The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Tag: music

  • Japan Flashback: 🦪 Matsushima 松島

    (note: This is a blog which was originally published on the Israeli site WIX. After following the boycott of this firm and moving my blog to WordPress I nearly lost this report, but have managed to put it together from archive material.)

    18th April 2025年4月18日

    🟠 Be prepared for the unexpected. This is one of my mottos when in Japan. Is it the unexpected convenience of power sockets at a café table…..?

    予期せぬ事態に備えよ。これは私が日本にいるときのモットーの一つです。

    日本での多くの驚きの一つ

    🟠 Or the civic pride in a manhole?

    仙台のマンホール

    🟠 Or the discovery of a cassette player in the local department store?

    カセットテープは復活するのか

    🟠 Or a box to carry sake up a mountain to offer to the gods?

    大山に酒を運ぶ箱

    🟠 Or the discovery of a museum 5 minutes walk from your hotel?…..devoted solely to butterflies and Kokeshi?

    Mr. Bunzo Kamei was the third president of the Kamei Organisation. But he had a passion: butterflies. He travelled all over the world in search of specimens. And they are all here in Sendai, all 14.000 of them…….

    I am not going to try and name them…….

    亀井文三蝶々美術館 仙台

    Kokeshi? They are wooden dolls turned on a lathe. Originating from this region: Tohoku

    こけし人形

    🟠 Or how about these guys? They are about 2,500 years old and were found in graves from the Jomon period

    縄文時代の彫像

    🟠 Almost every day I am surprised by things here. I am walking through a residential area and suddenly come across a cement works. What next.

    ここではほぼ毎日、驚くような出来事に遭遇します。住宅街を歩いていると、突然セメント工場に遭遇するんです。次は一体何が起こるのでしょう。

    天王町のセメント工場

    🟠 Or I am walking in the forest and see this sign – it is so old. Is it a warning of some sort? I start decifering the Kanji: Security Forest?…..Protected Forest maybe? What about Forest Reserve. That sounds more plausible.

    仙台の森で

    🟠 And then there is the  sheer accuracy of the train carriage plans on the station platform……am I standing in the right place? (yes)….

    私は正しい場所に立っていますか?

    🟠 The pride in the railways……Indeed, I think this pride is part of the story behind Japan’s extraordinarily efficient transport system. They seem to love trains. At some point in the 19thc. somebody must have said > “This is it. If we are going to modernize this country it’s got to be trains”. And trains it was. Not cars. Ever been on a Japanese motorway? It’s boring. Trains are much more fun. And you almost set your watch by them.

    星川の歴史

    Hoshikawa history…..

    🟠 But for some inexplicable reason, there is no pride in getting English right. My hotel in Sendai has friendly staff, is efficient, modern, clean…in short everything you need…..except this… surely it is not that difficult to get a good English translation these days…or maybe this is Irish…..😅

    この翻訳は良くない 👎👎👎👎!

    You sometimes see strange English aswell….

    🟠 I’m now sitting an a rather squeaky clean train heading north out of Sendai. It’s the Sensecki local service to Ishinomaki.

    仙石線 宮城県

    🟠 I’m alighting at one of Japan’s beauty spots – Mitsushima Kaigan. I want to see the sea. The beautiful but destructive sea. The sea which removed sections of this line in 2011. And here it is, looking deep and calm. A few cruise boats are lined up. Not for me. I find the loud commentaries on these sight-seeing ships maddening.

    松島海岸

    🟠 This tranquil bay, dotted with little islands, was spared the worst of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami, being protected by Miyato Island/peninsular to the east (the red dot on the map is where I am)…..

    🟠 One of the first things I saw after leaving the station was one of those helpful signboards with all the sight-seeing spots marked. At least two islands connected to the land by bridges, with woodland walks and temples. But my map showed another small island which was not mentioned in the tourist blurb. Ojima. Some instinct in me (which rebels against being told what to see) led me to walk in this direction. I passed through a boat yard, and followed a trail cut out of the rock…….

    尾島

    ……..and was astonished to come across these caves along the way….also cut out of the rock

    cave for meditation はんせい  反省

    🟠 Crossing the small red bridge- the Togetsukyō Bridge  (a replacement for the one destroyed 14 years ago) I soon found myself on what can only be described as a sacred island……There is even a strange word attached to it – Utamakura (歌枕, “poem pillow”) – a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry.

    Ojima

    🟠 I had not done my homework (sometimes a good thing) and didn’t really know what I was looking at. The island had apparently been a retreat for monks, and is littered with manifestations of Buddha, the caves being for meditation. There are also Shinto shrines, and inscriptions from the famous poet Bashou.

    Many statues have been eroded by the elements, but still receive offerings…….(I have often wondered what the point of those 1 yen coins are, now I know)

    I followed the path around the island…

    私は島の周りの道をたどった

    …with the sea lapping under the cliffs….

    Now why was this island not on the tourist maps? I wonder……..I will let you come to your own conclusions.

    では、なぜこの島は観光地図に載っていないのでしょうか？ 不思議ですね……。結論はご自身で考えてください。

    🟠 Sightseeing is hungry work. The wind was cold, and all I needed was a warm soup. All the restaurants on the sea front were offering either oysters or beef tongue  (ぎゅう a local speciality). I felt like neither. Then I noticed it, having walked passed it once and dismissed it as off the scale regarding grubbiness and a general shabby air. There was just a glass door with words pasted onto it   ラーメン (Ramen)  カレー (Curry). I stepped inside. A little old man stood up from his television and gave me a broad smile of greeting….”Yes, of course I have Ramen…just take a seat….”

    牡蠣はごめんなさい。牛タンもごめんなさい。ラーメンはOK！

    Food of the gods. Stuff the oysters and beef tongue.

    🟠 Of course Matsushima is not all Buddhas and shrines. The beaches reveal molluscs…..barnacles…..

    まんきゃくるい     福浦島

    And oysters have been harvested here for centuries……

    かき

    A bamboo shoot pushes out of the sand like a rocket…….

    たけ    竹

    …and behind it is that glittering Pacific Ocean…..

    きらめく太平洋

    always moving things around…….

    leaving its flotsam on the beach…….

    ひょうりゅうぶつ

    Oh! low and behold, a rarely-seen object, probably left by some uncouth western tourist many years ago…..

    外国人観光客が残したものだと思います!

    However, the beach is so searingly beautiful…..and so casually adorned with flowers….

    美

    🟠 Do I really have to go back to Sendai tonight?

    今夜仙台に戻らなければなりませんか？

    The bridge beckons.  I must go 😔

    福浦橋

    🟠 As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🖋️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    THE END 　終わる

    Japan

  • I skidaddle..逃げ出す

    I skidaddle..逃げ出す

    December 21st 2025年12月21日

    ▷ 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.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🍜

  • 🥂 A swig on a cold morning 乾杯！

    🥂 A swig on a cold morning 乾杯！

    December 12th 2025年12月12日

    “….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…….!

    メンデルスゾーンのピアノ三重奏曲（ヴァイオリンなし）。ヴァイオリニストは東京でバンドの集合を待っている…

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🎻

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    ⛄

    終わり

  • 🎹 “And that’s where the piano comes in” 「そこでピアノが登場するんです… 」

    November 18th 2025年11月18日

    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.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    🍰

    終わり

    p.s. Stop press……this Saturday…..get your bargain…..The Japanese Fleamarket / Japanischer Flohmarkt (蚤の市) in Frankfurt

    👺 https://japanisch-kulturzentrum.de/2025/10/02/japanischer-flohmarkt-3/