I just got back from Korea today and I’m well-tired. Glad to be back but I did have a great time there; lots of good food, country walks, friendly people etc… I’ll be writing more about the trip and posting lots of pics once I get them developed. In the meantime here’s a teaser from the few pictures I took with my mobile. The picture below is of our first Korean draft beers on arriving in Seoul. In Korea beer is “mekchu” and “Cheers” or “Kampai” is “Kombe!”
Sadly, Korean draft beer is generally speaking thin, watery and barely deserving of the name.
So we switched to Heinken.
These bollards are everywhere in Seoul. Koreans don’t like paying parking fees, so they’ll park anywhere else they can which presents a problem for pedestrians. These bollards are there to stop them.
In this season you can see this everywhere you go: chilli peppers laid out to dry in the summer sun. That’s what makes the kimchee so hot hot hot!
We spent a lot of time on buses. A long time on buses can do things to people’s minds.
Once I get those pictures developed I’ll post some pictures of the fantastically beautiful Korean scenery. (Oh! Those mountains!) And of the very nice people we met there. Watch this space…
Monthly Archive for August, 2006
Why do the crows of Shimogamo Shrine have three legs? What can it mean?
Yama ( a street performer) on Kiyamachi last Saturday. He plays a very nice kazoo.
A butterfly at Kyoto Botanical Gardens last Friday.
Hyon Ju took these last two pictures (her 携帯 mobile phone is better than mine…).
I took a lot more pictures with my actual camera, which I’ll be posting up on my Flickr site at a later date. Ahhhhhh. Summer is almost over… only a little over a week before I have to go back to work. I popped in today and found that my desk had disappeared. My stuff has been dumped (really DUMPED is the only way to describe the way they just threw it all) onto Leilani’s old desk which is already a big old mess. So basically the first thing I have to do when I go back, before planning all those dreaded lessons, is spend several hours tidying that up. Great.
Inconsiderate F#%king B#st#ds.
I’m off to Korea for a week from tomorrow. I may have time for the occasional posting. I may not. I won’t be reachable by phone, so if you want me, mail me on luain34@yahoo.co.uk.
Cheerio!
(P.S. We went to see “Superman Returns” last weekend. Superman should have stayed at home. It’s really quite dreary. Don’t watch it. If you haven’t already, watch this instead: LINK )
Back in the spring of 1998, the Board of Education in Koriyama city sent me to Koriyama Senior High School on Thursdays and Fridays to fill in for a teacher who had suddenly decided to go home (”family problems”). I was only there for one term but I have some very happy memories of working there, chiefly because everyone was so nice and the students were very sweet. I think my three favorite students were in the first year; Hirotsugu, Asami and Yuri. Every breaktime they would come skipping into my office for a bit of a chat and tomfoolery.Well, Yuri got in touch with me the other day to say she was coming to Maizuru (not too far from Kyoto) to visit her grandma and would I be free for lunch on Wednesday? Of course I was. This is she and and me:
It’s very nice when your old students keep in touch with you. However, as in my mind she is still a wee Senior High first year, I find it hard to accept she’s 24…
One of Kyoto’s most famous events is the 五山の火送り (gozan-hi-okuri or “five mountain fire send-off”), held every year on the 16th of August. The Obon festival, is the time when people visit their family graves to pay respect to their ancestors and various Buddhist services are held for the repose of the dead… And the idea is THE DEAD COME BACK. So when the festival ends, fires are lit on the mountains around Kyoto to guide the spirits back to… whereever it is they go back to… This is the one night in the year all the eateries and stores around Kyoto turn off their neon lights and you can actually see STARS. Everybody, is trying to find the perfect place to see the kanji 大（dai or “big”) on Daimonjiyama, and Hidaridaimonji, the 妙法 (myouhou or “buddhist teaching”), and the pictographs of a ship (yes it really looks like a ship!) and a tori gate (like you see at the entrance of shrines here). This year I was very lucky, because from my girlfriend’s roof you can pretty much see all of them and it’s really close to Daimonji, so close in fact you can make out the individual fires that make up the 大. It was a really nice atmosphere. All the locals were pointing out the fires to me and explaining their meaning as they appeared one by one and you could see lots of similar parties on the roofs of all the buildings around. This is the sort of thing I love about Japan. Anyway, here’s my picture:.jpg)
Next year I use a tripod! And here’s the map to Cafe Oishii I promised to post a couple of days ago. If you can’t read it then you are either: a) not in Japan so it doesn’t matter, b) in Japan so you can ask somebody Japanese.
Cheerio!
Here’s a couple of nice old guys:
Peter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_YMigZmUuk
Jim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPWZv1n-8sU&mode=related&search=
I just watched these and it made my day. The first guy is a massive internet celebrity now. Anyway, RECOMMENDED.
“When you redirect your opponent’s energy, you force him to change. So in essence he defeats himself. If you learn to be fluid, to adapt, you will be unbeatable.”
(Yasuaki Kurata as Fumio Funakoshi in Jet Li’s 1994 martial arts epic “Fist of Legend”)
“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself makes you fearless.” Lao Tzu
Important lessons for any walk of life!!
Now last week I watched Jet Li’s latest (and apparently last) martial arts epic “Fearless” (called “Spirit” in Japan). It’s the fictionalized story of China’s legendary martial arts guru Huo Yuanjia and as one would expect from a Jet Li movie, the fight scenes are fantastic. But it’s also a very moving story of a man’s pride, grief, and redemption through the realization that his true opponent is his own self. One small point I liked was the relationship of mutual respect between the main character and his Japanese opponent (played by Shido Nakamura).
Jet Li has stated that in this movie he wanted to express his martial arts philosophy. He felt a strong responsibility to do so. Well, I was inspired! I actually watched it twice! Watch trailers here:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10006530-fearless/trailers.php
And now go watch the movie! WATCH IT!
FOOD
Last night, we went to a little eatery, not far from my house, which must have the healthiest menu in Kyoto. The name is Café Oishii and it’s specialty is vegetables fresh from the field, cooked in such away that not a smidgin of flavor is lost. We had the omelette and tofu steak and some vegetable gyouza (steamed dumplings). Actually, for my taste the gyouza was a bit too strong, too much ginger and garlic, but everything else was super delicious. A nice little place and I recommend it. Here’s a couple of pictures: 
I’ve been having trouble uploading pictures to this blog, (for problems with computers go here: LINK) so for the map to the location you’ll have to wait till tomorrow. I’m not going to waste any more time on that today. Cheerio!
(Added later)Here’s the map to Cafe Oishii I promised to post a couple of days ago. If you can’t read it then you are either: a) not in Japan so it doesn’t matter, b) in Japan so you can ask somebody Japanese.
On Tuesday I went to a photography exhibition by みやっち and Tamara Burlando. Tamara’s photography was of Bangalore street children who are participating in the “Born Free” art program there. It’s worth a visit, but be quick because it finishes on August 13th. You can see it at the Dohjidai Gallery on Sanjo (between Teramachi and Gokomachi) and you can find out more about Tamara Burlando’s photography here: http://www.tamaraburlando.com/
“South” (Be and Akira) played at the opening of the exhibition. The pictures behind are Miyacchi’s. The music and the art made a very nice combination.
You can see more pictures of their performance on my flikr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46253270@N00/sets/72157594164482825/
Also, many thanks to Mike Joe for sending me this: www.angiulo.com/starwars.wmv
It’s very very funny indeed.
My news? Hyon Ju is back from Korea. Wahooooooooooooo!
And tonight? お久しぶりに… pizza and a video…
Here’s a short video of Philippe pretending to be a geisha:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5lRrzpHPC8
I’m off out. Been studying all day and my brains are fried…
Enjoy!
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.
Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
On Saturday, Philippe and I went to Chikyuya, a cheap and tasty eatery at the back of the Hankyu Department store. By sheer chance Nakano-kun and Yoko (staff at the clinic) were there too. We had a bit of a drink together and then Yoko said she wanted to play with fire-works. So we did. Down by the Kamogawa there is a festival, the 鴨川納涼祭り （”Enjoying the Evening Cool by the Kamo-river Festival”) which is basically just an excuse to sell stuff. But there were some performers there too. Fire-dancers!
This is Philippe’s attempt to achieve the same result with a couple of sparklers:
And here are Philippe and Yoko looking sedate:
Now, I’ve tidied up and added some links to the right of this page. There’s a link to my mate Rik’s page… because he’s my mate. Also, there’s a link at the bottom to his “Key-hole” web-page which is for a dance event he’s promoting in London and you can download or just listen to some tunes there (if you like that sort of thing).
Also, I’ve provided a link to my friends Nico and Yuki’s new guesthouse. If you’re stuck for a place to stay in Kyoto, it’s good and cheap. There are some nice pictures of Kyoto there too, if you just fancy a browse. You can also see some of Nico’s art and crafts, he is both a skilled artist and artisan. Does amazing things with wood. Ahem…
http://gh-project.com/e/home.html
Finally, here’s something that made me laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBsD1xIpJUI&mode=related&search=
I had a lovely surprise today. An old friend from University, who I haven’t been in touch with for a decade and a bit, suddenly sent me an email. I popped into his head it seems and after a bit of an internet search he found this blog. Back in the day we edited a “literary magazine” called “Written Terms” together… We also accidentally blundered into the London Poll Tax Riot together back in 1990. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_tax_Riots) Ah the memories…cups of tea, rolling tobacco, discussions of poetry… riot police charges, swinging batons, flying bricks… Those were the days. And do you know, he’s now writing comedy for T.V. and radio. If you check out his website, he’s written for some pretty well-known shows: www.simonblackwell.com
Perhaps he can shame me into doing some writing of my own…
Today’s Recommended Location:
There’s a nasty little bar on Kiyamachi called “Ing” or sometimes “Rock Bar Ing” which is quite popular with a certain sector of the foreign community (mainly sexually frustrated drunken white males). Unbeknownst to the majority of people who go there, there is another bar in the very same building, right next door in fact which is actually quite cool. It’s called “Small Town Talk” (named after a Bobby Charles song - click here for Bobby Charles: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-10-26/cover_story.html) and it’s owned and run by Kageyama-san who has an impressively huge collection of soul music on vinyl. This is he:
Philippe and I went there last weekend and enjoyed a couple of drinks whilst listening to Curtis Mayfield, Gil Scott Heron and Van Morrison. This kind of place (i.e. guy with specific musical taste; jazz or blues or whatever, has huge music collection and runs a bar dedicated to it) is quite common in Japan. I really like it.
Lucky
Now a few days ago I got an email that said I’d won a million on the English National Lottery as a “consolation prize”. This interested me as I’d never actually entered the competition and what was really spooky was I had another mail a few days before that, informing me I’d won the Netherlands’ National Lottery too. Why, I must be the luckiest guy in the whole wide world.
Yesterday I climbed Daimonji-yama (mountain) with Chie. I see this mountain every day as my house is pretty close by and I figured it was time I hoiked myself up it. The mountain is famous because every summer at the end of the Bon festival a bunch of firemen climb up there and burn a big 大 kanji that can be seen all over Kyoto. There are a bunch of burning kanji and symbols on other mountains too but Daimonji is the biggest. These “Bon” fires are lit to guide the souls of the dead on their way back to Deadsville. The dead come back during Obon see, it’s a bit like Halloween. Sort of. You can click here if you want to see how it looks: http://www.phototravels.net/japan/pcd2633/daimonji-3.html
Anyway, it’s a nice climb, takes about an hour to get to the top and though it’s pretty hot these days and yesterday was very sunny, most of the climb is through woods, so it’s nice and shady and cool. Just getting some exercise, seeing some trees and listening to birdsong is good for the soul I reckon, but then of course there’s the view from the top too. You can basically see all of Kyoto - pretty impressive. Here’s Chie with a towel on her head.
Here’s myself looking all poetic.
In the afternoon we went over to the Kamogamo river and sat on a rock mid-stream and dangled our legs in the water for a while. Where the Takano-gawa and Kamogawa rivers join there’s a bit of land in between (which looks like an island but isn’t) and this is Shimogamo, one of my favorite places in Kyoto. There’s an ancient forest there called Tadasu no mori, which has various wacky stories attached to it but apparently you cannot tell a lie there, and back in the Heian Period (about a thousand years ago) aristocrats would meet there to settle their disputes. We strolled through the forest and came up to Shimogamo Shrine. It’s a very pretty place and allegedly the oldest shrine in Kyoto (though no-one is quite sure when it was founded - maybe 6th century?). Here are some pictures for your delectation….
…and delight.
“Holy” water here apparently. A thousand years ago the nobility would often gather here for purification rites, to pray for the harvest, or just enjoy a game of footie. Click here for Heian Period Footie: http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/kp/topics/eng/2006jan/01-04b.html
Now this next picture is of a very weird tree, or trees…. or tree. You see two trees, have somehow grown together and become one. This is called “en-no-musubi”. 縁 is a special kind of connection between people or things (sort of like karma or fate), so people pray here for good fortune in romance or for their families, that sort of thing. It’s officially one of the “seven weird things of Kyoto”. Can’t wait to see the other six!
