Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Sado

Aside from seeing the rare Japanese Crested Ibis on Sado, the highlight of our brief stay on the island was the friendly and helpful people. We stayed at a rather quirky bed and breakfast that served no breakfast run by a Mr. Kondo, an audiophile and jazz enthusiast. The downstairs lounge area was essentially a large listening room with vintage audio equipment and the room we stayed in upstairs had its own audio system, film projector, and stacks of LPs, CDs, and DVDs. There was even an outdoor seating area fully equipped with yet another sound system, speakers exposed to the elements but holding their own, that plays jazz 24 hours a day. The neighbors don't seem to mind. 

Mr. Kondo greeted us warmly and showed us how to use everything and what he didn't tell us about we would have had little trouble with as virtually everything was labeled with instructions. The Japanese certainly love to keep everyone informed of the etiquette appropriate to almost every situation. In the bathroom, one sign suggested using the fancy remote-controlled washlet sitting down, another noted that the remote was to be used for flushing but that the seat and covers were to be operated by hand. Still another pointed out that the bathroom light was automatic. There were signs explaining the audio equipment, a sign by the bed asking guests to refrain from moving the beds, and signs explaining the remote control for the overhead lights. Mr. Kondo is quite proud of his beds, pointing out that he has equipped the rooms with Simmons mattresses. A small wooden plaque above the bed I slept in noted that I was using a 'Simmons semi-double'. The best information he gave us was recommending Kinpuku, a nearby yakitori izakaya.

We didn't use any of the audio equipment as we spent most of our time outside, looking for the Ibis or eating at Kinpuku (which we later learned was recently named the best izakaya in Niigata  Prefecture). 

Kinpuku is an unimposing establishment. You'd easily miss it if you didn't know it was there. Aside from a tiny lantern out front, the only external clue is a little charcoal smoke from the vents and the scent of grilling meat the vents deliver to the surrounding area. We arrived by car, but were told there was no parking lot, so we said we would go back to Mr. Kondo's place and walk back, but one of the guests already at the bar got up and said 'I know a place nearby you can park. Follow me!' We walked a couple of blocks to what turned out to be the man's own house and the bar he runs. We left the car there and returned to Kinpuku. Stepping inside provided not only the prospect of good food but a respite from the snow and wind outside. Kinpuku seats only 12. There were two seats left. Mr. Kondo had told us to go early, as people are frequently turned away or have to wait for a seat sometimes as long as an hour or two. 

The proprietor, Mr. Fukushima, is a jazz guitarist as well as the one-man band that runs the place. He told us he's been grilling skewers of meat over natural charcoal as he does today for 36 years. Jazz was playing over the speakers. He told us that when he first opened, people thought it was strange that he played jazz and often didn't like it, but the customers eventually came around to his way of thinking and he seems to have found a niche. We ate there both of the nights we were on Sado. The first night we tried two locally brewed beers, one a nicely fruity blonde ale, the other an IPA-style beer. On the second night, we drank a well-made Muscadet. Many of his customers ordered wine to go with their yakitori. Kinpuku serves wine only by the bottle. My son and Mr. Fukushima had a long conversation about guitar technique on the second of our two nights. Everything was delicious, but the chicken and onion skewers, the tsukudane, and the lightly salted grilled chicken wings were especially good. I also enjoyed the skewers of cherry tomatoes wrapped in very thin pork strips. 

On the first night (March 20), we learned that the man with the bar who let us park our car at his place regularly hosts the practice sessions of a group of local musicians and dancers that do traditional dances during festivals. We were invited to come by after Kinpuku to hear the singing and dancing, the singing accompanied by flutes, shamisen, and drums. I've always thought it strange how much this kind of Japanese music resembles the music of the fife and drum bands that once flourished deep in the Mississippi Delta area. A couple of young women at the bar borrowed flutes and tried to play along. Everybody seemed to know everybody. 

Today (March 22) we took the jetfoil from Sado back to Niigata and there boarded a Shinkansen train to Kanazawa. In the morning, before leaving, we did a quick tour of the Sado gold mine, which, according to the pamphlet I read, was the longest continuously run mine in the world, having operated 388 years, from 1601 until 1989. In its peak year, the mine produced about 1,500kg of gold, which I roughly calculate would be worth about $15,000,000 in today's money. The gold was present in seams of quartz. Silver was also mined at the same location. Apparently, homeless people and criminals back in the day were sometimes  exiled to Sado and forced to work in the mines. 

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Leaving Tokyo

Before leaving Tokyo, I went back to the National Museum of Modern Art, in Takebashi, where I enjoyed seeing some old favorites, notably a Foujita self-portrait with a cat, and the famous portrait by Ryusei Kishida of his five-year-old daughter Reiko, which I hadn't realized is actually a painting of a painting of the young girl. There was also an exhibition of textile designs going on. I noticed a woman in a kimono looking at a pair of yukata in the show with designs apparently derived from the hiragana script.

Afterwards, I met former work colleagues for lunch at a Thai restaurant we used to frequent. After lunch, we moved on for tea and Oban-yaki (grilled batter filled with sweet bean paste). Walking around Takebashi near the Palace moat, I noticed that almost the entire moat frontage there has been rebuilt since I was last in Japan.

Before leaving Tokyo for Sado, I enjoyed an excellent (and reasonably priced) sushi dinner at Sushiko along with my son and a friend of his. We had to line up and wait outside for about 40 minutes, but it was worth the wait.

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Sado

I'm now on the island of Sado, north of Niigata. Once known for its large gold and silver mine, it's now known (at least in my mind) for the reintroduction there of the Toki, or Japanese Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon), Japan's national bird. The Toki is endangered throughout its much-reduced range (mostly now in China), and it was eliminated entirely in Japan (how embarrassing to have let your national bird go locally extinct) because of habitat loss and excessive use of pesticides, but it has been reintroduced from China and a small population is established on the Island again.

The weather has been terrible here – very cold, and very windy. Overnight it has snowed. Yesterday it was so windy I couldn't hold my lens still enough to get a photograph of a Toki in flight, but I did observe a few birds poking around in the post-harvest rice paddies. The Toki is usually pictured in the peachy-white non-breeding plumage it shows in the winter months. Right now, however,  the birds are in breeding plumage – stained slaty grey on the neck, nape, and upper back – but they still have their distinctive red faces, and, in flight, their beautiful peach-tinted white wings are visible. 

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 Day Four

Yesterday, between business calls, I wandered along the Imperial Palace moat near Takebashi. In the moat were the usual Eurasian Coots, Tufted Ducks, and Shovelers. In the trees and flycatching over the water were a number of birds that I photographed poorly in the hope of later identifying them. I had only a wide angle lens with me, so I was unable to get good close-up shots. Still, sitting on the Shinkansen, heading north to Niigata, Asian bird field guide in my lap, I've decided a small, brownish bird with a rufous tail and a conspicuous white wing patch I saw at the moat was a female Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus). I saw a White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) on top of one of the moat walls, wagging its tail. Larger birds, flycatching over the moat, appear to have been Brown-eared Bulbuls (Hypsipetes amaurotis), and I again saw the Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) that I first noticed the day before yesterday. I even found a pair of these nesting in a tree hollow (pictured).

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 Day Three

Leaving Tokyo tomorrow for Sado, where I hope to see the Japanese Crested Ibis, or Toki, Japan's national bird with the wonderful Latin name Nipponia nippon. It has been warm these last few days in Tokyo but it's starting to turn colder and it's expected to snow during the two days I plan to be on Sado. I need to find some gloves...

Yesterday and again today has been filled with shopping for items I need that are available only in Japan. Yesterday I secured two of the high-quality brayers I use in making my monotype-based collages at Bumpodo, one of Japan's oldest and best art supply stores. I wandered around the used book district in Jimbocho and stopped in to the English school I taught at when I first arrived in Tokyo. I was vaguely hoping someone (anyone) I once knew was still there, but it's been too long. I tried to visit the Tokyo Kindai Bijutsu Kan (The National Museum of Modern Art), but on a Monday, it was closed.  I did, however, see the Fuji Latex building, an old favorite among architectural oddities. It's built in the shape of a ribbed condom. Fuji Latex, as you may have guessed, is one of Japan's leading makers of condoms. 

Along the Imperial Palace moat nearby I noticed some varieties of cherries are starting to bloom. One tree was being visited by a pair of Japanese White-eyes and what looked like a thrush of some kind (which I later determined to be a Brown-eared Bulbul). They appeared to be taking nectar from the base of the blossoms, a behavior I've noted before. In the moat were Tufted Ducks. Earlier, in Shinjuku, I saw an Eurasian Tree Sparrow, a bird I had never seen before. 

I visited my old haunt, Yoseido Gallery, in Ginza, hoping to see some work by artist Mikio Tagusari. Turns out that the building the gallery has been in for at least 35 years (when I first found the place) is to be torn down and rebuilt. They are moving to a new location. They promised to send me photos of the inventory they have after they've settled in to their new home. While waiting for the gallery to open, I walked around Mitsukoshi department store, foolishly including a visit to the underground food floor, which, on an empty stomach was a mistake. 

Construction everywhere. It's always been that way in Tokyo. Turn around and an entire building is shrouded in scaffolding. Turn around again and a new building is in its place. The  pace of change can be disorienting even when you live here. It's amplified by a long absence. Walking to the station yesterday morning, I noticed a crew laying asphalt on a little side street. On another, they had finished and laid chalk lines indicated where street markings were to go. On my way back that evening, the work had been finished, with 止まれ (stop) neatly painted in dazzling white. 

Today will mostly be business. Meeting co-workers that I work with daily but have never met. Meeting former co-workers for lunch and other former co-workers later in the day. Preparing for the trip to Sado tomorrow....

Places I'm visiting: Japan 2024 Day Two

Had a fairly random day of wandering in Tokyo yesterday. Spent the morning in Shibuya looking at guitars with my son and then visited one of Tokyo's giant record stores, in this case Tower Records (still alive and well in Japan), with its eight floors of offerings. I spent my time on the 8th floor, which is entirely classical. The selection is amazing. Thousands and thousands of CDs and LPs to look at. 

The Japanese have a tendency to be very thorough about everything they go about. In another record store I stopped into, the storage accessory section (outer sleeves and inner sleeves of every description) alone was as big as a small record store at home. 

Earlier, I came across a store selling children's school backpacks, which are a big deal in Japan. They are typically red or black, made of high-quality leather, built to last, costing hundreds of dollars. This store had an unusual range of these all in pastel colors and with large bows – fancy backpacks for the children of the well to do. I didn't look at the prices. 

I wandered through a Sunday morning farmers market. Expensive strawberries were a hot item. A lot of artisan bread. Handmade kitchen utensils. Carrots. Eggs. The carrots in many colors. 

Later in the day, visited Kagurazaka, the neighborhood I lived in when Tokyo was my home. It has changed a great deal. All my favorite restaurants are gone. The area has been tidied up and prettied up with new buildings. There were a few familiar storefronts, though. The noodle shop at the bottom of the street that I used to go to for tempura soba is still there. The Mosburger next door remains. I walked by the two apartments that I lived in that are nearby. The second of these backs on to the compound where the chief  justice of Japan's Supreme Court lives. At the entrance the  guard stationed there 24 hours a day was at his post. As if I'd never left. 

Feet aching from walking, we rested at a fancy Kagurazaka coffee shop where the prices for a cup of joe ranged from about eight dollars to about 15 dollars. Here was another example of the Japanese doing nothing by halves. Each cup is individually brewed and delivered to your table by a uniformed waitress in the beaker it was brewed in, the coffee then poured at the table, the ritual as important as the product. I was happy to pay for the rest that the visit afforded. The place reminded me of a San Francisco Chinatown teahouse in its design with its square cubicles and heavily detailed ceiling. 

We had had extraordinary luck with food at lunchtime, in Shibuya, on spec adding ourselves to the end of a line that had formed in front of Tokyo Tarako, a restaurant that serves nothing but mentaiko (salted cod roe or pollock roe) spaghetti. Absolutely delicious. Mine came with a small pat of herbed butter to melt on top. Many of the selections came with little pots of broth (made from kelp and bonito flakes) that you add to make Japanese-style soup-spaghetti. A treat. Tokyo Tarako is at Shibuya 1 Chome-14-9. They appear to have a sister restaurant in Harajuku as well. At dinner time, we were not so lucky. It was a Sunday night, many stores and restaurants were closed. We were craving good sushi, but had to settle for mediocre yakitori in Jimbocho, the district I worked in as an English teacher when I first arrived in Tokyo. 

Along the way, we passed Yasukuni Shrine, controversial because it enshrines all of Japan's WWII war dead, including the men designated as Class A war criminals by the post-war Tokyo Tribunal. It's a pretty spot, despite the controversy. Pictured here is  the large copper torii at the main entrance.