Tokyo

After staying in Izu we returned to Tokyo, so Rika could catch up with Kyoko and I could have a shakuhachi lesson with Christopher

Video:  Hannah taking the Shinkansen

 

In Tokyo, we stayed at the International House in Roppongi which is very nice and has an enormous garden.

We were just getting settled in and enjoying the facilities like the modern loos.... 

...when the building was rattled by a long earthquake.   It was only a 4.9m but the center was east Tokyo Bay so we got some good shaking.  

On Saturday we were able to take Hannah to Roppongi  to see the 'church' where her parents first met.  Unfortunately it closed a few years back and has been replaced by a new building containing a bunny club called 'zen'.

The bar next door  'Mogambos' which I visited many times and liked a lot had also closed down recently, as had many of the other iconic gaijin bars of the 1990s like Paddy Foleys.   Roppongi seemed very quiet with very few foreigners except the african touts.      

To me this was a sobering reflection of the collapse of employment of gaijin bankers and their supporting community as all the big banks have downsized and off-shored operations.  The old era has truly passed and Tokyo is feels much less international  than before.

Family Meal

After the memorial service we went for a family meal at a local restaurant.  It was quite something so I thought I'd blog about it in detail.  Even though I dont have any good photos of the family.

Shuzengi is a popular hot-spring resort so it has  many nice restaurants showcasing the superb local ingredients including fresh mountain vegetables and fungi, wild boar, seafood from the waters around Izu, and of course, wasabi.

The restaurant was a high quality establishment in the woods near Shuzengi called 'Tengu no Mori', (Tengu Forest) which even had its own hot-spring.   'Tengu' are mountain demons who live in the with crows (link).  They have big noses and ruddy complexions.

  As an aside, when the first westerners arrived in Japan there were compared to Tengu.

Picture:  Commadore Perry .  From Ryosenji Museum Shimoda


Anyway we enjoyed a lunch of 9 terrific courses:

Zensai  Mixed starter of vegetables, meats and seafood.

Otsukiru.   Sashimi of prawns and Tuna.   The port of Numazu, about 30min drive away on the east coast of Izu is a major port for tuna and prawns.  

Sunomono.  Marinated salmon (no photo)

Yakimono (fried things).  Kinmedai and scallop.  Kinmedai is a small tasty red fish that is associated with the port of Ito on the East coast of Izu

Tobanyaki.   Hotpot of pork and mushrooms

Deep-boiled things.  Porkbelly and parsnip

Tempura.  Renkon, eggplant, red snapper with almond

Sushi

 Desert.  Mango Pudding

Memorial Service

In late November we returned to Japan for a memorial service.  This was for the 7 year anniversary of the death of Rika's dad on which by some feature of buddhist accounting was held just under  6 years after his death.  It was also the 50th anniversary of her great grandfather.

It was held at the family temple Saishoin

This is the main part of the temple where Rika and I got married.

The service was held in a room at the back of the temple containing memorial tablets and consisted of chanting sutras together.

After the service we went to pay our respects at the family grave on a hill behind the village.

New tablets with the buddhist names for Rikas father and great-grandfather.

Another nice memorial was that Rika's dad is featured in the wasabi section of a book about Japanese regional specialities which was published when we were in London.

This is Rika's dad working in the wasabizawa (wasabi patch) 

Hong Kong Colonial Flag

Further to my earlier post about Hong Kong locals wearing the union jack (link), it turns out that a local pro-Hong Kong protest group has recently been using the colonial flag in protests.  Unsurprisingly this has provoking strong statements from pro-China politicians which have been prominently reported in the local press.

The Hong Kong Autonomous Movement claims that the displays of the Hong Kong British flag are not a call for a return to colonialism. Instead, they claim it is, “the defence of the lion and dragon and the blending of the East and West.” source: China Daily Mail

Protesters carry colonial flags on the anniversary of the Handover. July 1, 2012. Photo credit: AP/ Vincent Yung.

Lu Ping, former director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said those who do not recognise they are Chinese should renounce their nationality. Asked about the matter yesterday before the new Legislative Council, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying did not say whether he thought there was a growing movement for independence, but said there was no need to use the colonial flags to express discontent source: scmp

Members of "We are Hongkongers, Not Chinese" wave Hong Kong Flag of the colonial era in front of Central Government's Liason Office on 1st October 2012. Photo:SCMP

You tube video of protests link

And a cartoon from the South China Morning Post

I've not talked to any locals about this but I should say that I think using the colonial flag for protest and wearing the union jack for fashion are quite different statements.  But its interesting to see.  

And for fun, another famous image of the 1997 handover that I should have used in my earlier post!

Li Bai - Bring in the Wine

The final piece of the Xiao and Dizi concert I saw on Sunday included a recitation of Li Bai's poem 'bring in the wine'.    I didn't know this poem at the time but the subject was very clear, and I quickly found it on the internet afterwards.

Li Bai is probably the world's greatest ever poet of drinking and wrote many terrific poems about drinking (this isn't even one of the most famous).   Enjoy!

李白 將進酒
Li Bai,  Bring in the Wine,

君不見，
Jūn bù jiàn,
[sir] [not] [see]
Have you not seen -

黃河之水天上來，
huánghé zhī shuǐ tiān shànglái,
[Yellow] [River] ['s] [water] [Heaven] [on] [come]
that the waters of the Yellow River come from upon Heaven,

奔流到海不復回;
bēnliú dào hǎi bù fù huí;
[rush] [flow] [to] [sea] [not] [again] [return]
surging into the ocean, never to return again;

君不見，
Jūn bù jiàn,
[sir] [not] [see]
Have you not seen -

高堂明鏡悲白髮，
gāotáng míngjìng bēi bái fà,
[high] [hall] [bright] [mirror] [grief] [white] [hair]
in great halls’ bright mirrors, they grieve over white hair,

朝如青絲暮成雪。
zhāo rú qīngsī mù chéng xuě.
[morning] [like] [black] [thread] [evening] [become] snow]
at dawn like black threads, by evening becoming snow.

人生得意須盡歡，
Rénshēng déyì xū jìn huān,
[person] [life] [get] [desire] [must] [exhaust] [joyous]
In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy,

莫使金樽空對月。
mò shǐ jīn zūn kōng duì yuè.
[do not] [cause] [gold] [goblet] [empty] [face] [moon]
do not allow an empty goblet to face the moon.

天生我材必有用，
Tiān shēng wǒ cái bì yǒu yòng,
[Heaven] [produce] [me] [ability] [must] [have] [use]
Heaven made me – my abilities must have a purpose;

千金散盡還復來。
qiānjīn sàn jǐn hái fù lái.
[thousand] [gold] [scatter] [exhaust] [still] [return] [come]
I spend a thousand gold pieces completely, but they’ll come back again.

烹羊宰牛且為樂，
Pēng yáng zǎi niú qiě wéi lè,
[boil] [sheep] [slaughter] [cow] [for now] [for] [joy]
Boil a lamb, butcher an ox – now we shall be joyous;

會須一飲三百杯。
huì xū yī yǐn sānbǎi bēi.
[will] [must] [one] [drink] [three] [hundred] [cup]
we must drink three hundred cups all at once!

岑夫子，
Cén fūzǐ,
[Cen] [master][]
Master Cen,

丹丘生，
dān qiū shēng,
[Dan] [Qiu] [Sheng]
Dan Qiusheng,

將進酒，
jiāng jìn jiǔ,
[take] [in] [alcohol]
bring in the wine! -

杯莫停。
bēi mò tíng.
[cup] [do not] [stop]
the cups must not stop!

與君歌一曲，
Yǔ jūn gē yī qū,
[give] [sir] [song] [one] [mw]
I’ll sing you a song -

請君為我傾耳聽。
qǐng jūn wèi wǒ qīng ěr tīng.
[request] [sir] [for] [me] [lean] [ear] [listen]
I ask that you lend me your ears.

鐘鼓饌玉不足貴，
Zhōng gǔ zhuàn yù bùzú guì,
[bell] [drum] [delicacy] [jade] [not] [enough] [expensive]
Bells, drums, delicacies, jade – they are not fine enough;

但願長醉不復醒。
dàn yuàn cháng zuì bù fù xǐng.
[only] [wish] [constantly] [drunk] [not] [return] [sober]
I only wish to be forever drunk and never sober again.

古來聖賢皆寂寞，
Gǔlái shèngxián jiē jìmò,
[ancient] [come] [sage][] [all] [solitary] [lonely]
Since ancient times, sages have all been solitary;

惟有飲者留其名。
wéiyǒu yǐn zhě liú qí míng.
[only] [have] [drink] [those who] [leave] [his] [name]
only a drinker can leave his name behind!

陳王昔時宴平樂，
Chén wáng xī shí yàn Pínglè,
[Chen] [monarch] [former] [times] [feast] [Ping] [Le]
The Prince of Chen, in times past, held feasts at Pingle;

斗酒十千恣欢谑。
dǒujiǔ shíqiān zì huān xuè.
[cup] [alcohol] [ten] [thousand] [abandon restraint] [joyous] [joy]
ten thousand cups of wine – abandon restraint and be merry!

主人何為言少錢，
Zhǔrén hé wèi yán shǎo qián,
[main] [person] [what] [for] [speak] [little] [money]
Why would a host speak of having little money? -

徑須沽取對君酌。
jìng xū gū qǔ duì jūn zhuó.
[directly] [must] [buy] [get] [to] [sir] [drink wine]
you must go straight and buy it – I’ll drink it with you!

五花馬，
Wǔ huā mǎ,
[five] [flower] [horse]
My lovely horse,

千金裘，
qiānjīn qiú,
[thousand] [gold] [fur]
my furs worth a thousand gold pieces,

呼兒將出換美酒，
Hū ér jiāng chū huàn měijiǔ,
[call] [boy] [take] [out] [swap] [fine] [wine]
call the boy and have him take them to be swapped for fine wine,

與爾同銷萬古愁。
yǔ ěr tóng xiāo wàn gǔ chóu.
[with] [you] [same] [cancel] [ten thousand] [age] [worry]
and together with you I’ll wipe out the cares of ten thousand ages.

Source:  link

If you want to hear it , youtube has a recitation here  and a Taiwanese opera version here.

You may also enjoy this Guardian article on 'the plastered poetic genius of Li Bai' here.

Tsun Lok Xiao and Dizi Concert

On Sunday night I went to a concert of traditional music at the Hong Kong Cultural Center next to the Star Ferry terminal in TST.

The Tsun Lok Ensemble played traditional instruments notably the Xiao and Dizi chinese flutes.    The main soloists played 'xiao' (箫), chinese end-blown bamboo flutes that look similar to the Japanese shakuhachi but have more holes and a softer sound (link).  The ensemble seemed to be comprised of about 20 students mainly playing various sizes of 'dizi' (笛子), chinese transverse bamboo flutes (link).    Some pieces were accompanied by a lady playing a 'guzheng' (古箏) which is a chinese zither similar to the japanese koto (link).  

I had been looking forward to this concert and booked a seat in the front row a month ago so I could watch how the xiao are played.   Although the shakuhachi and xiao are descended from a common ancestor from southern China and look similar they are played differently.

The shakuhachi has just 5 holes and sharps & flat notes and microtones are played by changing the angle of the mouthpiece (a technique called meri) as well as partially covering the holes.  The xiao has 6 main holes plus 2-4 smaller holes (to play half-tones?),  the blowing edge is different, and the players don't seem to use meri.  The xiao has a softer sound and uses more fingering ornamentation.  Having said that the xiao and guzheng sounded a lot like Japanes shakuhachi and koto.

Anyway I enjoyed the concert very much.   I was the only gweilo and although the speaking and program notes were entirely in chinese I was pleasantly surprised how much I could follow leveraging my very limited knowledge of chinese characters.  

There was a nice variety of pieces which seem to be fairly contemporary.  5 of the 12 seemed to be  composed by the main solist (Mr 'something-something-stonehead', on the left in the photo above), another by a young woman who was in the audience, and some of the others seemed to be from the 1930s. 

The pieces were played as an orchestra, duets, quartets or trios.   They made nice use of slides and video images as background to the playing.   In piece #11, spring-red-flower-moon-evening, Mr Stonehead even painted a large chinese landscape painting in the background as the piece was played. 

The climax was piece #12 was 'something-something-alcohol' (將進酒) where Mr Stonehead played dong xiao  (洞簫) and recited a poem by Li Bai (李白) accompanied by the dizi ensemble.  I didn't know this poem but it was obviously an ode to drinking (酒) and came off very well.

I was intrigued that the images projected during the pieces were very much of Hong Kong rather than the 'traditional' images of 'China' that I might have expected if they had been playing chinese classics.   So it seemed to me very much a performance  of living local culture rather than mainland / imperial China.

I couldn't find much about the ensemble (in english) on the internet and got the impression they were from a music school or university and that Mr Stonehead and the other xiao solist were their teachers.   If so they did very well.

Finally, further to my observations about locals wearing the union jack, I was amused to note that that the person sitting to my left wore bold stars-and-stripes leggings, and the person sitting to my right had a stars-and-stripes i-pad cover.