my holiday is ending on a similarly worried note to how it began. The deal with my tickets was that I could return whenever I wanted granted I phone them up 24 hours in advance to book tickets. By Sunday evening and another fun night out in Hiroshima I felt tired and thought this would be a good note of which to end the proceedings and return - besides I had work to do I had been unable to complete before venturing forth. However panic set in again as the ticket company's 24/7 hotline was apparently only open 9-5 Monday to Friday leaving me unsure as what to do next as I could not tell what my options would be. Thanks again to Naoko and her patience and understanding as I attempted to unravel the myriad issues.

By this morning (monday) I had calmed down and decided that I hadn't been to Osaka yet and it would be nice to spend a couple of days there as it was looking unlikely I would be able to return this day, and I managed to get through to the air company here to sort this out. However they weren't going to make this easy for me and appeared not to offer nearly the level of flexibility promised when I purchased my ticket. I could not fly out from Osaka, I would have to return to Tokyo and I had a choice between travelling back on Tuesday or Friday - and I had to decide there and then. Unsure as to whether I could really afford to stay here that much longer I went for tuesay, however the other catch was the flight from Milan back to London would again be the next day (exactly 24 hours later in fact) and this time they weren't going to be putting me up in a hotel, oh and the flight from Tokyo would be fairly early on Tuesday so here I am mid afternoon on the Shinkansen between Hiroshima and Tokyo beginning the three day long journey it will take me to get home.

I'm sure once I have got home and recovered the outstanding memories I will have of this trip will be overwhelmingly positive, but right now I'm feeling pretty down as I now don't yet feel ready to go home and certainly not in as inconvenient a way as this, and am now concerned that perhaps when looking back on this holiday I will regret not having done more, particularly with many of the people I have met on this trip spending a lot more time out here than I. I also feel bad as Naoko was exceptionally generous and patient with me over this last night and realising I don't have her mobile number on me I have been unable to thank her and say goodbye properly as I would have liked to have done before I caught my train this midday, especially as her office is just round the corner from the train station it would have been really nice to perhaps have had lunch with her before I left, but it was not to be and as yet I have not contacted her and for all I know is now rather worried about my situation.

Again, I'm sure I'll look back on all this and laugh as I already have done with the previous nonsense on my way here, but it is sad to end it on a low note.

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Miyajima

Tue, 31 May 2005 01:40:35 +0200

Miyajima is one of many small almost tropical (by my standards at least) islands just south of Hiroshima and features the following: A big red gate in the water (very pretty), Deer (agressive little gits once they spot your handful of biscuits) and Monkeys (monkeys apparently on holiday).

Despite being a little dissapointed in not seeing any monkeys, Miyajima is a really nice place - warm, pretty and once up to the top of the cable car - awe inspiring. Sadly I cannot show you much of this as upon setting foot on land it transpired my camera wasn't happy and wasn't going to do anything (try to not to panic Dad I'm sure its only something minor and quite easily fixable), so I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Naoko gets her photos developed before I can share the view.

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Hiroshima

Sun, 29 May 2005 05:54:36 +0200

My friend Naoko lives in Hiroshima so I am spending most of my time hanging out with the locals which is cool. Yesterday we did a bit of shopping and had a look around the peace park.

The above photo is a memorial to a young Japanese girl called Sadako who after surving the atomic bomb blast went on to contract leukemia. As my understanding of the story goes, as she was dying she starting making origami cranes and felt that if she made one thousand then she would be cured. With lots of help from family and friends she reached the target, but sadly died. Lots of Japanese children visiting Hiroshima make these cranes which are put on display as a mark of respect for her and the countless other children who died as a result of the atomic bomb.

Its quite strange to think standing in Hiroshima that just 60 years ago this place was mostly destroyed by the atomic bomb, and sad to think after visiting the museum and seeing its effects that to this day we are still developing these weapons. It is fortunate that they have not been used on civilians since (although the use of depleted uranium has certainly not been benign), but worrying to know that they may again and with even more horrific results.

That evening I had a meal with Naoko's family, who were really cool and we all got on really well (although her dogs didn't take to me so well). Unfortunately I was unable to eat as much of the great food that was on offer as I would have liked (I shouldn't have gone to Mos Burger for lunch). As I am sure they are reading this I would like to thank them again for being excellent hosts and I look forwards to seeing them again and being able to speak Japanese with them next time!

Then it was off to Kareoke finally - a week since I arrived in Japan and only now had I got down to a round of it. Kudos again to Naokos wonderful renditions of pretty much every Bjork song on the system, and I think I should remain proud of myself for my rousing performances of RATM's Bombtrack and Nine Inch Nails 'Starf***ers'.

Right! Off to Miyajima I think.

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Kyoto

Sun, 29 May 2005 05:34:48 +0200

Due to being a day behind schedule, I didn't really have much time to explore Kyoto, but I had a look at some of the more famous sites which are conviently located within a fairly short (and very pleasant walking) distance of each other.

The above shots are from Keyomizu-dera which is a quite awesome place, although sadly not nearly as peaceful as I had hoped due to the excessive number of schoolchildren running about:

The one on the second from the left looks like he's just given himself a hernia.

Other places were pretty kid-free, which was much nicer and really relaxing. Here's some more photos of eastern Kyoto:

Then it was time to jump on a train and move on to Hiroshima.

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Himaji

Thu, 26 May 2005 12:27:20 +0200

Arrived in Kyoto yesterday afternoon but didn't really get time to do some sightseeing, although did a little bit of exploring attempting to find the worlds most hidden vegetarian restaurant, which I eventually found on the second floor of a building with the entrance being via a fire escape-esque metal staircase marked by a sign approximately 2 inches wide. Bloody nice though, and cheap. Spent less than 8 pouns and still had enough left over to eat today.

Still having not actually seen any of Kyoto, I travelled out to Himeji castle which is a mostly original castle near Kyoto as featured in You Only Live Twice, and suitably impressive it was too.

Update - I think I have more space now, however I am now in an internet cafe and all my photos of Himeji are in my laptop. Oof. Photos later!

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Shinjuku and Roppongi

Wed, 25 May 2005 11:14:03 +0200

Tuesday day was mostly spent ambling around the streets of the Shinjuku shopping district looking for tatty amusing gifts, particularly so-called 'Engrish' items where an often english-style name may have rather poorly chosen for a product with hilarious results. I shan't give anything away but some of you may be receiving some rather excellently named foodstuffs upon my return. It seems, however, that better consideration of such matters takes place these days and I was sadly unable to find myself any comedy clothing, but I hope to have more luck in other parts of the country. Also, it proper heaved it down as the day drew on - a rather worryingly increasing trend. The last few days have started off sunny and got greyer and the daily greys are gradually descending into blacks. The monsoon season isn't due to kick in until mid June so I do hope it isn't coming early.

As it was my final night in Tokyo, it was felt a night out in Roppongi was in order. Oh, where to begin. I already understood that Roppongi was the rather seedier side of Tokyo but nothing prepared me for what I found in these streets. I don't want to go into too much detail as I know who will be reading this blog but suffice to say our best choice of the evening was leaving the area, and our worst was to return. I certainly have some tales to tell but I shall be sharing these with a more selected audience. Perhaps I'll edit this post when I'm more recovered (I am currently writing this on the train to Kyoto the following day) so keep checking back if you wish to hear more.

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The Palace and Akihabara

Wed, 25 May 2005 11:08:23 +0200

(sorry for the slow updates by the way - just catching up now - this is monday)

The imperial palace grounds take up a large chunk of the centre of tokyo and most of it is inacessible to the public, and that which is accessible to the public is not accessible to the public on mondays, the day we decided to visit. To be fair though, the surrounding grounds are in themselves seriously impressive - a massive grassy open space surrounded by walls and a moat in the centre of Tokyo then surrounded by tower bocks which feels immensely liberating to stand in and just feel the space ... man. Also, contains excellent bollards.

Just south of the palace is Hibiya Park which is, for want of a better term, 'well lush'.The wooded section I guess is what most Japanese woodlands resemble (I assume as I am yet to visit any).

Whilst sounding wilfuly pretentious, there is something about the nature of the trees in Japan which to me is a great metaphor for its difference to the west - whilst western tree brances tend to stick out more or less straight, branching off at sharp angles, Japanese trees twist and flow in a way I feel is reflected in the differences between our cultures - our languages, writing and music for example and makes me wonder the significance of how much the environment around us has defined our civilisations. I could, however, be talking bollocks. Lovely place anyway.

Akihabara is the electronics district of Tokyo, however apparently since larger electronic stores have opened in other parts of town its significance has waned. Its a bit like (as a Mr A Mackay will testify) a somewhat fancier Tottenham Court Road. To be fair its a fair step up from TCR and has a much wider range, and infinitely more helpful staff. There were some crazy prices to be found, especially on Sony camera gear and I was sorely tempted, however I use compact flash cards and Sony's proprietary memory sticks are a skank, so I just bough a cheapo USB card reader instead.

Some prices were not so attractive - I was considering buying an old Gameboy Advance SP but I couldn't find anything that wasn't significantly more than I would pay in the UK for some reason. And no I didn't buy any PSPs either as they are out in like two weeks in the UK anyway and didn't seem much cheaper (£120-150) so unless any of you who know me really need one when I get back next week I see no point in me picking any up.

The evening? A hearty feast at Mos Burger and perfect-head-vibrated Guiness and chess at a little jazz bar.

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Asakusa, Shibya, Harajuku

Sun, 22 May 2005 17:12:25 +0200

I apologise that my last post was messed up, but - sorry, I can't be bothered to fix it. Short term memory rather badly affected by jetlag, although i'm still fairly alert. What was I talking about? Oh yes, Japan.

Today I done a whole lot of stuff. There was a festival in Asakusa this weekend where workers all get together in kimonos and amble about town carrying enormous shrines and shaking them about to bless things it seems. Also, it is the one time in the year when the Yakuza are allowed to bear their tattoos in public - sadly I only saw one and unfortunatately I didn:t get a chance to take a picture. Rest assured his tatoos were appropriate impressive. However, here are some other photos (hopefully, rather than a load of messy HTML):

Then it was off to Harajuku with a couple of dutchmen to gawp at cosplay teenagers of which I felt somewhat uncomfortable taking photos of , but here are a couple anyway. Also, there was a really nasty smell about the place which I was told was some form of fertiliser but I must say it smelt of ... well, something which I suppose you could call 'fertiliser'.

We walked back into Shibya to find a veggie restaurant (important note; if you want to find somewhere specific in tokyo, get a map from them) and saw this shop which was amusing;

Pretty exhausted after all that, it was back to the hostel for a few beers and over to the internet cafe. Although I may sound deadpan now as I am knackered I have to say I am having a really amazing time here and have absolutely no regrets about coming, just hanging out with people from different countries in a foreign land is a enlightening experience, but here in Japan where you find things so different and yet so similar is really quite an experience which I must recommend to everyone. Come here - you won't regret it! Thanks again to all those who helped me organise this. To Naoko, the guys on the BoB and fuckedgaijin forums I salute you.

Oh! And I staying in a capsule hotel last night didn't I - that was pretty cool, I pretty much just crashed there so didn't really experience the whole thing, and it was very quiet so didn't get to mingle with drunken lost japanese businessmen but its down there with the memories - and heres a(nother) photo:

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I made it!

Sat, 21 May 2005 14:26:11 +0200

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Japan is this: quite extraordinary.

The first thing that hit me upon arrival, during the train journey from Narita airport and Tokyo central is quite how different even the smallest things are - the houses, the trees, even the little weeds in the tracks are all completely alien to Europe.

Another cock-up though, due to the late arrival of my flight I missed the check in time of my hotel, and so I am staying in a nearby capsule hotel tonight. Oho! I did plan to do this at some point, but not on my first night! Lets hope I don't get molested by a drunken salaryman.

People really are amazingly helpful - after looking lost at Euno station for about 5 seconds a couple took me to the ticket office, a cash machine and my platform

Met a few top american guys at the hotel one of whom is a strict vegetarian so we found a great little italian restaurant in Ueno which we joined in a wedding party which was funny.

Reasons why Japan is better than us #1: Mobile phones in Japan really do shit all over phones in the UK. I was expecting everyone would have what would be considered cutting edge back home, but seriously this stuff is like five years ahead of what we have. One I saw had a fully working TV in it for crying out loud, and it was still smaller than any UK 3G phone. Shame I can't buy one and take it home as they don't use SIMs so theres no chance I could get a JP phone working in the UK. Bah

Reasons by Japan is better than us #2: When people have a cold, they wear face masks. A bit disturbing when I arrived as I assumed I'd walked into a SARS outbreak, but people really should start doing this in the UK, especially on the tube where viruses spread like wildfire.

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Greetings from ... Milan?!?

Thu, 19 May 2005 19:14:06 +0200

Ohh dearrr....

This should be funny. Where to begin?

Due to my complete prioritisation of planning everything that would be happening in Japan (in other words, my complete lack of organisation skills), I was rather lax with my planning of actual travel. It seems not only was my flight not at 10:00pm but 10:00am - but it was also on THE NEXT DAY.

Now this would have been a little embarrassing if when checking in they had told me this, I would have been a bit relieved in fact as it would have given me more time to sort things out and come back same time the next day - but they didn't - they didn't even notice. Not the check in, not security, not boarding - no one from the airline noticed that my flight was not supposed to be today. They allowed me to board a plane despite the fact I didn't have a valid ticket. I could have been a terrist! I guess it was half mine half their problem as they really should have noticed this and would have sent me home, but instead I end up in Milan with no flight to Japan until the next day. Cue frantic phone calls, and eventually the very nice and apologetic people at Alitalia have got me put up in a nice hotel in (sadly outside of) Milan, where I type this now.

I would also now have a nice photo of the hotel I'm staying at, but the guy in Dixons sold me a Firewire SD Card reader when I implicitly asked for a USB one, and I only just noticed.

I'd like to think these cock-ups are me getting my cock-up quota out of the way before the holiday really begins, rather than a dread portent of things to come. None of this is my fault really. I blame ... oh, Ice T will do. Damn you, Ice T!

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Go go heathrow panic

Thu, 19 May 2005 10:28:11 +0200

At about midnight last night I realised my flight was not in fact at 10:00pm, but 10:00 AM. Cue mental panic, but I'm fine now and currently getting skanked by the 10p a minute internet 'café' in departures. And shortly after entering my pound coing I noticed the 'free wireless access!' sign in the lounge opposite, and I have my wireless-equipped laptop with me. Pfft. At least I haven't been blown up yet.

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Prologue

Mon, 16 May 2005 21:22:44 +0200

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jeremy and I'm a 26 year old budding sound designer/composer from London, UK. Since I was a teenager I'd always wanted to go to Japan and since finishing uni in 2003 have been able to start saving towards realising that ambition. I did have other chances to make plans between then and now which sadly didn't reach fruition, but since then I've been working with a singer who has since moved back to her home in Hiroshima giving me an opportunity to travel out there.

For those of you who do know me, this is my way to avoid continuously pestering you about my antics while I am out there so that you can find out about my goings on if you so wish, or conveniently ingore and forget me as appropriate.

The last month or so has been pretty hectic, booking flights, making plans, sorting out accomodation, dealing with the numerous issue as a result of my vegetarianism but now things have finally come together and I am looking forwards to flying out there on the 19th of May 2005 - this Thursday.

My plan thus far is this:

19th-24th Tokyo
24th-27th Kyoto
27th-30th Hiroshima
30th - ??? (probably Osaka)

I've got an open return so have only got the above 10 days booked per se, so things are likely to change.

I'll be taking a fair amount of stuff out there with me. As well as the usuals such as clothes and wash things, I'll be taking some sound recording gear, a digital camera and a laptop so I can bring you the sights AND sounds of Japan.

Enjoy!*

*tolerate

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