Golden Week - Kyoto

Golden Week is a time when most Japanese go home for 4 days and spend time recovering from a year of over the top hardwork. I spent it travelling to the south of Japan with a mate in his car. This was unbelievably cheap to do, and has got me interested in travelling around a bit more Japan by car.

There are a lot of temples in Kyoto. Large parts of it are the same as they were 400 years ago. This temple is called Ginkakuji (the silver temple). As you can see there is no silver so its also called the black temple. Its a world heritage site and just walking around it I really wondered why?






















Kyoto is a really small city, and is really easy to get around by bike. This pictures from an area called Gion which is a restored traditional Japanese street.
















The river in Kyoto is a really nice place to hang out and chill. I met a mate of mine down there and we had a few drinks. As we were sat there on the opposite bank a man was jogging along with what looked like abseiling gear on. He stopped turned and started doing bizarre stretches. You see this kind of thing all the time in Japan.

















Right where we were staying was a large temple complex. On the second day we had a look around and found this. Its a traditional bamboo garden and was a real difference from the hustle and bustle outside.
















On the second day we headed over to the westside of the city. This is by far the most spectacular temple, its called Kinkakuj (golden temple) and there were hordes of Japanese saying the same thing again and again (sugoi - great and kire - beautiful) like bleating sheep. It was a nice place to go to though.






































I think pagodas are a Chinese thing, but there were a few in Kyoto. This one is one of the tallest.





















I was cycling around the city, but my mate was skateboarding. I was behind him most of the time, and it was hilarious to see the japanese turn and stare... very funny.


















I visited a proper bamboo forest. Literally five minutes from the city centre.















I'll let you guess the cryptic meaning of this sign.















Arashiyama on the west side of the city was my favourite place to visit. It was a really nice rural area not far from the city. Somewhere to definately go back to.

One day in Matsumoto and a car crash!

This was a very sad day for me, my really nice sports car, the Nissan Skyline, died. I went down to Matsumoto with my mate to have a look around and buy some stuff. On the way back I was driving the way I came. I looked away from the road for about a second, and then I looked back, realised I was driving too fast and slammed into the car in front, then that hit the car infront of it.

This would be the beginning of an entirely new set of problems at my school. When I went in on the Monday, I told the woman at my school who is my "caretaker" that is someone who deals with my shit. I told her what had happened, and my old boss came steaming over shouting "We don't care, we don't want to know! This is your fault." She never actually asked about the situation, but because I didnt speak Japanese, I was more or less powerless to do anything. I had to rely on the school. So this began a long process of talking to the "victims" ( I had been driving at around 30kph about 19mph - hardly fast). However because Id done this I now had to return to Matsumoto and make a statement to the police. My boss told me "You will be fined, you will have to go to court, and you will either be jailed or deported."

When I went to Matsumoto I took a friend of mine who has a Phd in law, and was a car dealer. Needless to say what happened seems incredible and is a fine example of how the Japanese make something out of nothing. We returned to the "scene of the crime" and the police started taking measurements of the road, trying to work out stopping distances etc. I saw the woman in the car in front for the first time since and she was doing her best to look in pain. (The women in the second car, where there was no damage, both went to hospital for a full body checkup!)

I then had to give my statement. The police asked me sets of relevant questions pertaining to the crash. "Do you have any brothers or sisters? When you first came to Japan, did you stay in Tokyo?"

Anyway at the end of the interview, they told me I had been one of the most innocent persons they'd met. And that was it. No court hearing, no deportation. I really truly think that my boss said those things to provoke a reaction in me.

After this, I was brought into the principal and vice principals office for a talk. They began to tell me that it is a tradition in Japan, when there is a car accident, you must go to that persons house, take some traditional Japanese cake and apologise. As they were telling me this I was thinking "There is no way that this is going to happen." I can just imagine this where you all sit in the persons living room in silence for a while, reflecting. Either way I did not do it. Such a giant waste of time that I have now been told is a redundant tradition that no one follows.

In the end I really feel that the process was blown up to such epic proportions because I am not Japanese. Take a look at this website and see what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Japan


So long term implications? My principal told me I could no longer drive my car. The school would no longer support me in any way. I just bought one anyway and things seem to be going okay. But driving in Japan in one of the most stressful experiences something Id like to show you when you get here.

Marks leaving party!

One of the teachers in the local area decided time was up and decided to ship himself off home (Cumbria). Heres some of the photos from the night. I am now sans beard.

This is me and Mark. He went back to Uni in the UK to do some course. He was a bit crazy.
















On the left is Canadian Kevin Li. This was the first time we'd all met him. After a few drinks he freaked the girls out by giving them back massages. He hasn't lived it down since. In the middle is Michiko. She used to live in Cardiff with her British boyfriend, Tim, and has an amazing Welsh/British/Japanese accent. On the right is my Japanese teacher Kumiko. She is probably one of the most amusing Japanese people Ive come across. She hates the Chinese, which is made all the more funny because Kevin is in fact Chinese.


















Mark and Kumiko never got on with each other. She was his caretaker and in most of my classes she would always complain about him. Here me and Stu were trying to take photos to catch the essence of their relationship. I think I came close here.
















This is Tomoko and Sonomi. There both really cool Japanese girls. I don't see much of them though. Tomoko has a bizarre Cuban accent to the way she speaks English. Its pretty funny.

















This is Stu trying to smile and failing.

The Monkey Onsen.

Nagano is famous for several things, its raw horse, its mountains and its hot water springs called "Onsen". They are probably one of the best things about living in the area.

The most famous Onsen is in an area called Shiga Kogen which the local Japanese call amusingly "The Valley of Hell." This is because apparently in winter "the steep cliffa and hot water, bursting from the Earth's surface resemble hell. This place is a paradise for monkeys, 200 of monkeys inhabit the area at present." (Taken from the guide leaflet.) The monkeys were on the cover of the US magazine life in the 70's or 80's and thats why so many Americans want to go there, apparently. Anyway me and Stu went with this other JET called Mary, whose a bit mental. I really mean it. You are told not to get into the Onsen, apart from the glaringly obvious. Theres only one thing that the monkeys are going to do when they get in there. Hint: They throw it with their hands...

Togakushi.

Wow the skiing season is now officially over. Turns out this has been one of the worst seasons for skiing in recent years. Its now the beginning of May and you should still be able to go skiing in some places. It's very sad... Now just have to wait 5 months for the next season to start.

These are some of the photos from one of the last times I went up with Stu. He's now headed off to SE Asia travelling and I might meet up with him in Thailand in the summer.

Ueda Higashi Senior High School Graduation

Graduation in Japan is a really important event in Japan. This is graduation from school. Families will spend up to around ¥100,000 (₤500) for the best kimonos for their daughters and nice suits for their sons. I knew that this was going to be a special occasion so I had my suit dry cleaned. What I didn’t count on was the burning sunburn from skiing the day before. Although it wasn’t that bad, I had a classic “goggle tan” and looked a little stupid.

My class of 18 year olds were really genki and hyper.

There were a few more other students but they didn't show up to the end of year meeting. Virtually all of them went to Uni.

Togakushi

Went Skiing up at Togakushi in February. I almost had a mid air collision with a metal post that supported a chair lift. Very lucky I didnt hit it. Heres some of the photos.















We tend to ski off piste at Togakushi, some of the runs encircle a bowl that is really good to get into.

This is looking down into the bowl.















This is looking back up towards the main slope.

English Club

These are the happy members of English Club. I managed to convince them to dump the peace sign in favour of a rock sign!!!



The girl to my right is called Kaori. She's the head of English club. When I first got here I didnt know what to do, so I asked them to do a wordsearch (It was English work!!!) as boring as it sounds. The next day I asked her what she wanted to do. She turned to me and said " I want to... (Check Dictionary - show me answer) Take Over." Cheeky Lady!

Besho Onsen

In February I headed up to Besho Onsen, a nearby town which has many Onsens (Hot water baths). The town is known in Nagano for its temples as well. Apparently they're pretty old. Its a good place for a day trip, though what takes 10 minutes in a car, costs 7 quid on the train???

Hakuba

I spent the next 6 days after Tokyo in Hakuba the main ski area in Nagano. Heres a few photos from going skiing. Ive definately got a lot better since Ive been out here.


















































































For the first 3 days there was no snow, and one of the ski areas was a bit of a nightmare. We went the main ski area that was the center of the Nagano 98 Olympics. It was really icy and it was beginner central. At one point you ski from the top of the mountain and as you get lower it becomes more steeper, and then for some reason the designers had decided to create a choke point about 10 meters across. Straight after that there is a mogul area - small bumps created by skiers turns. There was a dozen crashes down there and it wasn't good to be around.

So after that we decided that it was worth to go to Nagano city and check out Zenkoji temple. The main Buddhist shrine in the prefecture. Its a pretty impressive shrine. There were a dozen people celebrating the New Year. I saw people taking smoke burning from the incense and try to move the smoke onto their head. It was some kind of blessing. I saw people touching the head of a statue of the big Buddha and rub it on there head. Another kind of blessing.

Nagano is a wicked city, they have a club called the Jigger Club. Need I say more???
























































That night there was a snow storm strong enough that we had to dig the car out. We only had a few hours before the ski hills were shut down and we had to head back. We had to dig the car out again.

New Years Eve

We spent the most of the day in Harajuku, a funky small area of Tokyo. When you ask the Japanese people about it they say its a "young area." Its pretty cool. Whilst I was there I saw a crowd of people taking photos of a man with a horses mask/head on. Its a bit weird. Its a home to several subcultures.

There are the Lolitas

And the costume-play (COSPLAY) Japanese. They look a little like Tranvestites.










And then theres my favourite. The Ganguro girls. I see this most of the time at school. It can a bit of a weird look. And the girls can be a bit up themselves. The Japanese see them as social outcasts.










Harajuku itself isn't like the rest of Tokyo. Its a nice area to hang out.

















That night we went to a wicked club called Ageha. It took a while to get there, and was expensive to get in, but was a great place to go. The club had four main rooms. the best was the reggae area that was outside. You weren't allowed to take photos, but I cheekily took a few inside.