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 Miscellany / 雑多な

     May 2025年5月

    Der Rückblick/Flashback/日本：回顧

    🔴 It’s Spring in Japan and I find myself enrolled for a Suiboku (Ink Wash Painting) lesson in in Tsurumi, Tokyo…

    The artist sort of assumed I could speak fluent Japanese, so I probably lost many of the hints he gave. However he was very complimentary about my bamboo drawing….

    すいぼくが　　水墨画　　鶴見

    That’s his drawing above, which he knocked off in about a minute. I started practising with just the stems, not the leaves…..

    私の最初の試み

    With a couple of deft strokes, he “improved” my bamboo. Stuck it up on the whiteboard and photographed it!

    At the desk next to me Tomoko is poised to go….

    🔴 soon after that I was in another part of Tokyo. A group of musicians (Aki さん – Cello, Takako さん- Flute, Ayakoさん – Mezzo Soprano) were “transcending boundaries” in their experimental Minorite concert in Koto City. They were not painting, oh no, they were tearing!

    This piece (by Benjamin Patterson) was all about doing just that – with different sorts of paper. I closed my eyes and let my imagination run riot. The audience loved it.

    🎵 The contemporary music scene is alive and well in Tokyo.

    🔴 Cakes…..

    Are always nicely presented here……..This Yokohama cheesecake is made after a recipe from the wife of  well-known Yokohama author Osaragi Jiro……

    おいしいチーズケーキ

    🔴 I love going to the wilder parts of the coast. The sand can be quite dark, due to its volcanic origin. It’s soft underfoot….

    砂は柔らかい

    🔴 As for flowers, the first European botanists must have been astounded when they reached the shores of Japan. I was lucky to witness the cherry blossoms…..in town…

    in the countryside……

    at temples……

    or just about anywhere in fact……

    Then came the camelias. The pinkish-red flowers adorn the forests. You walk through carpets of spent blooms on the ground…..

    Then it was the peonies turn…….

    …..and in my last week as I walked in the park at Motomachi, Yokohama, these irises were on every corner – in all colours…..

    ….and walking around the football stadium in Hodogaya there were whole banks of Azalias…

    …and if you are crazy enough to go to the Ashikaga Flower Park (Tochigi) in the first holiday of Golden Week……..Wisteria

    あしかがフラワーパーク

    Anyone for Wisteria Ice Cream?

    藤のアイスクリームを食べませんか？ツトムさん、ありがとう!

    🔴 What’s this? In 2019 a typhoon ripped up a tree on the “bluff” in Yokohama. Underneath was a very un-Japanese foundation. The local council decided to leave it there as a memorial, as it was evidently a western-style house which had been destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake.

    The calm after the storm: Yokohama 1923

    1923 年の地震後

    🔴 History is everywhere here. Just south of Yokohama is Yokosuka, where the American Admiral Perry landed in 1853.  Lucky he didn’t arrive 50 years later, or he would have been met by this: The warship Mikasa. It was built in 1902 and brought from Vickers of Barrow-in-Furness in the UK for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It sunk a few Russian ships in its time.

    1902年に建造された軍艦三笠

    In the event, Perry passed by Sarushima Island, and arrogantly re-named it “Perry Island”.

    Not well received. It had been a gun battery for the Tokugawa Shogunate.

    猿島

    🔴 Meanwhile the old undisturbed Japan was going about its feudal ways in the hills of Gifu and Nagano. A house on the Nakasendo way…..

    中山道

    …and the burial sites of the prehistoric Jomon culture were yet to be excavated.

    縄文文化

    🔴 It is much harder to find the past in the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo. I took this picture from near the Tokyo Skytree. It shows Sumida Ward with the Sumida river: well known to Katsushika Hokusai (  葛飾 北斎 )  the famous Ukiyo-e artist.

    Tokyo throbs. It buzzes. It works.

    隅田川の眺め

    🔴 Back to Yokohama.

    Along with Kobe, it was one of the first ports to open up to western traffic. But these first westerners were not artists or idealists. They were businessmen (“Merchants”). And there were lots of sailors who had been cooped up in steam ships for too long ⚓. Two cultures clashed. It was a chaotic and tense period. The British and American governments asked the Japanese authorities to build a “pleasure zone”, which acted as a buffer between the port and the town. Nowadays tourists arrive on cruise ships….

    …..or by train🚅

    The buffer zone (aka red light district) has since disappeared, in part due to the earthquake and the subsequent fire bombing in WWII twenty year later. Yokohama has been through a lot.

    A Norwegian cruise ship docked at the Osambashi pier

    大さん橋埠頭に停泊中のノルウェーのクルーズ船

    🔴 An unusual memorial in Yamashita Park – the park itself being created on the waterfront with rubble from the 1923 destruction

    …….

    インディアン記念碑の天井

    🔴 People…….have to work. Although distance working (Zaitaku Kinmu  在宅勤務 ) has become much more common after Covid.   

      人々は働かなければならない

    Peoples’ needs…….a vending machine, a postbox, and a launderette (“coin laundry”) . What more do you need?

    このコインランドリーが必要な人もいる

    🔴 Every year children have a special day :”Kodomo no hi” on May 5th. But the carp streamers (Koinobori) are already flying here in Nagoya.  Originally Tango no Sekku, the day has been celebrated  since the Kamakura period in the 12thc. The black carp (Magoi) represents the father, the red one (Higoi) the mother. All the others are the children…..

    子供の日 (Nagoya)

    But the children are not always happy……

    Kotaro-chan : “what’s up big sister?”

    「お姉ちゃん、どうしたの？」

    Meiko-chan: “I want my violin!”…….

    “ah…..that’s more like it…….👍”

    「バイオリンが欲しい！」……「あぁ……それもいいな……」

    People are helpful. Here a shop owner helps us find the way back to our hiking trail in Miyagi….

    店主が道案内をしてくれた

    🔴 Furry friends. “I will sleep where I will. For I am a cat”

    吾輩は猫である (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru ) 🙄

    “I will reign from here…..for I am the queen……”

    ごろちゃん

    🔴 Foreigners photograph the oddest things…….Behind the Tsunami wall on the Miyagiolle trail….A harbour no more….

    The Anglican – Episcopal church in Yokohama. Apparently only 1.5% of the Japanese population profess to be Christian…….

    横浜のキリスト教会

    🔴 Buddhism: Jizo are the guardian deities for children and travellers. They are properly called “Jizo Bosatsu”, originating in ancient India where in Sanskrit they are called Ksitigarbha , which means earth womb…..bet you didn’t know that….

    なぎそ 【南木曾】

    Buddhism has many interpretations and factions… here at the Rinnjo Buddhist temple in Sendai. A Zen stone garden.

    “………..Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 70% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist…..” (Wiki)

    「……日本の宗教は、主に神道と仏教という二つの主要な信仰に表れており、日本人はしばしばこの二つを同時に信仰しています。推計によると、国民の70%が何らかの形で神道の儀式に従い、家庭の神棚や公共の神社で祖霊や霊を祀っています。ほぼ同数の人々が仏教徒であると報告されています……」（Wikipedia）

    🔴…a local Shinto shrine in Hodogaya…..

    程ヶ谷宿

    The entrance to the  Aoba Shinto shrine in Sendai – tucked between the houses like a jewel in a nondescript urban landscape…..

    仙台の青葉神社

    🔴 Fuji-san 🗻 is certainly regarded as sacred. I go for a walk behind my house and there it is on the horizon. But the iphone camera with its wide angle lens does not do it justice. On another day I catch a surprising glimpse of it from the carpark.

    富士山

    It is so much bigger than anything else on the landscape, appearing like the backdrop to a stage. It is an awe-inspiring sight. And then it disappears again. Like some magnificent but fickle god.

    🔴 I’ve been recording these manholes for a palaeographer at Göttingen University. However they are hardly phD material. They are what is called fun…..not often seen in the corridors of town councils…

    Japan’s history is one of wooden buildings – 🪵 So it’s no surprise that fire-fighting has a long history.  And how typical to use a cartoon-like figure to convey an important message. A nice thing to have in the pavement! (it’s a fire hydrant). I must suggest this to the Langen Bürgermeister……

    🔴 And technology. Pride in the old…Another view of that pre-Dreadnought battleship Mikasa…

    三笠 (戦艦)

    and in the new….the monorail in Tachikawa, Saitama.

    立川市  モノレール

    Yamaha Music Store, Yokohama. Sound experiences……🎵

    A synthesis of philosophy, art and sport: Archery 🏹.

    弓

    🔴 The tilting vessel: an illustration of one of Confucius’s principles where a bucket is suspended from two chains and needs to be filled with exactly 80% of its capacity in water to come to perfect balance — this is where the Japanese expression “hara hachibu” or “eat until you’re 80% full” comes from……..I took this picture at Ashikaga Gakko in Tochigi – Japan’s oldest university, which was founded in 832 using a Confucian syllabus.

    Ashikaga Gakko 傾く器：孔子の原則の一つを示す例 . 友子さんありがとう。

    That’s it from Japan. I hope you have enjoyed reading these blogs.

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

    Das war’s aus Japan. Ich hoffe, euch hat das Lesen dieser Blogs gefallen.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🖋️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    *

  • Monday 月曜日

    10th February 2026 年2月10日

    🔵 Do you like Monday mornings? I found the last one difficult. Getting going was like starting a cold diesel motor on a winter`s day.

    Well it is winter isn’t it.🥶

    But all the positive experiences of the past week sort of carried me over the threshold of Monday morning.

    🔵 For example, We actually saw some sunshine……

    月曜日の朝は好きですか？月曜日の朝を過ごすのに役立った経験をいくつかご紹介します。

    All rather pretty really, as long as you didn’t have to go anywhere…..

    Indeed, this reminded me of the German “Baumkuchen” although I don’t think the real thing has that icing on top….

    🔵 And then there was this picture of my two little friends in Sagamihara…..Big sister explains to little brother ….

    私の小さな友達

    Nice red piano 😅

    🔵 For one of those real black one’s I look forward to Liudmila’s ‘cello recital in Kassel…..

    Programme looks interesting….

    チェロのリサイタルを楽しみにしています

    🔵 Also this week I had practised a duet for 2 cellos and piano, which made me feel good. Although I will feel even better when I have another ‘cellist to play with…

    チェロのデュエットの練習

    🔵 ………..I interspered the work with a sugar kick from the local bakery….”Guten Tag” I say,” Ich brauche etwas Süßes ” (I need something sweet)….“gerne” (gladly, with pleasure)….replies the friendly Polish lady. So I return with some Frankurter Schnitte..….whatever that is…..

    コーヒーとケーキとともに……

    🔵 Of course there were struggles in the week…like this Beethoven (Beethoven is always a struggle….he was always so stressed …😅).

    ベートーベンはいつも苦労しているようです!

    See that 3rd note for the ´cello ? That’s an important F sharp, and it’s right on the G string where you will often find a “wolf” note on a ‘cello. If you’ve got a wolf note there then you can forget Beethovens’ A major sonata. Or play the note on the D string. But that’s not the same 👎

    🔵 What other good things happened this week? Well, there was that challenging but hugely enjoyable evening with the “Broken Frames Syndicate”. This is an interesting group of musicians who use music and prose to focus on the climate crisis.

    素晴らしい現代音楽コンサート

    Electric performances of Messiaen…… improvisations…all in the slightly weird venue of a Jugendstile church in slightly run-down Offenbach……

    オフェンバッハの教会で

    🔵 As I am concentrating on positive experiences I will not dwell on the fact that DB left me stranded on the rather bleak platform of Offenbach Station after this concert. But I did have a merry conversation with a Turkish taxi driver on the way home.

    帰りの電車が運休になった（ここは日本じゃない！）

    🔵 We all have to go shopping don’t we. I’m taking no chances here, wearing my yellow flourescent band. It really works. Cars slow down and respect you.

    買い物に行く

    Nothing but the heaviest lock of course…

    🔵 The supermarket offers a haven of warmth and brightly packaged food….and wine…..It says “welcome”, but hits you in the face at the same time…..for a native English speaker this is a truly dreadful logo….

    HIT という単語はイギリス人にとっては奇妙です…

    Got to get the priorities right. First a bottle of Italian Primitivo, then the milk and eggs etc……

    最初に買うのはイタリア産の赤ワイン1本です。

    🔵 The biggest plus of the week. A day out hiking, starting at Bad Kreuznach and coming back over the red cliffs of Bad Münster.

    The day starts for me at Langen station, where reminders of the original Main-Neckar Railway can be seen – freshly painted. Built in 1846, the railway operated as a joint state railway company, known as a condominium railway (Kondominalbahn), by the Free City of Frankfurt, The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Grand Duchy of Baden.

    So now you know.

    今週最高の体験。ハイキング

    🔵 The Rotenfels (Red Cliffs) is great walking territory, even on a grey day….

    Photo: Soren (edited)

    …..and the town of Bad Münster itself is a curious old place

    バート・ミュンスター

    ……. drawing patients to the salty air of the Gradierwerke, where highly charged natural mineral water if left to trickle down huge wooden constructions, evaporating and bathing the passers-by in a saline atmosphere…

    Photo: Soren (edited)

    🔵 People come and stay here for that most German of German institutions……the Kur…….the nearest word I know in English is “taking the waters”. This is the Kurhaus…..

    🔵 Above the town it’s a stiff climb…..

    …………but nobody complains, for we are a merry band of hikers…..

    ……. on the VITAL route…..

    🔵 Like a Fata Morgana, or mirage…the image of an Italian restaurant keeps us going…….A restaurant which later provides good food and drink for all…..

    Not bad eh?

    私たちは楽しいハイカーグループで、ハイキングの後はイタリアンレストランでおいしい食事を楽しみました。

    🔵 Back at home…..

    Violins can be pretty mischievous sometimes. I pick this one up to tune it……… But on its own accord, it seems to have landed on a chord which needs resolving……

    バイオリンがちょっとしたトリックを演奏する

    It seems to want to shift to D major. Naughty violin….

    🔵 Before I end this week’s post I must mention this:

    I walk out of my house and my attention is immediately drawn skywards. Something big is happening up there. It’s the geese. They are all squawking and circling….a hundred I would say. It is an awe-inspiring sight. Every year they do it, flying thousands of miles over Europe. Always the same routes. Often the same resting posts – in this case the lakes around Langen and Darmstadt. But you never know when they will do it…..such a mystery….

    渡り鳥が家の上空を飛ぶ。不思議で畏敬の念を抱かせる光景だ

    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✍️

    🔵 p.s. On a friend’s recommendation I went to see a film last week. Hugely enjoyable. Funny, sad, thought – provoking. Half in English, half in Japanese.

    In the huge city of Tokyo, you can rent almost anything…a man for your wedding, a father for your daughter, a journalist to interview your father….It sounds weird to us, I know. But it is not without it’s benefits..RENTAL FAMILY…..

    …..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0pqP6ClcE8

  • 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/