Hokkaido

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北海道 or "northern sea street", is Japans most northern island with Sapporo (winter olympics 1972) as the main capital. The flight from Fukuoka takes about two hours. The domestic flights in Japan are operated on a no-frills-system but unfortunately with normal fares; in this case 250 euro for a round trip. So just coffee or tea, juice and water is for free and the rest you have to purchase.
Bernard and Majella were there to pick me up and after lunch at the airport we set out to Noribetsu, a place known for its sulfur geysers and Japanese onsen.
We stayed in a smallish Ryokan where dinner and breakfast were included. It is served in your room. All Japanese fare so lotsa dishes and since you sometimes don't know what it is you just try it and either love it or hate it. Apart from the geysers and nature trails there is not much else to do.
An extremely dull shopping street with shops that sell all the same carved stuff. But we didn't care since the weather was great, the people in the Ryokan extremely friendly, the food very tasty, the onsen small but inviting and of course just hanging out together was the main goal.

Coming back from our small hike on Saturday afternoon we saw a big black limousine parked in front of the Ryokan and plenty of guys in black suits. After changing into our Yukatas we went down to the onsen. And there was a real life Capo di capi Yakusa. An elderly man completely covered in blueish tattoos. Apart from his head, hands and feet everything else was covered by irezumi 入れ墨 as it's called here. He wasn't all that friendly, grumbling a bit but for us it was quite a sight.
Here is an example of this kind of tattoo.

We also made a very interesting visit to a museum dealing with the indigenous people of Japan called the Ainu. Most Japanese wrongly so think of their country as a mono-ethnic society and the Ainu, having been treated rather badly through processes of assimilation etc. are now down to about 24.000.

On Sunday Majella & Bernard flew back down to Tokyo and I had to fly back to Fukuoka and then take the train to Nagasaki. Alex and Saul were waiting for me at Urakami station and from there we went to have a great Italian dinner with superb coffee and cake for afters.
Sauls treat..!!

If you like Opera, Lieder or Oratoria then here is the site for you... Viva la Voce.
It's a Washington DC based internet radio station and has two Opera performances per day plus lots of other interesting things to listen to. You will also find the listings for the day itself plus a monthly schedule for the Operas.

伊王島 II

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Today was my day off and the perfect day to go to that wonderful get-away-from-it-all place called Ioujima. The small island in Nagasaki Bay. Took the Cobalt Queen II, one of the ferries that take you to the islands here at 11.50 and arrived at the beach at 12.30.
On the right you see one of those ferries.

Had sandwiches, chips (crisps in the UK) and water for lunch on a otherwise deserted beach. Only one woman with (probably her) child showed up for a moment but for the rest it was just me. Taking swims in the crystal clear water, reading the Japan Times, listening to Salome, my favourite opera by Richard Strauss and baking in the sun ....... what a way to spend a perfect afternoon.

Set off for the onsen and had a good soak for an hour and a half. Finished off with Kare Udon (a curry soup with thick white noodles) and a pint of beer..... Pure Bliss.

One of the things I really like in Japan is the simplicity in design. With durable and basic materials they create little gems like the entrance here to the onsen on Ioujima. Black weathered wood, white paper lanterns and a trickle of water beside the walkway. Simply stunning.

Back on the boat and returned home baked to a crisp and absolutely knackered by an overdose of fresh air and sun.

Paul has send a package from Holland with an orange tie for Rudy, an orange hat for Mads, an orange band for Bart and an orange boa for me to watch the Soccer World Cup in style. Just don't know anybody with a TV. Maybe there is an Irish Pub somewhere in Nagasaki (they're everywhere else in the world so there must be one here..) where we can watch it.

Picnic

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Not being an outdoor kinda guy I was just a little apprehensive about going on a picnic with some other residents here at the dorm in the wilds just outside of our part of Nagasaki. The climb was steep (lotsa hills here..) but the view was definitely rewarding. Visiting the great outdoors basically means visiting other living beings their habitat. After the plaid was layed down, the food (Vietnamese springrolls, Japanese nigiri rolls and fresh strawberries) and drink was put out ready for consumption the the little buggers just appeared out of nowhere and started nibbling away at the intruders. Alex got bitten severely. But we just didn't care and were determined not let a minor hindrance interfer with our pleasure. The food was great and a good time was had by all.
Visited a christian graveyard afterwards on top of a hill to enjoy the view over Nagasaki.

Decided to have dinner at room 501 and so Chinese dumplings, left over chili-con-carne and curry were enjoyed by everybody. Since Alex and I had to do a power point presentation the next day about Amsterdam we decided to do a try-out right there and then. The red light district, koto no chimata 紅灯の巷 as it is called in Japanese , coffeeshops and Gay pride plus a bit af Culture (van Gogh and Rembrandt) was duly addressed. The audience loved it........

Gijsbertus Willem was delivered into this world on the 21st May by his proud parents Maartje Craemer and Michiel van Klingeren. Congratulations !

Being here in Japan I missed out on the Eurovision Song contest and the party held in honour of it at Ton & Diek's place last Saturday evening. Holland didn't participate apparently (no news here in Japan about this event) and according to Paul a horrid "Hard Rock" song from Finland won. Well apart from dried reindeer meat, watching to many SciFi movies from the looks of it (picture of the band Lordi on the right) and a high suicide rate there isn't a lot else going on so they really needed a break.
Good luck to you I say!

Another Saturday Night

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Yesterday was one of those preciously beautiful days when the sun was out plus a little breeze and a comfortable temperature of 25 degrees. Could do my washing again and hang it out to dry as that has been an absolute impossibility with the rain gushing down here.

Met Naoko for coffee and she corrected some homework for me. In Japan they use the system of kishótenketsu 起承転結 , translated as "logical development" for an essay, or any other kind of writing。Well needless to say I failed in the Japanes way of logics. 　

We celebrated my roommate Bart's birthday (turned 24 ) lastnight in a sort of a dive just above the Lawson convenience store (where we get our coffee to stay awake during the lectures) next to the University. Never knew there was this watering hole on the first floor and with Karaoke too.
For 2000 Yen we had that famous "nomihodai" for three hours plus some food. It started at 5.30 pm so everybody was absolutely plastered when we came out. Even the 19 year old girl who isn't supposed to drink any alcohol (you have to be twenty here too do that) was quite gone.
The old fart i.e. me ventured home but everybody else (this being Saturday night) continued to wherever to drink, dance or frolick........

p.s.

a small item recieved via E-mail..........


Qte

The man on the left, wearing a fabulous vintage chiffon-lined Dior goldlamé gown over a silk Vera Wang empire waisted tulle cocktail dress, accessorized with a 3-foot beaded peaked House of Whoville hat, along with the ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz, is worried that The Da Vinci Code might make the Roman Catholic Church look foolish.

Unqte

Boot

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The big buzz of course is the release of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" by Ron Howard and yes I'm definitely going to see it. Especially since Opus Dei made such a stink about it. I saw the trailer and it's awesome (sugoi 凄い as they say here). Ian McKellen is in it plus Tom Hanks so it can't go wrong.

Latest news from our Department of Japanese Studies in Leiden is that Prof. Boot wil definitely leave the department as per the 1st June and will continue to do research and publish but for another section of the University and as such will also vacate his office at "the Arsenaal". He will, however, still assist PhD students.
What a way to go........ Whatever you may think about him he is an absolute treasure trove of information and the bad thing about it is that we now have lost both Prof. Boot and Prof. Kersten, who has returned to Australia.
In academic struggles like this there are just never winners but only losers. Not only the parties concerned both also the students who will have to do without the expertise of these people.

It's still pouring down ....... got totally drenched last night coming home despite carrying an umbrella. I heard the rainy season will last till the end of June... Bummer...

Talking about professors.. I had lunch with Saul on Wednesday in a fabulous Chinese restaurant near Sakamoto Campus (his treat) and afterwards a tour of the new Institute for Tropical Medicine of Nagasaki University. It's a new "State of the Art" building, situated next to the old one and even connected to it but that only shows how decrepid the old building is.
I was quite impressed and they even have a museum full of animals and parasytes (dead of course) plus tons of photographs depicting the multitude of ailments one can succumb to when visiting foreign tropical lands. It doesn't make you a happy camper.. it could even give you nightmares.

Vodka

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With most of my homework done yesterday I ventured down to Hamanomachi to have coffee with Saul at 4 p.m. and we sat there talking for more than an hour and a half on the one coffee (they must have loved us !) and decided it's time to take matters in our own hands and try and see as many concerts as possible in the weekends anywhere in Japan, from Grand Opera to Noh Theatre. We will check the pages of the Japan Times to see what's on and where.
Knowing that I wont be able to get a certificate here anyhow I've decided it's no use trying either. To spend the remaining time here in Japan doing what's interesting seems more of an option. It's quite a burden of my shoulders and life looks very good all of a sudden.

Got cruised on the street for the first time here by a cute guy on a sporty bike.. and guess what I lost my touch to react for some reason. Just went bright red and continued on my way leaving him standing there ......

Some times a quite ordinary evening can turn into a surprisingly interesting one. Last night after a quite dinner with Alex to get rid of the left overs from the day before, Diana turned up with a bottle of wine and Rudy and Mads came with more plonk. Vodka and mango juice mixed plus shots of a unknown but potent substance were knocked back. Bart joined a little later and a merry time was had by all with some stunning revelations about what turns you on ..... Won't go into the details but it's quite interesting to see how preconceptions abound, how some people have no reservations and how others hold back.
Hit the hay at 3 a.m....................

Having talked about oddities the other day I just noticed how the Dutch have a very strange and most unhygienic one too. It's called "het duizend dingen doekje". It's piece of cloth used in the kitchen to clean surfaces and anything else ( apart from the toilet bowl, but then again you just never know ) that needs cleaning but for some reason hardly ever gets cleaned it self. It just remains there for weeks on end waiting to be used when ever we need it. If it's lucky it gets thrown in to the washing machine but not too often ofcourse. Alex is absolutely horrified by it and won't even touch it. We love it and if nothing else it's a great boost for our immune system.
It's the pinkish dirty cloth on the left hand side of the sink.

Oddities

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When living in an other country you notice little oddities that would be totally unthinkable in other parts of the world again.
The Japanese like to occupy a seat before going to get whatever it is that they want (be that a coffee, ramen etc.). They do this by putting their (hand)bag with their personal belongings on the table or even their cell phone. They then leisurely stroll around doing what they have to do and return to find the cell phone or anything else that they have put down for that matter still there. And everybody respects it too. Everywhere else it would have gone in the blink of an eye but not here in Japan.
The other thing here is the seating in the street car. In the beginning I made the mistake of getting up for mothers with children, old battle axes with tons of shopping or any body else that would be more in need of a seat then me. After getting up and offering your seat to a mother she would then put her child on the vacated seat and remain standing. The old women would put their grocery bags on the seat and would also remain standing in a choc-a-bloc street car.
In other words I had vacated a seat for mere grocery bags.!!!
The school kids have caught on to this odd way of behaving (in my humble view) and really do not even think of getting up for the elderly or mothers.

My thanks by the way to known and unknown sympathizers for my temporary infliction of self pity. It has certainly has helped for me to get a clearer focus on what's important and what is absolutely not.

Depressed

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I think that I finally hit that stage of severe depression. Just by looking at photographs send to me from Amsterdam with everybody having a good old time, I start crying and can't stop crying.
I feel like crawling under my blanket and just never ever coming out again. I even start to dislike people that I normally care for and on top of that I developed a nervous twitch in my left eye that isn't going away
I can honestly say that I have never felt this way before and it's quite frightening.

Going to a shrink won't help (lost in translation) and drinking it away isn't my thing either.

What to do. Thought about packing it all up and just leave. On the other hand only three more months to go. Will go to Hokkaido on the 26th May to see Majella & Bernard for the weekend and the boys from Amsterdam are coming over on the 3rd of July.
Paul will tell me not to exagerate and keep it up but I'm so terribly tired day after day that I feel I don't want to keep it up any more.

Boy's day

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One of the things you see here at the moment are the huge paper or nylon carp streamers 鯉のぼり attached to bamboo or steel poles and flying in the air. They are here because of Boy's day or as it is known here tango no sekku 端午の節句 on the 5th of May. I will hold a small speech about this tomorrow so I do know a bit about it.
You don't see them as much in the cities (lack of space I guess) but they're everywhere in the country side and look quite spectacular.

After the Sakura, Cherry blossom season we're now in the Azalea period and by Jove they're absolutely gorgeous and they come in all colours. The pink or more to the point the fuchsia reddish ones certainly top the bill.
Never thought about vegetation much actually but maybe the years count and your priorities change. Anyway hope you like the colour too.


Latest news .... Diana plans to get married to her big love Mitch. They have met three times and know one another since three months via internet but the wedding is now planned in September. Why would you want plain sense to interfer with your happiness.. right !!

Dai ichi Karyuudo

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Totally forgot to tell you about the fact that Martin and Walter went to Warmond in April to pick up my little boat the 第一狩人 and moor it in the harbour in Amsterdam for the summer. The weather had actually been good during the whole trip but it started to drizzle in the end. One unfortunate mishap... Martin's Dad, Marius fell in the water but luckily in the harbour so close enough to home to shower and to have a stiff drink. Thanks guys for doing that.
In the picture Martin is figuring out which way to go after leaving Warmond... can be quite tricky.

One of the most famous things in Brussels is "Manneke Pis", a statue of a little guy peeing on the street. But guess what .... Fukuoka also has it's own "Manneke Pis" right at the back of the Kushida shrine but decently covered with a small red piece of cloth.

Had my first Skype conversation again with Paul back home. Seems already quite a while ago since he was here. Miss him greatly.

Since Pim, Hans and Marco are coming to Japan in July I had the honour of getting their ferry tickets at Hakata Station for their trip across from Pusan, Korea to Fukuoka, Japan. The ferry-boat is called the Beetle...I sure hope it isn't full of those little creatures. I will be there at the quay waving my flag to welcome them and showing them around. Will definitely take the whole week off and after that it's only one more week till my departure on the 22nd of July to Hawaii.

Downpour and Bugs

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The weather has changed all of a sudden (just like in Holland I hear) with high temperatures and humidity. And it has started to rain. It's almost like those tropical rains a steady downpour for hours on end but here it goes on the whole day. On top of that the bugs are back and in droves. The mosquitos are few yet but a kind of green beetle has shown up and they're everwhere. They don't do any harm but make a racket flying around and hitting the lamps.

After a nice weekend in Fukuoka with Paul it was back to the old horrid university with it's decrepid teachers... can't wait to go back home and leave this place in order never to return.
We really had a nice time and apart from visiting my favourite Kushida shrine, eating ramen in Canal City, buying sporty goods for Paul and almost a very nice Issey Miyake jacquet for myself and drinking G&T's we didn't do much else.

Having left Paul at the airport on sunday I went back to Nagasaki by bus to come home to a hedonistic feast.. a dinner cooked by Mads and orchestrated by Rudy. Several courses and fingerfood and wine to start of with were laid out. The guests Kim, Alex and Femke (friend of Kim) and myself had a very delightful evening. Way to much food but this was a once in a ........ occasion.
Kudos Gentlemen!!

Glover Garden

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When the period of national seclusion was ended in 1854 after more than 200 years a couple of entrepeneurial English came to Nagasaki and tried to start up business here. One of the most successful ones was Thomas Glover. He lived on a slope overlooking Nagasaki harbour and now this site where former foreigners used to live is now a major tourist attraction. Wonderful houses with wrap around porches, an abundance of roses and sweeping views. Went there on thursday with Saul and with three million Japanese. Jam-packed is the word here. This also the place where Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" is located and there is even a statue of one of the most famous Japanese sopranos, Tamaki Miura, of course in the part of Butterfly.

The curious thing about Glover is that he sided with the insurgents who wanted the emperor back as Head of State and get rid of the Shogun. I think he had a good feeling about where history would lead and after the fall of the Shogun in 1889, known here as the Bakumatsu, and the beginning of the Meiji era, he had a good amount of friends in the government to safeguard his business interests.

Curry Dinner

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Forgot to tell you that last friday we finally did get a new toilet seat ... modern and sleek. !!!

Yesterday Paul and I left for that little island called Ijoujima 伊王島 , a twenty minute ferry ride from Nagasaki. Booked the one and only hotel there (cottage like accomodation with a veranda looking out on the bay of Nagasaki) for the night inclusive of dinner (Seaside BBQ), breakfast and onsen. Met Pim and his Dad on the ferry too. After a bit of beach time it was time for dinner. Unfortunately it had turned extremely windy and cold so the BBQ was bit of a let down. Sitting in the hot bath, however, in the evening and watching the stars certainly made up for it. Today we spend another day on the beach baking and finally returned back on a full boat.

Mads and Rudy cooked a curry dinner for Alex, Naoko and us. We brought the wine and Ｎaoko lotsa strawberries (called ichigo 苺 in Japanese). Apparently we will have a repeat performance coming Sunday.

Arita

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A lot of pottery and porcelain is produced in Japan and one of the oldest and most famous pottery towns is Arita, in the Saga prefecture just north of Nagasaki. On Sunday Paul and I together with Saul were taken on a tour of Arita at 08.30 in the morning by three nice Japanese ladies, one of which works at Saul's office. In "Golden Week" they hold the pottery fair and the whole town is just crammed with stalls selling pottery. From the most hideous multicoloured to the most wonderfull plain and simple designs are for sale. Personally I wasn't too impressed by it all. Didn't even take a picture. There is, however, one exception and that is the artist Tatsuya Sakamoto 坂本達哉 where Saul bought a Lapis Lazuli coloured almost translucent porcelain plate. Stunning.
Had lunch in a rococo palace that appears out of nowhere and looks somehow a little out of place here in Japan. But then again they have the Holland Village and Disneyland too. Stuffed ourselves to the max.

After lunch we did visit one more town called Hamisa, where another pottery fair took place. Must say that here I bought 4 beautiful porcelain bowls for soup or whatever takes your fancy. two shiny white ones and two dark blue ones.
Got back home at around 7.30 at night and were totally knackered.