Japan – Travel

April 3, 2006

Minakami onsen trip

Photo by Dirk.

Last weekend we went up to Minakami, an onsen, or hot spring, town nestled in the mountains of northern Gunma, with three other families, all friends.

The town itself, with the Tone River running through it and snow-capped mountains rising up in the background, was probably quite picturesque in its day, but not surprisingly some rather large and ugly hotels and mansion apartment buildings, and the almost de rigueur “ruins” of abandoned hotels and what-not (see here), have taken the shine off the place.

But no matter, this wasn’t about the town or the hot spring baths at the hotel (call me a philistine but I just don’t find hot springs all that therapeutic, or even relaxing for that matter) so much as it was about getting everyone together in a relaxed setting. It was only after we got back home that it occurred to me that, while we all share a common general life situation (each couple an “international” marriage, each family with one young child), if it weren’t for this blog and for Gary sending me a “can you link to my blog?” email about three years ago, it’s safe to say that Naoko, Kaika and I wouldn’t have been there.

(Click on the above photo for an album of photos from the trip).

January 2, 2006March 12, 2006

Ozu youth

Ozu Seishunkan, Matsusaka, Mie: click for larger

Since I began my journey more or less with Ozu, it was a nice feeling to complete a circle of sorts and end my trip (more or less) by making a visit to the Seishunkan in Matsusaka (Mie prefecture). seishun means youth and the seishunkan is a museum dedicated to the period of the great Japanese filmmaker’s youth (from age 9 to 19, approximately) that he spent in Matsusaka. The museum is housed in a small building made to represent an old-time small town Japanese movie house, and was built on the site of the former Ozu family home (razed in a 1950s fire).

I’m not sure how many visitors they get, as it was clear that the person working there made some calls while I was watching the introductory video and shortly after two older gentlemen who would not have been out of place at a San Francisco beatnik cafe showed up. I’m not exactly sure how they were affiliated with the museum (they seemed to have more access than volunteers), but they proceeded to spend the next hour giving me a personal tour of the exhibits and digging out all manner of albums and diary copies and scrapbooks, and regaling me with all sorts of stories about Ozu’s youth. (I wanted a Japanese workout on this trip and I sure got one today.) I really am indebted to the kindness shown by these gentlemen. It was appropriate that the man who did most of the talking reminded me of my former teacher who first introduced me to Ozu’s beauty.

I’m really glad I made the effort to make it there, as out of the way as it was, though I regret that I didn’t allow more time to explore the town itself (there’s a map available from the museum which notes the places of significance to Ozu’s life).

January 2, 2006

Ise Shrine

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Given that part of the purpose of this trip was to get away from all the various goings on around New Years time, it’s highly ironic — or just stupid — that I decided on the spur of the moment to visit Ise Shrine, which just so happens to be the holiest Shinto place in Japan. “The ‘vatican’ of Shintoism,” as it has been put. I almost got to where everyone was heading, but the steady flow of foot traffic soon became a solid wall of standing still worshippers, and I didn’t like my prospects of getting there and back in a reasonable time, and so I turned around. And less pragmatically speaking, I started to feel somewhat guilty of my agnosticism. A perverse notion in Japan perhaps, considering that if you asked the legions who were there today, “Are you religious?” the overwhelming answer would be “No!” But having experienced more or less the same thing yesterday at Himeji, seemingly the only person not offering a prayer at the shrine, I knew it would be awkward.