Tyre churnings, Christmas yearnings, Cultural learnings

Back to reality. Few ramblings let loose over the last few weeks there. But what about life in the east?

Took a drive through the hills and the inclement weather to a town called matsumoto. Nothing incredible to report, did not stay long, quick driving tour to see what the potential was. Beautiful drive up, exit a mountain range passage and you're spat into a valley between the preceding mountains and another, which you drive all the way up along the side of. In the valley plenty of fields and villages, all splayed out like some sort of moss between the mountains. Driving back, starting to get dark and you see the clouds beginning to descend, lights sputtering on across the valley. in the words of borat: Very nice. Driving back a real pain in ass, snowing heavily, fresh snow on top of frozen layer of snow for about an hour, car spinning out a couple of times despite the winter tyres, manage to rally through it at a very impressive....30kmh. Really needed to keep the speed in check along one particular road which had no barrier and a steep 20/30m descent to a nice river directly beneath. Charming. Please refer to previous car reveal to understand what kind of monster of a vehicle dear author is pounding through snow banks in. Brakes not a fan of snow and ice. Apocalyptic abandoned petrol station spotted.

Visited a friend in the small town of Gero, which i must say was a real treat of a location. Hot springs, cold breezes, small restaurants, big hills and a savage riverside walk. Will certainly be visiting again. Has a truly distinct character. Apparently they are famous for onsens?

Gero river

gero

What is an onsen you may be asking, as i certainly was, An onsen is similar to a hot tub, but the origin comes from natural hot springs that folks used to sit in. As an Irish prude the sales pitches so far have not been convincing I can tell you. the first serious offer of doing this came from a very well meaning colleague, female, who is very fond of these onsens. Her pitch revolved around ' trying something new, fun and exciting with the guys'. Fair enough and what would that entail. Important detail - one must enter these things arse naked with no sense of modesty or dignity. Now enter second rabid salesperson of the onsen - a brief story of how an unfortunately weighty man slipped while entering the hot springs thus exposing this poor young man to the whole of the moon and even the core of the moon. Charming. Apparently the core of the moon grows thick bushy hair. Now enter 3rd rabid onsen enjoyer. Imagine authors excitement upon learning that, not only will you need to be 100% naked but you will sit in a confined space with several old men who are also 100% naked. I am a liberal sort of chap, not opposed to anything realistically and able to take care of myself in most ways - however there is an element of griminess about sitting in the same filthy sweaty water as several old geezers who have nothing better to do. At least they are not priests (Not openly at least). This reminds me of the swedish sauna situations, bunch of lads sitting together sweating, nothing held behind a towel. Awfully exposed in fact. There is transparency and there is too much transparency. Regardless, I will have to sweat it out in a hot tub with a bunch of geezers while the winter is still here lest one will be labelled a perennial prude.

Gero

Did the classic 'new years day walk'. Explored a new local hill. There was apparently a castle on it at one point. No such castle now - just a plinth with nothing on it. Makes one vaguely suspicious.... where is literally every other piece of wood and stone gone to 0.o. Erosion no doubt. No foul play, one can only assume. Nice views, terrible photos from yours truly..

overlooking the town

There is no Christmas in the Orient. First time working on a christmas day. First time out of Ireland on a christmas day. Massive festivity-buzz-killer. Not an ounce of christmas spirit in these hills. If someone from a more religious background was reporting here, the phrase would be 'Pagans and heathens one and all' no doubt. It is impossible for a deeply conditioned, from childhood, catholic context brain to conceive a world in which christ himself was not born 2,024 years ago. And yet... there is an entire nation of folk who do not share such a belief :0. Who could have known. What is interesting is stepping outside the cultural conditioning. It is in many ways, just another day. Simply means nothing in the bitter end. A number on a calendar. Get up, do your job and continue on. It is all subjective in a sense. The power of the socialization is incredible really. Instead of the typical day off, asked to do some extra work by a kindly english teacher in another school. Grudgingly participate and teach a bunch of 14/15 year olds how to play gaelic football with another irish colleague. The intricacies and specificities of the rules were unsurprisingly lost on the good folk of Japan (and myself) but the spirit was there. The promise of 'just a bit' of violence .being allowed into the rules of my team certainly helped to boost the morale and intensity. Massive slap in the face at the end of this 'all english day' as we were asked to consider this christmas day as one of our best ever by the well intentioned and well meaning local teachers. Lost in cultural translation. Regardless, Santa was kind and a box of chocolates etc appeared on the 24th which was very much appreciated.

wintry pathway

Next level of social deconditioning - no fireworks on new years. Had intended to visit Tokyo and see a massive firework display right!! Wrong. No fireworks. Just a tower changing colour. Stayed local instead. Rock up to the local shrine, join the queue for a new year blessing etc, only to find out it is in fact, like everything else in the world, just a poorly veiled racket. Throw money into a shrine (filled with holy spirits and deities, the ones who need the coinage no doubt) and receive your fortune for the coming year. Unfortunately had no wallet to hand, so just lingered around the racketeering region like a real creep for about 20 minutes to observe the shameless shakedown. Cynical yes yes. It is truly the great equaliser, the art of the scam. Pervasive throughout all cultures and time periods, the only true uniting philosophy of humanity. The big shakedown, the big grift. I am actually a big fan of it personally, it is great that we can all agree on certain things. yes there is such a thing as money, of course and yes there is such a thing as a god/spirit/entity etc and yes we should really give our money to the representatives of god because god will certainly be happy then. It is the intersection of all great scams. Brilliant craic anyway, no drinking, no fireworks, no action in any other sense, just a long queue in the snow. It is of course great for the locals, it is a social occasion and a meeting place etc etc. Do not take the cynicism too seriously, still a fun evening to observe.

Small Stone structure, spotted sidling takayama castle

There is an oppurtunity to reflect on a year at the end of it. I have decided to avoid such an oppurtunity. The lessons are clear in the moment and do not need much further reflection. An individual makes a series of continuous bad decisions and realises almost instantly afterwards (and during by the way yet continues following through with them), no need to dwell on it too much. Be nicer, be a better friend, more respectful and less selfish. Easier said than done no doubt. Small new years worm will help solve all, I am confident.

New year, new worm. Free of charge pre religious shakedown

slick shrine

ps - i cannot figure out how to format the images nicely. Please excuse the large white spaces as we solve these wrinkles

Winter kills the leaves. It kills the warmth and colour of life. And yet simultaneously without winter we would not truly appreciate the warmth and colour of life and the leaves. And yet, simultaneously, we can still hate something that we appreciate for bringing the perspective to something we enjoy. How fun is that.