Takayama! I thought I'd seen snow, but man, Takayama has snow! takusan yuki desu yo! It was so puffy, it seemed to give the place a fairytale quality... you can imagine Peter and the Wolf appearing from behind a tree, or the kids and the witch from Narnia. I really liked it here... it makes putting up with the cold worth it.

Gargamelle's house. (Sorry, I signed an agreement to make periodic smurf references in my blog).

Looking through an icicle. It went from the roof of a shop's awning to the ground in a solid column! Sugoi!

Here I am being wacky and crazy and insane and young. Well, desperately trying, anyway. There was a lot of snow in Takayama... oh, I already said that? I hope there weren't any children on the swing next to mine.

Catching some very welcome heat inside the rest hut at the Folk Village - we had to wait a while for the next bus. It was about -1 outside.

This icicle was about 2 metres long. Junko said it's the longest she's ever seen and she lived in Hokkaido for 6 years, where it's currently around -10.

Off in yonder country there's obviously a lot more of the white stuff!

This is a pond in the Folk Village, well and truly frozen over and snowed under. The village is comprised of about 30 houses that display the different styles/techniques of architecture of the traditional dwellings here. The beams required to take the weight of the snow were pretty huge. How people survived in this cold in those days beats me. They are surprsingly large structures - often, say, 5 families would live in the one place. Inside were separate rooms, and a large open fireplace area, so the inhabitants must have perpetually stunk of smoke through the winter. Normally these houses would have been spread out over quite a large area, but for the purposes of display they were relocated to this neat attraction.

Oh, did I mention that in Takayama they get quite a bit of snow?

Takayama's lacquerwork brings out the grain of the wood. I prefer the black lacquer usually (it's so Darth Vader! Hirosaki is famed for it's lacquerware of this style), but this piece was amazing. It was so warm and lustrous I could have eaten it! But you are meant to eat on it. The copper recess is for putting a fire inside to allow for barbequeing, or yakiniku.

This is bona fide ninja armour. I didn't realise they wore armour, but I guess I would too if I had the choice. Black pyjamas don't offer much protection.

Somehow I find this get-up scarier than the ninja one! There are some very strange goings on in this country. My kanji-reading ability is almost negligible, but I believe the writing on the window says "In case of alien attack, break glass and place underpants on head."

Man, there was so much snow in Takayama! So much snow... and I've got the cat to prove it.

It's kind of scary watching something like this - there have been lots of snow-related deaths this winter...well over 100. People falling off roofs, getting crushed/buried under snow sliding off roofs, car accidents, avalanches etc. And if you think snow is soft and cuddly, I saw a news report about 2 weeks ago that explained that the snow on your roof has increased in weight in the past 7 days by 100kg per cubic metre to an average of 369kgs! This is because of warmer, humid weather since the snow fall, resulting in rain. The rain soaks into the snow and compacts it. Then as the sun shines the snow lets go and slides off.

Would you look at all this snow! Takayama gets a lot. snigger

Well we go from snow and ice to fire! This is the Shinto ceremony that begins the making of a katana, or samurai sword. Tom, Jen, baby Ruby, Jen's Japanese friends from her homestay days, Junko and I went to a town called Seki which is a cutlery town. It's main industries are to do with blades of all sorts. Otherwise one might be forgiven for wondering why a city has a "Cutlery Hall"! But on a cooler note Seki is known as the home of fine sword-making. A few times a year the sword museum puts on a demonstration of this old craft. We arrived about an hour late and I was glad when I saw that the pre-ceremony was only really just starting. It seems that making a sword first involves a lot of pomp and fanfare, much like a sumo match. But unlike sumo, which is quite explosive and over in seconds, the sword-making process takes a lot of time... so all we saw produced was a molten block of steel, but still - we got to see the process. I consoled myself with the thought that it would, afterall, be pretty disappointing if you could whip up a samurai sword in a morning. Anyway, this demo was a big deal it would seem. There were all sorts of dignitaries of some description and a throng of photographers snapping away like mad - they looked a bit more serious than blog-writers wanting photos to post up.

The fire was lit by a sworsmith stiking an iron with a hammer until it heated enough to light a taper which was then taken over to a candle in the workshop shrine. Once this dedication was made it was put into the pit to light kindling and coals... and then quicky bellowed into some serious heat.

The metal is hammered, folded, put into some sort of liquid and reheated many times - I didn't quite understand the principle, but I think it is to do with combining the properties of hard and soft steel.

Hard steel on the outside can be sharpened into an incredibly keen edge, whilst a core of soft steel allows the strength and flexibility to take a blow without shattering. The fine degree to which the edge is sharpened is incredible ...it's pretty much a metre long razor blade.

If we could have stayed the suffcient days or weeks or eons to see the sword finished, the result would have looked something like this... I hate the word, but it fits best: stunning.

Well afterwards we headed across to the local eel, or unagi, restaurant. I made some lame joke about how we should really be going for swordfish - obviously I don't think it's that lame or I wouldn't repeat it here - what can I say, I am my most avid audience. Anyway... everything seemed to be eel related. The snacks were deep fried bits of eel spine. I can't stand eels that can swim, but on my plate they are most welcome. Oishii!

The next day (January 3) I went to Nagoya for some solo exploring. I was met by these guys. I liked their attitude.

New Year activity was still well underway - this temple was a hub of business. That's busyness and business.

Forget the zen rock garden type imagery for this place. Inside there were big drums being struck and priests and monks chanting and, to me, a very strange vibe. I haven't quite experienced this atmosphere in a Japanese temple before - I think it was the tone of the chanting and the bass of the drums - it kind of reverberated in your stomach, much like a rock show.

Anyway, there were a lot of punters at this gig. (Sorry, I mean no disrespect, I'm just trying to sound cool).
Now this is what I meant by business. Outside it was almost a carnival atmosphere. If you'd substituted the sound coming from the temple with merry-go-round music it would have been a carnival. There were people selling all manner of food. It seems you can buy just about anything on a stick in Japan. I had a banana coated in chocolate with coloured sprinkles and a sausage about 40cm long ...in that order. There were people with penny-a-toss type games and vendors of fine plastic cars, guns, shirikins... you name it. I couldn't quite see the relevance, but then again I don't belong here. I thought about the part in the Bible where Jesus uses a whip and clears the temple area of merchants making money out of selling birds to sacrifice and money-changing as he quotes the old scriptures "My house is to be a house of prayer for all nations".It's an interesting contrast to me between Christianity and Buddhism - Jesus denounced the merchants for hijacking the area meant for the alien and lowly to approach God, whilst mercantile activity is part and parcel of life for the Buddhist temple community. Sorry, not sure where I meant to go with that! Doobedoobedoo...

Now this is my kind of fishing! It's a restaurant where you are on one of two "boats" from which you hunt your quarry with cute little rods. I had been fishing twice before in my life and never caught a thing. The closest I came was serial peckage in Brooklyn with my brother (remember that, Steve? haha). Anyway, here in Nagoya within minutes I landed a red bream. Disturbingly, minutes later again it came to our table turned into sashimi... and twitching. I was reminded of this by Gollum last night when he says in The Two Towers, "gives it to us raw and wr-r-r-iggling!". Anyway, I guess it's the freshest fish I've ever eaten! We had a great time, thanks to the generosity of our lovely Japanese hosts.

First catch of the day... Jen lands a beauty.

Meet Phil. Phil.A.O.Fish.

Okay... it's superlate and my humour degrades further and further.

Catch youse later (^-^)

Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year! This tree in Gifu says both all at once - its decorations are traditional symbols of the new year, or shogatsu. I am a little late in wishing you these things, I know, but... not if you're Chinese. Today is Chinese New Year, so akemashite omedetto!

These lanterns were hanging on New Year's Eve in the approach to a shrine, in readiness for the midnight crowd that would come to make offerings and prayers, once the clock had ticked over into the new year. Unfortunately I didn't see such things as I was laid up with some serious internal shenanigans - faulty plumbing one might say. Anyway, I was fast asleep as the countdown took place. But the upside was that having had that rest I was able to haul my butt to Takayama with my friend Junko the next day...

But first, this is Gifu city as seen by the king of the castle. In this case, moi ...well, you, actually... you're looking at the photo. Japanese castles are small unlike their Western counterparts, but as the real estate dudes say: location, location, location! The highest point you see in the photo below is Gifu-jo, or Gifu Castle. It's an impressive spot. How they lugged up their provisions and things all the way to the top, I don't know!

Gifu city is famed for its cormorant fishing. It's not really the season for seeing an unfortunate bird dive for fish with a garotte around its neck to prevent ingestion, but you get the idea. It would be particularly good to watch at night when they dangle a big flaming big thing (or is it a flaming big thing?) off the end of the boat to attract the fish and then ...whammo! ...you're packaged in a bird's gullet waiting to become sashimi.

Another view from Gifu-jo.

Next stop is Takayama.

The morning after we received about 5 inches of snow in a night. I thought this was impressive until I went to Takayama (photos to come). But even the snow there pales in comparison to the place I saw on the news tonight that had 3.6 metres!

It's kind of nice seeing everything you've become accustomed to change view overnight. This view of the creek near my place was suddenly picturesque.

The tunnel outside my block.

The view from my front door...

Before

After

This guy appeared just near my work. He looked a bit miserable.

Ground control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong. Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you ...

here am I sitting in my tin can called the Kobe Dentetsu train, trying to work out what I've done to my camera. In my exuberance I guess I frolicked in the snow just a little too much and the snow decided to move in. I was going away with friends shortly so I rather hastily went out and got a new camera. It's got a nice big zoom and was cheaper than my little one. I guess I didn't need much encouragement or excuse to buy a new toy. Anyway, I like both - I'll try to get my little one fixed. This is Major Tom to Ground Control... I'm stepping through the door. And I'm floating in the most peculiar way...

This is the first piece of artwork I've done in Japan - and it's in the tradition of Swiss (?) artist Duchamp... in other words, I found it. It's a rusty piece of metal that was lying on the ground on the way to the station. Doesn't it perfectly capture a scene of autumn? I wonder if I should sign it. I'm waiting to find a ready-made winter-scape, too.

The elevated deck of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto. Unfortunately a lot of my photos taken there looked better on the small screen of my camera. With the fading light it was hard to keep a still hand (a cold hand at that!).

I've photoshopped this due to bad exposure, but I've tried to avoid overdoing-it. I think this is pretty much how it looked - pretty nice view from the temple.

After dark, the lights came on and the crowds came out. It was a nice night.

With the tops of the trees just below you, you feel like Kiyomizu is kind of floating.

Spam you later.

Yes, I'm alive. I was held up by a few things. No, I wasn't put into carbon-freeze by some ugnauts, but sometimes it feels like it (to those that know what I'm talking about, I salute you... to those that don't, trust me... it's a Star Wars thing. Hey, cut me some slack - I'm in the land where geeks can go nuts about just about anything). Where was I? Oh, I've been off the blog due to craziness at work in the lead up to Christmas, followed by Christmas festivites, in turn followed by nicking off for my first break since I got here - to a place in central Japan called Gifu, with my much-loved friends Tom and Jen, their daughter Ruby, and my good friend Junko from Tokyo. It's been a mixed bag of long days, frenzied marking of tests, decorating of classrooms, making of props, making new friends, chilling out (or rather trying to warm up) over Christmas and then packing myself off to Gifu, where I was promptly hit by a bad bout of intestinal turbulence. In short, lots of stress, lots of fun, lots of toilet contemplation and lots of hot water in the bath. Have I crossed any boundaries of your need to know things? Nahhh.

Well it's stupidly late so I won't go further into these things now, (I'm sure you were dying to hear more about my stomach woes) especially as this is my second time writing all this as blogger.com spat the dummy and much to my chagrin chucked out what I wrote before... so I'll leave you with some long-promised but now very-outdated pictures of autumn... Winter is in full swing here. The snow got a lot more intense since my last post - one night I got home to find my door was frozen to the door jam and the electronic lock had gone mental. It finally opened when I stuck the card key in the wrong way round. Go figure! The next day we almost cancelled my classes as a lot of students weren't going to make it to school. The snow was pretty amazing to see... I'd seen it at ski-fields before, but not all over everything in a domestic setting. It felt like someone had pulled a huge practical joke and sprayed everything with shaving cream. Anyway, I'm getting carried away... have some pictures...

The view from the bridge at the station.