Kyushu by Bus

So, for the third time in three days, I made a journey from Honshu over to Kyushu: the third largest of Japan’s islands; only this time, the trip was on a longer-term basis. Again, I took the train to Kokura, where I had a couple of hours to spare before my bus left for Nagasaki. I thus dropped my bag off in a coin locker and meandered around the city for an hour or so before hopping on the peasant wagon.

Kokura

From my research – I’m a researcher, don’t you know – I decided that travelling by bus is the best way to get around the island. It’s cheaper, provides greater routes on the misshapen island and allows the opportunity to watch a DVD of someone else’s choice on a small, poor-quality television screen. But the travelling the island by bus allows for greater views of the island that is covered by tree-laden mountains, offering the perfect backdrop for falling asleep.

Nagasaki – what I saw of it, anyway – is a strange old place, with buildings seemingly placed at random around the harbour area. Not surprising for a city flattened 67 years previous, and reflecting the various mountains that surround the city, leaving little chance for Milton Keynes-style town planning. Naturally, the area is very nice, with the top of Mt Isana providing good views of both the city and the islands along the coast.

The Peace Park doesn’t quite have the surviving landmark of Hiroshima, but has an interesting design for the hypocentre and a museum similar to that at Hiroshima. I also took the opportunity to sample some popular entertainment in the city, seeing E-Girls, whoever they are, on stage at the train station and making my first cinema visit to see ‘Momo e no tegami’, as well as wandering the streets of Shian-bashi.

Nagasaki Peace Park

But the large brown shit in the toilet bowl of Nagasaki was the weather: It absolutely pissed it down solidly for about 24 hours. This meant that no ships were heading out to Hashima Island, the prison island now abandoned apart from the filming of poor sequels. This wasn’t a ‘must-do’, but something I’d been looking forward to seeing. It was, therefore, to my annoyance that I woke on the Sunday morning to find a bright sky and calm waters on a day when I was told the sea would be too rough for any boats to make the journey.

Mt Isana, Nagasaki

I’ve read a lot about Beppu being one of the best places to experience Japanese culture, combining old traditions with modern entertainments, in another city surrounded by mountains and sea. And that Japanese culture is getting naked with middle-aged businessmen.

Beppu

As you arrive in Beppu, the place looks like it’s on fire, smoke rising from endless buildings, but then you soon remember that this is one of the best places to sample the onsen experience. I took the plunge in two onsen: one in the city and one up in the mountains, and was lucky to go at relatively quiet times, though still got treated to the sounds of business discussions as buckets of hot water are poured over genitals. It’s an interesting informal venue to share discussion and certainly unlike any I’ve had before.

Beppu

The food in Beppu was certainly among some of the best I’ve had, though probably more by luck than local fame, though the place does stink of boiled eggs. Though sadly, the rain in Beppu falls just as hard as anywhere else in Japan.

Oita Train Station

While in Beppu, I made a quick stop over in Oita for what has become a pointless ambition to visit all 10 Japanese World Cup stadia 10 years too late. Oita is probably the most random of the cities to host the World Cup, being smaller and less accessible than many that didn’t, though it does have arguably the cleanest train station in the world. The ‘Big Eye’ Stadium, or Oita Bank Dome as it’s now known, is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland, trees and Milton-Keynes-style car parks. Eventually finding the home of Oita Trinita, it’s one of those large, out-of-town stadiums that sits pretty in the sun surrounded by nothingness, but as an actual venue that is easily accessible for thousands of people to get to it is less successful. Still, Oita Trinita only get around 8,000 a game.

Oita 'Big Eye' Stadium

I finished off my time on Kyushu with a couple of days in Fukuoka (pronounced ‘fuck you, okay?’). Fukuoka is a nice city, but lacks much uniqueness for me, despite the city’s history. It’s a little bit too modern and clean, lacking much character, hence why it was named 14^th most liveable world city by Monocle magazine. But with clear blue skies on hot, sunny days, the city does look good and so proved good for a short stay over.

Fukuoka

Fukuoka

Being that this is definitely a baseball town, I decided to go and watch the football. Avispa Fukuoka were playing my new favourite team: Tokyo Verdy. Another J-League Level 2 game at the Level 5 Stadium. Despite the home support being excellent as ever, I saw the home team lose for the first time in a J-League game, Verdy emerging 3-1 victors. At the time of writing, I have now been to 20% of Verdy’s games this season, with a 100% win record in games attended. I won’t bother telling you my Villa stats for the season.

Level 5 Stadium, Fukuoka 

I went to five cities in a ten day stop on the island, but would happily explore it further and wash my genitals with yet more Japanese businessmen. 

Avispa Fukuoka vs Tokyo Verdy (27/04/12)

Another Tokyo Verdy game attended, another win for the green team. This time sat in the opposition end as a Avispa Fukuoka fan.

Momo e no tegami

It suddenly occurred to me as I rode into Nagasaki by bus that I hadn’t been to the cinema yet on this trip. In fact, I hadn’t even considered the idea. Being that my main opening to interest in Japanese culture and language is via the medium of cinema, I thought it was about time that I did. On my first trip to Japan, I went to see the Miyazaki film ‘Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea’. I promptly fell asleep during it. But this was 2008, when I was young and wistful and the only Japanese I knew was ‘konnichiwa’, ‘arigatou’ and ‘kamikaze’.

But now is now, and I know some more Japanese words now. Ima (now in Japanese), I headed to the Toho Cinema that I had passed on the bus to see if anything good was on. Apart from the seminal ‘This Means War’ (known as ‘Black and White’ in Japan), there was nothing on. I then went to the United Cinema down the road and found ‘Momo e no tegami’ (‘A Letter to Momo’) on. From the same director as ‘Jin-roh’ – a film that I didn’t particularly like – I thought I’d give it a go.

Now, being that my Japanese is limited, I had to fill in a few plot holes as I went along, but I think I got the gist of it: A girl, Momo, has an argument with her father just before he dies. After his death, Momo finds a letter he had started to write with the words ‘To Momo…’ on it. Oh, what did he want to say? This is where the film gets a bit peculiar with three spirits then appearing to help her overcome her loss, as well as annoy her. The seven police car chases and tranny getting boffed might have been my imagination going wild; but generally, I followed the story.

I think I enjoyed it and got through it all without falling asleep. Being very Studio Ghibli-esque, I can see this one making its way to the UK, so I might be able to see if I was write about the story in a couple of years.

Moving West on Honshu

So, after the meteorological ups and downs of Okinawa, I headed back to Tokyo for another long weekend, though this time not alone. Sharing a room in Akasaka with, let’s say, an acquaintance, what followed were a couple of nights and days of drinking, eating, more drinking, football debate and more drinking.

This led to me discovering my new hero in a jazz bar in Akasaka, who was good enough to give me a terrible free CD, as well as unearthing the delightfully-named ‘The Aldgate’ pub in Shibuya, allowing us to see the first of Ashley Young’s recent dives against QPR. Sightseeing for the Nihon newbie was had, with the main spots on the Yamanote Line ticked off.

Ginza

But, time waits for no man, and I wait for the Shinkansen; to Nagoya, to be exact: The city where Gary Linker played the best football of his career. The first day of my stop brought with it glorious weather, which for good for the long walk to my hotel, which looked short on paper, longer on foot. With the sun bright, I ventured out to find a LAN cable, finding a host of interesting structures and a Ferris Wheel attached to a shop. I also located the excellent Banana Records, which I could have spent hours in, leading me to take a punt on two CDs that I had never heard of, but the price was right and they looked good to me. Plus, there was a Kentaro track on one of them.

Nagoya

Rain has been a continual theme on this trip, and Nagoya has seen the worst yet. It was raining when I woke up, but I decided to push on to Nagoya Castle anyway, as it wasn’t too far, so shouldn’t prove too bad. But the further I walked, the worse the rain became, and I was soon become wet through. The Castle and the Noh Theatre done, I tried to find the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, but soon signs for it disappeared and I soon found myself lost with the rain continuing to get harder and harder. Eventually, I found my way back to the hotel, but I was soaked through, my bag and its contents affected and my mp3 player now likely to cause epilepsy. The rain continued, and so I was hotel-bound, left to do my laundry, unable to see any more of the city.

Drowned out in Nagoya

After the car crash of my second day in Nagoya, I went straight into a car crash in Kyoto: a genuine – not metaphorical – one. Off the subway, my route to my ryokan was blocked by crowds, as police drew chalk lines around a front bumper, a single trainer, a hat and a bag. Didn’t look like it ended well for some poor sod.

The crowds passed, I made my way through the sakura celebrations of Muruyama Park, following the excellently-written instructions on their website (found here) to try and find the Yoshimizu Inn. Feeling like I was wandering aimlessly up into the mountains, I found a girl arranging umbrellas randomly, who seemed eager for me to walk her way. Turns out, she works at Yoshimizu Inn and was working on her Rihanna routine for ‘Stars in their Eyes’. 

Yoshimizu Inn

For the first time in my life, my room was the one on the website. I felt like royalty. Not a fully traditional ryokan, but a nice one nonetheless, allowing me futons to arrange on tatami mats and a Japanese bath to use at my leisure, but only between 17:30 and 23:30. And only shower between 07:00 and 09:00 in the morning. And there’s only an hour for breakfast. Like a proper B’n’B.

Gion

In the city itself, as I had spent some time here before, I had done most of the tourist things around Gion. I, therefore, chose to explore some of the parts I had not been to before. I started at Kinkauji, but found it a little disappointing: not as good as all the photos you see in the books and far too many people there to make it seem anywhere near tranquil.  From there, I went to Fushimi Inari Taisha. Now this is a place that exceeds expectation. I knew that there was an impressive row of tori to see there, but I expected about one or two hundred metres worth. What I found was a continuous path that led up into the mountains to the point where you were stuck in a maze of tori with no idea as to which way the exit was. Eventually, I found a woman working the path who pointed me in the right direction. But the endless tori are not the most amazing thing here: it’s how they got all those vending machines up there! I then went due north west to Arashiyama, where I had been before, but liked so went back. Though the inevitable rain cut that trip short.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

The rain continued throughout the next day, so I changed plans, having a museum day (except for the Manga Museum due to a cosplay event which I chose to avoid). This meant that my plans to go to Biwako were put back a day when I eventually went to the largest lake in Japan. In Otsu, the sakura around Mii-dera were in full bloom and the best I have seen on the trip. From there, I took the train north, halfway up the lake, to Kitakomatsu with promise of a beach there. There was a beach there, about 10 metres of beach, though the water was nice there.

Mii-dera

Biwako

The staff at Yoshimizu were awesome, though there seemed to be just two young blokes and a girl working there. Discovering I knew some Japanese, they enjoyed yacking at me every night about the films of Kurosawa and Ozu, and bizarrely Ibiza and RyanAir. They also discussed their love of Miyajima near Hiroshima, which luckily, I was heading to next.

Heading further west, I moved to Hiroshima, the main reason being to go to Miyajima to see the ‘Floating Tori’. I spent much of my time in the city going for runs in the heat along one of the many rivers there, as well as visiting the Peace Memorial Park once again.

Miyajima

The weather when I went to Miyajima was good, though unfortunately, I got there too late for high tide, and so lost a lot of the ‘floating’ aspect of the tori. There was, however, a noh theatre display on in Itsumushima Shrine which I stopped and watched. Eating lunch surrounded by deer, I then got the boat back to the mainland, the tide fully gone by that stage.

Changing trains at Kokura, I briefly went over to Kyushu, before heading straight back to Honshu and the city of Shimonoseki. No idea why I went here really. There is little there to speak of and no real tourist trade, though it did break up the journey to Nagasaki and offered a potential couple of days to rest before journeying more permanently to Kyushu.

Yume Tower

The highlights of the city include the Yume Tower, which offers a scaled-down panorama a la Hong Kong  of the natural harbour between the two islands; and the Kanmon Tunnel, which offers pedestrians a 78metre walk under the sea to Kyushu, meaning that I had been there for a second time in two days. The tunnel is an eerie place, unclean and unkempt, with sounds that are less than comforting when walking below the sea. Also, Shimonoseki is the one place so far were it hasn’t rai…Oh wait a minute…

Kanmon Tunnel

Kanmon Tunnel

Shimonoseki seemed a little different from the other places I have been to. It has less of a 24-hour feel to it, with many of the bright lights turned off early in the night unlike in larger cities. Also, there are a few European-style buildings dotted about the city to add to this. If it reminded me of anywhere, it was Newcastle: the harbour and Kanmon Bridge acting like the river and bridge bearing the name Tyne. Only difference being, I could understand some of what people in Shimonoseki said…

Kagami - Super Electronic Dub Mix (Daikei)

First video from photos from my trip round Japan. Track called Kagami (mirror) by some dude named Daikei. Picked it up at Banana Records in Nagoya on a punt as liked the cover and was cheap. Paid off. Photos from in and around Kyoto in April...

Every 14 Days...(9)

Disgusting Bliss: The Brass Eye of Chris Morris (Lucian Randall)

I’d read that Lucian Randall’s book around the career of Chris Morris rarely goes into too much depth and so would add little to the knowledge of one of his fans. While keeping himself out of the spotlight, his work has always come under great scrutiny for its controversial nature and subject matter. So, while a book around the enigmatic and semi-mythical man maybe interesting, does it add anything?

Essentially, no. Much of the first half of the book focuses on the ‘On the Hour’ team, their various disputes and the transition to television spawning a long list of individual career pathways. Most of which can be gained from 'The Day Today’ DVD extras, any work of Lee and Herring in the 90s and having heard the name Steve Coogan. While offering the odd tid-bit here and there, it doesn’t add much to the bank of comedy trivia.

As the title suggests, much of the fruit of the work revolves around ‘Brass Eye’ and its various controversies; and it does offer some extra depth to that which may already be known. But, while ‘Disgusting Bliss’ serves as a good story of Chris Morris’ career, it’s more of a chronological summary, whereas something more creative would have been better. Most of the main players involved are referenced and quoted throughout, but in many ways, it feels more like a fan writing about his hero, though anything else would prove tricky when writing about such an elusive subject.

Days to read:14

Days per book: 15.3

Dawn of the Dumb (Charlie Brooker)

Returning to the sometimes Chris Morris collaborator’s collection of articles for The Guardian, ‘Dawn of the Dumb’ is ‘Screen Burn Part II’, continuing to feature his ‘Screen Burn’ column, as well as extra pieces written for the newspaper.

The latter stands the test of time a little better, being more a collection of his thoughts and musings that are less dated than his various whining over ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.  Much like with ‘Screen Burn’ before it, it is laugh out loud (LOL) funny in parts, though also drags if reading too much at once. Here also, his obsessions over ‘Big Brother’ seem to dominate many articles, with little said about other shows on television at the time, apart from any ITV ‘talent’ show and ‘Dragons’ Den’, which have become new targets for his rage here.

Again, brilliant in parts; this could serve as an article a day toilet roll!

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.2

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (David Simon)

So, having finally seen ‘The Wire’, I thought I’d go to the original research material that created it: ‘Homicide’, especially as I had a 3 month trip coming up, it’s a long old read and was only £4. Not just in weight terms, but much like the ‘The Wire’ this is heavy stuff, with plenty of depth into character backgrounds , with numerous personalities to follow. This is essentially a journalistic account of the year David Simon spent with the Baltimore Homicide Department, watching their every move and documenting their lives. Everything here then is real.

Three things are covered in the book: Firstly the backgrounds of each of the detectives in the department, all of whose identities are included; details of the murders that they worked over the course of 1988; and lastly descriptions of the process in which the detectives work.  This is a full and detailed research project that formed the basis for much of the television work Simon has since been part of.

Perhaps having just watched ‘The Wire’ all the way through, I can’t help but picture each of the detectives included in their on-screen personas, which probably clouds a lot of my reading here, and so, it probably wasn’t as rewarding for me to read this. Indeed, with so much detail to follow, it can be easy to miss parts of entire story threads and feel bogged-down with information. But reading this only adds to the credibility of the television series, knowing that much of it was based on real detectives working real cases.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.1

Kitchen (Banana Yoshimoto)

So, next I decided to have a look at the debut novels of two of Japan’s better known authors throughout the world: Murakami Ryu, who I’ve read before; and Banana Yoshimoto, who is new to me. Starting with the latter, I quickly worked through the short ‘Kitchen’, Yoshimoto’s debut from 1988.

My first reaction is that this is a book written by a woman, for women. There is a bit too much sentiment in the writing style, with the narration has far too much subjectivity too it than I like, feeling a bit more like an extended list of what the character was feeling each moment, not letting the reader draw their own conclusions. This left me a little like how I felt after reading Xinran’s ‘The Good Women of China’: feeling like I am too stupid to understand how those involved may or may not feel.

But it’s not all bad. The writing improves as the book progresses, and this edition comes with the short (carried away by a…) ‘Moonlight Shadow’ which is an improvement on ‘Kitchen’. Banana Yoshimoto is lauded by many, but doesn’t really do it for me. Though, all that have mentioned liking her have been women. But, in the words of Mike Newell ‘I know that sounds sexist, but I am a sexist.’

Days to read: 7

Days per book: 14.8

Almost Transparent Blue (Murakami Ryu)

Off the back of the success of Miike Takeshi’s ‘Audition’, I read Murakami’s book that it was based on. Enjoying it, I followed it up with his ‘In the Miso Soup’, which I also liked. His debut, written when he was 23, winning him the Akutagawa Prize, is a far more complex affair than the simple, easy to read novels from later in his career.

To start, the writing style is a little confused: It continually switches between an endless stream of consciousness from the narrator’s perspective, to structured dialogue between the characters. Speaking of the characters, none really seem to develop personalities or idiosyncrasies here. Combined with the writing style, it is often difficult to tell who is actually speaking, though in the context of the story, it almost seems unnecessary, melding into a ball of different voices as the characters seem to.

With little in the way of character identity thrown into a world of endless drug abuse and sex, there is no real sympathy or empathy with any characters. All seem far too preoccupied with heroin and penis size to truly care for, making you relieved that it’s only a short piece. The main point of intrigue here is that the lead shares the authors name, hinting at a semi-autobiographical nature, as does the strange ‘Letter to Lilly’ at the book’s close. Other intrigue comes in the setting: a small Japanese town with a US Army base, leading to some insight to the opinion of the Japanese to Their US guests in the 1970s.

Like ‘Kitchen’, it improves as it goes, though in a short work, that isn’t really a good thing, and the lack of any real story make this simply a graphic description of drug and sex parties among a band of losers, though perhaps that is what people looked for in it. But not for me.

Despite their success, neither Yoshimoto’s nor Murakami’s debuts did much for me. Murakami is a writer I would say has definitely improved since, though the extent I will both to consider another Yoshimoto book is debatable. Though willing to try…

Days to read: 6

Days per book: 14.5

Okinawa-honto

I knew that if I went to Okinawa closer to the summer that it would be far too hot for a pasty white boy such as myself to enjoy. Walking would produce ass-crack chafing, and photos would be of a red-faced, obviously British person.

With that in mind, I decided that I would make Okinawa my first stop, starting south at the coldest point while I’m here, moving north as the average temperatures rise. But Spring brings with it a mixed collection of weather styles, and the law of the proverbial sod reared its ugly head throughout my time here.

Shurijo

Much of my time on the island was spent in the city of Naha, close to the airport, and generally away from any US Military bases, which is preferable. It was my days spent here, in the city, that tended to be hot and sunkissed. Time here was spent at the various UNESCO World Heritage sites that the city has to offer, namely Shuri Castle, and the Japanese Navy Headquarters. Days spent here were generally hot and sunny, which isn’t as necessary for more indoor activities.

Shurijo

It was when I would try and venture out of the city that the weather would turn and piss on me. Plans were often scuppered and changed last minute based on the morning’s weather. My trip to scared site Seifa Utaki turned out nice, though my trip to Manzamo had to be put back and was overcast when I eventually made it there, and other days out had to be called-off. Which was a shame, as I’d finally figured out Okinawa’s strange and non-English bus system. Travelling on the island can be expensive, however, in time and money, with buses moving slowly through towns and cities, as well as being rickety old death-traps (I jest).

Seifa Utaki

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom; the good days were very good and the weather perfect. Chinen provided some great views when visiting Seifa Utaki and walking round the city in the sun was definitely worth it. The bad weather wasn’t always a negative either, with the wind adding for some good waves at Cape Manzamo.

Manzamo

Okinawa: home of karate; land of novelty T-shirts. Well, not exactly, but entertainment district Kokusai Street and Makishi Public Market certainly have their fair share, many of which are pork-based. I’m sure the late opening of many of the shops has led to many a drunken purchase in its time, with patrons feeling the need to tell the world: ‘I have been to Okinawa!’

Ishigakijima

It’s not often that I can walk to my hotel directly from the airport – most airport hotels are still a good bus ride from the plane-hold, with a vain attempt to compensate for only having industrial parks for views by adding the word ‘airport’ to their name.  In fact, my accommodation was at the end of the runway: Scenic.

Yes, Ishigaki is a small island; small enough, in fact, that you can see someone on the south side of the island, only to see that same person on the north side of the island only an hour or so later…though, they did get on the same bus as me.

Yonehara Beach

Known in Okinawa Prefecture for its beaches, my time here was hindered by what seems to be affecting much of Japan at the moment: Wind and rain. And this was a bit of a shitter, as many of my plans for while I was there involved sitting on beaches, masturbating into shellfish. But alas, I persevered and managed to have a reasonably good time on the island, sandwiched between my time on Okinawa-honto.

All-in-all, I learnt two things from my time here: a) how to get a tropical beach all to yourself; and b) what DMX will sound like if dubbed in Japanese.

Regarding point a), if you choose a time to go to the beach when it is pissing it down and/or quite windy, you will find that there aren’t many other people there. While you won’t have the bright sunshine to enhance the experience, you will greatly reduce your chances of being annoyed by anyone from Milton Keynes.

Sukuji Beach

The two beaches I ventured to were Sukuji Beach (rain-affected) and Yonehara Beach (wind-affected), though the latter does have a couple of colourful gift shops to amuse.

While my time was good – and narrowly beats Hong Kong for getting me the closest to Taiwan I’ve ever been – if I had gone there the week before or the week after, it could have been better. Though then I may have missed the chance to see ‘Romeo Must Die’ being televised, and that would have been a tragedy unto itself…How do you make a great film even better?...