Back On The Piste!

That's right! Last year it was skiing with Georgina and Yukiko, and this year its snowboarding with Hayase, a guy who works in the Shonan school secretary office, and his mate.

Hopefully I'll be doing ollies and 360s all over the place as I descend the slopes of Hiroshima Prefecture before coming to a safe stop (without killing any Japanese people on the way down). We'll be leaving at the insanely early time of 7am (although this was only after fevered negotiations managed to put it back from 5), and travel up past Nimi across the border into Hiroshima. Then we'll spend a few hours on the piste.

Which is harder, skiing or snowboarding? I honestly have no idea, although I guess the more pertinent question is "Can Steve do either?" I'll find out on Saturday...and if you don't hear from me again, well, its been a good life.

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

For the last few days I've been in Hokkaido, Japan's second largest island, and the only one that until now I hadn't visited. It truly is a wondrous place; a winter wonderland, replete with ice sculptures and snow statues, frozen lakes, sea ice and the coldest temperatures I've ever experienced, as well as some of the most beautiful vistas. In 6 days I managed to cover a lot of ground, mainly in my friend Pete's car. We were in Sapporo for the Snow Festival for two days, then drove up to Abashiri, Japan's Alcatraz, home to a scary prison and perhaps the most amazing thing I've seen in Japan; drift ice. From there we went back down to Asahikawa, visiting the snow festival before driving into the mountains to Pete's home, Shirataki.

Sapporo (札幌)

The original reason for me going to Hokkaido at this time of year was to visit the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri, a snow festival held every year for one week. It didn't disapoint, with ice bars selling champagne, huge snow sculptures and a row of ice sculptures in Susukino, with brilliant names such as "Paradisue (sic) of Swan" and "Goldfish of Play". The snow sculptures featured all of Japan's favourite characters- Anpanman, Hello Kitty, Totoro, Doraemon, and even Kojima Yoshio! We went to an amazing bar called Brits Beat Club, with a live band that played Britpop and 60s stuff. We were with a large group of JETs, but me and the other 2 Brits there were singing along to everything (you can see our enthusiasm in the photo on facebook). The singer, Kaz, was a cool guy. You can check out online performances at http://www.brits.jp/. After leaving Sapporo we drove up to Abashiri on the north east coast, and it was only then that I realised how vast Hokkaido is. Flat rice fields covered in snow stretched off into the distance, before mountains took over, and the sky seemed huge compared to down here in Honshu. It was Japan, but totally different to the Japan I know. We left Sapporo sleep deprived and hungover at 10am, and got to Abashiri at about 7pm after stopping off at the Asahikawa Zoo, and some frozen lakes on the way.

Ice Walking on the Sea- Abashiri (網走）

Easily the most impressive thing I saw in Hokkaido was the Abashiri 流氷, or drift ice. Every winter frozen ice leaves the mouth of the Amor River in Russia, and drifts south to the coast of Hokkaido. Its an massively impressive sight, and walking out onto the sea is a bizarre experience. When I was there the conditions were perfect- crystal clear skies, and ice as far as the eye could see. It was unbelievably cold though, especially on the boat. But what an amazing place!!

Matsuri in Asahikawa (旭川）

After visiting Abashiri we made our way back down to Asahikawa, staying again at a friend of Pete's place, then went to the Asahikawa Matsuri the next day. We had lunch in Cocopelis, the best Italian restaurant I've been to in Japan, situated in a log cabin about 45 mins drive from Asahikawa. The views from this remote restaurant were spectacular, out across the plains with the mountains in the background, and the food really was great. After that we went to the Snow Festival, where Pete was dancing in his towns Yosoki ソーラン　team, which was very entertaining. After staying the night up in the mountains in Pete's home town of Shirataki, all that was left was the long journey home.

Sankyuu Beri Muchi!

やった！日本語ペラペラだよぉぉ！Yes after a few months of waiting I finally got the results of my JLPT test today, and I passed! Hurrah. My score of 310 comfortably cleared the 240 I needed, the only downside being that Georgina somehow managed to get 311! One mark more! God dammit!! Still, both very respectable scores out of 400. Grrrr.

Having planned on making this my last Japanese qualification, I've decided to "ganbare" for the next level, 2, which I can take in London this year or next. Why not eh. Only another 600 Chinese characters and, err, 4,500 words to learn. Hmm.

The title, by the way, is a cheesy Japanese joke, or おやじギャグ that got a lot of laughs today. You see "sankyuu" is the level of the test that I took, level 3 or "san" in Japanese. But sankyuu is also the way (some) Japanese people say "thankyou". Hee hee. Ahem.

Anyway tomorrow I'm off to the grim north of Hokkaido; with temperatures that rarely break above freezing, it will easily be the coldest place I've ever visited. If I survive the trip, expect magnificent photos and fantabulous words to appear on this blog after I return.

じゃね。

明 瞭

Around eight months ago I encountered a Japanese-English magazine, produced to an extremely high standard, concerning the history, people and culture of my Japanese home city, Kurashiki. Its name is Krash Japan. After being given a copy of the free magazine at a second-hand clothes store, I emailed the editor- who lives in the same area of Kurashiki as me, Kojima- to see if I could get involved. His name is Akahoshi Yutaka, and he introduced me to the person whom this post concerns, artist and craftsman Masahiro Kawabe.













To make a long story short, and to paraphrase Krash Japan itself (which relates the details of Kawabe-san's life far better than I could), Kawabe is an artist who lives and works in Shimotsui, an area of Kojima adjacent to the Seto-Ohashi bridge. He has lived there since birth and works on stainless steel nuts, such as the one pictured above. He turns these nuts into rings, works of art shaped over months by the simple process of filing day-in, day-out. Kawabe never commits a design to paper, and uses no machines when creating these rings; instead he holds the idea in his head as he shapes the material in front of him. All that he does ask for when he creates these rings, specially to order, is a theme. So continues Krash Japan...

When working on a given theme, he does not begin for at least a month. He goes on with his regular daily activity. However, the theme is constantly in his mind, waiting for the moment when an obscure image suddenly appears. The image can be visual, a tone, or in other forms. Once an image comes to mind, it is put into concrete form. Everything is done inside his head, up to the final design. He leaves nothing on paper. He faces the hexagonal nut with file in hand, only when he can picture the final design in his head. "I only ask for a theme and not a visual image. I have created what I myself have imagined from that theme. It is a selfish way which I have no intention of changing. I am, therefore, grateful to the people who order based on that understanding."




















Kawabe is personable, kind and has a great sense of humour. Earlier this week I was at the cafe hangout of Kawabe and Yutaka, in Kojima, and he related a story to me about how the local yakuza boss came to visit him, after a ring! Kawabe's rings have become increasingly well profiled, his work fetching several "man yen" (around 100 pounds each) in fashionable Tokyo and Osaka stores. Yet Kawabe is modest and friendly, the exact opposite of what you would expect from such an "artiste". He does however possess an entirely individual style and manner.

I feel honoured that Kawabe has decided to make a ring for me, in exchange for an unspecified "interesting item" from the UK- he could have charged me the 100 pounds or so his work regularly fetches, yet was intrigued by the idea of receiving an item bought in a flea market 5000 miles away from where he has always lived. In making a ring for me, Kawabe asked for a theme. The theme I gave him was 明 瞭, "meiryo", or clarity. It's my hope that in wearing this ring the clouds of confusion that currently hang over my future will clear, and I'll have a better idea of what to do with my life. The ring will take several months to make, and I look forward to receiving it- an item that, far from being made from precious material, will be treasured due to the time, energy and thought put into it by a truly gifted craftsmen.

Photographs nicked from Krash Japan website, taken by Kunitoshi Yabe.

Please visit Krash Japan at http://www.krashjapan.com/

Three Japanese Songs- Enjoy!

To get them to load, start them then pause them, and let the whole video download first. Then play.

1. Yuzu - Natsuiro (Not A Great Video, But A Great Song)



2. Kobukuro - Sakura (Another Karaoke Classic, Beautiful Words)



3. Hikawa Kiyoshi Live- A Taste of Japanese Enka! It's So Great!

New Steve Says Kanpai!

Hello and welcome to the third and final incarnation of "Steve Says Kanpai!", complete with new black background, red writing, and the ability to display weird and wonderful videos straight from YouTube!

To welcome you all, here is a selection of bideo's (as we say over here) from my wonderful country, Japan!! If they load slowly pause them, and let them load first, before playing.

Enjoy...

1. Tarako

The Tarako phenomenon that swept Japan in 2003... all started with an advert for "Tarako" pasta sauce, a sauce made from fish eggs.

2. Rokko Oroshi!! My Karaoke Classic

Hanshin, Taigaasu!! Fure, fure fure fure!...




3. Sonna No Kankee Ne!

Kojima No, Kojima No Tetsugaku!...Kojima Yoshio was a big hit in 2007, replacing "Hard Gay" with his catchphrase "sonna no kankee nee", basically meaning "who gives a f*ck". It caught on all over Japan, with small children jumping around copying his arm thrusting actions and "Oppapi"s.


- Click here for the most popular videos