China, I thought, preferred to keep visitors out; many Southeast Asian countries invited foreigners in, with ambiguous wink and smile; Japan smilingly greeted visitors at the door and appeared to admit them without ever really doing so. India, by contrast, took in all the hordes and simply swept them up in the undifferentiated tide.

-Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu, p 281

Pizza in Japan is treated much like most other foreign concepts: it’s kind of the same but brow-beaten to fit Japanese cultural kookiness. It certainly looks like pizza, but closer examination shows the Japanese are the Jackson Pollacks of pizza making.

Don’t get me wrong, you can find normal Western toppings. Its also one of the only ways to get cheese that you don’t have to take out a loan to pay for. On Kyushu, we have a chain called California Pizza and my favorite is the Spicy Pepper Pizza, which like like a pepperoni and sausage with a tangier sauce. Many Italian establishments serve standard Italian versions like margherita.

The seafood lovers type is not uncommon in the West (but I’m not so sure about the chunks of salmon and squid rings). Then things get a little strange. Enter the most loved topping in Japan: mayonnaise!! Seriously, it can be put on anything and only in copious quantities- including pizza. My local convenience store often sells single slices with a whole hot dog/sausage on top, covered in mayo, of course. Mayo is one of my least liked foods.

Take a look at this pretty standard looking menu:

Pizza Hut Japan’s exclusive Double Roll pie perhaps takes the prize. This monster is 646 calories per slice and boasts little bacon wrapped sausages baked into the crust and mini hamburger patties on top among a plethora of other toppings. It comes with maple syrup for extra flavor and will only set you back $35US. Given a chance, I would try this. But no mayo.

Double Roll

Cousin to the Above

Here is a list of some toppings that have been known to show up.

• Squid
• Squid Ink Sauce
• Salmon
• Corn
• Dried Flakes Of Fish
• Eel
• Kimchi
• Raisins
• Corn (blasphemy if you ask me)
• Mayonnaise
• Spaghetti
• Cabbage Curry
• Seaweed
• Egg Yolk
• Whole Chicken Breasts
• Tater Tots
• Tuna
• Eggplant
• 1/6 Chunks of Tomato
• Curry Powder

Ummm, Squid Ink Pizza

What is often called a “Japanese pizza” is the delicious okonomiyaki. Its pan-fried batter cake with various ingredients. I’ve got some great video of the process of making one, which is usually done right in front of you. Perhaps I’ll cover that soon….

For all the strangeness and corn and mayo out there, there are some unique and tasty pies available in Japan. You can (usually) get a standard one and for the adventurous there are plenty of options. Just hold the mayo.

Most of these photos are from Inakadate in Aomori Prfecture. They’ve been creating images in the rice fields since 1993 and several other places have taken the practice up.

Check out the time-lapse video at the end showing 2008′s paddy art.

The following is a time-lapse video from 2008′s creation:

Zatōichi (座頭市) is the long running character who is the archetypical blind Japanese swordsman. 25 films were made showcasing his extraordinary ability from 1962 – 1974, with a 26th added in 1989. In everyone he is played by actor Shintaro Katsu, though a 2003 remake starred Takeshi Kitano.

The iconic Zatōichi wanders the land, protecting the innocent, gambling, playing music, and giving massages. It’s an interesting character that has influenced many works both in Japan and in the West.

Below are the posters and/or DVD covers of the 26 films starring Shintaro Katsu, plus the remake for good measure.

Beppu, Japan has been called the Las Vegas of Japan. I’m not sure it has many more pachinko parlors or snack bars than any other moderately sized Japanese city, but tourists do come in droves to soak in the many natural hot springs, called onsen, for which the city is so famous.

So it was with some marketing trickery Beppu gained it’s moniker as I think anyone who has spent time in Sin City can attest. The odd statue outside Beppu’s main train station depicts the founding father of Beppu’s tourism boom with arms raised and several naked cherub-like children clung to his cape. He compared Beppu to the delights of Mount Fuji.

Among the crowd drawing jigoku, or hell, onsen (much too hot to enter) sits the Hihōkan Sex Museum. Hihōkan, meaning “house of the hidden”, is a not-so-hidden display of sexual artifacts and curiosities from around the world.

Figurines in different positions and dildos sit beneath glass cases as treasured artifacts. India, Paupa New Guinea, and Tibet are represented among the items. Life size female mannequins are thematically posed, some with animatronic action. And, in case you were wondering, two stuffed zebras can be found humping.

The second floor houses mostly older Japanese scrolls and paintings with a hardcore bent, but you can get your picture taken with disproportionately large breasts.

Two items stood out the most on my tour. The first was the viewing room with a large screen, darkened seats, and 1980′s porno playing. The salaryman at the center of the film was torn between his demanding wife and the tempting work hussy. The movie appeared to be rather tame and showed no male nudity and little female, but with visitors coming in and out (no pun intended) it didn’t feel right to linger too long.

The highlight was undoubtedly the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs exhibit. In a display that would have Walt Disney spinning in the grave and his lawyers litigiously drooling, the dwarfs are indeed hard at work. On Snow White. I’ll let the image suffice for further description:

On the way out, a gift shop staffed by a couple middle aged women sell all types of toys and gags for both men and women. By this time, I was not taken aback by that in itself, but by the horde of similarly aged women gawking, giggling, buying, and generally blocking the only exit out of the place. The looks in their eyes did not bode well for me and my Caucasian friend and we made a bolt for the door at the first opening.

Admission: ¥1000
Hours: 9am – 10pm
Address: 338-3 Shibuyu Kannawa
Beppu City, Oita Prefecture
Tel: 0977-66-8790

A Facebook group for the even can be found here.

Following my 5 days hiking on Yakushima, I journeyed into Kumamoto Prefecture to soak in some tunes at the Niji no Misaki Matsuri, or End of the Rainbow Festival. It’s also called the Space Children Gathering.

Ad 2 Ad 3

Set high up in the mountains near Mt. Aso, we drove past horse farms and grazing cattle to the festival site.

Several hundred people came to the event and the first thing I noticed were the large tepees set about the grounds. The main stage was backdropped by the largest, an we set our tents stage right in an area we called the suburbs.

The following 4 days were spent relaxing with only one day of drizzle. We mingled with the festival goers and found nearly every conglomeration of tents had a variety of instruments, including guitars, (lots of) drums, didgeridoos, flutes, and whistles. Spontaneous jam sessions would break out with great frequency.

It was nice to see a category of Japanese people that is not often gathered in such numbers. Perhaps many were salarymen in their normal lives, but many formed a kind of counterculture in opposition to the high consumerism normally found in Japan.

We were camped near a large tepee belonging to Yousuke and his lovely wife and child. They own and live on a tea farm in Kumamoto open to woofers. He even suggested we quite our jobs and work for him at ¥1200/hour. Tempting.

The music was good with several “hippy bands,” standard J-rock offerings, some gaijin bands and the great Guitar Panda.

Guitar Panda starts his set in a full Panda Bear mascot uniform, rocking out on the guitar. Then, he strips off to normal clothes for a few more numbers before his final incarnation as Calpis Presley. (Calpis if the name of a popular drink in Japan, and it looks like cow piss.) He rocks through 50′s and 60′s surf and rockabilly, often singing his own dirty Japanese lyrics in place of the original.

Facilities were bare, but water was brought in and there was forest to relieve yourself in. Our camp lacked nice camping gear and open air tents to sit under, so we improvised and erected out own ghetto covers with tarps and cut down trees. I myself doubted the stability, as I’m sure our neighbors did, but it stood the test of wind and rain to our surprise and only required a few swift cuts to take down. In fact, everyday we improved upon the design as its good to accomplish something everyday.

I’m lucky I live a scant few hours drive from it. We had neighbors who journeyed from Hiroshima and even hitchhiked from Tokyo. This event was easily on of the best things I’ve done in Japan and I’d recommend anyone to attend.

You can find all the photos featured here and more in my Yakushima Flickr Set.

Yakushima, only 27 km in diameter, is an amazing hiking destination. My trip was filled with thousand year old giant cedar trees, waterfalls, and outside onsen. I had a few frustrating times but in the end accomplished all I wanted.

Matt and I arrived by ferry in the morning (~¥9000 return on the fast hydrofoil) and immediately set out hitchhiking from the port town of Miyanoura down to the Hirauchi Kaichu Onsen oceanside. We had our first ride in about 20 minutes from Yuko-san who drove us way out of her way to the foot of the onsen. She worked in one of the hotels on the island and spoke perfect English, telling us tales of the K1 fighters and pop singers who stay at her hotel.

The outside onsen was dramatically set in volcanic oceanside rock. The tide was in and the water could have been warmer but we jumped right in. I think some of the old ladies who wandered up to visit were taking more than just onsen pictures as it is mixed nude.

Volcanic Rock

Hirauchi Kaichu Onsen

We wandered looking for a campsite and found the very excellent Young Inn Minshuku, which is a Japanese style bed and breakfast. For ¥800 yen a person, we pitched our tent in their yard on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The inside had rooms to rent and we could use their new looking facilities, plus they gave us their gas stove to cook with and bikes to tool around on. It was such a nice place to start and in complete opposition to the last place we camped. They had a pool table inside as well and drove us to the start of the trail the next day at Onoaida Onsen just a few kilometers from their house. Highly recommended place to stay.

Young Inn Minshuku

And so began the hike. From Onoaida Onsen we walked 13 kilometers, mostly uphill, in a deceptively hard hike if Lonely Planet’s Hiking in Japan is to be believed. Which it’s not. There were no giant trees, like the other side of the hike, or any deer or monkeys. The only redeeming part of it was the 30 meter Jianokuchi-daki waterfall 1.5 hours into it.

Jianokuchi-daki Waterfall

My advice would be to skip this day entirely and only do the last two as outlined by LP. It was a bit frustrating to sludge over 11 hours (book says it takes 8 hours) to get to a point where a road drops all the other hikers off before a short walk to the sleeping hut. We saw no others the first day and arrived to the hut with everyone asleep. In fact, our hosts at Young Inn wondered why only foreigners do this portion and warned us of an over 11 hour hike.

The following day was another uphill battle, so I decided to give my legs, which were still quite tired at 6 a.m., a rest and hitchhike down to an onsen. Matt went on up and I dropped in from the topside of the island to continue after hiking around Yakusugi Land and spending a night on the beach. With names like Buddha-sugi, the immense tree trunks twisted up from the ground.

Buddha-sugi

The next two days of hiking were spectacular. I met Mike (replacing one Scottsman with another) and I hiked with him some of the time. The first day I weaved in and out of the yakusugi (giant cedar areas) and the famed greenery of the “Mononoke Forest”. The view from Tsuji Toge Pass was excellent.

Tsuji Toge Pass, view this one large

Mononoke Forest

Parts of the forest are referred to as the “Mononoke Forest” because it served as the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s animated classic, Princess Mononoke. See the clip below, especially towards the end. These areas are moss covered and can adequately be described as just green. The tiny deer of the island, yaku-shika, can be spotted in many places.

The trail converges to the railroad track that in older times was used to facilitate the removal of the trees. The giants were felled for various reasons over the years including to make stylish shingles for rich people and build temples in Kyoto.

Photo by laungeville

After several hours of walking, eventually the big guy himself, Jomon Sugi, appeared. This monster of a tree is estimated to be as old as 7,200 years. It’s trunk is 28.8 meters in circumference. When I arrived, the crowds had all departed back towards their buses, and I stood alone gazing up into the branches of this ancient tree. We exchanged a few words and I continued on my way.

Jomon-sugi

Jomon-sugi Detail

The next night was spent in a another nice hut and was a short 2 hours from Mt. Miyanoura peak at 1935 meters. It claims the title of the Kyushu area’s highest mountain. I started at 5:30 in the morning and had some amazing views in the early light.

My luxury hut

Granite rocks speckle the mountain tops, which remain fairly flat once you reach a high elevation. Tough bamboo grass called sasa covers the ground and the wind blows with some ferocity. The few hours over Mt. Miyanoura and surrounding peaks is some of the best hiking I’ve done in Japan.

I quickly descended, passed the hut from the first night, and hitchhiked via two rides back to the campsite where I left the tent.

The site was Oceanview Camping Ground, which despite the appealing name turned out to be a gravel parking lot near a rocky ocean front. There was water spouts and portable toilets, so I set the tent in a relatively rock free spot where it stayed for two nights.

One the third night, Matt and I rejoining, the first rain clouds began to roll in. We had amazing luck thus far since it is not uncommon for it to rain everyday on Yakushima. After 6 pm, as the clouds rolled in, our hero Shimbara Shimpei rolls up in his white station wagon. He gets out and immediately goes into puffer-fish mode as little people in big roles tend to do.

His story changed a couple times when it became apparent Matt spoke fluent Japanese. At first the site wasn’t ready. I’m not sure what other preparations a gravel parking lot needs, especially since we are camping during the busiest time of the year (Golden Week time). Not good planning on their part. Then we didn’t have a reservation, which we did not know we needed and no phone number or other contact description posted. Then we hadn’t paid the scant ¥500 yen a night, which we offered to pay, of course. That offer was rejected because I think he just wanted to make us pack everything up and find a new place to stay as the rain was beginning to start because he could (or the police he warned were on speed dial). Shinbara ever of helpfully told us there was another site somewhere that way, though he could not give us a ride. “Impossible.” We were dumbstruck. Any further questions diminished into him yelling “Leave! Leave!” over and over in Japanese. Further more, we watched as he walked over to the other tent set up, and for lack of a better description, shake the shit out of it as the first thing he did.

This episode, despite really being a non-issue, shook me up quite a bit. This is Japan after all and I’ve rarely, if ever, come across such rude behavior especially in light of the circumstances (rain approaching, busiest tourist season). This island depends on the tourist industry and we took precautions not to make a mess.

Our camp after moving actually had grass.

In any event, we walked to another campsite, cooked a meal, and went to bed. It rained well into the morning and we hustled off to the ferry port and caught an early boat back to Kagoshima. We scored some of the best Indian curry I’ve had in Japan before making an early bus back to Oita, allowing for a night in my own bed before work the next day.

And that was only half of my Golden Week adventures….

The week after next is Golden Week here in Japan and constitutes a series of national holidays in close proximity to each other. For many, this is the longest vacation period of the year and a very popular time to travel.

Last year, I spent two weeks backpacking Vietnam from south to north solo. This year I am spending 5 days hiking and camping on Yakushima, an island off the southern coast of Kyushu. After that, I am going to a “hippy festival” called Niji no Misaki Matsuri on the side of Mt. Aso and camp out some more.

Yakushima was one of Japan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and contains pristine sub-tropical giant cedar (yaku-sugi) tree forests. The oldest of these is Jomon-sugi with a girth of 28 meters (first pic below). It is estimated by some to be 7,200 years old. If you are a Creationist, that tree is older than the earth.

The weather is quite fickle and known for the constant rain. The high peaks are snow-capped and the coast is sub-tropical with some great outside onsen (rotemburo) that you can only use at certain times of the day when the tide is just right.

My hike will take three days and cross from south to north over the Kyushu region’s highest peak, Mt. Miyanoura at 1935 meters. The natural scenery, waterfalls, giant trees, and roaming monkeys make this one of the most beautiful places on earth and I am really excited to see it.

I am using my last paid time of the year for this trip! I’ll have to return home for one day of work on Friday, May 2nd, but then I’m right back out to Aso-san in Kumamoto for 5 days. Every year, the little known music festival is held that attracts the more eccentric of Japanese and their dogs.

This should be a relaxing and laid back few days mingling with the crowds and dancing like you just don’t care.

The above shots are courtesy of flickr users ippei + janine, Mil, and Pokeron Polaroid by ippei + janine too.

I’d also like to point out that in this picture of the festival there is a man without his pants acting nonchalant.

The weekend was action-packed as I traveled down to Miyazaki-ken for a taste of the beach and a two day hiking trip.

On Friday, Matteo and I drove down to one of the finer surfing spots in Japan near Hyuga. We brought the surf boards, but on Saturday morning the waves looked weak and it was a bit chilly, so instead decided to hit some scenic spots for a few photos.

Umegase

From there we drove over an hour up a windy mountain road to the start our Mt. Ōkue hike in the Sobo Range. The range is known to be sparsely inhabited with pristine surroundings.

We used Lonely Planet’s Hiking in Japan for our route and found it a bit lacking at times, but adequate overall. The book rates the hike as hard, and that it was.

Hike Loop

Around the start of the trial is Kami Hori, a quaint little mountain community that we were able avoid walking 6 km through since we drove.

Tozan-guchi: Start of the Hike

The book outlines a nice hut that can hold 35 for the first night. We were eager to test a borrowed tent out though, so went a further couple hours further to lessen the next day.

photo by Matteo

photo by Matteo

photo by Matteo

The second day was why the hike is rated hard and is estimated to be 8-9 hours walking steep terrain with nearly 1000 meters assent and descent.

The first half of the day was spent following river and stream in some amazing territory. The mountain ranges a built out of granit; huge boulders, table-like slabs, and inspiring spires. Waterfalls, the highest 25 meters, dotted the trail.

photo by Matteo

photo by Matteo

photo by Matteo

Once the trail turning away from the stream, we spent a couple hours scrambling up rocks to crest a ridge and continue a short ways to the great views off of Ōkue-san at 1643 meters.

The next landmarks were the towering granite spires, a rock climbers dream. They rose out of the forest majestically and beckoned to be climbed. We took the tallest on (actually the quickest too from the trail), though several others all looked inviting. With several hours yet back to the car, we smartly moved on.

photo by Matteo

The rocks, as well as other portions of the trail, are equipped with ropes and ladders as needed. This is great, but the wooden log bridges and ladders did not appear very safe. I have a few kilos on the average Japanese hiker, plus my pack, so imagine how happy I was to watch Matt snap a ladder rung ahead of me. The more dangerous places, thankfully, had metal support structures.

From there, we descended a tricky trail for about 3 hours back to the river. Another metal bridge led us across the river, then past the hut and back to the car. Even though we cut about 2 hours off the estimated time the previous day, we still spent a solid 9 hours hiking.

photo by Matteo

Needless to say, we were exhausted and took an refreshing onsen in Kami Hori before the long drive back home.

Easily my favorite place to eat is my local kaiten zushi, or conveyor belt sushi. Its quite a novel yet simple concept. You sit at counters and tables and the food rolls by on little plates at 8 centimeters per second; grab it if you want to eat. Not only can you manage with little human interaction, but it is cheap with the vast majority of the two-pieces-of-sushi-per-plate prices at ¥105 (around $1).

A coupe minutes from my apartment is Sushi Meijin, a famous chain of kaiten zushi restaurants. I usually get there once a week, but when I first came to Japan it was a lot more!

It works like this: Get there on off peak times otherwise it can really be packed. When you are seated, there is free hot green tea so fill a glass. Dishes for dipping soy sauce are up above, and bowls of wasabi packets roll by if you want a little extra kick.

The selection that rolls by is somewhat limited, so I usually order by pressing a button on the table and then telling a waitress. Its certain to be fresh that way if you come in at odd times too.

It is amazing the piles of plates that are stacked. I am consistently out eaten by pretty young kids and very old people alike. I usually have 6 – 8 plates, maybe 10 if I’m really hungry. Very small totals for the average customer.

On Sunday nights at about 8pm, Sushi Meijin has store wide contest for prizes using Japan’s version of rock, paper, scissors: junken. I’ll explain that some other time, but the contest with people standing on their stools and benches yelling is entertaining. Took me by surprise the first time.

My friend Steve and his sister came to visit last year and I decided to place my now broken compact camera on a plate and send it around. The music (Cowboy Bebop theme song, Tank! by The Seatbelts) is the most obvious of ones I picked out, I know, but it fit so perfect with little editing so I went with it.

At the end, the manager snatches it and brings it back. It only went about 1/5 of the way round. He wasn’t too happy.

The concept of kaiten zushi was invented by Yoshiaki Shiraishi (1914-2001) in 1958 and an estimated 3,000 such restaurants currently exist in Japan. Interestingly, Yoshiaki also created a style where sushi is served by robots, but that has yet to become popular. Yet.

Polaroid picture by flickr user goocy. In post pictures are by myself and flickr user dianaschnuth.