People Power
Today we left Osaka city centre and headed to the east of the sprawl. This area has drawn artistic souls from around Japan – and even further afield – to come and create. While their trades aren’t related to each other at all, each of them has a irrepressible creative spirit that we couldn’t help ...
For Relaxing Times…
They say in the original Gaelic it means “water of life” but in most of my experiences it’s had the opposite effect. I first tried whisky at the age of 11 during a family holiday to the Scottish Highlands. We’d visited a distillery and had a tasting at the end, during which my father snuck ...
Enter The Shadow Warriors
There’s a legend based in my part of Scotland. It tells the story of Sawney Bean, a cave-dwelling cannibal who, along with his incestuous brood, would rob and eat unfortunate travellers. The Beans, of whom there were said to be several dozen, would overwhelm the innocent passers-by before dragging them off to their dark lair. ...
The Grape Escape
Travelling south in Japan at this time of year is like travelling back through time. This morning we made our way down from Matsumoto, to cross into Yamanashi prefecture and land in Kofu. The trees are still green, some of the rice hasn’t been harvested and it’s a good deal warmer than it had been ...
Face Painting
As with most ancient religious figures, there is some conjecture about the true history of Daruma, a devout monk whose practise of extreme mediation gave rise to Zen Buddhism. One colourful tale that says once, during a nine session of staring at a wall, he once fell asleep. On waking, he was so disgusted with ...
A Dyeing Art and Miso Healthy
From the neon modernity of Tokyo and its surrounds, we couldn’t have ended up anywhere much more different than sleepy Chichibu. There are traditional buildings on every other corner, the air is crisp and clean, and we are surrounded by mountains. We have jumped out of the fire and into a cool pine-scented bath. It’s ...
Edible Art
Much of this post will strike native Japanese readers as being as obvious as the basic laws of gravity or the news that fire is hot. But then most people who visit the country aren’t native – nor are they particularly knowledgeable before they arrive. So you’ll forgive us, please, if we sound like wide-eyed ...
The Fear Factor
Anyone who’s ever travelled to a UNESCO World Heritage site knows the feeling – hell, anyone who’s ever been to any tourist attraction of any note knows the feeling. Just for a second, you wish you could have the place all to yourself. But you can’t, because the world is overpopulated, the number of tourist ...
Six Months Later – Part Two
At 2.46pm on 11th March, about half a minute into the earthquake, Yoko Matsumoto was evacuated from the third floor of her office block and into a public park with hundreds of other people in central Sendai. The world shook for another 90 seconds, glass cracking, pavements rupturing. Soon a tsunami warning would ring out. ...
Six Months Later – Part One
Six months ago, my friend, mentor and sometime drinking partner Stephen Phelan stood where I am standing now. That day in Onagawa the view was not pretty. “In the middle of town, near the seafront,a few buildings remained upright, though stripped down to red metal frames and loose hanging wires,” he wrote in a piece ...
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