LetsJapan

My Saddest Post . . . Farewell to the Three Sisters Inn.

Here is my post from a few years ago on Kyoto’s Three Sisters Inn Annex. I received the letter below yesterday. In the same card, folded twice along with the one posted below, I received another one, just in Kay Yamada’s own hand. It was personal and I won’t post be posting it here. Feel free to join me and, for at least a few moments, let your heart break . . .

Note: this letter — scanned and posted below — looks blurred on my computer, but is just fine when I click on it. . .

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2013: 01/30
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Edo-Kyo (江戸京)

Edo-Kyo (江戸・京) is a sushi-sashimi restaurant tucked down at the bottom of some off-street stairs along San-Jo street in Kyoto. To get to it begin at the several-storied CD & DVD store at the corner of Kawabata and San-jo. Walk down San-jo past The Pig & Whistle. Edo-Kyo just a couple dozen steps further, on the same side of San-Jo as the CD store and Pig & Whistle. Look for the sign on your left, then go down the stairs, through the split curtains (“noren“) and through the door into the restaurant-proper.

Top of the stairs Edo-Kyo sign and entrance.

Down the stairs. . .

Master sushi chef, Jun-san, welcomes all patrons. . .

Featured in a chapter of my upcoming book:

Edo-Kyo combined Tokyo’s old name “Edo” with the first half of “Kyoto”, designating a wide-ranging cuisine of sashimi and sushi and lightly grilled seafood. It’s a single, white room with one long bar to the left and a with a contemporary calligraphic work spanning the entire, long wall to the patron’s right as they enter, having come down a set of stairs and through a door from the street above. Cool jazz plays low and all chefs, servers and patrons speak in equally low, reserved voices – because you want to, not because you have to. It’s a Comfortable Place, friendly and not pretentious. There’s no fresher sushi in town. It’s expensive, though. I always had the vinegared octopus salad. We both enjoyed the various cuts of tuna sashimi. The flame-grilled scallop, with sea salt and lemon, is worth a trip to the other side of the world. . . .

And while, yes, the scene painted in the excerpt set out immediately above was one I shared with my former spouse, I’ve visited EdoKyo many times over the intervening years with Japanese friends, with the Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University, with the Executive Director of the Jackson County (Alabama) Economic Development Authority, the (now retired) President of Nippon Steel & Sumikin-Intercom, and various other friends and acquaintances. EdoKyo’s simply a favorite spot and I’ll oh-so-lament the day I go and find out it’s no longer there.

2013: 01/12
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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2013 ~~ Happy Year of the Snake!　(へび年)

Happy New Year . . .

明けましておめでとうございます

Ah*ke*ma*shi*te Oh*meh*de*toh Goh*za*i*mas

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According to the Chinese calendar, 2013 is the Year of the Snake. This ancient calendar runs in 12-year cycles. 2012 was the Year of the Dragon and 2011 was the Year of the Rabbit. 2010, the Tiger. Below you’ll see a photo of a snake, a young cottonmouth, I took in the U.S. Deep South Alabama earlier this year.

Cottonmouth. In the Deep South piney woods.

Positive and negative attributes of persons born in a Year of the Snake (2001, 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941 . . .)　－

* Positive: The Snake can be amiable, compromising, fun-loving, altruistic, honorable, sympathetic, philosophical, charitable, a paragon of fashion, intuitive, discreet, diplomatic, amusing and sexy.

* 　Negative: The Snake can also be self-righteous, imperious, judgmental, conniving, mendacious, grabby, clinging, pessimistic, fickle, haughty, ostentatious and a very sore loser.

Quoted in toto from this site.

More characteristics (which I quote from the same, above-linked site) of persons born in a Snake Year:

The person born in the year of snake is the wisest and most enigmatic of all. He/she can become a philosopher, a theologian, a political lizard or a wily financier. Such person is a thinker who also likes to live well. The snake – person loves books, music, clothes, and fine food; but with all his fondness for the good things of life, his innate elegance gives him a dislike for frivolities and foolish talk.

They like communicating and like interesting conversations, although if the conversation becomes repetitive their attention may soon wander. It is almost impossible to fix their attention for long talking about the weather. They prefer to focus on new interesting unusual ides and intelligent discussion in general.

Your author actually has a little, recent, history with snakes in Japan. Below is a photo of yours truly, taken at the City of Hitachi’s Kamine Zoo in 2008. They thought I’d be all scared and freaked out by having a snake hung round my shoulders. They had little idea that I spent much of my childhood in the woodsy wilds of South Alabama . . .

Yours Truly, at Kamine Zoo. Hitachi, Japan. 2008.

Here are a few ways the Year of the Snake is being commemorated and celebrated in Japan:

“It’s a great year, you know!”

So, Happy Year of the Snake and Best Wishes for Health and Prosperity in 2013!

2012: 12/27
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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One Roll of Black & White Film in Kyoto

The eleven photos below come from one roll of film. I shot it in Kyoto in mid-February 2003. As the receipt (see very bottom) shows that I turned the roll in on February 18th, I suspect I shot this roll earlier that same day, beginning very early in the morning, when it was still dark (note that the the pick-up time says 6:00 p.m. the next day, the 19th). Or I may have shot this roll over the course of two or three days. I’m not sure.

Note that it was rainy and overcast. Kyoto’s beautiful like that, too. (click pic for larger image)

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Yasaka Shrine.

Gion.

Gion Shinhashi. Shirakawa.

Gion Shinhashi 2.0.

Elvis, Yamamoto & Takayama: Love and Politics.

Fence and Pine.

Lake Biwa Canal.

Dai Torii at Heian Shrine.

Gion. 5.0.

Kurodani Temple.

Kamogawa (The Kamo River).

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My receipt for the roll of film.

2012: 11/28
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Chochin (堤灯) – Lanterns

Chochin ( 堤灯 ) — pronounced “cho・cheen” — lanterns. Of course back in the day they were all candlelit. I have an old one somewhere, one that used a candle. Years ago, I so often expressed my fascination with them during my stint working at a middle school in rural Hyogo Prefecture that, as part of a “going away” load of gifts given to me by the town and teachers, I was presented with red lantern (akachochin・赤堤灯) with my name written on in in akachochin restaurant style (click the link just provided and look at the top photo, just over the fellow’s shoulder; in that style). Chochin are, as mentioned, used to advertise restaurants, as store “billboards,” at shrines and temples (often all lined-up, on display, with shrine or temple donors’ names prettily painted on them), for festivals and holidays, or just general, around-town decoration. Below are just a few of the very many chochin photos I’ve taken over the years. Most are recently taken, from just the past five or six years and the photo quality varies. Click for larger image.

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Okazaki Shrine, Kyoto. 2007.

Todai-ji, Nara. 2008.

Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto. 2008.

や。き。と。り。Restaurant, Tokyo. 2005.

Kabuki Theater, Shi-jo・Kawabata-dori, Kyoto. 2005.

Gift Shop, Kyoto. 2005.

Ryoan-ji Temple, Kyoto. 2010.

Along Marutamachi, at Okazaki Shrine. 2009.

“Akahige” – “Red Beard.” Restaurant on Kiyamachi. Kyoto, 2007.

Fushimi-Inari Taisha, Fushimi. 2008.

Yurakucho “Gahdohshita” restaurant, Tokyo. 2007.

“Takoyaki” (octopus fritters) hole-in-the-wall. Kyoto. 2007.

Gion – Kyoto – Chochin. 2007.

Kyo[to] Udon, Soba. Near Heian Shrine. 2003.

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Just one more . . .

This is an “old one,” from 2003, out front of Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto -

Restaurant on way to Nanzen-ji Temple, Kyoto. Late Summer, 2003.

2012: 10/21
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Black & White, and reflective all over . . .

Going through old and recent Japan photos lately. This “gallery” has no theme, other than these are black and white photos that I’m fond of, or which remind me of places or times (usually both) that I’m fond of. Enjoy.

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Priests at Kurodani Temple. Kyoto. 2005.

Fence. Near Okazaki-Marutamachi. Kyoto. 2009.

Hang On. Subway handles. Osaka. 2003.

Rice Paddies. Between Kyoto and Kameoka. 2004.

Fushimi Inari. 2003.

Old Pine Limb Support. Near Kiyomizudera. Kyoto. 2008.

Kura (old storehouse). Between Maruyama & Ninenzaka. Kyoto. 2003.

From the Sagano (train) Line. Heading west from Kyoto. 2004.

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B o n u s . . .

In May of 2002 I and someone I used to know were walking down Kawabata-dori in Kyoto looking for a Korean barbeque place the proprietress of our inn had told us about. We had just crossed Shi-jo — which, to our left, lead to the heart of the Gion District and to our right crossed over the Kamo River — and were walking down the sidewalk alongside side of the large, almost daunting, Minamiza Kabuki Theater when we looked up and saw a sort of blue-green light coming from the corner window of the top floor of a nondescript office building, which stood next to the kabuki theater. It looked like a bar. We walked on past and, sure enough, there was the restaurant we were looking for. We went in an were immediately disappointed: it was a huge, industrial-size, bright, cacophonous, jam-packed place. It was not the intimate little spot we were hoping to find. We walked right out again and back up in the direction from which we came.

As we passed back in front of the office building we glanced at the sign showing the various businesses and their corresponding floors housed there. The bar we had spotted was called “Motown.” We decided to check it out. We rode the elevator up to the fourth, fifth?, floor and went it. There may have been one or two people at the bar. Otherwise, we were the only ones there. The bartender was young and greeted us warmly. The place interior was painted black, but not morosely so, more in a Gatsby-esque way. Some Motown song, I forget what, was playing. From the entrance you could see past the bar on your left and out the long, continuous window that faced west, looking out towards and across the Kamo River, and wrapped around the right side, giving you a view north, upriver, too. And just outside the side window, but not obstructing the river view, was the hipped and gabled tile roof of the Minamiza Theater. We decided to hang out there a while, have another drink, enjoy the view of Old Kyoto, watch the people below, have listen to The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Smokey Robinson, and the like (you know, the way people do in Kyoto).

We ordered a couple very dirty vodka martinis and sat on tall stools that looked out the wrap-around part of the windows, looking down at the cars and pedestrians at the intersection of Kawabata and Shi-jo, and just past, up and down the Kamo River, and just past that, into Kyoto-proper the yuka restaurant decks that lined the west side of the river.

We visited Motown several times over the next couple years. The photo below is from 2003 and shows the reflection of the Theater in the window that we first looked out a year before. Motown’s not there anymore. At least it wasn’t there last year, in august 2011, and I haven’t seen that strange but inviting light there over recent years and recent visits to Kyoto. But I always look.

View & Reflection from Motown. Kyoto. 2003.

. . .

2012: 10/14
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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A Quick Break from Bad Blood Between China & Japan.

I preface this by saying that before anyone gives me a hard time for “not understanding the complexities and historical dimensions” of the China-Japan feud (attempted invasions, actual invasions, shocking atrocities, arrogance, real or feigned rage over historical events), please, I do get that. I just want to do my infinitesimal part in creating more positive vibes . . .

Kobo Daishi, a/k/a Kukai

First, let’s go back 1200 years . . .

Since Esoteric Buddhism was relatively unknown in Japan, Kobo Daishi knew he must go to China in order to gain a better understanding of the Esoteric teachings. Fortunately, Kobo Daishi was able to join a Japanese envoy in 804 that was traveling by boat to Xi’an (the capital of China at the time) to visit the Tang Dynasty. After spending some time in China, Kobo Daishi was given the opportunity to learn the essence of the esoteric teachings under a priest Huiguo, an authority on Esoteric Buddhism. Master Huiguo then initiated him into the Esoteric Buddhism tradition. It was truly remarkable that Kobo Daishi was able to master the complex esoteric teachings and be selected to be the eighth patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism in such a short period of time.

In spite of Kobo Daishi’s initial 20 year directive to study Buddhism in China, he returned to Japan after only two years with the mission from Master Huiguo to spread the teachings of Esoteric Buddhism throughout Japan.

Kobo Daishi returned to Japan in the province of Tsukushi (Fukuoka Prefecture), with a great number of religious textbooks and artworks. However, having disobeyed the 20 year directive from the government, he was not allowed to enter the capital city. After several years had passed, Kobo Daishi was finally permitted to enter the capital city. Immediately after being welcomed back into the capital city he proclaimed his devotion to propagating of the supreme doctrine of Esoteric Buddhism.

Kobo Daishi is also known as the father of Japanese culture. He is renown for his talents as a teacher, engineer, inventor, poet, calligrapher and creating the first public school in Japan. . . .

Read more here on the history and influence of China in Japan through Kobo Daishi

Bad relations between China and Japan suck. I mean, they really rot (the bad relations, not the countries). Makes me, and American, cringe. I like both countries. A lot. But they’re both freaking out over each other now. Here’s a recent piece on the latest Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands kerfuffle. And today I just read where China’s refused to grant visas to three Japanese members of the Taiwanese National Symphony Orchestra on the eve of the Orchestra touring Mainland China. Gad.

So, while it will do absolutely no good, I still feel compelled to offer-up this, an American tribute to both China and Japan, to Japan and China. It may be silly, it may be naive, it may be superficial, but it’s still a really hep song, and it demonstrates that in other parts of the world lots of people think both countries are really cool and celebrate them both.

Bodhisattva – Steely Dan (1973)

Bodhisattva
Would you take me by the hand
Bodhisattva
Would you take me by the hand
Can you show me
The shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your china
Can you show me
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva . . .