travel inspirations
Japan ISSUE #ELEVEN
#11 Autumn 2019 | Lu€15 www.diariesofmagazine.com
WELCOME
Japan
Land of Incredible Contrasts Have you ever experienced culture shock? That feeling of having fallen, by parachute, into the middle of something new, to which you can’t relate? After having taken a year-and-a-half to reach Japan, and after assimilating all the different cultures along the way, we thought that we wouldn’t experience a significantly surprising contrast of cultures at our final destination. That was not the case. Japan isn’t like anywhere else we have ever been. It is so culturally different and diverse; perhaps because of its geography. As an island state, it is cut off from the mainland and has developed its own way of thinking and doing things. On one hand, we had the feeling that Japan is a technologically advanced country, where toilets have more buttons than a TV’s remote-control. It’s the country where people use automatic ticket machines to make and pay for orders at restaurants. The country where a delay of a couple of seconds is announced and earnestly apologised for (the average train delay in Japan is 36 seconds). It is the country of technological efficiency. However, on the other hand, you see artisans crafting highly-detailed works of art, pushing quality to the point of perfection and achieving aesthetic excellence manually. It is the country of proud artisans and craftsmen, who keep long-lasting traditions alive. Take wooden furniture for an example; Japanese artisans create unique wooden pieces using ancestral techniques, precision and attention to the last detail.
Regardless of their age, the Japanese are a very humble and obliging society, taking service to the next level. It is a country of never-ending bowing. It is a country where petrol station employees keep bowing to thank you until after you have left their premises and disappeared around the corner. It is also a country where no employee wants to disappoint the client; a point that caused us a few ‘lost in translation’ moments. Imagine you enter a convenience store, also known as konbini, looking for a SIM card for your phone and no one wants to be the one to tell you that there is no such card in their shop! This and many more codes of behaviour dictate Japanese society in all situations. For the Japanese, embarrassment is to be avoided at any cost! Although such situations can be annoying for us westerners, we learnt to avoid them, in order to prevent our Japanese counterparts’ ‘losing face’. How could we be resentful when all they want is to serve you well, while they remain friendly and smiling all the time? True, it will take some time for a Japanese to approach you, they are generally reserved. It is not in their tradition to invite strangers openly to their homes (to be fair, the Japanese prefer meeting with their own friends and family elsewhere). If you search for an immediate contact, wait for the Japanese as they leave the izakayas in the evenings; when, after a few drinks, they are more extrovert and uninhibited. Better than that, don’t hesitate to approach and engage with the Japanese yourself, and you will have some very beautiful encounters...
Cover Photo Girl dancing during the Yosakoi Dance Festival in Tokyo. Photography by Jorge Valente Editorial Photo Jorge riding on the Chirihama Beach drive on Noto peninsula.
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Contrasts are everywhere! Walk through the Akihabara district of Tokyo and you will get to walk side by side with the serious salarymen (recognisable by their dark-grey suits and white shirts) as well as with blue-dyed-haired youngsters, who show their irreverence by imitating their manga heroes in their own kawaii style. Enter a café and you will venture into the eccentric dimensions of animal and maiden cafés. Only a district away, step into a ryokan and you will time travel to the world of imperial Japan, where even nowadays you can come across geishas or see how samurai lived in feudal Japan.
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CONTENTS
ADVENTURE
Gaijin Riders Japan
54
CITY
Tokyo A City of Contrasts Ruled by the Seasons
EDITORIAL 3
20
CONTRIBUTORS 11 FACTS & FIGURES 12 POSTCARDS 14 CITY 20 Tokyo – A City of Contrasts Ruled by the Seasons THEME BOX
Climbing Mount Fuji 35 Hitchhiking Japan 117
INTERVIEW
EXPLORE
Art: Geisha World 38
Chanoyu – Tea Ceremony 84
Sport: Sumo 36
Kyoto 72
Tradition: Ama Diver 40
The Appeal of Onsen Baths 94
NATURE
FOOD 90
Hiking the Mystic Japanese Alps 42
Tasting Japan
The Post-Towns along the Nakasendo Way 106
ADVENTURE
Gaijin Riders Japan
54
CARING 118
Earthquake Preparedness
PORTRAITS 122 Face to Face
ESSENTIALS 136
Essentials of Japan
JIMNY: CO2 : 154-170 g/km
: 6,8-7,5 l/100km (NEDC)
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CHINA RUSSIA
CONTENTS Sapporo
72 EXPLORE Kyoto
NORTH KORE A
JAPAN Nikkō
SOUTH KORE A
Nagano Kanazawa
Tokyo
90
Tsumago
Hiroshima
Naoshima
Kyoto
Fukuoka
FOOD
42 NATURE
Hiking the Mystic Japanese Alps
Tasting Japan or Umami – The Fifth Sense of Taste
136 ESSENTIALS of Japan
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YUKI, MAÎTRE SUSHI À AKIHABARA. Vous avez rendez-vous avec Yuki pour une immersion exclusive au coeur de la gastronomie nippone. Après une exploration gourmande du marché aux poissons de Tsukiji, vous êtes initié à la technique ancestrale de création des sushis et dégustez un menu spécialement concocté par votre travel designer. Rendez-vous dans nos maisons de voyage pour créer votre propre itinéraire : unique et insolite.
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CONTRIBUTORS
CONTRI BUTORS Tanja Kinnen is a Luxembourg native, who has been living in Tokyo for the past four years. She has a passion for food and travel, always looking for the secrets and hidden pearls of a place – food, culture, people and sightseeing. Her love for the new and the adventure is shared by her husband and her two-year-old daughter. Together they explore the beauty of the place they now call home, its nearby spots and the further away destinations. Eléna Burgos & Hadrien Kagan are a French couple who have been travelling since April 2019, when they left France. In that time, they managed to get to Japan without ever flying. They favour alternative and slower means of transport, such as hiking, hitchhiking, motorbiking or horse riding. They actively seek out the less-visited areas, to have more authentic contact with the locals and to discover the best of each country. Anabela Valente Born in Portugal, Anabela discovered her passion for travelling soon after finishing her language studies. She feels she is lucky to have been to all the continents including Antarctica, but she knows that there is so much more to be seen and experienced with all the senses. In 2015 she quit her job and is now full time editor for diariesof. diariesofmagazine.com
Jorge Valente Born in Luxembourg, Jorge is co-founder and photographer of diariesof. He has always been an outdoor child and nowadays still chooses to be outdoors in his free time. A motorbike aficionado, Jorge has been out on the bike even when the thermometer shows -10° C. Naturally curious, he loves to explore new places and to meet new people. diariesofmagazine.com
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FACTS& FIGURES
36s Inemuri love 127 The Shinkansen is Japan’s network of high-speed railways. It is known as the bullet train because it can reach a maximum speed of 320 km/hour. Japanese punctuality is remarkable and the Shinkansen has an average delay of 36 seconds (which includes all the delays caused by natural disasters or bad weather).
Having a nap during working hours could result in losing one’s job, but not necessarily in Japan. Having an inemuri, a kind of nap while being present, is not only tolerated, it is viewed as a sign of hard work. It implies that people are sacrificing their sleep for work. For that reason, many Japanese don’t hesitate to close their eyes and have an inemuri in public.
Japanese ‘love hotels’ became popular, after houses got so small that couples had little opportunity to engage in intimate relations, sometime in the 60s. It is possible to book a room to stay overnight (after 8 pm), but more often couples pay an hourly rate for short stays during the day. They also differ from regular hotels in their discretion: one can check-in and out without ever meeting any staff, or crossing other guests, thanks to a smart system of lifts. The rooms have usually a large panoply of toys and gadgets, including the much loved karaoke.
Japan has the tenth largest population in the world, with over 127 million inhabitants. The country also boasts one of the longest life expectancies in the world, with women living up to 88 years old and men up to 81 years old. The Japanese populace is the eldest in the world, with twenty-one percent of the population being over the age of 65.
FACTS&FIGURES
MANGA
are Japanese comic books, hand-drawn by mangakas. Over two billion manga are sold in Japan each year and it is popularly believed that more paper is used to print manga than to make toilet paper. Osama Tezuka, a virtuoso mangaka who was known as the godfather of manga, left a vast bibliography of over 700 volumes, with more than 150,000 pages. In Japan, manga cafés are a popular way to read new manga while enjoying a cup of coffee.
WAGYU
is a Japanese breed of beef cattle that is derived from crossbreeding native Japanese cattle with European stock. The worldwide renowned Kobe breed is a variety of Wagyu. It is popular for its superior eating quality and its meat is easily-recognisable by its marbled appearance, caused by intra-muscular fat that results in more succulence and flavour. The idea that Wagyu beef cattle are massaged is just a myth, although its quality definitely comes from the extraordinary care with which breeders handle them.
Of all Japanese exported dishes, sushi is the most wide-spread internationally. Contrary to popular belief abroad, sushi is not the Japanese word for raw fish. Actually, sushi literally means sour-tasting, referring to the fermentation that happens when rice is cooked with vinegar. In the 14th century, fermented rice (sushi) was used as a way to preserve raw fish. The idea of eating raw fish with rice occurred only three centuries later.
Mount Fuji (also called Fujisan or Fujiyama) is Japan’s highest peak, at 3,776 metres, and is one of Japan’s most iconic landmarks. It is also an active volcano, which last erupted in 1707. Mount Fuji has been scalable, since 663, when a monk made the first recorded ascent. Since then, it is much sought after by climbers, during its short official season (July and August), who come to attempt the relatively nontechnical ascent.
Japan is an island country made up of over 6,800 islands, situated along the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’; an area of much volcanic and earthquake activity. There are at least 100 active volcanoes, roughly half of them having erupted recently or showing worrying signs of a near eruption. Besides the volcanoes, there are also many fields of volcanic activity (hell valleys) with hot streams and sulphur in the air.
The Japanese do not greet each other with hand shakes; instead bowing is expected as a sign of respect. This gesture already figured in the manuals about warrior etiquette that samurai had to learn. The bowing then spread to the common people. The ability to bow correctly is learnt for many years starting in childhood and it is considered one of the defining characteristics of adulthood.
‘ The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists ’
~ Japanese saying
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Sushi 3,776 6,800 BoWING
‘Pirate Ship’ Hakone Lake Ashi Hakone is a popular tourist destination, famous for the pirate ships and picturesque views of the floating torii of Hakone Shrine and the surrounding mountains, including Mount Fuji. Stéphanie Conter & Georges Glod www.onmarcheetvous.eu
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POSTCARDS Send your photos with a description to jorge.valente@diariesof.lu
‘Torii Gate at Sunset’ Miyajima Japan is easily one of my favourite countries I’ve visited and visiting the island of Miyajima was a particular highlight. We got lucky with the weather, the torii looked spectacular against the golden sky whilst appearing to float on the water. Mark Mayo
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POSTCARDS
’3rd August 2019... 9:26pm... 31 ºC...’ Tokyo In the heat of summer, this young woman walks the small bridge of wind chimes which leads to a small forest in the heart of Tokyo. Nihon Bashi, this business and shopping district, is a popular place for young Edokkos (people of Tokyo) who, adorned with beautiful yukatas, come pose for a photographic memory that will feed their social networks. Richard Deman www.richarddeman.com
‘Sumo Tournament’ Tokyo Opening ritual of the sumo tournament at the Kokugikan stadium in Tokyo. Micky Ryan
POSTCARDS
‘Mount Fuji with Autumn Leaves’ Fuji Mount Fuji showing behind Autumn leaves on a beautiful November day by lake Yamanakako.
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Tanja Kinnen
TOKYO
ACITYOF CONTRASTS RULEDBY THESEASONS
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Text by Tanja Kinnen Photography by Panupong Roopyai, Stéphanie Conter, Jorge Valente
[previous page] The gaudy gate of Kabukichō in the dazzling Shinjuku district
Tokyo
I have been living in Tokyo for four years now, but one thing still amazes me after all this time; a thing that I absolutely love at the same time – the distinction of the seasons within Japanese culture.
N
ot only are there the traditional four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter – the ancient Japanese calendar actually acknowledges as many as twenty-four seasons and a total of seventy-two micro-seasons, of five days each. The seasons follow the rhythm of the weather, but, and as importantly, the rhythm of rice planting and harvesting. Each month has its own ‘specials’ in food, poetry, activities and events. Some are traditionally Japanese; others are
imported from the West. Japan has an incredible ability to incorporate foreign holidays into their culture and make them their own. They add a little twist here and there, and make it yet another special occasion to celebrate. Take Halloween as an example. That traditional American holiday that calls for spooky creatures and decoration, costumes and pumpkins, is not at all related to Japanese culture, but it
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CITY
[top left] Taxi driving along the Yasukuni-dori street in Shinjuku district [top right] Girls dressed in school uniforms in the Akihabara district, renowned for its multimedia department stores and anime (manga) centres
became a holiday too good to miss. All across the city one stumbles upon dressed-up kids and adults. It is not only about ghosts, witches and skeletons, but also princesses, comic characters and much more. That is where typical Japanese culture comes in. Halloween is the occasion to dress up, get together and celebrate in a special Halloween parade through Omotesandō, THE shopping street in Tokyo. But, the place to be in such kind of celebrations is Shibuya Crossing, together with millions of others. In any case Shibuya is worth a visit, not only for its crossing where around 2,500 people cross the street together at peak times. It is also the second biggest train station in the world, which serves over 2.4 million people daily. On top of
that, Shibuya is, together with Shinjuku and Roppongi, one of Tokyo’s nightlife centres with bars, restaurants, clubs and shops that are open throughout the night. Speaking of Shinjuku – not really an insider tip, but still worth a visit is Golden Gai. The area is only a couple of hundred square metres of narrow streets and even smaller bars. Each bar has only one counter, with a few stools and each bartender has their own drawcard, or signature drink. My go-to place is a small bar, hidden behind a featureless white wall with a wooden door. It specialises in all things lemony and their Lemon Sour is the best I have ever had. Diving into the city and its people and customs, you will find that some clichés about Japan and Tokyo might prove correct. Advertising is dazzling
CITY
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Omotesandō street is one of the locations of the Yosakoi dance festival, which takes place in August. During two days the streets of Harajuku are filled with these dances that combine traditional movements with modern music
[left page] Office lady in Kabukichō street
– making a stroll through the busy shopping streets a strenuous experience – and it’s often accompanied by many cartoon and manga elements that give it a childish element. The colourful advertising world stands in sharp contrast to the rather reserved attitude of the Japanese and their conservative style of dressing: white shirts with dark suits or skirts in generally sober colours. When it comes to clothes, individuality is only rarely seen. But, when people do dress up on weekends, their style can reveal itself in an extreme form. They dress in clothes and shoes that look like costumes, often referred to as ‘street style’, with different themes creating a variety of subcultures.
A strongly organised, regulated world exists side-by-side with this colourful world, which focuses on the well-being of the collective rather than the individual. Not only can you tell this by the choice of clothes, but also when looking at everyday processes, such as using the subway. The passengers’ discipline is exemplary, especially during rush hour. Hundreds and thousands of commuters stand in line, patiently waiting for their train to arrive. When the doors open, passengers quickly, but in an orderly fashion, get out of the train, before the passengers on the platform board. The whole process probably takes less than one minute. The change has to be quick, admittedly, as the subways run every
The entrance of the Omohara building stands out because of its set of mirrors that give the effect of a psychedelic kaleidoscope. The building (Omotesandō street) is the work of the award-winning architect, Hiroshi Nakamura
minute or so during peak hours. About 6.5 million passengers use the trains every day and delays are the exception, not the norm. I am still amazed at how easy, quick and relatively stress-free masses of humans move around in Tokyo. Going to the supermarket is no less surprising, starting with the unbelievable prices for fruit and vegetables. A watermelon generally costs about 15€, but it can reach up to 700€. Accordingly, it is wrapped in bubble plastic to make sure it remains perfect until the purchase. At the cashier we get plastic bags for our items. Quite a surprise, after over ten years of a plastic bag ban, back in Europe. Generally speaking, the Japanese have a sort of an obsession with plastic packaging. More often
than not a cookie bag equals a Russian Matryoshka doll. The outer packaging includes a second packaging and sometimes even that’s not the end of it. Only after opening that third bag might you be able to hold your cookie in your hands. My European eco-heart is still bleeding after all these years… As much as I love the busyness and craziness in Tokyo, sometimes I, admittedly, need a break to recharge my batteries. Luckily, it is easy enough to find a green spot in this hectic city, with its over one hundred parks. Parks are major places to socialise with friends and family. Housing in Tokyo is awfully expensive and most people live in tiny spaces, making it impossible to host. On top of that, home is a private space and thus,
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CITY
[top] Ambience inside a ramen shop in one of the busy Yokocho alleys. Yokocho means alley or side street in Japanese [right] Girl in pink, at the entrance to a candy shop in the Takeshita street
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CITY
Shibuya crossing is one of the most impressive landmarks of Tokyo. It is the world’s largest pedestrian crossing. It can have more than 2,500 people crossing, at a time, in all directions. We stayed at the crossing long enough to understand that the crowds agglomerate with each crossing and not only occasionally. It is no wonder that the Shibuya crossing has already been featured in many movies.
Photography by StĂŠphanie Conter
CITY
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Tokyo Skytree Observatory, surrounded by threatening clouds during the typhoon season. This is the second tallest structure in the world at 634-metres (following only the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai at 828-metres)
[left page] View from another observatory deck in the city, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. It takes visitors up to 202-metres above the ground, for bird’s eye views over the city. When the weather is clear, one can even admire Mount Fuji from here
Japanese people are reluctant to invite their friends over. They prefer to meet in restaurants or parks. However, once a year parks are no longer anyone’s secret, quiet places. During Sakura (or Hanami) season, the cherry trees start to bloom and transform the city into a sea of white and pink. That is when masses stream to the parks to have a picnic under the blooming trees. As early as 8 am, the Japanese spread their blue and green plastic tarps out, to reserve the best spots in the parks. They come fully-equipped, with their Bento lunch boxes, snacks, drinks and anything else you might need to spend the day outside. There’s even an official cherry
blossom forecast, updated regularly, to help everyone find the sweetest spot and its right timing. This is also the season to get everything Sakura flavoured. The most traditional, and my favourite, is the sakura mochi, a cake made of rice dough filled with sweet red bean paste, wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf for seasonal flavour. Skipping June with its rainy season, the cicadas loudly announce summer with its humid, almost unbearable heat. Definitely not the best season to be in Tokyo, weather-wise, but at the same time this is the season when various dance festivals occur in shrines and temples, such as the Matsuri, the Yosakoi