Not far from my place is an incredible toy museum. It specialises in tin toys, automata (animated toys) and German wooden toys - especially nutcrackers. It seems strange that Arima, a famous onsen town, would be home to these beautiful little objects... but seeing as I'm only a few kilometres away, I'm not complaining!

This exhibit shows the process of making the body of a tin robot. It's surprisingly involved and makes the sometimes exorbitant price of even new tin toys understandable. Then there's also the antique value added if it's an old piece. I've seen a little Japanese fighter plane in a store (I'd guess from the 50's) for over 200,000 yen - that's over $2300 Aussie dollars.

Here's an amazing old battleship. Seems cute, but seeing it reminds me of my Dad's memory of coming over to Australia on a ship as a little boy, with lights out at night to avoid the attention of Japanese warships. Why do violent things make such cool toys!?

This is an example of automata. They involve winding a handle to make a scene come to life - often with humorous results. This one isn't funny, just quirky - sometimes it's just the uncanniness of the action that captures your attention. I want to try and get into making these things.

Here's a beautiful nutcracker from Germany, complete with nut in open jaw! Sorry if that's obvious, it took me a while to notice it.

Okay, maybe I'm going a bit overboard with the manhole covers, but just suffer one more... this one was on the walk to Arima. I was interested because it has Koshien Stadium on it (the one where the high school baseball was held) - showing that I'd crossed into Nishinomiya City. I live right near the boundary between it and Kobe City. Anyway, nothing earth shattering, but it was news to me as I made my way to Arima. I tried to bike it there, but was defeated by a whopping big hill, so I opted to park the wheels and continue on foot.

Once in Arima I saw this little scene and really liked it for some reason. I think maybe it's the letters and the bike. There are heaps of really cool old bikes like this here - it makes me want to learn to ride one. You'd expect to see all the whiz-bang modern Japanese bikes, but they seem quite rare... maybe because of the price, but I suspect the older style is more popular anyway. Now we're closer to the part of Arima that the tourist buses come to. It's nestled among steep, heavily wooded mountains. They make for nice scenery, but are a bit of a pain to walk around for too long! Lots of sloping paths and flights of stairs.

Did I mention that there are mountains and trees?

There was a kid practicing pitching his baseball against the stone wall just to the right of this shot. Nice little scene.. it seemed really natural but also incongruous at the same time, if that makes sense. I wonder how old this place is?

Not happy, Jan!

I'll leave you with this and to ponder why I would have taken this photo... (chortle)

Seeing as I finished the last post with a manhole cover, I thought I should start this one with another. "A good manhole cover deserves another" or something like that... stick it on my headstone if you like! This one is from Tsukuba Science City, about an hour north of Tokyo. That is it's offical name - there's a big replica rocket in town, real ones a little way off somewhere, a whopping big university and a high energy particle accelerator. It's also now home to my friends Tom, Jen and baby Ruby, who I stayed with for about 5 days. Jen had a party and I talked to a nuclear physicist. He tried to explain the "Strong Force" to me, which sounds about as techinically impressive as Australia's proposed VFT... Very Fast Train. Maybe they've been taking their cues from the Chinese restaurant back home: Excellent Seafood Restaurant.

Everything in Tuskuba is more scientific. The headwear is eons ahead of the rest of Japan, and therefore light years ahead of the rest of the world. Tom is sporting the latest model. Yellow is the new red, or didn't you know? 30 is also the new 20 (a great justification for a decade of irresponsible living in one neat sentence - I can't even use it anymore, now that I'm... 32!). Oh and I've read that as far as hair is concerned here, black is the new black. Stocks of black hair dye will run perilously low as all the suave boys and garus switch their coloured hair back to black. Black hair on Japanese people? It just doesn't seem natural. Where was I?...

The babies in Tsukuba are also more advanced, due to years of experimentation. Here's a batch being carted off to the laboratory.

Fish fly in Tsukuba too.

More fish. They aren't just hanging around because they look great, although they do... they are to mark Children's Day, kodomo no hi. Traditionally it was Boy's Day and the carp kites (koinobori) were put out as symbols of the parents' wish for vitality and strength in their sons as they made their way through life, just as the carp struggling upstream must have power.

One kite is put out for each member of the family: Mum, Dad and each child - I'm pretty sure girls are included in this now. Pretty big family... maybe Catholics? ...or maybe this is a commercial display of some sort.

Yet more fish.

No, not fish. Tom, Rubles and their place. Is this Japan? A large house, front and backyard, English speaking neighbours and a party next door the first night I spent there! It's also a very flat area with wide tree-lined avenues and beautiful parks. Definitely another Japan from the one I'm living in. I wonder how many there are. Japans, I mean.

Biking around with the O'Leary family. Tom fixed up a funny little unit to ride on to allow for me to ride his normal bike. He looked pretty funny on it. Unfortunately this is the only pic I got of Jen this time around! That wasn't very smart. Oh vell...

An altogether different mode of transport! The shinkansen I was in is reflected here in one of the buildings surrounding Nagoya station - maybe about 2/3rds of the way home. Dad got this same shot when we were coming back from Tokyo together. Anyway...

That's all for now... just trying to get this blog more current with piccies! We're still in May, so there's more to come... til then, byee.

This is my first manager, Mayo, and my former fellow-teacher, Naoko. Back in May I went with a group of colleagues, past and present to visit Mayo in her hometown of Minoh on her lunch break before doing some sight-seeing...


Not so far from where we ate you can see a monkey or two when out walking! Some furry inhabitants live in the woods surrounding a famous waterfall. (Taro, who lives locally said that monkeys have been spotted in our area on very odd occasions!)The picture above is a fair bit cuter than the real thing... as I was eventually to discover.

The waterfall itself is justly renowned. It's not huge, but it's very picturesque. It was really nice when Naoko sent me a message saying "let's meet, I'll drive - we can go anywhere you want!". I'd heard of Minoh, so we settled on it as it's a perfect daytrip from us.

To get to the waterfall you walk along a long path that often has a canopy of maple leaves. I think it would be worth revisiting in Autumn!

It's nice seeing natural streams here - too often they are concreted on both sides or are basically just a canal between a street and buildings. I've gotten lost before looking for a river that's on a map, only to realise that the festering canal I've been pacing back and forth across is it!

This beautiful white koi was just moseying along - I'm not sure if I've seen one wild before (well, as wild as a carp gets). Did you notice his companion (feeling coy)? They were pretty massive. I think it would be a better idea being the same colour as the creekbed, especially with some of the visitors that come here...

Grrr!!! Is it a monkey? No, but getting warmer - not a fish, at least... has fur!

"Oh great, there's a monkey on my car". No, it wasn't our car but I'm not sure what I'd do to get rid of this guy if it was. By the time we saw him/her I'd forgotten all about the possibility of seeing them. We'd seen one on the path going up to the waterfall, but it was long after when coming back that we encountered this chap. Naoko warned me not to make eye contact as they get rather aggressive. Tough guys, huh? I think he looks like a slim, furry Ron Perlman.

See you, Minoh!

I'm spending the second day in a row in my apartment, holed up with a runny nose. On the telly is the final of the summer national high school baseball tournament between Komadai from Hokkaido and Waseda from Tokyo. Sounds very amateur, but it's far from that. Obviously it's not professional, but the standard of play, the media coverage and the level of interest is on the same plain. At first I was surprised to see that the matches are held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium, home to the Hanshin Tigers, Osaka’s baseball heroes. But then I read that Koshien was actually built in 1936 for the very purpose of the national high school competition. Even though the Tigers call Koshien home, they must give way to the high school kids if necessary.

Take note of the name Saito Yuki. Saito-kun is the star pitcher for Waseda Jitsugyo and, I imagine, a future star of Japanese pro-baseball…and who knows? Japan has exported several players to the American Major League – most famously Matsui of the New York Yankees and Ichiro of the Seattle Mariners. Modest and cool-headed Saito-kun has been consistently pitching fastballs at the same speed as the pros (at times, almost 150 km/h) for 5 days straight. In yesterday's match he only gave away one run from 170 pitches. Today’s game is actually a rematch after yesterday's drew out to 15 innings with still only 1 run a piece. So, the other team's pitcher, Tanaka Masahiro, is also one to watch. These guys, only 18, are now national celebrities, with news stories devoted to their pitched battle. Amazing performances, considering the weight of expectation with millions watching (ratings peaked at 37%).

I ummed and ahhed about going to the game today (Koshien would only take about an hour 15 mins to get to) but I now regret to say that my "better" judgement won. The atmosphere coming from the TV is almost electric, so I can only try and imagine what it’s like there… 45 odd thousand people chanting, including fanatical legions of fans keeping up a constant chorus of frenzied singing (a lot faster than English soccer singing) with brass bands, drums, cheerleaders… and because it isn’t professional, good seats are cheap and outfield seats are free! But, the thought of sitting in the open on a 30+ degrees day with a cold made me rethink… I wish I hadn’t been so sensible, it looks so amazing! But yeah, I don’t get sick leave and I have no holidays left, so I can't afford to stay sick. (Did you know it’s poor manners to blow your nose in public in Japan? Very frustrating when copped with hayfever or a cold… yet occasionally I see people pick their noses on the train and once or twice urinate in the street!)

Anyway, I'll finish with the final score once I know it:
Sugoi!!! Amazing!!! Waseda won in the 9th innings, 4-3. The last pitches saw Tanaka-kun face Saito-kun, but he struck out. Saito-kun had been cool as a cucumber until their victory lap – then he started crying. People have been crying all through this competition, from the stands and the field, winners and losers. I’m not crying, but here’s my verdict: possibly the best game I've ever watched. Why didn't I go!? Loser!

I went to Summersonic on Sunday with friends Oscar and Takashi. Was great. I saw a wide range of acts, but the highlight for me was meeting Naoko, the singer and last remaining founding member of Shonen Knife!!! I was very excited when I realised they were on the bill (couldn't read the kanji of their name on the printed ads, so I only realised they were playing a couple of days before while watching a TV special). Anyway, I caught Naoko some time after their show at the T-shirt stand and did some dorky fan talk and photo-taking. This Decemeber will mark 25 years of 3-chord style special girl punk from Osaka. It was really cool to hear the words, "minna-san, konnichiwa, shonen naifu desu." (Hi everyone, we're Shonen Knife) at the start of their set. I especially liked hearing E.S.P. (extra sensory perception... she has special powers!).

Metallica were awesome. I think they're pretty silly people, but they are incredible to behold on stage. And I saw a special treat - they played the entire Master of Puppets album (celebrating its 20th anniversary) and other old stuff. Japanese crowds are good - I comfortably got much closer to the stage than I could dare to at a Western show. Anyway... Kirk Hammett is a guitar freak! James Hetfield seems to have stopped adding an annoying wah! or yah! on the end of every line, so all in all... great! He seemed bemused by Japanese audience participation (or lack thereof) ...at one point when the audience was lit up he said: "Wow, there's a lot of people here... ...and it's really quiet... ... weird".

Also saw: Deftones, Ugly Duckling, Puffy Amiyumi, Kururi, M-Flo, The Feeling and a tiny bit of the Charlatans. Due to clashes unfortunately I couldn't see The Flaming Lips, Daft Punk or Devendra Banhart. Daft Punk (who dress like robots) or Metallica was a tough choice, but I'm glad of my decision. After 2 hours of sleep I headed off to work...

Just got back from 2 days of training on Shikoku island, in Naruto - the place with the whirlpools from my very first post. It was a strange time. It encouraged me, frustrated me and overall left me wanting to quit working for this company.

There was some useful stuff taught and some necessary drivel about business plans and strategies and then there was a whole lot of wasted time going over stuff that I've either already been told, or I've had to figure out myself over the last 10 months. I guess it's good for the new teachers though. It was good to meet a lot of the other people doing this caper and hang out more with established friends - quite a diverse group... but the overall community really got to me by the end of today and I was itching to leave.

It became a lot like school with petty clique-forming ... you know, the "cool kids", the clowns, the jocks, the dorks/ugly ones etc. Just like at school, I tried to avoid being in any of them and just mingle with whoever... I'll leave it to you to decide what category I fall under! As you can tell, I was less than thrilled about the training itself, but I was still put off by the whole air of people having a big laugh about their jobs. The company president is a demanding, angry gnome but he is right to demand that we do what we're paid for!

Having said that though, we were made to watch a rather comical speech of his on a large telly... I've never been so fascinated and bored at the same time. It was 90% unintelligble (but he was speaking English) and the remaining 10% seemed to be saying that we're not performing well because we haven't kept the bottom line squarely in our sights... PROFIT! If we don't do so we will "disappear". He exudes a certain something - charisma I guess, but yeah he speaks in a very fragmented, eccentric and undecipherable way. Beeezarre. I admit I did crack up when given a copy on VHS to take back to my school for safe-keeping.

So, in all I just found the whole thing a bit draining. On one hand I have the despot saying "make me more money!" plus the rigid mechanism set up in his image to do that ...and on the other hand I have the wearing cynicism of all the other foreign staff, having a laugh about everything, whether it deserves it or not. In the middle are the great Japanese teachers and managers who work so hard and complain so little, the rare inspiring foreign staff who really seem to care about what they're doing (hi Ian, if you're reading) and of course, above all that are the kids I teach. I think as much as I really like the kids, the end of this year will be long enough for me. I want out. It's been good and I wouldn't rule out spending more time in Japan, but yeah... enough!

When I'm done I'm thinking of seeing a bit of Kyushu (Nagasaki and Fukuoka) and maybe even a little of South Korea (a teacher at training told me that you can take a ferry from Fukuoka to Pusan in no time for a quick look around).

Anyway, I'll keep you posted...

There's been a lot on telly this week about Hiroshima, being the anniversary of the dropping of infamous Little Boy. I don't understand the vast majority of the commentary that goes with the vision, but the images themselves often convey a lot. On one channel you see smoking battleships listing in Pearl Harbor and on another, an old man recounting his story. You see Prime Minister Koizumi visiting Yasukuni Jinja, the shrine where class 1 war criminals are enshrined... and then images of protesting youths in China, cursing Japan for the blood it shed. I saw one show where a Japanese reporter went to visit the relatives of U.S. servicemen and asked them about their experience - thankfully for me it wasn't dubbed, as is often the case - they just had subtitles, so I could listen and follow!
In this land where so much is unsaid and, I suspect, untaught, it is strange, but heartening to see all this discussion and depiction of the war. I might be naive not knowing 95% of what is being said, but that's my impression. My friend Hiroshi-san said that he heard one of the pilots of the Enola Gay ( the B-29 Superfortress that delivered the bomb) say, when questioned on how he comes to terms with what he did: "Remember Pearl Harbor". Hiroshi said "I can understand that. Saying that to the people of Hiroshima though, I cannot. I can't understand that." I don't think I've ever seen Hiroshi that earnest before.
From the cute adventures of Astroboy, the little nuclear-powered hero, to Godzilla's dual role of menace/saviour, to Akira's post-apocalyptic NeoTokyo (realising what never happened in WWII - the threatened nuclear bombing of Tokyo that the Emperor feared...well he might have - he lived there)... the holocaust of Hiroshima has left an indelible mark on Japan's psyche. Having been to both Yasukuni shrine, it's museum and the Hiroshima peace memorial and its museum, I can see that there are differing feelings about Japan's role in the war and about war in general. In the approach to Yasukuni is an imposing column topped by a figure of the guy who brought about the modernising of Japan's military in the Meiji Restoration - replacing disjointed groups of samurai with a conscripted, offensive and mechanised army - ready to make war with Russia and China. The yakuza-linked uyoku far-right groups make sure you've got the idea by doing laps around the block in shiny black vans and trucks bearing the gold chrysanthemum of the Emperor, blaring nationalistic anthems and propagangda through loudspeakers. I've seen one of these trucks once at Sanda station. That's one sentiment...
Then I was very impressed by the museum in Hiroshima - it presented a very balanced view of things. It didn't cry "victim!" - it squared up to the fact that Hiroshima was, apart from being a city, a military base - from which troops that ended up in Nanking/Nanjing were despatched. It looks beyond nationalism and just laments war in general - but as a start makes a strong plea to stop nuclear proliferation and to reverse it.
From the sweeping scale of all that to the domestic stuff that usually occupies the news bulletins here - tales of corporate scandal, negligence, child abduction, child murder... the human heart remains the problem, right? Whether the weapon is a harsh word, the desire to dominate another, the shape of a blade or the size of a warhead.
Sorry to soap box - I'm just reading the account of a Jewish guy who escaped Auschwitz, so it's probably not great timing! But yeah, I'm convinced more than ever that humanists have their heads in the sand. We need fixing! I do anyway... Come Lord Jesus

Night

Back in April, this is is Mum, Dad and I onboard the shinkansen heading back west from Tokyo. After a couple more nights at my place, it would be time for my parents to fly back home.

One last shot on the bridge at the station as they headed to Sannomiya (Kobe) to get the airport bus. The tree behind put on a good show of sakura. I really like this photo.

Kyoto Station. When we went to Kamakura (the festival I showed you a few posts ago), we were joined by my friend Laurene, visiting from Australia. A week or so later, she headed over to Kansai and so she and I were able to meet up again on my day off in Kyoto.

Laurene and I discovered we are both a bit obsessive about taking photos, so we looked around at a similar pace, snapping away. It's interesting to see what different people want to take photos of in the same spot. I often take details and never manage to take an overall picture to remember how they all fit together!

We headed to the eastern side of Kyoto to a place called Arashiyama. It was my first time and I wasn't disappointed - it was beautiful and the weather was absolutely perfect.

There is a really nice, dense bamboo forest that Laurene was pretty excited about. I've seen photos of it at night where they up-light the "trees" along the path. It looks awesome. Hard to believe it's grass! When the wind blows through the grove some of the stalks knock together and it sounds really cool... I imagine it would be very creepy at night.

I seem to remember that inside this shrine there was a really great piece of contemporary sculpture on temporary exhibition, and beyond it was an idyllic garden. I was sad to be told that photos weren't allowed. You're looking back to the one of the gates at the front of the shrine.

This is the famous shrine called Kinkakuji. The entire thing is laid over in gold leaf. It's one of the classic views of Japan. This building is actually only about 50-odd years old as some crazed monk burned the last one. You see buckets of water positioned around all temples and shrines in case of fire.

The water can seem to be liquid gold as the shrine is reflected on its surface.

Haha, yet another maiko pic. This one was taken by Laurene. She was keen to see the girls of Gion, so it's not like I go there every weekend and hunt geisha... but... I admit I did tag along quite willingly.

Sanda matsuri started today. It's the local version of what are a myriad of summer festivals, with fireworks going off all over the shop. Some of the biggest, like in Osaka, are measured in the 10s of 1000s of explosions. I saw some tonight - some were pretty big and loud. Masashi lent me his jimbei, but didn't wear his! He did, however, bring his wife Eriko and their son Ryo with them, which was a really cool surprise. They are just about the best looking family I've ever seen. Ryo is a riot of a little dude, I love him to death. His English is phenomenal, especially considering he's only 5 years old. Anyway, we didn't see much of the actual matsuri, but it was a top time - I'd enjoy going anywhere with those guys. Anyway, now that I've finally finished posting photos of the trip back in April, I should have some more recent stuff to put up. Til then, sayonara!

Aloha! I seem to be having trouble sticking photos on here tonight, so nothing to see, just some thoughts. I'm really behind with what I've been showing and telling - so much has happened in the last couple of months. Most recently I've had a great time with new friends... and sadly already said goodbye to them. God has been really amazing in laying paths across mine so that I have met such nice people. So who are they?

Well, for starters in the past week our church had a team of 7 from Hawaii come and do lots of great stuff in the Nishinomiya area - outreach programs for people of all ages. They were truly special people and from what I saw they lived and breathed the gospel they preached. The whole church really got into the program as far as each person could and the vibe was really great. A friend from church became a Christian! I was very encouraged by what I saw/was able to help in... I realise not everyone who's reading this cares for what I'm talking about, but it helped me a lot to see what's important and what's just not. I think my vision has become pretty skewed and I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself for too long over stuff that just doesn't really matter. So, if you are one who prays, ask God to keep moving people's hearts in this part of the world and to keep us and the Hawaiians in this mindset and momentum of trying to share Jesus' love with the world... something that was quite tangible this weekend. Kamisama sanbishimasu! I praise God.

I also bade farewell to lovely friends Anna and John, English teachers that live nearby. Tomorrow they head home to the States. We spent a lot of time in the short couple of months that we were aware of each other meeting up to eat noodles, going to karaoke and doing some other fun stuff. I met Anna at Japanese class. Bye guys! Anyway, another changing of the guard...

Last week I went to a concert by Utada Hikaru. It's something that I'd really hoped to be able to see - only her 2nd national tour since her first 6 years ago. Pretty girly, but hey, whatever. She ranges from pop (debuted at age 16 and sold 8 million records) to more experimental dance music (recent stuff). Great, unmistakable voice, but I discovered she can't improvise very well! Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed having my ears and eyes assaulted by the Osaka Castle Hall's massive sound system and the impressive video and light display. My next excursion will be Summersonic in Osaka in a couple of weeks.

This coming Saturday I'm going to Sanda's own matsuri... it should be nice soaking up the summer heat with my friend Masashi in our jimbei robes (well, they're both his... I'm borrowing one!) under the fireworks near the river. He hardly speaks English and I hardly speak Japanese, so it should be fun! I met Masashi through his wife Eriko. Eriko brings their son Ryoya to church and Masashi is slowly starting to come more. He's very cool... actually all 3 of them are!

Well, I'm being stoopid as usual and spending sleep time writing this, so I'm going to sign off. If you're reading this from Hawaii, thanks again so much for coming and putting so much into our church and into me. Aloha!