It seemed like a short lifetime ago that summer started, but now that it’s over it seemed all too quick. The days have ended where I can come into work late and take extended lunches away from my desk. Something I dearly miss. I’m surprised at how unproductive I’ve actually been, and find myself with a pile of work that I have to complete within the coming week with absolutely no drive to get it done. I guess that’s a good queue that this should be my last year. Maybe this will change when I am starting to work back in the classroom, I doubt it, but I really hope this lack of motivation isn’t permanent.
Although I’ve been present at my desk for the majority of the summer, my mind has been anywhere but. In a dimension far, far away! Dreaming of weekend parole when my mind can escape from paid imprisonment and my body can move in a free world.
Early summer was filled with Japanese summer traditions of festivals and fireworks, the most famous being Gion Matsuri in Kyoto. Gion is a famous festival in Japan with a long history. I won’t go into much detail about the festival since it is easily researchable, but in short, hundreds of people gather to watch traditional style floats in the streets. From within you can hear the sounds of traditional drums and shrill flutes. This was the second time I went to Gion Matsuri, and it was both fun and nostalgic. It was definitely different than my first time, but a moment marking being in Japan for another full year. A crazy time for reflection on how much things have changed and yet how much has remained unchanged.
Smokin' your tobacco and your meat!
No funny business allowed.On August 6th I went to a fabulous fireworks display in Osaka along the Yodo River. We ended up with reserved seating which included a lunch and drink. It was very impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed my company, making it one of the most memorable firework festivals in Japan, if not the most memorable.
Common summer sight in Japan.The only other firework festival I went to was in Otsu, Shiga’s capital. The display was huge! I mean, I’ve never seen so many fireworks in the sky at one time. Night began to look like day. The only thing more crammed together than the fireworks in the sky, were the people on the ground. Thankfully, my height insures me a good viewing angle no matter where I am.
On the topic of good viewing angles, I was also super lucky to see my favorite band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, play at Summer Sonic in Osaka. For a price of nearly $170 I rocked out to the funky beats of the Chili Peppers and was introduced to some really good bands such as Panic at the Disco. It was expensive, but well worth it! I’m pretty sure I would have paid the price to just watch the Chili Peppers since I’ve been a fan for over 10 years and don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance to see them again.
An ocean of sound waves.
I also climbed Fuji for the second time, and still couldn't see the perfect sunrise. The view was still breathtaking though!
Sea of Clouds on a Beach of Volcanic Rock.
Gate to heaven.
The following week I took a week off of work for some travel and the highlight of my summer. I purchased a used Seishun 18 Ticket at a discount store and took 5 hours worth of trains to Okayama, definitely the cheapest way to go saving me a few thousand yen. After some ramen, Spanish tapas and a night’s sleep in a capsule I woke up early to get in a Doraemon blue car with a beautiful girl waiting for me. It was definitely a great start to a most fantastic vacation.
We drove for about an hour to Uno port listening to the Chili Pepper’s album “By the Way” and caught a ferry to Naoshima. Naoshima is dubbed the “art island,” and is filled with incredible architecture and modern art such as light sculpture and giant dotted pumpkins. It even has a few original Claude Monet paintings, for those who prefer more ‘classical’ pieces.
Polka-dotted HallucinationsMy favorite was an exhibit that is part of the Bennesse Art House Project. It is called “Backside of the Moon.” A light sculpture created by James Turrell. Basically you are lead into a completely dark room and guided to a bench by a staff member. When I say completely dark, I mean you are blind. Eyes open or closed, it doesn’t matter. You just sit there, and after a while you start seeing faint reddish light. After about 10 minutes a room faintly materializes in front of you, filled with dim light that your eyes have finally come to see. You then stand up and walk into this space. It almost feels as if you are walking into a picture frame, or following the light at the end of the tunnel after death. At the end is some kind of endless abyss through the wall, which you only dare to stretch part of your arm into. At this point the room is clearly visible, and you can even see the faces of awe surrounding you in a space that feels extraterrestrial. The amazing thing is, the light intensity is never changed. It is only the eyes that adapt to such a dark space filled with so much light, a strange metaphor of the world if I’d say so.
After a day of peering into a crazy imaginary world, we boarded the ferry with our car and headed to Shikoku. Shikoku is possibly one of Japan’s most undeveloped large islands, although I think Hokkaido still wins the competition even though Sapporo was a booming icy metropolis when I was there two years ago. We went to Kagawa prefecture and headed to a quiet hot spring town. Here I stayed in what was possibly the nicest hotel, at least in Japanese decorated fashion. I felt as if I was a guest in a castle during the Heian period of Japan. The dinner was a piece of Japanese culinary art and the onsen (hot spring) was bliss on top a roof.
The next morning was an equally impressive breakfast, minus the tiny little fish embryos which I wasn’t a huge fan of, followed by a hike up many stone steps to one of Shikoku’s most famous temples at Kompira-san. Many people make a pilgrimage to wish for the many things the temple promises to improve in one’s life, the most famous being happiness. What I learned is that the road to happiness is hot and sweaty and requires climbing a lot of steps, but is usually followed by a delicious shaved ice and a mango smoothie. Happiness indeed!
Hot, sticky and sweaty summers of Japan.
Finding enlightenment at the temple courtyard.Besides onsens and happiness, Kagawa prefecture is known for udon. But not just any ordinary noodle mind you, but deliciously chewy Sanuki Udon. So good in fact, that we almost didn’t have a chance to eat it since most restaurants ran out of ingredients by 1:00PM! But it turned out that at one restaurant which said they were out for the day still had a little left, so we were in luck. We threw down our 400 yen and had thick and chewy goodness. A texture that is so perfect, that I can describe it in no other way but the texture of Sanuki Udon.
Our last destination for the day was some whirlpools in the neighboring prefecture of Tokushima. However, we would arrive too late to catch a good view. So instead we went on a short river cruise, climbed Japan's official shortest mountain and watched Awa Odori. Awa Odori, is a traditional style dance that Tokushima is famous for. Turns out I also got to try my own hand in this dance, and I wasn’t too bad at it. I won a prize for being one of the top dancers! However, I know I’m pretty bad when it comes to dancing. So most likely I won the prize because I was the only foreigner dancing.
Japan's shortest mountain. Mountain?
Awa Odori That evening I said farewell to my traveling companion as she started on her long drive back to Okayama. After checking into a capsule hotel I ate an incredibly delicious bowl of ramen at shop called Todai Ramen which is famous in Tokushima.
The next morning I woke up early and headed to the train station. I asked for some information on how to get to the Naruto Whirlpools and it looked like the best way to get there was by bus. The next bus didn’t leave for about an hour and a half though, and I kind of regretted waking up so early. To try to find a happy equalizer between sleepiness and boredom I decided to enjoy some high grade Starbuck’s caffeine.
By the time my bus arrived at Naruto the tide already changed so I couldn’t see the whirlpools. I still purchased my 500 yen ticket for the glass bridge walkway and attempted to satisfy my curiosity. Unsatisfied I decided to kill about 6 hours at an art replica museum and return at the next tide.
The Otsuka Art Museum is a huge complex constructed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, which also strangely produces ceramic tiles as well as famous sports drinks such as
Pocari Sweat. The museum claims to contain 100% accurate and to scale replicas of world famous artistic works. It is quite impressive to walk into a copy of the Sistine Chapel or follow the artistic timeline from ancient Greek paintings to present day creations. I think I discovered that I enjoyed the Baroque period, and works by Rembrandt more than most works prior, since the paintings used a lot of dark colors such as black and somehow seemed a bit more sinister than the purity and perfection of the earlier Renascence. I also enjoyed the artwork of Norwegian artists from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. However, I actually didn’t have enough time to explore the museum after nearly six hours, and headed back to catch a glimpse of the whirlpools a little after 3:00PM.
Japanese Sistine
More people were gathered around the glass framed squares facing down at the ocean than when I first arrived earlier in the day. I definitely could see some small whirlpools form and then die out. It was interesting but did not satisfy my craving that movies such as Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas instilled in my imagination.
Beware of Kraken
It was a unforgettable trip, but it was finally time to go home. I was lucky to arrive at the bus ticket counter at 5:00 since one minute later and it would have been closed. I bought my ticket and headed back to Kobe, caught my train to Shiga and fell asleep in my own bed dreaming of further adventure.
