Category: Blogging Pilgrimage

An attempt to mirror the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage by posting 88 Blogs in 2022

#4: Never too late

April 24, 2022April 24, 2022 · 5 Comments ·

Although, over the years, as a father I’ve taken my children to theme parks in England and other parts of the world, I’ve never actually been to a Disney resort. So, just two weeks short of my 65^th birthday, and with a coupon for a free night at a Hilton Hotel, it was time to put that to rights and to head out to Tokyo Bay on a cool and drizzly evening for a very pleasant night at the Hilton on the Bay. I must confess to being rather apprehensive about my first Disney experience expecting it all to be rather garish and over the top, but my son’s partner who is rather a Disney expert had suggested that DisneySea was probably more suitable for someone of advancing years compared to DisneyWorld.

Not only were we celebrating my own birthday in advance but it was also DisneySea’s 20th Anniversary. The sun was shining and the skies were blue so we had an early start and armed with an all-day passport got in to join in the 20^th Anniversary celebrations which were branded as ‘Time to Shine’. And so it was and time to find our way around the venue.

Top of the agenda was to meet the stars, so we oriented ourselves through the centre to do just that. In accordance with Covid protocols were asked not to get too close to Mickey and Minnie; we were wearing masks but they weren’t. Soon after that they emerged from their protective environment with some of their pals for a jaunt around the waterfront.

The culture vulture in me enjoyed the attractions related to popular entertainment and I ‘held on to my potato’ in an exciting ride around Indiana Jones’ Temple of Doom.

A more sedate circuit with Sinbad took me back to watching videos with my kids years ago,

We even went to ‘Infinity and Beyond’ in the Toy Story’s shooting gallery – my wife scored more hits than me but I had a better accuracy rate! No pictures as I was shooting targets rather than photos.

A couple of shows (no photos allowed) with Mickey & friends singing and dancing to the American Big Band Beat sound got us inside for an hour, and then we hit the water with a gondola tour of Venice.

Followed by a trip on a paddle steamer to see the ‘Sea’.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Tokyo Disney Resort, and it did bring out the big kid in me. However, I’m no stranger to Tokyo Bay as very close by is Kasai Rinkai Koen (Marine Park). As well as being a popular spot for Tokyoites to visit and to enjoy the oceanfront of Tokyo Bay, and also the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Games’ canoe slalom events, it is a very important area of nature conservation. The Wild Bird Society of Japan (WBSJ), of which I am a member, holds regular gatherings there to observe and enjoy some of the 126 species of birds, including many migratory shore birds and waders which can be seen from the hides and on the ponds and waterfront. Just four years ago, the WBSJ was successful, at COP13 in the United Arab Emirates, in having Kasai Marine Park designated as the First Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Site in Tokyo. A very proud moment for my Japanese birding friends.

So, this weekend, it’s time to put away the fake Mickey ears and get out my binoculars to enjoy yet another aspect of the rich cultural heritage of Tokyo.

#3: BRAVO

February 21, 2022March 14, 2022 · Leave a comment ·

Yet another downside of the Corona crisis in Japan, like so many other countries, has been the lack of classical music concerts. This has been particularly so here because enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans flock to the performances by leading orchestras from across the world. So, we were very excited to be able to attend a concert of music by English and American composers given by the NHK Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall last week. But even that had fallen victim to the crisis as both the Chief Conductor Paavo Jarvi, and guest violinist Hilary Hahn were unable to enter Japan due to additional Omicron border control restrictions. However re-knowned Japanese conductor, Tadaaki Otaka and Japanese -American violinist Mayumi Kanagawa stepped in: The Show must go on.

Tadaaki Otaka CBE has been the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Conductor since 2010, and was previously the principal guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the United Kingdom. I first saw him in 2011 when he took the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra to the UK for a charity concert to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross Society following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which had happened whilst I was in the UK. Otaka has a close affinity with British composers, which was reflected in last week’s concert which included the Four Sea Interludes from Benjamin Britten’s opera ‘Peter Grimes’, and Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma variations’.

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was born in Lowestoft, in the county of Suffolk on the east coast of England. It’s a part of my home country I know well having spent some of my teenage years swimming in the cold North Sea, birdwatching in some of the sanctuaries, and, more recently running the Suffolk coastal footpath marathon, so I have an affinity with one of the most famous of Britain’s composers, Britten. He is known best for his orchestral showpiece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (1945) and the War Requiem (1962). Peter Grimes (1945) is his best known opera and is a tragic tale set on the dramatic Suffolk coast so the Four Sea Interludes took me closer to my UK roots for a while.

Edward Elgar (1857-1954) was born in the English Midlands, close to Worcester where I also have family links as it was there that my parents first met at college. A senior of Britten he is known not only for the Enigma variations (1899), but also for his Pomp & Circumstance Marches, No 1 being a firm favourite at the British Promenade concerts with the words ‘Land of Hope & Glory’, as well as his choral work the Dream of Gerontius (1900).

Samuel Barber (1910-1981). My American friends would not forgive me for omitting reference to his Violin Concerto Opus 14 which allowed the soloist, Mayumi Kanagawa to display her virtuoso skills. I sometimes wonder why people relate violin playing to sad stories, but her brief encore could have moved me to tears even without knowing its name or provenance.

A wonderful concert spoilt only as the audience were asked not to vocalise their appreciation at the end, as part of the anti-infection measures. However, an audible behind-the-masks groan of approval said it all along with rapturous applause for the conductor, the orchestra, and I’m proud to say, the best of English classical music in Japan. BRAVO!!

#2: ALL THE TWOs: A Call to adventure

February 3, 2022 · 2 Comments ·

This week marked the start of the Year of the Tiger and yesterday was 2^nd February 2022 or 2.2.22. It’s also two years since my post retirement freelance work came to and end mainly as a result of the Corona crisis. When I decided to take early retirement from my main career with the UK Government and to remain in Tokyo, to where I was posted at the time, it had been my intention to divide my time equally between my family home in the British Midlands and my adopted home in Japan. To which a good friend remarked “So, you want the best of both worlds?” But, a regular contract as a business writing trainer and coach meant I spent the greater part of my time here in Japan.

However, reality now starts to kick in as one year from now, I’ll need to return to the UK to qualify for my State Pension when I turn 66. Joseph Campbell talks about a Hero’s Journey and although no hero, I like the structure that he advocates especially when embarking on one of life’s adventures. In his book ‘The Hero with a thousand faces’ he says one of the ways in which an adventure can begin is a ‘blunder’:

A blunder – apparently the merest chance- reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood. As Freud has shown, blunders are not the merest chance. They are the result of suppressed desires and conflicts….the blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny.
Hero with a Thousand Faces, Chapter 1.Departure, 1. Call to adventure

/My failure to find any further freelance work could well be described as my blunder leading to my personal destiny, the call to the adventure of living the Albihon (best of England and Japan) lifestyle as well as writing about it. When I need to think, I usually do so best while walking. My final training contract took place on the 19^th floor of the imposing Arco Tower building in Tokyo’s Meguro district.

From there we were usually blessed with views of Mt Fuji on the horizon. Whilst climbing Japan’s iconic mountain has long been a challenge I’d love to undertake, it’s not yet the climbing season so that’ll have to wait. A more realistic destination was the woodland area breaking up the suburban sprawl, I used to gaze down on. So yesterday I visited Rinshi no Mori park for the first time. After starting as a Meguro test nursery in 1900, it became Hayashi trial forest park in 1989. Now forest trails, adventure playgrounds, open areas and a pond make this an ideal location for a spot of forest therapy in the heart of the city.

It wasn’t the best season for a park with numerous plum and cherry trees, but it won’t be long until the weather warms up and we can enjoy their respective blossoms.

As well as the practicalities of the adventure ahead, I expect I’ll also be questioning my own beliefs. As it will also be a spiritual journey as well as a physical one yesterday’s walk included a visit to the Ryūsenji (瀧泉寺) also known as the Meguro Fudō (目黒不動, Black-eyed Fudō) Buddhist temple. According to the temple legend, Ryūsen-ji was built in 808 by Ennin to enshrine a statue of Fudō-myōō, while he was on a journey from Shimotsuke province to Mount Hiei.

Keeping my options open (I used to be a diplomat after all!) I then called in at the Otori Shinto Shrine, the history of which involved an emperor taking a rest stop after quelling some eastern barbarians.

Fortunately, this was something I’d never had to do during my previous career. But the thought of it was making me hungry. In Japanese, the character ‘wa’ (和) can mean ‘harmony or peace’ as well as ‘Japan’, and is often used as a prefix to a compound indicating a Japanese version of the word that follows. I’m familiar with its useage meaning Japanese-style, Japanese-clothes and Japanese-food but the following was new to me.

But my mackerel and tomato ‘wawich’ did the job and fuelled me for my walk home along the Meguro River.

Passing through Naka-Meguro the river pathway is lined with a motley collection of shops, galleries and boutiques, old and new, with a real international flavour to them.

Despite being in central Tokyo, I was still able to indulge in my ornithological interest as well.

/An excellent day’s walk which left me physically tired but spiritually refreshed and ready to face the next stage of my own life’s journey. As I got home, a quick glance at my step-count for the day even left me feeling slightly heroic.

Three more than was needed to have achieved ‘All the twos’! I’ve heard the call and I’m ready to respond

#1. Setting out

January 7, 2022 · 1 Comment ·

The twelfth day of Christmas and I’ve just taken the tree down and packed the decorations away. Mind you, in Japan they often come down on Boxing Day to make way for the New Year celebrations which are more important in my host nation.

On New Year’s Eve, if you can avoid the interminable TV variety shows, it’s important to have a bowl of soba noodles which represent long life for the year ahead. Many people will head off to the country districts to visit family and having obtained a free covid test, courtesy of Japan Airlines, we decided to go to the southwestern island of Shikoku to see my wife’s family for the first time for more than two years

As in so many cultures, food plays a large part in Japanese New Year celebrations the main feature being o-secchi ryori, a pre-prepared (or purchased) box with several layers of what we might call ‘finger food’ which will be grazed upon over the holiday period – using chopsticks of course! So, this formed the basis for our lunches and dinners for the first two days.

My in-laws live in the coastal town of Naruto, close to the prefectural capital of Tokushima, and their house is just a few minutes’ walk from the coast to where we were led by my father in-law. The main purpose of the trip was for us to visit the family cemetery to pay respects to the departed members of the family and more distant clan whose remains are interred in a lovely plot surrounded by trees and overlooking the Inland Sea. This year, the old chap was so proud to show us the tomb that he had prepared for his final rest which as a sprightly 90-year-old he doesn’t show ant signs of needing just yet.

The cemetery is in the grounds of a buddhist temple the religion under which most funerals take place. But, in a multi-denominational society it’s important to keep well-covered and another New Year tradition is to visit a shrine to give thanks to the Shinto Gods for the year just past and to pray for good health for the year to come. For our own devotions we drove 10km to the Oasahiko Shrine in the Bando area of Naruto and enjoyed a long walk along the tree-lined approach to the shrine with other worshippers. Under Shintoism, gods also exist in nature especially trees, so as well as praying at the main shrine, we also did so at the 1,000-year-old, 22 metre tall, Go-shinboku camphor tree.

And for additional cover, the Oasahiko shrine is right next to Ryouzenji buddhist temple. This is famous for being the first stop on the 88 temple, 1400km o-henro pilgrimage trail which circumnavigates Shikoku.

Although I have ambitions to undertake the physical and spiritual challenge one day, for now I am making a different commitment: to post, throughout 2022, 88 blogs as part of my personal blogging pilgrimage. The fortune o-mikuji slip I bought at the Oasahiko Shrine told me that this year my luck would be ‘very good’. So, maybe the Gods are smiling on me?!