Gifu(2)

Following day, we continued our journey from Hida Furukawa to Shirakawago. Shirakawago, the gassho style village was registered to be a world heritage site in 1995.

 

We had to cross a suspension bridge over the river to get to the main part of the village. I nervously stepped out onto the brigade with every step I could feel the bridge swaying. All I could imagine was the bridge breaking and me falling into the raging, freezing cold river below.

The village is known for its traditional farmhouses which subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms, as the mountainous terrain offered little opportunity for rice farming. It stands as an amazing example of the social and economic circumstances that life existed within during that time.

 

We spent time in browsing the village with its remarkable farmhouses. Walking around it was hard to believe that we were just a few hours away from Nagoya, one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world.

we were pretty starving, so we could not resist buying a Hida pork bun. I was curious to see how different it was from Oumi beef. The beef croquette was insanely good. We finish eating the croquette and immediately dashed off to eat lunch at a restaurant.

 

 

A couple of the houses have been opened up to the public and you can go inside and have a closer look at what these amazing houses looked like on the inside.

  

We then walked around the town looking at all the houses and talking pictures. Then climbed up the observation point. It’s about a 20-minuets walk from the edge of town but we decided to go there by bus, which costs us 200 yen?

I know I was stunned by the spectacular beauty of the place and would love to go back in summer time to see how it looks with all of the wonderful snow.

Gifu trip (1)

 13/08/2017

This morning we awoke early to depart for Takayama and Shirakawago. Our ride was just so incredibly beautiful as we followed the river. Due to summer season, we had no chance to see snow laden mountains, perfectly highlighted against the cloudless blue sky we saw on the picture before, it was still vey beautiful, though.

Before Shirakawago, we briefly visited to Takayama’s old town , which by now are pretty saturated with tourists. It is such a small version of Kyoto to be honest. With only 3 hours of sightseeing( we were planning to visit to Hida Furukawa later). We set out to see as much as possible of this little city.

 The small town is filled with historical Japanese architecture, sake breweries, morning markets filled with food stuffs Gonca had never experienced, restaurants and cafes. There was a gorgeous striver( more than a stream, less than a river) running right through the middle of town, and clear water was populated by carps.

 

 We had sake tastings at sake breweries that had been in famillies for multiple generations, where each bottle had a family crest. Like wine or craft beers, we had no idea that sake came in so many varieties.

 

Gonca wanted to pay a visit to Hida Furukawa Town, which was one of the stages of Kiminonawa. In addition, it is a town within beautiful mountain with rich nature, so we could enjoy walking around the town. We were initially surprised to see that Hida Furukawa town is a very stunning place to visit. 

The town was nearly empty except for a few cars passed by. we found a house-shaped box offering carp food for 100 yen. 

I posted so many pictures up because I’m sure that pictures speak a thousand words. After all, Hida Furukawa town was the most notable place of our trip.

障がい者は隠すべきという社会の空気

高校に入るまで、関西でもとりわけ田舎の町で私は育った。地域に住む住民は皆知り合いで、それこそ、季節を問わず近所の方が家庭菜園で採れた野菜を私の自宅の玄関に置いて帰っていくような町であった。一度地域で何かが起きれば、瞬く間に周囲に伝播し、ここそこの家の事情は全て、地域に筒抜けであった。

私の家の隣には、脳に障害を抱える６つ歳上の男性が住んでいた。症状は癲癇に近いようなもので、毎日のように夜になると奇声を放っていた。中学に入ってすぐだっただろうか。テレビを観ていると「癲癇」の症状の説明がされていた。翌日学校でたまたま前日のテレビの内容が話題になり、頭の良い男子生徒が「穀潰し」と言っているのを耳にした。「穀潰し」の言葉の意味がわからなかった私は自宅に帰り、母親にこの言葉の意味を聞いた。母親は私に詳しい言葉の意味は伝えず「あなたは絶対に使ってはいけないよ」と小さな声で返事をしてきた。母親の表情から、私はそれ以上は聞かなかった。

その男性は、地域の障害者施設に通っていた。数年経って、地元を離れた私に母親から電話が入り、その男性が亡くなったと知らせを受けた。参列者の少ない、人目を避けるような葬儀だった。

2017年12月25日、大阪府の寝屋川市において、精神障害を抱える33歳の娘をプレハブに10数年間隔離し、凍死させたとして、女性の両親が逮捕されたニュースが目に飛び込んできた。プレハブは内側からは鍵が開けられない仕様がされていて、複数台の防犯カメラが設置され、最近は毎日１度しか食事が与えられておらず、遺体発見時、女性の体重はわずか19キロしかなかった。

この事件を聞いて私はすぐにアメリカで起きたJaycee Dugardの誘拐事件を思い出した。学校へ登校途中の11歳の女性児童が誘拐され、その後18年間、倉庫で監禁された事件である。だか今回の一件は、加害者が実の両親だということで、私の知る限り、日本の歴史上類を見ない事例である。

口にするのも恐ろしいことだが、もしも「被害者は障がい者だから、自分とは関係がない」と思っている人がいたとするならば、そう思わずにはいられない。さらに言えば、あの当時、クラスの男性が、私の隣に住む男性に「穀潰し」と切り捨て、「半人前の命」とどこかで思っているのだとしたら、その無関心こそ悪意であり、差別ではないのか。

私は祖父母から、働かざるもの食うべからず、と何度も教えられた。私世代の人間からすれば鼻で笑い返せる言葉ではあるが、その考えが当たり前だった過去が日本にはある。その男性の他にも、何人か似た症状を抱えた子どもがいたが、月日とともに彼らの話題は消えていった。嘘か本当か「知恵遅を押入れに閉じ込めてそのままにした」などと聞いたりもした。地域にとって都合が悪いだけではなく、その家にとっても忘れたい過去であったかのように。

日本の安倍総理を筆頭とする安倍政権は、経済成長率を上げるために生産性の上昇に取り組んでいる。しかし、経済効率化の先に「生産性のない人間の切り捨て」が進んでいる。

女性の両親は女性が精神障害を抱えることに何か後ろめたさがあったかのように思える。精神障害を抱える娘の介護に鬱積があったのかもしれない。もしも、ある一部の施設の職員のみではなく、日本国民全員で障がいを抱える子どもがいる両親や彼女達への理解が十分であり、国としても真摯に彼らを社会の一員として歓迎する態度があったのなら、今回のような事件は防げたのかもしれない。そう思うと、胸が痛む。

A day trip to Kamakura

 We stayed in Tokyo so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity with a day trip down to Kamakura. Located about an hour south of Tokyo. My body physically refused to get out of bed and open my eyes for more a few seconds. On the other hand, I couldn’t very well sleep through it. A train to Kamakura from our accommodation Kawasaki city was quite empty so we fell asleep on the train.We came to Kamakura Station around 10:00 and the weather in Kamakura was crisp and hot when We reached. Kamakura is a small, but historically significant city. It was established as the base for Minamoto Yoritomo in 1180, and the government he set up later became known as the Kamakura Shogunate, the name of the age the Kamakura era. What Kamakura is really famous for, though, is the Big Buddha. We decided to see this first.

Unlike the one in Nara, it did not crouch in a dimly-lit hall, but rather sat, starkly, among the cloistered pines and distant hills. There was also no fanfare leading up to the Big Buddha. We paid for our ticket to enter … and there it was. And this is what made it so impressive. Like a mountain or a river, it needed nothing. It simply was.

 I am of the opinion that the best way to explore a city is on foot, wherein you can really get a feel of the physically geography of the area.  I'm more likely to stop and get a closer look at something when I am on foot.

 

There are tons of shops where you can easily find traditional Japanese snacks and tsukemonos nearby big Buddha. But cons is that there is scarcely any trash bins at almost every touristic place in Japan, Kamakura wasn’t exceptional. So we had difficulty in throwing rubbish when we ate up something.

As we walked less than 1Km along the easy flat walk from Kamakura station, the torii came into  sight. As you enter beneath the larger torii gate of Turuoka Hachimangu making the scared ground of the shrine you cross over a bridge and once you inside if you again heard over a bridge to the right there are two ponds. 

 

Tsuruoka Hachimangu is one of the temples I had been dying to see in person ever since I was 18. Although my pre-research warned me that crowds swarmed the temple on weekends, I saw people here and there, not many turists than I expected. This might have been due to our timing, it was lunch time when we reached there, but I myself think the torrid temperature was keeping people away. 

The temple was architecturally impressive in addition to its cultural value. Although the main temple looks similar in style to the one seen at Kyoto, the gate gardian at a temple would normaly be the slightly scary looking. And the red color is relatively deep as you can see, which I thought to be more pale. It made this temple conspicuous.

Sitting down on a busy train we chewed the fat concerning our plan because we did not have specific plans about how long and where to go after Tokyo and Kanagawa trip. Eventually, I reached the same conclusion as gonca that the next destination is Yamanashi.

 

 

Enoshima is located only 8km from Kamakura. I fact, I knew only a slight amounts of Enoshima, so i was looking forward to the trip down to Enoshima and wondering what the day had in store for us. When we first arrive onto the island there's a small town containig the Onsen bulding on the far right of the photo above, a variety of places to eat and many sourvenir shops.

 

There is a day pass you can buy for 1000 Japanese yen which lets you use the escalators cutting out a lot of the hill climbing and gives access to the observatuon tower. Alternatively, you can pay for tickets to only the parts you want to access. In this way, elevators that carry you up the northen side of the island that do chearge a small fee, 300 yen each. We used it only one time when I fed up with climbing by foot. If you have limited mobility this may be a bit difficult to climb up a mountain without using escalators but otherwise it's feasible.

 

After exploring, we ate dinner at the same Izakaya and headed to Yamanashi and Nagano.

Two day trip to Tokyo

Home to more than 13 million people in the prefecture, Tokyo is an incredibly fascinating city of culture, people, skyscrapers and intriguing anime phenomenons. My girlfriend gonca and I came to visit to Tokyo for two nights. She wanted to stay one or two nights longer than that but she eventually deal with my opinion that we should leave early if we place far more value on visiting more prefectures in Japan. Of course,  if it is your first time to Tokyo, you will need at least 3-4 days to see all this city has to offer. Either way, I'm going to upload some of the pictures I took throughout our stay.

Day 1

Getting around Tokyo is incredibly easy once you've got the hang of it. This Tokyo subway ticket covers all of the famous neighbourhoods to visit. It is entirely possible to stick to the subway without using any other transportations. A day pass costs 800 yen( A child age of 6-11 is a half price), two day-1200 yen and three day-1500 yen. it allows for unlimited travel on the Tokyo Subway for that day. We bought two day pass and decided to use it to the maximum possible level.

We base our accomodation on Kawasaki, roughtly 20-minute from Tokyo because we were planning to visit to Kamakura and Enoshima as well. After quick breakfast, We headed to the subway and towards Asakusa. When you get to Asakusa, you pass through Kaminarimon gate, which is guarded by two protective deities, Fujin and Raijin. Bear your mind that you want to get here early if you want to get pictures with as few turists as possible in front of the gate. We got there around 10 am and there were already a bunch of tourists.

 

Past the gate is the Asakusa Shopping Street. It has plenty of small souvenirs for those who don't have a lot of room in their suitcases. Gonca bought a Ramune drink( it's called Soda, one of the famous Japanese beverages) she had been dying to try. There are also plenty of shops with bags and other bigger souvenirs. If you are ready for a snack by the time you are making you way back towards there, you can try a few different flavour of snacks that you can not find in your country.

I'm not sure of its technical name. At the water statue, you can fill up a cup with water and make a wish while pouring the water onto your hands.

The Asakusa was absolutely undoubtdly amazing. You are not supposed to take pictures of the innermost part of the temple, but of course, I did not see the sign until after I had taken several pictures.

 

We managed to make our way to Ueno park after asking some of the walkers passing by, how can we get there?. The park was outstanding, even on a hot summer afternoon. There were a few small temples and exhibits inside of the park but be cautious that the exhibits are temporary and cost money to enter. The temple we entered was not crowded while there. The views of the nature inside the park had me hypnotized. I am a lover of mother nature, especially trees and rivers. This is a turist destination, so it is difficult to take pictures without people being in the background. It is possible to get some good shots though.

We are noodle for lunch 

Akihabara is known as Anime twon, well, its true. but more importantly, you will be able to find any kind of electoricity items at a relatively cheaper price. As gonca wants to try,  we entered one of the Meido cafe( As far as I can remmember, We paid 1000 yen for 30 minutes per head and Gonca asked a staff to take a picture together, it turned out 1000 yen just one picture, ,, creepy).

Day 2

 

 We were planning to get up super early but gonca overslept as always. When we arrived in Tsukiji Market, which is one of the main sights to visit when in Tokyo, it happened that the market was about to close. We should have arrived before seven in the morning to see fish coming in, the tuna auctions and so on. We arrived in the area late and were told you are too late to come. But thanks to a staff working in the market we realized some parts of markets were still up.

It is very easy to find your way in and it’s very huge inside. I guess when gonca thinks of Japan, she expected everything to be modern and super clean, Tsukiji market is at the other end of the scale, messy, busy and wonderfully authentic.

Note: People at the market are here to work, and they will very directly let you know if you are annoying them or on their way. 

The scenes inside are very ‘real’ maybe a little too much for some. Sometime you forget that there was a very alive giant tuna behind you.

It is good sometime to just see the process behind some of our food, so that we are all a little bit more appreciative and mindful when we eat something 

Harajuku Takeshita Street. It’s super busy, and sadly also home to a big squad of African guys trying to sell shirts at a pretty expensive price. they are literally the only black guys in the entire neighbourhood, and will most likely make an attempt to grab your arm to start selling you whatever it is.

We were big on the IZAKAYA( Tengu Sakaba)  we accidentally discovered on our way back to our accommodation. 

We left for Kamakura next day that I’m going to have a blog post up anytime soon.

あまりにも無頓着過ぎないか

2017年も間も無く終わりを迎える。この一年を俯瞰すると、日本は何度か選択を迫られる機会があった。その中で５月１９日に強行採決された共謀罪について書いていきたい。

2017年５月１９日、衆議院法務委員会で共謀罪が強行採決された。中継で流れた国会の様子は、まるで中学校の学級崩壊のように思えた。大きな声と人数で押し切れば、どんな乱暴な意見でも通る国になり下がった瞬間であった。

共謀罪はそもそも、２７７ある行為を未遂の状態で逮捕できる異例の法案である。それなのに、審議にかけた時間はたった３０時間超。「疑わしきは罰せず」の原則どころか「疑わしき」を積極的に逮捕しかねない法案の審議に費やす時間としてはあまりにも短くはないか。だが、問題の大きさに比べて運動の火種は大きくはなく、採決から半年を過ぎた今では、ニュースではほとんど触れられずに完全に鎮火に向かっている。

上から「こう決まったから」と言われたら、納得していないのに服従することに日本人は慣れてしまっている。あまりにも物分りが良すぎないか。それが「奥ゆかしさ」という美意識だという人もいる。

メディアの姿勢もそうだ。NHKが共謀罪についての賛成派と反対派の代表的な意見を取り上げた中に反対派は「共謀罪が何か知らない」という前置きがあった。公共放送なのに、国民をミスリードする情報操作を行い、政府の広報のようになっていた。むしろ共謀罪について詳しく知れば、賛成できなくなるはずであり、「共謀罪の内容を知らない人間のみが反対する法案」というイメージコントロールは非常に悪質過ぎはしないか。

今後研究者を目指す人の態度についても触れたい。今回の法案の採択を受けて、少しでも反対の運動や姿勢を示した人はどれくらいいるだろうか。またその運動や姿勢は現在も続いているのだろうか。私は友人達に「SNSなどの媒体を使って共謀罪反対の活動を行わないか」と声をかけた。だが彼らの反応は鈍く「政治的な発言は控えるようにしている」「意識が高い人間に思われるのは避けたい」と言う。けれども、みんな学者になりたいと思ってる。

学問で身を立てようとするとき、机の上の勉強と実社会が離れていることがあり得るだろうかと疑問に思った。研究者は、ただ知識があればいいのではなくて、それを社会へ還元することが求められているはずだ。行動を起こさず、「後は野となれ山となれ」という諦め姿勢と、本当は色々考えているのに、何も考えていないように装う研究者に、一体何の価値があるのだろうか。

5th anniversary of the horrible incident.

On Frieday the 14th December 2012 was and will always be known as the darkeness  day in the history of the US.

I am going to put it out there streight away, I do not think killing someone would be fun. However, events like Sandy Hook haven't stopped happening, They've only become much more frequent. And nothing in US has changed for the better. Yes, I can imagine it's glorified in the films who blow people away with consummate ease, we even stimulate it ourselves in video games but I still can not think actually viscerally murdering someone would particulary be an enjoyable experience.

On frieday the 14th December 2012, a young man, already formally identified as Adam Lanza, got his hands on this mother's legally owned and registered firearms, shot his mother and heared to Sandy Hook Elementary School. He used a high powered rifle to murder twenty children between the age of six and seven and a further five adults before turning one of the guns on himself.

Since then the rethoric has been endless. Those who favour gun control have argued that surely this event, the last in a long line of similar massacres, should lead to increased legistlations, those who favour packing heat have given the usual barrage of excuses. They have claimed that they need their own wearpons for self defence, that they like to hunt ( and given the nature of some of the high calibre assualt rifles and various other semi automatic that are readily and freely available in the US I as a Japanese can not help but wonder what exactly they are hunting for?) that people who want to break the law still will. And on and on and on. Excuse after excuse after excuse.

Because that is all that they are. Excuses. Nobody needs to own a firearm. If people want to hunt then they should have to join registreted hunting clubs or comunities where all weaponery is checked out and returned to a centralized armourary. The self defence excuse doesnt rational because countries that have prohibited gun control have fewer or zero instances of gun crime and so the need to defend yourself against an assailant carrying a firearm is much deplated. There is no reason to be understood unless, your house is surroudning by ravening hordes of zombies, just wondering who or what exactly are Americans defending from?

The only excuse given thus far that carries even a modicum of credibility is the issue of mental illness. Now, In US, Not all perpetrators of gun crime suffer from a mental illness that seriously impairs their ability to judge and moderate their actions but some do and there are some serious issue with respect to the treatment and identificaton of mental illness to be raised from such incidents. However, to even attempt to make these incidents about mental illness is a horrible, isolating and debilitating thing to suffer from and it deserves its own forum, but, and this is easy acquisition of firearms that is the issue at play. Needless to say, people suffering mental illness that do not have access to firearms do go out and commit violence against both others and themselves, but the scope for destruction is radically decreased. Had Lanza walked into that school armed with any weapon other than firearms would 27 people be dead then? it is unlikely. Without access to firearms would men like Lanza even attempt these act, for the most part, I again, think not.

I do not know why the vast majority of Americans are so attached to their guns. As someone who grew up in a country with no gun available its not a mentality I understand. Maybe its fear? or maybe it makes them feel more important? or they are purely constitutional pedants? but the fact ofthe matter is that the current law acrros the US are sinply not fit for purpose and people are daying  as a result. And I will say this and I believe it wholeheartdly , those Americans who believe in loose gun control and the availability of automatic weapons are complicit in these acts. Every excuse that the pro gun contingent make is a spot of blood on their hands. Every person that cites their Second Amendment rights is in some small way culpable. You have placed far greater emphasis on the lives of your children and there is no condoning this.

I know that this rant will not acomplish anything other than giving me a chance to vent. I know that if you disagree with anything I have said, you either have not gotten this far in my blog or you will just read and stay quite.

One last thing before I finish, I recoginize how strong the American influence is. As a person periodically having to explain why US does certain things, I am disgusted that while many indivuduals think this issue matters, there are second ammendmenters who loudly scream any effort to prevent violence is an infringement on their rights. I am utterly disgusted that on the national level, protecting guns is more importatnt than protecting people. Many argue with the way I phrased it, but, from my point of viewm that is what this issue seems to be.

When laws were not passed after Sandy Hook, the US said that it was more importat to have guns, than to protect children. I am disgusted. this rant is long