▷ First the wonderful news: I have a new digital….electricity meter. Wow!…..🤣 the Langen company have promised that now it will be some much more convenient to calculate my bill.
新しい電気メーターはあまりにも巧妙なので、誰も理解できない
▷ Fast forward a few weeks and there is my landlady and myself peering at the ever-changing information on the monitor. For heavens sake. Which display is the right one? ☹️
▷ The latest: A young man in a hi-viz jacket arrives. Oh. Apparently so many people have submitted the wrong information that he is going round reading the meters. How about that for progress…….
▷ I know you are just as excited 🙄 as myself to see “my” building site. Last week I caught a good schnapps moment for you. They work hard. But when I see the crane almost disappearing into the gloomy mist I know it’s time to skidaddle…..
この暗い天気にはもううんざりだ
▷ So I have skidaddled. With a little help from the SAS flight out of Copenhagen…..no guesses where to.
Mid-flight I went to the galley to ask for a glass of orange juice. On handing it to me the purser commented on the colour….”here’s you urine test sir…!” Trust the Danes. Merry bunch.
▷ For the first few hours we have to wiggle around conflict zones…notable Ukraine….
私は逃げた………
Let’s hope that little cabin pressure light never turns on…time for Spotify...”…….ground control to Major Tom…..” seems suitable….
▷ I love the way that, as the aircraft tilts, evening sun moves over the cabin….
夕方の光
▷ Although it’s only marginally warmer than Europe, the big difference you notice when arriving in Japan at this time of year here is the light. There is lots of it…….
日本は涼しいですが晴れています。青空が広がっています
And it’s blue. Ginko trees in Yokohama……..
横浜のイチョウ並木
If you are not blinded by the sun, you will be dazzled by the clean floors of the train…..
太陽で目がくらまなければ、電車のきれいな床に目がくらむでしょう…..
▷ Crossing the charmingly dilapidated bridge over the Tsurumi river…..to reach Yokohama…..
▷ I am befuddled by Jisa Boke – jet lag – on my first day. So the first place to go is the steamy, timeless world of the onsen – in this case the mineral spring baths of Hoshikawa……for just around 1.500 yen ( 8€. ) you have a wide variety of pools of different temperatures, indoors and out. Or you can lie in the water massage. Wonderful🫧
天然温泉 満天の湯 Kamihoshikawa
Every onsen has a rest area……
Today is a lemon-floating day….
▷ The visit to the onsen is followed by a walk through Yokohama’s Chinatown. As well as the 250-odd Chinese shops and restaurants, there is a magnificently gaudy temple….a wiff of incense wafts across the street….
横浜中華街
▷ The next morning it’s a walk on the promenade. My Whatsapp pings 💥My daughter has passed her Masters’ exam. Whooppee!
▷ Breakfast is pancakes, blueberries and cream accompanied by coffee…
山科公園での朝食
The coffee is“Koi”, which sounds the same as “love”, but when you write it you use a different Kanji Chinese character. Just one of the ways Japanese trips up Chatgpt et.al. Ha ha!
▷ Japan is safe, they all say. Yes it is, but there are some other challenges which are not in the travel brochures. Let’s say you want to park your bike and go into a restaurant. Park your bike? Try again. There is nowhere. Literally. Unless you are lucky and find a paying slot……it clamps your bike and then notes the time….
レストラン街に自転車を停めるのは難しい
But it’s worth the effort……The menu in the Izakaya is curious. No, I did not choose this….
▷ but this……
Grilled pork, washed down with a nice beer…
▷ But there is more to life here than just skewered pork. There are are so many art venues in the whole area I would challenge anyone to visit them all. I decided to investigate the Tokyo Station Gallery. It’s actually above one of the grand entrances, and celebrates the restoration of the station after the bombing of WWII.
東京駅では駅舎の修復に関する展示が行われている
You get a fine view of the entrance lobby…
With its Art Deco lighting…
The gallery space has been left with curiously chipped brickwork….
…and some of the original girders have been transformed by some deft iron cutting….(a half moon – of course – how Japanese!)
The station today…..
東京駅の現在 Photo: By Maeda Akihiko
The actual exhibition was from about a young Showa-era painter……
▷ Later, on leaving the station I headed to the Imperial park complex, surrounded by the old moat of Edo Castle .
….
▷ Although it is December, people are sitting outside. Time to appreciate one of the many modern water features….
…..and examine the purchase of the day…
▷ I’ll leave you now with with one of my Japanese icons. No, it’s not a Samurai warrior or a Manga figure. It’s a bottle of green tea. Thirst-quenching, ubiquitous and guaranteed to give you a lift….
私の日本のシンボル：緑茶！
Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.
“….Let’s get this ceiling done today, right? Yeap, I’ll drink to that! Prost!..”
今日は天井を仕上げましょう！乾杯
“….steady as she goes….”
ご注意ください
👉 There’s no doubt about it. It’s hard, cold work on a building site in Germany at this time of year. Sometimes the work is heavy and rough, at other times it’s exacting – carefully measuring walls and corners with a hand-held cm guage.
This is the view from my desk, so I can hardly avoid it.
This is a view from a cable car in Kobe…on the same day….
一方、同じ日に神戸では
👉 It can be odd to have these two climates, cultures and time zones impinging on my consciousness on the same day. Yes, my teacher Miki-san has just had a day out in the forest above Kobe, near Osaka. The leaves are changing colour…..
紅葉
….and there is even the occasional flower!
…and it is only a little bit fresh at 13°c. It is bright and dry….
Photos: みきさん
👉 Whereas here the tough little robin perches boldly in the naked branches of the Offenbacher Stadtwald…..
Photo: Kilic Ummahani ロビン – オフェンバッハの森で
👉 We had started out our hike at the Goethe Turm (tower) in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. Being the first Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt there was just about to open. But we first covered about 12km through the forest before we paused, and then at the Oberschweinstiege….
ハイキングの後の暖かい火
– what a name! It is in fact a very civilized Ausflugsrestaurant (“day outing restaurant” badly translated) north of Neu Isenburg.
…my fellow hikers wanted to hear about my profession….😂
これがバイオリンの弾き方です😂
👉 So it’s not all gloom and doom in Germany’s dark December. Our book group enjoys an Indian meal in Seeheim- Jugendheim…..
読書会 – 寒い冬の日のもう一つの趣味
…discussing the merits of “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. I’ve already mentioned this in my October blog, and was quite enamoured by it….https://wp.me/pgFtpk-o6….. However, with at least two of our group having worked with ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) opinions were mixed……..
👉 Eat up your greens! my mother used to say. Well will this do? A nice Broccoli from Aldi to ward off the winter woes……
母はいつも「野菜を食べなさい」と言っていました
👉 Or maybe a Feuerzangbowle? That classic German alcoholic concoction which invoved setting a sugar loaf on fire over a glass of mulled wine. Here seen in action near Bensheim Auerbach…..
フォイヤーザンゲンボウレ（翻訳不可能）…燃える砂糖が入った熱いアルコール飲料
Along with Glüwein, it’s an antidote to all those forbidding castles…..
陰鬱なドイツの城…👻
👉 But hey ho, time for a silly selfie…….😅
Apart from snuggling up on the sofa with a good book, my other antidote in these dark days is music. The BBC has however become un-cooperative for ex-pats ………
それは複雑です……..
👉 So it’s up to us to make music. Here is “music minus one” Pianist Sabine agreed to be my “sparring partner” for the Andante from Mendelssohn’s Trio Nr.1…without violinist ☹️. The latter is in Tokyo waiting for a real rehearsal with piano, violin and ‘cello…….!
It was a day when it would have been probably better to stay under the duvet.
👉 It was cold enough….
寒い朝だった。布団の中は暖かかったのに。どうして起きなきゃいけないの？
👉 But I had a violinist coming first thing. I had given her instrument the full make-over, so was interested to hear how she would react. Of course after two or three notes I could tell she was not happy with something. It was the strings. Not her taste. Ok, so I changed all the strings. Result? A happy smile. Good. Now it was time to pay. This is usually dealt with pretty quickly, thanks to my card terminal…..
今朝はすべてがうまくいかなかった ☹️
👉 However when I activated it, for some insane reason it wanted me to log in and identify myself….bla bla bla…What, whilst a customer is waiting? Oh, give us a break. “I’ll give you the bill and you can do a bank transfer ” I said. I reached for the printer. Great. Today of all days it decided to run out of toner. …….☹️
カードリーダーが動作せず、プリンターのインクが切れました…。……..🙄
My customer saved the day by transferring the money immediately on her mobile. Phew!
Ah, at last, now I can go for that morning walk. I glanced out of the window to check the weather….What the.…⁉️…the nearby tower block was emitting black smoke…..
助けて！あそこで何が起こっているの？
You feel very alone at moments like this. Are you the only person to have noticed this? All was quiet. Quick! call the fire brigade!…..but where is my mobile 🤳???? whilst frantically searching, the reliable, solid landline caught my eye ☎️.
I was on to the fire department in seconds. The man at the other end didn’t ask me anything. He just said: “Weserstr. Wohnblock on fire, yes….is there anyone on the roof?….” (luckily not). Seconds later I heard the sirens. Phew 😮💨.
That’s quite enough for one morning I thought. Ignoring everything else I pulled on a winter jacket and walked out into the freezing, but glorious sunshine.
Winter has hit Europe. My Italian correspondent, Ciara, is driving to Rome to sing in a massed gathering for St. Cecilia’s day….
ヨーロッパに冬が到来。イタリア特派員Mzは聖セシリア祭のためにローマへ向かう途中です。
And whilst sunlight filters through the trees in Tochigi…Komorebi { 木漏れ日 }…….the next day in Hessen is far from bright….
栃木とヘッセン!
But wait. All is not lost. Blue skies are possible, and the pigeons in Darmstadt know where to enjoy it – under the gaze of Ludwig I, Grossherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein….
鳩はどこに座るべきか知っています…ダルムシュタット
When he came down from his pillar he looked like this…
He was quite an open-minded fellow, and supported the arts. The opening up of Japan was a bit after his time, but I think he would have appreciated Japanese culture….
フランクフルトの日本蚤の市でティーポットと本を売りました
Even if it was only a Nomi no ichi – a flea market….
Yes, I’m back in my old haunt – the Japanese Cultural Centre in Frankfurt….🎏
It’s a nice opportunityto chat.
“Who did you fly with on your last trip to Japan?” 🛬 Finnair? Lufthansa? JAL?
How many yen did you get for your Euros 💴( a lot!)
“so on return you also find Frankfurt dirty and loud? 💩
“so desu ne……🙄” ( *so it was, yes….)
👉 Jack. Not a name you often hear these days. But when I was little the adults would talk about someone called Jack Frost. He seemed to be a rather spiky, mischievous character who came in the early hours of the morning and disappeared as soon as the sun rose…..
イギリスでは「ジャックフロスト」(Jack Frost) が霜をもたらす……..🥶
He’s still around….
leaving a trail of spiky beauty……
Anyone for frozen toadstool, accompanied perhaps by a crispy Chardonnay?…….
What? You’re going hiking in this weather?
こんな天気でハイキングに行くんですか？
👉 I remembered the old adage……”There is no such thing a bad weather, there is only unsuitable clothing”
And anyway, I have a nice warm winter jacket and a woolly hat……and I knew that the walk Yorgos had planned for Sunday would include a warm meal at the end.
It’s wonderful 😊to be up in the Taunus hills, crunching through the frost but feeling warm inside…
冬のジャケットとウールの帽子を着て暖かいです……😊
The sheep looked quite comfortable…
羊たちは暖かいですね！☺️
“Guten Tag…”
こんにちは!
However, not a day for a dip in the pool ……
私たちは泳ぎに行かなかった………..
no, no….
👉 In these hills you will always find a hut for walkers. There will be somewhere to sit down and the floor is dry…..
ハイカー用の小屋
But hang on….. this doesn’t look too friendly…..
Photo > Phe ここは友好的な場所ではないようだ ………😯
This is what physicists do on their days off. When they get tired of particle acceleration they go to see some tangible white particles – snow. To find them you have to go up to the Grosser Feldberg (the highest hill in the Taunus range)….I’m glad she didn’t get lost or eaten by a Grizzly bear…….🧸
Photo> Phe
👉 Well, that’s all from the Towers this week. As I write this my friends across the road have decided to dig another hole. They are good at that……..
家の近くでまた穴を掘っています。穴掘りが本当に上手ですね🙄
Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.
As is typical for this season in Germany, the day starts with that drippy feeling….
11月の朝に水が滴る..💧
…..but the goods must be delivered…….
列車は商品を運びます…..
…and the buildings must be built (they start at 7am every day)……
….そしてビルダーは午前7時に開始します…!
And the Gingko must make a blaze before the winter…..
素敵なイチョウ
This wild rose has not yet given up….
このバラは11月でもまだ咲いています！
A flash of defiant colour …..
暖かい色
Meanwhile, far away, in the warmth of a city hall in Kanagawa, 友子 san is playing in a community orchestra….
神奈川で第一ヴァイオリンを演奏する智子さん
Back in Langen. Here’s me waiting for the next customer……no time to tune up, just sit down and play an Irish 🍀 tune. Simply doing something that makes me feel good that’s all……………..
🎧recommended….
お客様を待っている間にアイルランドの曲を演奏しています 🍀 ヘッドフォン推奨 🎧
I can’t find my kindle. Yes, it’s in my flat somewhere, and I’ve been looking in every nook and cranny for it. Ironically, instead of finding this state-of-the-art device, I stumble across a small catalogue picked up in a second-hand bookshop in Cardiff many years ago. It was printed in 1870, and lists the musical instruments in possesion of the “South Kensington Museum”, aka the V&A .
Kindleを探しているのですが、皮肉なことに、このとても古いカタログを見つけました
The loan record has one entry: the “S (?) of Art Cardiff. Date of issue: 21.2.71 (ie 1871). Date of Return :When recalled ( never….)
1871年2月21日
Amongst the copper plate engravings of instruments of Asia, I found this plate of a Koto…(the artist doesn’t seem to have seen many Japanese women in his lifetime!)
このアーティストは日本人に会ったことがないと思います！
…..and one of a Biwa “a kind of lute”…(bought, Paris Exhibition 1867). This must have been during the “japonismus” fashion that gripped Europe in the 19thc.
Imagine my surprise then, when almost on the same day, Scott posts this picture on Instagram….
He is accompanying a Biwa player on the organ!
Enyo-san is giving a recital next Thursday, Nov. 20th, at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In Chinese this instrument is called a pipa, apparently. Well if you’re in Tokyo just now…..
One last curious note on this museum catalogue. The list of donors and lenders…….At the top we see His Highness The Viceroy of Egypt. Heavens, who was that? Well, as the British hadn’t taken over Egypt yet at that time (they did in 1882), this must be Is’mail Pasha of Egypt, Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879.
このコレクションのためにエジプト総督が楽器を寄贈しました。
Known as Is’mail the magnificent, he led Egypt into such severe debt with his economic policies that he was forced to sell off his shares in the Suez canal (to the advantage of Britain of course, the canal being the life-line to India)…
The other names would not be out of place in an Agatha Christie novel…..(!)
I still haven’t found the kindle. But what also came to light was some early Japanese revision notes. On the subject of counting. Now counting in Japanese is not easy, as it depends on the shape of the object which you are counting. Thus apples and small compact objects have their own system – ” there are 2 apples” is : Ringo (apple) ga (particle) nikko (specifically 2 apples and not bottles of beer) arimasu (there are).
日本語の数え方に関する復習ノートも見つけました!
Many moons ago, when I first came to Germany as a violinmaker, a rather eager young journalist asked me that classic question “und was hat Sie hierher gezogen?” (what brought you to Germany?)
“Kaffe und Kuchen” I replied. I am still at it, over 30 years later…..
photo: Olexandra. フランクフルトのボッケンハイムでコーヒーとケーキ
I am smiling here,but an hour beforehand I was furious. Furious at the Shirn Art Gallery. I had arranged to meet up with a friend there. On arrival at said Art gallery (Just near the cathedral) I was met by metres of high metal fencing. Only when I found the entrance to the Music school (who share the same premises) did I notice a rather pathetic A4 notice stuck to the door informing me that the Schirn had temporarily moved to the other side of Frankfurt at Bockenheim. Wow! Thank you Music School, but not the Schirn, who had left no sign as to their whereabouts. I checked the website. The first thing you see is this:
As a mother-tongue genuine article Englishman, I took this headline at face value. (” so where is that then, please?”) But the dropped pin symbol and the co-ordinates where just there for decoration. Useless 😡. I later discovered that this was the name of an Exhibition, not a helpful signpost. I have since written a letter of complaint to the Museum Director. When I actually got to the new site the confusion just continued (there are two entrances). We eschewed the musuem café for a local one nearby ☕.
The exhibition is all about Suzanne Duschamp, a rather neglected figure in the Dada movement. This arose at the beginning of the 20thc. as an anti-war, anti-art, anti-a lot of things movement. Here are just a few impressions….
Dadaism was probably also anti-the-heavy-solidity of Jugendstil. I had walked past a classic example in Darmstadt the day before…The obelisk in memory of Princess Alice, who was, incidentally, British.
The full inscription reads “Der Unvergesslichen Großherzogin von Hessen und bei Rhein / In Verehrung Liebe und Dankbarkeit / Gewidmet von Frauen und Jungfrauen Hessens / Errichtet im Jahre 1902.
From the base of the monument you get a view of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, which was unkindly nicknamed the petrol station (or words to that effect in German) by those who work there. I like it, but it’s going to need a facelift soon…
ダルムシュタット劇場は、意地悪くガソリンスタンドに例えられてきました…。
Petrol station or not, it is the home of some fine opera and regular chamber music recitals. That’s why I was there. For Brahms’ string sextet 🎵 Sublime……It reminded me of how much I miss playing chamber music…..Thank you Sarah, 1st violin, for the invitation 🙏
ブラームスの弦楽六重奏曲を聴きました。崇高な音楽です！
So, before I leave you, I have to finish off my rant. In English it’s called letting off steam ……..
Living in Germany, It is a regular source of irritation for me to see English being used just because people think it’s cool, eye-catching or whatever. you can’t avoid it……here are some common ones…..
Download (Downloaden or Herunterladen)
Event (Veranstaltung)
Team (Mannschaft)
Oh my God (Ach mein Gott)
Streaming (Strömen)
Highlight (Höhepunkt)
Sorry (Entschuldigen Sie bitte)
Online-deal (Geschäft übers Internet)
TV-Box (Fernseher Kasten)
Upgrade (nachrüsten)
Grumpy old man (haven’t seen this one yet 😄)
Well, that’s it for this week.
Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.
They rumble past my house every day. But I never use them. Buses. Why? because I have a bicycle and am only 7 mins. walk from the station.
But suddenly I have to get somewhere with my ‘cello. I can’t fly…..🪽………
チェロを持って飛行機に乗ることができないので、バスが必要です 😄
………and the car is in another town…….it’s too far to walk, and the bicycle is a no-go..
So a bus it is – a novelty for me. In Japan I would be filming out of the window. So why not here? ………in Langen?
バスはたった5分遅れただけだった…すごい！💨
….and it was only 5 mins late…..I noticed how much more sociable it is to travel by bus. It seems that if you are standing at a wind-swept bus stop then it is legit to talk to a stranger in the same predicament. The passengers are mostly young people, local workers (“we always take this bus…we work over there….”) and old age pensioners. Plus the occasional stressed mother with a pram and a bawling infant 🍼
I was smoothly delivered to my destination without fuss and bother. Well, well.
ランゲンでの快適なバスの旅
Sometimes it is the bus stop which remains unchanged when you demolish one building and put up another its place. Just down the road from me there used to be a detached house with a garden. Then came the developers…….This seems to happen a lot where I live. In the following two photos note the bus stop…before and after…..(use the slider in the middle)
2022-2025
Isn’t it funny how rubber bands sort of fossilize and get hard….
輪ゴムが劣化してしまいます…。
…what you need is some nice strong ones…..
丈夫な輪ゴムだ…素晴らしい…でも待てよ…なんだか少し海の匂いがするぞ？
But there’s something fishy going on here. They are not very strong and are very salty…….hmmm…..I fear we have a case of squid here….
ああ、なるほど………….
yes, “smoked mellow squid….great as a snack too!…” not recommended for use with stationary. haha😄.
I thought I knew most of the palaces in my area, but obviously none of my walks have taken me north of Koblenz. Here I spent two nights for our choir rehearsal weekend,
エンダー城。ミュージカルアカデミー …….🤴
yes, I am a bass…..🎵
……..singing Mendelssohn, Balfour-Gardiner (yes!), Rheinberger and others.
Our rehearsal room in Schloss Engers looked directly out onto the river Rhine, meaning that ships cruised into view behind the conductor’s back!…..a rehearsal break…
リハーサル休憩……….☕
Grabbing a cup of coffee I was greeted by some strange little figures in the corridor…….
廊下に小さな人たちがいる……
………sort of close-up baroque you could say……
…the terrace on the Rhein…..
ライン川
….complete with a little “feature”…..
For future reference I took note of the great cycle path……
たぶん夏には自転車でここに来るでしょう。……………………………🚴💨
It was my father’s birthday last week. He passed away 3 years ago and deserves a picture in this blog…..he was the best father I could ever have hoped for.
It’s ironic really. Here’s me, a violinmaker surrounded by instruments, and I can’t find a ‘cello which I really like……
どのチェロを弾けばいいでしょうか
It’s that lovely slow movement from Mendelssohn’s 1st piano trio which is bugging me. Surely the A string on this ‘cello could sound better 🎵 ?
My eye turns to a ‘cello which I made in my Wiesbaden days. Gathering dust in the corner. Needs a new soundpost. Back then I fitted it with a Stahlhammer metal spike. I’m disillusioned with that now, but I can’t get it out.
Oh come on! With a few bangs of a hammer 🔨 out it comes. At last. Now I fit in a new carbon spike, fit in a new soundpost, and, because I can’t think of anything else, give the instrument a Jargar A string. Now I would never normally use this string, but It just happened to be there..
私は自分のチェロの一つから埃を拭き取る。
Next I rehaired my favourite Richard Grünke bow 🏹
Now I tune up.🎶 Where on earth did all these tuning forks come from? Must be an occupational hazard…..
これらの音叉は一体どこから来たのだろうか？
Sit down. Bow meets string. At once the ‘cello springs to life. Oh wow! 💥 This is fun. It is so responsive! But a bit brash. Needs breaking in, like a wild horse. Suddenly my slumbering passion for chamber music takes a quantum leap forward out of the darkness. Can’t wait to meet up with my Kammermusik colleagues……
ともこさんはバイオリンのパートを練習しています。
Then there’s all that ‘cello and piano music just waiting to be resurrected…………..
チェロとピアノのための楽曲は本当にたくさんあります！
Meanwhile, Outside my house the work is starting. The men arrive at the crack of dawn. They grasp take-away coffees bought from the bakery across the road. Maybe they glance up at the sky, but the crane has already made its first whirring sound so it is time to start.
一方、作業は屋外で始まる。
“harte Arbeit” says the foreman, when I later find him having a break sitting in his van by my entrance. “Eine Monat” he says…..“dann is fertig”. I think he means the basic shell of the building. I`ll believe it when I see it…….
それは大変な仕事だ!
I’ve never in my life known anyone from Mexico, but thanks to hiking that’s all changed. So it was that I found myself on the Día del los Muertos, the 1st November, at the Catrinas and Catrines parade in Frankfurt. Apparently on this day the spirits of the departed return, and you do your best to welcome them. And that means creating little altars for them, dressing up and putting on the music. A celebration in other words. Nothing morbid. Laura and her friend had even brought a Mexican dog with them…..
メキシコ人の友人が「死者の日」のお祝いに招待してくれた。
And then off the parade went, starting at the Festhalle and heading towards Bockenheim…….
It seems nothing can dampen the Mexican spirit…even a wet German November……..
残念ながら天気は悪かった…でも、メキシコ人を止めるものは何もない！
Time for an orbital (!) shift to Japan, where my local correspondent has been enjoying some non-Japanese food in Yokohama. Yes, here you see some yummy steamed buns – Xiao Long Bao……..
in one of Yokohama’s many yummy restaurants……
私の東京特派員は横浜に行ったことがある。
When there is mention of Yokohama I have to think of the NYK Hikawamaru…always waiting there each time I return…….
I find this ship fascinating because of all it has been through….and what it’s passenger lists reveal. Under the militarism of the Showa era, in 1932, Charlie Chaplain used it on part of his world tour. Emperor Hirohito’s would-be assassin from Korea, Lee Bong-chang, used it a year later…then the founder of Judo, Kano Jigoro. Hundreds of Lithuanian Jews used it to flee the Nazis (via Vladivostock) in 1940-41.
氷川丸
As it was only one of two Japanese ships left at the end of WWII (when it was converted to a hospital ship), it was used as a cargo ship until the 1950s, when it was converted back to a cruise liner. It is now gracefully retired in a far corner of Yokohama’s Minato Mirai みなとみらい – “Port of the future”.
Musicians of the future. I find that music students are never at a loss when it comes to imaginative new projects. Here I am in the fantastic new Wolfgang Rihm Saal at the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule.
私は息子がオペラで歌うのを見に行った。
The opera is called “Haus Wahnsinn” (House of Madness), and we are being swept seamlessly through a compilation of Gluck, Rossini, Wagner and Rihm, exposing currents of power, authoritarianism, dreams of freedom, conflicts of generation….. Heady stuff.
ジョシュア・ラドック…赤いスーツを着ています！
Family interest has brought me here of course. But wow, budding opera singers, the lot of them…..
……and supported by a really good orchestra (with an orchestral pit the envy of many an opera house!). Lots of juicy ‘cello lines in the Wagner “Tannhäuser” excerpts naturally…..
Ever looked out of the window on a long haul flight and thought: I can’t see any borders down there.…Alaska looks like Russia…what’s the difference? What’s going on? Why are people fighting and killing each other? Why can’t they just get on with life and enjoy this rich planet where we live?”
Flying over Siberia with Japan Airlines 2019 シベリア上空。2019年のJAL。
Now go a bit higher and observe from the International Space Station…..The world……a beautifully coloured jewel spinning in a deep blackness. Samantha Harvey describes all this with profound simplicity and humanity in her novel Orbital.
『オービタル』は、国際宇宙ステーションに滞在する6人の宇宙飛行士の体験を描いた小説である。
“…..six of them in a great H of metal hanging over the earth. They turn head on heel, four astronauts (American, Japanese, British, Italian) and two cosmonauts (both Russian)……..travelling at seventeen and a half thousand miles an hour….”
…….🌏
They have a strict routine of scientific procedures to follow, but mainly they look….Chie gets an email to say her mother has died…she cannot be there for the ceremonies 🙏…Anton gets a message that only the Russians may use the toilet in the Russian section…🚽..they all laugh at this…..they drink each others recycled urine, they breath the same air….they feel as one team. And they look at this earth and realize how fragile it is….How can we be so stupid as to destroy it? “.
サマンサ・ハーヴェイが描写する宇宙からの視点は、感動的であると同時に、実に素晴らしいものだ。
The perspective from space which Samantha Harvey describes is extraordinary as it is moving.
The six see a planet shaped by the sheer amazing force of human want, she writes….and I would add…and seems to be run by three men and their puppets. A narcissistic “King”👑 on one side, a psychopathic monster in the middle 💀 and a machiavellian teddy bear on the other side 🧸. It’s like a sort of grotesque kindergarten.
But we human beings have something called culture don’t we? Even if it has to be Beethoven’s 9th, which I will not be in a hurry to sing again 🎶
But in last week’s performance in Darmstadt they weredamn good : the soloists Nina Bennet (soprano), Stefanie Schaefer (Mezzo), Theodore Browne (Tenor) and Taras Konoshchenko (Bass). So was the orchestra – the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck..🎻…..not to mention the Figural Chor (that’s my one), the Kantorei and the Singakademie 🗣️ – all from Frankfurt.
しかし、私たち人間には文化があるのだ…。ベートーヴェン
As a contrast, it was a relief to go to hear the Broken Frames Syndicate last week. They (Katrin Szamatulski, Lola Rubio, Moritz Schneidewent, Peng-Hui Wang, Talvi Hunt and Yu-Ling Ciu) played on the most amazing instruments, constructed with the help of artists Paul Pape and Moritz Schneidewendt……
私は素晴らしい実験的なコンサートに行った。
…..we were transported into the underwater sound world of coral reefs – alive, healthy ones 🐠 and ones which had died….because of our stupidness ☠️
I was determined to go hiking this weekend, and wangled my way into a walking group as a “guest” (thank you, Phe). Starting at the famous Neroberg funicular railway in Wiesbaden, we strode up into the woods, accompanied by shafts of sunlight flashing through the autumnal foliage…..
私はヴィースバーデンの近くでハイキングに行った。
There were strange gnarled trees…..
…an idyllic lake…..
…monstrous growths reminiscent of a ghibli film….
まるでジブリ映画みたい！
strange beings who appeared on the rocky outcrops….😂
….all in a palette of soft colours to bath our eyes…..
…and at the end, the gaudy domes of Czar Nicholas’ church……
ヴィースバーデンのロシア教会
Could you have seen this glint of gold from space? I doubt it, though the lights of cities at night betray the contours of human habitation.
Well that’s all for now
Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.
Warning! This is a long read. You may need two cups of coffee….
Random Notes: Do you chew your toothbrush? don’t. You never know what you might be eating…..
歯ブラシを噛まないでください！
Do you like fermented Natto for breakfast? (er….no) Grab the offer whilst it lasts….
納豆は好きですか？
Same day service. Mr. Quick-san will fix it…..
Quick-san. Hodogaya. 自転車の修理
Saw these in Ena city – best described as “container hotels” !?
エナの小さなホテル
Need a nostalgic TV to fit into your bag?
🌏
It was seven years ago when I made my first trip to Japan⛩️. I did it the hard way – alone, and determined to practise the language. As I don’t like tourist spots I decided to stay in an ordinary town in Gifu Prefecture. It had an interesting river gorge nearby. Ena (恵那市).
Nobody had heard of it, and when I mention it to my Japanese friends now I always get this quizzical look, like “where’s that?” or “why would you want to go there?”.
Never be put off by a railway station. Even on the Chuo Line……
恵那駅
And never be put off by “significant delays”. In Japan this means the train might be 3 mins. late or something. But don’t mess with earthquakes. Get the earthquake app.
It was a unnerving but eye-opening experience 🤔 (I mean the trip in 2018, not the significant delays): The shock of entering the breakfast room of the hotel to see everyone tucking into noodles, fried fish, salads and goodness knows what else; the sense of achievement in borrowing an old bicycle from the local bike shop (no bike apps then) and sailing off on two wheels 🚲 down a country lane without an internet connection.
So this year I decided to revisit the scene of my former adventures. Even using the same hotel.
The hotel has been smartened up a bit, but there are still no cereals for breakfast, and I had to ask for butter (what a wimp!) . The view from the room has not changed – a “western” clothing store sign….
素晴らしい景色
But how much more relaxed I feel, with some command of the language! I even find the bike store. The couple who run it are pleased to hear that I was a former customer, and point out the dog, who is now snoozing in the corner. The guy gives me an old but perfectly good 3-gear town bike and charges me 300 yen for the afternoon. That is about 1.85 Euros. Taking the same route as I did in 2018, I head for the Ena gorge and its dam. I am seeing so much more this time, not being worried about getting lost or making some faux-pas or other.
A rural postbox…..
田舎の郵便ポスト…..
The route to the dam….
恵那ダムへのルート
It has been an unusually dry spring here, so the water levels are low on the Kiso river.
水位が低い
A pause to think thoughts….💭
考え
Years ago, when I first started doing calligraphy classes in Germany with Rena Kato, one of the first characters she taught us was this:
石
it’s a simple character, so I recognise it immediately here on this sign. Stones.
危険
Being in red, the warning of falling stones is a little disconcerting. Further on I discover the remains of the old suspension bridge crossing the Kiso river. That was 1907.
木曽川にかかる古い橋
In 1926 they built the dam, then much more recently: this road bridge. Confident and inspiring…..What about that for a nice piece of civil engineering…….take note GdLL 🙂.
素敵な新しい橋
On the subject of engineering, there are impressive road improvements underway nearby…….
日本のエンジニアリング
Riding back past a screen of bamboo…..
竹の壁
This is hot work. I park the bike and take a well-earned slug of green tea……
一時停止
They don’t seem to sell postcards here any longer. So on the way home I am denied the fun of slipping one into this postbox……(“Greetings from the paddy fields of Gifu Prefecture. Wish you were here……”)
ここではポストカードを売っていません。残念です。
The next day I board a local train to get to the start of my planned hike. But first it’s time to charge my transport card. The platform machine quite clearly displays the notice: 1.000 yen only. As if 1.000 yen would get me very far. Oh what the. I’ll stuff a 10.000 yen note in and see what happens…….
ナイジェルはミスを犯す
Naughty Nigel! A red light flashes🚨 and a piercing alarm goes off. Out of a nearby door a uniformed station master pops like a jack-in-the-box 💥 Boing 👨✈️ !
With a degree of self-assurance which I never had before I just say “don’t worry – I just put the wrong note into the machine….”. But he has to open the machine, type a code in and clang the thing shut before peace can then descend on Ena station. Honestly. These foreigners.
I have to alight at a place called Nakatsugawa, where a bus takes me up into the mountains……..
“Welcome to Natsugawa” is written in a local dialect. Better not tread on it…..😂
行きます!
Off we go. It’s a local bus, but it is modern, comfortable and air-conditioned with, I noticed, UV protective glass. It goes without saying that the windows are crystal clean. Not a spec.
We wind up into the hills, getting higher and higher, until at least we grind to a halt at Magome- juku. This little town has retained much of its Edo-era charm, however it feels a bit sanitized. There is no horse dung in the street, the loos are automatic and there are no prostitutes in the back alleys. But it is still a hotch potch of wooden houses and shops clutching to a steep winding street. It was a post town on the Nakasendo – the trade route built by the feudal lords in the 18thc. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). “Nakasendo” – it sort of rolls off the tongue, conjuring up a wild mountain pathway in the age of the Samurai. Haha. Today it’s mostly tourists. But it is fantastic.
馬籠宿。中山道
There was another route down in the plains called the Tokaido. But this one, as its name suggests, went over the mountains. But it wasn’t just a road. It spawned a cultural phenomena. Artists arrived to draw it – The famous woodcblock illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige, for example. In his prints you see labourers struggling along with huge loads, and the occasional daimyō (feudal lord) on horseback. The surface of the road was mostly stone slabs, which must have made it hard work in wet weather (a bit like the Appian way in Rome). This print rather romanticizes the whole thing.
歌川広重
It’s all very picturesque (かいがてき 絵画的). Somehow these mountain villages avoided the Japanese post-War economic boom and subsequent construction mania. Power lines have been hidden. However, there are strict rules for residents. Even if a historic building is decaying and you as a foreigner offer to restore it, you will face immense bureacratic hurdles.
素敵。でも、きれいすぎる
I pass a colourful field of clover further up the hill,
クローバー畑
a Buddha or two to help you on your way…..🙏
仏
The trek is easy for me, with my modern hiking boots, bottle of green tea and iphone in the rucksack….
著者
Soon I had left the village behind me. Along the way some eccentric local was actually inviting people to come into their garden…..
ニース 🙂
Where whimsical things abounded…..
offerings invited….
I climbed up higher into the forest towards the boundary of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures. Those cedars….phew!
中山道の杉
Those bears……(you ring this to warn them off)…
🐻!
Ocasionally the modern road bisects the path. The mirror is there to help you. Except that this one was totally opaque. I’m sure Hermione Granger would have known the spell…….
Those flowers. It’s as if a god has picked up several National Trust Gardens in the UK and scattered them around the mountains here. Of course in history it was the other way around.
….cherries are still blooming up here (the’ve long since disappeared from Tokyo)
in so many varieties….
…this looks like a wild orchid…..
…and then, just after the Magome pass…(which is actually not very dramatic)….
790 metres
…. those waterfalls…..there are two quite near each other…
Medake Falls
Odake Falls
It was a hot day. Needless to say, the cool water was delightfully refreshing…..
素敵な冷たい水
The route is not really a wild hike and is always clearly marked.
Japanese families with their teenagers were ambling along in what looked like nothing more than town shoes. I met a father sitting on a rock, mopping his brow. He said his wife and daughter were faster than him………I think he had been persuaded to come, and would have preferred to be on the sofa at home watching baseball….
🔩
I often see a pride and fascination with all things mechanical here in Japan. As I left Ena in the morning I had passed a monumental steam engine parked outside the library……
Then later in the day whilst walking I discovered this strange foot-operated machine. I hope one of my violinmaking colleagues (Paul? John?) can work out what it did. I couldn’t….
これは何ですか？
And later on at the end of the trail, after I had passed through Tsumago en route to Nagiso station, there was another steam engine. An even bigger one this time…….just sitting there.
南木曽駅。帰りの電車。
The notice explains…………
蒸気動力
Back to the Nakasendo. They “do” decay well here. There was no hope of a coffee at this establishment….left to rot in the woods…..
ここにはコーヒーはありません…
メールもなし
About 9km later I entered the post town of Tsumago. Could almost be a film set. Except that it is genuine. An elegant family drift by…..
This has been a long post, but there is so much to write about! I will leave you in a Japanese lane…….
As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.
This is the third in a series of posts which was previously hosted by WIX, a server based in Tel Aviv which has been the subject of an international boycott.
April 25th 2025年4月25日
As you can see below, the city of Nagoya has a very convenient circular metro line. Easy-peasy. Like in Tokyo or London, it’s the line for lost tourists. It has a clockwise service, and an anti-clockwise service (called the counter-clockwise service in American).
Wow, this is easy I thought, and hopped on. Ah no, Nigel. Just to keep tourists alert, the line sometimes branches off….and of course that’s what happened to me. I branched off. To the port of Nagoya. It wasn’t painful, and I did get to where I wanted in the end. The end being a famous Shinto shrine called Atsuta Jingu (at about 7 o’clock on that purple line). Now there will be no carry-on there, understand?
もう一つの翻訳の失敗
Bad translations here are a constant form of amusement (or irritation) for me. I was using Nagoya as a convenient jumping off point for the Nakasendo, an old 18thc. road that runs through the mountains.
But before going into the mountains there was time for sightseeing and a concert. I had picked up the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule link and was going to hear Maine Takeda (soprano) sing in the Aichi Arts Centre. Three other prizewinners were also performing.
As I approached the ticket desk and gave my name, a certain ripple of worry seem to flit across the face of the elderly man in charge. But the moment was saved by the stage manager, who recognised my name and led me up personally to my seat (not before he had primed the seat attendant to look after me….). So it was that I was able to sit back and enjoy Maine-san sing two songs from Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn; Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga”; an aria from The Marriage of Figaro “Deh, vieni, non tarda” and “Nun eilt herbei” from Carl Nicolai. Very enjoyable. And, as is so often the case in Japan, in a smart new concert hall with excellent acoustics.
Emerging from the concert hall, I meet Nagoya gleaming in the night……
…..and discover the Sakae area the next day…….
Sakae 栄 Centre
As it’s pretty flat, lots of people use bikes here. And there are handy bike lock zones – this one outside the NHK broadcasting house……
名古屋で自転車を駐輪する方法
This how you do it…..easy when you know how…..😉
名古屋の自転車駐車場システム
Nagoya is the home of many of Japan’s big names – Toyota and Kawai to name just two. But I am neither going to buy a car nor a piano. No, not even this one…..
名古屋の自転車駐車場システム ( 😂 )
I had a tip to follow – to that 7 o’clock on the metro map. Quite a trek to get there, but Nagoya is big.
The Atsuta shrine is one of Shinto’s most important shrines. And it’s huge. Big enough to warrant it’s own metro station….
It enshrines the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and stores the sacred sword Kusanagi – part of the imperial regalia. So in I tread with awe, bowing my head and clapping once under the huge Tori gate.
最初の鳥居
The vast complex of shrines are set in a thickly wooded park, so I often have to refer to the maps to orientate myself. The atmosphere is calm, the weather benign. Young couples wander hand in hand; a mother guides her little girl along. The child is more interested in making patterns in the gravel than paying obeisance to the gods. Quite understandable. A group of middle-aged women chatter away from under their sun hats. It’s a Sunday afternoon stroll after all, gods and all. Cameras are clicking 📷…..
And however secular society may seem in Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism sit naturally in daily life. There is no fuss about it. No hang ups. At the shrine office (Juyo-sho) it is obvious what is on offer here – an ideal wedding venue.
理想的な結婚式の場所
It costs of course, but every young couple want the perfect photo-op don’t they?
I’m not expecting to actually see anything at the shrine. There will be a set of closed doors and that’s it. But that’s not the point. You can’t see gods anyway, and it’s up to you how you manage them.
神社の正面 Hongu Main Sanctuary
It’s advisable to have time when you come to a place like this. None of that “be back at the coach in 1 hour” business. Oh no. I turned left and right in the shady woods, never knowing what to expect…….although I was aware of a restaurant behind the trees. What is this dish they are serving? Let’s try it…..
きし麺 😋
OMG. Seriously now. I cannot remember when I tasted such a delicious meal…..it’s called Kishimen, the kanji translating as something like “Go stone noodle” (the noodle used to be shaped like the stone in the game Go).These thick flat noodles seem to catch the flavour of the soup and…well…I think the gods were smiling down at me…..
Thoroughly revived by this simple but intensely satisfying meal, I sat on a bench and took in the scene…….
That’s what these gardens are for. For slowing down and contemplating. Under Shintoism, everything has a spiritual dimension: the rocks, the trees, even the cars…..
This old camphor tree has the Shimenawa (rope) wrapped around it for ritual purification, and is decorated with Shide (paper streamers) to demarcate it as a holy place and to ward off evil spirits…..
Around one corner the chief priest had parked his car (well, he probably had it parked for him)…..hmmm….Well, we are in Toyota’s homeland here. In fact I would not be surprised if the car was donated by the company. A goodwill offering if you like.
祭司長の車ですか？
An architectural curiosity here…heavy stone slabs have been used to support (?) or relay (?) the downward thrust of this hall’s roof….
興味深い建築技術
Before I left I noticed these Sake barrels………
酒
and a nice piece of modern craftmanship on the door of a smaller shrine…
Even today, the Japanese entrust their prayers for health, love or good exam results to small ema (votive plaques). This an old one which I saw in the Yokohama Museum…a wish for good breastfeeding….the gods are represented by a small cloud…..
Here in the Atsuta shrine someone had left a prayer…..“may the white bird carry my wish…..” or words to that effect….
goodbye Nagoya…..
名古屋 さようなら
I’m now off to the mountains of Gifu…….🥾….sayonara…..
As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.
Sendai is about 360 km north of Tokyo – that’s about 21/2 hours with the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train). First, I give myself plenty of time to navigate Tokyo station………..
忙しい旅行者。東京駅
and find my platform……..
私の電車はどこですか？
A Shinkansen glides in smoothly……..
新幹線が到着する
The smartly dressed cleaners are ready with rubbish bags (holding them out to passengers as they disembark). One has a small hoover. Announcements are made. A civilised queue waits on the platform. When I think of Frankfurt Station….no…don’t..
If you are not sure which is your train just get on the one which is going at the time published. It will be the right one….
印象的な
A cool wind greets me as I step out of the train at Sendai a few hours later. I walk to my hotel, crossing the bus lanes and other traffic on high overhead pedestrian bridges. I’m not good at heights, but the hotel 8th floor is bearabIe. It could be worse……..
仙台のホテル
It’s only early afternoon, so I decide to walk to the castle (or what’s left of it)…..It was a stiff climb, but well worth it……
仙台城
At the top, Masamune Date, the powerful feudal lord of Sendai, glares out imperiously over the countryside and the sea….
He chose a good site for his castle, I must say…..
街の素晴らしい景色
Add a few early blossoms and he doesn’t look quite so fierce…..
東京より遅い開花
At important historical sites in Japan you will often see these great cedars – more of them anon….
大きな杉
Sendai is not really a tourist destination, but the place is a-buzz. Come evening and the Izakayas (pubs) and restaurants are heaving with young people eating, drinking, talking animately and laughing. Whilst outside the buses and taxis and cars seem to weave past on a sort of smooth wave……..
仙台の夜
A shopping mall…..
The next day I used the circular bus route which links most of the historical sites around the city. The old feudal lords of Japan always found good spots to be laid to rest ( a prime example is the last Shogun’s -Tokugawa Ieyasu – shrine in Nikko, Tochigi ). The lord of the Tohoku region was no exception – Masamune Date. His mausoleum – the Zuihoden, originally built in 1636, is a blaze of extravangant colour unlike anywhere else in Japan. You start first with a modest temple in a small garden….
From here it’s a steep climb up to the mausoleum itself…..(the more important the ruler, the tougher the climb. Well that’s my experience).
You pass the Nirvana gateway (as all good Buddhists know, Nirvana means reaching a state of enlightenment where worldly desires are no longer an issue and you escape the cycle of birth and rebirth)………..
The mausoleum – front view
藩主の瑞鳳殿
派手な色彩
The adjoining museum, which has relics of the pre -1945 original…….
It may disappoint Europeans to learn that this whole complex is actually a replica of the original. But this doesn’t seem to worry the Japanese. There are colour postcards of the place pre -1945, and it looks exactly the same. Obviously the Americans wanted to destroy the port of Sendai, but fire bombing a 17thc. historical site, way outside the city?
Leaving the precincts of the areal I took a woodland walk back down the hill.
私は丘を下って森の中を散歩しました。
At one point I came across a graveyard for children of the ruling classes….
貴族の子女の墓地
…. some of these cedars are about 380 years old….
杉の樹齢は約380年です
Before I had left for Sendai there was a job I had to do. I have a little friend who has just discovered the joys of pulling a bow across a string. But she is still not yet 3 years old! So did I have a violin small enough for her? As luck would have it, yes – and it was easy to smuggle it into the overhead locker on the plane. Time to do a delivery in Sagamihara…
Making someone happy. Is that not one of the greatest joys there is?
幸福 🙂
Meiko-chan was soon grabbing the bow – none of that beginners’ pizzicato for her….
最初のステップ
…and her brother was not to be left out…giving me a cheeky smile across the table…..
小さな波
Of course you soon end up on the floor….
Kotaro-chan
音楽一家
As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.
The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め 