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Achi kochi

January 2002

Hello folks,

A big 'akemashite omedetoo gozaimasu' to you all - happy new year! :)

As I write, the snow is coming down hard here in Nishiiya. Despite this, on their first day back at school, the kids have to go outside and do their running training. Poor kids, I hope that one day they'll be better for it! I might even join them tomorrow. Maybe. :)

It was snowing on Christmas Day, too. Santa didn't bring me what I really wanted for Christmas, but he certainly had the grace to let me have a good time relaxing and seeing a bit of local Japan over the New Year break. I had two weeks off and have lots of stories to tell!

My adventures started on December 21 with our junior high school 'boonenkai' - the end of year party, had in one way or another by practically every organisation in the country. We headed down to Kochi city on the southern coast of Shikoku, apparently famous for being the most popular sake drinking hole on the island. I guess now I can see why!

Driving down to Kochi is easily done by the expressway. In Japan, most such roads have a toll, but for my first real expedition out of Tokushima-ken, I thought it the best option. It turned out to be an eye-opening introduction to tunnel engineering. You see, Kochi prefecture is ninety percent mountain. So if you want a straight road, the only way to do it is to go THROUGH the mountains, and there's no one like the Japanese for building tunnels (or anything, for that matter). Speeding along in my mini-Pajero at a slightly illegal one hundred clicks (about as fast as it is capable of going), the few glimpses I caught of the countryside between tunnels were pretty. It was a top day for a party.

The plan was thus - 'nomikai', drinking party, in the early evening, kick onto karaoke, maybe hit the town, then head back to Hotel No. 1 to sleep it off. Everything went according to plan, but I think I got a little more than I expected. Karaoke was great fun - a strangely addictive pastime, I got to see my fellow teachers bust it out after a few drinks, proving to be highly entertaining! From karaoke we wandered across town to a little outdoor raamen (Chinese noodles) stall, taking time to cross the famous Harimaya-bashi, a tiny footbridge where a monk of old once bought presents for his love. I thought that would just about do us, but a handful of teachers decided it was time to introduce me to that most infamous of Japanese social establishments, the snack bar.

A misnomer if ever there was, snack bars are essentially hostess bars - places where a fair amount of your hard-earned money will buy you time with a good looking woman to talk, drink or dance as you prefer. Don't go there looking for pizza or a sandwich! It's hard to say no to the hospitality of my colleagues, even harder with my limited Japanese, so I spent maybe an hour finding out that I really hadn't been missing out on anything. Sure, I like to drink, and talk, and sing karaoke, but I can do all these things elsewhere in good company. My first time, and memorable for it, but likely my last time, too!

Stumbling back to Hotel No. 1 via an udon shop (another variety of noodle), I woke up thankfully hangover free and ready for a big day 'achi kochi' - here and there - in Kochi. I met Lee, a Korean girl working on the JET Programme as an international relations coordinator, at the train station. Based locally, Lee (said 'ee') made an excellent guide and duly suggested we start at Kochi castle.

Kochi-jo is surrounded by natural parkland and one of the best examples of ancient Japanese architecture around. Where some ancient structures have been preserved in concrete, Kochi-jo remains relatively untouched. Nice view from the top balcony, too. Just watch your head on the stairs. :)

Lying on the Pacific coast of Shikoku, Kochi also has some nice beaches, one of which is Katsurahama. I don't think Japan can match it with the Gold Coast - the sand here is gravelly and few beaches have a decent swell - but it was a beautiful sunny day and Katsurahama was in good form, despite the winter's cold. At some times of the year, I'm told, you can see whales off the point. No such luck for me, but maybe next time.

Lee lives about an hour west of Kochi city and was kind enough to invite me over for dinner with friends. It was a tough ask to spend the evening with three beautiful girls, but I survived, and even dealt with Lee's spicy Korean dishes. Perhaps the most difficult task was getting up the next morning to hit the road by six o'clock for a volleyball tournament back in Tokushima-ken. As I scraped ice off my windscreen in the dark, I wondered what the hell I was doing. By day's end, however, it was well worth it.

I play volleyball with a great bunch of people from the Ikeda town office. I have to travel an hour to Ikeda town just to hit around, but I enjoy the exercise and the company. This tournament on December 23 was my first competition with the team. Winning but one of three close games in the morning's round-robin, we somehow scraped into the semi-finals, where we stepped it up a gear and started to play to our potential.

The final itself was a genuinely tight game against the top team, but we pulled through in the last set to take home the trophy. A great way to finish a wonderful weekend!

Needless to say, two parties and a tournament later, I slept very well into Christmas Eve. With my computer as company, I enjoyed doing not much at all until Christmas night, when I trekked over to the house of a New Zealand couple for dinner and drinks. Another sleep-in until midday on Boxing Day before I finally shook off my holiday stupor and decided to see a little more of Shikoku. Maybe three hours drive later, I found myself in Takamatsu city.

It was only a short couple of hours I spent in Takamatsu, which was just enough time to walk from one end of its huge shopping arcade to the other and stop for dinner at Makudonarudo. Just for the record, I like to visit a McDonald's in every city I go to, but mostly just once. Watch out for that Clubhouse Mac - I think there was wasabi on that burger, a spicy paste they use with sushi that does a great job of clearing the sinuses. :)

There's no such thing as a post-Christmas sale here in Japan, where the New Year is a much bigger deal, but I still managed to find a good deal on a heater as I drove home. It got some immediate use. I woke up the next morning (or maybe afternoon) to get out and see a couple of local landmarks. The first was the big tree in Mikamo. In a country where it's hard to find grass in towns, let alone trees, this was truly a spectacle. It really is big, an ancient camphor tree whose leaves shelter a shrine nestled at its base. Camphors are a pest species in some countries, but they are native to Japan and China. Indeed, the camphor is the official tree of Hiroshima - the survival and quick recovery of some of these trees after that city was laid to waste by the atomic bomb provided hope for Hiroshima's people. A wonderful lesson, thanks to a tree.

From a famous tree to a famous temple, which comes with its own cable car to take you up the mountain. Hashikura Temple is named for the ritual burning of chopsticks (hashi) which was first performed on that site centuries ago. Nowadays they even sell chopsticks to the many people who visit the temple each year. However, it's apparently bad luck for couples to go to this temple together, for the temple's god may get jealous and cause the relationship to come to an end. So the story goes, anyway. A shame, really, because it's quite pretty and good for a walk, but I won't be trying to prove the legend wrong. :)

A mate of mine from Brisbane, Henry, is currently doing some work experience in Osaka, which was all the excuse I needed to head off to the big city for the New Year's weekend. I'd tell you all about it in detail, but being on my fifth page already, let me just name a few of the sights we took in:

* Osaka-jo, once the world's largest castle, reconstructed after World War II
* the impressive Osaka Aquarium, which boasts the world's largest tank and is home to a whale shark or two
* Kobe, where we wandered around the Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park and caught some great okonomiyaki for dinner
* a short train ride to Kyoto to check out the world heritage Kiyomizu Temple, walk the balcony of the world's largest wooden building at another temple, and cycle madly through the streets to catch our train to...
* New Year's Eve on the streets of Osaka, where by chance I met a couple of local swing dancers (yeah!) and got a taste of New Year Japanese style amongst the crowds of people at Tenmangu temple

A big thanks to Henry for putting me up and sharing some great adventures!

Having been to every other part of Shikoku, the last thing I wanted to do with my holiday was trek west to Ehime prefecture. The presence of family friends in Ehime's Imabari city was a nice excuse to go. Another three hour drive from Nishiiya to meet up with Johnny Kobayashi, his lovely wife Moto, grand-daughter Yuhiro and German Shepherd Rikki.

Johnny is quite a character. Once in the export business, he now lectures professionally in animal handling and dog training. Like most senior citizens in Japan, he is very active. The 15 years he spent living on the Gold Coast show through in his excellent command of English. Also, Yuhiro goes to school on the Gold Coast, so it was most refreshing to hear Japanese people speaking fluent English with Aussie accents! Suffice it to say that Johnny and his family were wonderful hosts. I even learnt how to play Japan's number one video game, Dance Dance Revolution, though I fear Yuhiro was far better than I will ever be. I look forward to seeing them again later in the year.

Six pages later, maybe I've given you enough to read for the rest of 2002, but I would finish by again wishing you all the very best for the New Year. A special thanks to those of you who sent me Christmas and New Year's wishes - as they say, one kind word can warm three winter months. I might make it to March yet. :)

Lots of love,

Dave