From Tokyo

After a long day of travel (by the time we schlepped our suitcases out of the Aoyame-Itchôme subway station around 10:30 p.m., we were ready to sleep in the street), we finally made it to Tokyo. Our day began with a traditional Japanese meal at the Inn at Lake Towada consisting of an egg and some bacon fried at each place setting, some soup, optional beer (we passed), various pickled things, and a piece of warm salmon. Cereal it was not, but still, we enjoyed.

Afterwards, we went for a quick walk around the lake and up a path leading to a Shinto shrine.

We met up with our group, a collection of conference attendees, and boarded a Konan bus for a quick ride into the woods, where we partook in a forty-minute soundwalk, featuring a low river, many streams and brooks, and a hanndful of waterfalls, all contrasted with the occasional tour bus rolling by along the parallel road and the sounds of nature (and footsteps). At lunch we enjoyed more meat grilled at the table, this time slices of yummy beef. Mmmmm.

We returned to Hirosaki (where I picked up a jacket I had left behind; you can lose anything in Japan and get it back. Last week I left my Lonely Planet on a bus – how cliché – only to pick it up the next day at the terminal), said some goodbyes, and hopped on yet another bus, bound for Aomori airport. We finally made it Tokyo pretty exhausted but excited to be in the heart of a megalopolis, as my old SimCity game would have called it.

This morning, for the first time since we arrived in Japan, we slept in, not leaving the hotel until after noon. We decided to take a brainless day, heading to the Ginza district to check out the expensive shops, and the Sony store. As some of you already know, Lisa recently found out she was selected as the recipient of a Sony fellowship, so we made a sort of pilgrimage to Sony HQ, where photographs of any kind were strictly prohibited – sadly. We captured this stealth image outside:

Inside – ah, inside! – was a gas. First we sampled the upcoming PlayStation 3 (Dave, had you been with us, you’d still be there). Then we watched “Full HD” TVs for a while, finally prying ourselves away into the noise-cancelling headphone section. We spent a good chunk of time playing with digital cameras, slowly realizing that our own Sony cam was woefully obsolete. More on that later. Finally, we headed across the street to a Ginza mall, opting to eschew Japanese fare for a meal. Instead, we enjoyed some First Kitchen burgers, which are supposed to be North American “regular” burgers. Only they come with, you know, a fried egg. Like me, you may have images of the Simpsons “Good Morning Burger” drifting in your mind – all that was missing was the stick of “rich creamery butter.” Lisa points out that the sandwich was as if a Quarter Pounder with Cheese mated with an Egg McMuffin. The burger was fantastic. And the fries, served with ketchup, mayo (two kinds), BBQ sauce and nacho cheese sauce, were divine. So good.

Afterwards, we stopped in at the Leica building to check out the small gallery of photographs exhibited there and headed to the Akihabara district, Tokyo’s electronics trading ground. At first we thought we were completely misled by our trusted (and constantly monitored) Lonely Planet. But, in an instant, we turned into an alleyway and realized we were on the edge of a high-tech flea market. We had identified two Sony cameras earlier that were worthy of some bargain-hunting, and thanks to the regulations concerning taxes and duty, we were not let down. After visiting a few shops, we decided on a camera and then ducked into an Apple store to price-check online. Firmly convinced that a great deal had presented itself, we bought a 10.1 megapixel (!) Sony DSC-N2 camera. Sayonara, poorly-lit, blurry photos!

Camera in hand, we hopped on the subway and headed for Roppongi.

Roppongi seems to be a gathering point for Tokyo’s wealthy twentysomethings. It’s full of international and Japanese restaurants, as well as plenty of bars and shops (not to mention touristy joints). We settled on a “Cuban” restaurant that seemed only to have Mexican and American dishes, but was still tasty. Afterwards, we checked out the Roppongi Hills complex, sort of a Westmount Square on Barry Bonds’s best steroids. It features several towers, a giant shopping plaza, a cinema, a museum and much more. We had some dessert and headed back for the hotel. Tomorrow we check out some museums and get back onto our all-Miso-soup-all-the-time Japanese diet. Meanwhile, some more photos…

 

I say transsexual dance show, you say traditional Japanese Kabuki art (and other dispatches)

Today we left Hirosaki for Lake Towada, a tourist resort about an hour away, stopping in the small town of Kosaka for a tour of the mining museum and an afternoon of Kabuki theatre. We’re here until Monday afternoon, capping off the WFAE conference before heading back to Hirosaki to connect to Aomori, where we’ll fly to Tokyo in the evening. Our short stay here will include a sixty-minute soundwalk in the morning and a musical workshop that we may or may not sit in on. In the meantime, some catching up on what we’ve been up to:

• On Thursday evening, after a soundwalk from Hirosaki University to the city centre, we enjoyed a yummy dinner (including three kinds of sake – this is an important point; the sake available in Montreal – Hakutsuru, I think – stinks compared to the variety of flavours we’ve sampled so far) at Anzu, a Live House featuring local folk music performances and yarn spun by a Japanese storyteller. The musicians each played a shamisen, a three-stringed instrument played with a giant pick in a harsh, staccato manner.The music, as you can tell from a video I’ll post as soon as we get somewhere with decent bandwidth, is not the easiest to get into, but is catchier than you would expect. We sat with colleagues on soft mats and ate around rectangular tables, enjoying some sashimi and a whole cooked fish (don’t ask me to specify…), as you can see.

  

  

  

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• On Friday morning we visited a Shinto shrine known for its impressive five-story pagoda and giant bell, which we had the pleasure of ringing more than once. The thing is so powerful that you can feel the air around it vibrate even when its sound has been reduced to a low, quiet hum. We then visited Hirosaki Park, which was more populated than Thursday, owing to it being Culture Day in Hirosaki, whatever that is. There were musical performances in the botanical garden and around the castle, but we decided to take a pretty quick walk around and then have some lunch. We returned to the hotel in time for Lisa to catch the afternoon sessions and me to stretch out for a bit, before enjoying what I’m pretty sure was some grilled tongue.
• Lisa presented – wonderfully – yesterday; the enthusiasm of her international colleagues was palpable. Her project seems to be able to transcend language, distance and culture. In fact, earlier in the morning a student from Kyoto presented his own proposal, to create a “sound-seeing” audio guide of his own city. As someone who’s been around academics (but isn’t one himself), I was impressed by the passion of the WFAE attendees; the conference was both accessible to a real layperson and stimulating for those who’ve spent a lifetime working in sound. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed hearing about the projects, and touched by the sense of community that developed so quickly among the participants (who number about 65).

  

  Saturday was also a student festival day at Hirosaki University. Like all student events, it featured cheap food, booths set up on campus, kids in funny outfits and rock music. Throw in some Middle Eastern shouting and you’ve got Concordia’s Hall Building mezzanine.

• After the WFAE closing reception (only about a third of the conferencegoers are at the retreat in Lake Towada), we headed out for some drinks at the Yamauta Live House, where we chatted with some Japanese colleagues. The local folks were a blessing during the past few days, helping us find the right room, order the right food and sample the right beverages. Their hospitality, even as conference guests – many in a city far from their homes, has gone a long way.
• Today’s excursion to Kosaka was a blast. We went to the drag-show-by-any-other-name that is Kabuki theatre, which featured a tale of brotherly deception (or something – who the hell knows what was going on?) followed by some short comedy numbers, some garden-variety drag queen dance numbers and a Samurai demonstration featuring a member of our group from France.
• Don’t get me wrong, we have had nothing but great meals since we arrived (even the cheapo lost-in-translation-what-am-I-eating? meals have been dynamite), but today’s supper was a stretch. It was a multi-course meal served all at once – two kinds of soup, two items cooking at each place while we ate, sashimi, tempura and more. But, aside from the shrimp and the sushi (and I guess the soup), the only thing I could identify was the tiny tempura fish (a small fish dipped in batter, fried and served on a little plate) – and I have no idea what kind of fish it was. Generally speaking, the food was great, though a couple of dishes tasted quite different than they looked (or smelled, for that matter). Before we ate everyone was advised to state their allergies, the assumption, I guess, that somebody was bound to react to something. Fortunately, it all (more or less) went down smoothly. After dinner we checked out the hot spring infused Japanese bath, and are enjoying a quiet evening in the country. Tomorrow promises to be a long day, with many three bus rides, one flight, a monorail trip and a short hop on the Tokyo subway. Sayonara!

 

The Hirosakiest place on Earth

Earlier today, L asked me what I thought the Quebec equivalent of Hirosaki would be. I was stumped – I figured it was closest to a town in the Okanagan, since its major industries are farming (specifically apples) and tourism, almost exclusively drawing visitors from within Japan. We finally agreed that Hirosaki is to Aomori (the Japanese prefecture in which it resides) as St. Jerome, perhaps, is to Quebec. But that’s a pretty lousy comparison, hardly worthy of the College Board. Hirosaki’s draws appear to be its abundant cherry blossoms, which bring in tourists in the springtime; the Neputa Matsuri festival in August, featuring long, somewhat rowdy parades in which locals create immense fan-shaped floats and line the streets with Japanese lanterns; and the gorgeous fall foliage that would fit in perfectly in the Laurentians.

I visited the city’s main draw, Hirosaki Koen (park) alone yesterday and again today with L, who ditched the first half of her conference day. The park is quite large, taking at least two hours to fully explore, and houses a botanical gardens, which I skipped, and the remains of a castle tower (Hirosaki-Jo) completed in 1611. The castle was burned down after it was struck by lightning (!) and this particular tower was rebuilt in 1810, nearly two hundred years later.

Inside the castle is a museum, though the lack of English-speaking guides or brochures (a common themse several hundred km north of Tokyo) made it virtually impossible to figure out what was for what and from when. Suffice it to say that Hirosaki-Jo is more appealing from the outside.

After meandering through the park, beginning opposite Hirosaki City Hall, I emerged at the north end and checked out the the Tsugaruhan Neputa-Mura, where the festival items are displayed year-round. As has happened almost all the time since we arrived, the language barrier proved to be both an immense divide and a negligible feature of our trip. The guide ushered me into a large, dark room in which the giant fan-floats were displayed and, knowing full well that I spoke no Japanese, enthusiastically lept into his Neputa shpiel, inviting a colleague to bang on the giant ceremonial drums while he provided melodic accompaniment on the flute. When they finished, I applauded, and accepted their invitation to join them on one of the drums (an invitation proffered in English, I might add). I then explored the exhibit solo, captivated by the intense colours and dramatic expressions of the Neputa cartoon beings: the heroic kagami-e on one side and the melancholy miokuri-e on the other.

After that came the really fun part, as the museum also includes a visit to a top-maker (you know tops, goyish dreidels). He showed off his top-making and -playing skills, and then let me get in on the action. Finally, a Jewish education pays off. Here’s some Japanese dreidel-spinning action:

(These kinds of tops turn upside-down while spinning. Hours and hours and hours of fun, I swear it. Of course I didn’t buy any…)

Afterwards, I had a terrific lunch of something called Duck Hamburg Steak, which tasted like duck but looked like your classic deli burger sans-bun, covered in a tasty apple sauce, served with Miso soup, rice and some pickled veggies that I left aside. Combined with a wonderful apple ice cream, the food was delicious enough to warrant a return visit, this time with L, today.

After a short visit to a Japanese garden, built by a Mr. Fujita, later awarded to the city following foreclosure (how’s that for a story to put on a plaque?), I hopped on the greatest thing going in Northern Japan, the Happy Hundred Yen Bus and returned to our hotel in time to dump some pictures and meet L at the university for an evening soundwalk and dinner at a live music house. More on that later.

But if you’ve read this far, you deserve to learn about the absolute coolest thing about Japan: the awesome vending machines, which serve fantastic hot coffee – many brands and varieties – all day long. Soooo good. I’m partial to the Georgia Cafe au Lait, but am seriously thinking about switching to the Tommy Lee Jones-endorsed Boss brand (Suntory, not Hugo) tomorrow. Then again, Georgia seems to make a beverage for melancholy folks, so they get props in my book for niche marketing. (And where else can you get Kirin in a kan out of a kan? And what’s with the UN-friendly cigarette brands?)

 

Hirosaki at twilight

Though much smaller and sleepier, the town of Hirosaki reminds me not of Montreal, built around a mountain, but of Vancouver, built around mountains. Though Mt. Iwaki doesn’t compare to the Rockies, its presence in the close distance recalls Canada’s west coast.

From the hotel room, at twilight:

 

No, those are not swastikas

During my pre-travel Hirosaki Googling, I came across a photo called “hirosaki-swastika-manhole,” which briefly caused me to consider if we were going to a – shall we say – friendly town. If you follow the link, or look below, you may note – as we did – that the swastika is backwards, and is, in fact, not a swastika.

To be accurate, it is a swastika, just a left-facing one. As Wikipedia points out, the symbol predates Nazism by centuries, was introduced by Hindu Asians and used to be a sign of good luck.

Nonetheless, the presence of these, um, charms throughout Hirosaki, which rich in Buddhist tradition, is thorough. But we’ve stopped thinking about it. Anyhow, some exemplars: