yan / mupymup - Notebook

Yuans For Yens

2010-05-13T00:00:00Z

Chinese guy in his fifties stops me in front of a bank. He is wearing a worn jacket of very Chinese indeterminate dull colour. Calculator in one hand, stack of banknotes in the other. He smiles encouragingly at me. I am not much encouraged, though. I don't even know the exchange rate. And we are standing in front of the bank. I shake my head and walk off inside.

Very Communist Qingdao

2010-05-13T00:00:00Z

Ocean. Columns of smoke on the horizon. From huge freighters, water castles of containers. I cannot see them now. I saw them an hour ago from the deck of ferry from Shimonoseki in Japan. Now the ship is gingerly passing wharfs and cranes of cargo harbour. It is headed to tiny passenger terminal that is hidden betweet warehouses of a industrial zone. I am in Qingdao. I am in China.

Motion Blur From Shinkansen Window

2010-05-12T00:00:00Z

Acceleration. Countryside turning into motion blur. Chopped by darkness of tunnels. As if you were passing damn fast by a giant barcode. Even though the train is going 300 km/h the ride is quiet and soft. Like the blue plush seats inside. I am in Shinkansen, Japanese high speed train. In the latest and fastest model. The N700.

Japanese Machines

2010-05-11T00:00:00Z

In Japan they are everywhere. They glow in the big cities and attract passers-by. They stand on lonely corners in remote villages on forgotten islands. Or lost on the meadows and in the woods. They are on ships and in trains. Five and half million of them in total. Bigger number than population of Norway. Every year Japanese spend five trillion yen shopping at them.

In Osaka People Cross On A Red Light!

2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

„Do people really cross a red light in Osaka?“ Chihiro - character from Japanese cartoon - was wondering. „Wait till you get to Osaka. People there are . Always in a hurry. They have countdowns next to traffic lights so they know how long they need to wait for a green light!“ Jun from Tokyo was laughing. Japanese from other parts of the country are simply fascinated by Osaka's traffic lights and crossing on a red.

You cannot go to Japan and not visit Kyoto

2010-05-09T00:00:00Z

You cannot go to New York and not see Statue of Liberty. You cannot go to India and not see Taj Mahal. You cannot go to Paris and not see Eiffel Tower. And you cannot go to Japan and not visit Kyoto.

Beware! Deer Butt And Bite

2010-05-08T00:00:00Z

If you have no food deer will ignore you. But take out - special deer crackers made from rice bram and cereals - and they will surround you. More then you would want to. They jostle and nudge and nod. People say they imitate traditional japanese bow. But do not be fooled. They are insidious beasts.

Afternoon At The Big Shark

2010-05-07T00:00:00Z

Early afternoon. Almost dark. Raining since this morning. And so I am at Osaka Aquarium. This time on a working day it is almost empty. Few couples on dates, few families with children. Tunas and penguins and huge manta-rays. And local superstar -- giant whale shark. With shoal of fish riding his back, same like promised picture on the ticket.

Takoyaki tabetai!

2010-05-05T00:00:00Z

Osaka is famous for its people who like to cross red lights and for its good food. As they say in Japan: „Dress up and bow till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you burst in Osaka.“ And as Osakans are friendly - and not cold and aloof as people from Kyoto - so is its food. Okonomiyaki and kushikatsu. But above all takoyaki.

Until My Fingertips Become Wrinkled

2010-05-02T00:00:00Z

I am floating in a pool of hot mineral water. I can see the ocean across the cliffs. Hirauchi-kaichu Onsen - hot spring in the south of Yakushima. Three tiny pools in the rocks. Accessible only few hours a day, when the tide is out. Rest of the time they under the sea.

Sakurajima Is Not Your Friendly Neighborhood Volcano

2010-05-02T00:00:00Z

„Do you want to borrow a bike? It takes only four hours around the volcano,“ the reception girl from the hostel under Sakurajima asks me. Four hours? That sounds cool. I might do it... „But on the other side ash falls down, you are going to be all black,“ she warns me. „Aha. No bikes then,“ I change my mind. She smiles and nods. As if she knew from the beginning.

Princess Mononoke From Enchanted Moss Forest

2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

People come to Yakushima to see „The Big Tree“. More fun, more interesting and less tiring is a trip to Shiratani Unsuikyo. Ravine with fairy tale forrest where Oga Kazuo - the lead artist of Ghibli Studio - spent a lot of time sketching when working on famous animated movie Princess Mononoke. And Shiratani Unsuikyo really feels like magical forrest.

How many thousand rings the Jomonsugi tree has?

2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

Yakushima. Island sixty km over the sea from Kyushu. All covered by one huge forrest. Few peaks almost two thousand meters high. Lots of rain. The wettest place in Japan. One of the wettest places on Earth. „It rains 35 days every months,“ say locals. In fact, it rains only every other day. But it does rain really lot. On the coast about four meters a year. In the mountains eight to ten.

Hill of Rice, Sulphur In The Air

2010-04-25T00:00:00Z

Train from Kumamoto changes direction twice. Forward--backward--forward. Climbing up the wall of Aso Caldera. Tourist map I got at the station says that Aso with its 18 km from East to West, 24 km from North to South and circumference of 120 km is the world's biggest crater. That it was formed 100 000 years ago when a huge volcano collapsed.

Seagulls In Flight

2010-04-24T00:00:00Z

„Quick! Ooutside,“ Eri pulls me to the open deck. To the flock of screaming seagulls. They fly so close. When I extend my hand maybe I will touch them? And what if I touch them? Eri takes out a cup of . Will they eat from hand? But they do not want to. I crush the potato stick and throw it into the flock. In flight, birds catch the pieces. Nothing falls in the sea.

Gunkanjima: Salty Wind Chewing On Ferroconcrete

2010-04-23T00:00:00Z

Cold wind. Gray morning light. Metalic ocean, long waves. Dark Shadow floating on horizon. Island that Japanese know by its nickname - . Nobody uses its real name . They say that In World War II crew of an American submarine mistook it for real ship and torpedoed it. Empty crumbling buildings, black holes for windows. Salty winds chew on ferroconrete. Coal mine. Abandoned more than thrity years ago.

A-bomb, Slow Trams, And Sponge Cakes

2010-04-22T00:00:00Z

„Try this one,“ chef dressed in white offers me few pieces on a plate. Damn, this one is real tasty. „With cheese,“ he explains, „but most importantly frozen. Frozen is best,“ he chuckles. „Here, tea flavoured, also frozen,“ he hands me more. And then honey, chocolate...

Fukuoka Hides Aztec Ruins

2010-04-21T00:00:00Z

Tenjin - the shopping district and centre of Fukuoka - is anonymous glass and concrete. Same like centre of any japanese modern city. I walk to the river. Then through inconspicuous glass bulding to the park on the other side. Black creaking of crows. Drizzle. Despite the wind aluminium clouds do not move. Wet grass paints abstract patterns on my shoes. I turn around but the building is gone. I can see only Aztec pyramid that is being eaten by jungle.

For Dinner Go Eat Somewhere Else

2010-04-20T00:00:00Z

In Japan, whenever I said „Fukuoka“ the answer I got was „ramen“. Yellow chinese noodles in broth about which are all Japanese crazy. Those from Fukuoka come in distinctive white broth made from pork bones. ramen. You can eat them in one of hundreds ramen shops. Or exotically for Japan at one of many yatai - street foodstalls that open at night.

Reality Is Always Smaller

2010-04-18T00:00:00Z

Not far from Hiroshima, on the Miyajima island is . One of the three best views in Japan - according to the list that was compiled by Japanese scholar Hayashi Razan in the seventeenth century. Which has been adopted by Japan Tourist Organization.

More Tourists Than In Kyoto

2010-04-17T00:00:00Z

Hiroshima. The first of two cities that were razed to the ground by atom bomb. Today it looks like ordinary japanese city. Flat. And not mentioning hiroshimayaki - the local special dish - not very interesting. And yet you meet here more tourists than in Kyoto.