kyonoki

The Temple Whorehouses

If you sit on the tatami of Myo-oin and pray in the dark recess of the hall, the tarnsihed buddha grinning knowingly at you, something will catch the corner of your eye. A flashing, garish neon sign, sputtering and out of place amongst the regal and sober buildings. A million miles from the peace of the temple sanctuary, the Hotel Lille advertises it's hourly rates, an underground carpark discreetely depositing its cutomers to the entrance. One of a dozen Love Hotels squeezed onto the secluded hillside of the temple, each day I walk past these pastel buildings, no longer bamboozled why religion and sex are so at home with one another in Japan.

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27 10 05 - 09:36 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Superstition

You should cover your navel when thunder rumbles, the lightening might steal your belly button.

Parents often say it to their children when thunder rumbles, and originally it was a warning that children (who often ran around scantily clothed) should put on their kimonos. Traditional Japanese belief has it that cold weather can cause problems such as diarrhea, cramps, or stomach pains, so people wore haramaki (long pieces of cloth wrapped around their stomach) and were very concerned about keeping their stomachs warm. Lightning is often accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature, so they were telling their kids to put on something warm, but since children aren’t likely to listen to that sort of warning, they told them that lightning could steal their belly-buttons instead.

Japanese superstition, tossed around in conversation with my coworker today, as Britain's own season of superstition begins. Halloween, that season of deliriously mixed up tradition and candy corporation exploitation. The Celtic End of Year, when spirits of the dead were said to return to this world. At first looks Halloween and Japanese O-bon seem to be almost the same, but for the fact that the Celts were in mortal fear of the spirits and did their best to avoid all contact. Food would be left at the door and frigtheningly carved pumpkins placed in the windows, to appease and ward off unfriendly spectres. At the break of morning, All Hallow's Day, the spirits would be returned to the Netherworld and the new year hailed in.

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26 10 05 - 13:03 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Farce

A luckless farce of a day. A waning afternoon spent sitting for two hours on a cold baseball pitch, forbidden from going back inside, and in which I broke all the escalators in an electronics store with a one yen coin.

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25 10 05 - 11:08 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

It Was a Cold Stormy Night

As if to prove the seasons turning, we came out of the cinema into icy cold curtains of rain in the early hours last night. Wrapped up as best we could, we rode the short distance to home, soaked and chilled to the bone. Struggling out of our clothes, it seems as if the indian summer has come to an abrupt and chilly end. Pyjama bottoms on, windows closed, blankets pulled out...the nights are drawing in. Another washed out weekend, warm and lazy, watching TV shows and big brainless movies. Rhod is crouched, fighting the blue screen of death on his computer, which crashed this morning, and I am feeling lethargic making hundreds of mugs of tea. My usual ADD is vanishing as it gets colder and colder outside, so in spite of being still being in my PJs well into the afternoon, it is well spent being with Rhod.

22 10 05 - 18:17 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

A Murder Most Foul

A charming, if rather slight tale of lovers parted. After an accidental marriage whilst practising his vows, the luckless Victor finds himself whisked to the Land of the Dead. Charmed, rather than horrified, he must find a way to get back to his betrothed. A harmless escape from a rainy evening, the story is a simple and beautifully created piece. Plasticine characters storm the cinema at the end of the year!

22 10 05 - 18:06 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Mario Kidnapped

Mario is back!...well, sort of. After a lengthy sabbatical, the vibrant hordes of the Mushroom Kingdom have returned, minus a kidnapped Mario. It seems like Nintendo have been scared of dropping the ball for so long, that while Mario is flogged to death pushing mediocre sports and dance games (MarioKart aside), fans have been somewhat disappointed as the company drags its heels on the real deal. With a new Super Mario Bros. game coming soon, and MarioKart in December, are we about to get a proper dose of the rotund plumber?

Enter "Super Princess Peach" for DS, with it's four 'emotion-powers' (uplifted, crying, furious, happy) and one of the most annoying characters in the Mario universe, it really shouldn't work. But, although made by an outside company, and while not remarkably challenging, this game whets the appetite for the pending mario goodness. For once, Peach gets to fight for herself; slapping old enemies and new with her handy umbrella, all the while searching for Mario and his mysterious captor.

There are things that still grate. The overly annoying voices of the characters have me turning down the volume, and the music is not by any means classic Mario. However, it's vivid, imaginative and packed full of value-adding mini-games to accompany the inventive levels, Princess Peach is a must have in the Mario canon.

Unable to put the DS down, it has me desperate to get my hands on the next proper Mario game. Pick up the pace Nintendo, your fans are waiting.

21 10 05 - 09:18 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Littlest Statue

Everyday I cut through through Myo-o Shrine, skittering down hundreds and hundreds of steps to the houses below a small cliff. In this way I can slip through the narrow alleys and jumble of villas to reach the station. Lining the green slopes of the almost-mountain are hundreds of tiny Jizo statues. As I go home, I pat the very last one on the head -a mossy, minisule little thing, eternally smiling thoughtfully- for good luck. Jizo statues can be found all over Japan, but especially around graveyards because it is believed that Jizo saves the souls of those in hell, especially aborted, miscarried and stillborn babies.
 
The Japanese believe that children who die prematurely are sent to Hell because they bring so much sadness to their parents. In Hell, they are sent to Sai no Kawara, a dried up river, where they are made to build monuments made of small pebbles to Buddha in order attract his compassion and be freed from Hell.  Their work is hampered however, by a terrible demon who scatters the rocks with an iron club.  When the demon comes, it is Jizo that protects the children by hiding them in his sleeves and drives the demon away, making him one of the most beloved of the Bosatsu.

As I leapt down the stairs, I noticed the statue was gone. Stopping, I looked around and realised that the small figure had been smashed. Somehow it had been knocked off its small ledge to the cars below. A few pieces left, that was all. It made me sad. I hope that it was an accident. There are other statues, but nothing with anything near the expressive face of my little friend.
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20 10 05 - 10:10 - kieren - kyonoki| one comment - § ¶

Blood Ties

Pinched and tickled until I can take no more, students torture me, thinking that I am lying when I say I do not know my blood type. To them it is impossible for me not to know, so they try to abuse the answer out of me, cursing my pretense.

Blood type is not important to me, so much so that I have no idea of my blood type, though I have had scores of blood tests in the past. It has never popped into my head to ask, because unless I was in some kind of accident, why would I need to know. The Japanese on the other hand would never dream of not knowing. Every one of my students knows their blood types and are appalled that I have no interest in my own.

I always wondered about the obsession the Japanese have with blood. My friend Misa put me right. In the 1920's and 30's, blood type became a major issue in Japan because Western scientists were claiming that it proved the inferiority of the Asian race... (more)

20 10 05 - 09:55 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Closed World

Quick Pop Quiz. What would the Japanese do if Godzilla really did emerge out of Tokyo Bay? What would their reaction be as the giant atomic rays flattened downtown Tokyo? In truth, probably nothing.

The Japanese seem to have an amazing ability to not see. It is a gift that comes from the sheer number of people squeezed into small pockets of flat land. Mountains prevent development across most of the country, funnelling population into huge cities, that often merge into one another. When rush hour is a bone-breaking crush, when there is a constant stream of noise, of traffic, of tourists, it is little surprising that the Japanese psyche has developed a simple way to cope with their close proximity to the next person. Deliberate blindness.

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19 10 05 - 11:08 - kieren - kyonoki| one comment - § ¶

Sexual Politics

'Shimada is a strange boy. Lately he keeps hugging two other boys during class, squeezing himself onto the same chair and telling them how pretty they are'. (more)

18 10 05 - 10:15 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Wheels on the Bus

Rhod concentrating on his driving skills, thinking hard about a change of careers.

15 10 05 - 16:15 - kieren - kyonoki| one comment - § ¶

Plastic Bunnies and War Drums

Dear constant viewers. Draw the curtains, lean back, rest your weary feet, and make yourself comfortable. For I am about to tell you a tale of much woe, of sheer blind luck. Let us begin with a man and a woman, and their little son.

A smart looking couple walked down the shrine steps, sombrely dressed in black, each holding the hand of their small son. Praying to the gods that he would be accepted to the priveleged nursery school they had moments before interviewed at. Waiting for the traffic to pass, a huge lorry swerved to avoid a careless woman skittering across the road in high heels, screeching to a halt where the couple and their boy had been standing. As this is not actually a story, their lives did not end at this moment, but something much more unexpected. The material side of the truck gave way, loosing hundreds of blow up toys across the forecourt of the shrine. Bunnies, bears, mallets, dogs, cats, pumpkins...unimaginable shapes and sizes, every shape and colour, drowning the man, woman and child in an avalanche of fairground toys.

As the man screamed obscenities, flinging pink bunnies this way and that. The driver slapped his forehead at the spilled mess. I frowned, thought how strange it was, then shrugged...this is my workplace, and weird things happen here a lot.

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14 10 05 - 13:17 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

An English Gentleman

Jonathan Coe wrote that the British character is one of complimented contradition. While we are deeply melancholic, we are infused with a jovial nature, able to laugh at our selves and make the best of any situation. While gloomily expecting the worst, we are capable of so much when we set our minds to it. We would like to think ourselves modest, but we harbour a huge pride. Yep, I would pretty much agree with that.
Being English is fantastic, in ways that other people could not understand. No, seriously.

13 10 05 - 10:33 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Smushed Smurfs

Smurfs happily singing and dancing in their safely tucked away village. Moments later and an air raid has left their homes burning shells, their families killed, their lives ripped to shreds. Not the friendly vision of the blue loving folk, but the alternative UNICEF campaign. Hoping to raise money for African children enslaved to the military and forced to fight, Belgium has been looking to loose peoples purse-strings by dipping into their childhood memories. Using shock tactics, UNICEF has gone about creating a horrifying comparison between the Smurfs and the realities of countries in conflict. I admit that the picture looks more bizarre than thought provoking, but then again it is only a single frame from commercials broadcast after the watershed in Belgium. Check out the BBC report here.

13 10 05 - 10:08 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Equations

As students sat their Eiken Tests this morning, I found that it was me sitting, scratching my head, gnawing away at my pencil in sheer puzzlement at the answers. Eiken tests a students ability at written English and listening, 40 minutes of question answering. Bored to be left in the teachers room, I picked up a copy and took a seat at the back of the class. Not really a challenge, but useful in helping me study effective ways of teaching and noting down the students particular weaknesses. So I was little perplexed when I was struggling, 10 minutes into the test.

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11 10 05 - 11:18 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Evil Lair

James Bond Super-villain Laboratory? Nuclear Power plant? Toyota HQ? Nope, none of the above. Kyoto Station sits in a plain of small buildings. Often I sit on the fence when it comes to the contentious issue of the station's striking appearance. From inside, you feel like you are in the workings of a grand atrium, mixed up in the mind of a mad professor, but from outside it is remarkable in its shoulder shrugging mediocrity.

Would be cool if it were a Super Villain lair.

10 10 05 - 10:56 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Moving Tortoise

Challenged to paint a picture of a tortoise that would move, Sesshu decided instead to carve one in stone, along with a crane. At night the tortoise was said to move around the gardens. In frustration, Sesshu rammed a rock through the tortoise's back, pinning it down and stopping it from moving. You can still see this rock, the tortoise, sitting in the Hasso Gardens of Tofukuji.

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10 10 05 - 09:33 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Drowned God

Sweet gods, has the Autumn finally reached into Kyoto's valley? Have we seen an end to the half-delirium that comes in the summer nights, now come the comfortable evenings spent drifting off towards a more natural sleep. The drone of airconditioners hushed, grasshoppers singing their solitary songs. After many months, it seems that Fall is almost upon us. While still in t-shirts at work, the mornings are decidedly more chilly and it won't be long until I pull on a jacket before leaving the house. Now comes the season of typhoons, with its lashing rain and angry skies. The nights seem a lot darker, and home seems a lot more enticing. (more)

05 10 05 - 09:45 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

Barefoot Gen

A few years ago, I helped my friend Yoshi clear out his parents attic before their family moved to Aomori. While we were hunting through the dusty boxes I came across hundreds and hundreds of manga (graphic novels really), so pulled them out into the garden and sat flicking through the yellowed, old pages. Scores of books were about a boy called Gen, who lived with his family in Hiroshima during World War II. I couldn't understand everything, though the pictures told the story for me. Scores of comics formed the tale of the family as it tried to cope with war and their fate at the time the atomic bomb was dropped. Finally today, I sat down and read the English translation of the story. It didn't take a great deal of time as there were no pictures. Barefoot Gen stunned me in ways I did not expect and while I anxiously followed the course of his family's life, the tragedy and injustice of their tale horrified me to the core...in ways other novels about Hiroshima have not.

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04 10 05 - 09:54 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶

The Somersaulting Manta

Man knows more about the surface of the moon, than he does of the depths of the oceans. Sea life can be so alien to us that often a primative fear takes hold. Even though water covers most of our planet, often we have no idea what it contains nor how deep it really goes. The British, like the Japanese, are naturally drawn to the coast and to water - even if their birthplace were miles inland. I can sit and watch the sea for a lifetime. I have never lived very far from it, nor would I want to. In Kyoto, we sometimes don't get to venture out to the sea as much as I'd like. It's partly because of this, that our trip to Osaka Aquarium this weekend was so amazing. (more)

03 10 05 - 14:39 - kieren - kyonoki| No comments - § ¶