Matsuyama Scenes

To finish up the blog, here are a few scenes from around Matsuyama that didn't make it into any of the earlier posts.

It took me a while to understand this promotion advertised at the crepe cafe:

As the Japanese at the bottom explains, the special price is valid on any day of the month that ends in a "9", i.e. the 9th, 19th, and 29th.  Don't ask about the comma.

This is the local tourism promotion building.  I guess "Ehimesm" is a blend of "Ehime" (the prefecture in which Matsuyama is located) and the last two letters of "tourism".  A lot of expensive locally produced products are for sale inside.  When I walked by on this day, some filming was going on.

Not even the serious business of putting out fires is exempt from cartoonification.

This cafe was located across the street from my guesthouse.  But where's the entrance?  Why is there a covered stairway leading to ...  nothing?  I never did figure this place out.

I really liked the sign on "Tsuchiya: all kind of fishes".  You may find it interesting to know that the blue logo is a stylized form of the same character (魚 'fish') that is seen in red on the sign.

This was one of my favorite signs too.  I think they are pigs, judging by the curly tails.

This is the old bathhouse at Dōgo Hot Springs, which is featured (in phantasmagoric form) in the Miyazaki animated feature Spirited Away.  Erma and I bathed there, as have emperors.

I really liked the design and layout of this Ghibli Studio store in the nearby Dogo shopping area.  (They made Spirited Away, as well as Totoro and the other Miyazaki films.)

Like I said, it's hard not to pose when you come across a giant Totoro.

This was my favorite store on the Matsuyama tourist street.  Every item in the store is decorated with a cat.

Including me, as it turned out.

This pleased-as-punch fellow stood at the entrance of a video game parlor.

This is a daily menu at one of the izakaya (small-plate Japanese restaurants) that my host took me to on several occasions.  By the end of my stay I was able to read and understand enough of these menus to order a decent meal off one on my own.

Sunset from the top of Dōgo Park (about 7:30 pm, July 15, 2010):

Not far from the hot springs, just across from the Dōgo trolley station, sits the Botchan Mechanical Clock (坊っちゃんカラクリ時計).  It was built in 1994, exactly 100 years after the old bathhouse. Every hour, on the hour, the clock opens up and displays scenes from the novel Botchan. At the hour we caught it, an elderly gentleman was putting on an introductory show. In this video (which is a bit fuzzy because of the low light) you can see little bathing figures among the scenes.

Kyoto scenes

We spent two days visiting temple sites in Kyoto. Here are a few highlights.

Tōfukuji 東福寺

Yasaka Jinja 八坂神社

This is a shinto shrine, not a Buddhist temple.  This particular bright orange color struck me as very unusual, quite different from anything I've seen in China or Korea.  But we ended up seeing it in quite a few shrines over the next few days.

Kinkakuji 金閣寺

Ninnaji 仁和寺

This temple complex is not a very popular destination, and the day we were there it was nearly deserted. It was quite lovely, though.

We had omacha tea in a somewhat barebones ceremony.

During the time we were in Kyoto preparations were under way for the big Gion Festival (祇園祭) to be held in a few days. On the streets workers were assembling large floats for the parade.

Here's a little video showing workers adjusting the lanterns in the photo above, and another group moving a large heavy post down the street.

It's hard to avoid posing with Totoro when you see him in a shop window.

Let's walk on the right!

It's been nearly two years since I was last in Korea, in October 2008.  I noticed something different on my first day in Seoul.  It was this sign, on a stairway in the Seoul Metro:

(Top: Korean, written in the Korean alphabet.  Bottom left: English, written in the Roman alphabet.  Bottom middle: Korean, written in Chinese characters.  Bottom right: Japanese, written in Chinese characters.)

If you travel, you learn pretty quickly that different countries have different walking habits, and these are generally independent of the side of the road that one drives on.  (Sometimes different cities have different habits.  I learned that when riding escalators, residents of Tokyo and Osaka stand on different sides, leaving the other side clear for those who prefer to walk on the escalator.)  Korea has been a walk-on-the-left culture.  But now, suddenly, there were signs and arrows stuck onto every pathway and staircase—not just in the Metro, but in parks, office buildings, nearly any public or semi-public space—urging people to walk on the right.  What was going on?

Over the next few days, I gradually realized that a full-scale public campaign was going on.  Posters were plastered all over the subway stations, posters like this one:

It says: "Convenient and safe walking on the right!  It's the world's, and our, walking culture."  Look at all the happy people from around the world, all walking on the right!  Say, is that Einstein?  I think it is.  He's walking on the right too!  The man's a genius!

Here's a lovely Korean family making their life a paradise by walking on the right:

What was going on?  We believed we'd solved the mystery when we learned that the next G20 meeting is to be held in Seoul.  Some government bureaucrat must have woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, contemplating the image of the French ambassador running up the steps out of the Seoul Metro station, late for an important G20 conference on tarrifs, and colliding head-on with a clean-cut Korean family walking on the left.   Sacré bleu, would think the Frenchman, these Coréens, they are backward barbarians, unfit for membership in the civilized world.

Could Korea become a civilized nation in only a few months, and be spared the humility of becoming the left-walking laughingstock of the G20?  Yes, says the Korean government, Yes we can!

"The Republic of Korea, and the world, both walk on the right!"  Note Korea proudly leading the way, with USA, Spain, Canada, France, and all other right-walking nations not far behind.

The funny thing is, of course, that the side one walks on is completely arbitrary.   The sign below yet again proclaims that walking on the right is convenient and safe -- but surely walking on the left is also convenient and safe?

Korea is a highly advanced country, with something like the 11th-largest economy in the world. It is a member of the G20.  Yet it is still plagued by something of an inferiority complex.  Will Korea be taken seriously?  Does anyone even know we exist?  How can we impress everyone when hosting the G20?  The obvious answer is to walk on the right, dammit!

Can you imagine the British engaging in a campaign like this?

Matsuyama cyclists

Matsuyama residents are masterful cyclists. They appear to be born to their bicycles, like Mongolians on horseback.

They ride on crowded sidewalks among pedestrians, down narrow side streets against car traffic, through shopping malls, over trolley tracks. Old and young, businessmen in suits, college students after class, parents doing errands: everyone, it seems, is on a bike. Despite the close quarters in which they frequently maneuver, I did not once see a collision.

Matsuyamans frequently bike with just one hand, the other being used to hold a bag, an umbrella, or a drink. I once saw a guy biking while holding an umbrella in one hand and an open can of beer in the other.

The bicycles themselves are not at all fancy. On the contrary, they are starkly utilitarian.

Most have baskets in front. The placement of the headlamp is almost always down beside the front wheel.

I like the way the basket support post wraps around the light. This placement of the headlamp is superior to placement on the handlebars the way we do it in the US. First, the light isn't blocked by the basket or its contents.  Second, proximity to the road surface means better illumination. Third, the low placement prevents the light from shining in the eyes of oncoming bicycle, car, or pedestrian traffic.

To support all of this biking, a lot of parking infrastructure is needed.  This is one of the parking areas on Ehime University campus.

Here's the covered mall in downtown Matsuyama.  Actually, I think that parking here might be illegal.

You're supposed to park your bike in one of these parking areas inside the mall, which are patrolled by guards to prevent theft.

A block away from the covered mall is this bicycle and scooter parking garage.  Note the moral monkeys, who are helpfully protecting the environment.

The moral monkeys have created a memorable acronym.  (Okaido is the name of the big street in the downtown area.)

Almost everywhere you go you can always find a few bikes parked.

This is a typical bike lock: simple and small.  It won't prevent someone from physically removing the bike, but it does make it unrideable, which is usually deterrent enough.

During the rainy season, many Matsuyama residents tuck an umbrella along the rear wheel.

Here are a few (blurry) pictures of Matsuyama bikers carrying umbrellas in the rain as they ride.

If I'd planned to stay longer, I would have bought, borrowed, or rented a bicycle.

Breakfast-o-rama

Ehime University Faculty Guesthouse breakfasts:

June 13

June 14

June 15

June 18

June 26, Taoyuan Airport, Taipei. I was trying to use up my remaining New Taiwan Dollars change, about 70 NTD (a bit over two dollars). The cheapest item available for purchase in the entire airport was a tea egg at 10 NTD, or about 30 cents.  The item on the left is a red-bean-paste-filled steamed bun.

June 29 (omu-rice)

July 8 (cha-han)

July 9 (curry rice)

July 12: Japanese breakfast at the Keikan Hotel, Kyoto (this is the plastic model)

July 13: Buffet breakfast at the Keikan Hotel, Kyoto

July 16: Buffet breakfast at the Tokyu Inn, Matsuyama

July 17: Breakfast at bed-and-breakfast on Hakatajima