What's happening in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Shimane Japan, updates on sightseeing, museums, temples, shrines and Japan news.
人形町 東京
Chuo ward in Tokyo is home to the delightful Ningyocho ("Doll Town") district, official name "Nihonbashi-ningyocho." The Ningyocho district is full of sights and spots of significance that hark back to the time when old Tokyo, still known as the city of Edo, first began its rise to capital city status and the Emperor came to take up residence here from distant Kyoto.
The novelist, Junichiro Tanizaki, was born in Ningyocho (after Edo had become Tokyo, in 1886, but still a long time ago!) The remains of the old Kakigara-Ginza, or mint, where coins were made from 1869 to 1937, can be found here too.
From 1868, when Edo was renamed Tokyo, for the next twenty years, the Ningyocho area was a pleasure quarter, with brothels, theaters, pubs, restaurants and ... doll shops, the latter giving the area its name.
One very colorful feature of Ningyocho is the Masamura Pachinko, which while just as eye-catching as any pachinko parlor in Japan, is somewhat less glitzy in its appeal, exerting a decided old world charm in keeping with the area.
Masamura Takeichi (1906-1975) was the father of modern pachinko in Japan, with Masamura pachinko machines holding a place in Japanese entertainment history. The Masamura Pachinko in Ningyocho offers a direct link to this father of the pastime, having been built back in the early 20 century - the 1910s or 1920s, when pachinko was beginning to burgeon.
What better way to experience the ghosts of the razzmatazz of this formerly bustling nightlife area than in front of an antique pachinko machine?
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Chuo ward in Tokyo is home to the delightful Ningyocho ("Doll Town") district, official name "Nihonbashi-ningyocho." The Ningyocho district is full of sights and spots of significance that hark back to the time when old Tokyo, still known as the city of Edo, first began its rise to capital city status and the Emperor came to take up residence here from distant Kyoto.
The novelist, Junichiro Tanizaki, was born in Ningyocho (after Edo had become Tokyo, in 1886, but still a long time ago!) The remains of the old Kakigara-Ginza, or mint, where coins were made from 1869 to 1937, can be found here too.
From 1868, when Edo was renamed Tokyo, for the next twenty years, the Ningyocho area was a pleasure quarter, with brothels, theaters, pubs, restaurants and ... doll shops, the latter giving the area its name.
One very colorful feature of Ningyocho is the Masamura Pachinko, which while just as eye-catching as any pachinko parlor in Japan, is somewhat less glitzy in its appeal, exerting a decided old world charm in keeping with the area.
Masamura Takeichi (1906-1975) was the father of modern pachinko in Japan, with Masamura pachinko machines holding a place in Japanese entertainment history. The Masamura Pachinko in Ningyocho offers a direct link to this father of the pastime, having been built back in the early 20 century - the 1910s or 1920s, when pachinko was beginning to burgeon.
What better way to experience the ghosts of the razzmatazz of this formerly bustling nightlife area than in front of an antique pachinko machine?
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上野 カート
I was in Tokyo's Ueno district the other day to visit one of the many museums in big beautiful Ueno Park. On the way back to Ueno Station from Ueno Park, I encountered the very unusual sight of a go-kart on the streets of Tokyo waiting for the lights to change.
The tiny vehicle made up in color what it lost in size. Its bright orange paint job and the orange overalls of the young driver were plenty eyecatching. On closer inspection it turned out to be an advertisement for a rental cart company in nearby Akihabara the pop culture center of Tokyo.
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I was in Tokyo's Ueno district the other day to visit one of the many museums in big beautiful Ueno Park. On the way back to Ueno Station from Ueno Park, I encountered the very unusual sight of a go-kart on the streets of Tokyo waiting for the lights to change.
The tiny vehicle made up in color what it lost in size. Its bright orange paint job and the orange overalls of the young driver were plenty eyecatching. On closer inspection it turned out to be an advertisement for a rental cart company in nearby Akihabara the pop culture center of Tokyo.
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宮崎県総合文化公園
Miyazaki Culture Park in Miyazaki city is situated close to Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
The Miyazaki Culture Park is a large public space with wide grass lawns, fountains, mountain art sculptures, a walking/jogging path, a cherry tree avenue and various large trees of special note.
Visitors to the Miyazaki Culture Park may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland), Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
3-210 Funatsuka
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0031
Access: Access: there are buses to Miyazaki Culture Park from Miyazaki Station, get off at the Bunka Koen stop. Alternatively, the museum is a 15-20 minute walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station..
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Miyazaki Culture Park in Miyazaki city is situated close to Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
The Miyazaki Culture Park is a large public space with wide grass lawns, fountains, mountain art sculptures, a walking/jogging path, a cherry tree avenue and various large trees of special note.
Visitors to the Miyazaki Culture Park may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland), Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
3-210 Funatsuka
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0031
Access: Access: there are buses to Miyazaki Culture Park from Miyazaki Station, get off at the Bunka Koen stop. Alternatively, the museum is a 15-20 minute walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station..
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The Hotel Route Inn Ena in Ena in Gifu Prefecture is part of the nationwide Route Inn chain.
This western style business hotel is handy for visitors wishing to visit nearby Ena Gorge, the Hiroshige Print Museum or set out on a hike of the Nakasendo highway on to Nakatsugawa and beyond.
The Hotel Route Inn Ena has wifi in the lobby, a spacious onsen bath and two rather old PCs also in the lobby presently running XP.
Hotel Route Inn Ena
Osashima-cho Nakano
Ena
Gifu
509-7205
Tel: 0573 20 0050
The Hotel Route Inn Ena is a 10 minute walk from Ena Station. Ena is a 30 minute express train ride from Nagoya, Kanayama or Tsurumai stations.
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This western style business hotel is handy for visitors wishing to visit nearby Ena Gorge, the Hiroshige Print Museum or set out on a hike of the Nakasendo highway on to Nakatsugawa and beyond.
The Hotel Route Inn Ena has wifi in the lobby, a spacious onsen bath and two rather old PCs also in the lobby presently running XP.
Hotel Route Inn Ena
Osashima-cho Nakano
Ena
Gifu
509-7205
Tel: 0573 20 0050
The Hotel Route Inn Ena is a 10 minute walk from Ena Station. Ena is a 30 minute express train ride from Nagoya, Kanayama or Tsurumai stations.
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今週の日本
Women Forced Into WWII Brothels Served Necessary Role, Osaka Mayor Says
New York Times
A Comfort Blanket? Japan Face Masks
BBC
Cannes film festival 2013: Like Father, Like Son - first look review
Guardian
The main question: Why did Hashimoto open his mouth?
Japan Times
After Hiroshima 広島のあと
Japan Focus
Japan's 'secret' trip to North Korea disrupts united stance against Pyongyang
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Passengers per day at major Tokyo train stations in fiscal 2011.
Shinjuku 1.46 million
Ikebukuro 1.08 million
Shibuya 800,000
Tokyo 760,000
Ueno 340,000
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
Japan fell to 31st place in the the annual Save the Children State of the World's Mothers report. In the previous year Japan was 30th.
Of 176 countries surveyed, Finland was rated the best place in the world to be a mother, the Democratic Republic of the Congo the worst.
The index looks at statistics on the health of mothers and children and uses them to create rankings of nations within three groupings corresponding to different levels of economic development.
Source: Jiji Press
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Women Forced Into WWII Brothels Served Necessary Role, Osaka Mayor Says New York Times
A Comfort Blanket? Japan Face Masks
BBC
Cannes film festival 2013: Like Father, Like Son - first look review
Guardian
The main question: Why did Hashimoto open his mouth?
Japan Times
After Hiroshima 広島のあと
Japan Focus
Japan's 'secret' trip to North Korea disrupts united stance against Pyongyang
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Passengers per day at major Tokyo train stations in fiscal 2011.
Shinjuku 1.46 million
Ikebukuro 1.08 million
Shibuya 800,000
Tokyo 760,000
Ueno 340,000
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
Japan fell to 31st place in the the annual Save the Children State of the World's Mothers report. In the previous year Japan was 30th.
Of 176 countries surveyed, Finland was rated the best place in the world to be a mother, the Democratic Republic of the Congo the worst.
The index looks at statistics on the health of mothers and children and uses them to create rankings of nations within three groupings corresponding to different levels of economic development.
Source: Jiji Press
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つくば
Toyoko Inn near Kenkyugakuen Station on the Tsukuba Express (TX) Line that runs between Akihabara and Tsukuba (Science City) in Ibaraki Prefecture is a decent business class accommodation for travelers and conference goers.
Located just a few minutes walk from Kenkyugakuen Station, the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen is close to a good Chinese restaurant, an adult-friendly shochu bar and the nearby Kenkyugakuen-mae Park.
Other Tsukuba attractions within reach of the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba include the Tsukuba Cultural Center Ars which houses the Tsukuba Museum of Art and the Municipal Library. The Iias shopping complex is within five minutes walk.
Another nearby hotel is the Mark-1 Hotel Tsukuba.
Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba
305-0817 Ibaraki
Tsukuba
Kenkyugakuen D3 Town Districts 7
Toyoko Inn near Kenkyugakuen Station on the Tsukuba Express (TX) Line that runs between Akihabara and Tsukuba (Science City) in Ibaraki Prefecture is a decent business class accommodation for travelers and conference goers.
Located just a few minutes walk from Kenkyugakuen Station, the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen is close to a good Chinese restaurant, an adult-friendly shochu bar and the nearby Kenkyugakuen-mae Park.
Other Tsukuba attractions within reach of the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba include the Tsukuba Cultural Center Ars which houses the Tsukuba Museum of Art and the Municipal Library. The Iias shopping complex is within five minutes walk.
Another nearby hotel is the Mark-1 Hotel Tsukuba.
Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba
305-0817 Ibaraki
Tsukuba
Kenkyugakuen D3 Town Districts 7
セーフ・ドライバー
I recently had to go to the Fuchu Driver's License Center in Chofu City, a little west of Tokyo. I needed a certification of my driving record, called an Unten Kiroku Shomeisho, covering the past five years for a bureaucratic procedure I'm currently going through.
It took the best part of an hour to get out there from central Tokyo. I went to Musashi-koganei Station on the JR Chuo Line, took the South Exit, and caught the bus at stop no. 6, on the far side of the bus area from the station. The bus took about 10 minutes.
I got there a few minutes before the opening time of 8:30 a.m., asked one of the gruff old guides where to go, was told the 3rd floor, went up there, picking my way through the seething 1st floor crowd. Fuchu Licence Center is also where people go if they have to renew a driving license that has expired either because they forgot to renew it before it expired, or because they lost their license for an infringement and have to reapply.
On the very quiet 3rd floor, I filled out the very simple application form for the certificate, and waited along with the only other customer there - an old man.
The counter I was waiting at opened on the dot of 8:30 a.m., but on this particular morning they didn't have the right key to open the sliding windows, so an apologetic middle aged woman came out to where I was and took my form. I had been told that the certificate application would cost 700 yen, but it turned out that in deflationary Japan, this was now reduced to 630 yen.
I was also told that it would take up to three weeks for the certificate to be sent to me, but I received it today, six days later. The certificate is full of wonderfully blank lines, attesting to my very safe driving record over the past five years (during which time I've probably driven for a no more than about once every 3 or 4 months!). However, it also came with an unexpected bonus, a plastic, credit card sized SD Card, or Safe Driver Card.
The back of the SD Card states that I have a clean seven-year record (actually longer - but I moved to Tokyo seven years ago, so maybe that's why), and it was accompanied by a pamphlet that lists scores of businesses and services that I can get a discount with and on using my SD Card during the 12 months following its issue.
These businesses include moving companies (a very generous 20%, useful in December when my partner and I are to move apartments), the Miyazaki car ferry (10% off), Daito Group and Toto Nisseki gasoline stands (from 5% for car parts up to 66% off for tire changes), travel agencies, car and motorbike rental companies, Odakyu Department Store, hotels, and driving schools.
Safe driving really pays in Japan!
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I recently had to go to the Fuchu Driver's License Center in Chofu City, a little west of Tokyo. I needed a certification of my driving record, called an Unten Kiroku Shomeisho, covering the past five years for a bureaucratic procedure I'm currently going through.
It took the best part of an hour to get out there from central Tokyo. I went to Musashi-koganei Station on the JR Chuo Line, took the South Exit, and caught the bus at stop no. 6, on the far side of the bus area from the station. The bus took about 10 minutes.
I got there a few minutes before the opening time of 8:30 a.m., asked one of the gruff old guides where to go, was told the 3rd floor, went up there, picking my way through the seething 1st floor crowd. Fuchu Licence Center is also where people go if they have to renew a driving license that has expired either because they forgot to renew it before it expired, or because they lost their license for an infringement and have to reapply.
On the very quiet 3rd floor, I filled out the very simple application form for the certificate, and waited along with the only other customer there - an old man.
The counter I was waiting at opened on the dot of 8:30 a.m., but on this particular morning they didn't have the right key to open the sliding windows, so an apologetic middle aged woman came out to where I was and took my form. I had been told that the certificate application would cost 700 yen, but it turned out that in deflationary Japan, this was now reduced to 630 yen.
I was also told that it would take up to three weeks for the certificate to be sent to me, but I received it today, six days later. The certificate is full of wonderfully blank lines, attesting to my very safe driving record over the past five years (during which time I've probably driven for a no more than about once every 3 or 4 months!). However, it also came with an unexpected bonus, a plastic, credit card sized SD Card, or Safe Driver Card.
The back of the SD Card states that I have a clean seven-year record (actually longer - but I moved to Tokyo seven years ago, so maybe that's why), and it was accompanied by a pamphlet that lists scores of businesses and services that I can get a discount with and on using my SD Card during the 12 months following its issue.
These businesses include moving companies (a very generous 20%, useful in December when my partner and I are to move apartments), the Miyazaki car ferry (10% off), Daito Group and Toto Nisseki gasoline stands (from 5% for car parts up to 66% off for tire changes), travel agencies, car and motorbike rental companies, Odakyu Department Store, hotels, and driving schools.
Safe driving really pays in Japan!
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脱いでも男前か
Panasonic is one of Japan’s biggest electronics manufacturers, especially with its buyout and absorption of Sanyo four years ago (Sanyo having been founded by the brother-in-law of the founder of Panasonic just after the war.)
Panasonic, like many other Japanese industrial giants, has been restructuring furiously to keep its head above water, and recently launched an aggressive new “Panasonic Beauty” campaign, for men and for women.
Panasonic Beauty for Men is the more conspicuous of the two campaigns at the moment, and features a striking young Japanese man with his shirt off, his jeans riding way low, and the provocative question “Still looking sexy if you take it all off?” (“Nuide mo otokomae ka”). The sub-slogan is “Full body bath time grooming.”
The Panasonic Beauty for Men line comprises home appliances focused on “hair, face and body,” i.e., electric razors, clippers, shavers, hair dryers, etc.
The above photograph was taken at a railway station in Tokyo this week, offset by a fully clothed considerably older man who, although he removed his jacket, seemed reluctant to fully rise to the challenge.
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Panasonic is one of Japan’s biggest electronics manufacturers, especially with its buyout and absorption of Sanyo four years ago (Sanyo having been founded by the brother-in-law of the founder of Panasonic just after the war.)
Panasonic, like many other Japanese industrial giants, has been restructuring furiously to keep its head above water, and recently launched an aggressive new “Panasonic Beauty” campaign, for men and for women.
Panasonic Beauty for Men is the more conspicuous of the two campaigns at the moment, and features a striking young Japanese man with his shirt off, his jeans riding way low, and the provocative question “Still looking sexy if you take it all off?” (“Nuide mo otokomae ka”). The sub-slogan is “Full body bath time grooming.”
The Panasonic Beauty for Men line comprises home appliances focused on “hair, face and body,” i.e., electric razors, clippers, shavers, hair dryers, etc.
The above photograph was taken at a railway station in Tokyo this week, offset by a fully clothed considerably older man who, although he removed his jacket, seemed reluctant to fully rise to the challenge.
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宮良殿内, 石垣
Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens (also Miyaradunchi) in the center of Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the early 19th century home of a government official, who was in charge of the unification of the Yaeyama Islands.
First built in 1819 the Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens is now designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens
178 Okawa
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
907-0022
Admission: 200 yen
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed Tuesday
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Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens (also Miyaradunchi) in the center of Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the early 19th century home of a government official, who was in charge of the unification of the Yaeyama Islands.
First built in 1819 the Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens is now designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens
178 Okawa
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
907-0022
Admission: 200 yen
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed Tuesday
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Here are a few more odd Japanese signs for your amusement. First up is a hair salon in Nagoya, Gentille Galle, which is not referring to the historic town on the south coast of Sri Lanka, but is aiming for that "Ye Olde Worlde" effect.
The next one is, well, just nonsense: NAP hair bocco.
As is this one: Hair Plop Lump pronounced "Prop Rump" which is equally bizarre.
My favorite this month is not a hair salon but an office: Lietocourt. Surely lawyers.
Previous Japlish found on our Japan blog includes ("I will not do the bag staff"; Grom does not employ conservatives), odd English on clothing, crazy Japanese band names, signs (Titty & CO), Live Space Pecker and Bar Dick & Fucky. Oh, and this was our first installment of weird and wonderful Japanese hair salon names.
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The next one is, well, just nonsense: NAP hair bocco.
As is this one: Hair Plop Lump pronounced "Prop Rump" which is equally bizarre.
My favorite this month is not a hair salon but an office: Lietocourt. Surely lawyers.
Previous Japlish found on our Japan blog includes ("I will not do the bag staff"; Grom does not employ conservatives), odd English on clothing, crazy Japanese band names, signs (Titty & CO), Live Space Pecker and Bar Dick & Fucky. Oh, and this was our first installment of weird and wonderful Japanese hair salon names.
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公設市場, 石垣
One place worth returning to again and again in Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the small but lively Ishigaki Market (Yu-gurena or Euglena Mall).
The market consists of only two covered arcades but sells a variety of goods including fruit and vegetables, handicrafts, clothes and souvenirs from the Yaeyama Islands such as Ishigaki salt, awamori, ceramic shiisa, sanshin and bottles of star sand.
There are also some excellent restaurants and bars here located above the shops on the ground floor. Taco rice is a specialty here.
Other attractions to visit on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Yaeyama Museum, Banna Forest Park, the Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
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One place worth returning to again and again in Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the small but lively Ishigaki Market (Yu-gurena or Euglena Mall).
The market consists of only two covered arcades but sells a variety of goods including fruit and vegetables, handicrafts, clothes and souvenirs from the Yaeyama Islands such as Ishigaki salt, awamori, ceramic shiisa, sanshin and bottles of star sand.
There are also some excellent restaurants and bars here located above the shops on the ground floor. Taco rice is a specialty here.
Other attractions to visit on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Yaeyama Museum, Banna Forest Park, the Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
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今週の日本
Japan Says It Will Abide by Apologies Over Actions in World War II
New York Times
G7 finance ministers meet amid Japan currency questions
BBC
Is Nobuyoshi Araki's photography art or porn?
Guardian
Suga: Abe not in denial over ‘wars of aggression’ stance
Japan Times
Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan’s North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō さらなる「失われた十年」？安倍晋三の北朝鮮政策
Japan Focus
Japanese yen plunges to four-year low. G7 unlikely to act.
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Over the Golden Week holiday, 1.77 million people visited Tokyo's Skytree. Of those, 193,000 went up to the observations deck.
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
Japan's Ministry of Justice recently announced the success rate of applicants seeking asylum in Japan. 18 applicants - most of them Burmese - received asylum in 2012, in which the approval rate was 0.2%. That is the lowest since the refugee program was created in 1982.
Source: Asahi Shinbun
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Japan Says It Will Abide by Apologies Over Actions in World War II New York Times
G7 finance ministers meet amid Japan currency questions
BBC
Is Nobuyoshi Araki's photography art or porn?
Guardian
Suga: Abe not in denial over ‘wars of aggression’ stance
Japan Times
Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan’s North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō さらなる「失われた十年」？安倍晋三の北朝鮮政策
Japan Focus
Japanese yen plunges to four-year low. G7 unlikely to act.
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Over the Golden Week holiday, 1.77 million people visited Tokyo's Skytree. Of those, 193,000 went up to the observations deck.
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
Japan's Ministry of Justice recently announced the success rate of applicants seeking asylum in Japan. 18 applicants - most of them Burmese - received asylum in 2012, in which the approval rate was 0.2%. That is the lowest since the refugee program was created in 1982.
Source: Asahi Shinbun
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A Walk Around Kyushu Day 7, January 5th, 2013
Kanda to Nakatsu
I catch the first train from Kokura, where I spent the night, to Kanda, where I ended yesterday. Today my route will pretty much follow Route 10 down and around the coast towards the border with Oita.
On my way out of Kanda I spy some shrine banners flying and so follow the lines of lanterns leading in to what seems to be the main shrine of the area. The weather is perfect, warm and sunny, and the early morning light is perfect for some shrine photography: golden light, deep blue sky, black shadows, what photographers refer to as the "magic hour".
The shrine is all dressed up for its busiest time of the year, the New Year and on display are all the lucky charms and other paraphernalia on sale. A huge temporary container is filled with last year's charms awaiting ritual burning.
I'm pleased with some of my shots so stride off down the road towards Yukuhashi. On the outskirts of the town I stop in at another shrine basking in the sunlight and then head towards Yukuhashi Station, a new, modern building.
Yukuhashi has three rivers passing through it, and south of the last one a line of hills run down the coast so I choose to take a detour off the main route and hope that I can get some nice views of the sea.
Closer to the mouth of the river is the older part of town.
Modern Yukuhashi, like many towns in Japan, has grown up around the rail station. The older parts of town are often some distance away.
The road down the coast is quiet, with just the occasional delivery truck or farmers' pick-ups passing by, but unfortunately there are no views of the sea as there is farmland and a line of trees between the road and the coast.
At the end of the line of hills a set of steps lines with statues climbs the hill. According to the sign this is temple 61 of a "New" Shikoku 88 pilgrimage. The steps are overgrown with weeds, and when I reach the simple one room building that is the temple, it appears to be not quite abandoned, but inside there are signs of recent activity. The room lacks the musty smell I associate with disintegrating tatami.
The main statues are two wonderful wooden representations of Fudo Myoo, and behind the building several more stone statues of him, one of which must be fairly new as it shows no sign of weathering.
The road heads out into flat farmland towards a low hill completely covered in trees, a pretty good indicator that it is home to a shrine, and sure enough an impressively large shrine complex is hidden in the dark interior of the woods.
Yasuura Shrine was founded over a thousand years ago and considering its size this must have been an important area, though now it is too far from Yukuhashi or Nakatsu to get many visitors.
Yasuura Shrine is the biggest shrine I've been to for the past few days and yet unlike all the others it has no banners or flags up. In front of the shrine is a big signboard with maps showing details of the heavy bombing this area received in 1944 and 1945 because of the nearby air base.
The air base is still there with its runway extending out in to the sea, and to head down the coast I have to cut inland to get around it. It's quiet with no activity, and I wonder what its function is now.
There are many in Japan who would tell you that Japan has no air-force, or no military, only a small "self-defence" force, but let's call a spade a spade, Japan has a huge military with one of the biggest military budgets in the world, larger now than that of the United Kingdom.
Its navy is the third or fourth biggest in the world, bigger than the British Navy, But like this airbase it's all pretty low key with a low profile, so easy to pretend it doesn't exist.
Off in the distance down the coast a huge smokestack is the landmark I aim for. It is Unoshima power station. Closer it's possible to see the dozens and dozens of storage tanks around it, an indication that it is powered by oil.
The sun is getting low and I still have a few hours till I reach my destination, so I ignore the sign that points to a shrine a little off the route and press on. The sun is down and the western sky is golden as I reach my hotel for the night in Nakatsu.
Jake Davies
A Walk Around Kyushu 6
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Kanda to Nakatsu
I catch the first train from Kokura, where I spent the night, to Kanda, where I ended yesterday. Today my route will pretty much follow Route 10 down and around the coast towards the border with Oita.
On my way out of Kanda I spy some shrine banners flying and so follow the lines of lanterns leading in to what seems to be the main shrine of the area. The weather is perfect, warm and sunny, and the early morning light is perfect for some shrine photography: golden light, deep blue sky, black shadows, what photographers refer to as the "magic hour".
The shrine is all dressed up for its busiest time of the year, the New Year and on display are all the lucky charms and other paraphernalia on sale. A huge temporary container is filled with last year's charms awaiting ritual burning.
I'm pleased with some of my shots so stride off down the road towards Yukuhashi. On the outskirts of the town I stop in at another shrine basking in the sunlight and then head towards Yukuhashi Station, a new, modern building.
Yukuhashi has three rivers passing through it, and south of the last one a line of hills run down the coast so I choose to take a detour off the main route and hope that I can get some nice views of the sea.
Closer to the mouth of the river is the older part of town.
Modern Yukuhashi, like many towns in Japan, has grown up around the rail station. The older parts of town are often some distance away.
The road down the coast is quiet, with just the occasional delivery truck or farmers' pick-ups passing by, but unfortunately there are no views of the sea as there is farmland and a line of trees between the road and the coast.
At the end of the line of hills a set of steps lines with statues climbs the hill. According to the sign this is temple 61 of a "New" Shikoku 88 pilgrimage. The steps are overgrown with weeds, and when I reach the simple one room building that is the temple, it appears to be not quite abandoned, but inside there are signs of recent activity. The room lacks the musty smell I associate with disintegrating tatami.
The main statues are two wonderful wooden representations of Fudo Myoo, and behind the building several more stone statues of him, one of which must be fairly new as it shows no sign of weathering.
The road heads out into flat farmland towards a low hill completely covered in trees, a pretty good indicator that it is home to a shrine, and sure enough an impressively large shrine complex is hidden in the dark interior of the woods.
Yasuura Shrine was founded over a thousand years ago and considering its size this must have been an important area, though now it is too far from Yukuhashi or Nakatsu to get many visitors.
Yasuura Shrine is the biggest shrine I've been to for the past few days and yet unlike all the others it has no banners or flags up. In front of the shrine is a big signboard with maps showing details of the heavy bombing this area received in 1944 and 1945 because of the nearby air base.
The air base is still there with its runway extending out in to the sea, and to head down the coast I have to cut inland to get around it. It's quiet with no activity, and I wonder what its function is now.
There are many in Japan who would tell you that Japan has no air-force, or no military, only a small "self-defence" force, but let's call a spade a spade, Japan has a huge military with one of the biggest military budgets in the world, larger now than that of the United Kingdom.
Its navy is the third or fourth biggest in the world, bigger than the British Navy, But like this airbase it's all pretty low key with a low profile, so easy to pretend it doesn't exist.
Off in the distance down the coast a huge smokestack is the landmark I aim for. It is Unoshima power station. Closer it's possible to see the dozens and dozens of storage tanks around it, an indication that it is powered by oil.
The sun is getting low and I still have a few hours till I reach my destination, so I ignore the sign that points to a shrine a little off the route and press on. The sun is down and the western sky is golden as I reach my hotel for the night in Nakatsu.
Jake Davies
A Walk Around Kyushu 6
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9 May
ドナルド・キーン 養子
Donald Keene is perhaps the world's best known living non-Japan-born scholar of things Japanese. Keene taught Japanese studies at Columbia University, his alma mater, for over fifty years, and where there is now a Japanese studies center named after him.
Last year, Keene moved to Japan to live, saying he wanted to spend the rest of his life (however many years that may be: he is now 90) with the Japanese people in the wake of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster. He expressed disappointment at so many foreigners having left Japan in the wake of the disaster, and wanted to show his solidarity by becoming a citizen, which he did by naturalization, relinquishing his American citizenship.
This reason is a little suspect. One wonders about the authenticity of an impossibly broad gesture of "solidarity" like moving to Tokyo, where he is just one in a sea of millions who generally seem to show little meaningful solidarity with the victims of the Tohoku disaster, the capital operating with close to effective disregard for what happens elsewhere in Japan. And why didn't Keene decide to make his permanent home in Japan a long time ago, after the even greater disaster that was the Pacific War?
However, the latest development in Keene's life perhaps makes some retrospective - and rather more level-headed - sense of his decision to move here. Just last week Keene adopted a 62-year-old shamisen player, Seiki Uehara, who has now taken Keene's surname as his own. Keene has never come out as being gay, but it is a pretty open secret that he is, and this adoption episode is no doubt an example of a common solution to the absence of gay civil unions or gay marriage in Japan.
The adopting of adults by adults is by no means unusual in Japan, in fact Japan has a very long history of it. Nearly all adoptions in Japan are of males in the 20s and 30s for the purpose of assuring a household an heir. Gay men who wish to live as a married couple can therefore take advantage of Japan's adoption system, one adopting the other into his registered household (such household registration, or the koseki system, being a foundation of Japanese society), and thus enjoy the taxation, and other, benefits of being members of the same family.
Out of respect for Keene's never having come out as gay, the major news organs describe this new relationship in mentor-student terms, made more plausible of course by the almost three-decade age gap between the two. Such reports only manage to sound coy, however, describing how the younger Keene will be "putting Donald Keene's extensive library in order," "doing the cooking," "organizing Donald Keene's busy schedule," and other such lampoonable phrases.
Gay relationships are not officially recognized in Japan, and the institution of the family in Japan maintains an almost feudal significance, requiring an heir. Therefore, gay relationships in Japan are seen socially as fundamentally frivolous, i.e., not truly respectable - even if there is none of the moral opprobrium in the Japanese that typifies many other peoples.
Donald Keene has lived a very privileged life, mostly as an Ivy League academic, and no doubt has a degree of princely disdain for the idea of a sexual identity - being an identity that those more prone to life's hard edges adopt as a way of finding strength in solidarity. Nevertheless, as someone who knows Japan inside out, and as someone at a stage of life when you'd think neither the praise nor disdain of others mattered anymore, Keene (and his "son") would have done well to be bolder and show some meaningful solidarity with gay men in Japan by leveraging a little of their status and reputation to help bring Japan - along with its gay community - a little closer to where it should be as a 21st century nation.
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Donald Keene is perhaps the world's best known living non-Japan-born scholar of things Japanese. Keene taught Japanese studies at Columbia University, his alma mater, for over fifty years, and where there is now a Japanese studies center named after him.
Last year, Keene moved to Japan to live, saying he wanted to spend the rest of his life (however many years that may be: he is now 90) with the Japanese people in the wake of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster. He expressed disappointment at so many foreigners having left Japan in the wake of the disaster, and wanted to show his solidarity by becoming a citizen, which he did by naturalization, relinquishing his American citizenship.
This reason is a little suspect. One wonders about the authenticity of an impossibly broad gesture of "solidarity" like moving to Tokyo, where he is just one in a sea of millions who generally seem to show little meaningful solidarity with the victims of the Tohoku disaster, the capital operating with close to effective disregard for what happens elsewhere in Japan. And why didn't Keene decide to make his permanent home in Japan a long time ago, after the even greater disaster that was the Pacific War?
However, the latest development in Keene's life perhaps makes some retrospective - and rather more level-headed - sense of his decision to move here. Just last week Keene adopted a 62-year-old shamisen player, Seiki Uehara, who has now taken Keene's surname as his own. Keene has never come out as being gay, but it is a pretty open secret that he is, and this adoption episode is no doubt an example of a common solution to the absence of gay civil unions or gay marriage in Japan.
The adopting of adults by adults is by no means unusual in Japan, in fact Japan has a very long history of it. Nearly all adoptions in Japan are of males in the 20s and 30s for the purpose of assuring a household an heir. Gay men who wish to live as a married couple can therefore take advantage of Japan's adoption system, one adopting the other into his registered household (such household registration, or the koseki system, being a foundation of Japanese society), and thus enjoy the taxation, and other, benefits of being members of the same family.
Out of respect for Keene's never having come out as gay, the major news organs describe this new relationship in mentor-student terms, made more plausible of course by the almost three-decade age gap between the two. Such reports only manage to sound coy, however, describing how the younger Keene will be "putting Donald Keene's extensive library in order," "doing the cooking," "organizing Donald Keene's busy schedule," and other such lampoonable phrases.
Gay relationships are not officially recognized in Japan, and the institution of the family in Japan maintains an almost feudal significance, requiring an heir. Therefore, gay relationships in Japan are seen socially as fundamentally frivolous, i.e., not truly respectable - even if there is none of the moral opprobrium in the Japanese that typifies many other peoples.
Donald Keene has lived a very privileged life, mostly as an Ivy League academic, and no doubt has a degree of princely disdain for the idea of a sexual identity - being an identity that those more prone to life's hard edges adopt as a way of finding strength in solidarity. Nevertheless, as someone who knows Japan inside out, and as someone at a stage of life when you'd think neither the praise nor disdain of others mattered anymore, Keene (and his "son") would have done well to be bolder and show some meaningful solidarity with gay men in Japan by leveraging a little of their status and reputation to help bring Japan - along with its gay community - a little closer to where it should be as a 21st century nation.
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綾城
Aya Castle is located in the middle of Miyazaki Prefecture 20km west of Miyazaki city.
The original Aya Castle (Aya-jo) is believed to have dated from the 14th century and was named after Koshiro Yoshito aka "Aya".
During the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history the castle was lost to the Shimazu clan based in Kagoshima to the south in 1577. However not much later in 1615, the Tokugawa regime's policy of "One Country, One Castle" meant that Aya Castle was demolished.
The present keep (tenshu) was rebuilt in 1985 using original plans and houses a museum displaying samurai armor, weapons and historical documents.
Visitors to Aya Castle in Miyazaki Prefecture may also like to visit the Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland), the Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Aya Castle
1012 Kitamata
Aya-machi
Higashi-Shoken-gun
Miyazaki
Hours:
Admission: 350 yen
Access: Take a bus one hour from JR Minami-Miyazaki Station to Aya-Machiaiba Bus Stop (approx. 1 hour). Aya Castle is then a 20 minute walk.
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Aya Castle is located in the middle of Miyazaki Prefecture 20km west of Miyazaki city.
The original Aya Castle (Aya-jo) is believed to have dated from the 14th century and was named after Koshiro Yoshito aka "Aya".
During the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history the castle was lost to the Shimazu clan based in Kagoshima to the south in 1577. However not much later in 1615, the Tokugawa regime's policy of "One Country, One Castle" meant that Aya Castle was demolished.
The present keep (tenshu) was rebuilt in 1985 using original plans and houses a museum displaying samurai armor, weapons and historical documents.
Visitors to Aya Castle in Miyazaki Prefecture may also like to visit the Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland), the Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Aya Castle
1012 Kitamata
Aya-machi
Higashi-Shoken-gun
Miyazaki
Hours:
Admission: 350 yen
Access: Take a bus one hour from JR Minami-Miyazaki Station to Aya-Machiaiba Bus Stop (approx. 1 hour). Aya Castle is then a 20 minute walk.
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秋葉原
Akihabara (Akiba), Tokyo's electronics center, is always full of surprises.
First of all, visitors seem predominately male and, it has to be said, somewhat nerdy, herding around in small, nervous groups in the Japanese equivalents of anoraks.
Then there are the maids in their frilly skirts and long stockings touting cutely for business in "Maid Cafes" alongside their older and more worldly massage parlor sisters. (Note: no fliers for foreigners).
Next on the "Wow Scale" are the huge posters of sweaty, panting manga princesses with comically large breasts and eyes, both physical features Japanese women are not normally known for except in the escapist, unreal world of anime and comics.
Turkish kebab shops are another head-turner in Akihabara. There's lots of them.
But when many of Akiba's day-trippers are lads from out of town and foreign geeks and gorkers, there's really not that much time to sit down and chow.
Akihabara is not yet known for its cuisine, though a few ramen shops had queues forming when we last visited.
However the biggest surprise of our latest trip to Akihabara were the upskirt warning signs on the escalators in Akihabara Station. Women in mini-skirts beware for the geeks with cell phone cameras want to shoot up your dress. If you spot one phone 110.
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Akihabara (Akiba), Tokyo's electronics center, is always full of surprises.
First of all, visitors seem predominately male and, it has to be said, somewhat nerdy, herding around in small, nervous groups in the Japanese equivalents of anoraks.
Then there are the maids in their frilly skirts and long stockings touting cutely for business in "Maid Cafes" alongside their older and more worldly massage parlor sisters. (Note: no fliers for foreigners).
Next on the "Wow Scale" are the huge posters of sweaty, panting manga princesses with comically large breasts and eyes, both physical features Japanese women are not normally known for except in the escapist, unreal world of anime and comics.
Turkish kebab shops are another head-turner in Akihabara. There's lots of them.
But when many of Akiba's day-trippers are lads from out of town and foreign geeks and gorkers, there's really not that much time to sit down and chow.
Akihabara is not yet known for its cuisine, though a few ramen shops had queues forming when we last visited.
However the biggest surprise of our latest trip to Akihabara were the upskirt warning signs on the escalators in Akihabara Station. Women in mini-skirts beware for the geeks with cell phone cameras want to shoot up your dress. If you spot one phone 110.
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八重山博物館, 石垣
In the center of Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the small and somewhat quaint, Yaeyama Museum.
The Yaeyama Museum contains a collection of the local crafts of Ishigaki and the other islands in the Yaeyama chain including traditional boats and canoes, festival shiisa masks, textiles, scale models of traditional Yaeyama architecture, coffin palaquins, scrolls and other historic documents.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Yaeyama Museum
Tonoshiro 4-1
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
907-0004
Admission: 200 yen
Hours: 9am-4.30pm; closed Monday
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In the center of Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the small and somewhat quaint, Yaeyama Museum.
The Yaeyama Museum contains a collection of the local crafts of Ishigaki and the other islands in the Yaeyama chain including traditional boats and canoes, festival shiisa masks, textiles, scale models of traditional Yaeyama architecture, coffin palaquins, scrolls and other historic documents.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Yaeyama Museum
Tonoshiro 4-1
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
907-0004
Admission: 200 yen
Hours: 9am-4.30pm; closed Monday
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宮崎県総合博物館
The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History in Miyazaki city in on the south east coast of Kyushu is located in the grounds of Miyazaki Jingu close to Miyazaki Jingu Station.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History opened in 1971 and has exhibits connected with the natural history and history of Miyazaki Prefecture.
The museum is surrounded by the open-air Miyazaki Prefectural Museum Minka-en, where four historic farmhouses, some of them over 200 years old, have been moved from the hinterland of the prefecture to this location.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History has recreated forests and other natural environments, dinosaur fossils, insect specimens and stuffed animals and birds showing Miyazaki's diverse flora and fauna as well as recreated dwellings, clothing, crafts, tools, farm implements, photographs and dioramas showcasing the history of the prefecture.
Visitors to the Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland) and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
2-2-4 Jingu
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0053
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed Tuesday
Admission: Free; charge for special exhibitions
Access: The museum is a short walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station.
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The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History in Miyazaki city in on the south east coast of Kyushu is located in the grounds of Miyazaki Jingu close to Miyazaki Jingu Station.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History opened in 1971 and has exhibits connected with the natural history and history of Miyazaki Prefecture.
The museum is surrounded by the open-air Miyazaki Prefectural Museum Minka-en, where four historic farmhouses, some of them over 200 years old, have been moved from the hinterland of the prefecture to this location.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History has recreated forests and other natural environments, dinosaur fossils, insect specimens and stuffed animals and birds showing Miyazaki's diverse flora and fauna as well as recreated dwellings, clothing, crafts, tools, farm implements, photographs and dioramas showcasing the history of the prefecture.
Visitors to the Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland) and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.
Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
2-2-4 Jingu
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0053
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed Tuesday
Admission: Free; charge for special exhibitions
Access: The museum is a short walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station.
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今週の日本
Officials’ Visit to Japanese Shrine Could Anger Neighboring Countries
New York Times
Japan's Mount Fuji 'set for Unesco listing'
BBC
The Nakizumo crying baby festival in Tokyo – in pictures
Guardian
Antinuclear drive in search of new strategies
Japan Times
An appeal for improving labour conditions of Fukushima Daiichi workers 賛同人募集！「福島第一の原発作業員の待遇改善を要求しよう」
Japan Focus
As world dials back death penalty, Japan heads in opposite direction
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Percentage of foreign workers in Japan: 1.0% (of entire workforce)
Percentage of foreign workers in South Korea: 1.24%
Percentage of foreign workers in Taiwan: 1.07%
Percentage of foreign workers in Singapore: 1.20%
Source: Asahi Shinbun
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Officials’ Visit to Japanese Shrine Could Anger Neighboring Countries New York Times
Japan's Mount Fuji 'set for Unesco listing'
BBC
The Nakizumo crying baby festival in Tokyo – in pictures
Guardian
Antinuclear drive in search of new strategies
Japan Times
An appeal for improving labour conditions of Fukushima Daiichi workers 賛同人募集！「福島第一の原発作業員の待遇改善を要求しよう」
Japan Focus
As world dials back death penalty, Japan heads in opposite direction
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Percentage of foreign workers in Japan: 1.0% (of entire workforce)
Percentage of foreign workers in South Korea: 1.24%
Percentage of foreign workers in Taiwan: 1.07%
Percentage of foreign workers in Singapore: 1.20%
Source: Asahi Shinbun
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宮崎県立美術館
The Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum in Miyazaki city in south eastern Kyushu is located in the prefectural cultural park close to Miyazaki Station and Miyazaki Jingu Station.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum opened in 1995 and focuses on the works of artists from or connected to Miyazaki Prefecture and other modern art from Japan and overseas.
The collection includes work by the Japanese artists Yamada Shinichi, Nakazawa Hiromitsu, Shiotsuki Toho, Yamaguchi Kaoru and Kitagawa Tamiji as well as such European artists as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Pierre Bonnard.
Other facilities at Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum include an art library, museum shop and cafe. Visitors to the Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland).
Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum
3-210 Funatsuka
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0031
Tel: 0985 20 3792
Hours: 10am-6pm; closed Monday
Admission: Free; charge for special exhibitions
Access: there are buses to the museum from Miyazaki Station, get off at the Bunka Koen stop. Alternatively, the museum is a 15-20 minute walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station.
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The Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum in Miyazaki city in south eastern Kyushu is located in the prefectural cultural park close to Miyazaki Station and Miyazaki Jingu Station.
The Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum opened in 1995 and focuses on the works of artists from or connected to Miyazaki Prefecture and other modern art from Japan and overseas.
The collection includes work by the Japanese artists Yamada Shinichi, Nakazawa Hiromitsu, Shiotsuki Toho, Yamaguchi Kaoru and Kitagawa Tamiji as well as such European artists as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Pierre Bonnard.
Other facilities at Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum include an art library, museum shop and cafe. Visitors to the Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland).
Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum
3-210 Funatsuka
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0031
Tel: 0985 20 3792
Hours: 10am-6pm; closed Monday
Admission: Free; charge for special exhibitions
Access: there are buses to the museum from Miyazaki Station, get off at the Bunka Koen stop. Alternatively, the museum is a 15-20 minute walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station.
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唐人墓, 石垣
Driving west along the coast road from Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the colorful Chinese-style tomb memorial of Tojin Baka just off the highway.
The memorial is dedicated to a group of Chinese laborers who were being transported from Xiamen (Amoy) to the USA in 1852 when their ship, the Robert Bowne, ran aground on the coral off the coast of Ishigaki.
Supposedly a riot among the coolies had broken out prior to or after the grounding due to their harsh treatment at the hands of the ship's captain and crew.
Some of Chinese laborers were drowned in the wreck, some of them reportedly killed by their British and American overseers as they tried to escape and around 380 fled to Ishigaki and were given refuge by the locals.
In response to an appeal from the Robert Bowne, two British ships and one American vessel arrived and shelled the temporary camp of the Chinese and then sent landing parties to capture the runaways.
172 of the laborers survived to be later repatriated to China the next year but 128 of them died during their stay on Ishigaki of disease and suicide.
The names of the laborers are inscribed on the memorial which was erected in 1971.
Some of the calligraphy on the tomb was produced by President Chiang Kai-shek of Taiwan.
Tojin Baka is close to the upmarket 4-star Ishigaki Resort Granvrio Hotel, the Beach Hotel Sunshine and Fusakikannon-do Temple. There are buses to Tojin Baka on the Kabira Resort route from the bus terminal near Ishigaki Port.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Yaeyama Museum, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Tojin Baka
Shinkawa 1625-9
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
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Driving west along the coast road from Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the colorful Chinese-style tomb memorial of Tojin Baka just off the highway.
The memorial is dedicated to a group of Chinese laborers who were being transported from Xiamen (Amoy) to the USA in 1852 when their ship, the Robert Bowne, ran aground on the coral off the coast of Ishigaki.
Supposedly a riot among the coolies had broken out prior to or after the grounding due to their harsh treatment at the hands of the ship's captain and crew.
Some of Chinese laborers were drowned in the wreck, some of them reportedly killed by their British and American overseers as they tried to escape and around 380 fled to Ishigaki and were given refuge by the locals.
In response to an appeal from the Robert Bowne, two British ships and one American vessel arrived and shelled the temporary camp of the Chinese and then sent landing parties to capture the runaways.
172 of the laborers survived to be later repatriated to China the next year but 128 of them died during their stay on Ishigaki of disease and suicide.
The names of the laborers are inscribed on the memorial which was erected in 1971.
Some of the calligraphy on the tomb was produced by President Chiang Kai-shek of Taiwan.
Tojin Baka is close to the upmarket 4-star Ishigaki Resort Granvrio Hotel, the Beach Hotel Sunshine and Fusakikannon-do Temple. There are buses to Tojin Baka on the Kabira Resort route from the bus terminal near Ishigaki Port.
Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Yaeyama Museum, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.
Tojin Baka
Shinkawa 1625-9
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
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A Walk Around Kyushu Day 6, January 4th, 2013
Kokura to Kanda
So, after a few days break for the New Year I'm back on the road and hoping to get through Fukuoka Prefecture and into Oita on this leg of my walk.
There are two temples to visit today on Kyushu's 108 sacred sites pilgrimage, both of them to the southeast of Kokura.
Googlemaps tells me the shortest route is to head south and then east skirting the mountains that form the northern tip of Kyushu that reaches up to where the big bridge crosses the Kanmon Straits, but I opt to head along the straits to Moji and then cross over the mountains. A little longer, but with the promise of a break from the wall to wall concrete.
The first hour is along the busy road with residential areas crammed in to the base of the hills on one side and industrial areas on the seaside divided by the road and rail artery.
Tucked in among the power-lines, warehouses, and industrial structures is the most incongruous Amorevole San Marco, a wedding complex based very loosely on the Byzantine masterpiece St Mark's Cathedral in Venice. There are many of these kitsch monstrosities around Japan, lacking in any of the details and ornamentation of the originals, and if you look closely lacking windows.
Weddings have been turned into an industry in many countries, but in terms of rip-off Japan is light years ahead. Wouldn't surprise me if a wedding in the real St Mark's was cheaper than at this one.
In the center of Moji I turn uphill and at the top of the town, tucked in underneath an expressway, the entrance to the town's biggest shrine. Even though its early, the shrine is busy, it being only four days into the new year. There are lots of smaller shrines around the grounds including an Inari shrine with its tunnel of vermillion torii and a temporary structure holding all the discarded new years decorations, last years amulets, etc that will be ritually burned later.
It's a short climb up the hill to where the road tops out and I can look down to the coast on the other side with the airport built offshore. From here I can get off the main road and descend along the village road.
At the bottom I take a narrow lane that runs alongside the expressway and its surprisingly quiet and rural. I find the first temple among the paddies and farms, Fudo-in, and all around the temple and up the steps are hundreds and hundreds of plastic bottles with candles in them. Must be from New Year's Eve.
To get to the next temple I must follow the busy Route 25, straight and lined with apartment blocks, chain stores, family restaurants, pachinko parlors.
I find an abandoned love hotel and see if I can find a way in but it is sealed up tight. At Shimosone I follow the rail line until I turn east and head up a long valley towards another expressway I can see crossing the valley.
According to a big sign this was once an important site as there is a fairly large keyhole tomb (kofun) and a map with various sites in the valley where Yayoi and kofun period artifacts have been found. At the top of the valley I find the temple, though at first look it did not appear to be a temple at all.
A single storey older wooden house with one room holding an altar and statue. Compared to some of the bigger pilgrimages, the temples on this one are not much to write home about, but then its not the temples themselves that are important, but the space between!
I head back down the valley along a pretty path that follows the stream and find a large Hachiman shrine on top of the hill. In front of the main building a huge rock, split down the middle, with shimenawa (holy rope) around it.
There is a steady stream of families visiting the shrine, in all probability the only time of the year when they do. From here I meander across the hills along narrow lanes until I can hear the roar of the traffic along Route 10, the main road that I will be roughly following for the next few days.
At Kanda the sun is setting and I catch a local train back into Kokura where my inexpensive hotel room waits. Tomorrow I can catch the first train back here for the next leg which is going to be a long one.... 35km at least.
Jake Davies
A Walk Around Kyushu 5
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Walking
Fukuoka
Kyushu 
Kokura to Kanda
So, after a few days break for the New Year I'm back on the road and hoping to get through Fukuoka Prefecture and into Oita on this leg of my walk.
There are two temples to visit today on Kyushu's 108 sacred sites pilgrimage, both of them to the southeast of Kokura.
Googlemaps tells me the shortest route is to head south and then east skirting the mountains that form the northern tip of Kyushu that reaches up to where the big bridge crosses the Kanmon Straits, but I opt to head along the straits to Moji and then cross over the mountains. A little longer, but with the promise of a break from the wall to wall concrete.
The first hour is along the busy road with residential areas crammed in to the base of the hills on one side and industrial areas on the seaside divided by the road and rail artery.
Tucked in among the power-lines, warehouses, and industrial structures is the most incongruous Amorevole San Marco, a wedding complex based very loosely on the Byzantine masterpiece St Mark's Cathedral in Venice. There are many of these kitsch monstrosities around Japan, lacking in any of the details and ornamentation of the originals, and if you look closely lacking windows.
Weddings have been turned into an industry in many countries, but in terms of rip-off Japan is light years ahead. Wouldn't surprise me if a wedding in the real St Mark's was cheaper than at this one.
In the center of Moji I turn uphill and at the top of the town, tucked in underneath an expressway, the entrance to the town's biggest shrine. Even though its early, the shrine is busy, it being only four days into the new year. There are lots of smaller shrines around the grounds including an Inari shrine with its tunnel of vermillion torii and a temporary structure holding all the discarded new years decorations, last years amulets, etc that will be ritually burned later.
It's a short climb up the hill to where the road tops out and I can look down to the coast on the other side with the airport built offshore. From here I can get off the main road and descend along the village road.
At the bottom I take a narrow lane that runs alongside the expressway and its surprisingly quiet and rural. I find the first temple among the paddies and farms, Fudo-in, and all around the temple and up the steps are hundreds and hundreds of plastic bottles with candles in them. Must be from New Year's Eve.
To get to the next temple I must follow the busy Route 25, straight and lined with apartment blocks, chain stores, family restaurants, pachinko parlors.
I find an abandoned love hotel and see if I can find a way in but it is sealed up tight. At Shimosone I follow the rail line until I turn east and head up a long valley towards another expressway I can see crossing the valley.
According to a big sign this was once an important site as there is a fairly large keyhole tomb (kofun) and a map with various sites in the valley where Yayoi and kofun period artifacts have been found. At the top of the valley I find the temple, though at first look it did not appear to be a temple at all.
A single storey older wooden house with one room holding an altar and statue. Compared to some of the bigger pilgrimages, the temples on this one are not much to write home about, but then its not the temples themselves that are important, but the space between!
I head back down the valley along a pretty path that follows the stream and find a large Hachiman shrine on top of the hill. In front of the main building a huge rock, split down the middle, with shimenawa (holy rope) around it.
There is a steady stream of families visiting the shrine, in all probability the only time of the year when they do. From here I meander across the hills along narrow lanes until I can hear the roar of the traffic along Route 10, the main road that I will be roughly following for the next few days.
At Kanda the sun is setting and I catch a local train back into Kokura where my inexpensive hotel room waits. Tomorrow I can catch the first train back here for the next leg which is going to be a long one.... 35km at least.
Jake Davies
A Walk Around Kyushu 5
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Fukuoka
Kyushu
ワヒネ 小説
Giselle and the Fate of Wahine
New Zealand has created a niche for itself as a sparsely populated, grandly landscaped, green Pacific Arcadia thanks to decades of tourism PR topped by having featured as the setting for the Lord of the Rings movie. The "garden city" of Christchurch has been at the forefront of this portrayal, as the gateway to the skies of the more touristically popular of the two main islands, the South Island.
Giselle and the Fate of Wahine, by the Japan-based New Zealander, Marty Walpole, is the lyrical title of a novel set in New Zealand, and opening in Christchurch. It is a work of historical fiction based on the Wahine disaster of 1969, when the inter-island car ferry, the Wahine, sank in Wellingon harbour on a run from Christchurch, ending in the loss of scores of lives.
Wahine means "maiden" in Maori, and the name alone adds a poignant edge to the tragedy. But does Giselle and the Fate of Wahine extend the title's lyricism with perhaps a gesture to mythical Maori maidenhood? Does it maybe open with a sketch of the stately, small-city beauty of 1960s Christchurch? Does it leverage anything of the nature resort reputation that New Zealand has woven itself over the past few decades?
No. Giselle and the Fate of Wahine opens an hour before the city's "rush hour," with its "parks with joggers," garbage collectors' "huge trucks," and "uniformed coffee shop and restaurant staff placing chalkboard menus on the wet sidewalks." The reader's eyebrows are immediately raised - that is if the reader is at all familiar with the provincial sleepiness of late 1960s New Zealand when jogging as a personal regime was in its raw infancy and pretty much limited to members of harriers clubs, chainstore-like uniformed coffee shop staff a virtually unknown phenomenon, and the idea of restaurants opening before, we are told, the buses had even started their runs preposterous.
In other words, Giselle opens with a scene reminiscent of legendary American urbania - thousands of miles from Christchurch and still decades before anything remotely like what is described there came to typify the place—if it does even now. The vocabulary alone with its "chalkboards" (i.e. blackboards) and "sidewalks" (footpaths) is a world away from the Kiwi lingo of the 1980s, even, (when this reviewer lived there), let alone the 1960s.
This fake, foreign grittiness continues with the first speech act encountered in the book: "'About fucking time,' Emma muttered." Fucking? 1969 New Zealand? Yeah, right - da gangsta rap made her do it. But, in an abrupt flip, consider the only time we get to see the Garden City by night, or, more precisely, nearby Lyttelton Harbour. Try Google Imaging the locale to get an idea of how small it is in 2013, let alone in 1969, then come back and ponder how "Emma marveled at the night view of the harbor, with its neon." Hardcussin' Emma has suddenly turned lacebodiced Heidi-comes-to-town, overwhelmed by the sight of the town's pub sign.
Other jarring anachronisms include a sheet of A4 (not foolscap), the wind blowing in km/h, and headaches being cured with the obscure Panadol (not the actually ubiquitous Disprin).
Most damningly of all, there are no characters in Giselle and the Fate of Wahine, only character names. No one is lovable, no one is hateable, no one is even really much in between: there are just names fitted with apparently random, generally unevocative, physical descriptions here and there (like "a small man with a thin body") that are assigned actions and words. The hint of a relationship (incidentally, girl-on-girl), is introduced a quarter of the way through, but even that is left hanging, and virtually no character development takes place whatsoever. Wooden is the word that comes to mind.
Physics is an insuperable problem in Giselle. In an unintended sci-fi-like twist, different objects and characters apparently occupy independent dimensions within the same scene. One very remarkable example is presented in a single paragraph: "Furniture slid across the floors, piling up on the lower side of the room. Older passengers had trouble sitting in the chairs and opted to sit on the carpeted floors. One young woman had been trapped under the crashing furniture and was hauled out by other passengers." Yet, amid this violently unstable mayhem, the very next sentence describes how "Emma and Janice sat with coffee in their hands. Both were quiet, watching the people around them. Emma sat forward and waved to Richard who was pouring coffee for two ladies sitting nearby." Go figure. Or how about when the Wahine is battling the waves in Wellington Harbour, driven off the reef on which she had foundered by winds of up to 250km/h? Bugger me if there aren't "Along the cliffs thousands of people holding umbrellas"! Aye, they put things together good'n'proper in them days, they did.
Giselle and the Fate of the Wahine is full of grammatical errors, especially punctuation-related, and questionable vocabulary choices; but these pale into insignificance against much more annoying features, probably the biggest being the inordinate repetitiveness and longwindedness that plague the book. I swear it's going to take me a good ten days to recover from being battered over the head repeatedly with unnecessary, uninspired and clumsy descriptions, often in histrionic metaphors, of how the sea heaved, the storm raged, the wind howled, and the rain lashed relentlessly, fiercely, unforgivingly, brutally (take it away, Mr. Roget!), every two or three paragraphs, virtually right the way through.
I kept waiting for something to happen throughout Giselle and the Fate of Wahine's 324 pages, but nothing did. The disaster is not the germ of the book, it engulfs the book and leaves nothing of novelistic value in its aftermath. In fact it is less a novel than an unglued report. Even what are meant to be crises come and go colourlessly, without credibility or impact. It is repetitive, careless, naive, and contextless, lacking any storytelling spark, and memorable only for its headshaking incongruities.
The author clearly has the will, but the way is still being discovered. Broader and deeper reading of others' writing would no doubt go a long way.
Giselle and the Fate of Wahine was published just last month, as a paperback only, and can be ordered online from Pegasus.
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Wahine 
Giselle and the Fate of WahineNew Zealand has created a niche for itself as a sparsely populated, grandly landscaped, green Pacific Arcadia thanks to decades of tourism PR topped by having featured as the setting for the Lord of the Rings movie. The "garden city" of Christchurch has been at the forefront of this portrayal, as the gateway to the skies of the more touristically popular of the two main islands, the South Island.
Giselle and the Fate of Wahine, by the Japan-based New Zealander, Marty Walpole, is the lyrical title of a novel set in New Zealand, and opening in Christchurch. It is a work of historical fiction based on the Wahine disaster of 1969, when the inter-island car ferry, the Wahine, sank in Wellingon harbour on a run from Christchurch, ending in the loss of scores of lives.
Wahine means "maiden" in Maori, and the name alone adds a poignant edge to the tragedy. But does Giselle and the Fate of Wahine extend the title's lyricism with perhaps a gesture to mythical Maori maidenhood? Does it maybe open with a sketch of the stately, small-city beauty of 1960s Christchurch? Does it leverage anything of the nature resort reputation that New Zealand has woven itself over the past few decades?
No. Giselle and the Fate of Wahine opens an hour before the city's "rush hour," with its "parks with joggers," garbage collectors' "huge trucks," and "uniformed coffee shop and restaurant staff placing chalkboard menus on the wet sidewalks." The reader's eyebrows are immediately raised - that is if the reader is at all familiar with the provincial sleepiness of late 1960s New Zealand when jogging as a personal regime was in its raw infancy and pretty much limited to members of harriers clubs, chainstore-like uniformed coffee shop staff a virtually unknown phenomenon, and the idea of restaurants opening before, we are told, the buses had even started their runs preposterous.
In other words, Giselle opens with a scene reminiscent of legendary American urbania - thousands of miles from Christchurch and still decades before anything remotely like what is described there came to typify the place—if it does even now. The vocabulary alone with its "chalkboards" (i.e. blackboards) and "sidewalks" (footpaths) is a world away from the Kiwi lingo of the 1980s, even, (when this reviewer lived there), let alone the 1960s.
This fake, foreign grittiness continues with the first speech act encountered in the book: "'About fucking time,' Emma muttered." Fucking? 1969 New Zealand? Yeah, right - da gangsta rap made her do it. But, in an abrupt flip, consider the only time we get to see the Garden City by night, or, more precisely, nearby Lyttelton Harbour. Try Google Imaging the locale to get an idea of how small it is in 2013, let alone in 1969, then come back and ponder how "Emma marveled at the night view of the harbor, with its neon." Hardcussin' Emma has suddenly turned lacebodiced Heidi-comes-to-town, overwhelmed by the sight of the town's pub sign.
Other jarring anachronisms include a sheet of A4 (not foolscap), the wind blowing in km/h, and headaches being cured with the obscure Panadol (not the actually ubiquitous Disprin).
Most damningly of all, there are no characters in Giselle and the Fate of Wahine, only character names. No one is lovable, no one is hateable, no one is even really much in between: there are just names fitted with apparently random, generally unevocative, physical descriptions here and there (like "a small man with a thin body") that are assigned actions and words. The hint of a relationship (incidentally, girl-on-girl), is introduced a quarter of the way through, but even that is left hanging, and virtually no character development takes place whatsoever. Wooden is the word that comes to mind.
Physics is an insuperable problem in Giselle. In an unintended sci-fi-like twist, different objects and characters apparently occupy independent dimensions within the same scene. One very remarkable example is presented in a single paragraph: "Furniture slid across the floors, piling up on the lower side of the room. Older passengers had trouble sitting in the chairs and opted to sit on the carpeted floors. One young woman had been trapped under the crashing furniture and was hauled out by other passengers." Yet, amid this violently unstable mayhem, the very next sentence describes how "Emma and Janice sat with coffee in their hands. Both were quiet, watching the people around them. Emma sat forward and waved to Richard who was pouring coffee for two ladies sitting nearby." Go figure. Or how about when the Wahine is battling the waves in Wellington Harbour, driven off the reef on which she had foundered by winds of up to 250km/h? Bugger me if there aren't "Along the cliffs thousands of people holding umbrellas"! Aye, they put things together good'n'proper in them days, they did.
Giselle and the Fate of the Wahine is full of grammatical errors, especially punctuation-related, and questionable vocabulary choices; but these pale into insignificance against much more annoying features, probably the biggest being the inordinate repetitiveness and longwindedness that plague the book. I swear it's going to take me a good ten days to recover from being battered over the head repeatedly with unnecessary, uninspired and clumsy descriptions, often in histrionic metaphors, of how the sea heaved, the storm raged, the wind howled, and the rain lashed relentlessly, fiercely, unforgivingly, brutally (take it away, Mr. Roget!), every two or three paragraphs, virtually right the way through.
I kept waiting for something to happen throughout Giselle and the Fate of Wahine's 324 pages, but nothing did. The disaster is not the germ of the book, it engulfs the book and leaves nothing of novelistic value in its aftermath. In fact it is less a novel than an unglued report. Even what are meant to be crises come and go colourlessly, without credibility or impact. It is repetitive, careless, naive, and contextless, lacking any storytelling spark, and memorable only for its headshaking incongruities.
The author clearly has the will, but the way is still being discovered. Broader and deeper reading of others' writing would no doubt go a long way.
Giselle and the Fate of Wahine was published just last month, as a paperback only, and can be ordered online from Pegasus.
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英吾教師の仕事を修飾する方法
JapanVisitor often gets inquiries from prospective English teachers in Japan about how to best promote themselves and find an English-teaching job in Japan.
Like most English-speaking foreigners in Japan, most of us on the JapanVisitor team also started out as English teachers, so we’d like to share a little of our experience and wisdom regarding finding a satisfying and rewarding English-teaching job in Japan.
Firstly, there are more opportunities in big cities than elsewhere in Japan, and the conditions of work in big cities will often be better. If you want to teach English in Japan for the Japanese experience, then you probably won’t mind where you end up (one of us started off on Sado Island!). While big cities like Tokyo and Osaka offer (often) better pay and more convenience, the boonies offer a more immersive Japanese experience and generally much cheaper accommodation.
Secondly, looking at ads on websites and waiting for something that looks good to come up won’t, alone, do it. It worked better up to a couple of decades ago when the idea of coming to Japan was something of a rarity, but globalization has made its mark since then, and the ratio of supply to demand is higher than it used to be.
Scouring ads should, of course, form part of your job seeking effort, but the major part of it should be undertaken on your own initiative.
The best place to start is with your CV and a cover letter, preferably in both English and Japanese. They want to know you can write good English, and going the extra mile to write in Japanese can only look good, and can only help you when the administrative staff dealing with your application don’t speak English.
Then you should select your target area (whether geographical or vocational) and get lists of addresses and contacts of all the establishments you think you might want to work at, and then some more. To do this, you will need to surf the web in Japanese if you really want to maximize your chances.
Once you have printed out all your address labels, you should launch a full-scale mass mailing of your CV and cover letter by Japan Post (you'd be surprised how many older Japanese don't use email) and/or fax.
The greater number of CVs you send out, the greater your chances of landing the ideal teaching job (or any job, for that matter) in Japan. You will have to devote several days to this task—the sky is the limit, but as with anything, the more ventured the more gained.
In the meantime, if you see anything advertised, you should respond with your CV as well.
Gambatte!
Teaching English in Japan: Finding Work, Teaching, and Living in Japan
© JapanVisitor.com
Inside Track Japan For Kindle
Tags
Japan
Tokyo
English
teaching
jobwork 
JapanVisitor often gets inquiries from prospective English teachers in Japan about how to best promote themselves and find an English-teaching job in Japan.Like most English-speaking foreigners in Japan, most of us on the JapanVisitor team also started out as English teachers, so we’d like to share a little of our experience and wisdom regarding finding a satisfying and rewarding English-teaching job in Japan.
Firstly, there are more opportunities in big cities than elsewhere in Japan, and the conditions of work in big cities will often be better. If you want to teach English in Japan for the Japanese experience, then you probably won’t mind where you end up (one of us started off on Sado Island!). While big cities like Tokyo and Osaka offer (often) better pay and more convenience, the boonies offer a more immersive Japanese experience and generally much cheaper accommodation.
Secondly, looking at ads on websites and waiting for something that looks good to come up won’t, alone, do it. It worked better up to a couple of decades ago when the idea of coming to Japan was something of a rarity, but globalization has made its mark since then, and the ratio of supply to demand is higher than it used to be.
Scouring ads should, of course, form part of your job seeking effort, but the major part of it should be undertaken on your own initiative.
The best place to start is with your CV and a cover letter, preferably in both English and Japanese. They want to know you can write good English, and going the extra mile to write in Japanese can only look good, and can only help you when the administrative staff dealing with your application don’t speak English.
Then you should select your target area (whether geographical or vocational) and get lists of addresses and contacts of all the establishments you think you might want to work at, and then some more. To do this, you will need to surf the web in Japanese if you really want to maximize your chances.
Once you have printed out all your address labels, you should launch a full-scale mass mailing of your CV and cover letter by Japan Post (you'd be surprised how many older Japanese don't use email) and/or fax.
The greater number of CVs you send out, the greater your chances of landing the ideal teaching job (or any job, for that matter) in Japan. You will have to devote several days to this task—the sky is the limit, but as with anything, the more ventured the more gained.
In the meantime, if you see anything advertised, you should respond with your CV as well.
Gambatte!
Teaching English in Japan: Finding Work, Teaching, and Living in Japan
© JapanVisitor.com
Inside Track Japan For Kindle
Tags
Japan
Tokyo
English
teaching
jobwork
今週の日本
Officials’ Visit to Japanese Shrine Could Anger Neighboring Countries
New York Times
Abenomics: Can it really end deflation in Japan?
BBC
Why warring 'allies' hold no terrors for North Korea
Guardian
China officially labels Senkakus a ‘core interest’
Japan Times
Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan’s North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō
Japan Focus
Is Japan's Shinzo Abe finally acting on his true nationalist colors?
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Professional baseball players in Japan have seen their salaries decrease by 830,000 yen ($8,340) compared to 2012.
The average NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) baseball player now earns 37.33 million yen ($374,890).
In Major League Baseball, the average salary is $3.2 million (31,800,000 yen).
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
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Officials’ Visit to Japanese Shrine Could Anger Neighboring Countries New York Times
Abenomics: Can it really end deflation in Japan?
BBC
Why warring 'allies' hold no terrors for North Korea
Guardian
China officially labels Senkakus a ‘core interest’
Japan Times
Yet Another Lost Decade? Whither Japan’s North Korea Policy under Abe Shinzō
Japan Focus
Is Japan's Shinzo Abe finally acting on his true nationalist colors?
Christian Science Monitor
Last Week's Japan News
Statistics
Professional baseball players in Japan have seen their salaries decrease by 830,000 yen ($8,340) compared to 2012.
The average NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) baseball player now earns 37.33 million yen ($374,890).
In Major League Baseball, the average salary is $3.2 million (31,800,000 yen).
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
© JapanVisitor
Book a hotel in Japan with Bookings
Happi Coats
Tags
Japan News Japan Statistics politics