Talks with my Grandad

 

Well it's been a while since my last post and that's because I’m back home for the holidays, taking a break from work and visiting friends and family. Of course I’m having a wonderful time with little time to blog, and answering the same three questions over and over and over again.

On Christmas day I had an incredible chat with my Granddad Jimmy. I don't know if I'd mentioned it before but my Granddad was actually in Japan 60 years ago during his military service. He was stationed out there for a year and a half in a town called Kiori just north of Hiroshima. He used to tell me loads of stories about it when I was little and I think it’s where my infatuation with the country grew from.

We spent a good bit of the day exchanging experiences and it occurred to me that he was actually in Japan at a very interesting time, a few years after the dropping of the A-bomb and also in the midst of the Korean War. He told me about a lot of things, many interesting memories particularly about the prisoner camps and stuff he was told by the locals about their treatment by occupying forces not long after the war. I wish I'd written more down so I decided to do a little interview which I’ve transcribed here. I hope you find it interesting よろしくおねがいします。

1.You went out to Japan by boat.  How long did it take and what was the most interesting place you stopped on the way?

It took about 6 weeks in total. I’d say Sialom (was the most interesting). The vegetation was very and well everything was nice about it. It was just beautiful.

2.What was your first impression when you arrived?

In Japan? Well we went of a night and it was freezing. That left a big impression ‘cos I thought it was always going to be hot. We arrived about March, February or March.

3.What did you spend most of your time doing out there?

I was a clerk. I was in the Royal Army A corps so I was a clerk doing men’s pay. Debits and credits. But I didn’t like it. So then another Job I got was with a Japanese driver to drive me around in one of their cabs and I used to take all the mail to all the camps.

4.Where was your favorite place to visit in your local area?

In Kiori? There was a place called Kiori house. That was where akk the soldiers went of every different nationality. It was a big place. It sold Australian beer and sake, which wasn’t very nice really. I used to go walking a lot, though I couldn’t tell you where it was. I didn’t know the names of places. We went to Hiroshima a lot as well, when we finished work around 4 o’clock.

 

5.Obviously there are many cultural differences between Japan and England. What was the biggest shock for you?
Well what we were told here about them (Japanese people) I found was very different. I found they were very honest and very open. The biggest shock I found were where morals were concerned. They had communal baths and all that. The men and the women together, that shocked me a bit. Many of them just took it for granted. They were used to it. Also I didn’t like the food. Fruit was alright. A bit of rice maybe, I liked rice.

6.Do you have any interesting memories of individual locals?

I used to speak to this marathon runner, he used to run for Japan. Well I used to try and speak to him. He could speak a little bit of English. I never knew much Japanese. He used to go to work and run and he’d take a tobacco tin full of rice and a bit of raw fish and that's what he used to have all day.

I found, well I used to work in and office and the girls were quite nice there you know. Very polite and that. The only thing I didn’t like about them is that if a bird came in the office they used to call it ‘chop chop’. They’d want to eat it and I’d want to let it go.

(I’d just like to point out here that my Granddad is a massive bird lover. For the whole time I’ve known him he’s kept an aviary in his back garden and some of my fondest memories are of visiting bird shows with him.)

7.Did you ever experience any hostility towards yourself or people with you?

No, no, no. None of that at all. I used to talk to the students, they were very open about it, about what happened and all that. But it was their way of life. So different from us you know? Army wise and their orders. If you gave up you were a coward.

8.How did you cope with the weather?

Well I didn’t like the heat. I used to get up about 4 or 5 in the morning and go for a walk before it started getting hot around 10. Then I used to keep out in the shade. Fill around 4 or 5pm, then it was a bit nicer.

We were right by the sea so I used to go with this fella yachting. One day the officers were having a race and this fella, he’d been wounded in an infantry regiment, they’d put him in charge of Yachts. One day they’d asked us to fit into the race because they were short of people in the race. We cheated and won. We took the heavy bit in the middle of the boat out, took a lot of weight off us and we flew away.

10.What did you find most difficult?

Nothing really I liked it. We used to play a lot of games, they loved baseball and played the Canadians a lot. We did a lot of athletics as well. It wasn’t that difficult really, everyday things, going to work. I never really felt I was in the army more or less I was just a clerk.

11.Any other interesting memories?

I used to go to Miyajima, maybe 3 or 4 times or more. I used to get leave to stay there of a weekend. It was handy for s like cos I knew the fella with a yacht. And we could go to Hiroshima whenever we wanted. I found that very interesting and was shocked. I never thought they (America) should have dropped the bomb, they (Japan) were more or less giving up anyway. I thought it was a disgrace.

12.Anything else?

Only about the Prisoners when the Korean war was over. they were all taken to a camp called JRBD and when you went into the camp it was full of all their (Korean) money. You could pick up as much as you want. They didn’t want to kow about anything. They dragged them down to the Ships handcuffs, MP’s as well. They didn’t want to go back.

Well that's all I’ve got hope you found it interesting and a big thanks to my Granddad for the chat. Also thanks to everyone for reading my ramblings for a year.

Akemashite omodetou gozaimasu (Happy new year). See you on the other side.

Pack it up, Pack it in

Well in less than two days I’ll be on a flight bound to England. I can't wait I’ll not lie. No working horrendous hours. No crummy cafeteria. No more talking slowly. Sandwiches and all the other things I’ve been missing these past crazy nine months. So what did I do with my first full weekend in ages? Prepare my stuff? Clean the apartment? Hell no.

Actually Saturday was spent rather practically. I went into Himeji with a couple of friends to do some Christmas shopping. I hate shopping but I love hanging out so it went all right. Basically I just bought a lot of random weird Japanese stuff well thought out gifts for people. I also managed to check out a lovely little restaurant called Boabab that I’d heard about from a few people.

It’s a great little place, tucked away in one of Himeji’s side streets that does a wide variety of Asian food, though mainly focusing on Malaysian and Thai. This of course means spicy which makes for a happy Marcus. It was also an opportunity to meet some new people, friends of friends, and discover that apparently I ‘Just look a bit French’. Still not entirely sure what that means but I won’t take it to heart.

The next day I had an early start, as I needed to get to a nearby city called Ako for 8:30am. Naturally I stayed up all night watching the lunar eclipse from my balcony with a cup of hot chocolate so getting the 6:30 bus was a slight struggle. My sleeping pattern is never great after beamtime it’s hard to adjust back to being able to sleep more than a few hours a night.

 

Although I was thinking why am I up at this ungodly hour on that clear but cold day I kept reminding myself it was going to be worth it. I had the opportunity to take part in a small festival commemorating the story of the 47 ronin in which I would be dressed as one of the aforementioned 47.

What am I talking about? For the uninitiated I’ll give you a quick back-story. The tale of the 47 ronin is possibly one of the most famous, and hotly debated, tales of honor, loyalty, revenge and the Bushido code. The tale begins in the early 17^th century when the Daimyo Asano Naganori, after being goaded, assaulted the Shogunate official Kira Yoshinaka and was forced to commit ritual suicide (seppuku) as punishment.

 

47 of Asano’s samurai, now ronin, outraged at this turn of events began to plot revenge upon Kira to uphold their masters honor. So began two years of planning and careful consideration before they finally deemed the time right to act. They led an assault on Kira’s household eventually killing him before finally handing themselves in to the authorities, whom forced them to commit seppuku for the crime of murder.

It’s a really fantastic tale and I can’t do it justice here but then this blog is not about Japanese history. The event had been organized by Ako cities tourism board with the aim of having 47 overseas residents dressed up as samurai. The morning was spent getting kitted out in our samurai garb. It was pretty complicated and at first

I was worried that I’d be freezing due to the cold weather but it turned out to be pretty snug. There was of course a horde of old ladies on hand ready to tell us where everything went, as these outfits were quite complicated. My only real complaint was that the woven sandals hurt like hell. At the end we were given our sword although, disappointingly, we were asked not to draw them.

All dressed up we started the event by taking to the streets to meet with the locals. We were handed a large stack of flyers each to hand out as we wandered through central Ako. Everyone was really friendly and seemed like to have been informed beforehand of what was going on. In fact it turned out the reason everyone was so eager to get a flier was that it gave them a ticket for a raffle later in the day.

After finishing fliering we met up with a lovely old fella who was our designated tour guide for the day. He spoke decent English and was very knowledgeable about the sites of Ako showing us, amongst other things, the old sewage works, a well from the Edo period, a pretty impressive clock tower (complete with inset TV screen) and some of the most expensive pieces of woven art I’ve ever seen.

He finished off the tour by showing us around Kagaku temple where Asano’s remains are buried. There are some interesting artifacts in there including a display of all 47 ronin, a stone inscribed with a Haiku written by one of the 47, one of the oldest Buddha statues in Japan (from around 500AD and amazingly preserved) and a statue that looked something like a dragon-turtle inscribed with (I think) opposing Kanji though I’m not sure entirely of the significance as I didn’t fully understand the explanation.

We were then given some amezake, a kind of hot drink made from partially fermented rice mixed with ginger that's great on cold days, and some food from the nearby street stalls, before settling down to watch some performances by the locals. This included a performance from some local school children and some mock battles and martial art displays.

We then began the parade proper. First going back into the temple to say a blessing at Asano’s grave before proceeding to the castle. It’s all a bit of a blur from then on as we were whisked from location to location and having our photo’s taken and videos recorded. Definitely a mental experience but one I’m glad I’ve had.

Along the way I got chatting with a few other people, I do love to gab and meet new people. From the conversation I learned what the thing I was really missing about being home was. It’s not big and it’s not clever but actually I just miss being able to swear properly. Yeah that's right being able to chuck in a well-placed curse word and have people actually know what I’m saying will b kind of refreshing.

We finished up the day by visiting Ooishi shrine for another dedication and then coming face to face with ourselves, at least in statue form anyway. Finally we moved into the main site of the festival where were greeted by more locals and pulled up on stage to say our “ありがとう’s)　

After such a great and long day you’d think I’d have gone home right? Wrong. I continued my adventuring for the day by meeting some people in Kobe. There is a light festival here every year, know as the Kobe Luminarie, to commemorate the great Hanshin earthquake of 1995. There were only 2 days left to see it and as I had work on Monday this was my last chance for the year.

It was unsurprisingly full of people but what an amazing spectacle. Hundreds of thousands of lights were arranged into amazing patterns forming great arches down the central street of Motomachi and culminating in a large arena at the earthquake memorial park. The lights themselves were donated by the Italian government and each one is hand painted.

It was quite something to see and the music playing in the background gave the event an extra sense of grandeur, despite its somber nature. Thoroughly exhausted now we bundled back onto a train to head back to Himeji and bed. A packed but amazing weekend, now I’d better gets some real packing done.

Mata ne.

The week that maybe made me

Admittedly as auspicious weeks go this one didn’t start so well. Having a bout of gastroenteritis is not begin a period of hard work really. I’ve gotten more used to stomach discomfort than I’d like but it was still  unpleasant. Fortunately I had a wonderful first thanksgiving meal with some friends to cheer me up.

Better fueled I embarked on what would be one of the hardest weeks of beamtime I’ve had since I’ve been here. We spent 3 days performing experiments on the XFEL, something less than 100 people in the world have done. It was tiring, stressful, scary and exciting all at once. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it, we had the whole institute breathing down our necks at.

Due to the inability to eat or sleep during the experiment I’m still a bit of a mess , hence the concise length of this entry. Sadly I can't share too much of what went on, I can't believe I'm doing work were I can legitimately say that, but I think we got some decent results out of it. Plenty of things learnt and plenty to build on.

What really struck home for me this time, more than any of my other experiments, is just how much hard work this is going to be. Whilst I’ve thought I’d worked mad hours before this was something else. It’s not just the time spent working but the sheer intensity of it whilst you are there. When the payoff for good data is high expectations are high and therefore preparations need to be immaculate. I guess this is what I need to do if I want to continue in high end science. A daunting thought but I’m up for the challenge.

I’ve been having a bit of a hard time lately. I was feeling like I was losing direction, losing my focus and that is something I’ve always struggled with. This experiment is something I don’t think I could of managed a year ago and I’ve surprised myself a bit. I dunno when the change happened but my group are very aggressive and very dedicated. It’s infectious and I’m glad I’ve been placed with them.

Well that's enough personal musings. In amongst all that hard graft I managed to get out to Kyoto for a day for a bit of Momiji viewing. Momiji are the autumnal flowers of the Japanese maple trees. The colors out here are quite spectacular in autumn, so much so that people will flock from all over Japan to particular hotspots to view them.

Well I was a little bleary eyed after not sleeping for 30 hours the previous day but I wasn’t about to let a little thing like sleep deprivation get in the way of exploration and seeing friends. I bundled myself onto the bus at about 6:30am and was on my way. I do believe I spent the whole day grumbling about lack of sleep, so sorry guys but hey I earned the right.

Our first stop was the Tofukuji zen temples complex. Before entering however we stopped by a nearby shrine for a great view of one of Kyoto's many Zen gardens. This site is world famous as an excellent place to view 紅葉 (autumn leaves) and so naturally it was very crowded. It was however worth braving the hordes as the view across the bridge at the temple's entrance was beautiful, rows and rows of momiji of all different autumnal colours. 

 

It was lovely up there and had it not been so crowded would have possibly been nicer to stay a bit longer, but we had a lot to go see so we pushed onwards, back onto the train and up into Gion where we would do some shrine hoping. The first was a very little one just down a side street dedicated to an eye Go (目のために神様)always worth a visit since I need all the help I can get.

Our next stop was Kennin-ji, apparently the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto, though it’s easy to lose track. This one is a little special though. It has some incredible pieces of artwork including a paper screen depicting Rajin and Fujin, the Gods of Thunder and wind, and amazing ceiling painting of twin dragons. The floors here were also interesting, yes you heard me interesting floors. All of the panels had a peculiar chirp when you stepped on them, earning them the name nightingale floor (鶯張り). Their purpose was to stop assassination by stealth, quite a sinister purpose for something so charming.

After saying good bye to the dragons we stopped by another small shrine dedicated to いぬしし (wild boar) something I assume is a bit of an oddity. I’ve not seen anything dedicated to the porcine inhabitants of this earth in Japan before at any rate. A real shame as they are such wonderful creatures and the statues in this shrine were wonderful.

We rounded off the trip by heading north to Hokan-ji temple. This temple is also known as Yasaka no to, on account of it’s 40 meter tall pagoda. It’s quite a site and actually the first pagoda I’ve seen up close since coming here. It would have been nice to go inside but I think it was closed for the day by the time we arrived also. On the way back I managed to grab a few quick Christmas gifs for some people thankfully. I’ve had no time to do any shopping yet.

Last time I was in Kyoto I most definitely got temple fatigue but this visit was much more pleasant thanks to the milder weather, and awesome company of course. That and we had a very enthusiastic (unofficial) tour guide who’d put in a lot of effort to plan things, makes me wish I planned my outings more really.

Right back to work I guess

Mata ne.