Castles and Gardens

The Japanese love their castles and gardens so it was fitting that I spend one day visiting a good example of each. I dedicated my second day in Hiroshima to two short excursions outside of the city, first to Okayama which has one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan, Koraku-en, and then to Himeji-jo, the most impressive original Japanese castle left standing. I don't have much to tell except to say that they were both well worth it and to show you my best photographs with my 3rd disposable camera. I think I was getting better at using them, but you can be the judge of that.

Hiroshima - Ground Zero

On the morning of August 6th, 1945 at 8:15 a.m. the first atomic bomb ever used was dropped over Hiroshima by an American B52 bomber named "Enola Gay". The bomb , very inappropriately nicknamed "little boy", detonated approximately 600 metres above the center of the city, instantly killing around 70,000 people, and subsequently killing another 70,000 by the end of the year, owing to radiation sickness and burns.The ghostly skeleton of the Hiroshima Prefectural Promotion Hall, renamed the A-bomb Dome, has been left standing as a sombre memorial to the tragic events.

As I crossed the bridge to the Peace Memorial Park, my serious mood was momentarily broken by a middle aged Japanese man on a bike wearing a straw cowboy hat, who stopped when he saw me saying "Herro. You Bruce Wirris. Die hard. Bruce Wirris. I indiana Jones, Harrison Fold," gesturing to his hat. We just laughed together. After asking him where his whip is, making a whipping gesture, Indiana rode off and I continued on my way, thinking what a bizarre encounter. Clearly Hiroshima has come a long way!


I wondered around the beautifully designed Peace Memorial Park with its Peace Bell and the impressive memorial to the victims in which their names are enshrined. Most touching was the Memorial to the Children, initially deticated to a young girl by her classmates when she died ten years after the bombing, after a long battle with cancer. Watching a large group of Japanese school chidren singing a song at the memorial was a very emotional event to witness.

The Peace Memorial Museum was a fascinating, wonderfully designed museum explaining the history of Hiroshima before and after the bomb while giving an unbiased account of the events leading to the bomb. It also detailed the horrifying destructive effects of the bomb and Japan's fight for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. A globe marking both England and Israel as nuclear armed coutries made me feel uneasy, especially after observing real examples of what such a weapon is capable of. I can't see the point of such a weapon ever being used again for any reason and it's depressing to think that various countries are seeking to obtain nuclear weapons as a priority. It was comforting to see so many school children, probably from all over Japan, come to learn the lessons of what happened here. If only the whole world could.

Kobe - No beef but Sake and eh ....... Jews?

A couple of days back I took a trip to Kobe, world famous for its beef and the earthquake in 1995. An attricative city sandwiched between the sea and green hills, today Kobe has recovered from the disaster as is a thriving cosmopolitan metropolis; it has one of the highest concentractions of foreigners in all of Japan. Since I already tasted Japanese class A beef in Takayama, I wasn't about to pay 25% extra for the same product just because it has the word "Kobe" at the beginning, so beef was off the menu.


Having done the cable-car ride and taken in the views of the city, I took a stroll round the very European looking Kitano neighbourhood, where various foreigners settled and built houses when Japan opened its door to international trade.

There were numerous churches of different Christian denominations, a mosque, and yes, finally I found the Jews in Japan; I knew it was only a matter of time; there's nowhere us Jews don't reach. And Jews like a good steak, so Kobe makes sense. The community here is called the Jewish Community of Kansai (the region centered around Kyoto).


With great satisfaction I continued my tour of Kobe, to the bustling shopping area and then to the Sake Museum of one of the Largest Sake breweries in Japan. There I got a step by step Audio-visual description of the quite involoved Sake making process.

Now when in the James Bond Film "You only live twice", which is set in Japan, Bond (played by Sean Connery says, "Oh I like Shake. Eshpeshially when it'sh sherved at the right temperature; 98.5 degreesh Farenheit," he wasn't completely wrong. Sake can actually be served hot or cold depending on the type of Sake and the season. The secret of making Sake is the use of a fungus called Koji, which turns the rice starch into sugar but i won't give you a run-down of the whole process as, of course, the highlight of any booze museum is the free tasting at the end. Kampaiiiii!

The Ainu

My followers! While i'm waiting for my latest disposible camera photos to develop so that i can tell what i've been doing recently, I feel it's only right to write a blog about the "Ainu" people, the indiginous people of Japan who were here before the Yayoi people (ancient Japanese) arrived around 400 BC.

The Ainu , moved further north when the Japanese started to settle the land and were mainly situated in northern Japan, in particular in Hokkaido, the northernmost island, where I spent some time a couple of weeks ago.

Few remain today, as they are mostly mixed with the Japanese population, but i was lucky enough to come across a very different looking fellow when I was taking a stroll early one morning in Kushiro National Park in Hokkaido. He was clearly a guide and was giving a young man a nature tour. I subtley took a couple of photos and later checked with the hostal landlady wheather he was indeed an Ainu, which she confirmed as he was apparently one of her neighbours.

I didn't find out as much as I would have liked about the Ainu; I managed to visit an Ainu museum on one occasion, but at least I had a close encounter with an Ainu fellow. He's the one that looks like the Malboro Man in the photos. Click on the images and enlarge to see the difference more clearly.

Takayama - Japanese Tradition and Beef

Yesterday, in an attempt to discover the Japan of old, I ventured to Takayama, a town in central Japan in a region called the Hida-District. Admitadly my motives for travelling to there did in fact h ave a culinary aspect to them. Hida is one of the regions in Japan famous for high-grade beef, made famous by Kobe, but not exclusively produced there as I discovered to my delight yesterday.

But before we go into that, Takayama offered a side of Japan I had not seen before; beautifully preserved traditional Japanese buildings, both urban and rural in style. The center of Takayama contained an area of urban "Tatami" style shops and houses with straw mats, sliding doors and low tables.
A rural village just outside the town showed original "gassho-zukuri" houses typical of the region, identifable by their triangular thatched roofs.


Anyway, let's talk beef, or as they say here "Wagyu".
How can i put this? If I were a man with an addictive personality, my vice wouldn't be gambling, alcohol or women, but Japanese Beef. You know when you let a put a piece of chocolate in your mouth and let it slowly melt; this is similar to the experience of eating Japanese high-grade beef. Cutting it is like a knife through butter; it's so juicy and tender, it just melts in your mouth. The secret of it's intricate web of fat marbling, which can make it look almost white, is a combination of the type of cow, in this case the Japanese Black cow, and the cow's diet. Let's just say you haven't really tasted beef until you've tasted this stuff. Japan takes beef to another level.

Kyoto, in the pouring rain.

A couple of days ago I finally made it to Kyoto, the heart of historical, traditional Japan and the capital city for much of Japan's history. Considering this, I found it quite unattractive. Sure it has many beautiful sites located all around the city, but apart from that it's modern, and functional and the fact that it didn't stop pouring with rain for two days didn't make it any more enjoyable. The first half day I had here, I made it to two important sites, but they were both closed and i just got soaked.

The next day i set out early with water-proof overalls and an umbrella, got to a very impressive spread over the hills on the southern edge of Kyoto, but my camera stopped working. After getting soaked to the skin for the second time, I headed back to the hostel to regroup. I was determined not to let the rain get me down. There was only one thing for it. I had to show Kyoto a bit of "Tel-Aviv chic". I put on some shorts, a t-shirt and my havaianas and set out for Kyoto Castle and the famous Golden pavillion equipped with an umbrella. On the way I purchased a disposable camera. Sometimes you just have to improvise.\


That evening I went out in the Gion district, the area of Kyoto famous for Geishas, to get a bite to eat. Thankfully the rain has stopped and I felt much better. I came across an "Izayaka" - a Japanese pub, originally where Sake is drunk - which seemed popular with the locals. I entered and sat next to a young Japanese guy who was enjoying a beer and a number of different small japanese dishes, a bit like Tapas. I broke the ice by asking whether we were in an Izakaya, as I had never been in one before. Then he asked me where i'm from in his limited English before getting out his phone to use his English/Japanese translater which many Japanese seem to have. Thus one of the strangest conversation of my life began, with me reading badly translated English from his phone, and answering in the simplest way I could with as many gestures i could.

He asked me what I do and he told me he was a Nurse. He asked if this was my first visit to Japan and where I had been, so I reeled off a bunch of places I had visited in Japan, most of which he knew. I also got out my map and pointed out all the places I'd seen in Kyoto. We exchanged names twice as we forgot each other's names the first time, but I forgot his the second time as well, though I remember that Japanese introduce themselves with their surname first. Before I knew it he offered me a "combustible rice-ball", which was a bad translation of a "grilled rice-ball." In response, I ordered a small bottle of Saki and 2 glasses; I poured him a glass, and he then poured me one, according to Japanese etiquette. We said "Kampai" and sipped our Sake slowly; you don't drink saki in one go. When he orderd the bill and it came to over 10,000 yen (over $100) I thought to myself, nurses get paid well in Japan. Anyway, it was a wonderful end to a miserable day in Kyoto. The experience just showed my that with a bit of will and the help of a few gestures, gadgets or props, we can all find a common language.

High Tech Toilets

The Japanese are world-renowed for their advanced technology; electronics, cameras, cars, motorbikes, but it doesn't stop there my friends. When nature calls and you're in Japan, it's much more exciting that in other countries because you're never quite sure what sort of contraption you're gonna encounter.

Some of the questions you might ask are: how many toilet seats will it have, how many buttons will it have and will the instructions be in English. Once I just pushed the buttons one by one until the toilet flushed, obviously with the lid down to prevent an accidental flood.

Before i show you a few examples, I'd just like to point out that i don't make a habit of photographing toilets in my normal life; I'm not some sort of closit "john-spotter". Here is a small sample of the variety of dunnies that you might come across when you've just gotta go in Japan:

There's the one with 2 different sized toilet seats - very practical for the family!


There's the ones with all the buttons for all you gadget freaks. Their functions include making the sound of running water to prevent embarassing pissing noises, and washing out your nether regions from various angles.

Here you can see the instructions on the inside of the lid explaining what the buttons do.


Notice the button panel on the wall; I wonder if one of them will order sushi.


There's the ones with a nice comfy back rest to lessen the impact when you're straining.


And my favourite; the ones with a basin on top which uses the dirty water from your hands to refill the tank for the next flush. Very efficient! This would be great for Israel! When i get back home i'm gonna start a toilet business!

Anyway, who would have thought taking a dump could be like going to a theme park.

Fuji - The mountain, not the apple.

Mount Fuji or "Fuji-San", as the Japanese would call it out of respect, is the highest mountain in Japan and one of its most sacred. Fuji may not come anywhere near to the stature of some of the highest mountains in the world (it's about one third of the height of Everest) but what it lacks in height, it definately makes up for in shape; it has the most perfect volcanic cone shape; you just have to see it to believe it.

For the third time i rented a bike and cycled around the lakes which lay at the foot of Mt. Fuji on it's northern side. Throughout my 5 hour, 35 kilometer journey - yes, I lost my way a couple of times and fell off once - I was conforted by the sight of Fuji's peak following me wherever I rode. At the risk of boring you with even more beautiful pictures of Japanese scenery, here are a few of the better ones.