So I’ve been in Nagano (not Nagoya [blog 1, 2] as I keep calling it!) for two days now. Since I got here my friend Mako and his family have just been so kind – I’ve eaten really delicious food and slept in literally the most comfortable futon in the universe. My back will be thanking me for months for this one.

This place is so calm and quiet, unlike Tokyo. It makes me really doubt if I want to end up in Tokyo – living in such a bustling mess of pollution knowing that places like this exist is going to be a challenge.

Today we headed to a small shrine which is hidden away on one of the mountains that surround the area. I saw two other people on the mountain the whole time, and I’m pretty confident I’m the first foreigner to be there. I don’t think I can do justice to the place any way but through photos. Here are a few of my favorites, the rest are available in the photo archive.

I think this photo sums this place up very well. It’s a town – people live here. But it’s a town that has been populated for a long time without destroying everything around it. I know I sound a bit like a hippy right now but just look at that mountain. That sky. Nature rules, I’m going to chuck my laptop away and fashion a new computer out of snow and wood.

Mako and I went a little way up a mountain near his house to see what I think is called Shirotori Shrine. It’s a well hidden but beautiful place, this is just one of the buildings. Based on the expressions of the people we saw on the way (not many!) I may well be the first foreigner ever to go there. For some time, anyway. Makes me feel special.

Oh yeah, it’s really cold here. But it’s nice and bright, too, so I can take pretty photos, breathe in the nice air and try to forget I have to head back to the Carbon Dioxide party zone that is Tokyo in a few days.

Finally, this was the view that greeted us from the mountain. How awesome is that? It sure beats huge skyscrapers and an overwhelming sense of dread and profit margins.

Anyway I hope I’ve gone some of the way to expressing how lovely this place is here. If you’re interested, the rest of the photos I took today are available in the archive here.

More to follow!

日本語：「明日日本への旅行が始まる」

Woooooah how time has flown. It’s been three months since university ended, and my countdown to flying to Tokyo for the most awesome year of my life has finally come to it’s climax. I’m leaving Sheffield at 11.30 tomorrow by train, heading to Heathrow and flying out to Tokyo. That’s 22 hours away. I touch down in Tokyo at midday Japanese time on September 15th. Needless to say, I’m very excited!

So what does this mean? Well it means more blog posts, photographs and videos that I’ve done before. I recently lost all of my photographs in a hard drive crash, but weirdly I’m OK with it because I have this blog, so I didn’t lose any memories. I’m determined therefore to do more in Japan and write or make a video about it. So there should be more to read here!

I’ve spent the last few days packing, preparing and saying my goodbyes. Last night was my goodbye party at university, which was great. Because I went away for a year in 2006 it’s become a little easier to say bye. Actually, I can only think of one time that somebody cried…

So anyway. Next update will be coming at you from Japan! Wish me luck!

It was just under two years ago, October 1st infact, when I wrote about the school’s 2006 festival. However, unfortunately, the various redesigns of this blog have left that post somewhat tattered. But worry not! I attended both days of the festival this year, saving you the trouble of reading that ancient post!

Pictures in this update were taken by the current volunteer Mike. They are all copyrighted and officially owned by a man he met in a dream once. If you wish to use these pictures, please jump in a well.

Some of the...more interesting dancers

I have no idea what these guys were doing, to be totally honest. Notice the guy in the suave hat in the audience too. Everyone was truly dressed to kill. Well, except the guy with the horse’s head…

外国語部's performance of The Wizard Of Oz

The English speaking club this year did a very shortened version of The Wizard Of Oz. It was great, with just the right amount of crazy and the right amount of cardboard houses. Notice Barney on the far left and Erling (current volunteer) on the right! I think being British/American is cheating in the English language club, though.

I met Junten's pet lion!

He was around two years ago, although the last time it was a male student inside. This year a girl played the role of “Mr. Lion”. Good stuff.

Sorry this update is so short, I just wanted to get one more done before my flight tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me, I should probably pack…

Ah, it’s all gone by too fast. It’s very emotional. Too emotional for text, actually. So here’s my bye-bye Japan video, for you all to enjoy and weep over.

Enjoy!

‘other‘ shrine central? Well yes! It goes without saying that Kyoto is the place to go for traditional Japan, just don’t pay any mind to the thousands of boring cement buildings that have sprung up. I don’t want to complain too much about Kyoto though as I think it’s a great place.

Anyway, Nikko is the ‘other’ place to go for traditional Japan, and in a way I think it’s better – there’s no office buildings, and it’s more out in the countryside.  Of course, it’s rammed full of tourists, both Japanese and foreign, but that’s just something you have to deal with. It’s reasonably well done – the shrine area has nearby hotels that people stay at, so if you stay in a ryokan (a sort of Japanese Inn) any distance from the tourist area, you’ll be avoiding most of the crowds. Also, you get an onsen. I was in the outdoors one when a collosal storm struck. Nothing like pelting, ice cold rain hitting you when you’re in a hot spring.

Anyway, here’s my whistle stop tour of Nikko! Hold onto your hats! Click any of the photos for a huge version.

The Red Bridge. Descriptive title!

This is the red bridge. Quite self-explanatory I feel, it’s a big red bridge! You can pay to walk across it, but we opted not to, as there was a big queue. To walk across a bridge. So we pushed on, until we arrived at the shrine complex with the other billion people who turned up that day. Can’t complain really – we were tourists just like everyone else, but it’s nice and British to do it anyway!

Probably the most famous thing we saw was this;

See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil

These monkeys are the source of the famous “See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil” saying. In Japanese they have a similar title 「見ざる、聞かざる、言わざる」 (Don’t look monkey, don’t hear monkey, don’t speak monkey) and they are very cool. The only thing is – the plaque they are on is smaller than you might think – you have to look carefully or you’ll walk right past it and miss the chance to take the classic ‘everyone does one of the monkey poses’ picture! (No, I’m not posting the one we took!)

Moving swiftly on, here’s an example of just how awesome Nikko’s buildings are.

Pagoda of Light

This pagoda isn’t even that special, apparently, but I think it’s awesome. It’s inside one of the shrine complexes, reaching way, way up, although I had a look around the net and through some guidebooks and couldn’t find anything about it. Perhaps I will break new ground researching about it!

Once you’re done with all your shrine exploring madness, but before you go back to the Inn for a good onsen soak, you could always use a…

Onsen in the street

…foot onsen! In the street! We decided to pass as the lure of a full onsen in the ryokan was too tempting, but there was another one of these near the station and that one had a really long queue! People love their feet these days!

Anyway, I hope this has inspired at least one person to make it to Nikko one day. It’s not too far from Tokyo and well worth the journey!

For more photos of Nikko, check out my collection here.