michael lambe

As I mentioned previously I went to an onsen hotel in Kaga city last weekend, which I chose simply because it was cheap. This isn’t always the best criterion. “What’s in Ishikawa prefecture then?” I asked. “Mountains,” said the travel agent. “They have mountains, I think.” They do have mountains. But they are very far away. Kaga city sits in the middle of a flat plain (fringed with mountains) and is basically a bit of a dump. It consists of various box-like buildings, chain restaurants, convenience stores and featureless shopping malls and overlooking it all is a massive statue of Kannon-sama which is the essence of pure kitsch. The statue is gold in color (not real gold mind you) and has a red light on the forehead that comes on at night. I was expecting a quaint little onsen town but what I discovered was sprawling scene of urban desolation, haunted by very dodgy looking kids in tracksuits and (most excellently) sporting mullet haircuts. Well, the hotel was fine. Nice hot spring baths and good food. Just not much of a view from the veranda.

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From Kaga, you can take a tourist bus to various sites of dubious value. Natadera (那谷寺) was probably the best of the pick – a large wooded complex that takes a good couple of hours to get around. The garden there was (as Buddhist gardens tend to be) good value and worth the extra ￥200 on top of the temple entrance fee.

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Zourokuen (蔵六園) was basically a house full of old stuff, most impressive being the hina doll collection. They also had a nice garden. And then there was a bit of seaside and a walk among the pines before heading back to haunt the shopping malls of Kaga (with those kids in tracksuits I felt like I was back on Teeside) till my train arrived.

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Now I’m back in Kyoto and the cherry blossom is blooming… but no word from Kageyama about this year’s hanami party. The man has completely vanished from our lives! Here are some more pictures of a drinking party I had with my students at NEC in Osaka. It was the last class on Thursday so we went out for a few and I missed my last train and Hiroshi and Yasu were good enough to stay out with me till dawn. Needless to say I was feeling a bit rough yesterday. All’s well now though.

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Now I just have time for a couple of links. Here’s something Kumar Sivabramanian sent me on a landmark case in comics history. Kumar writes: For those who don’t know, Jerry Siegel died almost penniless, and was a mail courier for much of his later career, as I recall. Siegels Awarded Superman Rights

And here’s a very special message from a very special person to the people of Tibet. LINK