https://jon.kelbie.scot/category/japan/ Recent content in Japan on Jon Kelbie | My Site | jon.kelbie.scot Hugo -- gohugo.io en Tue, 12 Jul 2022 21:38:18 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62cd6b3a/ Wandered to the local market earlier today (to find it was closed) and took a picture of a more mature rice field than previously photographed. I’ve never seen rice plants at this stage, and not being an area of expertise for me, I actually had to ask my wife if they grow like barley and wheat (which given the answer was yes, wasn’t as stupid a question as I thought it might be).. anyway, got to imagine these will be harvested relatively soon.. will keep an eye out! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62cd6b3a/) A green, well developed rice field takes up the bottom two thirds of the shot with a large hill and blue sky filling the rest. semi-visible are the ears (?) of the rice plants in the foreground. Tue, 12 Jul 2022 21:38:18 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62cd6b3a/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62ccad47/ A shot just a little downstream from the brewery I’ll intern at from this week. This is the 仁淀川 (Niyodo river) and it is stunningly clear. The picture was taken from the parking lot of an onsen but they had no vegan food options so we didn’t stay. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62ccad47/) A beautifully blue river with lots of rocks around, the water looks calm just now. There are trees in the background and a very small bridge is nestled amongst them. Tue, 12 Jul 2022 08:07:51 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/photo/2022/07/62ccad47/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2021-plans-reviewed/ In January last year, I wrote a blog post about my provisional plans for 2021 , this seems as good a time as any to review the plans and assess how well I managed to move towards achieving them. With the global challenges of 2020 bleeding through to much of 2021, there were certain goals that were either not legally achievable or I simply didn’t feel that the risk of infection was low enough to pursue the goal in question. Protecting my family from covid-19 was a constant consideration and at times perhaps I was more cautious than I strictly had to be but in this regard I have absolutely no regrets. So “excuses” given, let’s review the plans in order of their placement within the previous post: Japanese Local Government’s Rural Rejuvenation Initiative (kyouryokutai programme - 協力隊) Whilst not explicitly highlighted as a goal for the year, my year start blog post mentioned that pretty much everything I planned for the year was done so in order to enable us to apply to this scheme. Both my wife and I successfully applied and were accepted into the kyouryokutai programme for Hidaka village in Kōchi prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan. My contract is due to start on June 1st 2022 and my wife will start a few months later once our second baby is old enough to attend kindergarten. I was pretty nervous during the interview with the town mayor, deputy mayor and various village people but they were very lenient on me with their questioning and I held my nerve and responded appropriately in reasonably acceptable Japanese. There is an implicit requirement for a driving license, but as long as we were trying to obtain licenses, the village officials seemed to be content and if we need or needed to learn in Japan, I don’t think this would have been a particularly big deal. Brew more regularly In January I set the target at completing 15 brew days by the end of 2021 and in order to enable this to happen we invested in an additional conical fermenter, allowing me to be able to brew more frequently (approximately every two weeks). I am delighted to say that at the time of writing, I have managed 18 brew days with 1 more planned before the year ends! Thanks in part to teachings from my part-time MSc in Brewing and Distilling course, in big part to great advice from my friend Ken from Mukai Craft Brewing and in part due to my diligence and experimentation, I’ve progressed quite well this year. I decided to put my tech skills to use and developed a beer recipe database and front end web site (which still needs to be more populated) which also helped me lean on the knowledge of other brewers in order to get to the point where I am developing my own recipes. I’ve still much to learn and much recipe development to do but I have been reaching out to family who are experts in tea in order to help me think about flavour combinations that will make for unique and interesting beers featuring their delicious products. My brewing will hit somewhat of a wall early next year as I’ll need to pack up my equipment for transit to Japan where it is currently illegal to brew anything over 1% ABV (alcohol by volume) at home. I’m not overly concerned by this as I have always planned to brew low alcohol beers as part of my beer line up and this will give me adequate opportunity for experimentation with different techniques for doing so. Establish brewing network in Japan I reached out to a number of breweries during the first half of the year and established contact with some cool brewers, I look forward to future in-person meetings with these brewers and more. I had plans to contact every brewer in Shikoku but there are so many new breweries popping up so it was becoming less viable. Instead I accepted an invitation into a facebook group offer to a group for Shikoku craft brewers. I had to create a new account because I don’t have a personal one, nor do I have any intention of creating one, but access to this group of brewers has already proven invaluable and so putting my principles aside in order to be part of this community seemed to be a worthwhile idea. Once I’m in Japan, I have the opportunity to work with Ken Mukai from Mukai Craft Brewing for a while, which I am very excited about. The details are yet to be discussed and I certainly don’t want to be a burden or outstay my welcome but with our own brewery being 2 to 3 years down the road, I’ll be happy to help Ken out for as long as he can use me. Aside from this, I hope to experience brewing at other breweries around the prefecture or island in order to strengthen community relationships and glean industry knowledge from the brewers who have come before me. Experience breweries in Scotland This has unfortunately been the main challenge affected by covid-19’s continuing prevalence. It has been a difficult time for breweries (as it has for everyone) and whilst many of them have adapted well, it just wasn’t feasible to visit them during the year. I did manage a few brief chats during the Edinburgh beer festival but otherwise I’ve not pushed this as a priority due covid concerns, and lack of time really, learning to drive, studying my course, working full-time, preparing for interviews, looking after my daughter and preparing for our second daughter, as well as trying to brew as often as possible has meant that I’ve had almost no free time to allocate to this. I did contact a brewery, one of the creators of which is a friend of a friend, and whilst they seemed happy for me to visit at some point the timing wasn’t ideal as a new head brewer was about to start and get used to operations etc. Trying to find a good time to even meet for a beer proved to be a challenge and so, unfortunately the visit didn’t happen. Whilst I am a little disappointed not to have managed a single visit, I’m not going to let it bother me, if I can fit a visit in during 2022 before me move to Japan then cool, but with a new daughter incoming, my priorities are likely to shift. Continue studying the science of brewing Very happy with progress in this regard. I’ve completed two courses now and am on the verge of completing my third of four. Indeed, at the time of writing this I am somewhat procrastinating when I should be studying for the final assignment which is due in 5 days time. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have enjoyed each of the courses equally but regardless they have all been invaluable and helped me greatly develop my understanding of brewing. Due to the fact that I have been so busy with everything else in the year, I have primarily been studying to pass the assignments and not been able to really deep-dive into the bones of what I am interested in, however, I have been gathering lots of resources so that once I am in Japan and have more time on my hands, I can really settle in and study everything I want to study. After this current course is done, I have a final course which due to scheduling won’t start until September 2022, it will be focussed on cereals, malting and mashing processes and I look forward to learning more about this from an academic perspective. Get house in order After much searching we found some very good tradesmen to work on finishing our garage conversion, unfortunately due to their personal circumstances the work which is almost complete has been on hold for a few months so we’ve not achieved the progress that I hoped but they have done an excellent job and I’m hopeful that they can complete the work soon and we’ll be ready to put the house on the market early in 2022. We were very lucky with regards to our future living situation and have a rental house being held for us until we move over to Japan. We will need to live with my in-laws for a short while in order to furnish the rental house but I’m very happy that we’ll be able to move into a space of our own shortly after arriving in the village. Groundwork for future brewery Nothing much has changed in this regard since the post at the start of the year, which said: Most of the work required towards our future brewery, can’t really start until we are in Japan. Also, as the intention isn’t to establish the brewery immediately, but rather continue my studies and gain some industry experience, the majority of the groundwork is really just research and clarification into licensing requirements and laws, and understanding the hoops that we need to jump through when the time comes, the more we can line up in advance the better. At this moment in time, I’m thinking that we may build a taproom before we work on the brewery. The thinking is that a) we’ll need one, b) it will help with networking with other craft brewers if I’m selling their beers, c) will potentially open up collaboration opportunities for exclusive small batch limited edition brews to be sold in our taproom and, d) it exploits my almost two decades of experience in working in pubs in Scotland. The intention would be to have uniform branding between the taproom and brewery, and so we can do work on reserving web domains, logo design, and as above, reaching out to brewers etc. before moving over. However, I have reached out to a graphical designer friend who has agreed to turn my logo design draft into something of a more professional quality! I’ll be working on the website and reserving domains etc. soon after moving to Japan. Obtain a driving license After paying an agency who were sure they would be able to sort out driving lessons with an automatic car in our area with no issues, they failed to do so, the result being they charged me £150 for booking a £62 driving test. Dicks.. So, in somewhat of a panic I sent out emails to each and every driving instructor or agency that covered our area and was very lucky to get a response from Kate at Fastrackpass .. but we had to go with manual as there was no automatic availability. With an incoming test I had little choice but to go for this option. Kate hooked me up with a local driving instructor Duncan and set about finding a better test date and location as the one I had booked wasn’t at our local test centre (due to covid-19 related backlogs it was a take what you are given scenario). Within days of my first driving lesson, Kate had managed to secure a test a few weeks later than the initial one but at my local test centre. Many lessons were taken before the date but I felt that we had only just finished learning right before the test, so my nerves were a jangly bag of spanners on the day and I failed within the first 10 minutes of the test. However, I needed to get a license and ideally one with a date of issue that is more than 90 days before our exit from Scotland as this is a requirement for the conversion of UK to Japanese driving lesson to be a relatively straight-forward process. As such, we lined up a few more lessons which were more focussed on practice and confidence building, and tried to find another test date, which was actually yesterday. My wife who had an issue with a BSM (British School of Motoring) instructor just not turn up for her first lesson, also switched to Duncan, and Kate was lucky enough to find her a test at our local centre (rather than in Stirling which is too far for the instructor to lend his car), her driving test is soon - fingers crossed! BSM were somewhat difficult to get a refund out of but after several months of following their processes, I found an email address in their terms and conditions and we sent an email demanding a refund on the threat of invoking trading standards and solicitors. Refund was issue within the hour! .. oh yeah, I passed. Continue to find family time 2021 has been a fantastic year in regards to witnessing the development of my daughter, she is awesome! Frustrating as hell at times, but I am so happy to spend time with her and miss her terribly when she spends time away at her granny’s house. As also alluded to a few times above, thanks to a last roll of the dice kind of situation, we have a new baby on the way due in mid-March! Opinions were split in the household and wider family over preferences for the baby’s sex (obviously not really important, health being the only real property we care about) with my daughter and I being in the minority with a preference for another little girl. The 20 week scan was inconclusive in identifying sex but the sonographer was leaning heavily in the female prediction camp, a second scan at a local ultrasound centre reinforced this opinion but again couldn’t be certain, so whilst we may still be surprised when they arrive, it seems like baby number two will be devoid of an Y chromosome, packing instead, double Xs. 2021 brought some unexpected, awesome news out of the blue. One Sunday during our weekly Papa & Daughter movie and popcorn session, I heard someone pop something through our mailbox but didn’t get up to investigate immediately as I was enjoying cosy time with my daughter. When I checked later there was a hand-written, hand-delivered letter to me which was a pretty unusual event. Whilst the letter contained some potentially concerning health news (which is in hand and not currently a concern) it also contained the phenomenal news that I have a sister whose existence I knew nothing about until that point. The letter was from her mum, the wife of my biological father (whom I’ve had no relationship with since I was an infant - a pattern which will continue) and it introduced my sister to me as a 20 year old who has “always” known of my existence. The letter rocked me but tentatively I reached out and we finally made contact by email in June, we then agreed to communicate using online chat via matrix and met in person for the first time in November. We have briefly caught up again just a few days ago and we’re looking forward to our next meet up. So whilst not in my original thoughts for the year, this definitely qualifies for inclusion under family time! -– This may have been the most stressful year of my entire life, and we’re not out of the woods yet, there is still a lot to get done before we move to Japan (hopefully in late April), but I have to be pretty happy with the goals that I did achieve, yes it would have been great to visit some Scottish breweries but I can become a brewer without having done so and perhaps there will be an opportunity or two in 2022, though I’m not investing much hope in that being the case with Omicron cases on the rise. We’ll have to see if our plans are affected by covid-19’s resilience, but those are considerations for another post in the new year covering my plans and goals for 2022. Onwards! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2021-plans-reviewed/) Aerial shot of an old-fashioned wooden Japanese house nestled in the green of surrounding trees, grass and hillsides. There is a small graveyard visible up the hill, a modern looking car shelter to the side of the house and an air circulation unit of some sort outside the front. The facade is covered with windows and sliding doors. Thu, 16 Dec 2021 08:39:17 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2021-plans-reviewed/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/plans-for-2021/ Back in January 2020, I wrote a blog post about plans for the upcoming year . The other day I was reading through the post and wrote a reflective review of progress made during the past year. This was a pretty satisfying process for me, so I figured that I would do the same for 2021 in the hopes that when I review progress at the end of the year, I’ll be even more satisfied. The overarching goal for the year is similar to last year, progress towards becoming a brewer and preparation for applying for the Hidaka village kyouryokutai (協力隊) scheme with a view to moving to the village once we’ve wrapped up the house sale and other loose ends here. During the past year, we’ve been evolving and re-prioritising plans for future projects in Japan should our application be successful and the focus from a career point of view will be in the realm of craft brewing, putting food-related plans on the backburner for future attention. With that in mind and reflecting on the progress made during 2020, the following are my plans & goals for 2021. Brew more regularly I managed 7 out of a planned 12 brews during 2020, and many lessons were learned during each brew. Following great advice from a new craft brewer contact in Japan, I will be focussing on brewing more frequently as I need to make the focus shift from learning to beer design. I am hoping to brew a new beer every 3-4 weeks. If I can crank out 15 beers this year, I’ll be delighted. My final beer of 2020 is currently conditioning in its keg and is a Scottish export (80 shilling) style. I intend to brew a few more similar beers but each time adjusting the balance of grains, in order to further my understanding of the influence of different types of malts. I also want to introduce oats into the recipe because oats are fucking great in beer! After my brief experiment with brown ales, I am intending on focussing single malt, single hop (SMaSH) brews during which I’ll use the same malt but change up the hops for each brew. I hope to really gain a greater understanding of both the different flavour contributions and bittering qualities of each distinct hop. There are a huge number of hops available so I’ll need to be selective as I aim to have completed this run of beers by around the middle of the year. After these two experiments, I’ll move on to attempting to design the three beers that I have in mind for my main lines in my future brewery. I don’t expect to be able to master or finalise these designs this year but I hope to produce some tasty, if unpolished, beers of my own design during the second half of the year. As my new friend explained, there will likely not be the opportunity to brew again in Japan once we move until I either find a job working at a brewery or I establish my own brewery as Japanese homebrewing laws are very restrictive. Establish brewing network in Japan In December last year, I wrote an 8 page letter to a brewer in Japan (Ken Mukai of Mukai Craft Brewing ) in order to congratulate him on opening his brewery and to introduce myself as a hopeful future collaborator (and friend!). I was pretty nervous about this if truth be told, but the letter was well received and coincidentally a mutual friend had been talking to Ken about me the day before the letter arrived! In an email response, Ken provided me with some really useful information and advice and key amongst these was the suggestion to reach out to other brewers as well and tell them my story and plans. So, I will! This is going to be a challenge as I’ll need to really un-rust my Japanese in order to contact the majority of brewers, there are some other non-natives who I’ll be able to more easily communicate with but I need to improve my Japanese anyway and this is a great opportunity to do so! In addition, there is a new resident of Hidaka village who joined under the same kyouryokutai scheme as I intend to apply to, his business plan is also to create a craft brewery in our small town. Far from considering this as a potential threat to our own plans, I hope to engage with our future neighbour and help in any way that I can to collaborate with and ensure the success of his brewery. Reaching out to strangers like this is pretty daunting for me but it’s one of the few steps we can take whilst not in Japan to help with our future plans. Experience breweries in Scotland Once the covid-19 situation calms down and is hopefully eliminated, I intend also to reach out to some breweries in Scotland with a view to visiting and hopefully witnessing or assisting in a brew. I have a reasonable relationship with my favourite brewer up in the north east of Scotland (no not that one), and though the specifics might need to be negotiated, they are very open to a brewery visit once things calm down. I also have a friend of a close friend who has his own brewery in East Lothian and who is apparently also very open to a visit and for me to ask any questions I can think of. I’ve previously visited Stewart Brewing in Loanhead in Edinburgh on one of their craft kitchen brew day experiences, and I believe they have pretty close ties to my university so I may be able to arrange an active site visit there too. Also, at previous craft beer festivals I’ve briefly spoken with the owner of the Alechemy brewery here in my town and he was pretty open to a visit too, so I’ll need to get in contact with him. There may be other breweries who I can speak with, such as Barney’s or Pilot in Edinburgh who I’ve had friendly conversations with in the past but this is all dependent on lockdown restrictions being lifted and covid-19 being “under control”. Continue studying the science of brewing I have so far completed one semester of my MSc in Brewing & Distilling programme and am very happy with how it went. My next course which is focussed on maturation, barrel aging, filtration and packaging starts on Monday 4th of January and I am excited to get started again. My second semester course will either be on malting, grains and mashing or yeast and fermentation, I’m not sure which I’ll opt for first as I need to do both but either will be really interesting and these are the two courses that I’m most excited about. In between semesters, I hope to find time to enhance my understanding of topics I studied in my first course, such as microbial spoilage and cleaning-in-place with a view to researching brewery design to take the first steps in investigating options for my future eco-friendly, sustainable craft brewery. The year ahead looks really interesting in this sphere, I will only have one course left to complete (as I’m only doing the brewing specific courses for a postgraduate certificate) and likely it will be in the second semester of 2022 with a gap for the first part of the year - which will hopefully enable us to move over to Japan and get settled in. Get house in order We couldn’t make any progress here last year and we have to this year in order to hopefully sell our house in 2022. We need to finish the garage conversion to the level that the council will provide a completion certificate, we need to renovate the en suite and give the garden and external brickwork some love. It should all be achievable if the current plague gets the fuck out of town.. but I’ve been burned so many times by contractors so confidence in this area is low. Groundwork for future brewery Most of the work required towards our future brewery, can’t really start until we are in Japan. Also, as the intention isn’t to establish the brewery immediately, but rather continue my studies and gain some industry experience, the majority of the groundwork is really just research and clarification into licensing requirements and laws, and understanding the hoops that we need to jump through when the time comes, the more we can line up in advance the better. At this moment in time, I’m thinking that we may build a taproom before we work on the brewery. The thinking is that a) we’ll need one, b) it will help with networking with other craft brewers if I’m selling their beers, c) will potentially open up collaboration opportunities for exclusive small batch limited edition brews to be sold in our taproom and, d) it exploits my almost two decades of experience in working in pubs in Scotland. The intention would be to have uniform branding between the taproom and brewery, and so we can do work on reserving web domains, logo design, and as above, reaching out to brewers etc. before moving over. Obtain a driving license In order to apply for the kyouryokutai scheme and to move to Japan, I need to have a driving license. I’ve previously taken some lessons but due to the demands of work over-reaching into my life those were put on hold. That was several years ago, so I’ll now need to resit the theory exam as my previous pass has now expired. The intention is to find someone who does intensive lessons for automatic cars and I’ll try to arrange that for the Summer (the season referred to as Summer in the rest of the world, not the 3 days of sunshine during the Scottish year). I’m going for automatic as most cars in Japan are automatic and I’m just not that in to driving.. It’s a necessity for both the application and for future plans as we’ll be living very rurally, but excitement levels aren’t overly high and I’m holding out what hope I have that we’ll be able to buy a second hand electric car when we move over. Continue to find family time Finally, as busy a year as I have lined up for 2021, these plans cannot be at the cost of restricting time to spend with my daughter and wife. There are goals that must be achieved in order for our plans to progress on schedule but they will need to be achieved around family time. Onwards! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/plans-for-2021/) Sat, 02 Jan 2021 13:47:01 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/plans-for-2021/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-plans-reviewed/ In January last year, I wrote a blog post about my provisional plans for 2020 , this seems as good a time as any to review the plans and assess how well I managed to move towards achieving them. It probably goes without saying that the global disruptions of this past year have rippled into each of our lives and resultantly some of the plans have been impacted due to situations outwith my control. Also, during the first five months of the year, my wife was working on her MA dissertation, which meant that most of my spare time was dedicated to looking after my daughter, which was great but not conducive to productivity in other realms. So “excuses” given, let’s review the plans in order of their placement within the previous post: Japanese Local Government’s Initiative (kyouryokutai programme - 協力隊) Our plans to apply for this scheme early 2022 have not at this moment changed and feeling around the family is that we have a very good chance of success with our application, however there is one dependency that is going to require a little more social stability and less prominence and threat of covid-19 to achieve. If I’m to apply for this scheme I need a driving license! Japanese Language Proficiency Tests I did initially start studying for JLPT N3 at the beginning of last year but this was railroaded by the pandemic and continuous lockdowns slashing my available free time considerably. I’ve re-evaluated the necessity of sitting these tests and as I don’t really intend to work for someone else in a permanent role, I don’t actually think that the proficiency tests are really that necessary. I will have to work on improving my Japanese both spoken and written (typed) and may revisit in the future but for now under current circumstances this is being shelved. Brew Regularly My plan for last year was to try and brew a beer each month, so 12 in total, 1 of which had already been brewed (and poured down the drain), I managed a further 6 brews - taking my total at this point to 8 brews over two years. Obviously, this is a little less than I had hoped, but given the circumstances and the tangible improvement in both my brewing knowledge and the quality of the beers, I’m reasonably happy with progress made. I managed to brew 2 American IPAs, 2 New England IPAs and 4 Imperial Stouts, with the latter darker brews I played around a little with adjuncts, coffee and cacao nibs in this case, which was very rewarding. Study the Science of Brewing In this realm, more than any other, great strides were taken! My application to join the MSc Brewing & Distilling (distance learning) programme at Heriot Watt University was successful and I’ve completed my first course, which was Beverage Microbiology and Biochemistry. I’m still awaiting the final marks for this course but my first couple of assignments were well received and very well marked(!) so I have high hopes. Studying microbiology and biochemistry with no background in science was certainly a steep learning curve, and as I have no aspirations to becoming a scientist, sometimes the content of the course felt a little unnecessary to my particular aims, however other parts were fascinating and really helped boost my understanding of the brewing processes. I still have a lot to learn in this area, and have certain sub-topics that I really want to drill into when time allows, these are: cleaning-in-place, microbial spoilage & strategies to mitigate and eliminate contamination. Cook-A-Lot I probably cooked just as often in 2020 as in previous years, however, most of the time the main aim was sustenance rather than making time to cook delicious dishes. It did happen, but with constraints on time being what they were the frequency of cooking “sessions” was lower than I’d have liked. I did make some pretty memorable stews with barley over the last few months.. I might have become somewhat of a barley addict.. Get the house in order Lockdowns, a neighbour who ignored lockdowns from day 1 and had a constant, daily supply of labourers and other craftsmen visiting his house and a general urgency to protect my daughter from this coronavirus strain meant that absolutely no progress was made here. All in all, considering that circumstances we all had to face, I’m reasonably content with progress towards our plans during 2020. I would have liked to brew more often, I would have liked to have sat and passed JLPT N3 and it would have been great if some work on our house could have been completed. However, I am firmly on my way to becoming a brewer and whilst more focus will be required over this next year to further progress, I’m happy with the steps taken to achieve this goal during the past year. Onwards! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-plans-reviewed/) Sat, 02 Jan 2021 10:58:03 +0000 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-plans-reviewed/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-provisional-plans/ On our return from our most recent trip to visit my wife’s family in Japan I posted on my pleroma account about my ambitious plans for 2020 in order to hopefully facilitate a move to rural Japan as early as Spring 2022. This article is an attempt to flesh the out a little and to have somewhere that I can more easily refer to for updates, amendments etc. So in no particular order: Japanese Government’s Rural Initiative (not correct name but will update and write about in greater detail in the future) This is a scheme aimed at encouraging more families to move from the big Japanese cities to rural locations, with a focus on encouraging retraining, community involvement and company creation. Each town government has its own requirements and the can change on an annual basis. Successful applicants have up to three years to make a life in the town and contribute to the local economy, during which time the government will subsidise rent, home refurbishments and pay a regular, sufficient wage. After three years then you are on your own so to speak but by then hopefully you have established an income of your own. A brief look into the scheme would suggest that so long as I have a driver’s license by the time of application and am capable of participating in an interview, then I should qualify. I already have a litany of ideas the biggest of which is to have my own craft beer brewery however, it is a mid-to-long term plan and hopefully some of my more immediately implementable ideas will impress the government officials when the time comes. Japanese Language Proficiency Tests Initial plan is to sit and pass JLPT N3 - which I should already be able to do, but the intention is to study for it properly in order to establish a study pattern for the more challenging N2 exam which I hope to sit in 2021. If I’m to get back to a level where I can participate in a Japanese interview for the above scheme then the JLPT exams will help to focus me and fill the large gaps in vocabulary that have appeared since I graduated with an undergraduate degree in Japanese in 2011 - not that I was particularly good with the language back then, I was more interested in Japanese feudal history.. regardless, N3 this year, N2 next. Brew regularly Starting next week, I’ll be trying to brew a different beer each month and attempting to study the science of brewing so that by the time we move to Japan I have a solid knowledge-base from which to reach out for potential brewery internships as brewing beer at home is kind of illegal in Japan (unless under 1% ABV). I am still a beginner and my second brew was somewhat of a failure. I hope to improve my understanding of the basics, tighten my quality control process and become very familiar with the different grains, malts, hops and yeasts over the next few years. I’ll initially probably be focusing largely on IPAs but before we move to Japan I want to experiment with dark and sour beers. I’ll endevour to record everything in my blog and as my Japanese improves, add translations where relevant or interesting to build towards a profile which can be understood by potential future employers. Study the science of brewing Hand in hand with the brewing plans, I hope to find some online courses or books from which I can learn more about molecular biology etc. I want to be in a potion where I understand protein chains, yeast storage and quality, water quality etc. This knowledge will be very important when the time comes to establish a brewery but also before then it will enhance my ability to design beers based on more than a hunch about tasty flavour combinations. I recently re-visited the Heriot Watt University MSc Brewing & Distilling course page and discovered that it may be possible for me to study towards a Postgraduate Certificate online which if an application was successful would enable me to study exactly the content that I will need to for a career in brewing. I have contacted HW admissions and if I get a positive response to my multiple questions then I think I’ll apply for this course which would begin in September this year. Fingers crossed! Depending on work-load and progress with this, I may also reach out to some Scottish craft brewers to see if there are any prospects for short-term internship or shadowing to set in place for next year. Cook-A-Lot I already do a fair amount of cooking at home and when time allows like to spend 4-6 hours in the kitchen making delicious #vegan food. However, as my future in Japan will revolve around both drink and food and in all cases vegan varieties of them all, I need to up my game and focus on mastering some fundamentals from which potential menus in potential cafes or food trucks might be devised. I’ve previously worked in the kitchens of hotels and pubs in a variety of roles and several of the roles involved cooking for the public so I’m not completely unfamiliar with the requirements, but if I’m to be a lone vegan cook in our wee village in rural Japan, then I’ll need to really understand dashi options, umami and cooking with the local ingredients I’ll have at hand. Fun!! Get the house in order Literally! We’ve had an unfinished garage conversion for several years now! The building contractor who was hired to do the work upped sticks and ran away when the council returned a list of issues. Since then it has fluctuated in importance and several attempts to enlist the help of other contractors to finish the job have failed. We need to get this fixed once and for all or selling the house in a few years time is going to be somewhat of a challenge. Sundries Undoubtedly there will be more plans made, developed and or abandoned as the year progresses, but I hope to write about as much of it as possible, particularly where it relates to potentially interesting information uncovered as we learn more about the process and challenges of moving (back) to Japan. Next year: driving license, JLPT N2, studying for Japanese beer proficiency tests (yes, really), strengthening of pretty much everything above. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-provisional-plans/) Mon, 20 Jan 2020 23:56:53 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/2020-provisional-plans/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%88-%E3%81%9A-%E3%81%84-exploring-tosa-ben-4/ Following on from Tosa-ben Card Game (龍馬・土佐弁かるた) I thought it may be interesting for some people if I were to do a series of short posts relating to the vocabulary that I learn from the game. Even if not, I’m learning that maintaining a Gaelic blog is helping me learn the language so hopefully this will help me with Tosa-ben. Fourth in the series is えずい which is pronounced ezui, the meaning is ‘cruel, awful or atrocious’. The common Japanese equivalent for えずい in normal use is probably ひどい(hidoi) but the example on the card uses むごたらしい(mugotarashii) which conveys a meaning more like ‘incredibly brutal, gory or gruesome’. The example sentence on the card is: えずいことよのー半平太は投獄の挙げ句切腹の御沙汰じゃと えずいことよのー　__はんぺいた__は　__とうごく__の__あ__げ__く せっぷく__の__ごさた__じゃと ezui koto yono- hanpeita wa tougoku no ageku seppuku no gosata ja to 共通語：むごたらしいね (武市)半平太は 投獄された挙げ句に 切腹を申しつけられたそうだ むごたらしいね (たけち)__はんぺいた__は __とうごく__された__あ__げ__く__に __せっぷく__を__もう__しつけられたそうだ common Japanese: mugotarashii ne (Takechi)Hanpeita wa tougokusareta agekuni seppuku wo moushitsukerareta sou da Now for the part of the post which is likely to go through various transformations as I’m corrected by my はちきん(hachikin) wife or family and friends from Kochi! English : It’s gruesome, its seems that at the end of his imprisonment Takechi Hanpeita was instructed to commit seppuku (suicide by disemboweling). *Takechi Hanpeita was a major proponent of 大政奉還 (たいせいほうかん – taisei houkan) and associate of Sakamoto Ryoma, he wished for the Tosa domain to be a major player in returning control of the country to the Emperor. Whilst later playing that major role, the feudal lord Yamauchi Yōdō imprisoned Hanpeita and eventually instructed him to commit suicide, though this may seem cruel, to Samurai it was a way of dying with honour. So, now to the rest of the sentence and a look at other Tosa-ben (if any) at play in this example. よのー (yo no-)– I’ve not seen this form before but it seems to be loosely equivalent to ね but perhaps with a little additional emphasis. じゃと (ja to) – only the じゃ is strictly Tosa-ben and it is the Tosa form of the copula です (desu) the と indicates that the action (seppuku) was the result of instruction. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%88-%E3%81%9A-%E3%81%84-exploring-tosa-ben-4/) Thu, 20 Nov 2014 20:10:52 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%88-%E3%81%9A-%E3%81%84-exploring-tosa-ben-4/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hirome-ichiba-k%C5%8Dchi/ Part market, part food-court, part-izakaya and a whole lot of awesome, this is Hirome Ichiba! Situated close to the castle in downtown Kōchi lies one of my favourite spots in the city and perhaps even the country. Hirome Ichiba is an ecclectic mix of clothes and souvenir shops, fresh produce stalls, restaurants and drinking holes brought together to create one open plan house of fun! The long wooden benches and tables make for a very welcoming and open environment and as a result if you visit you’ll end up meeting and conversing with a wide range of locals and travellers all out to have a good time and drink with strangers. The last time we were at Hirome Ichiba was the day after our Japanese wedding and the atmosphere was excellent. We met up with friends and family for lunch and most of us ended up staying until closing time. We met a range of characters from an elderly local grandmother who greeted us with mild sexual assault before buying us souvenirs, a couple of friends who travelled to Kōchi just to visit Hirome Ichiba and a group of middle-aged golf enthusiasts who regaled me of tales of their trips to Scotland and their appreciation of our whisky! On my few visits, amongst other dishes, I’ve eaten chicken sashimi, katsuo no tataki (of course), karaage, chanbara-kai (sword-fighting shellfish), whale and very reluctantly, Natto. I also had my first (and last) frozen headed Kirin beer there and have enjoyed several local sakes. If you are planning on visiting Japan, then there are many reasons to visit Shikoku and Kōchi in particular, but Hirome Ichiba for me is one of the top reasons to visit, particularly if you time the visit to coincide with the Yosakoi festival. A wee bit more info on Hirome Ichiba by ex-pat Kōchi resident Nate Hill can be found here . (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hirome-ichiba-k%C5%8Dchi/) Fri, 07 Nov 2014 20:24:10 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hirome-ichiba-k%C5%8Dchi/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%86%E3%81%A9%E3%81%BF%E3%82%86%E3%83%BC__exploring_tosa-ben_pt_3/ Following on from Tosa-ben Card Game (龍馬・土佐弁かるた) I thought it may be interesting for some people if I were to do a series of short posts relating to the vocabulary that I learn from the game. Even if not, I’m learning that maintaining a Gaelic blog is helping me learn the language so hopefully this will help me with Tosa-ben. Third in the series is うどみゆー which is pronounced udomiyuu, the meaning is ‘to be in uproar’ or ‘to be in a state of disturbance’. The ゆー at the end indicates that this is present tense progressive form so the meaning would be ‘is currently in a state of uproar/disturbance’. The common Japanese equivalent for うどみゆー is 大騒ぎしている (__おおさわ__ぎしている – ohsawagi shiteiru). The example sentence on the card is: うどみゆーぜよ　国中が　龍馬がなぐれたとゆー　「大政奉還」で うどみゆーぜよ　__きにちゅう__が　__りょうま__がなぐれたとゆー　「たいせいほうかん」で udomiyuu zeyo kunichuu ga Ryouma ga nagureta to yuu “taisei houkan” de 共通語：大騒ぎしているよ　日本中が　龍馬が苦労したという　「大政奉還」で __おおさわぎ__しているよ　__にほんちゅう__が　__りょうま__が__くろう__したという　「たいせいほうかん」で common Japanese: ohsawagi shiteiru yo nihonchuu ga Ryouma ga kurou shita to iu “taisei houkan” de Now for the part of the post which is likely to go through various transformations as I’m corrected by my はちきん(hachikin) wife or family and friends from Kochi! English : Throughout the country people are talking about how Ryōma succeeded through the struggle to bring about “taisei houkan”. *大政奉還 (たいせいほうかん – taisei houkan) was the restoration of power to the Emperor (from the military leaders who ruled Japan for hundreds of years until this point in time). Ryōma Sakamoto was the integral figure in effectively ending Tokugawa (the reigning military family) rule, unifying a newly self-aware Japan and opening Japan up to outside influence. Sadly, he was assassinated before his efforts finally came to fruition. This card was pretty tricky for me to translate hence the clunky sentence in English.. If you can translate it more cleanly then please leave your suggestion below in the comments section. So, now to the rest of the sentence and a look at other Tosa-ben (if any) at play in this example. ぜよ (ze yo)– though I suspect this may be shared with other dialects, ぜよ is the Tosa-ben alternative to ですよ which is an emphasised copula, with ぜ being the copula and よ providing the emphasis. とゆー (to yuu) – this is just a different pronunciation of the standard という which in this context means ‘to say’. 国中 (kunichuu) – again I don’t believe that this is Tosa-ben but it is more likely to have been used at the period of time that the card and example represents as Japan wasn’t so much of a singular, unified entity at the time and most likely (in my humble opinion) it would have referred to the Tosa han (territory) rather than Japan itself. なぐれた – this is the past potential form of なぐる which I’m told is old Tosa-ben and must be roughly equivalent to 苦労する which means ‘to succeed through a struggle’.. sort of 🙂 (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%86%E3%81%A9%E3%81%BF%E3%82%86%E3%83%BC__exploring_tosa-ben_pt_3/) Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:53:56 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%86%E3%81%A9%E3%81%BF%E3%82%86%E3%83%BC__exploring_tosa-ben_pt_3/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%84%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%82%88%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F__exploring_tosa-ben_no_2/ Following on from Tosa-ben Card Game (龍馬・土佐弁かるた) I thought it may be interesting for some people if I were to do a series of short posts relating to the vocabulary that I learn from the game. Even if not, I’m learning that maintaining a Gaelic blog is helping me learn the language so hopefully this will help me with Tosa-ben. Second in the series is いらばかしよった which is pronounced irabakashiyotta*, the meaning is ‘to show off’ or ‘to flaunt’ though this is in past tense progressive form so the meaning would be ‘was showing off’ or ‘was flaunting’. the っ signifies a short pause in the pronunciation generally protrayed in English for pronunciation purposes as a double consonant. よった (yotta) is the past tense of the Tosa-ben ゆう (yuu) which is one of two present tense continuous forms (the other is ちゅう (shichuu)), this differs from common Japanese where there is only one present tense continuous form and that is ~ている (~teiru). The first ゆう represents present progressive tense, for example I am doing my homework now (not finished) would be おらは宿題しゆう (おらはしゅくだいしゆう – ora wa shukudai shiyuu). Whereas ちゅう expresses perfect tense for example, I have already done my homework would be おらは宿題しちゅう (おらはしゅくだいしちゅう – ora wa shukudai shichuu). The past tense for ちゅう is ちょた. Some verbs cannot be connected with ゆう but more information on this can be found on the Tosa Wave Blog. The common Japanese equivalent for いらばかしよった is 見せびらかしていたよ (みせびらかしていたよ – misebirakashiteita yo). The example sentence on the card is: いらばかしよった　龍馬さんが　晋作に　もろーた　短筒を いらばかしよった　__りょうま__さんが　__しんさく__に　もろーた　__たんづつ__を irabakashiyotta Ryouma(Sakamoto)-san ga shinsaku ni morouta tandzutsu wo 共通語：見せびらかしていたよ　龍馬さんが　(高杉)晋作に　もらった拳銃を __み__せびらかしていたよ　__りょうま__さんが　(たかすぎ)__しんさく__に　もらった__けんじゅう__を common Japanese: misebirakashiteita yo Ryouma(Sakamoto)-san ga Shinsaku(Takasugi) ni moratta kenshuu wo Now for the part of the post which is likely to go through various transformations as I’m corrected by my はちきん (hachikin) wife or family and friends from Kochi! English : Ryouma (Sakamoto) was showing off the handgun he received from Shinsaku (Takasugi) The rest of the sentence is pretty easy to explore this time as it is basically consists of peoples’ names (Ryouma Sakamoto and Shinsaku Takasugi) and alternative vocabulary for a pistol/handgun. もろーた would appear to just be Tosa dialect’s pronunciation of もらった which means to ‘receive’. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%84%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%82%88%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F__exploring_tosa-ben_no_2/) Thu, 23 Oct 2014 23:08:46 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%84%E3%82%89%E3%81%B0%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%82%88%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F__exploring_tosa-ben_no_2/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kanazawa_%E9%87%91%E6%B2%A2_2006/ On our travels around Japan in 2006, my friends and I decided to go somewhere which wasn’t in the usual Tōkyō -> Kyōto -> Kobe -> Ōsaka first time visitor path and somewhat randomly decided on Kanazawa. In a previous incarnation, this blog had some of my photos from that trip with the disclaimer that somewhat foolishly when I backed them up to my ipod at the time I didn’t click the full-size backup option and as a result my only extant photos from that time are poor quality and very small. However, one of my travel partners from the trip has just recently shared his photos with me and given me permission to upload them here! Kanazawa (金沢) means “marsh of gold” which relates to an ancient legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro, whilst digging for potatoes, Togoro discovered flakes of gold and this new found fortune lead to 100 years of peasant rule of the city. Kanazawa is home to one of the top three (Japanese tourist trade loves its lists) most beautiful Japanese gardens called Kenrokuen, another of which is Korakuen located in Okayama where I lived for a year as an exchange student (in the city, not the garden). The third is Kairakuen in Mito which I have not as of yet visited. Kanazawa is also home to a samurai area and a geisha area, we visited the former and it was pretty cool. Without a doubt my highlight of the trip to Kanazawa was sharing a hotel with athletes\performers from the Japanese Wrestling Assocation! Sitting in a lobby waiting for friends to arrive, surrounded by very muscular but relatively short angry looking Japanese men, reading newspapers and sipping tea was priceless. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kanazawa_%E9%87%91%E6%B2%A2_2006/) Tue, 21 Oct 2014 23:37:39 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kanazawa_%E9%87%91%E6%B2%A2_2006/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%BD%E3%82%8D%E3%81%91__exploring_tosa-ben_1/ Following on from Tosa-ben Card Game (龍馬・土佐弁かるた) I thought it may be interesting for some people if I were to do a series of short posts relating to the vocabulary that I learn from the game. Even if not, I’m learning that maintaining a Gaelic blog is helping me learn the language so hopefully this will help me with Tosa-ben. First up is あっぽろけ which is pronounced apporoke**, the meaning is ‘to be surprised’ though the card game uses it to mean ‘very surprised’ as their common Japanese equivalent is 大変驚いた (たいへんおどろいた – taihen odoroita). ** the っ signifies a short pause in the pronunciation generally protrayed in English for pronunciation purposes as a double consonant. The example sentence on the card is: あっぽろけ　シケでおらんなった万次郎が　海の向こうから　もんてきた あっぽろけ　シケおらんなった__まんじろう__が　__うみ__の__む__こうから　もんてきた apporoke shike orannatta manjirou ga umi no mukou kara montekita 共通語：大変驚いた　暴風雨でいなくなった万次郎が　外国から　帰ってきた __たいへんおどろ__いた　__ぼうふうう__でいなくなた__まんじろう__が　__がいこく__から　__かえ__ってきた taihen odoroita boufuuu de inakunatta manjirou ga gaikoku kara kaettekita Now for the part of the post which is likely to go through various transformations as I’m corrected by my はちきん (hachikin) wife or family and friends from Kochi! English : (John) Manjiro was very surprised that the storm had disappeared when he returned from overseas. Regardless of whether that is an accurate translation into English or not I’m curious as to which of the other components of the Tosa-ben sentence are actually Tosa-ben and which are just common slang. おらんなった would appear to be Tosa-ben as おらん means ‘doesn’t exist’ or ‘isn’t there’ hence why I translated おらんなった as ‘had disappeared’. シケ comes up on google translate as ‘storm’ so it’s clearly not Tosa-ben. 海の向こう seems to be pretty standard Japanese but possibly in a form more commonly used in Kochi than 外国? It certainly is closer to ‘overseas’ and more pleasing than 外国’s literal translation as ‘outside country’, more commonly ‘foreign country’ or ‘abroad’. もんてきた feels Tosa-ben-like (土佐弁ぽい) and after a wee internet search I found it on this list of Tosa-ben words so that’ll be a tick. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%BD%E3%82%8D%E3%81%91__exploring_tosa-ben_1/) Wed, 15 Oct 2014 23:57:45 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/%E3%81%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%BD%E3%82%8D%E3%81%91__exploring_tosa-ben_1/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_scots_who_shaped_japan_no_1__rita_taketsuru/ There are many links and similarities between Scotland and Japan, besides my nuptials as a Scot to a Japanese woman, and there were a great many Scots who helped shape modern Japan. Quite often however, these Scots are considerably more well known in Japan than they are back home in Scotland. I present this series in no particular order, the fact that Jessie Roberta Cowan is not because I deem her to have had the greatest influence on Japan, she is first because currently there is a daily NHK (Japan’s national broadcaster) morning drama about her life, called Ma-san (マッサン), which was Rita’s pet name for her husband. I haven’t had a chance to see the drama yet but my wife apparently cries every time she watches it. Jessie was more commonly referred to as Rita and her married name is Taketsuru. Rita is referred to as the mother of Japanese whisky being co-founder of the Nikka Whisky distillery along with her husband Masataka who is also known as the father of Japanese whisky. The creation of Nikka was truly a partnership as without Rita’s connections which she had built up teaching English, Masataka would never have found the financing to build his own distillery. I was going to research and write my own story of Rita’s life as I may well do for future posts in this series, however I found an article on The Japan Times called The Rita Taketsuru Fan Club which I’ve plagiarised parts of instead! The following excerpts are from a story by Jon Mitchell it is a very well written piece and I heartily recommend reading the full article. Their meeting in Scotland: “Born in Scotland in 1896, Rita Cowan’s early days had been a model of middle-class gentility consisting of home governesses, piano lessons and a liberal-arts education in English, French and music. In her 20s, though, two events rent her life asunder — during World War I, her fiance was killed in Damascus, and then, in 1918, her father died of a heart attack. In the following months, the Cowans’ finances dwindled until, in 1919, they realized they needed to act fast if they wanted to keep the bailiffs from their family home in the town of Kirkintilloch some 12 km northeast of central Glasgow. So it was then they decided to take in a lodger. The man they chose was 25-year-old Masataka Taketsuru. The Hiroshima native had recently been sent to Scotland by the managers of the drinks company for which he worked. Many decades earlier, Japanese manufacturers had cracked the secrets of European beer and brandy, but one skill still eluded them — the art of making whisky. They’d tried to emulate its taste with spices, herbs and honey, but all to no avail. Masataka’s mission was to uncover its recipe in the homeland of Scotch whisky itself. At the University of Glasgow, he took courses in organic chemistry, and he also traveled to distilleries all over the country to take apprenticeships in the production of whisky.” Rita and Masataka were married in Calton Registry Office in 1920 and they moved to to Campbeltown, where Mastaka learned the intricacies of the whisky industry at Hazelburn distillery. In 1923 they moved to Japan: “The nation in which the newlyweds found themselves was very different from the one her husband had departed just two years before. The Japanese economy was mired in deep recession and Masataka’s managers were more interested in turning a quick profit with cheaply- flavored spirits than the complex process of making bona fide Scotch whisky. Disillusioned with their change of heart, Masataka resigned from the company. Rita was unfazed by their sudden financial instability and she supported both of them by pursuing that time-honored profession for foreigners in Japan — teaching English to children and housewives. While these were undoubtedly difficult times for the Taketsurus, photographs show the pair totally at ease with one another and themselves. Rita clutches a parasol and leans against her husband while Masataka grins confidently at the camera — they appear to be a thoroughly modern couple, thoroughly in love. By 1923, word had spread of Masataka’s research trip to Scotland and he was hired by Shinjiro Torii (the founder of the Suntory group) to help build a whisky distillery in Yamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture. Rita was happy that her husband would finally have an opportunity to put his hard-earned skills into practice, and for the next six years she taught English while also honing her own Japanese abilities. Masataka’s time in Kyoto was not as harmonious as his wife’s. He quarreled constantly with Torii over the fineries of whisky production, and these clashes reached a peak in 1929 when Masataka was demoted to the position of manager of a beer factory in Yokohama. He quit — and, once again, found himself out of work.” On the creation of Nikka after unsuccessful periods working for profit-driven bosses: Following the disappointment of Yamazaki, it struck Masataka that there was only one way for him to make whisky the way he wanted — he would have to establish his own company. Without Rita’s connections, he would never have been able to realize this dream. Since 1924, she’d been teaching English to the wife of Shotaro Kaga — the founder of a successful securities company. When Kaga heard of Masataka’s plans, he and two other investors agreed to back the project, and the creation of Masataka’s company, Dai Nihon Kaju (later shortened to “Nikka”). Upon learning where he was planning to build his distillery, the investors almost changed their minds. But Masataka insisted that there was only one place in Japan with ready access to the barley, peat, coal and water that were vital for Scotch whisky production. That place was Yoichi, a town located in the country’s most inhospitable and underdeveloped island, Hokkaido.” The distillery turned its first profit in 1940 and Rita continued to play a major part in the success of the distillery until her death in 1961. The World War II years were difficult for Rita, she was suspected of being a spy by neighbours and their home was subject to raids by Japanese officials. The war years on the other hand were the making of the distillery, there was an embargo placed on imports of Scotch whisky and this brought a wider customer base to the relatively fledgling industry in Japan and Nikka benefited greatly. Nowadays, Nikka whisky is the third most popular whisky brand in Japan. Legacy: “Masataka outlived his wife by 18 years, and today the two are interred together on a hillside near the distillery. Walking through the town, I’m delighted to discover that the woman who’d once been ostracized as a potential enemy of the state has since left her indelible mark on the landscape — Yoichi’s main thoroughfare is named “Rita Road” and a kindergarten she helped to establish still bears her name. After 15 minutes, I arrive at the Taketsurus’ grave. The gray lozenge of stone is lit pink by the setting sun, some fireflies flare brightly and the air smells of freshly-mown grass. In the valley below, I spot the red rooftop of the distillery. In the years since his death, Masataka’s genius at Scotch whisky production has finally been recognized: In 2007, a bottle of “Taketsuru” was voted the world’s best blended malt; followed in 2008 by 20-year-old “Yoichi” winning the best single malt in the world award.” Though they never had children of their own, the Takesturu’s adopted Masataka’s nephew Takeshi. In 2002, Takeshi visited Scotland to celebrate the first bottling of the Japanese whisky by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (of which I am a current member) and whilst he was here he established the Takeshi Tsukuru prize at The University of Glasgow, where his father had previously studied. The prize is awarded to the student showing the best performance in the work placement element of the Chemistry Department’s MSci course. More info about Rita & Masataka: The Rita Taketsuru Fan Club (Full Article) Nikka Whisky – Founders Kirkintilloch Herald – Raise a toast to Kirkintilloch’s – and Japan’s – first lady of whisky The Scotsman – Film tells story of Scot behind Japanese whisky The Guardian – American actor Charlotte Kate Fox wins role as ‘mother of Japanese whisky’ (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_scots_who_shaped_japan_no_1__rita_taketsuru/) Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:16:37 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_scots_who_shaped_japan_no_1__rita_taketsuru/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/cormorant_fishing_%E9%B5%9C%E9%A3%BC/ Cormorant fishing (鵜飼) is a traditional method of fishing which has been around for over 1300 years and the event is protected by the Japanese government (and praised by Charlie Chaplin). There are still 13 cities in Japan where they still fish in this style and in 2009 within my first few weeks of my exchange year I was invited to Uji (宇治市) and taken on a surprise trip to view this ancient art. The fishing technique involves a master fisherman (鵜匠) (in this case they were all women as they have nimbler fingers) who controls around 10-12 cormorants by a leashed snare which is placed over their gullets. This snare allows the cormorants to swallow any small fish that they catch but stops them from swallowing larger fish. The snare is more like a ring than a noose and doesn’t choke the birds, in fact fishing cormorant are very well looked after and can live up to 15 years which when compared to wild cormorants that generally live only a few years is quite impressive. The skill of the ushou (fisherman or cormorant controller) lies in constantly adjusting the leashes so that they don’t become tangled. The activity is carried out at night with a burning pine torch elevated over the water being the only light. The torch attracts fish closer to the surface and enables the cormorants to see and swoop for them. If you would like more information on cormorant fishing then check out this Glendale Community College blog . (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/cormorant_fishing_%E9%B5%9C%E9%A3%BC/) Mon, 13 Oct 2014 11:42:40 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/cormorant_fishing_%E9%B5%9C%E9%A3%BC/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/pre-wedding_pictures/ In Japan it is apparently commonplace to have your wedding photos taken before your actual wedding ceremony. These were taken about a week in advance of our wedding day, at the time I found it a little strange but on reflection the bride and groom are kept crazy busy during the wedding day so it sort of makes perfect sense. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/pre-wedding_pictures/) Sun, 05 Oct 2014 12:36:00 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/pre-wedding_pictures/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kiriyama_tea_farm_%E9%9C%A7%E5%B1%B1%E8%8C%B6%E6%A5%AD%E7%B5%84%E5%90%88/ Nestled in the hills above rural Hidaka-mura (日高村) in Kōchi prefecture lies the Kiriyama Tea Farm (霧山茶業組合) run by the Nakayama (my in-laws!) and Yano families. Formerly Western Japan’s largest tea farm and a contributor of leaves to the very popular Itoen Oi-ocha blended green tea (available at all good vending machines and conbinis!) Kiriyama also produces it’s very own range of delicious teas! From wikipedia: Green tea is processed and grown in a variety of ways, depending on the type of green tea desired. As a result of these methods, maximum amounts of polyphenols and volatile organic compounds are retained, affecting aroma and taste. The growing conditions can be broken down into two basic types — those grown in the sun and those grown under the shade. The green tea plants are grown in rows that are pruned to produce shoots in a regular manner, and in general are harvested three times per year. The first flush takes place in late April to early May. The second harvest usually takes place from June through July, and the third picking takes place in late July to early August. Sometimes, there will also be a fourth harvest. It is the first flush in the spring that brings the best-quality leaves, with higher prices to match. My favouite Kiriyama tea is their Genmai-cha (玄米茶) this is a handcrafted mix of toasted brown rice and tea leaves, which results in a light, slightly nutty tea which is best drank cold. Other varieties include: Sen-cha (煎茶 – decocted tea) The first and second flushes of green tea made from leaves that are exposed directly to sunlight. This is the most common green tea in Japan. The name describes the method for preparing the beverage. Jōsen-cha (上煎茶 – superior decocted tea) Much the same as Sen-cha but with selected high-quality leaves. Ban-cha (番茶) Lower grade of Sen-cha harvested as a third- or fourth-flush tea between summer and autumn. Hōji-cha (焙じ茶) A green tea roasted over charcoal (usually Ban-cha). Kuki-cha (茎茶) A tea made from stems, stalks, and twigs. Kukicha has a mildly nutty, and slightly creamy sweet flavor. Shin-cha (新茶) First flush tea. The name is used for either Sen-cha or Gyokuro. Kiriyama (霧山) means misty mountain and if you are able to understand Japanese then you can find out more information about the company and their wares on their website: www.kiricha.com (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kiriyama_tea_farm_%E9%9C%A7%E5%B1%B1%E8%8C%B6%E6%A5%AD%E7%B5%84%E5%90%88/) Sun, 05 Oct 2014 12:08:48 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/kiriyama_tea_farm_%E9%9C%A7%E5%B1%B1%E8%8C%B6%E6%A5%AD%E7%B5%84%E5%90%88/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/tosa-ben_card_game_%E9%BE%8D%E9%A6%AC_%E5%9C%9F%E4%BD%90%E5%BC%81%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F/ I consider myself very fortunate to be married to a hachikin (はちきん), a strong (mentally, physically, emotionally, alcohol-ly) woman from Kōchi prefecture in Shikoku. Not least of all because our relationship has introduced me to breathtaking Kōchi countryside, the exceptionally accepting and very friendly people of the prefecture, a couple of ancient drinking games and a famous samurai about whom I have learned much and have much more to learn. Moreover, one of the unexpected bonuses of our relationship was (and still is) the introduction to Tosa-ben (土佐弁), or the Tosa dialect. Tosa is the ancient name for the province of Shikoku that is now modern day Kōchi prefecture. Despite being very lacklustre in my attempts to speak and/or learn standard Japanese, I was surprised to discover that I find Tosa-ben fascinating, infinitely more so than textbook nihongo. There is something about speaking a Japanese dialect that is a good leveller, though not suitable for many situations the ‘bens’ are affected versions of casual Japanese and so speaking to someone in Tosa-ben or any dialect brings everybody down or up to the same level. As a non-native Japanese speaker stumbler, I’ve long struggled with applying the relevant level of politeness to my specific environs and generally resultantly cobbled together a hotch-potch of casual form, polite form and uncustomary stuttering when I communicate. So I find the idea of speaking in a dialect which is bound to casual form as a very refreshing, attractive prospect. It also helps greatly that my in-laws all speak largely in Tosa-ben so this enables me to pick up vocabulary relatively quickly and (with the help of alcohol) to communicate with them in an acceptable manner. Unfortunately, like most language related knowledge or memory, if you don’t use it you lose it and I’ve already forgotten about half of the Tosa-ben that I’ve picked up on my few visits to Kōchi. Therefore, this blog post, which will hopefully run into a series, is multi-functional: it allows me to share some fascinating non-standard Japanese with you; it enables me to study and learn more Tosa-ben and it also allows you to correct me! I’m sure I’ll get a lot of Tosa-ben speakers who are also fluent in English reading this blog.. .. By way of a disclaimer, as I’ve hinted at above, my standard Japanese is pretty poor and I’m a beginner in the ways of Tosa-ben.. so this series of posts probably shouldn’t be relied on as a serious study resource. Before we get on to mentioning any Tosa-ben however, a wee story. On my first visit to meet the in-laws in Kōchi we visited a lot of family friends and extended family. lot’s of people were eager to meet me and to gauge my opinion of their hometown etc. One of the visits was to Mr Tequila‘s mother, who was a lovely lady who promptly provided us with tea on our arrival. After finding out that I was interested in learning more Tosa-ben she presented me with a gift! 「龍馬・土佐弁かるた」- a card game called Ryōma Tosa-ben karuta (no idea what the last word means). Sakamoto Ryōma is a very famous and very influential samurai in the intricate weave of Japan’s history. The card game consists of a CD and 2 sets of 45 cards, reading cards (読む札) and pickup cards (取り札). The reading cards have a phrase incorporating a highlighted Tosa-ben word as well as a stanard Japanese alternative for the phrase. The pickup cards have a picture and the same Tosa-ben word, with the first character highlighted, as well as having the standard Japanese phrase. The CD has each of the Tosa-ben phrases orated, presumably. So how do you play the game I sense you internally querying.. I haven’t the slightest idea! When I’ve asked my hachikin how its played I’ve been told its really easy, you match one card with the other.. That certainly sounds easy but for someone who hasn’t ever played the game before it isn’t a particularly thorough description. So for over two years I’ve sat with this much appreciated gift that I haven’t been able to play with even once. Then just last night when I was positioning the box for a photograph, I discovered that the instructions are printed on the side of the box. Here they are in full. 「龍馬・土佐弁かるた」は、高知の方言を読み上げて札を取る遊び方ですが、共通語を読み上げ、それを高知の方言に置き換えて(推理して)札を取る遊び方もできます。 読み札には、土佐弁（あいうえお側順）と共通語の２通りの文章を記載しています。読み手は、どちらか一方の文章を読み上げます。 取り札には、土佐弁の見出し文学とイラストを記載していますので、いずれかをヒントにしてすばやく取り札を取ります。 付属の読み手CDをランダム（シャッフル）再生機能付きCDプレーヤーで再生すれば、読み手がいなくても「龍馬・土佐弁かるた」を楽しめます。お好みで読み札と読み手CDを使い分かけて遊べます。 「龍馬・土佐弁かるた」にはかつて耳にしてきた土佐弁と異なる表現があるかもしれません。方言は、地域・時代・世代などによって使い方が変化するものであることを、あらかじめご了承ください。 Now all that remains is for me to translate this in the hope that they are a little less vague than my previous instructions. I’ll delve a bit more into examples of Tosa-ben in subsequent posts but I’ll leave you with a small selection of simple Tosa-ben terms. Tosa-ben Standard Japanese English こじゃんとkojanto とても\すごくたくさんtotemo\sugoku takusan very a LOT ばba くらいkurai roughlyapproximately ようせんyōsen できないdekinai can’tunable to ちやchi ya だよda yo !(used for emphasis) おまさんomasan あなたanata you(used by older folks) (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/tosa-ben_card_game_%E9%BE%8D%E9%A6%AC_%E5%9C%9F%E4%BD%90%E5%BC%81%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F/) Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:10:23 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/tosa-ben_card_game_%E9%BE%8D%E9%A6%AC_%E5%9C%9F%E4%BD%90%E5%BC%81%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/shiraishi_island_%E7%99%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B3%B6/ During my year of living in Japan I discovered a little bit of paradise, namely Shiraishi Island (白石島) which is nestled to the South of Okayama in the Seto Inland Sea. On my first visit I met people who became some of my closest friends during the year, one of whom is coming to visit me in Scotland in a few months! I introduced Shiraishi Island to classmates, Okayama based friends and visitors from overseas and I continue to sing the praises of this charming little Island.. In just a few days time when Golden Week starts a bunch of my friends will meet on Shiraishi Island and drink their body weights in Moogaritas at the Moooo! Bar .. I couldn’t be any more jealous! These are just a few of the snaps I took on my various visits to the island, they represent some very happy memories.. I’ll be back on the sandy beaches wearing my cow-patterned shorts, supping an ice cold beer and watching Manchan dance before long! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/shiraishi_island_%E7%99%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B3%B6/) Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:32:32 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/shiraishi_island_%E7%99%BD%E7%9F%B3%E5%B3%B6/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_japan_funny_side_up/ Having visited Japan for a month in 2006, then lived in Okayama for a year between 2009 and 2010 and furthermore having had a life-long fascination with Japanese history and culture, I have experience of reading a great number of travel guides and books about this fascinating country. The one observation I would make of these books is that they are mostly dry, humourless, rinse and repeat guides highlighting the same places to visit and peddling the same experiences, and whilst there is absolutely a place for these books they fail to capture an important aspect of Japan, namely the fun, adventure and humour of everyday life in this curious country. Amy Chavez breaks the mould with this collection of articles and observations from her many collated years of living in Japan and it struck a chord with me on almost every page. My personal favourite section was the chapter which describes the delights of transportation in Japan and as I read I reminisced about being in very similar situations during my time living in Japan. I loved travelling through Okayama on a local bus as each corner turned would uncover small surprises. This is an alternative guide to Japan and it focuses on aspects of Japanese culture and life that most of the mainstream travel books miss out on, it doesn’t try to cover the same old well-trodden path, it presents new information for the Japan enthusiast to feast on in a very light-hearted, amusing and sometimes surreal way. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who hopes to travel to Japan one day, or indeed to anyone who already has and has happy memories of the time. If you are going to visit for the first time then check out a serious guidebook or two as well but definitely read this alternative guidebook for hints on the little things that could make your trip even more memorable. Oh and as the author suggests, if you can, DO take part in the Okayama Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Man festival), I did and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Amy Chavez is a columnist for The Japan Times and author of Japan, Funny Side Up . She is also the proprietress of the fantastic Moooo! Bar on Shiriashi Island and can be found on twitter as @JapanLite (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_japan_funny_side_up/) Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:02:05 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_japan_funny_side_up/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_2_46_aftershock__quakebook/ So this is actually less of a review at this stage than a bit of background as due to my studies for my imminent final exams (first one is tomorrow!) I have only read the first handful of stories from the book but even still it has been an emotional roller-coaster ride. The book represents a fantastic collaboration of passionate volunteers willing to contibute their own time and talents for free in order to raise funds for the Great Tohoku Earthquake Red Cross Appeal and it comprises almost 100 contributions by Japanese and foreigners alike all of whom were in some way affected by the disaster. So far I have read the first 8 of these stories and such are the pure emotions encapsulated in them that it has been a struggle to hold back the tears. There are heart-breaking accounts of those directly affected and emotional pledges of support by many who hold Japan close to their hearts. Below I have attached an extract (I hope that is OK!) written by an aged 80+ gent from Sendai which is endearing as it demonstrates the strength of mind of the Japanese and instills confidence that things will get better. Thing to realise above everything else I think is that whilst the TV coverage (somewhat thankfully due to the high levels of inept reporting) may have died down in your part of the world, the struggle continues for those affected by the tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear challenges, please do what you can to help! I personally recommend buying this book, not only because ALL of the funds go directly to the Japanese Red Cross and not just because numerous people have sacrificed their time and efforts to produce the book, but because as well as directly helping the victims the stories will help you gather a greater understanding of what is really happening in Japan. Please buy #Quakebook and check out the website detailed below for more information on alternative ways to help. In just four weeks, the 2:46 Quakebook project has turned an idea first voiced in a single tweet, into a rich collection of essays, artwork and photographs submitted by indivdiuals around the world, including people who endured the disaster and journalists who covered it. 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake contains a piece by Yoko Ono, and work created specifically for the book by authors William Gibson, Barry Eisler and Jake Adelstein. The Kindle ebook is available to buy from anywhere in the world at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk . You don’t even need a Kindle. Just go to the order page and download (for free) a Kindle reader for your Mac, PC or smart phone. Learn more about the project here Stay up to date on the latest news using the twitter hashtag #quakebook or through the news updates below. Extract from #Quakebook – Encouragement It’s been a nightmare of a week. I pray that everyone afflicted in this terrible disaster will soon wake up from this bad dream, but I don’t have any words of comfort. As an old man with an old wife, I’ve put up with a lot this week. But it’s nothing compared with the lives of those staying in shelters. Now things have settled down a little, I will attempt to convey the thoughts of the many other elderly people I have spoken with. For us old folk confused by the scarcity of information, the radio has been our most reliable source of news. Many of us oldies are familiar with the radio and listen to late night broadcasts, with batteries that last a surprisingly long time. While we can use ordinary mobile phone functions, we’ve barely been able to operate emergency functions. Batteries run out as we fumble with our phones and the vast majority of us have given up trying to use them. Very few people of my generation use the Internet in the first place, and as power is needed to get online, we haven’t been able to use it during power cuts. Even if we connect to the net, we’re poor at finding the information we want. Naturally, we can’t watch television during blackouts. While we have inadequate access to information, we can ask net-savvy people living near us to get this information for us. For this reason, we are grateful that mobile phones and the Internet provide information. We rely on one company to provide our home with television, Internet and telephone services. While we feared that the infrastructure might have collapsed, the services were quickly recovered. We are thankful for this. The strength of our generation is our experience. While this disaster is unprecedented, similar experiences such as postwar chaos, oil shocks and the 2005 Miyagi earthquake have kept us prepared. Many people also had stocks of emergency supplies. I pray that old people who are sick or weak can quickly receive medical attention. But rather then telling healthy old folk that you will support them, it would cheer them more to say that you’ll strive to get through this together. To be honest, it has not been comfortable for people aged over 80. Lining up for hours to get water or do some shopping chills us from the tips of our toes up and gives us back pains. But seeing young mothers of small children patiently waiting for their turn and the impressive qualities of young women who use just a calculator to total up the bills for many customers’ shopping, gives me the strong conviction that this country will not break under these circumstances. It’s been a while since my wife and I shared activities and fulfilled our respective roles. Our children have encouraged us and this has led to a reconfirmation of our family bonds. We’ve also received much encouragement from unexpected people. I’ve lived for many years. Night has always turned to day and rain has never failed to cease. Conditions have greatly improved during this week, and will get even better next week. This is a manifestation of the fighting spirit of someone born in the first decade of the Showa period. We need to stay strong. GRANDFATHER HIBIKI Sendai (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_2_46_aftershock__quakebook/) Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:52:02 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/review_2_46_aftershock__quakebook/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/silence_is_broken/ So there hasn’t been a great deal of activity on this blog for the past several weeks and so I thought I’d apologise to the literally one’s of readership for this lack of attention. I have been working a considerable amount of hours, split between 3 jobs, 2 part-time and 1 full-time in order to accrue some funds to purchase a netbook and a Panasonic Lumix LX3 for my incoming trip to Japan. As a result of having little to no social time I’ve not had much to say really.. sorry ^_^. With the initial stages of my year in Japan now very imminent I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do and see in my first 3 or so weeks of travelling prior to my arrival in Okayama on October 1st. There are a few places from my holiday in 2006 which I would like to revisit, such as Arashiyama.. this small town is still responsible for some of my fondest memories of Japan. Myself and my travelling companions stumbled upon Arashiyama whilst staying in Kyoto, Alexander wanted to see a bamboo tree forest and according to Mr. Google this was the place to satisfy his desire. However, little Arashiyama harbours greater delights than bamboo trees.. on our hunt we discovered a snow monkey sanctuary atop a small mountain, followed shortly by a very quaint, ramshackle little Buddhist temple atop the next mountain.. a very cool wide river adorned by traditional style boats and lots of gift shops. We were told that Arashiyama is a place where the Japanese like to go on holiday and not a massive amount of Western tourists make it to the town. It was stunning.. we did also find a bamboo forest so everyone was happy. It just so happens that I have a friend who is studying for a short while in Kyoto and a very helpful tutor from Okayama University who hails from Kyoto so a return trip to Arashiyama has a solid place in my makeshift itinerary. However, I have a liaison with a small yakitoriya in Osaka which will most likely be my first port of call. We visited this tiny little eatery as a result of our determination to be a little more adventurous than we had been and our efforts to avoid the easier picture menu restaurants. Our first attempt almost put our good efforts to bed after we accidentally stumbled into a Korean restaurant where the staff spoke no English, and only a little broken Japanese.. our combined Japanese skills amounted for very little and so after an awkward 15 minutes or so we left and found the warm and friendly yakitori bar. The owners of this place also spoke no English but exuded a welcoming warmth and us being able to point at any food we wanted in the bar top chiller was a definite bonus! On our first night a friendly Japanese family bought us a few jars of sake and enquired as to where we were from. We drank several biiru ate lots of meat on sticks combinations, a very good night was had.. so we went back the next day and got speaking to a very worldly Japanese man who seemed to have travelled to every English speaking country in the world at some stage. He translated for Mrs. Yakitoriya and she said that she loved us.. presumably as we couldn’t read the conventional menu and were eating the more expensive option whilst drinking a fair amount of beer and sake. At the end of that evening we asked a .. tattooed man .. to take a picture of us outside the bar with the owners and he complied and indicated on the way back in that he thought that I was Bruce Willis! Twitter has also (as always) been a source of inspiration and has added a few potential destinations on the map.. I am very tempted to visit Shiraishi Island for a spot of drinking Margaritas (Moogaritas) at a cow themed bar on the beach.. I may have to schedule a visit in for Mooofest! on Sunday 27th of September. I may also have a visit to Matsue on the cards to drop of some Scottish oatcakes to a friend who lives there. Additionally, I was recently speaking to someone who lives in Fukushima and the story of the Byakkotai has tempted my Bushido Otaku senses and presents a powerful draw in that direction. However, the most pressing visit at the moment is to the Japanese Consulate to pick up my passport and its new visa stamp! Only 14 days left in Scotland! (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/silence_is_broken/) Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:09:24 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/silence_is_broken/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/seppuku/ Today I re-read Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido in preparation for writing up my application for independent study during my year in Japan. I hope to study samurai life using this book (amongst others) as a seed(s) from which my research will blossom. Whilst reading I came across this following quote which describes an eye-witness account from a western representative of a ceremonial suicide by disembowling known as seppuku. The article originates from A.B. Mitford’s Tales of Old Japan. It makes for fascinating reading, at least it does for a samurai otaku like myself! We (seven foreign representatives) were invited to follow the Japanese witnesses into the hondo or main hall of the temple, where the ceremony was to be performed. It was an imposing scene. A large hall with a high roof supported by dark pillars of wood. From the ceiling hung a profusion of those huge gilt lamps and ornaments peculiar to Buddhist temples. In front of the high altar, where the floor, covered with beautiful white mats, is raised some three or four inches from the ground, was laid a rug of scarlet felt. Tall candles placed at regular intervals gave out a dim mysterious light, just sufficient to let all the proceedings be seen. The seven Japanese took their places on the left of the raised floor, the seven foreigners on the right. No other person was present. After the interval of a few minutes of anxious of suspense, Taki Zanzabuto, a stalwart man thirty-two years of age, with a noble air, walked into the hall attired in his dress of ceremony, with the peculiar hempen-cloth wings which are worn on great occassions. He was accompanied by a kaishaku and three officers, who wore the jimbaori or war surcoat with gold tissue facings. The word kaishaku, it should be observed, is one to which our word executioner is no equivalent term. The office is that of a gentleman; in many cases it is performed by a kinsman or friend of the condemned, and the relation between them is rather that of principal and second than that of victim and executioner. In this instance, the kaishaku was a pupil of Taki Zenzaburo, and was selected by friends of the latter from among their own number for his skill in swordsmanship. With the kaishaku on his left hand, Taki Zenzaburo advanced slowly toward the Japanese witnesses, and then the two bowed before them, then drawing near to the foreigners they saluted us in the same way, perhaps even with more deference; in each case the salutation was ceremoniously returned. Slowly and with great dignity the condemned man mounted on to the raised floor, prostrated himself before the high altar twice, and seated himself on the felt carpet with his back to the high altar, the kaishaku crouching on his left-hand side. One of the three attendant officers then came forward, bearing a stand of the kind used in the temple for offerings, on which, wrapped in paper, lay the wakizashi, the short sword or dirk of the Japanese, nine inches and a half in length, with a point and an edge as sharp as a razor’s. This he handed, prostrating himself, to the condemned man, who received it reverently raising it to his head with both hands, and placed it in front of himself. After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:- “I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kobe, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honor of witnessing the act.” Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backward; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist in the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly to his right side, and turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the kaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body. A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible. The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a blood proof of the execution. The two representatives of the Mikado then left their places, and crossing over to where the foreign witnesses sat, called to us to witness that the sentence of death upon Taki Zenzaburo had been faithfully carried out. The ceremony being at an end, we left the temple. The quality of this article that I value the highest is the balanced way in which the activity is explained, rather than quickly assign the ritual as an act of brutal, bloodthirsty heathens Mitford gives a precise and respectable account of what he has seen and has attributed courage and honour to the samurai who has taken his life. For anyone interested in how modern Japan is influenced by their feudal past I’d enthusiatically recommend Nitobe’s book, his patriotic and passionate defence of bushido gives some indication as to why his portrait was printed on 5000 yen banknotes for 20 years (1984-2004). (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/seppuku/) Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:16:34 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/seppuku/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hail_the_new_shinto_god_of_guitar/ One somewhat congested evening in the midst of a major traffic jam on a highway in Tokyo, in between explaining the details of Japanese toilet behaviour and stifling some red-neck Americans from heckling during his heartfelt story of life as a kid in Hiroshima after the bomb, an aging and slightly senile tour bus guide shared with me and everyone else awake and paying attention, an interesting (albeit slightly inaccurate) factoid. The bit of trivia was that Japan’s indigenous philosophy or quasi-religion of Shinto has eight million gods associated with it. The slight misinformation may have been down to problems with translation however the correct interpretation is that Shinto is said to have around eight million kami associated with it. These kami as described in the previous link do not carry the same connotations as the western concept of a divine, omnipotent being (God). However, now that the disclaimer is done, for the sake of this post I am going to go with the tour guide’s explanation.. The reason for this is simple, after discussing this newly acquired information with my travel companions we concluded that becoming a Shinto god must be a relatively simple process. As a result one of my friends nominated myself as the Shinto God of Scotland, this was seconded by my other travelmate and I was unofficially ordained. With great responsibility comes great power.. or something like that and so, without further ado and with the powers vested in me I ordain Tomoyasu Hotei as the Shinto God of Guitar. Now, I’m sure there is probably some forms to fill out before it is all official, I’m whilst the rest of the newbie Gods were being shown the administrative ropes I was in an all night karaoke joint drinking beer and singing as if Scotland’s very survival depended on it. I present the following videos in support of Hotei’s ordainment in case anyone should have any objections: The first is another example of my favourite Hotei tune, the crowd participation and the energy in this clip are just fantastic! Not to mention the guitar work! LET’S GO! An excellent cover of David Bowie’s “Starman” Finally, another great cover, this time Eddie Cochrane’s “C’mon Everybody”. There were loads of fantastic clips on YouTube and it’s been a tough call to narrow down this list to 4.. go check them out! So please join me in congratulating the new ギターの神! However, should anyone know of an equally talented or dare I say it, more talented guitarist then please let me know be commenting below, there can be more than one kami of any type. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hail_the_new_shinto_god_of_guitar/) Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:33:59 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/hail_the_new_shinto_god_of_guitar/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_genius_of_kurosawa__the_hidden_fortress/ Through the eyes of this samurai otaku there was, and indeed is no finer director than Akira Kurosawa. His feudal films are unique, not just in content and quality but in ground-breaking cinematography. Add to his directorial and cinematographical genius the stand-out performances of my favourite samurai character actor, one Toshiro Mifune and many of the Kurosawa films are thin and crispy, warm slices of heaven served on a platinum platter. I have just finished watching, not for the first time, perhaps the most comedic of the great Kurosawa films and I feel the need to share the love that I feel for these movies. The film I speak of is The Hidden Fortress (隠し砦の三悪人, Kakushi toride no san akunin) which was released in 1958. This film was ‘famously’ the inspiration for George Lucas in telling the Star Wars story from the viewpoint of the droids, R2-D2 and C3P0. In Hidden Fortress these roles are played by luckless, greedy, squabbling wasters Matashichi and Tahei and it is through these characters that the comedy element of the movie is beautifully delivered.. that will be the only time either are referred to in the same sentence as the adjective beautiful! The other main characters are General Rokurota Makabe played by the always impressive Toshiro Mifune and Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara). Viewers will be forgiven for noticing similarities between this ballsy princess and the rebel alliance’s very own Princess Leia. The story tells of the journey to return Leia.. sorry, Yuki to her homelands where she is heir to a fallen state. The travels take the posse behind enemy lines and on several amusing adventures, Mifune plays a fantastic straight man in support of the comic peasants! This movie was in many ways a triumph of cinematography for Akira Kurosawa, there are several techniques which he utilised here which have been copied and reproduced in many a modern flick, such as the frame wipe (another Lucas favourite) and the fast-motion panning shots (horse chase) which were unique in the late 50s. The idea of telling the story from the perspective of the two lowly peasants Matashichi and Tahei was brilliant but I suspect may have been an idea gleamed from Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short story In a Bamboo Grove, the story of which is told in another great Kurosawa film, Rashōmon (another Akutagawa story).. but this is merely a personal observation. Whilst there are many superior samurai films from the Kurosawa stable and beyond, this light-hearted adventure holds a soft spot in my heart as it really is surprisingly funny. I’d recommend this film wholeheartedly not just to the die-hard samurai fan but to anyone who in this day and age can sit comfortably through a black and white movie. If this was a movie review site and I had some sort of star rating system then I think I’d give this movie a 4 Centauri. (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_genius_of_kurosawa__the_hidden_fortress/) Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:27:20 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/the_genius_of_kurosawa__the_hidden_fortress/ https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/okayama_tackles_tokyos_domination_of_cool_web_clips_well_sort_of/ It seems at the moment that half of Tokyo is working in collaboration to create a very cool time lapse or tilt shift (often both) videos of the city and admittedly they are indeed very cool. However, my year in Japan isn’t going to be spent in Tokyo, instead I will be living in Okayama and I think it’s high time that the few Okayama citizens with some photographic skill stand up and represent their city (or prefecture – we’re going to need the numbers!). After trawling the mighty internet for oh, I don’t know, about 12 minutes I managed to track down a potential competitor to fly the flag for Okayama, his youtube name is seirinkai and I propose the he lead the fight on behalf of the spirit of Momotaro and Naruto! In front of Okayama Station: Come on brave photographic types of Okayama stand proud and tall! Some of the cool Tokyo videos can be seen here: Tokyo Miniature City Tokyo, Time-lapsed Tokyo Night (https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/okayama_tackles_tokyos_domination_of_cool_web_clips_well_sort_of/) Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:40:49 +0100 https://jon.kelbie.scot/article/okayama_tackles_tokyos_domination_of_cool_web_clips_well_sort_of/