Day 20/63

We left Japan expecting it to be a culture shock. Even as we’ve been to both countries, we’ve never gone from one to another. We got the Maglev train from the Shanghai airport to town. This is a bullet train that goes 300km/hour, just because there are no rails, just magnetic tracks where it floats on. On curves, it goes kind of sideways, which is very spooky. The train journey to Shanghai only takes eight minutes, which my husband decided that we’d spend in the first class, as it was the whole of 10euros each.

We got a taxi from the other side of the river ‘Huang Pu’ to our hotel, which is the Astor House hotel, the first luxurious and modern hotel in the city, right on the Pund. The Pund is the area where the British settled down after the opium wars and eventually all the other foreign powers such as the Germans, the Americans and so on joined them. However, the French couldn’t live with the British, so they have their own area ‘the French concession’…

Our hotel the Astor House is rather impressive. Even as they are over 160 years old, they have gotten the hang of modern days. There is internet installed in the rooms for a small fee (very slow connection, but anyways) and the bathroom has hair dryers, the light switch is on the door so that you keep your key in a safe place and so on. The room reminds me of the room I stayed in Athens, wooden floors, huge bathroom… All very nice. You could even stay at a celebrity’s room, meaning where someone famous stayed like Charlie Chaplin, Bertrand Russell or Albert Einstein. What is more attractive to me though, is that in three metres out of the door, you get to a bridge which gives out the classic view over Shanghai with the television mast building. I’ll use that for some photos later on for sure.

Of course when you step out of the door, the misery of life in China immediately begins. You get the herds of ‘Hello Lady’s excuseme, would you lie to buy some tat?)… In here they are mostly pushing to buy watches.. Perhaps that’s the thing, certainly not postcards like back in Beijing. The best way to look at pushy sales people is not to give them an eye of any kind. You put your ‘ignoring’ face on and move along. I have been surprised on how they do come to you in English, rather than in Chinese. But I suppose this is the foreign area.

You can also see the foreign area in the prices of tat. We know that there are places, quieter streets, where the prices are about 20% of the prices here on the foreign area. We had a meal for 10euros, but we know, that is rather expensive for what we got, even if it was really good and three dishes with two teas. They have looked at the foreigners around and come to the conclusion that they *will* pay more. So why not charge more.

In any case, for our first day in Shanghai, we went walking around, shopping and photographing. I bought some really nice pashminas and we went a bit mental in a bookshop that had a DVD floor. The Chinese really like awards of all sorts, specially the Oscars, so they have fifteen different kinds of Oscar box sets, oscar films in different covers and so on. I recently watched all the best Picture winners, some of which were quite hard to find. Here they were all… Even “Wings” from 1928, for 1 euro… I bought some that I had not seen and some that I’ll rewatch, like “Mrs. Minniver”, which is a great film btw. These were not illegal copies of the films, even though those are also easy to get from the streets – normally with English and Chinese subtitles… We had earlier come across to one seller, but they have already gone to Blue-Ray… What kind of world is it, when the pirates have a format that you cannot play???

We eventually walked as far as the people’s square and then home again, through a detour that seemed to take forever. The pushy-yelling Chinese tired us out so much that eventually we got into a ‘Family-Mart’ (Japanese 7-11 chain) and got salad and sushi for dinner in our hotel room… This is how much we missed Japan! China such a difference to Japan, where politeness is *everything* and here you are expected to be as agnry, impolite, rude, shouty, pushy and merciless as possible. You should spit on the streets and lie and cheat. The whole consept of the society is so different… It’s like my husband pointed out. You feel like you are in Japan, but it looks like everything is falling apart. When you come back to your hotel, you feel like you are never going to wear your clothes again, because they are so dirty.

I think for tomorrow, I need to learn how to bargain and cheat… We are going shopping again in the French concession.

Day 15/63

Today, we went to Aizu-Wakamatsu. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, ever since I heard that such a wacky name for a town existed. As usual, we were there to do research on a book. This time it’s the book about Samurai republic, which lasted for six months in Hakodate back in 1869.

A very red train with weird, red, legless creature as the symbol, takes us to Aizu. There is some Genkis (Japanese girls) dressed into pink, obviously performing some sort of function in the train. What back in the western world would have been a fund raiser – in here is a free raffle, where we get to take a small tag, rip it open and win something. Mine was empty, but I still got a cookie. My husband however gets a small bottle of Sake, which means we’ll have our first sake in Japan tonight in our hotel room… We are also given out some things like a map of the area, some information pampflets and a fan with the red, foxy creature. The Japanese never stop to amaze me… They just give out things:) This kind of spirit has also infected me and I’ve been buying small presents to people back home.

In Aizu-Wakamatsu, we decide to take the local ‘Loople’ the town bus, which takes us to all the two target places that we have mapped out for ourselves. This city bus is called the ‘Haikara’, which in Finnish means ‘Stork’, the bird that brings babies. Haikara first takes us to the castle, which in my knowledge of half-a-dozen Japanese castles that I’ve visited in my life, would be quite a kick-ass level of a castle. However, we are unlucky with the weather and have a very clowdy day, so we are lucky to get any pictures at all… Of course most of the time the pictures in my husband’s books are in black and white, so clowdy days do not matter… But I am personally a big fan or color pictures of Japan.

This castle is not on a hill, like the Sendai one, and so it has been destroyed and conquered. This one is a replica. We climb up the pagoda-like construction, way up to the top, to see the city view and of course also the mountains. Samurais here had particularly interesting helmets on, with a golden symbol of some kind stuck in their foreheads. As Date Masamune of Sendai had half a moon, the main guy here seems to have had a kanji, an ‘ai’, which means ‘love’.  There is a tv-series made of that era, so the castle is half filled with tv series posters and autographs of the stars… We do some tat shopping while we still can, I bought some bowls to be sent back home and some tat for my female relatives. Then it’s time to jump to the Haikara again and climb a mountain.

This mountain is the place where the white tigers, 19 very young (16 years old or so) boys comited suicide because they thought the smoke coming from their castle meant they had to do that. Thank god for modern communication devices, huh? There is a shrine area where you can light some insents to them and the smoke is not fading. The story is very sad, but to my opinion, they did die because they were just kids, because they were Japanese, and the Japanese always play by the rules. If someone tells you to kill yourself, you say: “sword trough stomach or beheading?”…

Our time in Aizu-wakamatsu may not have been the best in weather wise, but once again, a good day to learn about the different ways that people can think in this world. Back on red fox train, we see one of the most gorgeous sunsets over the mountains I have ever seen.

Day 14/63

We left Sendai in the morning to head for Koriyama, where our main purpose was to leave our luggage while we’ll go to Aizu-Wakamatsu tomorrow. Our hotel room check-in was at 3pm, so we had some time to look into the city around before that. There is not a whole lot going on, how ever, we stumbled onto a weird drumming noise that was coming from the station. Perhaps around a 100 policemen were squatting on the public entrance, listening into these crazy kids playing their impressive instruments. This was nothing but a press release about traffic accidents and how they just don’t want to have any more of them.

In fact, they have come up with a whole day, the 30th of September, where NO ONE is allowed to die in traffic in the whole of Japan. Why this needs drumming… Well, we’ll never know. Perhaps it was to increase the unified spirit of the police or something. After squatting and drumming, they all were giving out a bag of wonders to the public around the area. It included some pictures with helpful advice like ‘be aware of ninjas’ and ‘fasten your seat belt’.

An elderly officer came to me with his bag of wonders and caught into a conversation with my husband about why are we in Koriyama, why he speaks such a good Japanese and where are we from. Of course i have head variations of this conversation about every day with all kinds of members of the public, the waiters in restaurants, taxi drivers and even with other police men… SO I kind of know what is said in there. But at the same time, I feel my Japanese is gradually improving.

Last time when we were in here, I didn’t know the difference between Udon, Ramen and Soba. I had no idea what kind of noodles I wanted, that is. This time I can read at least half of hirakanas/katakanas, I think, and I can carry on very small conversations. I recall words that I have forgotten, but suddenly now remember what they mean, like “kippu” (ticket)… I can even get my favorite onegiri, which is ’sea chicken btw’ (the tuna mayo one). I impress myself because I have done nothing to improve my language skills since my classes ended back in 2005, when I completed as much Japanese as you can do in my university back in Jyväskylä.

For the rest of the day, we did some work and went to have some Ramen in one of those restaurants which you won’t know are restaurants, if you don’t actually read Japanese… Outside they have a ‘noren’ (which means a cloth that you hang to cover your door halfly, where you can walk through), which usually says ‘udon’ (big fat soup noodles) or something like that. And inside, it looks like someone’s living room. Tourists just have no chance of finding these places. The food is usually great and much cheaper than on the street by the station. This is why my husband and I have began to wonder – perhaps other people don’t travel as cheap as we do in Japan either. I mean in China, it is obvious that they try to trick you for making you pay the tag price instead of the bargained price, but even in here, it also really pays to know the language.

Off to Hokkaido – I am skipping the last two days of training in Hombu, because I believe there is more non-kenshis reading this… I will however point out that Hombu summer camp is always a good idea.

I learned a lot in those days, specially talking to the Japanese young university students… They technically train Kempo for a year and become shodans, by the time they leave university, they are perhaps even sandans… But then the reality hits them and many of them told me that they will have to stop training because of the demanding life of working in Japan. Finns are so lucky: We are not expected to do 12 hour days at the office (or stay at home with kids), where there is no room for hobbies… Sadly enough, many of these kenshis I will never see again. How different is your life if you are born to Jyväskylä than to Tokyo… You may think the level of living is similar, but I couldn’t help but to think that living around the clock working life like that is like living in a modern prison. I know it can be like that in Helsinki or London as well, I’m just glad that’s not my life.

On Saturday morning I woke up at 6am after lovely three and a half hours of sleep on the futons. This day is what I call a Gasshuku hangover. Yes, I also had a real hangover, too much biiru, desu ne. But what is evident when ever one has dealt with something so intensive as a Shorinji Kempo camp – there is always the Gasshuku hangover. It means you are in vain trying to find your schedule sheet and check when the Chinkon Gyo starts, you are doing Gassho at all the doorsteps, including the bathroom’s and even the traffic lights are looking like they are standing in Kesshu gamae.

This week in Tadotsu was indeed one of the best weeks of my life. I met awesome people, my Japanese communication has really picked up: I can say “Move your leg there”, “Let’s try one more time”, “Well done! You are very good”, “Let’s take it slow”, “Punch me to the head with your right hook” and other very useful phrases that you should know when on a martial arts camp with mainly non-English speaking kenshis.

We eventually went out to Yokota’s every night, and as always, the sessions turned into Seiho parties (meaning that everyone massages everyone at the tatamis). Yokota’s best dish in my opinion, is not the Doshin So Chiken btw, but the Kimchi rice. That is to die for. On the last night we had some of the senseis come out as well, specially helpful was Mika sensei, who can speak english. The whole day was mixed feelings of goodbyes. I was specially unhappy to say goodbye to some of the new friends that I’m unlikely to see again. Eerik the Swede-Japanese and Cedric the German-English I am confident that I can see again back in Europe. Evandro however, I don’t see popping into Brazil anytime soon. It is so precious to meet so many great people in so little time…

What I feel most lucky about is that I have family who can come with me to experience something like this. Kirsi, Timo and I made a five year pact to come back and try to take also the two other training members of our family with us.

Kyoto, day 2/63.

On our second adventure day in the old capital of Japan, my family and I headed for the imperial palace. None of us besides my husband who used to live in Kyoto, have ever been there, so it seemed like a great way to spend a morning. I woke up 7:15am, (1:15finnish am) and immediately felt a lot better than yesterday. Lucky for me, I am easy when it comes to rythms, no need for sleeping pills or so.

Pretty much like in Crete, the main functions of keeping your body live is drinking, salt, toilets and sun cream. I came well prepared and had no trouble at all. we have mostly non-breakfast-included hotels in Japan, but this is a conscious choise: We know the seven elevens are everywhere. What is better than some ice coffee, onegiri (rice cake with sea weed and fillings) or perhaps a hamu-sando (ham sandwich) for breakfast: yam!

We are staying at the Kyoto tower hotel, which also makes us like five metres from the subway’s main line. Kyoto’s railservices sometimes seem stupidly complicated: What’s the point in having different metro lines that need different kinds of tickets? I suppose corporations are the answer to that. However, buying a ticket is not as complicated as one might think – the signs have got roman letters on and even the machine speaks english. You figure out how much the price is and buy one. 250/210 yen mainly for 2-5 stops (one way), which we made today.

I find myself instantly improving in my japanese. I am still hopeless of course, but I can read most hirakanas and simple kanjis. Also I can pick up words that I recognise in conversations, such as the ones that my husband has with people. Pretty simple japanese – straightforward and easy. I studied it 2 years in the university night classes, but unfortunately that amount does not make you fluent. Japanese is number one on my list of languages to learn fluently, even if it’s not the most useful one concerning my work. It would be just very handy to have a translator in the SK camps whenever needed. My husband spent eight months living in Kyoto… I wonder if we’ll sometime move into Japan for a couple of years. I would not say no to a challenge like that.

After pissing about through the gardens where Jonathan tells my family members so interesting stories that I have time to take about a zillion pictures, we head back to Teramatchi, the shopping arcade. I’ve had serious second thoughts about the lens of my dreams and I feel that I will have to have it. 560euros for something that is more like 1300euros when new in Finland… I find that as a bargain that I don’t want to be crying over at home when missing.

My relatives are getting worried – even now that they’ve eaten and gone to exactly their will, it’s been mainly thanks to the 24 hour translating. Next week the tour guide/translator will vanish to Hokkaido with me, which means that they’ll be left alone with their problems. We have been looking for a book that would show Japanese food to morons, which would then allow them to skip their burger-king-worlds and visit actual japanese restaurant without having to worry that they’ll get something nasty from the miscommunication. There’s a great book idea there in order to put both pictures and humour together – something I’d like to do as a project with my spouse.

In the evening we have a dinner invitation from an old Japanese Shorinji Kempo family, whose son visited Finland when I was nine years old. He’s now the father of three and his father, the big sensei of Rakuto-doin, their practising hall, is an old dear friend to us. Their house is incredible. There’s a whole training area which is technically the living room and the Kempo room at the same time. There’s a full size Japanese garden and shrine for Zen Buddhism, where SK takes its roots. Actually now a days, SK is not allowed to teach Kongo Zen philosophy anywhere outside Japan, in order to keep SK out of religious wars I imagine.

We have home made sushi, okonomiyaki, salad, sausages, beer… A huge buffet indeed, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. I always think the way to experience travelling the best way, is to meet friends and locals (natives, if you like) and spend time with them. They’ll show you the customs, the styles, the food, the living conditions. And as I’ve been to Japanese homes before, so I can agree with our fellow kenshi from Helsinki: “it was nice to visit a japanese home that was huge”, normally Japanese live in very small places, as living is very expensive. Having said that, so far all the meals we’ve had have been about 7,5 euros/person including beer and whatnot – this means certainly that it’s less than an average lunch in Jyväskylä, my hometown in Finland… 8,6euros is it now? And this is also dinners here…

Tomorrow it’s bye-bye Kyoto and hello to Tadotsu. I feel teary when thinking about the places I am visiting and how I would love for my father to be with us.