Moon Viewing 2023

It was full moon last Friday, and because this harvest moon is considered the most beautiful in Japan, there are moon viewing parties at many shrines and temples in Kyoto. This time, my friend from Tokyo joined me for the kangetsu at Matsunoo Taisha all the way out in the Western part of Kyoto.

It started off with a fairly short religious ceremony with prayers and a dance ritual by a miko shrine maiden. These dances are meant to attract the gods to the shrine, so they can take part in the ceremony and can later enjoy the performances that are put up for the gods (and earthly visitors as well). While those can vary and include martial arts or theater for example, at Matsunoo Taisha, visitors usually are treated to concerts for moon viewing.

First, there was a shakuhachi – bamboo flute – concert. I like shakuhachi very much, and they do have a plaintive sound that is essentially built-in. Still, I felt that the music wasn’t chosen well, it felt more appropriate for a slumber party, and that’s not the point of moon viewing. Something more upbeat would have suited the occasion better; surely there must be fun modern pieces for shakuhachi as well.

Afterwards, a koto & shinobue duo came on stage, and the mood lightened considerably. As I’ve explained before, koto is a zither-like instrument, and the shinobue is also a bamboo flute, but much smaller and with a higher pitch. The combination was fun and light-hearted, exactly what my friend and I expected.

At last, the main attraction and the reason why we went all the way out to Matsunoo Taisha in the first place: Wadaiko drums. I had planned this the moment I found out that one of the Bati-Holics (lead singer Nakajima) would perform with his students, and I was not disappointed. Altogether there were five groups performing one song each, and finally, there was some power behind the music, literally.

By then, the moon had risen over the dance stage and the shrine was packed with fans and friends of the players (mostly female laypeople except for the teachers) and the atmosphere was very lively, as always when taiko are involved. The free cup of sake did help too, I’m sure. Of the five pieces, one of them stood out to both my friend and me, and we were later told by the owner of the taiko school who organizes these concerts every year that it was his wife’s song (sorry, Nakajima-san).

We skipped the haiku contest at the end, but it was a lovely night just as well. The weather was pleasant, and even though I only got home past 11, I didn’t need the jacket I brought. My friend was also glad she came; it was her very first traditional moon viewing in a shrine. Things are indeed very different in Kyoto and Tokyo…

Home Improvements

Over the quiet and hot days of summer, I had some time for smaller improvements in the house. I can’t afford anything substantial, but it’s nice to clean things up a little and make them look better at least.

First thing: I painted my toilet. Directly opposite the door was an old hole with an anchor still inside, and every time I had to use the toilet in the evening, it scared me a little. It was just the right size and dirty color for a small spider…

So, out came putty and paint, and because the toilet is very small, this turned out to be the perfect project to finish over the weekend. The walls now look much smoother than before, except for a small bit where the previous owner tried to close a crack with something that feels like glue and the paint didn’t stick properly on top of that. I’ll have to go over this spot once again.

I also closed some other holes in the stairwell, but I’m out of paint now, so the final finish will have to wait. Also, I’ll need to figure out how to reach all the walls in the stairwell without falling to my death while painting, so we’re probably looking at some time next spring.

Second thing: I mended some tears in the fusuma in the upstairs living room. This didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, mostly because are essentially hollow inside. They use the same underlying wooden frame as shoji, just with opaque paper on both sides. In other words, without any firm ground to glue the paper onto, it’s really hard to fix torn fusuma paper properly.

Many people just stick some paper on top of the hole, but even though this is easier, I don’t think it looks as neat. And since my fusuma are already anything but clean, there’s no need to bring any further attention to that. To me, it still looks better now.

I would love to say that I made some progress in my garden, but I didn’t. Even though I trimmed some smaller trees in spring, other plants took advantage of the increased light and shot up to new heights. Not to mention the prolific vines I have in one end of my garden that seem to be difficult to kill. I would have to weed almost weekly to get rid of those, I guess. Well, it’s getting cooler now, so I can give it yet another try…

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

Soji Shimada

Japan, 1936: The testament of excentric painter Heikichi Umezawa reveals his disturbing fascination with his own daughters. He describes his plan of killing all seven of them and to use the most beautiful body part of each to create Azoth – the perfect woman. Since Heikichi is dead, nobody is taking this seriously – until the Umezawa girls suddenly disappear and their mutilated bodies are found exactly where Heikichi had planned.

Japan, 1976: For 40 years, the nation has been obsessed with these so-called “Zodiac Murders”, but they are still unsolved. Then, amateur sleuth Kazumi Ishioka gets his astrologer friend Kiyoshi Mitarai onto the case. Together, they try to unravel the mystery and follow the leads where they take them – to an unexpected solution and one final death.

The first 24 pages of the book – Heikichi’s testament – are, quite frankly, terribly written, and I struggled to get through them. In hindsight, this was on purpose, though. Because once the story turned to the two amateur detectives, things did look up. It was interesting to watch them decipher the hints, even though the actual solution happens off the page, which I don’t particularly like. However, the final reveal of the by now aged killer and the motive came as a shock to me.

Twice towards the end of the novel, the author inserted himself with notes in which he challenges the reader: “All pieces are in place, can you solve the puzzle?” I didn’t care for that at all, but other people may enjoy this.

Soji Shimada was born in 1948 in Hiroshima prefecture. “The Tokyo Zodiac Murders” was his first book in 1981, and it was shortlisted for the Edogawa Rampo Award, a Japanese prize for crime fiction. Since then, Shimada has published numerous books and short stories, including the case books of the two sleuths on which this books focuses. In 2009, aged 61, he received the Japan Mystery Literature Award for his lifetime achievement.

If you’re in for a locked room mystery with a twist at the end, get this one from amazon.

Bear Warning!

One of the things that struck me when I first moved to Kyoto were the many butterflies out and about throughout summer. Sure, I lived in a fairly green part of the city then, but still, their number astonished me. Not to mention the size.

But besides the pretty things – and the nasty ones I have written about in detail, several times – there are also a few dangerous ones. Thankfully, Japan is blessed with a fairly benign fauna, unlike Australia where essentially everything has evolved to kill people.

In Japan, there is one species of poisonous snakes, and the local centipedes can become dangerous for small children. As far as I know, that’s all. Yet, Japan is a vast country with lots and lots of mountains, and there are all sorts of large animals hiding in them. Like bears.

And believe it or not, just a couple of weeks ago, a bear was sighted in the late afternoon not far from where I live. It didn’t come down into the inhabited parts here but stayed on a hiking path through the woods. Still, this is not an encounter I’d want to have, whether day or night. Let’s not forget that Kyoto is a city with 1.5 million inhabitants.

It is known, however, that in the northern parts of Honshu, bears regularly visit smaller towns and cities. They are active at dusk and dawn when there is not much traffic or noise, but they can become a nuisance, if not outright dangerous, to the population.

What to do about that, I don’t know. I’m not a big fan of shooting everything that moves just because, but there must be a better way than putting out neighborhood circulars that say “hey, we’ve seen a bear, be careful.” I wonder how other countries like Canada deal with something like that.

I’m Back!

Yes, holidays are over here too, but it was a nice summer, and pretty hot too. Pumpkin suffered from the heat as much, if not more, than me, he often hid inside the oshiire all day. In the evenings, he would come out and sleep on my desk until it was time to go up to bed. At least in the night, it seems to be much cooler up here than in my old apartment, so I could sleep almost every night. There are also fewer cicadas in the area for some reason, so it gets fairly quiet after sunset.

Work was fairly quiet as well, but of course, it didn’t shut down completely, and What’s up in Kyoto did keep me busy throughout summer. There were two press previews for exhibitions in my time off, and I could convince a friend to come along as my interpreter.

The big thing, however, was the unveiling of the above painting by Nagasawa Rosetsu, which was thought lost since 1971. It resurfaced at an art dealer in Osaka and was bought by the Fukuda Museum in Kyoto after being certified as genuine. The painting of Daikokuten, one of the Seven Lucky Gods, was first presented to a group of journalists (including me) and will be on public display at the museum from Mid-October. This was definitely a summer highlight for me!

A personal highlight was an old friend from university days who made his way to Kyoto after a conference. We met up for dinner and a day at Kurama, a tiny mountain village north of Kyoto with a lovely temple. I hadn’t seen him in years, yet talking to him felt like picking up where we had left off just yesterday. It’s a wonderful feeling when that happens, a sign of true friendship, for me at least.

Anyway, I’m back, and I’ll try to keep this blog – and you – updated with my whereabouts.

Taking a Break

Summer has arrived in Kyoto, and we’re having 35 degrees and more every day. The last few days, night temperatures were at 28 degrees officially, but it’s much hotter in my bedroom underneath the roof, which makes it hard to sleep.

Even Pumpkin is affected by the heat, he likes to sleep on my desk and other cool surfaces, and during the day he hides in the oshiire in my office.

All this is to say that I don’t have much energy, neither physical nor mental. So, I’m taking the summer off from this blog until the end of August. It’s not my first time, so I guess we’re good. And maybe I have new fun things to talk about after summer. It’s always nice to have a breather.

I wish you all a nice summer too and great holidays as well – see you soon!

Beautiful Visitor

I found this moth a few weeks back in my garage. It was about 10 cm long and just sat there at the top of the wall close to the ceiling.

It is beautiful, but still I prefer it outside. It wasn’t there the next day, so I’m happy I took the photo rightaway.

Gion Matsuri Goodies

I was quite busy last Saturday, out and about for almost 12 hours.

First, there was the yoiyoiyama of Gion Matsuri’s Ato Parade, and once again, I volunteered at the Ofunehoko. They adapt shift lengths every year to try and make it as easy as possible on the volunteers who have to stand there in the heat. This time, I chose the exceptionally short afternoon shift from 2 to 4:30 because I had plans for later.

It wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be, in fact, this year feels less humid overall. Of course, this may also be because I stay on my mountain most of the days. Some friends came by to cheer me on (and buy chimaki), so the shift was over very quickly. And, for the first time, they also had an English pamphlet for people who entered the Ofunehoko, and I was in charge as the “English-speaking lead” of the shift.

Anyway, a friend picked me up at the very end, and we looked at a few more of the yamaboko. We caught several just at the time they were playing the Gion bayashi music – rhythms with flutes, gongs, and drums that are unique to every hoko of Gion Matsuri. It was fun.

And then we made our way to the Bati-Holic Kimono Rock Party. It was a one-man-show, a concert with just Bati-Holic this time, and it had been sold out weeks prior. They are always very energizing, and it was nice to see them play in front of a house full of fans. Some people I recognized from earlier concerts, and I made a few new connections, which is always nice.

About the goodies mentioned in the title: All volunteers at the Ofunehoko get one chimaki for free, it’s a protective charm that you put up at the entrance of your house. The reason I chose this particular shift was that I had to wear a yukata – and as the name suggests, the “Kimono Rock Party” was all about kimono/yukata, and people dressed in such got a tenugui towel as a special gift.

I’m not sure why it had to be pink (rock band and all), but Pumpkin seems to approve regardless.

Air Circulation

The other day, I opened my shoe cabinet to get my rain boots. And what do I see – green mould everywhere. I got quite the shock when I found it on all my leather shoes. Great. But even more so: I found mould inside a kitchen cabinet. The rest of the day was filled with an unexpected emergency cleaning with lots of vinegar.

In all my years in Japan, that’s the first time that has happened to me. Generally, it’s not unheard of, especially during the humid summer months, but so far, at least in the old apartment, plastic-wrapped toast and some fruit I left outside were the only things to get mouldy.

The problem seems to be that there is not enough air circulation downstairs, even though it’s several degrees cooler than upstairs. At night, I keep the kitchen closed because I don’t want Pumpkin to jump up the gas stove and turn it on accidentally. The front door doesn’t have a fly screen, and since Pumpkin isn’t allowed outside (except for his morning excursions into the garden on a leash), it needs to stay closed at all times as well. And although my office window is open all day at the moment, it’s obviously not sufficient to get fresh air into the genkan.

The genkan seems to be quite humid to begin with, and I’m not sure why. Especially on rainy days, the floor is moist; it seems as if the moisture is coming up from the ground underneath it, probably because of insufficient waterproofing. Fixing this will probably involve digging up the whole entrance area, so it’s out of budget at the moment.

For the time being, I’ll probably have to buy dehumidifiers for the shoe cabinets at least: little boxes with salts inside that turn to jelly as they absorb moisture. I hope these are not just available in Hong Kong.

Relieved

Today, I had the follow-up of my hospital visit from two weeks ago. And, to spare you the suspense: everything turned out just fine. There are no cancer markers, and I don’t even need regular follow-ups besides what’s considered normal at my age. Phew.

This time, I’m happy to relate that I had an appointment and only needed to wait for 30 minutes, which is perfectly within the range of “normal”.

I also noticed the last few times I visited Kyoto University Hospital that they must have changed their payment processing. It now only takes a couple of minutes before the notification of the amount you have to pay is coming. I wrote about a standard hospital visit as an outpatient many years ago, and besides getting streamlined here and there, it hasn’t changed much. A description of what is going on as an inpatient will have to wait. Not that I’m eager to experience that, mind you…