The SL Aso Boy

Twelve years ago my wife and I traveled to the main southern island of Kyushu. I was something of a Japan Rail fanatic at the time, and I wanted to ride the length of Japan on the country's rail network, which is operated by the regional Japan Rail companies. Thus it was that we flew from Tokyo to Fukuoka in November of 1997 and rode the JR Kyushu Tsubame Express as well as the steam locomotive SL Aso Boy. JR is one of the better ways to see the country, and for tourists, the JR Pass is the cheapest mode of inter-prefectural travel.

The Tsurigane, or 'Hanging Temple Bell'

The massive hanging bell struck by a pendent wooden mallet at Japanese temples is called the tsurigane. The oldest tsurigane was cast in 733, during the Nara Era, and is to be found at World Heritage Site Todaiji, in present day Nara prefecture.

Thanks, Japan Rail East

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Don and I were exhausted after our longer and harder than expected cycle trip to Kitakatta (see previous posts). So, after ramen and sightseeing, we made our way to the station, purchased tickets, and waited for the down train to arrive- rather than cycle back. Meanwhile, Don packed his bike into a carrier, while I simply removed my front wheel and begged the station master to let me through the gate- which he promptly did. The regional Japan Rail companies, offshoots of the former nationalized Japan Rail, do not charge passengers extra fare for such items as skis, snowboards, or bikes, provided the items are properly stowed. But as my experience shows, JR staff, whom I have invariably found to be kind and helpful, will sometimes waive the rules. Don't, however, attempt to take even a collapsible bike with you on a crowded commuter train.

Miscellaneous Kitakata Sights

Kitakata, Fukushima, has preserved more of its architectural heritage than most Japanese cities. Like Otaru, Hokkaido, the city relies heavily on tourist traffic, and tourists have plenty of reason to visit this picturesque little city.

Kitakata Sights

In addition to ramen, Kitakata is famous for its kura, or traditional barn-like storehouses. Kura were formerly used by wealthier Japanese to protect their valuables from the ravages of fire and other disasters. They were also built by traders to store merchandise. Today many of these structures have been converted into galleries, cafes, and museums. I took photos of these and other quaint buildings while cycling around the city centre.

Ramen!

Kitakata boasts over 200 ramen shops, but in Don's mind there might as well be only one: Katsuan. So it was to Katsuan that we went. Just up the street a hungry crowd queued for its 15 minutes of ramen fame- at the busier establishments diners are encouraged to slurp and skeedaddle. But when we entered Katsuan there was only one other diner (though several yet-to-be-cleared tables attested that business was brisk). I ordered miso (fermented soy-bean paste) ramen, while Don ordered shoyu ramen with extra pork. Incidentally, one of my favorite Japanese movies is the late Itami Juzo's "Tampopo", an entertaining film about the struggles and ultimate success of a ramen shop owner.

Kitakata- Finally

After 65 km, most of it uphill, the road signs announced we were entering the precincts of our destination, Kitakata. As we rolled into town, I took a picture of Jizo, patron of travelers. Kitakata is a lovely town of about 55,000 and, with over 200 Chinese noodle shops, it is Japan's per capita ramen capital.

On the Way Down

We saw some beautiful, as well as not so beautiful (in the form of a defunct middle school- always a sad sight, for it indicates a dying community) scenery on our way down the mountain and into Kitakatta, Fukushima.

Respite

After the steep climb and before beginning the steeper descent, we needed the fresh spring water laid on for thirsty travelers beside the road.

Higher and Higher

Before crossing over into Fukushima prefecture, Don and I offered a prayer to the border gods for a smooth crossing. Our karma was perhaps compromised, for shortly thereafter the gradient soon became incredibly steep. Don found that a three-speed lacked sufficient gearing for such mountainous terrain; I myself nearly had to walk my Cinelli road bike up the steepest sections of road.

From Kanose into the Mountains

After leaving Kanose, Niigata prefecture, Don and I cycled up the Agano River valley in the direction of neighboring Fukushima prefecture. Farmers were out harvesting this year's rice crop and tying the stalks into sheaves. The autumn bloomer "cosmos" (秋桜; akizakura, or "autumn cherry") lined the road and lent the passage a delicate beauty.

Tsugawa to Kanose

From the station we headed out of Tsugawa along Route 459, bound for nearby Kanose. The latter was formerly home to the Showa Chemical Company's Niigata plant, which became notorious in the mid 1960s as the source of Japan's second outbreak of methyl mercury poisoning, known as Minamata disease. Showa has since left the area, and today Kanose is little more than a peaceful village nestled between the Agano River on one side and low mountains on the other. It is also home to the bizarre Kanose Art Museum, closed when we passed through at 8 am.

A Recent Cycling Trip

On a recent Sunday Don Speden and I loaded our bikes into his van and traveled to Tsugawa, a town not far from the Niigata-Fukushima prefectural border. Tsugawa is home to the popular fox festival, held in May of every year. The fox is the town's mascot, and the two paper mache foxes at the entrance to the new station building were made by local schoolchildren.

The Oft-maligned Tetrapod

The innocent tetrapod, the only bulwark between Japanese coastal communities and destruction by winter storm or typhoon, receives the brunt of much anti-concrete criticism from western visitors and long-term residents alike. Yes, too much of Japan's cities and countryside has been paved. Yes, there are roads and bridges to nowhere. Yes, dams obstruct the natural flow of rivers whose waters could have been otherwise controlled or diverted during the monsoon season (there are many hydroelectric dams, though, and surely they are a cleaner energy source than fossil fuels). But as for the tetrapod, most of the armchair environmentalists so critical of them are profoundly ignorant: they have never spent a typhoon season or winter on the country's vulnerable coast. The serviceable tetrapod does not deserve to be the poster-child of the country's concrete excesses. For ten years I have lived only five minutes from the Sea of Japan in Niigata. Every summer and winter, especially during the latter season, the waters of the sea are lashed into a frothing fury. Were it not for the walls of tetrapods, the foreshore, with its public motorways and private properties, would be washed away. Hadrian needed his wall; the Chinese required theirs. The Japanese, who inhabit one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, deserve to protect it as they see fit.

A Japanese Cemetery

Photo 1: pails and ladles used for carrying water to clean memorial markers at cemeteries

Photos 2 and 3: the sotoba, or tablets of the dead, placed beside some Japanese gravestones

Photo 4: a memorial with recently placed flowers, candle, and incense sticks

The Japanese typically cremate their dead, and the ashes of the deceased are inurned at Buddhist temples, not Shinto shrines. The total cost of plot and marker can easily run to more than 1 million yen, or 10 thousand dollars. And if one wants to ensure that the deceased receive regular memorial services for up to 100 years from contemporary and future generations of monks and acolytes, better prepare to fork over an additional million yen- death is an expensive (and lucrative) business here in Japan. Fortunately there is this consolation: only one marker per patrilineal family branch is required; all immediate members of a given family are "interred" in the same memorial. The Japanese delight in summertime chill-inducing ghost stories, so I took the following photos (with my inexpensive Japanese digital point-and-shoot) at dusk.

The Hokkaido Countryside

If you say to yourself as you look at these photos, "That doesn't look like Japan", you echo my own observations. As the shots of scenic as well as urban Hokkaido show, the prefecture is like no other in Japan. Hokkaido's uniqueness is one of the reasons I so like it. But Hokkaido, like the rest of the country, has its active volcanoes- one of them (with volcanic gas issuing from its flank), Showa Shin-zan, appears in the bottommost picture.

More Otaru Photos

The photos show street views of my favorite city in Japan, Otaru, Hokkaido. I've been to Nara, Kyoto, Kamakura, and Hakodate, all of them better known than Otaru as cities of cultural and historical importance, but in my view none ranks with the latter in the picturesque, an aesthetic value in short supply in most of urban Japan.