Shakuhachi in Ritsurin Koen

A shakuhachi player gives a solo performance.

I'm clearly daydreaming in the background.

On Sunday, Tamara and I were invited to play shakuhachi in Ritsurin Garden, Takamatsu.

I had played in public once before, to a small audience at Enza Community Centre back in February. Yet this was the first time I'd be playing somewhere so visible and open to all the visitors of the park who would be walking by. Although a peaceful escape from the city, Ritsurin Garden still has many visitors everyday who would walk past the Kikugetsu-tei tea house where we would be performing. This event was mostly held as a warm-up in preparation for our concert in October, but it was somewhat nerve-wracking all the same. I've only been playing shakuhachi for just over a year, starting in Spring last year, so I'm still a bit inexperienced and learning the ropes.

Tamara and I walk through the park, lead by Anabuki-Sensei.

Preparing to perform.

One exciting aspect of the event was a chance to wear the yukata which I'd been gifted by my friend Hiroko Tomozawa for my birthday last year. As all of the players had to wear a yukata for the performance, it was a great occasion to wear it in public (and I have to say, it is very comfortable - especially during the summer months!).

Wearing my yukata: a birthday gift from Tomozawa-san.

Tamara wears her yukata.

Our event lasted from around 1.30pm through to 4pm, during which time we played plenty of songs (including many which Tamara and I had never played before and so couldn't participate in). Being the height of Summer, of course, it was obviously very hot, but thankfully we were also treated to a brief tea ceremony with iced-green tea midway through the ceremony by the hosts at the teahouse. A very welcome refreshment.

Playing the shakuhachi.

Tamara rehearses while I chat to the other players.

The performance was also accompanied by several koto players, who played along with the shakuhachi to create a very complete musical experience. The two instruments compliment each other perfectly along with the shamisen, and give an iconic Japanese sound when played in unison. The koto players were excellently skilled, wearing much heavier clothes than the men; a commendable feat in this summer weather.

The koto.

As I mentioned, the weather was suitably hot and humid, but subsided to be thankfully a little overcast in the later afternoon. Many people stopped to watch our performance for a song or two, with lots of photographs and videos taken (especially of me and Tamara, who must have been something of a novelty as the foreign performers). A nice surprise was fellow ALT Thomas Monaghan (from Naoshima), who happened to be visiting the garden that day. His superintendent, Oka-sensei, is a fellow shakuhachi player, and we enjoyed our small little reunions in the garden.

The stunning Ritsurin Garden.

All in all, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. With our shakuhachi concert in October fast-approaching, it was excellent preparation for performing in public and to calm the nerves. While both Tamara and I made our fair share of mistakes when playing, it was definitely a big step forward for us.

Wrapping up.

Thumbs up.

I'll keep you all posted on information regarding our upcoming shakuhachi concert in October. In the meantime, if you're in (or planning a trip to) Kagawa, get yourself to Ritsurin Garden if you haven't been yet. It never ceases to amaze every time.

The gorgeous Ritsurin Garden.

Image from here.

Summer in Kagawa, Japan

Healthy rice-paddies on a hot Kagawa day. 

Seeing as I wrote an article on my experiences of Winter in Japan a little while back, I thought it would be appropriate to also spend a little bit of time talking about the Summer. I've written a little bit here and there on the subject in other posts, but I feel like it would take a full blog post on the topic to really do it justice.

I'm afraid, however, that Summer here isn't much more pleasant than the Winter.

Summer in Kagawa can be... difficult.

Not the most positive of starts, I know, but there's several approximations that make it more than a bit hell-esque. For starters, the temperature is about the same as you would expect from the Devil's lair: a relentless onslaught of heat and humidity which seems to last for an eternity. The devil's minions are also clearly present in the form of gigantic insects and giant green spiders that torment and seemingly target the foreign population (yet fascinate and please the school kids).

Hyperbole aside, it is hot. Very hot.

• Heat and Humidity

The biggest challenge of Japanese Summer is quite simply the heat. According to my phone, the current temperature is 32°C, yet it feels far warmer than that because of the humidity in the air. Japan is an intensely humid country, and that contributes to a constant sweaty feeling throughout the summer months. The temperature is pretty much constant and only drops marginally in the evenings. It really is a heck of a challenge to stay hydrated, as you're sweating constantly and always in need of a glass of water. It goes some way to explaining why Japanese homes lack insulation (though, as I mentioned before, that causes serious inverse issues in the Winter, too).

Luckily, the handy air-con is on hand. Like in the Winter, I have this thing on pretty much constantly - though it is unfortunately consigned to one room. Normally I use it at 18°C, but unfortunately the heat typically builds up so much throughout the day that it can take a fair amount of time for the effects to be felt. In contrast, opening the window to try and cool the place down doesn't do much to help as the air coming inside is roasting and there isn't much of a breeze (though at least it freshens the air).

The Air-con is back online.

Supplementary to the air-con are a few other purchases that can be made. I recently picked up a fan for a very good price in my local Aeon Department Store. As my aircon is restricted to just one room, I often find myself blasting the fan into the kitchen when I'm in there preparing food for long periods of time. There are also dehumidifiers, which are far more expensive but very effective. When I visited Michael in Shizuoka last June, I was amazed at how much watch his managed to extract from the air - it looked like a litre in the space of a day.

 

My new fan (left) and a de-humidifier (right, image from here).

Michael had one of these in his place when I visited him in Shizuoka last year.

Traditional Japanese fans (uchiwa).

Of course, the old favourite in Japan is the hand-held fan (known as an uchiwa). These are not quite as common as you might expect during the Summer months, and I imagine its because they are often more ornamental than anything else. You do often see people waving paper equivalents, however, as they're often handed out while walking along the streets (usually these versions are plastered in advertising). They are very beautiful to look at and very pleasing to see when they are used.

• Cold Treats

If you're anything like me, you'll agree the best way to deal with the heat (short of a cold shower) is in a refreshing beverage. Thankfully, vending machines in Japan are plentiful and on almost every street corner. In the summer time these become absolutely essential. On the weekends, I can visit them around two or three times a day (if I'm out and around town and nowhere near a store). Obviously, it's slightly pricier than buying from a store (costing between around 100円 to 150円 on average), but in the summer its a price you cannot afford not to pay, and 120円 is the standard price, which will get you pretty much anything at most machines (that's around 80p for you UK JETs).

Vending machines everywhere.

So many options.

I'm pretty much an addict on the canned cold coffee. Even though cold coffee isn't such a big thing in the UK (probably because it's so damn cold over there), it really is refreshing in the heat. If you're British and you haven't tried an ice coffee yet, I'd recommend you get yourself to Japan and try one of these (a few do have a pretty high sugar content, though, so some are a bit too sweet).

Cold treats are incredibly popular throughout the Summer, and with good reason.

Another alternative of course is to pop into a convenience store (or supermarket) and pick up an ice-lolly or ice cream. These are abundant and everywhere in Japan, with some very nice varieties available (including a Magnum equivalent and a banana-milk flavoured ice). The soda-flavoured "Gari Gari-Kun" is an all time favourite, but my personal preference is for the watermelon ices that creatively include little chocolate chips in place of seeds. It's very refreshing and just looks aesthetically great.

Watermelon ice-poles!

My reprieve from the heat.

Chocolate is difficult to keep during the summer months because it melts so quickly. Mostly it's best to keep it indoors in a fridge and only remove it when about to eat. Carry it around town and it'll almost certainly turn into goop.

Fruit is also difficult to keep (especially bananas) as the heat makes it wilt rapidly, and occasionally small little flies can get in through the open windows (even with a gauze up) which will make short work of them. On one occasion, I bought an apple from the supermarket at around 9pm at night, leaving it on my breakfast table with an intention of eating it the next morning at breakfast. I picked it up not long after sunrise to discover the lower half had turned to mush and was covered in little holes that a fly had made. Again, the fridge is your best friend here, but you really do struggle with bananas as they go brown so damn quickly in there. Best recommendation is to only buy fruit on the same day you intend to eat it.

A special delicacy of Kagawa-ken is, of course, the Sanuki-Udon. I quite enjoy udon noodles, but really only when they're hot. However, cold noodles are very popular during the summer in Japan, and as such cold udon is consumed en masse by loads of people in Kagawa. Sadly, I can't really eat the stuff myself: the texture just feels off-putting. Might be worth a try for a one-off, though.

Cold udon? No, thanks.

(Image from here.)

• Schools and Summer Holidays

Katsuga Junior High School.

The schools I visit can become incredibly hot during the summer time. Like homes, the walls are designed to be very thin and lack insulation, but the humidity and heat is such that it doesn't make much of a difference, really. Windows are consistently open (though this does inevitably let all manner of bugs inside). The kids can visibly be a lot more tired during these months, and I find myself constantly sweating throughout the day and drinking a lot of water and cold ocha (Japanese tea). Some rooms come equipped with electric fans (though their range is pretty small) or air-con units. These help greatly but because many of the schools are quite old many rooms aren't equipped with these gadgets and typically teachers can be reluctant to use them.

The school swimming pools see a lot of action in the Summer time.

One benefit of summer is that students are given a lot of swimming classes, which I've never participated in but look like a lot of fun. In the intense heat, this would definitely be a welcome way to break up the day. I know if I was a student here that I would love these.

With regards to summer holidays, here we come to a huge cultural difference that you may find very surprising...

The school holidays in Japan aren't really holidays in the way that we in the Western world would conceive of them.

Basically, er, they're not really holidays.

Students participate in the sports clubs everyday.

In Japan, students and teachers still come to school every day throughout the Summer. While this might seem insane to most of us, it's the status quo over here. Students are often assigned homework to do throughout the holidays and are expected to participate in daily sports clubs either in the morning or afternoon. Teachers have a lot less work to do, and mostly just sit at their desks doing... stuff. Leave isn't automatically granted, and teachers typically need to take paid holidays to take days off (though of course, this being Japan, most teachers don't take their full allocation).

ALTs aren't exempt from this, and come to school to basically find work for themselves. Often times there really isn't much work to do, though a lot of ALTs work with some students to train them for the upcoming English speech contests which arrive at the start of the next semester. It can also be a good opportunity to prepare materials for the upcoming semester, though like Japanese teachers, many ALTs use this time to take their paid leave (which is very sensible as it avoids disrupting classes).

One nice thing is that, with school lunch not running, the teachers may often go for lunch together. I've had quite a few trips with various teachers to enjoy lunch together (typically udon), and they're a lovely way to spend time in the early afternoon.

It seemed bizarre to me when I first arrived in Takamatsu to sit at a desk when there is very little work to do, and to keep the school running when there aren't any classes, and I can't say my opinion on that has changed very much. Still, it's just the way it is. The atmosphere in these summer months is usually very relaxed, and teachers have a lot more flexibility with their time. It's not an unpleasant atmosphere.

• Bugs and other Monstrosities

Japanese Summer is beloved by all manner of beasties. Everyday you'll encounter countless insects and bugs crawling all over the place as soon as you've left your door (I've already mentioned the flies getting in and destroying my fruit).

Cicadas are everywhere in the summer months.

(Image from here.)

Most prominent in the Summer months are perhaps the cicadas which make one hell of a deafening noise. They constantly sing throughout the summer months; big, clumsy guys who make a very constantly loud noise which is audible constantly throughout the day. They aren't unpleasant, really, but they often jump out and surprise you. They're a lot cuter than most insects due to their big size and clumsy behaviour. You know Summer has started when you start to hear the cicadas throughout the day (eventually you just start to tune it out). Unfortunately, a lot of ALTs I know have complained about sitting under trees and being taken by surprise by cicada urine dropping on them. Whether or not those claims are true I have no idea.

Far more unsettling are the giant green spiders that are everywhere.

Visions of hell.

(Image from here.)

These green spiders are everywhere throughout the Summer months. They grow to a pretty big size (up to around the size of a palm), and they're so numerous that they cover almost every tree, plant and doorway. Looking up at a train station could well induce nightmares into the faint of heart, and they occasionally take up shop on some of the vending machines, too (which can give you quite a fright). I've heard conflicting reports as to whether or not they're dangerous or not but the colour scheme definitely suggests that they aren't something you want to mess with.

Often times they create giant webs that can stretch across big distances, which unsuspecting people can walk right into. Other times, their webs dangle overhead, and another looking up can see the silhouette of a large spider looking down at them from the sky. On the plus side, they probably help to keep away quite a lot of the bugs around here.

Typically these guys hang around until October, and trust me when I say they are everywhere (though currently they haven't quite fully grown yet).

Somewhat worryingly, I've also started to see a small blue and yellow sparkling lizard running around near my front door. It looks absolutely lethal and I've never seen anything like it before. Here's hoping it keeps a distance...

• Clear Skies and Sunshine

The ferry terminal at Sunport, Takamatsu.

If you're Scottish like me (or are from anywhere in Britain), you'll be familiar with Summer being a typically inconsistent season which is prone to the occasional burst of rain and overcast skies. Not that Summer is always dreary, but it can certainly be haphazard and there can be occasional long stretches without much in the way of sunshine.

Thankfully, one of the advantages of Japanese summer is absolutely gorgeous sunshine. It's fairly consistent almost every day, and Kagawa simply looks glorious bathed in the sunshine.

Not a cloud in the sky.

With the intense sunlight obviously comes a long of sunburn. Luckily for me I don't tend to burn so easily, but plenty of ALTs turn into beetroots during the summer months. Sun cream is probably necessary for long exposure (though I typically don't wear it as often as I should, which is admittedly very silly and probably a bit dangerous of me). Many Japanese women are known to carry umbrellas during the summer month, or otherwise wear very long sleeves, in order to avoid tanning; as you may know, pale skin can often be fetished in Japan (which is bizarre to me, since I know plenty of Scottish girls who are constantly trying to get a tan).

Japanese woman can often be seen carrying umbrellas to stay out of the sun.

Image from here.

So really, it's a trade off. You have beautiful scenery with almost no clouds around, but you're gonna have to accept you'll cook for it.

A visual metaphor for the sweat running down my back.

(Yeuch.)

• Festivals

And of course, there are the summer festivals.

If there's any major redeeming quality to summers in Japan, it's these.

Sakaide Matsuri, 2012.

Dancing at Takamatsu Matsuri, 2012.

In Shikoku, there are three major festivals that I've made my way to over the last couple of years; Sakaide Matsuri, Takamatsu Matsuri and Awa Odori (in Tokushima, the next prefecture to Kagawa). There are also the much smaller festivals such as the Shionoe Firefly Festival which take place on a more local level. Each of these has it's own unique feel and events. Of course, these are all accompanied by the traditional layout of festival stalls, and encourage a healthy attitude of merriment (and perhaps a little bit of drinking on the side).

I'll be writing at length about the Summer Festivals I've visited in Kagawa in other blog posts, so expect to see more information on those soon.

• Final Thoughts

As you can see, Summer is a month of mixed blessings. Beautiful weather, but frankly the heat and humidity is so intense than it kills all enthusiasm for it. Many Japanese people I speak to concede that Summer is one of their least favourite seasons, and I tend to agree (though I'd say it's about equal to Winter in that regard, as both are quite difficult in their own ways).

Fish swim in the pond at Katsuga Junior High School.

As I say, the summer festivals go a very long way to making up for the challenges the season entails, and some of the best things to do while in Japan. Sweating aside, it's well worth being in Japan at this time of year just to see (or participate in) those amazing spectacles.

And if you can get past the heat (which is difficult), there is honestly a tremendous amount of beauty to admire.

Sunset on the coast at Sunport, Takamatsu.

Angie stands on the beach near Kozai at sunset.

As an additional note: many Japanese people seem to believe that Japan is unique in having four seasons. I've often been asked questions such as; "How many seasons does Scotland have?". I'm always pretty perplexed by this. I always understood that pretty much everywhere on Earth had four seasons. 

I'm not sure where they're getting this from, but it's very peculiar.

Tokyo 2013 (Day Four): Tsukiji Fish Market & the National Museum of Science and Nature

At JR Ueno Station.

Rainer and I came to our last day in Tokyo feeling more than a little worn-down. The last three days had been hectic, and had involved a lot of travelling. However, we were determined to make the most of the day before the travel home that night.

Breakfast.

After checking out of the hotel, we opted for a simple breakfast at the Tully's coffee shop nearby, before heading on to our first destination of the day; the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Tsukiji Fish Market

A stall at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

After trying (and failing) to visit this iconic location the day before, Rainer and I finally made it here early on Monday morning. There was a notable increase in the number of pedestrians walking around, and we followed them into the huge warehouse areas. Scores of forklifts were moving crates of fish around, and there were countless workers carrying out their duties who seemed completely unfazed by the daily swarm of visitors.

Rainer and I walked down the designated paths into the market area, where many local sellers were selling off local produce. We walked around the stalls, trying plenty of free samples. In addition the fish, there was all manner of Japanese produce - as well as a whole host of clothing stores! Surprising, and definitely not what I expected. The area was very intimate, yet was full of people. Every second store seemed to be yet another sushi store, and so we knew straight away what we would be having for lunch.

Our lunch was quite the treat; freshly prepared sushi at one of these local restaurants. We indulged in a huge plate of recommended sushi, though half of them were completely unrecognizable to us.

The fish was cut and prepared in front of us, and it tasted incredibly fresh (as opposed to the occasional "warm" kind which is unfortunately present at a few chain restaurants). I tried my best, but there were a few which I simply couldn't stomach and had to leave (one actually kicked in a bit of a gag reflex). Rainer, however, managed the lot. The vast majority of what I ate was fantastic, and it felt great to eat fish in this iconic location.

Overall, the fish market was an excellent place to visit and a great start to our final day.

National Museum of Nature and Science (Japan)

Back in Ueno Park.

Starbucks from afar!

Rainer and I made our way towards Ueno Park, to try and see a little bit more of it during the day-time (partially to dispel our rather unfortunate experiences with it the previous evening). Upon arriving, we thought about heading to the zoo, but stumbled instead upon Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science. As Rainer and I are both science-junkies, we decided to say "what the hell" and gave it a shot.

The National Museum of Nature and Science.

The gift shop features what are apparently dinosaur bones

and space food for sale.

After a quick detour into the gift shop, the first thing we saw was a huge 3D dome theatre (named "Theatre360"), in which we stood on a bridge. After the doors closed, the dome came to life and all manner of things started to move around us through two presentations; one a presentation on the history of the dinosaurs, the other on the evolution of mankind. Even though these presentations were exclusively in Japanese, it was very easy to follow the images which conveyed the stories. It was a visual spectacle, and I love seeing things like this that can bring natural history to life in such a vivid way.

Marine-life bones.

The museum was filled with all manner of exhibits, but what struck us the most were the dinosaur skeletons. There was a huge collection of ancient animals reconstructed and pieced together for display purposes. I absolutely love getting up close to these things - not least because they can be quite terrifying. We spent far too long looking at these guys in detail.

Another large display was dedicated to the evolution of man, showing hundreds of bones of predecessors to homo-sapiens. The continuity and progression of these forms was very impressive to see first-hand.

In addition to skeletons, we also saw a huge exhibit of creatures which appeared to have been taxidermied. While somewhat morbid, the variety of animals on display was staggering. Seeing such a vast variety in the same species of animals and insects (for example, the hundreds of beetles on display) was quite eye-opening to the diversity in nature.

We also spent a lot of time in the lowest floor of the museum, where physics and space were the central themes. There were a huge number of physics experiments that you could participate in by pressing buttons and interacting with various devices. Elsewhere, there were videos of space exploration and models of the cosmos. Again, I loved this stuff, and Rainer and I spent ages wandering amongst it all and studying it in detail.

Physics n' stuff.

As the afternoon was rolling into the evening, we made our way to the cafe and decided to have dinner. The cafe was decorated in the fashion of a jungle, and had all manner of animals popping up around the place. The menu wasn't too extravagant, but I had a nice curry and followed it up with a panda-shaped parfait. Not bad.

Panda parfait!

On my way out, I also picked up some dinosaur omiyage biscuits to give to the teaching staff at my school as a present. Naturally.

T-Rex Omiyage.

Monsters University

Having only a few hours left in Tokyo before the night bus home, Rainer and I decided that the most relaxing way to spend our evening would be with a film. We opted for Monsters University, and spent the next couple of hours relaxing with Pixar.

A pretty good film, all things considered (although I hadn't seen the first film at this point!).

Night Train back to Takamatsu

Following the film, Rainer and I made our way back to Shinjuku station, where we hoped we would be able to take the night train in the same way Yas and Angie had done so yesterday. Sadly, this didn't work out particularly well. Despite being told that we were too early to buy tickets earlier in the day, we were now told that the tickets had sold out (!). Not very convenient. We had a bit of bother the previous evening trying to buy tickets there for Angie, too (Yas had already purchased his). I would say it's probably good idea to get a return night bus sorted way in advance of your trip in case you run into any hiccups like this.

It wasn't the end of the world. Knowing that there was a night train available from Tokyo station which went directly to Takamatsu station (from my trip to Chiba last year), Rainer and I made our way to Tokyo station and booked cabins for the night on the train. It was a bit of a rush to get to Tokyo station in time (and I hadn't withdrawn enough cash to account for the extra fee - which was hefty! - so Rainer had to loan me), but we made it.

I've no idea what this was, but it was driving along Shinjuku.

As before, I thoroughly enjoyed riding on the night train. Being provided with a free dressing gown and bed for the night makes a huge difference compared to trying to sleep in relative discomfort on a night bus. I spent the early hours of the evening playing on my DS and reading, before getting some rest just a little after midnight. Rainer had never experienced the night train before, so he actually had a nice experience. It really is recommended.

Fate was against us again, sadly. The next day, the train had some sort of malfunction and - rather than take us back to Takamatsu in time - we were dropped off in Osaka and made to transfer on the shinkansen. Oh dear. We made it back in one piece, but it was a little unfortunate.

JR Ueno Station.

And so, our four day trip to Tokyo concluded. It was a damn good one, and left the trip on a very high note. Still, I feel like I've only barely scratched the surface of this colossal city.