Golden Week proved to be just that. After a long, soggy, chilly winter, Golden Week proved to be the true start of spring. We had glorious sunshine, breezy, warm days. Tony and I spent most of the time on our newly acquired bicycles, exploring the city and seeing so much more than we might have done on foot or by car.
The highlight of the week was a day trip to Mt Fuji. We won't talk about the traffic. Suffice it to say that most of Tokyo must have been on the same road as us. Mt Fuji is about (!) two hours south west of Tokyo. The approach is magnificent and literally takes your breath away. The picture above was taken from the car as we got closer to the mountain. We were able to drive to the 5th station, which is over 7,500 feet up the mountain (total height:12, 288 feet) and walk around in the still snow-covered area. Mt Fuji is still an active volcano, but last erupted in 1707 and is regarded as having a low risk of eruption. The mountain is said to be very "shy" and is frequently wreathed in clouds and not visible from below. We were so lucky to be there on a clear day with wonderful views.
As you can see from the photograph of Tony, even halfway up the mountain, the day was clear and bright. Mt Fuji is the subject of countless paintings and woodblock prints. It is supposed to have mystical elements and the 5th stage is the division between earthly and heavenly realms. It can take 10 hours to climb to the summit from the 5th station and is only undertaken in the summer months. We decided to enjoy our halfway-up spot and leave it at that!
The area around the mountain has some lovely lakes and is going to be somewhere we would love to revisit for a long weekend. Even the four hour homeward drive did not dampen our enjoyment of the day.
It has been a while since we added to this post. In the meantime, we finally moved out of the hotel and into Sakura House (Cherry Blossom House). So, in the last two weeks we have been settling in, getting systems up and running (TV, Cable, Internet) and opened a bank account during a marathon morning at Citibank, with Tony filling endless forms and me discovering that there is no such thing as a joint account and I am not eligible to open my own as I am not working here. A very different approach, but I am sure I will cope. Of course, the challenge to getting everything going has been the fact that all instructions are in Japanese and so we have to go by trial and error on most things. We did take delivery of an electric bike this week, so I can get out and about, venture further afield without using the subway or taxis and carry home more than one loaf of bread and a pint of milk! The bicycle is great fun and the little motor gives me just the boost I need to get up the hill between the nearest supermarket and our house. There are bikes all over the city, a very popular form of transport and it is so safe here that people leave their shopping in the bicycle baskets when they park them in the street and it stays safe and sound.
This is our back patio, where we can sit and have a cup of coffee or glass of wine in the evenings. The weather has not been so great of late, but last weekend we did manage to have lunch outside. There are small trees (cherry blossom and Japanese maple) and bushes and I have bought two tubs to fill with annuals for some more color. Now I have to find somewhere to buy soil and plants..
We are just 7 minutes from the subway and walking distance from a large multiplex movie theater, where English language movies are shown. Shops are plentiful, now I just have to figure out what I am buying. I am meeting up with a Scottish friend and a Japanese lady from the Tokyo American Club who is going to give us a supermarket tour, identifying the various items and how to read the labels. Should be very helpful!
We are having an interesting time in the ciy, meeting an assortment of people from all over the world. I play mahjong with a group of British, American and Japanese ladies and have joined the "Chicken and Chablis" lunch group, mainly New Zealanders and Australians with a smattering of British and Americans and Tony and I go to some fun events like the celebration of the Queen's Birthday Luncheon at the British Embassy (fish and chips and Cornish pasties, washed down with British beer and wine) on Wednesday (April 21st-her actual birthday). We came third in the trivia competition at the Tokyo American Club last night, teaming up with a couple of Scottish friends, coming home two bottles of wine the richer!
Next week sees the start of "Golden Week" (Ogata Renkyu), a time with sufficient public holidays as to constitute nearly a whole week off (with one day of one's own leave inserted in the middle).
The following holidays make up Golden Week:
April 29th – Showa Day honors the Emperor Showa (Hirohito) who was emperor before, during and after World War II. Apparently, the holiday is to encourage reflection on the 63 turbulent years of the Emperor’s reign.
May 3rd – Constitution Memorial Day is a day to reflect on the meaning of democracy
May 4th – Greenery Day is a day to commune with nature and be thankful for its blessings
May 5th – Children’s Day takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month every year and is to encourage respect for children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness.
A lot to think about, but at the end of the day it is a week of holidays and everybody travels during this week, so airlines, trains, hotels, are all fully-booked, months in advance (a lot like Thanksgiving). We are staying in Tokyo and exploring a bit further afield. Now if only the weather would improve!
This photograph is of a beautiful cherry blossom tree at Togo's Shrine in the city. The weekend when the blossoms were at their finest was unfortunately not so great weather-wise. The cherry blossoms were still spectacular. All over the city, especially near shrines and around the Imperial Palace, the trees were blossoming in all their glory. Families and friends come together for Hanami-a cherry blossom viewing party. They gather in parks where the trees are blooming and have picnics and enjoy the glory of the trees. We attended a Hanami party at the British Embassy and were entertained by some pretty lively (and loud) drummers, while drinking a special cocktail with cherry blossom flavoring. At a cooking class, I tasted salted cherry blossoms that had been stirred into a rice dish. They were very sour and not entirely a new favorite, but certainly were different from other flavors I have enjoyed in the past.
This is a photograph of me on Kamakura Beach, where Tony and I went last weekend. A 45 minute train ride south from Tokyo, it is an interesting seaside town (a little bit touristy, but then who were we to complain?) with a number of surfers trying out the waves on a cool and windy day. It used to be the capital of Japan of the Shogunate. There are a number of wonderful Buddhist temples such as Engaku-ji there and also the 44 foot high Amida Buddha statue (below). For me, the most interesting part of being in Kamakura is that on September 1st, 1923, this is where my father was when the massive 1923 earthquake, known as the Great Kanto Earthquake, hit Tokyo. He was there with my grandfather, brother and sister to celebrate his sister's birthday. His mother and eldest brother were in Germany. My grandfather then departed to return to Tokyo, where he was serving as German ambassador, leaving the children with their Japanese nanny, as they were planning to stay some while longer on vacation. When the massive earthquake struck, the nanny had the good sense to take the children with her, moving inland in time to avoid the powerful tsunami that engulfed the beach. They escaped to a bamboo forest and then to a nearby village until their father was able to ensure their safe return to Tokyo. The earthquake caused devastating damage to Tokyo, Yokohama and Kamakura. When it struck, people were cooking lunch over open fires which then swept through the town, driving many to be burned to death or drowned as they leaped into the harbor to escape the flames. It was estimated that between 100,000 and 142,000 died in the earthquake, tsunami and fires. 1.9 million were left homeless. But looking at that beach on a sunny March day, with the cherry and magnolia blossoms just beginning to emerge, it was difficult to imagine what it must have been like 87 years ago on that day. I did like to think I was in the same spot as my then 8 year old father and wondered what he must have felt when all this occurred. I just wish we had talked about it and so many other extraordinary times in his life....
Last night we attended a play at the Kabuki-Za Theater in Ginza, pictured on the left. In about 6 weeks time, the theater will be pulled down and rebuilt. Apparently, it does not comply with current earthquake building codes. It is quite a landmark and so many people were outside taking photographs and watching the large clock count down the time until its demolition. Extra performances are being put on so that many people have a chance to attend as there will no doubt be a gap in time while the rebuilding takes place.
Kabuki is a traditional Japanese form of theater with its origins in the Edo period. In contrast to the older Japanese art forms such as Noh, Kabuki was the popular culture of the common townspeople and not of the higher social classes. Kabuki plays are about historical events, moral conflicts and love relationships. The actors use an old fashioned language which is difficult to understand even for some Japanese people. Actors speak in monotonous voices accompanied by traditional Japanese instruments.In the early years, both men and women acted in Kabuki plays. Later during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate forbade women from acting, a restriction that survives to the present day. Several male kabuki actors are therefore specialists in playing female roles. One actor we saw last night was an eighty year old man known as a Living National Treasure and he was acting with his 9 year-old son. There was also another father/son pair of actors, the son playing a major female role and the father the main male role in the play. The story was the final act in a three-part play, parts one and two having been performed earlier in the day. Kabuki Theater is extremely stylized and the actors move very slowly and deliberately with minimal facial expression. Clues to their character are in their costume, hair and make up. The 'bad guy' has an orange/red face and the more elaborate the hairstyle and a beautifully embroidered red kimono on a 'female' character shows that they are high born. The actors entered and exited along a catwalk to one side of the theater and their exit was very slow, with specific moves, and particularly significant. We were fortunate to have the wife of one of Tony's work colleagues with us and as a lifelong fan of Kabuki, she explained many of the nuances to us. We also had radio earpieces and were able to understand the (very complicated) story through an excellent narration. The performance was 3 hours long..... Kabuki is not to be rushed. However, once we became accustomed to the very slow and deliberate pacing, it was a truly fascinating experience. Oh yes-thank you, Henry, for the reminder (see posting below), Tony bought peanuts in the intermission that, to his great surprise, were liberally sprinkled with small, whole, dried fish. Such was his hunger (dinner was still a long way off) he actually ate them.....
Well, I am finally back from the UK, where I spent 10 days. My main purpose of flying to England was to attend the funeral of my uncle. The memorial service was very special with readings by two of my cousins and a wonderful eulogy by the third. The poignant moment for me was when my uncle's 10-day old grandson was brought into the church by his father. He was born just hours before my uncle died, so a bittersweet moment for all of us.
I had a good time with Tony's mother and we even celebrated Mother's Day together with his sister, 3 of her children and a fiancee. A jolly lunch before I disappeared to Heathrow to catch my flight back to Tokyo.
My journey home was on Asiana, a Korean airline and hence my route took me via Seoul, South Korea, where I spent two interesting hours before my onward flight to Tokyo. Since I had been sitting for approximately 12 hours, I decided that walking was my best option for filling the time between flights. A little light window shopping at the duty free stores, but mostly I was people-watching. I am, after all, my mother's daughter! What fascinated me the most was that as I looked at young couples (of which there appeared to be many), I noticed that the majority of them were dressed alike. They looked like pairs of twins. Alike in every way, shirt, jacket, pants and shoes. The only variation might be if one was wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt and the partner was wearing red-and-white stripes. I have no idea if they were all heading for a "Dress Like Me" convention, or whether this is the popular dress code of the moment in Seoul. When I asked Tony about this, he had yet to notice it on his trips there! The people-watcher gene has passed him by, it seems. I would love to know the reason for this fashion, but may never find out......if anybody can enlighten me, I would love to hear from them.
This is just a brief posting. Today, I was exploring different areas that we are thinking of for places to live. As I cast my eyes about me, I saw a Starbucks coffee shop that was advertising Cherry Blossom flavored frappuccino. A perfect blend of flavors and cultures. I have not savored it yet, but it is probably quite distinctive!
I will be away from Tokyo for 10 days from March 4th, so no posting for a little while.
