Hitch Hiking to Nagano

Yesterday I hitch hiked to Nagano! I was terrified before I left that I wouldn't have the nerve, that noone would pick me up or that I would get stuck on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere. None of these things happened! In fact I had lots of luck.

I got up really early after a late night of checking and rechecking maps after getting back late from drinking and eating with friends in Koenji (missed the last train and had to get a taxi part of the way home). I caught the train out to Tsurese as instructed by wikitravel's hitch hiking in Japan page and then got the bus to the Saitama Central Hospital. It was easy to find the service entrance to the Expressway Service Area nearby and I walked past the security gate without a glance. Once inside I pulled myself together mentally and then went out to the on-ramp, stood in a safe place next to the traffic and put out my thumb! I held up a sign saying `I can speak Japanese` once again following the wikitravel page advice and within a few minutes I got my first ride.

Mr Watanabe, a painter by trade, was making his way to Niigata but when he asked me where I was going he actually completely changed his route to drop me off in Nagano. I didn't fully realise this til we were on our way or I might have insisted he not do so but as it was he seemed happy, I was very happy and apart from the strong smell of paint fumes I had a comfortable ride to Nagano. Mr Watanabe was very friendly and conversational. I only understood about half of what he said but when I didn't understand a simple `is that so` seemed to do the trick. He told me a lot about his life over the 3-4 hours we spent together and I came to like him very much. He insisted I have his orange juice which was lovely and cold in the hot, steamy weather. Mr Watanabe told me he actually has very few Japanese friends and that most of his friends are foreigners. He goes to Myanmar every year to visit a Burmese friends who used to live in Japan. He was very critical of the Japanese culture of working all the time and claimed that in all of Asia only Japanese were stupid enough to work all day outside even when the sun was very hot. As a painter he works six days a week in order to make enough money to get by but he didn't sound too happy about it and at the age of 72 it's no wonder.

When we got to the Service Area just before Nagano Mr Watanabe dropped me off. I am sure he would have happily taken me into the town but Japan's expressways are toll roads and in leaving the expressway early he would have incurred much more fees to get to his final destination. He was going to Niigata to visit his parents' grave and to leave an offering for each of them of a bottle of sake. He invited me to have a cup of coffee with him at the Service Area, which he paid for, and he then proceeded to tell me the most interesting things so far.　He told me that as a child he remembered the American war planes dropping bombs, looking like fireworks in the night sky. He told me of his elder brothers, all three of whom had gone off to the war never to return home. I asked him if he was afraid when the air raids were going on but he said that it was a different sort of feeling and that he had been hiding in a hole under the temple with his parents at the time. This is the first time since I have been in Japan that someone has brought up the war and certainly there own experience of it. I was very grateful to Mr Watanabe not only for giving me a lift but for sharing so much of himself with a perfect stranger.

Once Mr Watanabe had left I had something to eat and went back out to the on ramp to try and get my next lift. I was only a few kilometres from the Nagano exit so I was worried that noone would be exiting there after stopping at Matsushiro Service Area, why wouldn't they just keep going? There were far fewer cars than at the Saitama Service Area I got my first lift at and noone seemed to be stopping to ask me where I was going. Eventually a bunch of young people in a minivan pulled over and asked me where I was going but when I told them, Hakuba, they laughed and told me that I was on the wrong side. I didn't really believe them but given my luck so far I decided to have a look. I wandered around until I found a back way into the other service area and walked around trying to work out where it was. I decided that I was in fact, right in the first place when an older gentlemen asked me in English where I was from. We spoke for a bit and I told him where I was going and what I was doing. As it turns out they were on their way back from the very place and I had been at the right service area the first time. We talked for a bit and then I walked back around the back and back to my post. A few cars passed and then one headed straight at me, stopped and a young man asked me where I was going. I said Nagano and he said OK and I got in. As it turns out they were just driving around for the fun of it and didn't have any particular goal in mind.

My internet is about to run out so for now, this is all, to be continued.

Getting Drunk at Mt Takao

Yesterday I went up Mt Takao with some people from work. We went to sample the delights of the all you can eat all you can drink \3300 smorgasbord. I didn't realise that we were going to hike up the mountain first and forgot to allow time for breakfast before leaving the house. Needless to say I ate and drank my money's worth when we finally sat down to eat.
This is my second time to climb Mt Takao. Caitlin and I trekked up it when she was here. It is not a particularly challenging climb but the scenery is fantastic. It is really close to both central Tokyo and my place. I think it is in the north-west corner of the city. Mt Takao is really popular among day trippers and all the trails were clogged with hikers of all ages. There is a really beautiful temple near the summit which we skipped this time but Caitlin and I visited when we were there. There is a fire festival held which I hope to see. I think I have to wait til next year though.
There are numerous trails leading up the mountain. We took trail 6 up this time. Last timeI went down by thesame route. It is lined with old cedars and follows a creek bed so it is very beautiful. It passes the beautiful Biwa shrine which enshrines the spirit of a sacred waterfall under which ascetics sit to purify themselves in the cold mountain water.
After lunch we took our full bellies down the mountain by cable car and allowed our muddled heads to clear on the train. Then I went shopping and bought a new camera. I am writing this on my mobile on the train to go climb Mount Fuji with some of the teachers from my traiming group. I will post the pictures from my new camera when I get back.

BrainBusted

My brain has been well and truly busted, thanks to the BrainBusters party crew. Before I left Australia I was looking up parties in Japan and happened upon the BrainBusters website. Being in English it was easy for me to read and their parties looked good, so I decided to go to the first party I could: Sister Reality 2, last weekend (August 2-3). When I got here I bought my ticket online and paid for it by bank deposit using an ATM all in Japanese! Confirmation in hand I have been eagerly anticipating the party but unsure how to get there. The party was at the top of Mt Jyoumine in the Chichibu region of Saitama Prefecture. The directions on the website were all in Japanese and the place was only accessible by car or by very arduous bicycle (I actually met one guy at the party who had ridden from his home in Tochigi prefecture and was planning to return the same way!). Taxi looked expensive, about 5000 yen, so I wasn't sure what to do.

The party organisers promised to keep a lookout and suggested I have a look on Mixi. Mixi is the Japanese equivalent of Facebook and appears to be well used by psychadelic party people. I posted my request for a lift or taxi share and promptly received a reply from a guy called Kou to share a taxi. So, having exchanged phone numbers and made arrangements I was set! Then I got a phone call offering a free pick-up from the station, keen to save money I wanted to take it but thought I should see whether Kou could get a ride too. In the end this fell through due to Japanese/English communication problems and I met up with Kou at Minano station and caught a taxi. The taxi driver didn't seem to know where he was going and ended up having to ask for directions on the way. When Kou asked him if he had a map he revealed that he had left it at the taxi station! Still, we found the right road eventually and wound our way up the steep, narrow road to the camp ground. When we arrived the total cost was just under 6000yen or about $30 each making it a rather expensive journey but as it turned out, worth it.

Most of the campsites were taken by the time we got there at about 10pm so we had to scout around. Luckily we found a small bit of flattish ground and pitched out tents. I bought my tent the day before on a morning shopping expedition in Ikebukuro before work. It turned out to be a beautiful little tent which I think will serve me well wherever I go. It's really small and light and easy to set up. It turned out to be kind of unnecessary as I didn't sleep but having it there gave me some comfort nonetheless. After setting up we cruised over to the dancefloor and checked out the vibe. The party seemed to be kicking off and people were starting to dance but it was still early. We wandered around a bit, had a drink and Kou introduced me to some people. I started getting into the music and began to dance. I felt a bit self-conscious, as I usually do when dancing, but kept going and started to shake it off. The evening turned into morning and I continued to dance, wander around, catch up with Kou, have a drink, get introduced to a few people and just generally enjoy the party vibe. It was an intense sort of feeling though. I felt very much that I didn't really know anyone and felt kind of anxious. Being around lots of people who know each other well and are really happy and comfortable can be confronting when you are feeling isolated, nervous and afraid. Nevertheless, the pounding psytrance beat tends to reduce this problem as one just moves out onto the dance floor and keeps on dancing.

I started to explore the shrine by the dancefloor after a while. At first it seemed kind of forbidding. Red lights were trained on the torii gates and stone stairs and beyond that was very dark. As I started to notice other people entering the shrine grounds I decided it was cool and went up. I paid my respects to the kami of the shrine by bowing and clapping my hands twice in the customary way. I felt very much that the kami's presence was benevolent and that both the party and myself were being held by this mysterious energy. The kami in this case is the mountain itself which is treated as a spiritual being capable of intercession in the world of human beings. I noticed with some interest the combination of respect and disregard people displayed toward the shrine. On the one hand many, many people paid a visit to the shrine during the party and many of them bowed and clapped their hands or rang the bell. At the same time there was no problem with dancing in the shrine grounds, on the stairs or drinking and smoking in the shrine. As there was no fence there was no clear separation between the shrine and the surrounding camp ground and mountain. This is what I love about shinto, it is not really a religion and it doesn't seem to demand any particular belief or stringent attention to protocol. I observed some of the worshipers were actually teaching each other about the correct way to bow and clap one's hands at a shrine. I also realised that the obaachan (granny) who is caretaker for the camp ground almost certainly had responsibility for the shrine as well and that her approval of the party, which was of course necessary to have it there, included her approval of the shrine being included in the party. It is impossible to think of a church in Australia playing host to a psytrance party unless it was some weird evangelical thing in which they tried to use music to recruit young people.

As the dawn came I ventured up the mountain and rather than heading straight to the summit I turned left at a sign which said something about a rock and found myself on a footpath leading around the side of the mountain. As I reached the end voices welcomed me and I climbed up the chain on the rock and chatted with some partygoers who were relaxing in a rather precarious position on the rocky cliff face. It turns out that some old samurai in the Heike period (a long time ago) retreated when he was defeated in battle. I'd like to find out more about this story but for now that is about all I caught. My informants spoke in Japanese very quickly so it was a bit hard to follow. A second chain led up an even steeper piece of rock at the top of which was a sort of cave-like hollow, sanctified with a small shinto symbol. Once the others left I relaxed there a little and breathed in the beautiful scenery and moist mountain air. The humidity was intense. I headed back along the path and up the trail to the summit. It wasn't far and many people were making the same trek. At the top was a tiny stone shrine marking the summit and beside it a modern day temple: the mobile phone tower. A staircase led up the tower to a viewing platform which provided an amazing view. Heaps of colourfully dressed people were hanging out up there enjoying the morning light.

Once I found my way back to the dancefloor I began to dance once again. Kou introduced me to more people, it was easier to see them in the light, and I proceeded to spend most of the rest of the day freaking out about the fact that I was alone in Japan and alone at the party. The fact that I talked, if briefly, to numerous interesting people didn't really occur to me at the time but that is the nature of my neurosis! Again, the beauty of a psytrance party is that all of the neurosis can be channeled into the repetitive dance of the deep base beat. I danced and danced and danced and worried and worried and worried and got sunburnt and tired and sweated like a pig, took no real rest and in the end my brain was busted! Whenever I got too tired I just sat on the fence next to the dance floor and looked out over the party or the mountains and valleys below. Other times I went up into the shrine and sat with my back against the plinth of the guardian dogs and stared at the trees and at the people below. I started to pull myself together in the afternoon. I chatted to a German guy I met at a psytrance record shop called Quintrix in Shibuya and in doing so met one of the party organisers, Dana. He recognised my name from my email requesting help to get to the party. I later met Nick, one of the other oranisers and a DJ at the party and thanked him for helping me too. His set, which occurred in the early morning, was particularly good. I even met a nice brown dog who let me pet him and think about my own beloved canine.

Then the real fun began! Dana was eating udon which was made by the obaachan (granny) who manages the campground. I enjoyed my first real food in more than 24 hours and chatted briefly with some people. Then Dana said that we were going to make mochi, Japanese rice cake. Sure enough the obaachan and a man came out with a large wooden mortar, a large wooden mallet and some rice. He then proceeded to macerate the rice with the mallet for about 15 minutes. It looked like really hard work. Then the real fun began! The obaachan came out and added some water to the mix and kneaded the gelatinous ball of rice. Then the first volunteer, Dana, began to pound the rice with the mallet. Each time he pounded the obaachan would bend over (she was very short) and readjust the mass ready for the next blow. Sometimes she would add some water, other times not. She had a smile on her face but it looked really dangerous because as her head came out of the mortar the mallet would be coming down ready to strike. Lots of people had a go, including a small child. A couple of times people hit the sides of the mortar which resulted in splinters breaking off and entering the mochi. This did not please the obaachan at all. Eventually, after I had a go and went for a wander, I came back to find the mochi ready and bought a piece with some soy sauce and daikon radish for 300 yen. I wasn't really in the mood for mochi, which is super gelatinous, and managed to pass it off on some other people back at the dancefloor.

As the afternoon wore on I began to wear out. When the music eventually stopped I went looking for Kou and found him asleep in his tent. Feeling extremely anxious, tired and ready to go home I roused him up, somewhat rudely! and packed up my own gear. I was keen to try and hitch a ride back but he wasn't and out of respect for the kindness he had shown me I decided to stick with him and share a taxi back to the station. By that stage I didn't really have the pluck for hitching anyway, although Dana assured me that it was easy get a lift back from this party as he had done so before. So, we went down to the exit, met the taxi and were whisked away to the Minano train station. We waited on the tiny country train station and eventually a train came and we headed back to the city. As our train pulled into a small platform futrher along the line, who should I see but my manager from work on the other platform! He didn't see me and eventually his train came and he got on. Considering I was far out in the countryside I thought this was quite a coincidence. When I finally got home I bought a beer, a small packet of cashew nuts and sat down at my computer. I talked to Caitlin on the phone, burst into tears, whined and moaned and poured out my anxiety, carefully saved up from the 24 hours of party madness. Luckily, she ministered to my psychological hurts with equal measures of compassion and common sense and I was able to go to sleep feeling much better. My brain was busted, opened up to receive the celestial light and brought back together by the intercession of love.

Thank you BrainBusters, I'll see you in September!

Click the picture for the photos!

BrainBusters Sister Reality 2

Here are some Youtube clips from the party:

Photos of Shinjuku Demo 29 June 2008

Marching Against G8 in Shinjuku 29 June 2008

Protest statement aginst J5 police suppression - 札幌サウンドデモ7・5救援会

Protest statement aginst J5 police suppression - 札幌サウンドデモ7・5救援会

Videos of Anti-G8 Demos in Tokyo

On Sunday 29 June a demonstration was held in Shinjuku in the centre of Tokyo to protest the G8 summit. The G8 is an undemocratic cartel made up of the leaders of the world's richest nations. The leaders meeting is currently being held in the northern island of Hokkaido.

Departing

Here I am. Sitting in the airport lounge and waiting for my plane to start boarding. Everything is done. I am ready, or as ready as I can be. Now the next chapter begins. I do not feel sad, at least not yet. Nor do I feel elated. I feel calm. I don't really know what is coming. That is, I know what is coming in terms of work but not life.

I get to see Caitlin soon! It will be five months and a few days apart by the time I see her and I cannot wait.

So I suppose that that is all there is, at least until I arrive and then the journey really begins.