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The castle of Hirosaki

I go on to Hirosaki, Japan’s apple capital. Already more than three weeks ago my mum sent a package from Germany to my hosts here. Medical supplies, my new credit card, most important however are German sweets/candy which I need urgently. On arriving at my host’s the package still hasn’t arrived. Yet I have three more days in Hirosaki before going on to Aomori, my last city located on Japan’s main island, Honshu. My hosts Tori and Kyle are U.S. Americans, both teach English. After spending three days in Hirosaki the package still hasn’t arrived. I can’t help it. I have to go on without the package as there already have been some first reports about snow in Hokkaido. So I don’t have a lot of time left to end my tour safely. But this really becomes an issue for me as I can’t survive log without the package. On one hand I have to reach Hokkaido before onset of winter. But that’s almost impossible – without German candy. I simply can’t do that!

On a warm sunny autumn/fall day I set forth for the harbour town, Aomori. The autumn foliage is true eye candy which eases my hunger for real candy – at least for a day.

On my way to Aomori

Ted in Aomori is my first host who speaks Mandarin and Japanese as second languages but comes from the U.S.A. He had lived for some years in China. Of course he’s an English teacher here. He takes me to a small restaurant, introduces me to his friends: “He comes from Otsuchi.” “Otsuchi?”, I’m asking, “that Otsuchi located on the east cost in the Tsunami area?” “You know it? Yes!”, the man responds surprised. I tell him that I raise donations for the Midori Kindergarten there and it turns out that my conversation partner and the kindergarten manager were classmates. A Japanese couple eavesdrops our conversation becomes curious and asks questions. Just before they set off they thrust a donation for the kindergarten into my hands.

Aomori Prefecture Tourist Center and Aomori bay bridge

Poster in the ferry to Hokkaido

It is my last day in Aomori and tomorrow my journey goes on via ferry to Hakodate, Hokkaido’s southern most port town. Even though I will travel over 100 km on the sea I could also take the train. Honshu and Hokkaido are connected by the world’s longest operating train tunnel, the 53 km long Seikan Tunnel. However this tunnel will have lost it’s status in 2017 as the longest to the 57 km long Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland. And will be placed on rank three when the 55 km long Brenner Base Tunnel will be completed around 2025 connecting Austria and Italy.

A mail from Tori reaches me – the package has arrived. Four hours to departure of the ferry. Now I could take the train back to Hirosaki only 50 km away from here. But I learn the package is no longer in Hirosaki. As Tori’s husband Kyle teaches here in Aomori he already took the package with him and I pick it up at his school near the docks. Extremely exhausted, already trembling and using the last of my strength I reach Kyle, rip the package out of his hands, rupture it and insert the candy into my mouth. Rescued! Thank you mum you saved my life!

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Special thanks to: Bob Gettings (text revision), Tori & Kyle Sharpe, Ted Lackman, all Japan; (all U.S.A.) Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

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What did you see – old man?

From Utsunomiya I’m making my way via Koriyama to the 284.000 inhabitant small city of Fukushima. It’s a bit ironic. Since June I have been cycling through Japan and where do I face the first Godzilla on my journey? Although… it should have come into my mind way earlier why it is that way. Since Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla remake from 1998 most of us know what Godzilla likes. Well, what is it? Correct! On one hand there would be fish. Admittedly to enjoy this dish he could have chosen any sushi restaurant all over Japan. Born however was the giant mutated lizard on the Bikini atoll and, as we know, brought up with plenty of rays by U.S. American nukes. So fish and radioactivity. Ergo where does he feel home best? Right here in Fukushima. And this is how it is. Short before the entrance to the town I am being welcomed by Godzilla.

Well, against the background what happened here this is really evil satire. And I have to admit that I don’t feel comfortable to write that this way. I’m here to raise awareness of the problems and to help after all. Not to make fun of the situation. But this was really my first thought when I saw Godzilla here standing at the gates of Fukushima.

Fukushima

My host Reiko is from Malaysia. As she has to work during my estimated time of arrival she simply leaves the door to her apartment unlocked and describes to me how to get to her place. Astonishingly this seems to work pretty well here. You have to credit Japan really for one thing: It is a very safe country (well, except for it’s nuclear power plans of course). By the way Reiko is not my first host in Japan who handles it this way. However my first one who lives without a fridge / refrigerator. The food I just bought before I got to her place, especially the milk, has to stay overnight on her balcony. But it’s still up to 15°C at night. By the way milk is a certain topic. While being here in Fukushima I pay a lot of attention that it originates from the more than 500 km away Hokkaido. In 2011 the Japanese dairy company Meiji was criticized for selling radioactive milk powder. It’s evident. Cows belong to those animals which eat a lot of the radioactive grass infested by fallout. Meiji’s somewhat ambiguous advertising slogan: Brightening our customer’s lives through “Food & Health” seems a bit inartfully expressed.

But still life here seems to be back on again. If one can trust the sources in the internet, radiation here seems to be only slightly higher compared to other regions of Japan but distinctly below the radiation level which a human body absorbs during an international flight. The city itself is little spectacular. I don’t find anything which would meet the requirements to be captured by my camera’s lens. Neither conspicuous buildings or museums nor original beautiful parks. Fukushima has a horse racecourse. And even this building is not a big deal. Fukushima (prefecture) is known for it’s peaches amongst other things. But even if the radiation is not so high here it does not necessary mean that it is for the whole Prefecture. After the reactor catastrophe I don’t have any interest to try Fukushimas peaches.

Fukushima – horse race course

On a rainy day I set forth for Sendai. When stopping nearby the horse race course to take some photos a Japanese girl passes me on her fully packed bicycle. I’m curious and leap onto my bicycle and catch her up at the next traffic light. She tells me that she is on her way from Tokyo to Aomori (in the north of Japan’s main island Honshu) and that Sendai would be her destination for today. I join her and we cycle together to Sendai. I’m lucky the country side is very flat here. Would there be mountains she would pass them by three times faster than me as she does not have to pull a trailer with her bicycle after all of course. Unlike me she’s got a tent with her. But it’s not really a pleasure to camp on such a rainy day. I’m telling her about couch surfing – which is new to her – and offer that I ask my host if it would be okay to host her as well for one night.

It’s almost dark for two hours now when we arrive at 7 p.m. in Sendai. At the meeting point my host Vyacheslav set up I approach him at first to explain the situation pointing to Nozomi waiting in the rain on the other side of the street holding her bicycle. Of course it’s a bit awkward for me to bring someone to my host without any advanced notification, but also mention that she has a tent. But Vyacheslav is totally cool about it and beckons her across the street towards us. Nozomi and I share one room for ourselves in which I discover music instruments I’ve never seen before in my life. Nozomi explains to me that this plucking instrument was a Koto and the bowed instrument was a Kokyū. Nozomi only stays for one night and leaves on the next morning.

Nozomi short before her departure

Vyacheslav and his wife Helen are both from the Ukraine. Yes, they already went through two nuclear disasters in their life. Both are – as I find it – very interesting people which is why I ask them to give me an interview and a little concert. My wish will be obliged:

Higurashi von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

Sendai von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

Special thanks to: Mattew Hahn, U.S.A. (text revision); Reiko Ng, Malaysia; Helen & Vyacheslav Onyshchenko, Ukraine; Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> The heat won’t stop. Once again I have to cycle for a whole day at 36°C. It’s one of those days on which one can drink six litres of liquid by going only once to the toilet. As if the heat wouldn’t already be enough it gets even hotter at a certain spot of my route. But this is because of a house fire on which fortunately, as far as I can tell, no one was injured. As you can see on the video the Japanese fire brigade is at least as well equipped and organised as we know it as well.

Hausbrand von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

Nagoya, inhabited by 2.27 million people (8.74 million in city centre and metropolitan area) is mainly an industrial and harbour city. The headquarters of Toyota‘s luxury brand Lexus are located here, as well as Mitsubishi‘s Research and Development Department. Plenty of national or international automotive suppliers maintain their headquarters or subsidiaries here: The automotive supplier and QR-Code inventor DENSO (a fully owned subsidiary of Toyota), the Austrian-Canadian automotive supplier MAGNA which was once fancied as an acquisition candidate for the German General Motors Brand Opel…

Like Tokyo, Nagoya was also severely damaged in World War II. Thus the city offers little for tourists. Nagoya has a castle, however it’s a replica. Not that I wouldn’t honour it with a visit but I’ve seen quite a few castles on my journey – and even originals. They are all very beautiful, but in terms of architecture and style they seem kind of similar.

My host is a Mexican who has lived in Japan for years. He owns a second hand bookstore for English books. Which makes him fluent in Spanish, Japanese and English. But the digital age does also not spare his business of course. So him and his employees also offer Web 2.0 services which works much better compared to paper books.

Nagoya’s city centre is more famous for a huge shopping arcade. Not to be compared with the luxury shopping area of Ginza in Tokyo, but more for ordinary mortals, and suits me perfectly. Countless clothing boutiques, plenty of sports gear shops, various restaurants, creative art dealers, and even well equipped HiFi-, IT- and video game shops can be found here. Today I drop culture and enjoy strolling. Although, this also is a culture, a shopping culture! :)

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Special thanks to: Akira Yasuda (Japan/Canada), text revision; Sonya Bleakley (U.S.A.) Jose Escobar (Mexico), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> My dear old school friend Andreas Off, who has lived and worked in Japan for the past six years, recently moved to the city of Nagaokakyo, which is located between Osaka and Kyoto. Andreas hosted me for one weekend, and of course he already had a full program planned for us. First off, he informed me that Nagaokakyo was once the capital of Japan, but only for 10 years. After that Andreas took me to the city castle, followed by the town of Hibiki to show me Yamazaki distillery, which is owned by the Japanese beverage company Suntory.

Andreas and I were shocked with the great tour that Yamazaki offers for only 1000 yen! (12.10 AUD, 12.70 CAD, 8.20 GBP, 15.70 NZD, 12.80 USD) We started with a guided tour of the whole distillery, lead in Japanese with an audio guide in English. Afterwards we were seated in a restaurant and taught how to mix a high ball.  And if that wasn’t enough we got free refills for further high balls. And…. for anyone still able to taste the difference after that, they let us drink a glass of 12 years aged whiskey. But there was even more: on top of that we got t-shirts at the end!
Wow, Andreas and I had some orientation problems after leaving the distillery. Whatever… we behaved like true Germans

Enjoy the photos of this trip.

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Special thanks to: Andreas Off, Cypher Zero, U.S.A. (text revision), Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> Once again I’m lucky to have a sunny day in Kurashiki and therefore can present you fantastic photos of the Bikan Historic Area. Kurashiki is one of those cities which escaped World War II mostly unharmed and thus, plenty of original, homes, storehouses (倉 Kura), shops and mills are preserved today alongside the beautiful historic canal.

Castle of Himeji

It is 105 km from Kurashiki to Himeji but I make it in one day. Unfortunately the sight I’m looking most forward to see there is covered in a scaffolding for refurbishment. And it has already been this for way for several years! It’s Himeji’s UNESCO world cultural heritage castle.

Frustrated, I set forth for Kobe. It seems to be the peak of the rainy season as it rains for the whole day. I’m cycling for several hours now and I think I just passed Akashi. As I’m letting my bicycle with my trailer roll downhill on a street with regular traffic volume, I suddenly hear something crashing behind me followed by a constantly scratching noise. Suddenly, I see my trailer overtake me to my right. An approaching car is on the verge of hitting my trailer but is just breaking in the nick of time. Finally, the hill ends and my trailer stops almost in the middle of the road. Luckily, no one was injured nor did my trailer cause any damage. What happened? A nut which attaches my trailer to my bicycle became loose. The driver in the car is looking at me to see if I need help. I apologize for all this and gesture to her that it’s okay if she goes on. The traffic starts to flow again and I search for the lost nut when suddenly – not even five minutes later – a pick-up stops near me.

A middle aged man gets out of the car asking if I need help. It’s slowly getting dark and going on with my search wouldn’t make any sense. He comes towards me, examines my bicycle with a quick glimpse, instantly detects the missing nut and as a conclusion he says: “Ah I see what you need. Just a moment”. He goes to his pick-up, grabs one toolbox with pliers and another one with several screws and nuts, tries several and finally says: “Hmm, I don’t have one with me that fits. But just a moment. Wait here!” He quickly hops into his pick-up and comes back after less than ten minutes with the right nut. The all inclusive service comes, of course, with free mounting and, of course, he refuses to take any tip after all is said and done. He leaves so quickly that I almost don’t have a chance to thank him. Well, almost :)

My nut is nuts

With a big delay, I reach my host’s home in Kobe: Jessy and Brandon, both from the States, who teach English here. The next three days the weather changes dramatically. On one hand, it’s good that I planned a three days stay for Kobe so I won’t be cycling. On the other hand, it’s raining so heavily that it’s absolutely impossible for me to do any outdoor filming or to take any photos.  :(  Later on, Brandon checks if it was a raining record. Close. They had a few days since the beginning of the weather records in which they had more rain. Still, in Kyushu, it leads to flooding. But, indoor filming is possible of course. And so, I’d like to present you a short film about a pretty awesome Kobe beef restaurant. Kobe beef is the most expensive beef in the world. To make the meat soft and juicy the cows are massaged! And you can only purchase Kobe beef here in Kobe. It is not exported! Enjoy!

Kobe beef

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Special thanks to: Aki Sato (Japan), Kunihito Furuichi (Japan), Jessica Dovey, Brandon Daiker (both U.S.A.),

Continue reading »]]> Japan’s capital of Sake is situated in Higashi Hiroshima and called Saijo. Even if the brewery- and tourism season here is during winter time I was given a guided tour and recieved a filming permit. Furthermore some pictures from Takehara. Enjoy!

I found a very good multilingual web page about all breweries in Saijo.

Furthermore I found a documentary about the sake brewing tradition.

Special thanks to: Leanne Hill (Canada), Christoph Hill (Austria), Yumi Shintani (Japan), the whole team of the Kamotsuru brewery, Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Christoph Flossmann, Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> So I made it to Daegu, South Korea’s textile metropolis with only 2.5 Million inhabitants but five universities. The city is also known very well for its traditional Korean medicine. It has the oldest traditional medicine market of South Korea. My host Colombe from France takes me to a street with plenty of ceramic shops. We stroll through one of those shops. I really like the little tea pots but with 160.000 Won (140 AUD, 141 CAD, 88 GBP, 179 NZD, 135.68 USD) for one pot it’s simply not in my budget. Still the owner is very friendly, and explains to us everything about South Korean tea. He lets us know that he regularly organizes tea festivals and plays on his traditional Korean flute for us.

Colombe works as a French teacher for Alliance Française. She’s lived and worked in

too many countries already :) France of course, Canada, China and now in South Korea. She admits that she is a bit disappointed in South Korea. I find her accent very charming. “And you know what’s the worse thing about this country?“ she asks me, “They ate my cat!”

I am shocked. I thought they just do this in china.

After a while Colombe realizes that she should correct her typical French pronunciation.

“Non non, I mean they H-ate my cat!” Well, I’d say in such a situation only alcohol helps I guess:

Daegu from dusk till dawn von Daaaaaaaaaaaax

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Special thanks to: Colombe Laforet, Tanya Turner, Luke Langton, Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Christoph Flossmann, Lilith Pendzich

Continue reading »]]> The leg Mungyeon – Gumi is beautiful but incomplete. There were road works so I couldn’t use the flat bicycle road and had do wheel my bicycle and trailer separately on top of a mountain with an incline of 20 %!

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Gumi itself is more a big industrial city. One will find huge factories of SAMSUNG and LG. The city is not really interesting for tourists.

Special thanks to: Aly Woolliams, Paul Sharman, Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Christoph Flossmann, Lilith Pendzich