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. 

Tokyo Day 2

So at 5am we arose from our beds to head towards the Tsukiji fish market, I said it was an early start didn’t I. My mum had read about it somewhere on the Internet and was intent to go. I won’t lie I was knackered and almost didn’t bother, but then when would I have another chance, so off we trundled.

Tsukiji was only a few stops away from Ningyocho by the underground and there were a rather surprising number of people already up and about. I guess Tokyo really doesn’t sleep, or if it does it only gets a couple of hours. Either they have an exceptional work ethic or they are chronic insomniacs.

The exit of the train station was right up alongside a rather large and very impressive Buddhist temple. I can’t remember what it was called, you’ve seen one temple you’ve seen them all,  but there were many large banners being set up for some sort of festival. I noted the dates but it would have been after we had left sadly.

Onwards to the fish market anyway. As we got closer the streets started to become much busier, it seemed many people whom we had seen on the tain were headed in the same direction. There were all manner of motorized carts hauling produce down the road.

We entered through the main gate dodging around many trucks, motorized carts and middle aged Japanese mean hauling large freezer boxes from place to place. My mum had been banging on about some kind of fish auction but it seemed as though it was already over. Still the place was a hive of activity and, with a few close calls, we made our way to the main hall.

 

Surprisingly the smells of fish where not as overpowering as I was expecting in fact it the air was pretty clear, barring the ever present buzz of activity. People were scurrying all over the place unpacking all manner of things from the earlier purchased freezer boxes.

The broad variety of fish on off was truly staggering. The usual like salmon tuna and squid where of course in attendance. However there were some other much more obscure marine denizens on offer. There were many sea urchin, I advise never trying these, giant squid, huge crabs and by valves, eel and what I’m pretty sure where slabs of whale meat.

We wandered around taking a few snaps before being collared by a security guard. Apparently we weren’t allowed into the main market and there was a designated tourist area that would open from about 9AM. Whoops. We quickly scampered back outside.

Upon exiting the market I found a sign with some guidance for visitors and we had broken pretty much every rule we could have, sadly we did not have a baby in tow or we could of broken all of them. We also discovered that there was a designated tourist area for viewing the auctions but they occurred around the other side of the market and they were long over.

 

Never mind we had seen something that very few visitors get to, sometimes it’s alright to flagrantly disregard (that ones for you Arnaud) some rules. In fact I’ve later found out that the market used to be much more open but they tightened up security following an American tourist whom insisted on touching everything. Bloomin Americans always spoiling it for everyone.

So with no desire to head back for the 9am tourist fest I went back to bed for a few hours I’d only managed to get about 4 hours that night. My parents wanted to check out a bit more of Tsukiji and we agreed to meet up a little bit later. We had agreed to head to Shibuya, fashion capital of Tokyo and the place that had been top of my list to visit, for predominantly geeky reasons.

We started our journey through the very lovely and trendy Omotesando.  A quick wiki has revealed the name means “frontal approach” and refers to the fact it leads toward the meiji shrine, more on that later. In reality Omotesando is an exquisite boulevard with all of the top worldwide fashion brands lining it’s streets.

The atmosphere was really chilled with all the trendies sauntering along at a leisurely pace from shop to shop. We stopped in a mall called Omotesando hills that was an awesome example of the quirky architecture on display in the area. We had lunch at a place called Kurruku 3, which was the nicest zaru soba I’ve eaten so far.

Moving down the road we came to the end of Omotesando and into Takeshita Street. This is another famous shopping district within the Shibuya area. The street was ram packed with people and had many interesting and bizarre fashion boutiques. I dawdled along taking in all the weird sounds and also bought myself a new hat. One of my favorites was definitely the  ‘fireman-sheik’ shop.

Sadly I was taking far to long, I really need a watch, and my poor sense of time meant I once again left my parents waiting. They were pretty hot and bothered and stopped in an ice cream shop at the entrance to Yoyogi Park whilst I wandered ahead to check out the Meji shrine.

Now my dad had said many times ‘you’ve seen one shrine you’ve seen them all’, and whilst I mostly agree I was pretty impressed with this one. The “明治神宮“ (meiji jingo) is dedicated to the emperor Meiji and his wife and is very befitting of an emperor. It lacks many of the vibrant reds that seem to predominate Shinto shrines but I think it’s understatement provides it’s beauty.

I pad my respects in front of the shrine and also purchased a charm for my parents, it was supposed to bring happiness to couples. I said it would hopefully bring them luck to stop them killing each other, to which they quickly responded that it was my life that was in danger since I was always keeping them waiting. It was a fair cop I’m pretty doo lally when it comes to time.

With the Japanese daytime heat beginning to peak the rentals were at their limit and opted to head back to the hotel. I decided to stay out and press on towards the centre of Shibuya. First stop on the way however was the NHK studios.

Shortly after leaving my parents my phone battery died, again, I always seem to forget to charge it. I was pretty gutted to be honest, it was my main means of taking photo’s, which is probably the cause of my rapidly draining batteries, and my main goal in Shibuya was to get picks of the quirky fashions.

Upon approaching the NHK studios my despair deepened. On the way up I’d noticed a few cosplayers and wasn’t sure if  it was just a normal thing or not. It wasn’t. I can only guess there was an anime convention on because the whole are was full of young adults in costume. Absolutely amazing and no pics to show for it, damnations.

I left pretty quickly since I couldn’t actually enter the NHK building and I couldn’t take pictures. It actually wasn’t far to go till central Shibuya actually. On the way I happened upon a small contemporary art studio. It was interesting although as the explanations were all in Japanese I can only guess at the meanings. Next I stopped off in a large “book-off” (best second hand book and music store name ever) and finally got my mitts on some J-rock CDs.

Central Shibuya is loud, bright and crowded. Totally crazy and I was loving it. Once I got to scramble crossing I began my computer game pilgrimage. I’d played a game a while back set in Shibuya and I wanted to see how many of the sites in the game really existed.

Remarkably quite a lot of them do and I had a little geek out. I was particularly happy to check out the statue of Hachiko. This is a statue dedicated to a dog that is a bit of an Icon in Japan due to his remarkable loyalty. Apparently a professor of agriculture took him in and Hachiko would wait for him everyday outside of Shibuya station. In fact he waited for him even long after his death, for nine years in fact until he finally passed away.

So after checking out a few sites I purchased a battery powered phone charger and called the rents. We agreed to eat separately that night, as I wanted to stay in Shibuya a bit longer. I found a really nice teishoku restaurant but sadly everything on the menu contained milk, go figure, I went next-door to a resteraunt called “niniku” (garlic) something or other. I got another very tasty Bibinbap, very garlicy unsurprisingly.

I wandered around a bit more but places were starting to close and I didn't want to risk missing the train. I really enjoyed Shibuya, I definitely needed to go back during the day for a better look around.

Mata ne

 (again a lot of credit to my dad for his fantastically fishy photo's)