I'm going out of my mind with boredom here, so I have no choice but to write something for the blog. It's been exactly one week since I spoke to a friend, and I'm starting to get bit loopy. There are people here in Fukuoka that I could have contacted, there is a networking site called Couchsurfing.com tht I could use to meet some locals. But that takes time and I plan to leave here on Sunday (two days' time), so I can't do that.
It's been a long time since I blogged. A lot has happened. After leaving Hokkaido I went to Tokyo for 10 days. I didn't enjoy it much, I get bored wandering around looking at things and it's hard to find things to do. I went to one gig that was pretty cool, punk/metal bands, good musicianship and a lot o energy at the show. I think the Tokyo scene is pretty competitive, a lot of good bands there. The other time I went to see a band, I discovered it was a different band with the same name as the one I liked. I paid $25 and walked out after five minutes because the music really wasn't my style. That sort of thing happened to me a lot in Tokyo, also lots of wandering around looking for places.
One of the cool things I did in Tokyo was visiting the Yasukuni shrine and the Yushukan, the museum next to it. The Yasukuni shrine is a monument to all of Japan's war dead. It was made in the late 19th century, if I remember correctly. It's controversial because it honours people who were executed as war criminals by the Allies after WWII.
There wasn't much to see at the shrine itself, but the museum was very interesting. The exhibits there detail the history of Japan from the end of the Meiji period (late 19th century) to the end of WWII. I got a much better understanding of Japanese history for the last 200 years or so. For the most part the museum was fairly factual and without bias. It does omit any mention of war crimes, but that was hardly surprising. There were a lot of exhibits of machines and stuff, there was a Zero fighter, some kind of bomber, a suicide submarine and a rocket-assisted suicide glider. And thousands of photos of war dead. The final section of the museum was utterly cynical in the worst kind of way, though. It explained how the war was a war against racism and claimed that it inspired all the independence movements that were to follow in Asia. It certainly smashed the colonial powers' dominance of the region, but given that most of the independence movements grew out of resistance to the Japanese occupation, I think "inspire" is not the right word.
But that aside, I can see how attacking America was a logical (if disastrous) course of action. Basically, foreign powers had been interfering with Japan for nearly 200 years, and the people were very afraid. They were frightened enough that war didn't seem like such a bad option, and they felt confident because Japan had enjoyed striking military successes in the 50 years preceding WWII. I had always known that the American president (Roosevelt) wanted the war with Japan to happen, so that American could intervene in Europe against Hitler, but didn't know that the origins of the war went so far back in time.
So I left Tokyo and went to Osaka, where I saw an MMA tournament (Deep Impact). Making it to see the show was probably the greatest achievement of planning and navigation the I have performed so far. I only planned the trip the day before I left, but I made my way from the hotel in Tokyo to the hotel in Osaka and then on to the venue without making any errors at all. I made it there about 40 minutes before the show started, in Japan I generally arrive about an hour late alter getting lost at some point in the journey. MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts, it's a tournament where guys can use both striking and wrestling techniques. It was good fun to watch, very exciting. There was an interesting atmosphere there, it was a family event, there were lots of kids there. It seemed like a lot of young mothers were there with their 5 year old sons, I don't think you would see that at similar events in Australia. The hostel I stayed in was very cool, well organised and comfortable. And the other travellers there were very friendly.
Next I went to Fukuoka. I found a WWOOF host that was in the suburbs. I stayed there for a bi over two weeks. I did some cleaning, some gardening, and I stayed on a farm for a while and did some farm work. The house in Fukuoka was nice, a traditional Japanese home. It was cold, because traditional Japanese homes don't bother with insulation, but I liked staying there. Traditional Japanese construction uses wood that has not been painted or treated in any way, so there is a lovely smell of wood in those buildings. The farm was also pretty cool, I basically had a hotel room to myself so I was very comfortable. There was a lady in the room next to me who watched TV for 18 hours straight on occasions, so I sometimes woke up in the middle of the night hearing strange noises. Discussing the work with my colleague was sometimes a problem because his logic did not interact very well with my logic, and the result was something like Alice In Wonderland meets Waiting for Godot. I had some very strange and circular conversations there. The highlight of my stay at the farm was when I wandered into the hills and experienced a bamboo forest, where I saw more birds than I had seen anywhere else in Japan (Japan does not seem to have a lot of birds).
Then Miho arrived, and I left the host and moved into a weekly apartment. Quite expensive but worth the money, as it's very close to the center of the city. Once again I've been unable to find anything really cool to do, even though I'm sure there is heaps of fun to be had in this town. But I've enjoyed wandering the streets. I did an Aikido class with Miho, what was interesting about that was that about 75% of the students were women. In Australia, generally there will only be one or two women in each class, and frequently none at all. I guess we need to recruit instructors that are more handsome. There is a traffic light on the street beneath my room, and the pedestrian crossing plays an incredibly irritating tune every 30 seconds, starting at 9am and ending at about 8pm. Frankly I'd prefer to be in Guantanamo Bay than listen to that, but fortunately I've learned to block it out.
My apartment doesn't have internet, which posed quite a problem for me, given that I depend on it to find almost everything. I combed the city looking for a free internet spot, spending time in windy plazas and dusty alleys, to no avail. Until I discovered that the answer had been on my doorstep the whole time. Literally on y doorstep, all I have to do is take my laptop up to the 14th floor and I get perfect wireless reception, and a fantastic view of the city skyline to boot.
Which brings me to the present, I'm busy lining up a WWOOF host and preparing to leave. I'm trying to find some people who don't speak good English, because my study regimen has been slipping lately and I need some stimulus to get back into it. I'll be calling a lady in Himeji tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to go there. Otherwise I may have to stay here for another week. We'll see.
Some photos. I travelled from Hokkaido to Honshu (on the way to Tokyo) in a ferry. I slept in a tatami room, a big dormitory room that I shared with only three other people.
That's all for now. Until later!
James
