Philosophical Kyoto

OK, so since it is Golden Week (Goruden Ueeeku), we are heading down to Kyoto.

No, I know what you're thinking, but the reason is not, in fact, to view Kyoto's well-known Polish Dill Pickles:

We need to firstly cross the Duck River:

And head down to the Philosophers Path. This is a path that runs along a canal. Nice, isn't it?

However, we are slightly late. During Sakura season, this is, apparently so beautiful that it may bring you to tears. That probably won't help you to become a philosopher. However, the air is very good - look at all the green stuff on the trees:

And the canal water is so fresh that it contains lots of Carp. One more than one occasion I head children asking their parents about the fish. All answers were: "yes, it is tasty!". The fish get progressively smaller as you go upstream, which gives you the impression that the big ones are too fat to make it, or that they slim down a lot on the way. However, observing the Carp swimming against the tide was somewhat philosophical.

So far, so OK, but then we get to ...

... a random pair of old teddy bears on a bespoke toy bench! With walking sticks! Clearly this has some deep meaning.

Also impressive were the dustbins, with a pair of what looks like smiling eggs ready to perform general cleaning tasks. Industrious.

You can also get Philosophy Soba (noodles)! Wow. Even they've really commercialised the experience, or this is a chance for gaining great wisdom. While I was pondering these two equally attractive options, I found...

A temple dedicated to "tying destiny" - i.e. marriage. Good place to put it, in Kyoto, that is.

And this temples mascots are a pair of mice. They promise to open your luck, bring wealth (always a good side-benefit), and tie your destiny. One seems to hold a scroll of something serious and important, possibly a diet plan, because the other one seems to have eaten all the pies.

However, this sign was the most interesting and informative, I found.

" YOU'VE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING ! "

Tidying up after poo is the responsibility of the dog owner. Please discipline you dog to, as much as is possible, do poos in your house. Let's take poo home and tidy it up there!
- Kyoto Municipal Home Animal Discussion Forum, Kyoto Health Protection Board


And this, very slightly, reminded me of the market - you've got to face up to your liabilities.

Good Grades: $30 ; Good Marriage: $5

In Japan it is not uncommon to turn the corner in a block of medium-rise residential/shopping developments and find yourself standing in front of a traditional old-school temple. Like this one.
This is actually a mini-temple. It contains a Japanese garden with a bridge a la Monet, several highly sculpted trees, and a pond with floating Sakura petals and this little detail. A daddy (or mummy) turtle doubling as a water fountain, with baby turtle wandering off in the other direction. I found that black-and-white shows the baby turtle in better contrast.

Also, right outside it is this.

Jars of Freshwater Crane brand rice-based alcohol for sale (warm) through a vending machine. Very convenient. The machine is quite old, and while nowadays there would be a Taspo-like technology deployed, there is just a sign saying "Please don't buy this if you're under-age". This also tells us that warm-vending technology has been around for a while, but in Europe it is apparently too difficult.

So we now are ready to go to the main temple.

Of course, the statutory cherry blossoms are here.

But there also is a lot of hanging boards.

These are Ema, or "picture-horses". They are wooden boards on which you write your wish and hang it up here. They don't have horses on them. Here it seemed that everyone wanted good exam results. Really, absolutely everyone. I couldn't find a single wish about money, safety, family etc. All exams and good school results. It later transpired that this temple specialises in exam results.

And that is why they have a big sign saying "Omamori, Ema and Shinsatsu for Exam-passing (for passing exams), increasing school scores (for increasing your grades at school), 3000 Yen".

An Omamori is a talisman for a given purpose, a Shinsatsu is a big wooden board they give you to give you extra luck.

The 3000 Yen ($30) is per item. There are no package deals available. Also, if your good luck charm worked, they ask you to come back to the temple to bless the charm. That costs 2000 Yen.

As you can see by the volume of Ema, this is a good business, especially during times of uncertainty. If you could choose, you would want to be the monk in the temple specialising in business-related worries. Possibly the ultimate anti-cyclical positioning.

Here is a list of Omamori available.

Regular Omamori: 800 Y (I bet no one has ever got this. This must be there just to highlight the value of the Good-Grades Omamori)
Anti-bad stuff Omamori: 1000Y
Safety while commuting to school Omamori: 1000Y (likely a favourite with parents)
Travel and commuting Omamori: 1000Y
Good marriage Omamori: 500Y (the cheapest on there)
Safe birth Omamori: 1000Y
Golden destiny Omamori: 1000Y (the value pick)
Disease recovery Omamori: 1500Y
Commuting Omamori (sticker, large): 1000Y
Commuting Omamori (sticker, small): 800Y
Happiness Bell: 700Y

And, since you are there, you can check the list of bad stuff years. This is a list of ages of men (left) and women (right). If you are this age minus one (i.e. if you are 24, 41, 60 etc.), then this is a bad year for you, and you must come to the temple and seek remedial action. At the basic level this involves buying an Anti-bad stuff Omamori, but further consultation and prayers are available.

Downtown Temple

Today we are going downtown to Osaka's business district. The Sakura trees still blooming (in plalces).

Lets walk along the shopping arcade.

Theres a lot of strong advertising around.

And even some giant Chinese lamps.

Mac D's is still performing well.


A bit further down the shopping arcade, we find ....

... Rilakuma san again!

Here he is being employed to market a game center which is focused on playing for cuddly toys. But he is doing it in a fairly relaxed way:

You can also win a Snoopy san.

And a Capibara san. Forget Las Vegas - no wonder their real estate is going down!

But wait a second. Whats this? An "open air temple"?

Take another look.

Yes, in fact there is a temple, but a lot of it is in a thoroughfare between some big buildings.

This is where people hang wooden boards with their wishes for the year:

It even has its own citrus tree:

Now that is fairly cool.

Hanami Update

　 With cherry blossoms entering the Zenkai (fully-open) stage, now is the time for an update on the Hanami ("flower-watching", drinking under the cherry blossom) season.

Currently it seems that 95% of all trees in Japan are cherry blossoms in full bloom, and they are all working together, quietly trying their hardest to not disappoint the eager Hanami-goers.

And this approach seems to be working. Point a camera in any direction on any island in the Japanese archipelago, and you are likely to encounter...

... a bunch of other people pointing cameras!

Here's another:

Now, if you looked at the pictures above and felt an irresistible urge to say "Aw, that is SO pretty", then you may be able to claim Japanese citizenship, I am told.

However, while Hanami parties are a fun mix of cherry blossoms and booze, someone has to do the Shtami ("look under", or reserving the spot for the rest of the office), such as this guy.

There has been a certain amount of rumours, albeit from high-placed sources, saying that this weekend, in Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, it may... rain! This would be nothing short of a calamity for the delicate flowers and for Hanami season in these areas. Understandably, today and tomorrow are going to be busy.

Today, on the radio, one lady said that she had to reserve a place at 5am for a Hanami starting at 10am. Some people are sent to wait for eight hours or more - and no going to the bathroom - responsibility for the Hanami spot is a crucial way to show your office that you are earnest, diligent, and a trustworthy member of the team. The longer you have to endure, so much the better to show what you're made of. Competition for the best spots is fierce. Albeit in a polite and reserved way.

Here there are so many adjacent Hanami parties going on, each with its regulation blue plastic sheet, that some of them have only slightly better views than a carpark.

But with so many people, booze deliveries are complicated - this is a guy ferrying a case of beer, searching for his customer:

And here is a group of businessmen who are having a modest Hanami, standing under a Sakura tree. At least they have a good view.　

Bottom line: time to go and do some serious flower-watching.

Crisis Amongst the Cherry Blossoms

　 So, April has arrived. Sakura season is in full swing. Cherry blossoms are blooming, filling towns and parks with soft pink fluffiness. And Hanami parties are popping up everywhere. During the daytime, blue plastic sheets reserve the best spots for company parties. Later, office departments sit down and get progressively drunk in a relatively quiet and amiable manner.

For a map of the cherry-blossom front (South-to-North), click here (Map key top-to-bottom: Still Buds, Started Bloom, Viewing Time Now, Start to Fall Off, Finished, No Data). You can check out the developments in this year's blossom in most important parts of Japan - here is the current situation in Tokyo.


　 However, according to one daytime TV program ("The Crisis Continues - The Latest 2009 Hanami Situation"), not all is well at all. Really. There are disturbing reports indicating that ripples, nay, quivers of the financial mayhem have reached this far, impacting ordinary Hanami-goers and the industry supporting their needs.

This lady says this Hanami party is also her farewell event, because she is being let go of.

She reveals how last year they had sushi, but this year, they are having....　

　 home-made Oden (boiled stuff) !　

　 It has even impacted the homeless. This chap says "The level of rubbish is definitely down from last year, and its impacting homeless people"


　 However, delivery pizza has not been impacted, in fact sales are up as punters previously too-posh to nosh on baked dough products smothered with gooey paste are downsizing.


　 The increase in Hanami deliveries is proving challenging, even for the highly motivated, yet poorly paid ($10-12/hr), delivery staff. This girl is trying to find a customer, and is literally running around a park full of Hanami-goers, pizza in hand.

　 The customer got lost on his way to the meeting point. Irresponsible.

　 Here he is enjoying the pizza during his hanami party.


　 However, the pizza shops are eating the sushi shops' lunch, so to speak. This sushi chef is says "Last year's $500 customers have become $200 customers".

　 Not only that, but the latest fear is that there are too many old Sakura trees in Japan - once they get past 60, they may start to loose their flowering potential !


According to Yomiuri Shinbun online Sakura News service (top breaking cherry blossom news brought to you daily), one village in Okayama planted 137 Sakura trees to celebrate victory over the Russians, over a hundred years ago, but over the past few years they have started to decay.

The finances of the village (pop. 80) are starting to look like those of the US Government, but on a smaller scale (they have been asking tourists to help out with donations). Similarly to the financial crisis, this is one requires significant capital and it is not going away quickly. Treatment involves packing mucky stuff found in ponds into the sickly tree's wounds, and costs $1,800 per tree.

So, with millions of ageing cherry blossoms, is this the time to see this situation as an opportunity?

To become a "tree doctor" in Japan takes seven years of experience in diagnosing things that go wrong with trees and an exam on tree-related knowledge, says the Japan Tree Doctor Association.

But if we're moving from a Service-Economy to a Potato-Based economy (one step advanced from the Looting Economy), then this certification is surely a golden opportunity.