Once again it’s been a long
time between blog posts sorry. I think as I get more and more used to things
here the trivial differences have become, well, just that. It also has a fair
amount to do with me being knee deep in data analysis and after having your
eyes glued to a computer screen all day the desire to write is somewhat
diminished.
I had originally planned a
post about Christmas in Japan, how and why it sucked, the soul sucking
commercialism of the whole event and blah blah blah. Looking back it wasn’t so
awful. I mean it was rubbish but the New Year made up for it. That sums it up
better than any ranty tirade I can think of.
Instead I am going to take you
on a journey. A journey through time and sp… sorry bit of a Boosh moment there.
Anyway I regularly listen to1 a podcast called “The Forum” from the BBC world
service. It has many interesting discussions, check it out, but one interesting
segment is “60 second ideas to change the world.”. On one such show one of the
panellist recommended spending a day getting lost in your local area. I hadn’t
intended on it but that’s just what I did, and I came across quite a few cool
things.
My goal for the day was to buy
a new tin opener, my old one broke, and a new laptop cover, my old one broke. I
think you can see a pattern here. I’m really bad at keeping things nice, always
have been. With that in mind I left my mountain home and set out to my local
City, Himeji (姫路) incidentally It means “Princess street”.
Now I don’t want to sell it
short, historically Himeji is very interesting. It has the largest Castle
complex that maintains much of
it’s original construction, it is the most visited castle in Japan. This would
be wonderful but sadly it’s in a box at the moment. Nearby is Mt. Shosha and
the Engyoji temple complex, a very ancient Buddhist site as well as the setting
for some scenes in “The last Samurai”. It is the second largest city in Hyogo
and I’m sure there are many other things it’s famous for.
Here is the thing though Historical
also means old. The price you pay for keeping such things well preserved is
that you can’t do much renovation and renewal. There isn’t much of a night (or
for that matter day) life in Himeji. For a city there isn’t a whole lot going
on and with Osaka and Kobe so close I guess there is no real reason to bother.
Back to Sunday. Now I like
most people am a creature of habit. My first thoughts for my shopping trip
where to head to Miyukidori, the main high street of sorts. However for some
reason when I left the station my body was telling me to go left not right.
Sometimes it’s best not to argue so left I went.
Now one thing I really love
about Japan is that it is really strong on boutique culture. The big name
brands are of course about but they have no where near the presence you would
see in high streets back home. For somewhere as homogeneous as Japan it is
really amazing that so many niche and quirky stores can make a living. But they
do just that. The fashion tribes rule the youth subcultures and it’s a consumer
jungle out there so it lends itself well to these odd little stores.
First random encounter of the
day was a café that specialised in all things soy. It was a tiny little thing
with a Tudor style interior, very old school looking and quite incongruous in
the surrounding concrete jungle. The place catered to all things bean, with
fresh dried beans, home made soymilk, soy lattes on the menu ad even soy ice
cream. I was more than a little happy. I bought some of said soymilk, made
about 5 minutes from the till and I have to say it was worlds apart from the
stuff you get at the supermarket, delish. The lovely old lady that owned the
place assured me that their lunch menu was tasty also so I guess I’ll have to
go back.
Returning to my pavement
pounding with no real goal other than to find an electronics store I pressed
further west. As I approached a bypass the roads started to widen and I was
soon surrounded by nothing but car outlets and family restaurants. It is of course at times like these that
Japan likes to throw a quick spanner in the works.
As I crossed the next traffic
signal I spotted a mini cooper. It took a second to sink in. A min cooper. In
Japan! It’s been almost two years and I hadn’t seen a single one up until this
point. Not only that but it was a classic none of this new fangled little big
mini cooper nonsense. After the shock subsided I noticed another, and another,
and in fact I was outside a mini cooper speciality garage. They even had a mini
cooper pick up truck, not entirely sure when it would be useful but cool
nonetheless.
After a few photos and nearly
getting run over in the process I stumbled upon my next surprise. Out in what I
can only really consider the middle (ish) of nowhere was an art museum.
Called the Enzan memorial
museum of art it is a privately run establishment that specialises in
showcasing traditional arts and crafts, including various methods for looming
Obi (Japanese sashes) and bamboo weaving. The two curators looked a little
nervous when I walked through the door but as soon as they realised I could
speak a bit of Japanese they visibly relaxed and kindly demoed some of the
techniques for me. It still amazes me a little just how timid Japanese people
are about their English ability. 9 times out of 10 they know much more than
they think they do and can communicate at least.
The second floor of the museum
was a gallery with some wonderful displays of paper craft and intricate Noh
masks. At times like this more than others I lament my inability to read
Japanese. I really would have liked to know a little more about what was on
display but alas I was lost in a sea of unknown symbols. This also meant my
trip round the museum was considerably shorter since I wasn’t stopping to take
notice of the signs. I did take a few moments to take in the wonderful garden
at the entrance way though. The simple aesthetics of Japanese gardens are
definitely a sight worth seeing.
And there ends my little
detour. It was a nice reminder that life can still surprise even when partaking
in the seemingly mundane. I encourage anyone feeling a bit humdrum to go and
get lost in their local environs, just see what you can find. As for my
shopping, well I at least found the tin opener. That's something.
Mata ne.
