Reunion

Edit:  FRACK, once again no new entries for more than half a year. I am truly sorry. However I promise this will change during the next weeks/ months.
Now, onward.


Original Posting Date: Wednesday, February 6th 2008

Not much new in Japan, aside from the fact that right now the last week of exams is taking place at University.

On Friday I met up with Katrina, a friend from Malaysia, who was in my group during the summer course at University (yes, I realise that I still haven't delivered the report about my 3-weeks stay during summer in Kobe, thank you very much). Sadly she was only a couple of days in Kobe and already took off on Saturday, therefore we could only spent a couple of hours together. We went with a common friend to the well-known Sushi establishment (she was also there during the summer with David and me) and afterwards talked a couple of hours.
It was nice seeing someone from the summer course again.
Has it really already been half a year?

Furthermore for Saturday I was invited by a friend to eating Nabe or Nabemono for a little gathering. "Nabe" itself actually only means "pot" or "cooking pot" and "mono" simply "thing". It only describes that you cook various things whatever you feel like, with a cooking pot, and that's why there are many different Nabe dishes and names, since one can virtually throw nearly anything in there. Nowadays it's most often prepared by using a cooking pot on a gas cooker, putting water and condiment in it and adding, depending on personal taste, meat, fish, vegetables etc. Mainly important for the Japanese are the facts that the people are sitting around the cooking place and share food from the same pot, because in their opinion this strengthens friendship (at least that's how it was explained to me).
Freely adapted from the Austrian saying "Beim Essen kumman d'Leut zamm." (Eating brings people together).
For this purpose one gets also invited to someones home most times, which by itself is already a big sign of friendship (see one of my older entries)

Dessert

The special point on Saturday was that all guests were people, who learn German and have already been to the University of Graz or want to go there plus 2, who just began studying German. However the whole evening only Japanese was used and Graz wasn't even mentioned (hence I wasn't abused as teacher).
Yet, sitting in the Japanese way (Seiza) is still very painful.

Nevertheless I didn't miss the chance to present good wines from Burgenland (my home state/ county). Thanks to a tip from Trummer-sensei I found a shop here in Kôbe, which specialises in the import of Austrian wines and since the founder and owner is from Burgenland, the rest sorts itself out.
Despite it being a dry "Blaufränkisch" they liked it very much and by now the Germans from my dorm have expressed their interest in tasting a good wine from Burgenland as well. That will probably be an ice-wine though.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Last week (February the 3rd and 4th respectively) Setsubun (節分) was celebrated in Japan. Originally a celebration of every change of season, nowadays it is held in this form only at the beginning of spring according to the traditional Japanese calendar (which is descended from the Chinese). First and foremost rituals are conducted to expel the Oni (a kind of demons) or keep them away respectively (it can be compared to the casting out of evil spirits during winter in Austrian regions). The most prevalent form, especially in private homes, is the dispersal of throwing of soya beans (called Mame-maki) at people dressed up as Oni or in particular directions of the house, accompanied by reciting a spell of banishing.
There are many other customs, particularly at Buddhist temples and Shinto-shrines, which can differ from region to region. In the Kansai region it is traditional to eat an uncut maki sushi role, although by now this ancient custom has spread to all of Japan. Setsubun is not a national holiday though and thus a normal working day.

Marginalia: Tomorrow, on February the 7th, this year will be New Year's Day according to the Chinese calendar, which takes place on a different day each year, like for instance Easter. In that, the well-known ca. 2 weeks long spring festival of the Chinese starts as well.

Venerable Visit and Dancing

Original Posting Date: Friday, February 1st 2008

Once again nothing on Wednesday, but I think server troubles are more a thing of Murphy's law than accusing me of it.
On Thursday and Friday respectively I wasn't home the whole day, that's why the update was rescheduled for Friday evening.

So, back to our show.
On the weekend I had the honour to receive Lord Takaki Meiyuu (高貴 明勇) for his part Daimyo of the Eastern provinces. On his travels through the Kansai region, His Grace deemed to give me, as Daimyo of the Mid-Western provinces, the honour of a visit at my administrative seat (he also visited my actual seat, Castle Himeji, but the castle is too impractical for my daily duties).
However, for most people his Europeanised name would be easier to understand: Helmut Hödl.

I took him for dinner to the Ryûkyû/ Okinawa restaurant and this time I also took my camera. He brought news from Tôkyô, but sadly already had to leave to Nara the very next day. By the way, Helmut will return home on the 7th of February, after 1 1/2 years of foreign study in Japan.
Only 2 students from Graz left in Japan ...

Some time ago, there was a real week-long temperature drop, such as that even with snow covering the hills.

Since the University is half way up the hills, on some days it suddenly starting snowing while I was at university (I wouldn't believe it at first), which made me very happy. Not to speak of the reactions of other people, for example of an US girl, who never encountered snowfall before. Real cold in Kobê was really nice, since at home it seems like January has again unusually warm weather, but it also got warm again in Kobê.


Last week a girl I'm acquainted with invited me to a training session with the dance club of the University, since in a talk we also came along the topic of dances and the club practises ball-room dances (Rumba, Waltz, Chachacha, Latin American etc.). It is interesting to note, that although their focus is on ball-room dances, which are considered old-fashioned in our regions, the club has over a hundred members. Whereas actually about half of them are men, in contrast to us, where often there is a big majority of women in dance courses.
Like all university clubs, things are taken extremely seriously in this one as well, including minute long practise of basic stances, exercises for muscle growth etc. One can see the strain and concentration in the faces and although the advanced members could dance very well and their technique was impressive I personally had the feeling that somehow passion and emotions were missing, or since they are Japanese, they could not express them that well. Especially when it comes to Latin American dances (Tango!).

A few impressions:

Here they are only counting "1,2,3" in the background, but as it is common in Japan, all do it and very loudly.

And that's it for today, after the extremely long recent entries, which had that length because of the backlog, I will be going back to shorter entries.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Recreational clubs at Japanese universities, whether concerning sports, arts or culture, are a serious matter and their members can, without exaggeration, be called semi-professionals. The clubs have training sessions 2-4 times a week lasting several hours and, as a general rule, only accept people who already have some years of experience (thanks to clubs in schools) in the respective field, which means there is virtually no chance of joining for beginners. Naturally, the clubs compete against other universities in contests, whereas it is considered a great honour to be part of the first team (varsity team).
The "light" variant of the clubs are the so-called circles, which are also open for beginners, nevertheless the have trainings several times a week as well, and what is even more, they by far do not cover the manifold spectrum of disciplines the clubs do. Many a time to students (especially to external) the clubs seem to replace family and for many they are equally as important to them as their studies are, for some they are even more important.
Here it seems to once again prove true that when Japanese start something they will practise it to the extreme and with almost dogged ambition. Thus one should be careful in telling Japanese people one's hobbies since it could be easily understood in the sense of the Japanese form and they could assume that one is a semi-professional. Then one should make it clear that those hobbies are done only for fun and by far not that often.

Art and Ryûkyû

Original Posting Date: Monday, January 28th 2008

After this entry I hope to get back to the usual Wednesday respectively Wednesday-Weekend format with the updates.

So, as already mentioned, the days after the ski trip were filled with university work, but after
finishing that annoying sideline there were also some interesting things happening this week.

Together with a friend I have been to an exhibition in the city museum of Kobê about Ukiyo-e (浮世絵). Ukiyo means roughly "the fading world", as in "this world" (here and now, the world of the living) and "e" simply means pictures in this context. Ukiyo-e are the Japanese colour woodcut (also meant for printing) and pictures, which emerged during Edo-times and which concentrate on depicting everyday-life of the people, their festivities (many times Kabuki actors were painted) and their surroundings, which was a first in Japanese art. It can maybe be a little bit compared to the "Biedermeier", concerning the middle classes as well. In the Western world Ukiyo-e has become the definite perception of traditional Japanese picture/painting display, whereupon Katsushi Hokusai and his series "36 views of Mount Fuji" is perhaps the most famous.
Especially interesting, for me personally, is the fact, that Japanese Ukiyo-e also had some influence on European art after the opening of Japan, for example van Gogh was heavily influenced by it and allegedly had been on search for a "Japanese landscape" in France, to base his paintings on, after the role model Ukiyo-e. He reproduced some Japanese works in his style and colours as well. Other artists, whose works were influenced by Ukiyo-e, were Gaugin and Klimt among others.
However Ukiyo-e also encompasses "vulgar" depictions like courtesans and sex scenes, which is why they sometimes encountered problems in Japan itself (although more likely in selling them as because of restrictions by law) and why they were rejected by Western art critics. As well as because of their depiction of the simply life, a critique which Biedermeier also has to face again and again.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most museums, taking photos was strictly forbidden, which is why I can't show any. Instead a picture from the Internet, no worries though, after 200 years the copyright has expired:
"The great wave of Kanagawa" from Hokusai's "36 views of Mount Fuji"-cycle (I have the seen the original in the museum)

Visiting the exhibition once again showed me why I loathe Modern Art, especially abstract. If you look at these pictures, the details, the interaction of the colours/ hues and its splendour, the atmosphere, as well as the artistic skill e.g. to create a wonderful and aesthetic picture just with nuances of the colour blue on white canvas, so must modern abstract "art" appear amateurish to us. No matter if its directions like Jackson Pollock and his "Action Painting", or the like which emerged in the last 50 years, whereas especially in Austria one can find extreme positions in Mühl and Nitsch.
What bothers me the most in this is the separation of vision and skill. An artist of course should and has to have a vision to create a great piece of art but nowadays the term vision seems to have become "self-propelling" without the need for exceptional skills. Often it seems that one just needs to make something upsetting or abstract and know a marketing expert, who knows how to market it in the right way and sell it as art, and one becomes famous as long as you state that you had a vision for that "piece" and converted it into the piece or wanted to express something by it. I take myself as an example: As mentioned before I am a complete failure concerning visual arts (thank God not music) but even I can dump a bucket of blood onto canvas, drill a hole into a can of paint and run over a canvas, or put balls in pantyhoses and sew them together. Yet, put me before a picture by Da Vinci, van Gogh or Klimt and tell me to reproduce it and I will simply laugh into your face and leave.
On the point, in my opinion real works of art are not easily copied without the aid of technical means.
The sad thing is, that nowadays often artists with huge skill and potential have no chance whatsoever to get known, because the "scene" and many critics deem their paintings to be too unspectacular, not agitating enough or simply too "nice". In this regard if one takes a look at art history, irony stares right back.


At this point I want to apologise for the long rant about my personal views, especially because it has nothing to do with Japan, but I just had to get it out.


Since we spoke about Klimt, here is an imprint on a box of Pocky (chocolate sticks)

Another box had an imprint of a painting by Renoir ("Little girl carrying flowers")


I also have been to an Okinawa restaurant this week. This cuisine has some peculiar features, for the long-lasting Chinese influence as well as their own cultural mannerism. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on me, so there are no photos, but next time I'll be eating there I won't forget it.
(for the Anime-fans among you: The anime "Samurai Champloo" takes its name after the Okinawan dish "champuru", which approximately means "mix", and in the anime it points to the mix of modern and traditional elements)

Since I was apparently the only (Western) Gaijin (foreigner) in the restaurant, the waitresses (there were only girls) played a little joke on me. It is normal that waiters greet a customer when he passes them or say goodbye when he is on the way out, there are special phrases for that in Japanese (note my entry with "irrashaimase" on that), sometimes they even do that every time even if it is the same customer. If you leave a restaurant, the nearest waiter next to the exit will additionally bid you farewell, such are the rules of politeness.
In any case: As we were taking the bill after dinner, all waitresses assembled unnoticed (Japanese can do that) in a half circle behind me, and as I set foot on the stairs to the exit, all of them loudly shouted together "Please visit us again" (with a big grin on their faces), and they were amused by my surprised expression.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

The island of Okinawa (沖縄) is actually only the name of the main island of the prefecture Okinawa, which is comprised of a whole chain of islands, which actual name is Ryûkyû (琉球). Because of their intensive contact with China and other Asian countries as well as their relative great autonomy until the start of the 17th century, originally the Ryûkyû islands posses a discrete culture and language, which is quite similar to Japanese today, but can be seen as different nonetheless, especially concerning the Okinawa-dialect, which is clearly different from standard-Japanese.
During the Middle Ages (starting from ca. 1000) the Ryûkyû Islands were an independent kingdom, which, albeit heavily influenced by China and paying tribute to it, was for a long time for all purposes a sovereign nation because of China's policy of quasi-isolation. In the year 1609 a Daimyo conquered Ryûkyû, with approval of the Shôgun, by which the islands formally lost their independence, yet since the Daimyo also was content with tax duty and a low level of direct control the culture could exist in relative autonomy, especially since the King as institution was preserved, so that the control by Japan would stay concealed from the Chinese missions.
With that, Ryûkyû was more or less in double subjection to China and Japan, which lead to several problems and tensions among the population and that made reforms necessary, which ultimately lead to a boom and further strengthening of the specific idiosyncrasies of Ryûkyû.
After the Meiji-Restoration in 1868 and the disengagement from China (since Japan defeated China in several battles) the prefecture of Okinawa was established and subsequently, the King was abolished, all areas of life came under direct control of the government in Tôkyô and Japanese culture and language was spread more invigoratingly (nowadays this is often viewed as kind of an assimilation policy).

Okinawa is especially known for its role in the 2. World War, since it was the only venue of a battle on real, inhabited Japanese soil (Iwo Jima is practically uninhabited with the exception of the military), and it is the second most costly battle for US forces in the Pacific War, after Iwo Jima. Thus the islands were under US occupation and administration until the 70s, and up to today the US have their second largest navy base of the pacific there. The relationship between the population of the Ryûkyû islands and the government in Tôkyô is still a little strained, since only in the past 10 years support for the original culture and language has begun (albeit not by the government/ state), whereas especially the language is a problem since many of the young emigrate to the cities of the main islands and cannot speak the Okinawa-"dialect" anymore.

Still alive (a letter from the management)

*Whew*, nothing new in four years. I kinda simply let it die in the middle of it, didn't I ...
Well, four years ago I finished all the stories for the German side of my blog and closed it and I also kinda lost interest in translating the rest. I am sorry, I'm a lazy bum.

HOWEVER, since I recently re-opened the German side with new stories, I decided it's high time to start translating entries again! So look forward to new material here.
(I just hope the readers have left their notifications on or stumble upon the new entries on a nostalgia trip)

Skiin'

Original Posting Date: Saturday, January 26th 2008

But first:
Since New Year is, as mentioned before, similar to our Christmas and thus a family activity, New Year's Eve is one thing: Boring. Indeed there are plenty of people around and enough alcohol present, but still it's hardly comparable to our New Year's Eve celebrations.
For my part, I spent the 31st at my host family's and in the evening I went with Simon to Sannomiya. After an excellent dinner in a side-street restaurant (the main courses are grilled on small spits and served) we went to an English-Pub for the turn of the year. As mentioned, midnight was by way of comparison unspectacular, but the realisation that here the New Year is already being celebrated whilst it's only 4 p.m. at home and on the American West Coast it's actually still the morning of the 31st, was a strange feeling.




Following that, I went to Tokyo, and on January 4th I set out for the ski-trip to Nagano. It was organised by the exchange-students-center, meaning that the 35 participants were all exchange students, so regrettably, except for the custodians, no Japanese were with us. Although since half of the people were comprised of Chinese and Koreans there were enough occasions to practice Japanese.

The first thing that stands out in Nagano: Snow. SNOW! and really lots of it. And minus degrees (ed. Celsius). Magnificent!
Sorry, I need a moment to collect myself ... okay, I'm alright again.

The rooms in the hotel were kept in the Japanese style (Ryokan　旅館), which means the floor was comprised of Tatami-mats and for sleeping one had to use futons instead of beds. A futon is a thin mattress (actually just a big, little bit thicker blanket) for spreading out on the tatami floor, as well as a pillow (in that case filled with beans) and a blanket (thin during summer, thick during winter) to cover oneself. A futon is meant to be put away into the wardrobe after sleeping for reasons of saving space. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the room but one should also get a rough idea from this one.




The table in the middle is being put away when you get the futons out.

There were four people in each room, whereas men and women, as is common in Japan, were not only separated by rooms but also by floors (except for families and couples, those were on another separate floor or section, respectively).

For breakfast we were presented with Western style food (ham, sausages and scrambled eggs), but the large dinner was of course pure Asian (Japanese, Chinese) and downright big and tasty.

An example




We have been to the Shiga-koken skiing region, where the slalom and giant slalom slopes of the Olympic Winter games of 1998 are situated (unfortunately not the downhill piste, I would have liked to see the section from which Hermann Maier started his flight). The nice thing was the fact that the participants, contrary to the norm in Japan, could act completely free and autonomous and hadn't had to be in a group. With exception of course for the skiing-beginners course but naturally those were glad to be in a group.
Japanese mountains are, as one can see on the pictures further down, because of their formation from volcanoes, in general comparable "gently inclined" and above all have rounded peaks, even at greater altitudes (2000m and above). There are rather less jagged cliffs and hardly pointed peaks (like in the Alps), therefore the better part of the slopes consists of green (at home: blue) and red slopes. However, of course there are black pistes and sections (or else an Olympiad would hardly have been possible), but in my opinion there's a problem with those in Japan: Japanese seem to be under the impression that black slopes are only being used by professionals and crazy freaks and for such kind of persons a simple piste is not the right thing, so in over half of all black sections they integrate a mogul slope. Completely without warning or any chance to avoid it at the edge of the slope.
Personally I HATE mogul pistes. In my view, and apparently in the view of the better part of advanced skiers, moguls ruin otherwise great slopes since the disrupt the flow, are especially bad for man and material and are simply unnatural. There are people who like going down these and I don't mind at all if occasionally sections of pistes are prepared as such but come on, not the whole width on every second nice black slope.








Something I've encountered in a ski hut on a peak by chance:
A ordinary service sign, but note the sticker in the right corner.




Correct! A sticker from the Ötz Valley in Austria, complete with village names in German (unrecognisable in the picture)
Unbelievable, in the middle of Japan in some small ski lodge.




As usual with such events (trips etc.) in Japan, this time there was once again, organised by the custodians, a party in the evening. A more in-depth description of the structure and progression of such parties will be given in the column.
At any rate, it showed that Asians, first and foremost girls for their petite build, sometimes have problems with alcohol. Thus a Chinese girl was completely "done" after consuming (in practically one go) a can of a Japanese sweet alcohol mix (loosely comparable to so-called Alcopops), with not quite the alcoholic strength of beer.

The Germans at work




Nagano is famous for its apple farming lands (reminds me on my home village) and for its soba noodles. The apples we've seen on sale were really giant, which questions their farming methods but interestingly they weren't artificial flawless like one sometimes sees in Austrian super markets, they actually looked like normal, proper apples.

All in all it has been 4 full days of skiing with a 9 hours bus ride each forth and back. Despite this endeavour it was simply wonderful and was worth it by all means.





Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Parties in Japan. It is common in Japan that on trips, longer conventions/conferences and larger internal meetings at companies, a party will be held. They range from small ones with only snacks and a small selection of beverages to large buffets with all kinds of alcoholics. As one can discern from the last sentence, alcohol is always an important ingredient although the fundamental idea is of course the get-to-know, to foster contacts with colleagues, and to relax in a relieving atmosphere respectively. To not give anyone wrong impressions: The actual consummation of alcohol is one of the few things where peer pressure is very low (it actually seems to be lower than in Austria), but one should maintain "non-drinking" throughout the whole party. Corporate and officially organised events are nearly always for free whereas at a private party the custom is that every guest brings a small part of the beverages and snacks, or a small fee is to be paid respectively for larger errands run by someone specific.
Whether solely private or business, all Japanese parties have three things in common:
1) They last for a certain amount of time or end at a specific, prior determined point in time (in case of the ski-trip party, this was 22:00 hours). At that point a party has officially ended and it is expected from the guests to leave the site of the event.
2) Directly after the ending of the party, everything will be tidied up at once, whereas it is expected from the guests to lend a hand (at least from those, who are still able to), all of the waste gets picked up and the event-site will be left the way it was before.
3) All non-consumed food and beverages are distributed among the guests, which means, that every guest is allowed to take home whichever he likes of the leftovers, with no need to regard to who brought what.

Remark: The above presented "rules" and manners of conduct are only applicable for parties, which are not held in private space (house of a host), but in rooms, which are specially designed for events and meetings. At a party held a in private space the rules can, according to the host, slightly change. This is insofar important as Japanese often celebrate "away from home" and quite contrary, it is a great honour, a big sign of friendship and bond respectively, if one gets invited by a Japanese to his home.

The Eastern Capital - Tokyo

Original Posting Date: Monday January 21st 2008

It's been a bit longer since I left an entry, for on the one hand I was on ski-holiday (report follows the next time) and on the other hand I (more or less) finished some courses at Uni.
Concerning this, last week I had to hand in 2 term papers, as well as holding 3 presentations (1 group and 2 individual pres.), of which one last 1 1/2 hours and was partly in English and partly in Japanese. Yes, it was an exhausting and time-intensive week. The good point: I don't have to do anything anymore for around half of my courses and the other half is not that trying.

But now to the promised summary of my Tokyo trip.

I went to Tokyo via plane of one of the Japanese Airlines from Kobe Airport. Note: Flight attendants pf Japanese airlines are all female, young and nearly always exceptionally beautiful, which is being stressed by their fashionable uniforms. This is by no means meant to be sexist or the like, it acts as unofficial requirement in Japan, and normally stewardess' are selected for the most part, on this (unofficial) criteria.
(The uniforms of the AUA, Austrian Airlines, male or female, I personally think to be very ugly)

The Kobe Airport is completely new (opened 2006), exclusively for domestic flights, that's why it's very small, and is situated on a small artificial island just south of Port Island (the Portliner-train connects both islands with the mainland).
Concerning the construction and operation of the airport there were some controversies, among others because the Kansai International Airport is practically in the neighborhood, but I won't go into them (inter alia economical, technical and political reasons). As far as I have heard, on Wikipedia (German and English) are some good summaries of the set of problems, for those, who are interested in it.






Thankfully I was allowed to stay at Helmut's, although his dorm is being built anew at the moment and therefore the dorm students had to relocate to a container-home for 1-2 years. Accordingly ,his new room is tiny (ca. 6.5m²), although the Japanese might not be bothered that much, they should be used to small space.




As mentioned last time afterwards we went to His Majesty where we met some acquaintances of Helmut, a Japanese and two Germans. Later in the city something weird happened: Somehow it occurred that Helmut and I were singing the Japanese anthem with the German girl (from Bavaria) and the flag in the middle.
Imagine the scene in more detail: Three foreigners, 2 men and 1 woman, in the middle of Tokyo, the woman holds up a little Japanese flag before her breast, whilst the men flank her and sing the Japanese anthem.
Yep, our assimilation is coming along quite nicely.
Resistance is futile.


By the way, the main station of Tokyo (station name Tokyo) is, architecturally speaking, built by English model.




After lunch we moved onward to Akihabara the famous Technical Geek/Otaku district in Tokyo. To say it in one sentence: You're interested in computers/ games/ Anime-Manga or the like? Go there. Now. You have to have seen Akihabara at least once, if you've been to Tokyo.






We weren't in Roppongi, but to say it in the words of an acquaintance: God does not exist in Roppongi, there is no God out there, that nigga gone fishing.

Instead we took a look into one of those, at the moment very "in", Maid-Kissa, meaning Maid Skivvy Café. In those Cafés the waiters are, without exceptions, all young, cute girls, dressed in, depending on the Café, different maid uniforms. They speak with high pitched, candy-sweet voices and in a grammatical form, which puts the guest on a special higher level/status, and another one which puts themselves on a lower one. Additionally they use phrases as if the visitor would come home to his mansion. This will sound for example like: "Welcome home my esteemed Master. In what way can I be of service to you today? Please relax while I serve you." etc. I'm asking myself, how long it would take at home, or even worse in the US, for the first demonstrations and protests of feminists to take place? We didn't actually go in, because we didn't want to wait for 1 hour, but one has to have seen such a thing.
In Akihabara one can very good observe the craziness of the Japanese.

As model kit:
I present: The Nazi-Beetle




Afterwards our companions went home, while Helmut and I set forth for the Yasukuni shrine, by a small stroll through the calmer regions of Tokyo. In those it's very nice and one feels like being in a smaller town, the size of Bruck or Graz (ed. 200.000 - 300.000 inhabitants); after all Tokyo is considered to be the "greenest" metropolis of the world.
The Yasukuni shrine is that specific shrine, which again and again is stirring up controversies in politics, since there the souls of the fallen of different wars from 1855 on are being venerated, but among others also some convicted war criminals of World War II, which infuriates China first of all.
I won't go into detail about the circumstances, since this topic, including references on politics, coming to terms with the past, religion and culture, would take up at least one, if not several, entries. It just has to be mentioned that it's by far not that easy to explain and handle as many people might think.




Next to the shrine there's also a museum with different exhibits, for example:

The pilot is waiting in front of his Zero-Fighter (Mitsubishi A6M) for the inspection by his commander






One of the two 20mm-guns of the A6M5




Found on Okinawa; artillery cannon with bullet holes




Aside from World War II, which is here actually called "The Great(er) East Asia War", since it also involves the fighting in China since '37, a major part of the exhibition is dealing with the Russian-Japanese war of 1904/05. However we didn't visit those exhibitions, because it was already pretty late, the museum was on the brink of closing for the day and it would take two history-freaks such as ourselves several hours for such a thing (not to mention the adjacent discussions).

Night was falling and after the return to Helmut's dorm I went home, using the Nozomi-Shinkasen this time around. 589 kilometres in 2 hours 48 minutes, indeed precisely 2h 48min as stated in the time table, I cannot mention the punctuality of those trains (Shinkansen) often enough (all right, maybe it took 2h 47min).

In conclusion: Tokyo is/was very nice and interesting and I would like to visit it again, but because of its size I wouldn't want to live there for a long time.


A great thanks to Helmut for his hospitality and his activity as tour guide!


The next time I'm gonna report about my Ski-trip to Nagano and also briefly about New Years in Kobe.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

Tokyo (東京) literally means "Eastern Capital" and is only official capital of Japan since 1868, ever since the Meiji-Restoration and the move of the Emperor from Kyoto to the former palace of the shogun in Tokyo, and in that Tokyo replaced Kyoto as capital after ca. 1000 years (a fact which many inhabitants of Kyoto still lament). The city is also bearing the name Tokyo only since that year, before that it was called Edo, and during the Tokugawa-Shogunat (start 1603) while not the official capital, it was the political and administrative centre of the country, as well as the domicile of the shogun. For that, the epoch of 1603-1853/1868 (1853-1868 is more or less considered an in-between epoch) is in general also referred to as Edo period.
Today there is not really a "City" of Tokyo. There are 23 inner city districts existing with around 8.5 million inhabitants, which all have a seperate administration and serve as cities of their own; the Tokyo prefecture, with 12-13 million inhabitants, which makes it the most populous, consisting of the inner districts and adjacent regions (whereupon interestingly some islands in the pacific also belong to it); and the urban area Tokyo, which extends into other prefectures (such as the city of Yokohama is part of it) and which is with 35 million inhabitants the largest metropolitan region of the world.
All 3 terms exist officially and are in use. In this regard it shares a certain similarity to Vienna, which is simultaneously a city, a state and capital of Austria.

Tokyo is one of the most important cities of the world and is despite its size considered to be very clean and green and also one of the safest major cities of the world. The author himself worries more about going through the central park of Graz at night, then trough the Ueno park in Tokyo (although Graz is certainly very safe too, no question about it).


This city is for sure on the list of cities, which every person should have visited once in his lifetime.

Hail the Emperor!

Original Posting Date: Thursday January 3rd 2008

As mentioned, I have been to Tokyo and on this occasion Helmut (my Sempai, he's already been studying 1 1/2 years here) and I visited His Majesty Emperor Akihito for his New Year's salutation.
Today I report only about that, a complete review of my trip to Tokyo next time.

The outer facilities of the emperor's palace are being made accessible to the public twice a year(the inner never), once on 23.12. for the birthday of the current incumbent emperor, as well as on the 2nd of January for the celebration of the new year. On both days the imperial family appears on the balcony (protected, behind a glass wall) and His Majesty gives a short speech at a time, whereas the one his birthday lasts longer. I couldn't be in Tokyo on the 23rd because of time restrictions so I marched on 2.1. to the palace. On both days countless Japanese visit the palace, because of which the imperial family appears numeral times throughout the day, to live up to the demand. At the entrance of the palace children hand out little Japanese flags made out of paper to every visitor, with which the people wave enthusiastic as soon as the Tenno shows himself.


The incumbent Tenno (天皇 approx.: celestial sovereign, lord) is considered modern and open to new, he is also the first emperor to marry a common woman (nobility was dissolved after the war, however, her family also wasn't part of nobility before the war) and he is also the first emperor, who has studied at an university. Concerning non-noble marriage: Men of the imperial family are in principle permitted to marry common women without ramifications to their status, however it wasn't kindly looked upon). Female members of the family may marry men of "the commpon people" but they loose their rang as member of the Imperial House and have to relinquish all their privilieges with it. Also, women cannot directly become empress though they can in stead of another member e.g. for being under age, take over the governance affairs and act as regent but only until the accession to the throne of the actual emperor. Before the birth of the most recent heir this law was intensly debatted, whereas the populace of Japan to all intents and purposes would have agreed with a revision but the imperial court office objected to it. The court office is subordinate to the government (not the emperor) and is in charge of matters concerning the imperial dynasty. This institution is the real backwardly instrument, for its members are often ultraconservative and heavily insist on old customs and traditions, which sometimes estranges the emperor from the people.


Here's a picture of the office, it's situated on the palace grounds in Tokyo.




Although it is partly understandable if one looks at the long history of the family. It provides the emperor now since ca. the 5th century A.D. (the Japanese tradition states since the 6th century B.C. although this is not historically documented) and in that it is the oldest still "reigning" dynasty of the world. Though whereas half of the time he didn't held any real governmental power but rather only a symbolic position, admittedly he was always "the emperor" to the people.

Today as well, more precisely: Since World War II has the emperor no political power at all anymore and is the "Symbol of the state and the unity of the people". For the Japanese He plainly is Japan, a moral instance and the expression of their long and rich culture. Personally I think it is a shame that we in Austria don't have an emperor anymore, naturally without any governmental power, but as a symbol of our long and proud, sometimes even glorious history, in my opinion it would definitely be a good thing (however, if possible, not to take the scandalous English Royals as example but other families).


Here are some photos from the palace and His Majesty, as well as two clips, one from the advancement into the palace (in the background traditionell Shamisen-music is being heard) and the other from the speech.
Both clips are by courtesy of Helmut.


The famous, so many times used on postcards etc., bridges in the palace.




The square before the balcony was crowded, this is only a small part.




A guardsman




The imperial family (only part of it, it consists of many more members)




His Majesties: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko




Interesting detail: The emperor speaks in the humble style. In this form of the Japanese language ones own things are being, by using special grammar and vocabulary, only humbly mentioned. One is "demeaning" onself to show respect to others.






Three patriots (he he)




The remaining photos are, well, you already know where.



Interesting (and funny) facts/opinions about Japan:

As mentioned in an earlier issue, this year is the year Heisei 20 according to the Japanese calendar. This is being caused through the fact, that with the accession to the throne of a new emperor a new age begins, whereas the year 1 runs from the accession to the throne until the 31st December, since apart from these years Japan employs the Gregorian calendar (year 1 has a special labelling since it does not correspond to the normal calendar). However this kind of calculation also exists only since the Meiji-restoration (1868), before new ages were began even without change in throne ruler. The new emperor decides on a name of his era, which also serves as motto of his regnancy, consisting of 2 Kanji, which are being chosen from a determined row. At the moment it is Heisei (平成 approx.: Peace everywhere). The incumbent emperor ascended the thron in 1989 whereby now 2008, according to this calculation of times, the year 20 is. The predecessing epoch was Showa (of erstwhile emperor Hirohito, 1926-1989), therewith the birthyear of the author of these lines lies, according to our calculation in 1983, in Japanese times in the year Showa 58.

An interesting fact is the point that an emperor, after his death, takes on the name of his era and subsequently is also being referenced by that. For example if one means emperor Hirohito, the name Showa is used as labelling, which many times can lead to confusion even among Japanese themselves. A popular fauxpas to foreigners, acquainted with Japan to a certain degree, is to name the incumbent emperor by his era, which is wrong though, since it is a posthumous name. The only thing left is to ask for forgiving for the slip-up afterwards.


Note by the editorial department: Next Wednesday too there won't be an issue, since I'll set off to my ski trip to Nagano tomorrow and will not be coming back until Thursday.