Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Ehime and Oshima

Still in Japan. Thanks again to Jason and Annabelle who have been living in our house and taking care of Eric the cat while I've been away. 

I'm now on Oshima Island, Ehime Prefecture, the little island my wife is from. 'Oshima' means 'big island', but Oshima is quite small. You could drive the perimeter in a little over an hour. This part of Japan is today known mainly for five things I can think of: First, Oshima is the last island in the chain of islands across which bridges have been built to connect Shikoku (the smallest of Japan's four main islands) with Honshu (the largest of the four). Between Oshima and the city of Imabari (on Shikoku) stretches the 4km-long Kurashima Kaikyo Ohashi, the only three-span suspension bridge in the world. The Inland Sea area, dotted with islands, some now connected by the chain of bridges, has become a popular destination for cyclists from around the globe.

Second, Imabari, across from Oshima is a major shipbuilding hub. Imabari Zosen, in Imabari, is Japan's largest shipbuilder and among the half dozen biggest in the world. 

Third, this part of Japan's Inland Sea was the base of the Murakami Kaizoku, an association of seafaring bands that were both pirates and guides active among the islands of the inland Sea between the 12th and 18th centuries. 

Navigation routes through the Inland Sea are among the most dangerous anywhere. The straits between the islands are known for their rapid currents and the whirlpools that form as the tides shift, alternately pushing water from the Inland Sea into the Pacific and pulling water from the Pacific into the Inland Sea as the direction of the tides changes four times a day, with short periods of equilibrium in between. The sailors of the Murakami Kaizoku acted as guides, demanding in return a percentage of the value of the goods that passed through the channels in return for their knowledge. With completion of the bridge connection, travelers no longer have to stop on Oshima and many of the small shops that once served visitors and the (now dwindling) population of the island have vanished. There are many empty houses and shops. The population was well over 10,000 in the 1970s. Today it is half that. The town I lived in as a high school exchange student is about 45 minutes to the south of Imabari – likewise left behind by development when road traffic that used to pass through its center was diverted by a modern bypass. 

Finally, aside from shipbuilding, Imabari, across from the island, is known for its towel-making industry, and the island itself is the source of Oshima Ishi, a grey granite prized for building and for headstones, but even the island stone works are not what they once were, hurt by competition from similar, less expensive stone imported from Korea and China (although the locals will tell you that Oshima Ishi is superior). 

On the birdwatching front, since last reporting I've seen at least two new birds, Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus) and Small Collared Plover. I was able to get a nice shot of the latter. 

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Tottori

Visiting the Tottori Sand Dunes turned out to be something of a waste of time. It's been pouring with rain all morning and, at the coast, where the dunes are, the wind was fierce. We made a half-hearted attempt to talk a walk out on the sand, but ended up standing in the biting wind, getting slapped in the face by rain for a few minutes and then turning back. We took shelter in the inevitable o-miyage (gift) shop. The 'Tottori Sand Cookies' actually looked pretty good – cream sandwiched between wafers, the name playing on the fact that 'sand' is often used in Japan as shorthand for 'sandwich'. We took home a couple of packages.

I couldn't resist buying a bottle of locally produced Cabernet Sauvignon (2017)* out of curiosity. It's probably been sitting in the shop through multiple hot summers, stewing in the heat. It may therefore be in bad shape, but I gave in to temptation also because, coincidentally, the wine was made in a place called Hojyo, which happens to be the name of the (unrelated) town in Ehime Prefecture that I lived in as a high school exchange student on my very first visit to Japan (1977-1978).   

In a shop in the station, while waiting for my next train, I came upon canned hamburgers –  or 'Can-burgs'. My curiosity in this case was not enough to induce me to make a purchase.

Before leaving Kyoto, I came across a vending machine selling nothing but Sriracha sauce. Japan is known for selling just about anything in vending machines – I've seen neckties, underwear, shirts, toothbrushes, razors, hot sake, cold sake, every manner of cold soft drink, but also hot drinks like coffee in cans, sandwiches, cakes, and even porn magazines in roadside or train station vending machines but never hot sauce before. What will they think of next?

*The wine turned out to be OK. It wasn't remarkable, but it was quite acceptable everyday wine. According to the bottle, grapes have been grown in the Hojyo area of Tottori Prefecture since the late Edo Period (the Edo Period ended in 1868) and wine has been made there since around 1945.

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Kyoto

I've spent the last two days in Kyoto, but mostly not doing the typical things a tourist does in Kyoto – which is visiting temple after temple after temple and maybe a shrine or two. That said, I did stop at Sanjusangen-do for the first time in nearly fifty years. The first time I saw the place was in 1978. The grounds have been spruced up since then. It now has its own parking lot and a fancy modern entrance. When I first saw the main hall, I think I was pretty much alone. Yesterday I was one of hundreds of visitors. 

Sanjusangen-do is famous for its 1,001 statues of the thousand-armed Kannon, each one carved by hand, each one slightly different. The statues have eleven heads (one large, with ten more small heads on top) and many arms (although not actually 1,000 arms). The life-sized statues are arranged in tiers in the main hall of the complex, which also displays 28 guardian figures, and a large central Kannon figure. The statues of Kannon and the guardian figures all have the designation 'National Treasure', the highest in Japan's system of recognizing important cultural properties. According to Discoverkyoto.com, the thousand-armed Kannon is said to have eleven heads to better see the suffering of mankind, and one thousand arms to save everyone in need. The statues actually have only 42 arms, but each holds a Buddhist symbol or is posed in a symbolic Buddhist gesture (known as a mudra).

The temple was founded in 1164. The main hall with the statues was completed in 1266, rebuilt after an earlier structure burned. 124 of the Kannon statues survived the fire. The remainder there now were created over a 16-year period following the fire. Thus, even the youngest statues are going on 750 years old. 

Sanjusangen-do is known also for the archery contests it hosted for hundreds of years. These are said to have begun around 1606 and at peak drew crowds of thousands to watch sometimes as many as 10,000 or more archers shoot at targets down the length of the building's veranda. These events appear to have petered out in the 1850s, but the tradition has been revived and a couple thousand archers compete in January exhibitions today. 

No photography is allowed in the hall as the statues are considered sacred, but I've reproduced a stock image from the Internet. I also visited the Kyoto National Museum, which had a small but interesting exhibit of Heian Period Buddhist sculptures and painting, but the ceramics and textiles sections of the museum that I would liked to have seen were both closed. 

I walked through a market similar to the one I visited in Kanazawa. Among the many things on offer this time were skewers of sparrows. Many of my friends reading this will know that the 'tori' [bird] in 'yakitori' traditionally was a small songbird, usually some kind of sparrow, but it's rare these days to see actual sparrows on a stick. It was funny to me that the photo used was a photo of a White-throated Sparrow, a bird native to North America. I hope they aren't importing North American sparrows to skewer.  

Before leaving I also walked around the grounds of Miidera, a temple near the house of the friend I was visiting. The temple was pretty in the rain and there were some birds present. I saw a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and Oriental Greenfinches, both new to my life list. I heard the distinctive song of the Uguisu (Japanese Bush Warbler) and saw the Brown-eared Bulbuls that seem to be everywhere. I also got.a good look at a Daurian Redstart, one of the birds I saw fleetingly in Tokyo near the Imperial Palace moat. As I was leaving, the temple's mascot (in the form of a anthropomorphized bronze bell came walking through the main gate and posed for a picture. The ancient temple gate and the stylized bell figure made of styrofoam created an odd contrast.

On the first day in Kyoto, my son and I had lunch with the college friend we were visiting, dining in a striking building along the Kamo River built in 1926 designed by the American architect William Merrell Vories. According to the Internet, it opened as the Chinese restaurant Toka Saikan (where we ate) in 1945. The building has a richly decorated facade, the oldest continuously operating elevator in Japan, and numerous interior details to look at while enjoying the food. It rained most of the day and it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow again. I'm now in Tottori, hoping to visit the famous Tottori sand dunes tomorrow, but I'm not hopeful they will look like much in the rain. We'll see...

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Kanazawa

My son and I arrived last night in Kanazawa from Sado and indulged in another sushi dinner, this time at a place called Ippei Sushi, right off the main drag in the Katamachi area. Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped in at a bar called Griffith for a quick drink. The place was deserted on a Friday night at 11:00PM in an entertainment district, which left me wondering how the place survives. The two bartenders seemed happy to have some company. One of them was a talkative fellow who brought out a map and gave us recommendations on things to do in the city. 

In particular, he recommended Kenrokuen, which is said to be one of Japan's three most beautiful public gardens. We spent the afternoon there after visiting the Ohmi Market, which was rather reminiscent of markets I've seen in places like Barcelona but with a greater emphasis on seafood. There were stalls full of sashimi, oysters and other shellfish of all kinds, shrimp, fish, squid, and crab. Crab everywhere – mostly zuwaigani (snow crab) and kegani (horsehair crab). The snow crab was very expensive, ranging in price from about $110 a piece to as much as $160 a piece. The vendors were selling seafood to take home but also for immediate consumption. I was tempted by the oysters...

At Kenrokuen, the moss was spectacular, virtually glowing after recent rains. Plums were in bloom. I saw Brown-eared Bulbuls taking nectar from the plum blossoms as I saw them do near the Palace moat in Tokyo. I also saw Varied Tits, Eastern Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, and, on the grounds of a shrine near Kanazawa Castle, a pair of Oriental Turtle Doves. We are now in Kyoto, staying with friends for a couple of nights.