From east to west.

There was actually a final little leg in my tour around Japan during the week of holidays I took before coming home. I had a lovely bike ride around a very cool temple town called Kamakura, and saw the final of the three great sitting Buddha statues (大仏). I'll put up some nice pictures in this post so you can have a look. It was a great end to the trip, I saw some sights in Kamakura that I'd been meaning to see for a while and also hooked up with some other old friends who'd moved out to Kanto, I was so grateful to see them one last time.

What I really want to write here is that, well I'm home. I got back about two months ago and well, yeah that is about it. Nothing really earth shattering has happened and all the stuff people told me about coming back has pretty much turned out to be true.

It's been good to meet up with my old mates of course, but I really am missing all the good friends I made back in Japan. I think I left the country in part to get away from the Identity that I had built up around me in the UK. This is going to sound weird, but I didn't feel like me for about 1 or 2 years before leaving. Well I think I found myself, or someone, and I definitely feel richer for it.

Being in Japan taught me a lot of things I didn't know about myself, science, and the world in general. So if you don't mind I'll indulge myself and list them:

1. I love being around people but my god it drains me. I think I've always been more introverted than I let on. My close friends in the UK are quite intense and present, and I love them for it. Sadly thought sometimes in social situations I had just had to shout louder or not be heard. Being stuck up a mountain gave me a lot of time to chill by myself and I found in doing that I could enjoy my time with people even more.

2. I really can achieve stuff if i dedicate myself to it. During my time I picked up, amongst other things: another language, programming, accelerator physics and basic optics, SAXS, snowboarding, some electronics, basic graphic design. My skill sets have increased quite a bit and I'm infinitely grateful for it. I do need to apply myself more still, but I have more confident that I can achieve.

3. Hard work does pay off, even if it really takes a lot of time. Something I learnt from my boss "If you want something hard enough you can make it happen, but it will take a lot of effort".

4. I'm a lot smarter than I think, but not smart enough, but noone really is so it's best to keep learning.

5. Knowing when to take a step back. I have a tendency to do too much, I really do enjoy being active. Sadly my body doesn't always agree but I'm coming to terms with it and just making the time to chill.

6. Food just isn't that scary. Allergies make food pesky, but I make it an issue, sometimes I just need to consider other people and let things go.

7. I really hate disappointing people, it is my biggest fear. I think I run away from a lot of social situations and responsibility because of it. I'm 25 now, I think I'm old enough to get over myself and just accept that sometimes people get hurt or put out because of my actions, regardless of intention. So long as I'm sincerely sorry for that it should be fine, and if not they probably aren't the kind of person worth worrying about.

I could go on I'm sure, but I won't. I've been asked a lot if I miss it out there. I could easily answer yes, though honestly I miss the people more than the country. There is a lot right about Japan but there is also a lot wrong too. I think I got sucked a bit too into the negative and I should try and be more positive when people ask about it. I didn't have the best experience, I wasn't in a sugar coated bubble, but I think it was fuller for that reason. I'm happy I left when I did as some things were starting to make me bitter, something I would have hated to become.

Ultimately I was out there to study. I'd like to think that I did enough work to get my PhD and I should really start writing up soon. I'm still throwing myself at work though and trying to squeeze out some more results. I guess you can take the the man out of Japan but not the Japan out of the man. That or I'm just trying to escape the feelings of loss and reverse culture shock, probably the latter. Either way the whole experience did disillusion me with the scientific process. I'm going to need think long and hard about my next move.

I guess this was a long winded way to say that I am going to retire from this blog. It has served its purpose, fulfilled its mission statement if you will. I've enjoyed writing and growing and I'm glad some of you came along for the ride. I'm going to keep it back just so I can look back on the memories and the great times I had.

This is of course not the end though. I'm sure I'll be writing something again soon, I need an outlet for my musings. However, for the time being the monkey is hanging up his travelling cloak and putting his walking staff to one side. It was a phenomenal 2 and a half years. Truly life changing. I'm grateful for the places I've been, the things I've done, the sounds I've heard, but most importantly the people I met. You are now a little part of me, maybe more than a little actually, so don't forget about me ね。

Well I guess this is it, Sayonara Japan, I'm sure we'll see each other again.

Sayonara Sojourns Pt. 3 Seeing Sendai

So after a rather epic 7 hours of trains, chatting with old geezers, helping a young lady break open a hard boiled egg to discover she spoke almost perfect english, and generally just lolling my way up the country, I finally arrived in Sendai. My initial impression? I was really taken aback by just how lively the place is. I guess it had been over two years since the earthquake and tsunami at that point, and the city is a good distance from the coast, so maybe I should have been less surprised.

The liveliness of course totally worked against my favour this time. I, fool that I am, had completely forgotten to book somewhere to stay for this leg of the journey and so laden with baggage I began a frantic search for somewhere to rest my head. Alas nearly every place I tried turned me away and at one point I thought I may have to rough it in a love hotel. 

These places, funnily enough originally established in Osaka in the 1960's, are pretty damn seedy. They were originally built to allow couples, young and old, a place of privacy away from the cramped confines of modern Japanese living. These days however, they are more likely to be patronised by Japanese Salarymen trying to escaped the cramped confines of married life. Oh and prostitutes, definitely can't forget the prostitutes.

Suffice to say I just couldn't bring myself to stay at one of these places, I'm sure they are physically very clean but I can't quite say the same for the atmosphere inside. Instead I opted for somewhere that was a little bit outside of my usual price range. I figured what the hell, the likelihood of me travelling around Japan by myself is slim for a while and also after all the money I saved with my crazy travelling I could treat myself a bit. My friend was sadly busy that evening so I just settled into my room, watched a bit of walking dead and chomped on some zunda dango. Zunda is a kind of sweet paste made from edamame that is a local speciality and is absolutely delicious. Kind of like sweet mushy peas but way tastier than that sounds.

After a well deserved nights sleep it was off to see what sights Sendai had to offer. My friend had not been in town long and was also eager to have a look about. This friend is that same one I met out in Yokohama who works in the circus. As such she is always moving about the country and, as well as just being generally great company, has lots of great stories of her travels and life in the circus.

With not much lay of the land we copped out and jumped on board Sendai's local tourism bus, the loople. It was pretty cheap for the day pass and since it stops at all of the major sights it seemed like the logical way to go. It also meant we could spend less time thinking about where and how to go to places and more time just idly chatting, which was fine by me as the main reason I'd come out this far was to make the most of the little time I had left to just hang out.

Our first touristy spot was the Zuihoden Mausoleum, the tomb of Date Masamune who was one of the most powerful feudal lords of the Edo period,so powerful in fact he earned the nickname of "The one eyed dragon (独眼竜)", pretty nails right. The most striking thing about the Mauseleum itself is the colour palette. Many vibrant reds, greens, blues and yellows adorn the intricate and it looks as though it would be more at home in a modern chinatown than an ancient Japanese tomb. The surrounding area is also very beautiful with many massive cedar trees, symbolic apparently of the Date clan's long history. Besides the tomb is a nice little museum with exhibits regarding the excavation of the site. My friend was very taken with some of the patterned ornaments and sculptures. I myself was more fascinated with some of the ancient tools, it always amazes me how little things like glasses and scissors have changed over the years.

Next we moved on to Sendai castle, or rather what was left of Sendai castle. Sadly much of it was destroyed by the Meji restoration, a large fire in the late 1800s and bombings during world war II respectively. Whilst there is not much castle action the grounds themselves are pretty impressive. Sendai castle was a Yamajiro (山城) or mountaintop castle, one of the original styles of Japanese castle. As you can imagine from the name it is built on top of a mountain, Mt. Aoba to be precise, and with that comes fantastic sweeping views over the city below. I was happy to trade a view of an ancient Japanese castle for the great views out into Sendai.

With the weather cooling down a bit, it is much milder oop north, we opted out of a bus ride back into town and instead wandered back into town in search of adventure (read lunch). I think it was in the main shopping street that I really started to see the impact of 2011. We managed to find ourself a trendy little cafe with seats next to huge windows that overlook the high street. People watching is a mutual hobby of ours and you would think that the city centre would be ideal, but the streets were barren. 

Around 16,000 people lost there lives in March 2011 and several thousand are still missing. Add to that the numbers who are missing or have been evacuated and you can see it has put a real dent into the local population. The gravitas of the situation didn't really hit me however until I saw it first hand in those empty streets however. My friend showed me some pictures taken from the town nearby where she is staying that is quite literally not there anymore. The pictures were, well I'll let you imagine their emotional impact on me. I really wish I'd got my act together and done some volunteering out there.

Ok onto happier things now. After finishing lunch and ogling a shrine that appeared as though it had had the shopping arcade built around it, we went…fabric shopping! I know nice and exciting right? Well actually I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I was expecting. My friend is very into fabric, textiles and craft working and when you are around someone that enthusiastic it is impossible to not be drawn in yourself.

Sadly following this we had to part ways as my friend was a little knackered due to her intense work schedule. It's tough being a clown. I didn't mind too much, it would of been nice to spend a bit more time together but I can totally understand just wanting time for yourself so you can just relax. I figured I could use my remaining time to head out and see the new Gibli film I'd wanted to catch before I left Japan. Sadly the nearby cinema was only showing Hollywood fare and the other cinema was too far out of town. Instead I spent the final few hours in a Starbucks catching up on emails and chatting on Facebook, almost as good right? Right?

Well that ends my Tohoku travels. I took a night bus out at around midnight. It wasn't as hellish as the usual journeys but sadly all the seats were furbished with a built in sega mega drive simulator. I quickly located Sonic and Knuckles and, as I'm sure you could guess, didn't sleep very much that night either.

Ja mata neee.

Sayonara sojourns Pt 2. Takarazuka, Trains and transits

Well part two is now upon us. After Ikumi and my hospital appointment I set out on what would be my last major adventure around Japan, as such I wished to make it a biggie. In fact my idea was to go and see all my friends who were further afield so that I could say goodbye. That decision marked the start of a large amount of travelling.

First on my list however was a trip to Takarazuka (宝塚). I'm not entirely sure of the reason but I have totally fallen in love with this area and I just knew I'd regret it if I didn't manage to visit one more time. Now whilst it is a very fancy area, home to the famous Takarazuka revue, an all female theatre troupe, and many fancy buildings and restaurants, my main goal was to go back and visit Osamu Tezuka's museum.

My previous visit had been around two years earlier and I was quite taken by it then, regardless of how little I understood of the displays. I grew up watching a lot of his anime and to be honest he is not called the "Godfather of Manga" for any trivial reasons, his stuff is highly excellent. This time, armed with a much better ability to read and comprehend the Japanese language I was even more impressed with what I saw. Judging by the displays of his primary school work the man was a genius from the very beginning. 

In addition to being able to read more there were also a few extra films on in the small theatre including a very touching piece about a very friendly Ame-furi-kozou (a kind of rain demon that wears an umbrella and looks like a small child) who just wanted some rain boots. He befriends a local boy and helps him out with three requests in exchange for his rain boots. Sadly at the last minute the boy moves away and never returns the Ame-furi-kozou's help. Once he is a fully grown man (now a granddad in fact) he suddenly remembers his promise and goes through hell and high water to get back to his countryside home and present the demon with the rain boots. It had a nice simple line style and the Japanese wasn't too difficult which was great for me.

Afterwards I moved on to Osaka to get on board a night bus bound for Tokyo. I've lost count of how many times I've used that service now, though I am now a gold member so it must have been a lot. It's uncomfortable, it's tiring, but it's just so damned cheap that I can't help myself, I am my Nan's grandson it would seem.

This time, whilst my main purpose was to visit a friend, I was also very excited to be  heading into Tohoku, the northern region of Honshu, for the first time. Since I never like to do things the easiest way I got it into my head that it would be a fantastic idea to go by local train, a journey of a whopping 7 hours. Why would I do something so crazy you ask? Same reason I do everything the way I do. It was cheap. Also I thought the scenery might be nice.

The initial departure from Shinjuku went fine, if a little bleary eyed, and I arrived in Shinigawa in good time, enough time intact to actually buy breakfast. I boarded the first local train, bound for I-can't-remember-where, to begin about two hours of sitting still. I was hoping to read a bit and just spas out from tiredness but alas no such luck. A pair of Ojisans (old japanese men) sat next to me and started nattering away, so much for peace and quiet. It wasn't till I couldn't help but laugh at one of their jokes that they clicked that I understood Japanese. After a bit of a chat we realised we were off to the same place. Well that was that, I was stuck with them for the next four hours.

For the most part they were pretty interesting but once the Sake started flowing I knew I was in trouble as the conversation began to get steadily more and more unintelligible. I'd love to say that I did the right think and stuck it out but alas I am a bad man and ditched them on the third train transfer. I was tired, hungry and in no mood to try and decipher their slurs. I stepped out a little bit before Fukushima, grabbed a bento, played a bit of UFO catcher and just generally chilled for an hour or so before getting back on board for Sendai.

I think even if you know very little about Japan you have at least heard the name Sendai before as it is the capital of Miyagi prefecture, the area that was worst effected by the great Tohoku earthquake of 2011. I have to say I knew pretty soon when I had crossed the border into Tohoku as I was suddenly surrounded by vast seas of green, boundless nature. It is such a contrast to the urban sprawl that dominates central Honshu and I think had it not of been for a combination of the quake and a busy work schedule I think I would have made the journey sooner and more frequently. 

Right that is your lot for today. Next time I'll talk about what I actually got upto in Sendai.

Mata neee