色々な地獄

Red, blue and muddy.

The jigokus, literally translated as 'hells' in English, do conjure up images of hellish infernos that have shaped Buddhist thought in Japan. There were around 8 to 9 different hells around the area but after seeing 2 we decided that we sortof have got the general idea. I had the intention to take a mud bath but gave up the idea after seeing the Mud Jigoku (which I have conveniently forgotten the name of) with its steaming sulphurous mud bubbling less than innocuously under out feet.

The blue one, Umi Jigoku was named because of its resemblence to the colour of the sea. They lower a basket of eggs to cook it in the jigoku and sell it to tourists. It just screams ripoff but I did have to try an onsen egg custard, which tasted...(unsurprisingly) like the jigoku.


Somewhat less boiling was the trip up the mountain to Beppu Ropeway (we didnt go to the summit by cablecar, it would have cost an additional 1500Yen a person) but the view where we were was nonetheless breathtaking





Every shot I take of beppu seems like a potential wallpaper, check this out. Picturesque!

温泉に入る

Hotel room plus the first course of a long dinner eaten in the room. If u spot the white sashimi, thats fugu, or pufferfish.... eating it is living dangerously for it is poisonous and lethal if not prepared properly. We had view of the ocean outside the window as well. Sweet! Because of our package, they gave us a pass to visit all the onsens affliated with JR, and we went to rotemburo (open air hot-baths) after rotemburo until we became too nuah to walk and decided to stay in the room sipping green tea and catching up.



Takegawara onsen, the oldest onsen in Beppu. I wondered why we even decided to go in. The hotel*s onsen was much better.




Selected street scenes



Beppu town by night. My theory is that every city in Japan with enough pride would have a tower. Thats Beppu Tower, proudly sponsored by Asahi Beer, which I dont drink.

冬休み別府へ

お久しぶり休みだ。この間、日本人皆さんも帰省するので、JRの電車の指定席は全部満席である。それでも僕たちは切符が早く買った、大丈夫だ！別府の温泉は楽しかったし、気持ちはよかった。



HOLIDAYS!! We went to Beppu, Oita Prefecture, Japan&s onsen haven. Its actually the first time I am taking a train (I dont mean the MRT). Travelling by rail definitely has a different feel to it. Heres what it was like looking out of the window.





Ok! Heres the Beppu Station. 別府駅に着きました！

年賀状と鏡餅のこと

I have been musing about it and I am wondering whether the Japanese practice of sending New Year Cards to everyone they know (it is a chore for most Japanese people so i have heard) was devised by the Post office. Thats just a consipracy theory but then again if a `gaijin` like me who have been here for 2 months have so many people to send to, the Post office is in for a bumper year with every Japanese sending a new year card to every other Japanese they know, including the neccessary `business contact` greeting. Wow. Its a great way to earn money. Oh yea, every pre-paid new year card u buy from the Post office has a serial number so in January the Post Office would hold a lucky draw with prizes such as electronic appliances and stuff. Isnt that simply astounding? haha. Its like sending greetings and gambling at the same time! Whoa! 宝くじ？

Well, I think I will just send cards to my Japanese friends and people who have helped me along the way this year. Makes more sense. On the right of the picture is a Kagamimochi 鏡餅　a traditional New Year's cake. Its made of mochi but it has been elevated into a decoration. Go figure. Anyway according to Chihiro u are not supposed to cut it while eating it　because it symbolises cutting of personal relations. So i asked do u have to eat the whole thing at one go, she replied, no, people usually use a small hammer(?) to break it. I was astounded. Wasnt it soft? Apparantly its not as soft as I thought it was.

Mysteries mysteries mysteries.　I forgot u are not supposed to eat it before a certain day or something but i forgot which day and why not. Would ask again. Mysteries Mysteries Mysteries

アガペハウスのクリスマス

Christmas at Agape House. :) It was a warm warm Christmas with the folks from Church





We went carolling in the day, which was pretty strange, but I think it was really meaningful to bless the Japanese neighbours with Christmas songs and Christmas gifts. I felt really happy, because they were happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

櫛田神社

Christmas eve saw me making my rounds around the Hakata-Canal City area looking for christmas gifts and to generally soak in the atmosphere. I decided not to post boring Christmas illumination pics because everyone is probably sick of those. Here are some pics of 櫛田神社 in the 博多 area

鍋ナイト

ああああ、全部終わった！今から自由だ！日本語試験はとても大変だけど、できた。今部屋へ帰るつもりだ。I have not slept in 2 nights so excuse me while I go concuss.


Here are some pics from the nabe night with the guys some weeks back (I only got the photos recently from Smazh) at Saksama's place. Its good to have something warm in winter!



A peek into the pot



It is snowing so hard yesterday I turned into a snowman after a 5 minute cycle from Kayomi's place. Apparantly the wind was so strong I couldnt advance forward and I had to get down and push the bike. 強い！

酷寒

厳しい風から歩きにくいし、雪がいつも降っていた。温度計で温度を計った後、あれ！信じられない、零度だ！





On my way home, I treaded through this snow. Its starting to accumulate.

クリスマス気分

最近とても忙しくて、毎日授業を終わったらアルバイトをしなきゃし、日本語の宿題とふたつ日本民法の論文と日本国憲法の発表を準備するために一所懸命勉強した。ほかのことがぜんぜんしないのに、気持ちが悪い。それでも、今日はシンガポールの友達と恵美ちゃんと靖子ちゃん一緒にキャナルシテイへ行った後、気持ちになった。

I have been complaining that I didn't feel the Christmas spirit even with the ubiquitous carols and intermittent snow. Perhaps due to my propensity to take things too seriously, I have been trying my best to keep pace with an almost inhuman workload when today I just decided (after having intensive lectures on Japanese Administrative Law on a Saturday from 10am to 430pm) that I would just forget about everything today, and just chill.



Canal City



And I finally felt the festive mood tonight



We were participating in the candlelight christmastree setup, where we each had to decorate a cup before placing a candle in it. I wronte heiwa and drew 2 christmas trees. Here's a pic of the others and what they did with their cups:

(from left, Ume, Emi, Yasuko, Saksama)





And we posed for this shot in the blistering wind it is impossible to tell that everyone else was screaming "Samuii!" and rushing for cover. Haha. We went for kaiten-sushi after that, which was terrible on the wallet but really satisfying. Today was really the first time I felt happy the whole week.

Yuki

Well I think the entire western seaboard of Japan has been hit with a cold front and snow is falling even in Fukuoka. I remember that night after tempura with Sam and Saksama, when I first saw snow, how exhilarated I was. But today waking up to 4 degrees and trying to cook lunch (i made miso soup with fish and fried vegetables) in the (unheated) kitchen, was just Mendoukusai. So much so that I really did not want to leave my room, but I had no choice because I had to give English lessons to Sachiko.





Which reminds me of a conversation I had with Aaron Ah-lee last week

Aaron: Whats the temperature there like?
Me: Erm, 9 degrees?
Aaron: Wow! ThaTS cool!
Me: Cool is 18 degrees. 9 is just COLD.

I take it back. 9 degrees is NOT cold.

Hakata-za

Well, managed to land my hands on some complementary tickets to a traditional Japanese play with Chihiro at Hakata-za, Fukuoka's Esplanade.





With Chihiro, and after that she took me to some ramen place to have ramen, when I decided that I would want to try all the famous ramen in Hakata, and she told me that I might need more than a year to do so.

Nagasaki Part 3

Nagasaki, where the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped.



Charming Nagasaki, its quaint streets and European influenced architecture has been the port du jour for centuries, a melting pot of culture and history.



Nagasaki, the 'birthplace' of Christianity in Japan as well, where the missionaries first landed and started their ministries, and where many many churches were founded



Nagasaki, the urban city embraced by 3 mountain ranges, was not the primary target on August 9th. It was the industrial weapons-manufacturing city of Kokura, but because it was obscured by smoke cover (army guys should know this), the Americans switched to Nagasaki. At first it was cloudy and the mission was about to be aborted when the clouds parted for 30 seconds, and the Americans dropped the bomb that ended WWII.



With that, the most lethal weapons ever devised in the history of mankind has been unleashed. I am not going to go into the debate whether the Japs deserved it or not, its not going to do any good. Here in classes with Koreans, Japanese and Chinese students and debating the issue of comfort women and history textbooks has shown me the wisdom of restraint. We all have to move forward but somehow not everyone shares that view.




Anyway, visited the Atomic Bomb museum. Witnessing human suffering is just painful. I spied more than a few people shedding silent tears.



This is a replica of what was left of Urakami Cathedral, formerly the largest church in the orient. Were there people praying inside when it hit? Perhaps. Nagasaki, the `sacrificial lamb` of Japan.



Walking in sombred silence. At the memorial park, with the statue of peace in the background.



Evil and good are correlated. Without the horrors of war, people would never understand the true value of peace. My perceptions have been much altered after that day.

Nagasaki Part 2

With the Law LLM students Helen and Lingyan at Nagasaki Chinatown, only one of the 3 Chinatowns in Japan, the other 2 being in Yokohama and Kobe (according to Smazh). Nagasaki was fascinating, but when it comes to souveniors, it is seriously really quite limited. Mostly Casutera (Portuguese custard cake), Champon and Saraudon (Japanese styled Chinese food) so I was not impressed enough to go on a shopping spree.


Our tour guide. Not everyone can be a tour guide you know, you have to speak non stop and be really polite. When she stopped talking, I knew we have reached our destination. And Japanese service staff have impeccable service attitude. It was drizzling and she placed a stool in front of the bus entrance and was holding an umbrella to shelter us while saying Okaerinasai (welcome back) to everyone who boarded the bus. 5 stars!

Nonetheless because Nagasaki is flanked by mountain ranges on 3 sides, it is easy to climb a mountain and view the entire city. Unlike most cities in japan, Nagasaki has more character because it was the only port open to Westerners historically before the Americans came and demanded the country to come out of isolation, and there is a huge number of foreign influenced buildings and food. A survey from a high vantage point would be able to confirm this, as shown:





This is me on top of Glover garden. Even here in the south, as we are facing the Sea of Japan the cold continental winds strike us daily, with wind chill driving temperatures down, which explains why the temperature in Fukuoka and Nagasaki is about the same as in Kyoto. Samuku natta!

Nagasaki Part 1

Sorry my dear blog readers, for not updating much. I had to finish many assignments before I could go to Nagasaki for a school trip, but here are the pics!


Upon arrival, the first thing we did was to change into those Japanesey bath robes and go for a dip in the onsen! Here is a pic of me with some of the guys and sensei. After onsen, we wore the bath robes and had dinner at the dining hall, japanese style (ie sitting on floor. I was trying hard not to zaokeng wearing that robe)


This is course 1 of by far the best meal I have had in Japan so far. Next came Japanese crabs, Teriyaki fish, agemono, soba, chawanmushi, and erm, I forgot.


This is the night view from the hotel. As we were perched on top a hill, we could see the whole city of nagasaki sparkling away in the night. It was really cold but after an onsen bath, it makes perfect sense to just come here to cool off and take in the view.

After the Nomikai, we took a cab and headed downtown where the lights were, where street-trams are still in use, further testament to the history of the city.



but because we were quite late, the main shopping street was closed already (it was 10pm) but next to the main shopping street was the red light area Shianbashi, which was obviously just stirring from slumber. Its amazing how the red light district is just next to the shopping district. Its just like putting Geylang next to orchard. But then again, Shianbashi isnt like Geylang, here's a pic to prove it



So even though we were in a big group of guys and girls, I still had "looks" thrown my way by really well-made up Japanese chicks who were standing outside handing out flyers. The guys made a joke, daring each other to ask them "Sumimasen, Gakusei waribiki ga arimasu-ka" (Excuse me, do u have student discounts) haha. Then we decided to split up and walk alone through the street, and guess who they chose to go first? Well... it helps that I am not wearing a sharp salaryman suit so they dont accost me forcefully into their den when I ignore their... erm.... invitations. This reminds me so much of Nakasu back in Fukuoka. haha