All these Fujis driving you nuts?

Don’t worry, just two more to go and then the trip to Aichi is done with. In the meantime, how about a little dose of the sweet potato man?

Just like the ice cream vans you see in Britain, sweet potato man drives about playing a tune. He has a fairly ordinary truck with one fabulous addition - a brazier mounted on the back, from which he serves sweet potatoes roasted in tinfoil.

In Fuji, the sound of the sweet potato man is spooky enough. But these things vary from region to region. I was most disturbed to discover that, in Aichi, you can hear the sweet potato man even if it is a Friday night and you are on the 5th floor of a hotel room with the windows shut.

Fortunately (?) for you, I opened the window to record half a minute of this eerie Japanese tradition.

And here it is -

*shudder*

Yesterday saw Yumihiki Hajime - the annual archery festival - taking place at Kyoto’s Sanjusangendo Temple, and is open only to those who have come of age that year. They also have to be able to shoot a bow and arrow.

At one end of the courtyard, the archers gather, and shoot for a target exactly 60 meters away at the opposite end.

JapanVisitor knows much more about it than I do, and they have photos. Link.

An article in The Independent announces that dolphin hunting season is up and running in Taji, Japan - all this international moaning about those poor whales, but people always forget about those tail slapping messengers of merriment who are also on the menu in some parts of Japan. (You can buy it in a couple of supermarkets round my way.)

Well, not everybody - apparently Taji’s annual dolphin hunt has been the subject of outcry before:

Taiji’s notoriety has grown, fuelled by gruesome videos of the dolphin kill posted on YouTube, and by criticism from celebrities such as the American actors Joaquin Phoenix and Ted Danson and from high-profile environmentalists, and tensions have sharpened.

(I like how Ted Danson and Joaquin Phoenix are just ‘American actors’ but some ‘high-profile’ environmentalists have been involved. Ha ha!)

“I’m shocked,” says Keiko Shibuya, from Osaka. “I couldn’t imagine eating dolphin. They’re too cute.”

(Right… Rabbits aren’t cute. Ducks aren’t cute. Lambs aren’t cute. Get over yourself. Unless you’re a vegetarian.)

What was interesting for me was the assertion of one of the fishermen that -

“If you walked into an American slaughterhouse for cows, it wouldn’t look very pretty either…The killing is done in the open here, so it looks worse than it is.”

Having seen neither of these things I’m not really sure which side of this exceptionally polarized debate I’m on, although I like the view of Ric O’Barry (who trained Flipper, fact fans) that the town of Taji is schizophrenic. Thay may well be, or it could just be that they have different ways of doing things. Its really not clear which is true - or more true - from the article.

One thing is clear though, all that might be needed to stop this hunt is a bit of patience, and a reliance on the younger generation:

“I don’t like the taste of dolphin because it smells,” says nine-year-old Rui Utani.

Original article - here
Related article - here

The second Monday in January sees the Japanese coming-of-age ceremony - everyone who turns 20 during the current school year (between April and March) gets to participate. That’s right folks - to be an adult in Japan (legally, at any rate) you got to be 20.

The local governments hold ceremonies for the youngsters, and even give out small token presents. All the 20 year olds get glammed up, the women wearing furisode (a special kind of kimono with a fur trimmed neck) and the men sometimes in hakama (again, a kind of kimono) or, more usually nowadays, in suits.

After the ceremony, people generally head on to parties and drink in to the wee hours (note, this is Japan so for wee hours read 11pm - don’t want to miss the last train home) although in recent years, some local governments have tried to cut down on the mad excess and binge drinking owing to street fights and other unbecoming behaviour amongst the new adults.

Maybe it’ll be more chilled this year. Watch this space.

I am in full head-touching-ground-salaryman-begging-for-forgiveness-mode at the moment.

This video has been on crushmonkey.com for a bit now, but honestly, I couldn’t log into sushimatic as I had forgotten my password.

So, without further mucking about, we present to you :

During this festival, a large, heavy, portable shrine is hoisted around the streets of Shizuoka city. Sometimes, a young female or two are on top of the shrines as they are paraded around the city. A small trolley pushed by older ladies follows most of the floats carrying sake, beer and other alcoholic refreshments. Taiko drumming thunders through the streets as performers showcase the fruits of weeks of practice, smacking out intricate rhythms and executing some amazing moves.

While this may at first glance appear to be a post about a popular hobby in Japan - Trainspotting - it is in fact, about the annual contest that has been running since 1995. A contest in which people from all over the country choose the kanji (Chinese character) they think best sums up the year. This year’s winner was - 命 inochi, which means life.

When people were giving their reasons behind this choice, a lot of them explained that this had been a year in which -

they were made painfully aware of the gravity and value of the unique gift of life given to an individual.

In second place comes the kanji that starts the name of the newest member of the Imperial family, Prince Hisahito - 悠　hisa. This can also be read as Yu and is also the first kanji in Mrs. Boyle’s first name, fact fans. It means leisurely or peaceful.

So as you go about your business today, choose life. And a leisurely one at that.

Source - Yahoo News