Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Usuki

In the past few days, I've been traveling through Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. Kind of a whirlwind tour. We crossed over from Shikoku by car ferry landing very near  Usuki, which is famous for an area with buddhist statues carved into rock faces of tuff, a soft rock of welded volcanic ash. The carvings date from the late Heian to early Kamakura period, which puts them early in the 12th century. 

I was last in Usuki 48 years ago. I first visited Japan in 1977 as a high school exchange student. One of my host families owned a tile factory of renown that made the roof tiles for several famous buildings including Matsuyama Castle and the Glover House in Nagasaki, the oldest surviving Western-style wooden house in Japan. I went along on a trip to inspect the Glover House tiles. 

Memory is unreliable. At Usui I remember seeing mostly a single large carved stone head. I have no recollection of the many  standing and seated figures carved into the rock there. 

In any case, the place looks very different today, nearly half a century later. The head I remembered has been restored to the body it came from, a parking area has been added, pathways have been created and structures have been built over the statues to protect them from the weather. In addition, they've been designated as National Treasures (in 1995) since I last saw them. The place was familiar and strange at the same time. 

It was interesting to see Royal Ferns here (and many more at other locations in Kyushu). These are one of the Osmunda ferns that are unusual in that their spores are borne on entirely separate structures from the fronds (most ferns bear spores on fertile fronds that otherwise resemble the non-fertile fronds). I've tried to grow Royal Fern in the past, but never had much success. It was a pleasure to see them happy in their natural habitat. 

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Himeji Castle

As noted in an earlier post, I visited Himeji Castle on my way west to Shikoku on my recent trip. The castle has been beautifully restored. It's renowned for its lofty height and its white plaster walls, which have given it the nickname "Shirasagi" or "The White Egret." On my first day in Himeji, the weather was not favorable – overcast, drizzly, and cold – but the second day brought sun and fluffy clouds. The cherry trees, although beginning to fade, were still pretty. I arrived early on the morning that I toured the castle interior, avoiding the crowds. Normally only the main central keep is open to the public (entrance fee ¥1,000) but for some reason the three auxiliary turrets that surround the main keep and their connecting passageways were open if you paid an additional ¥1,000. 

I thought the exterior walls as interesting as the interior, but I enjoyed seeing the gun and spear racks all along many of the interior walls and it was instructive to see the elevated platforms along walls in sections of the castle that, because of the extensive gabling, have windows high up on the walls. The platforms allowed guards to fire arrows or matchlock guns from the windows and loopholes. The loopholes throughout the structure have differed shapes and they pierce the walls at different heights, allowing defenders to fire various weapons from standing, kneeling, or prone positions. 

Because the castle is so large, it was apparently difficult to find the rocks necessary to build the walls. In several places placards pointed out large stones that were apparently scavenged from the surrounding countryside. There were pieces of lanterns, pieces of other buildings, and in several places large stones that originally were parts of sarcophagi taken from burial grounds in the area. Well worth a visit.

Pleces I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Kyoto and Nara

Before heading to Himeji, I stopped off for a couple of days in Kyoto and Nara, mainly to visit friends, but the cherries were once again in bloom, although beginning to fall, and in Nara I visited the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), one of the largest wooden structures in the world, that houses one of the largest Buddha statues in the world, if not the largest. The last time I saw it was nearly 50 years ago. The statue is about 49 feet tall. The raised hand alone is about 8 feet high. The building that houses the statue has been rebuilt several times, having succumbed to fire. The present structure, rebuilt in 1692, is only about two thirds the size of the original temple hall's size, but still very impressive. Two large Bodhisattvas flank the main figure and several other smaller Buddhist statues are on display along with  models of the former and current buildings. 

There was a long line of people waiting their turn to experience another popular attraction, a pillar in the hall with a hole in its base that is the same size as the Daibutsu's nostril. The story is that if you can squeeze through this opening you will be granted enlightenment in the next life.

In Kyoto, friends and I had a late-night snack at a restaurant in the Gion district decorated with cases of vintage toys (including an entire case of Atom Boy figures) and with examples of the small cash envelopes used to pass money to the prostitutes that were housed in this part of Kyoto in times past. At the station in Kyoto on my way to Himeji I noticed an entire Hello Kitty-themed train. Yes, there are Hello Kitty trains in Japan.

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Himeji

Since last reporting, I've traveled to Himeji. I decided to visit the famous castle there. I have seen it before, from the windows of a passing train, but never stopped in Himeji to have a look close up. It was raining when I arrived and fairly late in the day, so, instead of touring the castle, I visited the Himeji City Art Museum and walked the castle grounds before touring Kokoen, a set of gardens next to the castle but separate from it. 

Despite the rain, the gardens were beautiful and I enjoyed seeing quite a few birds, including the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Brown-cheeked Bulbuls and I saw some of the White-cheeked Starlings that I first saw in Tokyo, but there were also some more unusual species. I noted a Pale Thrush, which is a bird I saw for the first time on my trip to Japan last year. There was a second thrush species, which turned out to be the Dusky Thrush, a new life bird for me. Oriental Turtle Doves were present. These seem to hang out at temples, shrines, and castles. I noted a couple of Oriental Greenfinches, which I think I have seen before, but I will have to confirm that by checking my life list at home. Varied Tits were chirping in the trees. A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (another bird I saw for the first time last year while visiting Japan) landed on a tree right in front of me while I was trying to photograph the Dusky Thrush. 

Finally, there were many wagtails present. I finally figured out the difference between the two very similar black and white species, the White Wagtail and the Japanese Wagtail. The face of the latter is black up to and including the eye. The White Wagtail has much more white on the face. It was a very satisfying stroll, both for the birds and the gardens.

Places I'm visiting: Japan 2025 – Echizen

From Kanazawa, I traveled to Echizen with a vague notion of seeing some of the traditional papermaking workshops there. Echizen has been a center of papermaking for more than 1,200 years. There were once more than 100 small workshops in the area, but I've been told there are now fewer than 50. The remaining shops continue to make paper by hand using techniques that have been handed down for generations. 

Traveling alone and without a laid-out itinerary can be pleasurable, but, sometimes, it's best to call ahead. Because I had made no appointments I found myself wandering through one of the villages just outside Echizen peering in open windows at some of the mills, which wasn't very satisfying. A heavy downpour didn't help.

By coincidence, on my way to my hotel I happened to stop the car I rented next to a rice paddy with a Japanese Green Pheasant sitting in it – a striking bird, apparently found only in central Honshu. Also present were many Grey Herons. At the car rental place I was initially turned away. They had no available cars. I should have made a reservation, but, eventually, they found one for me.

I first stopped at Otaki Jinja, a large shrine near the papermaking workshops. I walked the grounds and then took a path along a small stream that eventually led to a concrete dam. I was hoping to see birds again, but found only another Grey Wagtail. A guide at the shrine kindly took me to one of the nearby paper mills, but the people there had finished work for the day, so there was little to see. The shrine is interesting for its architecture. It is said to have the most complex roof design of any in Japan.

Happily, the proprietor of Guest House Kizuna, where I stayed, was able to get me an appointment to visit Iwano Heizaburo Seisakusho, the largest workshop in the area the following morning (the largest maker of handmade paper in Japan but still a fairly small operation). I spent an hour at the mill the morning of my departure for Kyoto, hosted by 80-year-old Akiko Tamamura who told me she had been making paper there for 63 years – almost as long as I've been alive. 

I got to see the entire handmade paper making process, from  raw materials (mainly gampi, kozo, and mitsumata, some domestically produced, some imported) to finished sheets ready for shipment. The care with which each sheet is made is impressive. Slight imperfections in the pulp are removed by hand. It takes years of experience to make sheets of a uniform thickness because the consistency of the pulp and the gelatin-like binder used (derived from tree bark) differs from season to season and from day to day and is sensitive also to temperature fluctuations. I saw a woman measuring the thickness of a sheet of finished paper with a micrometer. 

I noticed that mostly women were doing the work of agitating the pulp in the large wooden frames the paper is laid in but was told that pretty much everyone in the factory is capable of doing every job required in the papermaking process. Iwano Seisakusho specializes in large sheets. The very largest sheets require eight people to handle the wooden frames, although most of the work I observed was being done by a pair of workers. A very interesting morning!

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Kanazawa

From Karuizawa, I headed to Kanazawa, north, on the Sea of Japan side of Japan's main island of Honshu. I chose to stop at Kanazawa for a number of reasons. First, I visited Kanazawa last year and was particularly impressed by Kenrokuen, said to be one of Japan's three most beautiful gardens. Last year, the grounds were full of birds, so I had hopes of seeing more. Second, I noticed that Kanazawa has a large museum of contemporary art that I thought might be worth a visit. Third, on my last visit, I thought Kasazawa interesting for its mix of the very modern and the traditional. And so I ended up in Kanazawa. The hotel I found was comfortable, inexpensive, and conveniently located and the buses in Kanazawa are easy to use, making it easy to get around.

The museum, The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, was rather disappointing. So much of what passes for art these days leaves me cold. It tends to be slick, manufactured, and propped up by theory. It often lacks any kind of human messiness. I thought the chairs in the associated library of art books more interesting than most of what was on display.

There is always an awful lot of empty space in these most modern of museums that seems wasteful. One section hosted an independent exhibition of Western style painting, photography, and sculpture that was more densely exhibited. The photography was the most interesting. 

Kenrokuen turned out to be something of a disappointment too. With the exception of a few pigeons and crows, I saw no birds at all. The few birds I heard I was unable to locate. The gardens were pretty, though, and because Kanazawa is considerably cooler than Tokyo, the cherry blossoms were again at their peak, a few days behind Tokyo. So I joined the crowds. I noticed a fair number of people in traditional dress, which can be rented nearby if you feel like going back in time during your visit to the gardens. 

A tourist map I picked up at Kenrokuen noted the "Kanazawa Phonograph Museum" well north of the gardens, about a 15-minute walk. After a quick stop for lunch I headed for the museum, which turned out to be a lot of fun. On the way, I came across an interesting art deco style building that I learned was built in 1935 as a retail store. It had a plaque noting that it was on a register of protected buildings. According to the plaque, it is one of Japan's earliest reinforced concrete structures. I particularly liked the brickwork at the base of the walls and the emerald green tile accents on the facade.

What is a phonograph? I'd never really thought about it before. The museum houses more than 500 phonographs and a collection of more than 20,000 records and cylinders all collected by one Hiroshi Yokaichiya. His son today is the curator of the collection, which no belongs to the city of Kanazawa. Three times a day he demonstrates some of the phonographs on display. His father owned a record store. When, in the early 1950s, phonographs were being replaced by modern record players, and Japan was rapidly modernizing and all fronts, phonographs were being thrown away. Mr. Yokaichiya thought it a shame that so many were being lost, so he began collecting and repairing them. 

The history goes back to 1877, when Charles Crowe (in France) proposed a viable method of recording sound and, in the same year, Edison invented a foil-wrapped cylinder to record sound, which he later improved upon (wax and later celluloid cylinders were employed). Eventually flat discs made of ebonite and later lacquer-coated paper were developed. Initially only one side was used. These later evolved into two-sided 10-inch lacquer discs and later the two-sided, 12-inch LP records we still use today. 

A phonograph is entirely mechanical. Although the fanciest models sometimes had electric motors to rotate the platter and the fanciest of them all – multi-disc changers, precursors of the juke box – used motors to load, flip, and unload records, phonographs do not have amplifiers. The stylus (most often steel, but bamboo and cactus spines were used, and later sapphire and diamond styli were developed) is connected to a "sound box" that houses a diaphragm that vibrates as the needle traces the etched groove in the record (diaphragms were made of everything from duraluminum to mica). That sound passes through a hollow tone arm connected to a chamber of some kind that ends in a flared cone, or trumpet. 

The sound quality and volume are mostly dependent on the design of the channel between the vibrating diaphragm and the trumpet. The most advanced units were large pieces of furniture with complex, folded tubes as long as 10 feet. These were very expensive in Japan (mostly made in England and the US). According to Mr. Yokaichiya, some cost as much as a house. Many cost two to three months of a typical salary at the time. All of the machines that he demonstrated produced much better sound than I imagined they would before hearing them. 

Listening to the demonstration I attended (I happened to arrive just as one was starting), a young Japanese man who said his business was repairing accordions was there and a young Frenchman joined us. I translated for him. Mr. Yokaichiya seemed to really enjoy talking about the history of the phonograph in Japan and, at the end of the talk, he insisted on taking a photograph of the three of us together, as if we were old friends, despite the fact that we had all just met. Well worth a visit if you happen to find yourself in Kanazawa.

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Karuizawa

I left Tokyo yesterday and headed for Karuizawa, a town about which I've heard for years, but never visited. The place is famous as a summering place for the wealthy fleeing from the summer heat in Tokyo. In the winter, it's a ski resort. The place reminded me a bit of Lake Tahoe. Visible from anywhere in the town is Mt. Asama, one of Japan's more active volcanos. I was told it occasionally spews a little smoke, but it has been quiet for a few years. At this time of year, it's still capped with snow. In Tokyo, I strolled through a corner of Ueno Koen before my train left. The cherry blossoms were at their peak. Before leaving for Karuizawa, I also made a quick stop at the new National Art Center. The show on at the moment wasn't of much interest to me, but the building is rather striking.  

I chose Karuizawa because there's a bird sanctuary near the station (a $3 bus ride away). I spent a couple of hours walking in Yacho no Mori (The Wild Bird Forest), a forested area of mostly deciduous trees with a couple of ponds and intersected by fast-moving streams. There wasn't a lot of bird activity, but I managed to see Meadow Buntings, Coal Tits, Willow Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Spot-billed Ducks and Mallards, and a Grey Wagtail. The Willow Tit and Grey Wagtail are new to me.

After hiking, I returned to the town and had an early dinner. I was surprised at how early everything shuts down. I got the last bus back to the station at around 6:30. At a nearby gallery I enjoyed seeing prints by an artist I was previously unaware of, Kuroki Shu. In Kanazawa, I plan to do some more birding before heading for the Fukui area in the hope of seeing some traditional papermaking.

My hotel in Karuizawa turned out to be an Hawaii-themed hostel. I had made the booking in a hurry and chose it simply because the room in the photo looked spacious. I hadn't noticed the theme. The owners simply like Hawaii, it seems. The walls were covered with photos of Hawaii and Hawaiian textiles. Hawaiian music was playing in the hallways. The dinner menu for the next evening was Hawaii-influenced. Breakfast in the morning featured rather excellent French toast. I was the only guest. Early April appears to be the off season in Karuizawa. 

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 Day Four

On day four of my Japan trip this year the day started with a stroll around the Yanaka area, which is just west of Nippori Station on the Yamanote train line, in the northern part of central Tokyo. It's a mix of shops aimed mostly at tourists and small businesses aimed at the locals. 

Nearby is an area that, for reasons I've not been able to precisely ascertain, is full of Buddhist temples. This is also where Yanaka Reien (Yanaka Cemetery) is located – a large complex of plots with a long history (established around 1875) criss-crossed by city streets. The streets are lined with large, old cherry trees. The blossom-viewing crowds were out, and so were the flowers. A wave of warmer weather yesterday brought out the last reluctant buds. White petals were fluttering in the breeze. A small film crew from NHK (Japan's equivalent of the BBC) was out capturing the falling petals; the progress of the cherry blossoms at every stage from bud to bloom is monitored and reported daily during cherry season. Personally, I prefer the plum blossoms because the cherries are virtually scentless, but the cherries are quite pretty too.

Also fluttering were birds. On my visit to Japan last year, I noted the Brown-eared Bulbuls that like to sip nectar from the base of the cherry flowers, clipping them and dropping them whole in the process. These are noisy, aggressive birds that were busy chasing each other from tree to tree. In addition, I noticed two unfamiliar birds that I've identified as the White-cheeked Starling, which is well described by its name, and the Azure-winged Magpie, which does, indeed, have pale blue wings. These are both new birds for my life list. The Magpies were flitting between the trees in small flocks. 

In the cemetery is a large section of graves belonging to the Tokugawa family, including the grave of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last of the Shoguns, the Shogun that ultimately stepped down to allow the Meiji Restoration in 1868 that returned Japan to Imperial rule. 

Among the most interesting of the temples was Jomyoin, known for its rows and rows of Jizo statures – 84,000 of them according to a local map of the area. I estimated that, in reality, there are about 7,000, but 7,000 is enough to create an effect. Jizo, or O-jizo-sama if you're being polite, was originally a Boddhisatva in Indian Buddhism but he usually appears in Japan as a stone statue in the form of a monk. Jizo statues, most often with red caps or bibs (or both) that are thought to ward off evil, are frequently placed at temples where they are revered particularly as guardians of children, especially of the souls of children that have died before their parents. You also frequently see them along pathways and roadways where they are placed as protectors of travelers. I've always been found of these statues. Sometimes they have a spooky look, especially when encountered alone in the woods, but usually they have a friendly aspect that has made them widely popular. Frequently you see offerings of food, beer, liquor, and small change at O-Jizo-sama's feet.

The evening was spent with friends who operate a restaurant in Roppongi where we enjoyed good food, good wine, and good conversation.

Places I'm Visiting: Tokyo 2025 Day Three

Day three in Tokyo started with a visit to the bank to deal with a bank card renewal that was handled very slowly, which resulted in a very late breakfast. While Japan is often startlingly modern, quick to create and adopt innovation, it can be maddeningly inefficient and slow to abandon outmoded practices; the banks are a perfect example. A visit to the bank here is all too often about waiting while a lot of paper gets pushed around. I left feeling cranky, but my mood was much restored by dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, in Shinjuku. Living near San Francisco, we are never too far from top-notch dim sum but this was every bit as good as any I've ever had near home or Hong Kong even. 

After brunch, I picked up a couple of records at the Shinjuku Disc Union store in the Shinjuku San-chome area and by then it was already time to meet friends for cherry blossom viewing, chugging quietly up the Meguro River, starting near Tennozu Isle and turning around at Taiko-bashi, the famous Edo-period bridge often depicted in Woodblock prints of the era (although because the river becomes shallow near the bridge, we viewed it from a distance). The blossoms were pretty, as they always are. 

Coincidentally, and happily, the boats for the river cruise leave from a pier within walking distance of Pigment, a store I've wanted to visit for several years. It specializes in the raw pigments used in traditional Nihon-ga style painting (but used also in Western oil and acrylic paints). One wall that runs the entire length of the store is lined with jar after jar of powdered pigment in every color imaginable. The pigments include both modern synthetic versions and traditional pigments derived from minerals and other sources imported from all over the world. Another wall shows the various resins, oils, and other binders used to transform raw pigments into paints and inks. Another section of the store displays hundreds of different kinds of brushes, including Japanese hake brushes, brushes for calligraphy, and brushes for Western style painting. The store also has a small selection of ready-made drawing inks, pastels, and paints. I chose 12 small tubes of acrylic paint for use in my collage work. Well worth a visit if you find yourself in Tokyo even if you're not an artist but simply have a curious mind. Pigment is on the first floor of the Harbor One Bldg. at Higishi-Shinagawa 2-5-5.

An izakaya-style meal nearby rounded out the day. Particularly memorable was the bowl of soba noodles I had with a rich, smoky duck-based broth.