Naoshima Island: Part 1

 

Subway, Shinkansen, Rainbow Bus, and a Ferry

[ End goal: Naoshima Island ]

Norah and I left our hotel in Kyoto at 8:15 in the morning in order to get to Kyoto station to catch a shinkansen (bullet train) to Okayama in order to get to our destination - Naoshima Island. We both wanted to visit Naoshima - the island is full of art museums and outdoor sculptures and home to several artworks by Yayoi Kusama. Currently in my art classes, my students are creating paintings and 3-D sculptures that reference her work and I promised them that I would get a photo of myself in front of one of her giant pumpkin sculptures, which sits perched at the water's edge on Naoshima. 

The journey from Kyoto was such a transportation adventure that I decided to record our steps as I dutifully followed behind Norah, who had all of the correct train times, platforms, and gates tracked in her phone. Here we go.

We walked from our hotel a few blocks to catch the karasuma line of the subway to Kyoto station. 

[ heading onto the subway ]

Once we arrived at Kyoto station, Norah purchased our shinkansen tickets and off we went to find the right tracks for the fast ride to Okayama station. 

[ parsing the ticket machine ]

We ran to catch our train so I did not get a photo of the shinkansen until we arrived in Okayama. It was a very smooth ride I will say. 

[ shinkansen at Okayama station ]

Things got interesting once we arrived. We had to figure out how to get to Uno Port from Okayama to catch a ferry. There was a JR train, but it only ran sporadically and it appeared that we had missed it. The folks at the information desk pointed outside and said - "take the bus". So, we took the escalator out of the station and walked to the bus station (short walk) and found a ticket office where a very nice woman told us to take the "rainbow bus" and pay the 660 yen straight to the driver. Stand at bus station #2. We waited about 30 minutes and sure enough, the rainbow bus appeared. 

Along with a handful of other tourists and some locals, we got on the bus. I was really glad that I had a really tiny rolling suitcase. The gentleman in front of Norah had two bags, one of them giant, and he was travelling with three other people with giant suitcases. It was a palaver. 

We had no idea where this bus was dropping us off, we just hoped it was walking distance to the port. After an hour and a half of wondering, the bus pulled up a short distance from Uno Port and we got off, along with all of the traveling suitcases. We found a ticket booth for the ferry, bought a round trip fare and got in line. The ferry was ready to go. 

The ferry ride was not very long - about 20 minutes along the coast. We passed little islands all around us, working commercial ships motoring to and fro, and what I think were protected fisheries, along the way. It was a gorgeous day.

[ crossing the bay from Uno Port to Naoshima Island ]

[ I enjoyed an onigiri snack during the crossing ]

Finally, we arrived at Myanoura Port on the island. From there we caught a bus to take us to the other side of the island to our accommodations in Honmura. We hopped on a local bus that charges a flat fee of 100 yen and circles the island dropping passengers at stops along the way. We got off the bus near the Art House Project, one of the many art workshops on the island and walked through the alleyways in search of Oyajino Umi, our resting place for the night. 

[ walking through the alleyways of Honmura ]

[ Oyajino Umi ]

We arrived at Oyajino Umi and were met at the door by the owner and her cute little dog. The first order of business was to register and pay at her checkin office. We removed our shoes at the front door, put on some house slippers and stepped inside. 

[ slippers, anyone? ]

[ the office ]

This place was so cute! I loved it. We had a little room with tatami mats and futons for sleeping, a shared bath and shower, and an outside garden where coffee and breakfast were served in the morning. It was the perfect place for a perfect 24 hours on the island. 

[ our room ]

[ the outdoor garden ]

Once we had settled in, we set off to look for art. More on this in the next post. 

💛

Kyoto - The Food Edition

 

Adventures in Ramen, Tanmen Ramen & Handmade Soba

[ savouring an onigiri ]

Chapter 1: Ramen

On our recent travels to Kyoto, Norah and I managed to find really fabulous food every night for less than 2,000 yen at each sitting. On the night we arrived, we asked the young man who checked us into our hotel room to recommend a good ramen place nearby and gave us directions to one of his favorite spots. After walking about three blocks in the rain we arrived at Kiramekino Aozora in the Shimogyo Ward. 

[ Kiramekino Aozora - Shijo Muromachi ]

The glowing blue sign board and steamy kitchen on view through the window got me super excited to go in. Luckily, Norah understood that we had to actually order our food outside and pay at this kiosk before entering. We both ordered a bowl of ramen with chicken and vegetables. 

[ Two bowls of ramen please ]

We left our umbrella in the stand outside and stepped through the doorway. The chef pointed us to two seats at the counter. We sat down and I watched with sheer joy as the chef made our bowls. His work space was so tiny that only he could fit in the kitchen. He had all of the ingredients prepped and stationed in little pots, bowls, and grill pans all around him. He ladled the creamy broth, pulled in the noodles with giant chop sticks, placed beautifully cooked slices of chicken in the broth right from the grill and then swooped and dived along the counter adding vegetables and accoutrements to our bowls. It was the dance of the ramen noodles. I was beside myself. 

[ craftsmanship in a mini kitchen ]

I think within 5-7 minutes he handed a bowl of hot ramen soup across the counter to Norah and I. My noodle slurping skills are still in progress, but I did my very best to make as much slurping sounds as possible while I downed that bowl of soup. 

[ ramen extraordinaire ]

Chapter 2: Tanmen Ramen + Gyoza

Norah found a place on our second night in Kyoto that served a spicy ramen that was loaded with grilled meats and vegetables. This time we ordered inside where we sat alongside a host of locals who rushed in off the street for a bowl of soup after work. 

[ Kibaru Tanmen & Gyoza ]

Norah expertly ordered our bowls along with a platter of gyoza (dumplings) all of which I ate along with generous cups of water to allay the spicy broth of our soup. The flavors were totally different from the night before but equally astoundingly delicious. 

And did I mention that this soup was spicy? When I sat down at the restaurant I mentioned to Norah that it felt a little chilly inside the restaurant and I was glad to have a sweatshirt on. Well, by the time we finished eating I was sweating!!

Chapter 3: Handmade Soba

By our third night, I was really feeling that there was no way that we could find a third amazing place to eat for dinner. We had had way too much good luck on the first two nights. We scanned google maps looking for some options and saw this: 

[ Handmade noodles - I had to find this place ]

Norah and I hit the streets in search of this handmade soba noodle shop and our brisk walk down some dark side streets was electric with anticipation. There it was, an unassuming doorway and some sample dishes displayed in a lighted window out front. And some pink impatiens growing in pots along the curb. THIS was going to be a night. 

[ Shoraku - Shimogyo Ward ]

While we stood outside deciding whether we should just open the door or what two more people showed up and formed a line behind us on the sidewalk. We did not know what to do so we just waited. About 10 minutes went by and then the door opened and a tiny woman wearing an apron and a head scarf came outside to count how many people were waiting. She was sweet, and gracious, and apologetic that we were standing on the sidewalk waiting to get in. I was beside myself with the pure joy of the moment. 

A few minutes later she came out again and invited Norah and I inside. This restaurant was so tiny and so adorable. There were three tables hugged up against one wall and two one-seater tables lining the other wall. Every seat was taken. Our host sat us at the one available table and brought us menus and a ceramic cup with warm green tea.

[ the view from my seat ]

I did not take many pictures because of the intimacy of the restaurant, but here is one that shows the door and the kitchen from where I was sitting. The restaurant is run by the woman who showed us in and her husband, who was busy in the kitchen preparing the food. I think they are both in their late 60's or early 70's. The host asked us where we were from and was very interested to hear about Hokkaido. 

We ordered soba noodles with vegetables, tofu, and a set of tempura vegetables. About ten minutes later our host brought to our table a tray of fabulous food. 

[handmade soba and tempura vegetables ]

[ soup delight ]

[ look at the color of this pickled ginger! ]

Sharing the room that night with Norah and I was a family from Russia, a group of friends from Germany, and two solo diners from the Kyoto area. This one moment of shared experience, nourished by soba noodles carefully made by the chef and his wife, will stay with me for a very long time. When we said goodbye and began our walk home after dinner, the lights went out at the restaurant door. All noodles had been served for this night. 

 

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto

 

Contemplating the past

[ Norah making her way through the torii gates ]

Yesterday we set off early after a Japanese-style breakfast in our hotel, to find the famous torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in southern Kyoto. The shrine was built in the year 799 to honor Inari, the god of rice harvest and commerce. This shrine has hundreds of torii gates that wind up the hills to Mt. Inari.

We arrived early and walked past the throngs of tourists to head straight up the path to the gates. For the next hour we wound our way up hill past bamboo forests and small shrines tucked along the path in the forest on either side of the gates. 

Sunlight glittered through the slats as we walked and I tried to imagine a time when one could walk through these gates in silence listening to nature and thinking about the rice harvest.

[ We had moments alone to consider and contemplate along the way. ]

Later in the day we visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum. The museum is curated by a group of scholars from the Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center, who have assembled a collection of Manga dating back to the Edo era. Housed in an old school with wood parquet floors and wide granite staircases. The corridors are lined with books and school desks. Museum guests are sitting in every chair and stool available with a stack of manga at their feet reading silently. The museum is a giant library of manga filled with people reading! You can take any book off the shelves to read while you are there.

I did not take photos except for one of a series that I found from 1979 that had beautiful illustrations.

On the way out there is a place to leave a drawing and a memory of the day. Norah and I both added to the message board.

⋆⭒˚｡⋆The Trash Goblin✧˖°.

 

A special feature by Norah

 

[trying to abide by vicki's formatting]

[looove it]

∠( ᐛ 」∠)_

For twenty-two days, little piles of dirty garbage have been propping up all over the house. They wait patiently unattended until the resident Trash Goblin crawls by to snatch them. The fastidious Goblin takes its stinky treasures to an unoccupied corner and dutifully sorts them into categories for proper disposal…

🗑🗑🗑🗑

In the United States, you wail just about any kind of waste into a big green garbage bin and roll it out to the street once a week. Recycling goes out in the blue bin bimonthly (this stuff all ends up in the landfill anyways though, right🫥?). Got excess or stuff that won’t fit in your bins? Drive it to any one of those massive public dumpsters around town. Not much to it.

 

Moving into our house in Japan, we generated a lot of trash, very fast. Before we (as in I) could get a handle on the trash system here, we’d thrown everything into the same plastic bag. Containers, plastic and glass bottles, food scraps, cardboard, tissues, rags etc. all in one like the big green bin brained Americans we are. What wouldn’t be any cause for concern in the US was certainly an issue now. 

Here’s why.

 (~‾▿‾)~

An attempt at a brief breakdown of Japan’s garbage disposal system:

There are four main categories of garbage that get collected and disposed of separately here. Burnable (combustible) garbage, non-burnable (noncombustible) garbage, organic (food) waste, and recycling. Combustibles are incinerated and include waste like paper towels, paper, cloth, plastics, and rubber. Noncombustible can’t be incinerated and include metals, appliances, lightbulbs, and glass. Food waste is food waste and recycling encompasses roughly the same things as anywhere else in the world. 

 

At first glance this isn’t bending anyone’s brain backwards. 

 

Until you realise that PET plastic is different from PET 1 plastic is different from プラ(pura) plastic is different from burnable plastic and, oh, you thought paper was burnable? Nope. It needs to be recycled flat in even bundles not exceeding precise weight and size dimensions and tied crisscross. Same goes for cardboard boxes. Milk and juice cartons need the entire plastic cap mechanism removed (this goes in プラ FYI), cut open and laid flat, dried, bundled, and tied. If you think something is cardboard, chances are it’s 紙 (kami). Styrofoam can’t go in the blue bin back in the US but in Japan it’s recyclable. But keep packing styrofoam separate from styrofoam trays. For oversized items you’ll need to make some calls. Now, wanna know about steel and aluminum? 

[chef's kiss. that's some gorgeously sorted trash yum yummy]

 

To seal this magical deal, each type of garbage goes in its own designated bag issued by the town you’re living in. We’re in Niseko but if we were to purchase and use bags from neighboring Kutchan ten minutes away our garbage would not be picked up. Most frighteningly, if you’ve incorrectly sorted your garbage, it also won’t be picked up. 

[top to bottom→compost, non-burnable, burnable, recycle]

[compost bags disintegrate into liquid goop in the bin. 2/10⭐️]

 

Please, at least tell me that pickup is simple??

 

Sure. Combustible is every Thursday, noncombustible is the second and fourth Friday of every month, food waste is every Monday and Thursday, and recycling is every Wednesday. Trash needs to be dropped off in your designated shared garbage station before 8AM on pickup days.

[the pickup schedule]

When we arrived, nobody knew where our garbage station was. Not even the landlord knew where our garbage station was. He and his wife had to go walk around the neighborhood to find it. And if you think you can get away with tossing your trash in a different garbage station, think again because every garbage station has different pickup days. And if you miss a pickup day? Time to live in fear that your neighbors will know it was you who left a bag of raw chicken fat scraps in the station on a non-designated day. 

 

[the elusive garbage station]

 

[me pretending not to put raw chicken fat scraps in the station on recycling day]

This all has created a trash perfectionist in me—a Trash Goblin. Vicki, Wiley, and Tom leave their garbage all over at their convenience, claiming they don’t want to meddle in my system (which is partially fair. Because every time I look in the non-burnable can I start seeing red). But I’ve explained the basics enough times that the abandoned yogurt cups in the drying rack and the styrofoam trays on top of the toaster oven and the pile of tags and empty cookie packets on the dining table are beginning to worry me. 

 

I’m planning to make a big unavoidable poster for my uncooperative housemates. I will let you know if that quells the burdens of the Goblin or if I end up taking the mess-makers out with the trash on food waste day. 

[trash & me]

[trash & me pt.2]

[trash & me pt.3]

[it's me & trash against the world baby]

༼ ಠل͟ಠ༽

Fun fact. It's been 54 days since i wrote this and nothing has changed.

Sapporo Jazz

 Bossa Nova in Hokkaido

[ Jazz night life ]

I had read about the jazz scene in Sapporo so Norah and I went looking around the Susukino Station near Odori Park where several clubs were playing on a Saturday night. I had emailed Slowboat earlier in the week to reserve a table for the first set so we headed that way at about 7:15 p.m. We found the sign for the club in front of a dark store front so we tried the door. It was open. We went inside. There was a stairwell, and we could hear some people talking, so we went up. Nothing on the second floor. Nothing on the third floor. Then, I saw some bicycles stashed on the stairs leading to the 4th floor, so we kept going. At the top of the steps there was a door half open and as we approached, the door opened and a woman looked at me from inside and said, "Victoria?". We had arrived. 

[ getting ready for the first set ]

Arrived to a tiny room, with six tiny tables and a well-stocked bar. Five of the tables were occupied and Norah and I were seated at the sixth, in the front corner near the musicians who were tuning up when we arrived. We were handed a drinks menu by the owner, Yasuko Fukui, who had met us at the door. She and her late husband Ryo-san, who was a jazz musician, opened the club 25 years ago. 

[ so many choices ]

It did not take long for our drinks to arrive with the loveliest bowl of salty snacks and chocolates, artfully arranged and abundant. I think I gasped out loud. 

[ gin and tonic never tasted so good ]

[ a glimpse of the well-stocked bar behind me ]

The first set got underway and the two musicians played the complete Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto songbook. The guitar player, Ryoichi Hizawa and the singer, Siho Kodama, were really fabulous. They spoke to the audience between songs and paused to ask me where I was from (switching to English) later in the evening. Everyone was interested when I told them that Norah and I were living in Niseko!

[ Copa Doice sing Bossa Nova ]

During the second set, the audience changed a little. A few people left and a few arrived. A young couple from Israel who were on their honeymoon sat down at the bar, a young Korean couple sat next to us, and a guy from London, carrying his flute in a case, showed up hoping to join the set. The whole night was a wonderful moment of shared humanity together appreciating art. Such a great feeling.