Shop in Koenji (downstairs from Ugly)

Is this a clothes shop or a butcher? Or both perhaps?

Shop in Koenji

You mean me? Ouch! That cuts deep.

Gutted!

The English football season is drawing to a close, or, for some teams it's already over. After a season of ups and downs ~ where sometimes they played flowing attacking football, and sometimes they simply ran about on the pitch without any creative flair ~ things finally came to an end on Tuesday with a 2-0 defeat to Hastings United in the Ryman Divison One South play-off semi-final. It was a disappointing blow after a fanastic run in over the last few games that saw them score 14 goals in the last three league matches alone. However, it was the clueless wonders who turned up on Tuesday night and they didn't seem to have any creative strategy to deal with a solid Hastings team. So, another seasoon in Ryman One South beckons, with what may be a fairly new-look Dover team, as they are currently advertising for a new manager, so no doubt the playing staff will change a bit too.

Here's looking forward to August.

(Oh, and for anyone interested, you can follow the drama of Dover Athletic at www.doverathletic.com)

Hakone - Day 2 - Lake Ashi

The last leg of the weekend trip was a sightseeing boat trip across Lake Ashi. And what better way to cross the lake than by pirate ship? With the clear skies, there was a great view of the surrounding mountains, and, as the boat neared the destination port of Moto Hakone, Mount Fuji came into view behind us in the distance.

Hakone - Day 2 - The Museum of Saint Exupéry and The Little Prince

I mentioned in earlier post that every thought has gone in to how provide as much entertainment or things to do other than the hot springs or hiking in the Hakone area. Probably one of the more unusual examples of this is the Museum of Saint Exupéry and The Little Prince. The reason I say it's unusual is that I can think of no special reason why there should be a museum for his work in Japan, let alone in the mountains in hot spring country. Can you imagine a museum for, say, Natsume Soseki in the Lake District?

As with British pubs, and country-themed amusement parks elsewhere in the country (Huis Ten Bosch, New Zealand Village, etc), a lot of effort has gone into creating a mock authentic look ~ in this case 1930s France. The grounds of the museum lead you on a pleasant walk among imitation shop fronts with signs in French and street names such as Rue De Géographie, and later you see models of the characters from Saint Exupéry's best known book.

The you step inside to see some exhibits that tell the life story of the aviator/pioneer/writer, and then later the characters of the Little Prince. Near the end of the tour you reach a staircase to go back downstairs, the lights dim, and stirring string music starts as you read about his ill-fated last flight from which he never returned. The ceiling above the staircase shows his plane, the lighting changes and it disappears, to be replaced by some stars. You can't get more sentimental than that.

Just before you leave you can visit the souvenir shop which offers a myriad of different goods licensed by the writer's estate. I wonder what the great man would have made of that.

Hakone - Day 2 - Hakone Museum of Photography

After a huge breakfast at the pension it was time to check out and explore more sights. First stop was the rather grandly named Hakone Museum of Photography, which in fact turned out to be an annexe of a private house featuring pictures by one photographer ~ the house owner, I guess. You pay your 400 yen on entry and the woman working at the ticket office/souvenir shop/café rang a bell and a little old man appeared. He the showed us around the first floor of the little annexe which featured large prints of pictures taken by his son proudly explaining each shot ("This is Mount Fuji in winter at sunrise," "This is Mount Fuji in the summer on a hazy day," etc...). Thankfully, the second floor had pictures of other sights in the Hakone area, some of which I hadn't heard about, but was intersted in seeing. If I take another trip down this way, I'll make a point of going to see them.

Despite having a big name to live up to, this tiny museum was actually fun to visit ~ the pictures were good, the house is nicely designed, complete with a tiny garden cafe, and whilst not really essential to understanding the pictures, the guided commentary from the photographer's father was nice mainly because he was obviously so proud of the whole set up.

Hakone - Day 1 - Time for a bath

Of course, the biggest attraction of coming to Hakone is to experience the hot springs, and to refresh yourself after the daily grind of city life. There are lots of ryokans (Japanese inns) with baths in the area, ranging from fairly pricey to downright exorbitant, but this time I stayed at a small pension hidden away up in the mountains. There are only about half a dozen basic rooms there, and unlike the ryokans, there aren't large baths open to all, but rather two small rotenburo (open air baths) that you get to use privately at an allotted time ~ one before dinner and one after dinner).

One of the open-air baths gives you one of the best views I've ever seen from a hot spring, and you feel as if you're surrounded by vast open space. I could have stayed there all afternoon.

As with any place you stay that has a hot spring, the evening meal is a real feast, with one person's food being enough to feed a familay of four, or at least I felt as if I'd eaten enough for four after the meal. After a short time relaxing in front the stove, it was time to take the second bath, this time in the more intimate settings of a small Japanese garden.

Hakone - Day 1 - Open Air Museum

The cable car usually descends towards Lake Ashi from Owakudani, but that leg of the journey is being renewed at the moment, so it was either a long wait for the shuttle bus or opting to go back the way I came and take in some other sights. Given that the pension I was staying in was off the funicular railway, the latter option seemed much better.

Being Japan, every thought has gone in to how to maximise the entertainment value of any short trip ~ or from a more cynical view point, how to maximise the opportunities to get people to part with their cash. Just below the start of the funicular railway is the Hakone Open Air Museum, and this represents one of the better value entertainment options on offer in the Hakone area.

The museum is in a huge park area, surrounded by forested mountains, and it is home to dozens of impressive sculptures, some by the likes of Henry Moore, Rodin and Miro.There is also the Picasso pavilion, which houses some of his paintings and a fairly extensive collection of some of the ceramics he did in the latter part of his career.

The museum realises that families will be among the potential visitors, and so there is are some play areas for the kids, which is good, but why did they have to put them so damn close to the sculptures? There is no way of taking in the Miro sculpture pictured below without seeing the monstrous plastic climbing frame behind it and the dozens of pre-schoolers running around. Surely not the way art is supposed to be admired.

'Balzac' by Auguste Rodin

'Personnage' by Joan Miro. Unfortunately situated right in front of a horrible plastic labyrinth of a climbing frame for kids.

'Hand of God' by Carl Milles
'Miss Black Power' by Niki de Saint Phalle
The biggest work on display. You can't get an impression of the scale from this photo, but if I were stadning next to this sculpture, I'd probably only come up to the knee.

Smart tea

Is this of its own accord, or does it require coercion?

Hakone - Day 1 - Owakudani

After getting to the top of the funicular railway (about 750m above sea level), I hopped on to the cable car (called a 'ropeway' in Japanese) up to the highest point, called Owakudani (1050m), which is famous for the sulphurous gases and steam jets coming from the ground, so-called 'black eggs' that have been boiled in the hot pools, as well as the spectacular view you get of Mount Fuji.

The cabins hold about sixteen people and near me there was a toddler with her mum, excitedly looking out at the sights. At one point the child said "Look Mum, there's our shadow, pointing at the trees below." Mum mentioned that it was a long way down and that it would really hurt if she fell, and after that the poor child spent the rest of the ascent whimpering that she was scared and wanted to get off. She may well grow up with a fear of heights after that utterance from her mother. I couldn't believe my ears.

Boiling hot water bubbling up from the ground. In the hour or so I was at Owakudani, I saw the water level in this pool rise by several inches. Incidentally, I have no idea if I stayed there 'long', because the warning sign doesn't give an indication of how long you should or shouldn't hang around.
One of the staff putting the next batch of eggs in to boil, with Mount Fuji visible in the background.
A 'black egg', boiled and ready to eat. If you believe the signs posted around the place, eating one of these will add seven years to your life. Seeing as they're only sold by the half dozen, it might explain why the Japanese have a high average life expectancy! Quite remarkable for something that tastes exactly the same as a normal boiled egg.
I was lucky with the weather and this meant that there was a clear view of Mount Fuji. The previous time I had been to Hakone, the weather was awful, and the hills were shrouded in clouds and thick fog making any mountain tops invisible, so it was nice to actually see this time what I missed out on previously.

Hakone - Day 1

The end of April and the beginning of May in Japan is known as Golden Week, since four ntional Holidays fall in the space of one week. This year that means a three-day weekend closely followed by a four-day weekend ~ or, for the lucky ones like me, nine days off!

No matter where you decide to head in Golden Week, it's likely to be crowded, so you either have to accept that and join the masses, or spend a quieter time at home. I decided to head to Hakone, in Kanagawa prefecture, which is famous for its hot springs and views of Mount Fuji. Of course, thousands of others had the same idea.

Once you arrive in Hakone itself, there is the choice of staying down in the town itself, or taking the mountain train and/or the funicular railway to various different points up in the mountains. The top picture shows part of the queue for the funicular railway (confusingly called a 'cable car' in Japanese) at the lower station on Sunday morning, and the second picture show the train coming into the station.

Soul vibration

Holes in the air - The Superimposers
Love again - Hird
Cinnamon and cloves - Zoot Sims
We want more !!!! - Soil & "Pimp" Sessions
Winding rhythm - The Baker Brothers
Stop what you're doing - Ben Westbeech
Bungalow - Damon Aaron
P.A.Z. - Antibalas
Afro blue (2007 version ) - Dee Dee Bridgewater
Soul vibration - J-Walk

British pub in Nakano

This evening after work, I decided to try out a fairly new 'British' pub in Nakano for something to eat and a drink or two.

I tried the fish and chips, which was passable (but not a patch on the fresh local catch you get from the English Channel), and a warm vegetable salad, which was pretty good.

On the whole it's not a bad place, and better than some other British-style pubs I've tried in Japan, though being open for less than two months, it still has a shiny, new feel to it. Also, given that it's on the second floor of a brand new buidling, it's always going to be stuggling to recreate the atmosphere you get in a pub that has existed for generations.

Artwork by Kids

One of several hoardings of varying levels of imagination and ability painted by elementary school students on display in Nakano-ku.

What If We Stopped Paying Taxes?

Hype of Gold - Soil & "Pimp" Sessions
Supercapitalism - Wynton Marsalis
What If We Stopped Paying Taxes - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
A Wave Crashed On Rocks - Felt
Bungalow - Damon Aaron
1234 - John Arnold featuring Paul Randolph
Come on (Superpimp) - Marden Hill
Stop What You're Doing - Ben Westbeech
Don't Sleep - Lanu
Your Letter - Peven Everett

Restaurant near Kagurazaka

"I'll have the slop special, please." Nah, can't see myself saying that somehow.

An Obsession With Ball-Bearings

One thing I've never really been able to understand in Japan is the degree to which some people are obsessed with pachinko - a kind of bagatelle-like slot machine game. I've never tried it myself, but from what I understand, due to the restrictive Japanese gambling laws, it's not actually legal to use or win cash for this game. So people buy some ball-bearings, which they then feed into the machine in the hope of winning more ball-bearings. Peeking inside a pachinko parlour (as they are called), you can see some of the punters fully focussed on their machine with baskets of ball-bearings on the floor behind them.

Once a session is over, the ball-bearings are exchanged for some token gift, which the punter then takes to a window in a separate building to exchange for cash. Since no cash has been given out as winnings inside the premises, it doesn't fall foul of the law.

You can see people waiting outside the parlours at prior to opening time in the morning, and there are whole channels on satellite TV dedicated to this activity, though quite what the thrill is I don't know.

This picture shows the queue forming outside a newly revamped parlour, everybody wanting to get there on day one.

Let that sound out!

Questions - Jesse Sharp's Quintet
Chester's Tongue - The Baker Brothers
Atlantic - Thief
Cuss Cuss - Lloyd Robinson
A.I.E. - Soil & "Pimp" Sessions
Old Soul - Ben Watt featuring Baby Blak
Let That Sound Out! (Gerd's 4 Lux Remix) - Colonel Red & Delgui
Doing It To Death (Part 1) - The JBs
Oh Constance - Marden Hill
The Hunger - Nostalgia 77

Shinjuku Gyoen

After yesterday's cold rain, it was a relief to see the sun out again today. At around lunchtime, I decided to wander around Shinjuku Gyoen ~ a huge park in the middle of one of the busiest areas of Toyko. Once you're inside, the distant skyline of tower blocks is the only reminder of where you are.

Despite the heavy rain yesterday, many of the trees were still in bloom and there were thousands of others taking in the atmosphere too.

A group of office workers have a peaceful and scenic lunch break.

I wasn't the only person with a camera! Looking at the people snapping around me today, I think there was several hundred thousand pounds' worth of photographic equipment in the park today.

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Close-up of a two-tone blossom.
A carpet of cherry blossom petals.

Dog in jeans

Dogs small enough to pop in your handbag are a must-have itme for some Tokyo women, and some dress them up in dog fashions (probably purchased at the shop I snapped sometime last year and posted here).

I think this poor mutt's jeans were a size or two too small as it seemed to have some difficulty walking properly.

Hats! - 11

A newish stripy Kangol number.

Darkest light

Darkest light - The Lafayette Afro-Rock Band
A Street in Bombay - Amancio D'Silva
Sold out - Dalindeo
Dolla bill - Dudley Perkins
Pull up to the bumper - Grace Jones
Highlights - Delgui
Outra Vida - Les Gammas
Hope - Bugge Wesseltoft
Exit Routine - Ras
Tunnel - The Dining Rooms