Is this the best bar in the world? (with a short discourse on Tokyo)

We never intended to go to Matsumoto. Some FCO advice to not go to Tokyo meant we did some hasty rejigging of our Japanese itinerary from Beijing and we booked two nights in this mountain city near(ish) Tokyo for our final few days. However, I am delighted we did - it's a gem.

There are only two sights in Matsumoto - the castle is magnificent and its setting in the Japanese Alps couldn't be better. Every view of the castle is framed by them on the horizon or - in our case - the cherry blossom around the park. Inside the castle has all the cool things (arrow and musket holes, two moats, hidden floors) that we have come to expect, and the views from the top were fantastic. Secondly, Matsumoto has the Ukiyo-e museum, the most expensive museum we've been to in Japan (but still less than St Paul's, even for churchgoers who pay for its upkeep - but I digress) but was worth it. They - woodblock prints - are exquisite. Anna was beside herself with excitement, and I thought it was ace. We're now a little poorer and spent much of the next few days struggling to work out how to bring back a handmade copy back to the UK without damaging it, but we did it.

However, these pale into insignificance beside my discovery of what is essentially the best bar in the world, called I think Jun. On our lovely Ryokan's hand drawn map of the city, there was a little bar to the north which simply said 'if you like whiskey and Monty Python' - we went. It was amazing and a labour of love for the owners even if not with the public (it wasn't busy even on a Friday). The bar, walls and even the floor were up to three deep in whiskey with piles of publications relating to whisky in the common area. The walls were covered with film posters, with the Rocky Horror Picture Show prominently displayed and stills of Dylan and the Doors by the entrance. The bar area were covered with Python cards and the flags of all the home nations adorned the top and ceiling. Save for a lack of reference to Byzantine and early Christian history and a lack of port I could have designed it. Anna at one point opined that she wasn't sure it was real and not called forth from my imagination. The owner was delightful and took us through some (very lovely) Japanese whisky, even throwing some little side tastings of interesting whiskies for free. Despite this, it was hideously expensive, but it was totally worth it.

Tokyo was a bit of a disappointment after this, but fun enough. I'm glad we cut down to a day there as a lot of the city was still subdued - early closing for museums, some escalators not working etc. However, even at full tilt I'm not sure how much I would have liked it - too many people, too little to see. That said, we had a very jolly evening there on our last night and much sushi to remember Japan by.

The Birmingham of Japan

A & I have been trying to work out which UK cities Japanese cities correspond to. It doesn't really work that well - Osaka is probably a bit like Manchester, but clearly better, and while it's hard to pigeonhole Kyoto, though it may be a bit like a supercharged Oxford. However, Fukuoka is definitely like Birmingham. Everyone we told that we were going there asked us why? We had to explain that we were using it as a base for Nagasaki and Beppu. There is very little to do in Fukuoka, but it has a string of bars and good transport links. Just like Birmingham, though probably warmer.

As indicated, we didn't actually spend any time in the city itself during the day, though the bars were fun - A in particular liked a bar that had impromptu karaoke with her, a random Korean and a Japanese businessman. I preferred the sushi restaurant where I could get horsemeat sushi. However, both Nagasaki and Beppu were fantastic visits. Beppu is a little ridiculous, having some splendidly kitsch and overblown 'hells' or hot springs. But they were much fun, and there's a great gimmicky restaurant by the Tourist Information, where you can cook your lunch in the steam. In fact, there was steam everywhere - we saw some coming up from a hole in the tarmac in a car park. It's put to best use in the onsen of course. Nagasaki was less absurd, with the inevitable memorials to the bomb, though Hiroshima did it better, and the less said about the nonsensical peace statue the better. However, the museum was still moving. Better were the string of temples to the south and the Glover gardens. I hadn't realised how international the city had been, and the legacy of this internationality and Christianity shines through. It also had Anna's favourite beer and gyoza bar where we spent one of our favourite early evenings of the holiday.

Oh, and the regional speciality of Kyushu (the western island where all these are located) is Shochu. Do not drink it ever; it was used as a disinfectant in the Edo period - this seems as appropriate now as then.

Bibliography, March 2011

Read: 10

BOTM - J. Steinbeck, East of Eden*

J. Austen, Mansfield Park (K)
A. Cobban, A history of modern France vol 3
Confucius, Analects (K)
C. Dickens, A tale of two cities (K)
G. Eliot, Adam Bede (K)
P. Highsmith, The talented Mr Ripley
W. Scott, Ivanhoe (K)
J. Swift, Gulliver's Travels (K)
Wu Cheng'en, Journey to the west (K)

I expected to read more in China, but was defeated by a tendency to go to sleep on long train journeys and the vast length of the Journey to the west, which went on for ever. Anyway, none of my books read in China (note the kindle marks - an unqualified triumph as a travel tool) could hold a candle to East of Eden (another reread), which is stunning in scope, written beautifully, and powerful throughout. I read it in 2002 first and so it's been a while since I looked at it, but it's got better with time.

In the shadow of the mushroom cloud

Hiroshima is now only figuratively under the shadow of the bomb, but that shadow is long. So far, we seem to have been to parts of Japan that will forever be defined by their history. But while Kyoto glories in an imperial past that it has polished and renewed; for Hiroshima, the bomb's pervasive influence is sombre, though there is much else to note and like about the city. This is not just a result of its 'fame', but the physical impact of the bomb meant the city had to be rebuilt (and remodelled) and to this day, more recipients of the government's special health care for bomb survivors live in Hiroshima than anywhere else. Inevitably this means A & I have had an argument about the rectitude of the bombing which I won't relate here because a) I'm not sure about some of the facts (the Japanese telling is OK, but selective), b) it needs some thinking out and c) I may be inflammatory and it's not worth it. Maybe for a later post.

The city itself is however great. The centre is compact, there are an extraordinary number of bars and restaurants, including many serving one of my new favourite foods, the artery clogging oikonomiyaki. It's well linked up (we went to Himeji on the way and Miyajima for an afternoon), and has trams everywhere. Fab. The remodelling of the city also means that it's simple to navigate and on one of the key islands (Hiroshima is on a river delta, who knew?) by the epicentre a great peace park has been created - the museums and monuments are there, but it's also a great public space. The museums and monuments themselves are excellent and interesting (if a bit determinedly naive). The key museum is well done, and restrained. However, The jewel in Hiroshima's crown though is the island of Miyajima, while has a lovely set of temples, the highlight of which is the Daisho-in, and a little hilltop from which the inland sea can be seen. Just wonderful.

Possibly the prettiest city in the world

I'm very late in publishing this for no good reason (Japan does not have a firewall), but as the readership of these is limited, I don't think it matters too much. Here thoughts on Kyoto (+Nara and Osaka) from about a week ago, but not uploaded till now. Others to follow.

A is somewhat irritated that all these have strange titles, rather than just say Kyoto, as in this case. But as that would be boring so I am sticking to this as a descriptor for Kyoto, as it is possibly the prettiest city in the world. It contains, according to the guidebook, the most beautiful street in all Asia. This seems to be highly likely, based on my experience of other streets in Asia.

Low competition on streets aside, it is an extraordinary city. We were there a week and although we spent a day out of the city in Nara, which is very much in the same mould, we managed to do no more than half of the temples possible, though we obviously prioritised what we were told were the best. Almost all were beautiful, and many were just stunning. A & I disagree slightly on the best ones, but both concur on the overall point. My personal favourites were Kiyomizu-dera, which looked stunning in the weather (and we were lucky with the weather), the  Imperial palace, the Zen gardens at the Daitoku-ji, (especially Zuiho-in) and the Byodo-in (though frustratingly, we didn't get to go inside as the place shut at 4.10). However, the major temples and sights only tell part of the story. Their sheer density obviously contributes to the impression of Kyoto as a lovely city, and the time of the season helps - there is a lot of blossom about - but it's also some of the other bits. It has its fair share of slightly scruffy roads, but it's not very long before a well maintained temple or riverside  hits you, and in all the cases I've seen, they've been tidy and clean. Britain fails this fairly elementary requirement, and Southern Europe is disastrous (we're not even mentioning the Middle East in this context). Japan is uniquely good at it and Kyoto reaps the benefit.

Kyoto is obviously our first time in Japan and we're both struck by how nice they are; I'm also struck by how short they are and how this makes me bump my head a lot, though their niceness more than makes up for it. When we arrived, the LP has fairly poor directions to our Ryokan yet within 5 minutes of being lost in the general area, no less than two people had volunteered to help up and one cheerfully walked us to the right road. There have been countless other examples, but none more welcome than that at 7:30 pm having got up at 4:30 to get our flights out of Beijing. It's not even been as expensive as we had feared, and a focus on Sushi and karaoke (amazingly cheap for booze) has really kept the price down.

Dictator chic

It apparently isn't acceptable to publicly pronounce on the aesthetics of dictators (as Bryan Ferry undeservedly knows to his cost). However, as we practice entirely inconsistent social rules on this, I can comment positively on the iconography of Chinese communists, who in Mao count the bigger mass murderer in history, without criticism and Beijing is the place to do it. It's not all good - the illuminated face of the embalmed corpse of Mao reminded me of nothing more than a second rate saint's body in one of those cheap catholic churches - but the spectacular bits were spectacular.

That said, the best bits by miles are imperial. A & I disagree on the detail (her favourite day remains the great wall; mine the forbidden city), but both were spectacular, and a terrifying testament to the sheer scale of China and its Emperors. It's also the best stuff we have seen in China. I'm struck, as with the terracotta warriors, that the famous big bits haven't been a  disappointment at all. The central courtyards and pavilions of the imperial forbidden city were beautiful and, as expressions of imperial power, comparable with even the most bombastic expressions of European imperialism, and certainly more powerful than the south side of the square, where communist monumentalism is shown to full effect. The Great Wall has much the same effect, though our stretch also had a slide.

Beijing also seemed (to us) a great city to visit. We were helped by having a great little hostel, where we often retreated after dinner (the Chinese do eat early) and drink cheaply with wifi. But we also had some great times out and the food was fantastic & pretty cheap. Partly this is us cracking China a bit more, but also Beijing being accessible and relatively welcoming: nonetheless, our 56p dumpling lunch on Wednesday remains a highlight.

Overall, then China has been fab. I was a little taken aback by it at first - simultaneously disorientated by the total unfamiliarity of the language &c but also surprised by the modernity, especially when implicitly comparing it to the middle east. But after that initial shock, it's been pretty easy to manage (even train tickets weren't too difficult, though highly stressful). I wish I had learnt more about Buddhist liturgy (and the Bodhisattvas) in advance, and maybe a little about imperial history (still largely limited to Mongols, Ming, Manchu). In fact generally, I wish I'd come earlier, and I think we'll be back.

Japan now. Radiation be damned.

Journey to the West

written 30th March 2011

Now, I know after reading the whole thing, that the Journey to the West actually started in Xi'an (Chang'an) rather than finished there, but it's as far west as we're getting on this trip. Also, while I wouldn't claim that I have endured the trials of the Tang priest, it's an infuriating city. In our case, made worse by a lack of metro (we like metros, much better than buses) and dodgy guidebook information. Our Lonely Planet seemed not to have a single accurate restaurant listing, though some were nearby.

That said, I'm very glad we came, for obvious and non-obvious reasons. Obviously, this is home of the terracotta warriors, which were fantastic. While I saw and loved them in London at the BM a few years ago, nothing really prepares you for the rank upon rank of them presented in the main excavations. Never mind the afterlife, they're quite intimidating in this one. They are also exquisite, with the famous individuality really shining through particularly when you see them en masse. They are endlessly fascinating, even in their fairly rudimentary display (in a big hanger) It's also symptomatic of Xi'an: it's actually very easy (and cheap) to get there from the city, but then they drop you in a park with no signage to the nearby site.

Non-obviously, Xi'an also has a decent set of other major sights that I never heard of, and a fun little Muslim community. We seem to have done the city in the wrong order, and instead of doing the central sites first first went out the far sites. The far ones (a huge 'Goose' pagoda and the museum) are best, but I'd be much more relaxed if I'd wandered round the mosque and towers in the centre on day one. Even more pointless, but exciting, I dragged A to a stele museum on the last day - obviously we couldn't read anything,  but they have a Nestorian stele with traces of Syriac at the bottom. Honestly, even I was a little bored, but it's got to be seen. We met some people in Beijing who were going to Xi'an later, and they were planning to skip the city sights and go to the mountains. I didn't try to persuade them otherwise, but I hope they saw some of them,