Fishing with birds.

Well as once again find myself in work at silly o’clock in the morning it is a definite realisation that summer is over. Actually I’d been meaning to write this entry for quite some time now but just hadn’t found the time. I visited an amazing conference on Mass spectrometry; the science and technology used to accurately measure the mass of atoms and molecules. It gave me lots of ideas and also inspired me that hope was not completely lost for Josie.

Anyway that's not really that interesting, though in one of the talks it was revealed that a lab group had modified their million pound piece of equipment with lego. Instead I wanted to write about something I’d been meaning to do for ages.

The conference was in Kyoto you see and during the summer the quieter, more tranquil area to the north, called Arashiyama, becomes a hive of activity. Well after the sun goes down at any rate. A less well known and definitely quirky tradition called Ukai (鵜飼), or cormorant fishing attracts many away from Kyoto’s more popular central districts. The cormorant being Liverpool’s official bird I kind of had to go really.

The tradition itself traces it’s roots back over 1000 years and was most likely brought over from china. Quite a few rivers play host to it in Japan over the summer, the most famous being the Nagara River in Gifu. The Oi river of Kyoto is much nearer to me though and since I was in the area it was worth a visit.

Before I get into what actually happened I have to sidetrack a bit to tell you about the journey there. Now the easiest way to get to Arashiyama from central Kyoto is by the main train line. I however had a free pass for the underground from the conference so I chose to exploit it as much as I could.

Sadly I couldn’t make the entire journey that way but it lead me to riding the rather charming Keifuku electric railroad. This is a one-car tram that winds through the streets of northern Kyoto and gave me more than a hint of nostalgia for some of my European adventures. It’s dead old, it began operation in 1910, but it made the journey that bit more special.

After arriving it was only a short walk to the Togetsukyo Bridge which was lined with boats, their little lanterns beckoning me on. Since the cormorants aren’t so big, and as it is dark, the only real way to view Ukai is up close in a little roofed boat. I got my ticket from the boat stand and, since I couldn’t really understand any of the kanji instructions, followed a pair of Japanese Girls to a nearby platform.

In the end they were as clueless as me and we were ushered back to the ticket office by one of the Ukai boatsman. It did however prove as a starting point for a conversation, a bit of language goes a long way and it was nice to have a bit of company, sometimes experiences are best shared.

The girls it turned out were old friends from Uni in Tokyo, though one hailed from Kyoto. Her friend was visiting and as neither of them had seen Ukai before they decided to make the trip out to Arashiyama, firsts all round then. In fact I'd say it's quite common for natives of a country to have not participated in many of their cultures older tradition. I mean I've never morris danced for a start.

We boarded our boat along with about 20 others and were guided out to the middle of the river. To my surprise once we were anchored in place along side many other eager viewers some small motor boats pulled up alongside us. Each had a few tepans (Japanese hot plates) and hotpots selling grilled squid, oden (a kind of stew) and mitarashi dango (rice dumplings grilled in a sweet sauce). The girls bought a couple of dango and gave one to me, never refuse free food from a lady. Golden rule.

After a bit of snacking the boats moved away and it was time for the main event. The cormorants have small bands around their necks, not enough to be uncomfortable but enough to stop them swallowing any fish they catch. They also have a long rope fixed to the band and are held in groups of about 4 or 5 by the fisherman on the boat. It kind of looks like he’s taking them for a walk I must admit.

At the back of the boat a large bale of dry grass is set alight so the birds can see better and then the event kicks off. It was quite distressing at first for me. The cormorants dip under the water to snag a fish and then are hauled onto the boat to relinquish their prize. It seemed a tad cruel but the birds didn’t seem to mind to much and they are rewarded with a sliver of fish for their efforts, just enough to keep their appetite going.

The leisurely cruise around the river took about an hour all told with the cormorants being paraded in front of us periodically. I guess it’s mostly for show these days really but it is something I may not have a chance to see again, I try my best not to let opportunities like this pass me by.

All in all it was a very relaxing way to wind down after a hard day of science. The river is serene at night and Arashiyama just has such a chilled atmosphere. The boats themselves rock pleasantly and you sit maybe a few centimetres above the water. If I get the chance I think I’d like to go again with some friends. Apparently you can also go to a restaurant afterwards where they prepare sashimi from the evenings catch. It’s a tad expensive however so I gave it a miss.

On the way back however I had a wonderful moment of serendipity. I managed to get off the train a stop too late, I was daydreaming a bit as always. My stomach was grumbling at this point and I came across a burger place with a skateboard for a sign. I was sold before I even crossed the door. It was awesome, best burger I’ve had in Japan and genuinely spicy. A top end to a boss night.

Ja sore de ijou desu,

Mata nee. 

Finally Fuji

Well this post is long, long, long overdue but I am finally getting around to writing it. Yes you read the title correctly After a year and a half in Japan I finally got around to summiting its largest peak, and what self –respecting mountain man would I be had I not. My journey up was a little a-typical (well the start at least) but all the more fun for it I think.

So where to begin? Well let’s start with the weekend before. I had an absolute blast at a music festival called Summer Sonic. This is probably one of the biggest music events of the year in Kansai and it was pretty cool. Four stages of (mostly) excellent music, lots of people and, at least on the second day, great weather.

 

The first day was incredible though for far different reasons. Mainly a huge thunderstorm broke out halfway through the day. I have seriously never been that close to lightning. It was scary, harrowing and amazing al at once. The crowd ended up holed inside a baseball stadium for a few hours, a little miserable and soggy, until the power came back on.

After about two an a half hours everything restarted and I still managed to be introduced to some interesting new bands as well as seeing some of my all time favourite artists. It was a fun experience and I’d been craving live music, there is a bit of a drought in my area, I think I need to really get into the Japanese music scene.

 

Anyway I’m getting a little sidetracked so now onto the journey to Fuji. It started with yet another night bus journey to Tokyo. Once there I met up with an old friend from the UK who would be my climbing partner for the night. Yup that’s right we decided to opt for the traditional night climb up Fuji-san to see the sunrise from the Summit.

Standing over 3700 metres, Fuji-san is the highest point in all of Japan. In fact it is not a mountain at all but an active volcano, although it’s been around 300 years since it last erupted. It’s fairly verdant on the way up most likely due to the rich nutrients in the surrounding soil. Being so massive it features heavily in much of Japanese folklore, songs, poetry and so on. It is probably one of Japans most Iconic symbols and I really couldn’t end my stay here without visiting.

That being said we set off from Shinjuku on the 3 hour journey by train and bus to Fujiyoshida before setting off up to the fifth station (河口湖五合目). Once we arrived we met a great deal of people also readying for the night climb. As I said it is a very popular way to climb Fuji and to be honest even if you were to set out on your own you wouldn’t be lonely for long.

The climb itself is just a long and steady march to the top. There are plenty of mountain huts along the way to take a breather if you need one, usually necessary after the particularly steep portions. This climb is in no way difficult and there are plenty of pensioners and young children also on the trail. I think most people opt to climb a little earlier and bed down in one of the mountain huts to wake up for sunrise. This is expensive though so we opted to plough through the night.

This is the highest I have ever climbed and I was a little surprised by how quick the temperature changed, I went from roasting to freezing in a couple of hours. The oxygen level difference was also noticeable though nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. One thing that really made me giggle however was the over the top nature of many Japanese climbers, stopping every five minutes to take massive gulps from their oxygen canisters. The top moment was seeing a group of guys all taking deep pulls from said canisters before lighting up a ciggy each. Priceless.

I was also surprised at just how many huts there are. Whilst really expensive they were a bit of a god send near the top where I was deffo in need of a hot drink or two, the cup of 甘酒 near the top was divine. We reached the summit in about 6 hours, about an hour of this was spent queuing to complete the last 100 metres, and after a brief wait were greeted by the sun.

It made all the struggle worth it. I can’t put into words what the view was like adequately and sadly my phone’s little camera could not do the sunrise justice. As the sun rises up over the mountains and if the sky is exceptionally clear, as it was for us, you can really see huge rays of light spiking out in a half circle across the landscape. It looks just like the Iconic flag of the Japanese military.

Thoroughly awed and a little bit chilly we started to make our way back down. The ascent had been a pleasant one but I cannot say the same for the descent. The path consists of what felt like an infinite number of short zig-zags leading back down to the 6^th station information hut. The view never changes and the path is made up of small ash shale, which is not firm underfoot. You could probably run it in about 40 minutes but I did not have the energy for that. This part seemed to go on forever.

 

Once we’d finally got back to Kawaguchiko-eki we treated ourselves to some amazing udon, it’s about twice as thick as normal udon in Kawaguchiko and called houtou udon. With warm food in our bellies we nodded of quickly on the train journey back to Tokyo for some hard earned rest.

I think I fully appreciate why this Japanese proverb exists, “He who climbs Fuji is a wise man, he who climbs twice is a fool.” The ascent was fine and dandy and the views were gorgeous but on the way down all I could think of was “I want off of this rock.” My choice of climbing conditions also weren’t the best I think and it took me a good few days to really recover from this.

Anyway that's it for now.

Ja mata ne.