Of Caves and Nukes and Volcanoes

Since the last post went on a bit longer than I'd expected, the last little bit of Matsuyama got shoved into this one. I didn't want to scrimp too much on this part, because on the morning of my departure from Shikoku I visited what has got to be the weirdest temple in all of Japan - Ishite-ji, number 51 of Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage.  

Well - that's not quite accurate. The temple is a little unusual in that it's more cluttered and sprawling and less organised than most others I've seen - but that wouldn't in itself be enough to  write about. 

What was cool, however, was the surrounding area. Ishite-ji is nestled at the foot of a tall, forested hill, with my access route being a path over said hill. In fact, the hill was crisscrossed by a spiderweb of little unkempt tracks, so it was purely by good fortune that I happened to follow the one that went past the hilltop. From here, I got some very pretty views of the city...

...and of a huge Buddha statue someone built on a nearby hill for no discernible reason other than that it never hurts to have one more Buddha statue. 

Then, of course, there was the random golden sphere which seemed to serve no particular purpose - it was completely deserted apart from a few builders, and I'm not sure what exactly they were doing there. I couldn't figure out whether the whole place was derelict or unsafe to enter or anything - the path leading up to it was pretty overgrown and the inside looked pitch black, so I gave it a miss. It was only later that I found out that this place is packed with disturbing statues which would have been worth a visit. 

Now what makes Ishite-ji really weird is one of its least-known entrances. Matt at my hostel had told me of a tunnel-like cave which led to this temple, and this was what I was originally looking for when I meandered around the hill and eventually reached the hilltop instead. The cave mouth turned out to be a little further down the road, right by the roadside but cleverly hidden by some carved stonework so that at first glance it wasn't apparent that there was anything behind it. 

I had imagined a short passageway, maybe 20m long but not much more than that - I could not have been more wrong. I'm not embarassed to admit that this tunnel creeped me the hell out. It was some 250m long, low enough that I had to stoop and lit only by tiny lamps at intervals which left 90% of it in near-complete blackness - just enough to let the dozens of little 2-foot tall stone statues cast some seriously eerie shadows. It didn't help that these statues also all wore clothes like the ones pictured in the first photo of this post, which moved in the breeze to add an extra bit of realism to the shadows. There were also a few larger alcoves which were guarded by 10ft statues staring grimly out of the blackness. 

Here's the exit at the temple end of the tunnel. Here's a taster of the inside, though rather better lit than when I was there. In conclusion - yes, I'm a massive wuss...

And on that note, onwards to Hiroshima! This is one of those places that will only ever be famous for one thing. Trying to promote Hiroshima for its pretty rivers or anything else is a bit like seeing Daniel Radcliffe/Elijah Wood in any non-Harry Potter/Frodo role: it just doesn't work. They will always be those two characters, and Hiroshima will always be the city that got nuked. 

That said, Hiroshima is a very pleasant city to while away a few days in. Aside from everything being named "Peace..." - pagodas, parks, boulevards, everything - I can't really think of anything unpleasant about it. There are no signs at all that this city was a nuclear wasteland less than 70 years ago - except for the A-bomb dome, a powerful ruin right in the city centre. It is almost exactly below the hypocentre of the bomb (which exploded above ground level for maximum effect), and by some freak incident the framework of the structure remained standing. During the cleanup efforts in the 50s it was decided to keep the dome as a memorial, and it's a pretty haunting one. A nuclear blast is one of those things it can't be possible to imagine unless one's been affected by one - watching them (e.g. here or here or here) never fails to fill me with a mixture of awe and horror. 

A pillar warped in the heat of the explosion.

Right next to the A-bomb dome is the Peace Park, which covers an island in one of Hiroshima's four rivers and is packed with memorials and monuments to all imaginable population groups and minorities affected by the bomb. It also houses the "Flame of Peace", which will be extinguished once all nuclear weapons on Earth have been destroyed. 

Thousands of origami cranes at the children's memorial. A girl who witnessed the bomb as a baby and got leukaemia a decade later decided to fold 1000 of these in her hospital bed, hoping she'd get better. She died before she could complete the thousand, but her class, and eventually schools around Japan and the world, began to contribute. 

The A-bomb dome makes for a rather better background for the Flame of Peace...

...than the rather drab-looking museum.

Despite its squat, unattractive exterior, the A-bomb museum is pretty interesting. I hadn't known that the mayor of Hiroshima has written a letter protesting every single nuclear test that has ever occurred - they covered several walls! The other exhibits do a fair job at conveying the aftereffects of the blast - some are positively chilling, such as this tricycle.

On a rather more cheerful note, the food in Hiroshima is excellent! Okonomiyaki literally translates as "grilled 'whatever-you-want'", and while this doesn't mean an unlimited meatfest such as the more extravagant mind might conjure up, the result is still tasty. The Hiroshima version consists of yakisoba noodles, cabbage, pork, beef and various squiddy seafood all grilled with batter and egg to make a giant pancake layered with all sorts of goodness and topped with an unidentified but fantastic brown sauce. The whole thing is then served on the grill, and you get a spatula to help yourself with. Winner!

And for no good reason, Hiroshima castle's walls at sunset. I really need to get home and start straightening all these photos...

Followers of this blog will remember the Three Views of Japan, one of which I visited in northern Honshu (and in the previous blog post); the time had now come to find another one of these. Fortunately, I had the common sense to leave early and arrived on Miyajima Island at 6.45am, thus avoiding the crowds. And what crowds they were...the tour groups began streaming in around the same time I left, and they were fearsome indeed.

This island is home to the Floating Torii (the archways which mark the entrance to a shrine). I had done my homework and had even checked the tide timetable to make sure I came on the right day - at low tide, the floating torii actually stands in an expanse of mud which I imagine would be rather less photogenic. As it was, though, only a handful of other early birds were at the shrine with me and I spent a good hour and a half wandering its planks and gangways in the search for the best views. 

Now this is undeniably a beautiful affair, but sadly the Japanese ability to build the most monstrous concrete hotel blocks right in front of their greatest treasures rears its ugly head yet again. Fortunately, the Inland Sea's far shore is far enough away that this isn't too big a deal, but still - what on Earth were they thinking?! 

A fair few of the monks sported some of the most excellent minty blue kit anyone could wish for...

Gotta get those cherry blossoms in the frame!

And at long last, we get to my last stop in Japan. At the southernmost extremity of Kyushu, Kagoshima lies along a bay across which is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It is, in fact, officially currently erupting, though nobody seems to mind very much: the tourism industry (read: gift and snack shops) along its flank are thriving. I didn't have the time to actually head over there myself, but upon my 5am start to get to nearby Kirishima-Yaku National Park for a good day's hiking I was treated to a rather shapely little plume by Sakurajima.   

This set the mood nicely for the rest of the day, which was spent in a volcanic wasteland which, while cool, was no match for New Zealand's Tongariro National Park. Alas, it's truly a hard life having seen some of the world's more spectacular places (an unreasonable fraction of which seem to be crammed into New Zealand)!

Still, it was nice to get out and about once more, and the landscape provided an interesting contrast from the lush greenery of Shikoku. 

This used to be a crater lake used to film the villain's HQ in 007: You Only Live Twice.
Then the volcano erupted. No more lake... 

 My original plan had been to hike across a chain of volcanic peaks from one hamlet to another, but since the second volcano in the chain was in the process of blowing its top off the path was closed. This left me to climb Karakuni-jima, where the above shots were taken, and then wander around a nearby crater lake before heading back to complete the loop. On the way, I met another English chap named Benedict, who was excellent company and had conveniently stayed in a hotel next to the bus station the previous night. This meant that a cheeky onsen visit was on the cards after the hike, and I can confirm that there is no better way to finish a wander than a hot soak. 

And so ended the penultimate stage of my adventure. After a few uneventful days in Fukuoka which were mostly spent wandering the aisles of a 5-story camera shop but not buying anything, I hopped on a plane to Korea. More on that soon...

Odds and Ends from Tokyo

My arrival into Japan was a bit of a protracted affair. Five flights over 3 days (Rarotonga-Auckland-Sydney-Hong Kong-Osaka-Tokyo) were followed by a night at Tokyo airport to meet Helena when she arrived to spend a couple of weeks out here with me (thank god for airport showers...). After all that sitting around and waiting in fairly unexciting environments it was high time to plunge into the confusing maelstrom that is Tokyo when you don't speak Japanese! 

Tokyo is HUGE. This is from the 26th floor in the middle of the city, and there was no end of the high-rise area visible in any direction...

But before I get ahead of myself, a quick few photos of my first day - alone still - are in order. Having most of the day free between flights, I decided to see if I could get around the area cheaply to get a bit of a feel for how Japan works. Fortunately I discovered that a one-day rail pass covering the whole Kansai area (some 10% of Honshu, the main island) was cheaper than a return ticket from the airport to Osaka, so off I went. I decided to head to Himeji to have a look at one of Japan's few original castles (ie not concrete imitations, which most of them are) - and the finest one according to many sources, no less. This turned out to be a day well spent - besides catching the cherry blossoms around the beautiful castle grounds in full bloom, I felt slightly better prepared for tackling Tokyo the next day.

I learned a few things about how things in Japan work at this early stage:

• In a country with as many old buildings and shrines as Japan, renovation works are inevitable. What I did not expect was that instead of keeping scaffolding as subtle as possible, the building to be renovated is enveloped in a temporary building. When I got to Himeji the castle's hill was marred by an enormous (think 10-story building) factory-like abomination that had me wondering how permission to build anything like that right by the castle had ever been given. I was flummoxed to learn that this was, in fact, the castle - the main keep was completely hidden from view by this giant grey cube with an outline of the castle drawn on it. Great. Fortunately, though, the remainder of the castle was still pretty stunning!

• It is also perfectly accepted practice to rebuild ruins using modern materials in order to give visitors a spotless attraction. People seem to think that this is more important than the authenticity of what they are seeing. 

Yeah. Don't really know who thought that was a good idea...the real deal must look pretty spectacular, though!

• People will queue for everything here, and with levels of stoicism and even delight unheard of even in England. Up to 20 minutes before a train pulls into its platform, people will obediently queue - unmoving - across half the platform to where the train's doors will be (as shown by stickers on the ground). At a bus stop I saw people queueing huddled under their umbrellas in the pouring rain, not even utilising the stop's shelter. 

• Comic/anime-style illustration is not restricted to children's books/art. It is utilised in maps (rendering them spectacularly useless), infographics and ads targeting every age group. The Tokyo underground's mascot is a blue anime platypus who passes out with ecstasy upon seeing the benefits conferred by the city's Oyster-card equivalent in videos played on screens in every train every minute or so. 

Osaka's Pokemon Centre - frequented not just by kids...

There are a great many other oddities and idiosyncracies worth mentioning, but I'm sure I'll get to them in good time. For now, fast-forward to Tokyo! Helena and I made it into town from the airport after just two attempts to get hold of the right ticket; Tokyo is crisscrossed by trains run by 2 (3?) different companies who sometimes share stations and sometimes don't, but definitely don't share tickets. Our hotel, too, was easily found. It proved fortunate that it was near the Yamanote train line which circles central Tokyo and would prove to be our lifeline. 

It left a few seconds behind schedule once. It was shocking.

Heavy rain on our first day dampened our (well, mine, anyway...) enthusiasm for immediate exploration a little, but the ubiquity of umbrellas - we were handed two by a receptionist startled by the sight of us attempting to leave the hotel without one - helped. Still, we stayed in the local area for most of that first afternoon and evening. To our delight we found that food was cheap, quick and extremely tasty without being particularly unhealthy in the many little eateries clustered around the station area; ramen (noodles and pork/spring onions/soybeans/various other goodies in a tasty broth) in a small place with seats at the bar has remained one of my mainstays throughout my time in Japan. In general, fast food not being synonymous with awful quality and ingredients - being based mostly on rice, noodles, egg, seafood, seaweed and soybeans - makes it a pleasure to indulge in. 

Selection of Bento boxes at Tokyo station - unlike the good old English sandwich, there are enormous food courts here full of delicious-looking goodies. We spent a good 45 minutes here trying to decide on a snack...

As for things we saw - Tokyo is big and diverse and interesting enough that I could easily write a post on each day we spent there...but I won't do that. Instead, I thought it'd be easier to write a little about the things that most readily spring to my mind when I now think of Tokyo. The Imperial Palace has to top the list, with the Japanese emperor as one of those quintessentially Japanese institutions. The castle itself is off limits on 363 days a year, but a stroll around the palace gardens, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom at this point, was very pleasant. This being one of the first places we visited in Japan, we revelled in being somewhere so decidedly un-Western. Armies of immaculately clad office workers swarm the park - one of central Tokyo's woefully few green areas - at lunchtime with their chopsticks and bento boxes, which will be filled with edible goodies pleasing not only the palate but the eyes with their precise arrangement and design. 

A little tranquility in downtown Tokyo

The next morning (I think - my chronology on those action-packed days isn't great!) we got up bright and early to go to the famous Tokyo fish market: after watching the tuna (up to 300kg) the thing to do here is to get some sushi or sashimi for breakfast - it doesn't really get any fresher! Sadly, despite getting up at 4.30 we missed the auctions as super-keen Japanese tourists apparently start queueing at 2am to snap up the limited viewing spots, so after a wander around the bustling premises we contented ourselves with raw fish - perfect for 6.30am! 

The place was crazy - far too huge, one would think, for much order to prevail (65000 people work there), but somehow things get done. Unfortunately we didn't spot any of the gigantic knives they use to fillet the tuna (apparently they require 2 people to handle them), but weaving around the enormous processing buildings around wholesalers undoubtedly sick of tourists bumbling in the way, there were tasty things of all sorts to be seen. 

The cool contraptions the workers zoom around on - the steering wheel is directly connected to the front wheel.

Akihabara, semi-informally nicknamed Electric Town, is what most people would first think of when thinking of Tokyo. Bathed in neon and covered with anime adverts the size of buildings, this is the home of cheap/grey/black-market consumer electronics, maid cafes (where cosplaying waitresses "treat you like a prince"), hentai (manga porn comics) and sex shops more generally. Slightly surprisingly, teenagers/young men were far from the only clientele; Japan's society is suffused with comics - and, apparently, with lonely men - to an extent that the two seem to combine into a passion for frankly seriously, seriously weird smut comics. 

Not actually taken in Akihabara, but the strange/slightly creepy mannequin seemed fitting...

Of course, the sex shops also catered for all sorts of tastes, but with some of their wares I was genuinely unsure how they would actually physically serve a sexual purpose...

Sage advice for visiting sex shops - exhibits tend not to be edible...

Ultra-realistic cervix - what more could a man want...?

And the plaster cast of dozens of vaginas - with the women's ages written underneath - which hung on this particular store's wall I won't even go into. 

And just to end on yet another bizarre note, our last day in Tokyo was spent at a fertility festival which seemed mostly to pay homage to the penis. Set in a usually undoubtedly tranquil shrine, this features several gigantic phalluses which are then paraded through nearby streets - and the area is absolutely packed. 

...and so the huge pink cock begins its slow, majestic parade down the streets of Kawasaki...

The crushing throng trying to get hold of the ever-popular lollipops (cock-shaped proved more popular than pussy-shaped...make of that what you will). A few of these even made it back to Cambridge, to the delight of their new owners from what I'm told!

Of course, no penis festival would be complete without its share of ladyboys...and dancing monkeys. 

"...and they think they evolved from us..."

Right - for the moment I think that's that for Tokyo. It may not seem like it, but we did see a lot of non-genitalia-based stuff as well! But parks and temples and beautiful places general civilised Japan-y things we found in subsequent cities as well - and I shall get to them in the next post.