The tripping continues

Actually too many great pictures and cool stuff going on this summer, and I'm far too lazy to keep up with blogging it all. Meantime here's the lake created by Torizaki dam, and the nicely hidden waterfall further down the valley.

Further road tripping

The remarkable statue that stands in the middle of a totally overgrown courtyard, with nothing and no-one around to appreciate it aside from the shrubbery. The shuttered and boarded-up temple nearby is inaccessible unless you scramble through bushes too. It's just weird because it looks like major tourist attractions look like in my head, but obviously something didn't work out from the local point of view.
While blindy stumbling through clouds looking for the noisy sulphuric vents on Mt. Esan I eventually wandered all the way to the summit. The dense cloud cover gave the whole place a very spooky feel, which was enhanced by the total absence of anyone else for the entire hike. The not-appearing-on-my-full-memory-card vents were pretty special too.
This hot spring bubbles out into the sea, and to my surprise didn't taste the least bit salty. One of the more interesting onsen I've been to.
I felt sorry for this geyser, trapped behind walls and capped to prevent people rubber-necking from the road. It would have been cool to see it before it was caged, but at least the foot-bath was nice.

First ride and Matsumae cherry blossoms

The first time I have ever ridden on public roads... the first time I've been in sole charge of a motorised vehicle, even. Well, aside from getting the bike home from the dealer, but hey. The Matsumae blossoms were pretty, but even better was the seaside view while riding, which I can't reproduce here unfortunately.

Some observations:

Nobody takes any notice of road signs.

Everybody exceeds the speed limit by a minimum of 20km/h all the time.

Cars almost invariably travel in tightly bunched packs, perhaps due to some kind of flocking behaviour or mutually assured destruction pact.

Sitting down at 60km/h is a lot colder than cycling at 20km/h.

My spine needs fixing or replacing, preferably with some kind of titanium alloy.

1000 yen (5 quid) gets me a long way.

Riding is fun! More of that, thanks.

Fukushima lady's sumo

Last year took place in the village gym, but this year we had a much better location in the grounds of a shrine since it didn't rain, though it was bloody cold at times. Twelve foreign contestants and a lively audience to cheer everyone on, including a bunch of grannies who had brought a 3ft diameter drum and weren't shy of pounding it. Everyone did well, either competing in the 'A' block and inevitably losing to the three experienced champions pictured here or getting high ranks in the 'B' block. Angela even came first in the 'B' block and received the heap of goodies on the left. Hope she found some way to transport it all back home!

'89 Yamaha Virago

Yay, bike! It's an '89 Yamaha Virago with only 1500km on the clock and in very good condition for its age. I rode it home today, and it has a good throaty feel to it and a relaxed seating position very different from the bikes I'm used to. It'll take some getting used to the lack of any visible gear indicator, fuel gauge or other idiot lights, but all that should make it a more entertaining ride in the long run!

Next step, touring round Hokkaido...

Licensed!

The culmination of a month of payments (expensive) lectures (dull) and riding (fun!).

I can now legally get myself killed riding a bike on Japanese roads; the first time in my life I've ever been licensed to drive something with a dirty, smelly combustion engine. Should be fun... All my protective gear is ready to wear, and the bike ready to collect from 10am Thursday.

I should probably write something about the beautiful cherry blossoms and weather, holiday coincidence this year but hey, it's beautiful every year.

Motorbike licenses in Japan: The course

Here's a map of (most of) the grounds of the driving school annotated with my route for the sixth lesson, which apparently I will practice on a simulator before trying for 'real'!

Maybe not as strange as it sounds at first. Up until now most of my training has been done in the top section, practising cornering and balance skills. I've been around the edge of the large rectangular course a few times too, to practice changing into top gear, and there are always half a dozen other cars and maybe one heavy equipment vehicle on the course at any given time so I'll have to deal with them as well as the course as described. I still find it funny that I'll be 'riding' a simulator before going out into the simulated driving conditions of an artificial course...

Motorbike licenses in Japan

A few facts about getting a first time license in Japan:

Most people go to large, fully licensed schools that have massive practice courses, dozens of vehicles of all types and heaps of staff.

This doesn't come cheaply, with a full car driving course costing about 300,000 Yen (1,500 quid) and a bike course costing about 200,000 Yen (1,000 quid).

A first-time driver at one of these schools has to take over 25 lectures in addition to the 20 or so practical lessons.

It is possible to go to a smaller, unaccredited school without the lectures, but apparently the pass rate is well under 20% with most people taking the test over five times.

It's all in Japanese, of course.

On the plus side, the quality of instruction I've received so far has been excellent, with a 400cc Honda bike kitted out with a few dozen different coloured lights (so the instructor can see exactly what I'm doing when) and unfailingly polite and friendly service. Which you would expect for a month's wages, but hey.

Anecdote: My Japanese is far from perfect, so yesterday when I first tried proceeding slowly in low gear by slowly releasing the clutch, the instructor walking backwards in front of the bike told me to 握って 'ni-gi-tte' (a verb I didn't know) it sounded to me like 逃げて 'ni-ge-te' (run away). I released the clutch to go faster, when he wanted me to grip the clutch and thereby slow down! He had to back-pedal pretty fast =P

Anyway, bikes are unexpectedly fun, and I'm looking forward to being licensed!

Pokemon underground

The 'stamp rally' held on the Tokyo underground network last year, complete with map, stamp book and 'mystery' stamps at some stations. Pokemon. On the Tube. Try picturing that in London?

Note the seven stamps, carefully chosen and diligently collected by a young lad and his harassed mother. I heard he wasn't able to get his first choice of Pokemon at some of the most popular stations since they were packed to the rafters with young-uns and stressed parents.

F*ing daft

I love this choice of brand name - how could anyone have not noticed it when it was launched? The choice of imagery complements it perfectly, and I saw a few one-storey high posters in Tokyo. The effing collection and basic effing are just my favourite picks. Most excellent.

New year's swim

The Hakodate 'tradition' of beginning the new year with a swim. Snow all around, a light snowfall, beautiful sunny conditions and only two people daft enough to do it in town at the time. Cold.

New Year 2008

In Japan the real parties take place during December and January, with the 'end of year' parties (literally 'forgetting the year') and 'new year' parties. New Year's Eve itself isn't necessarily a big deal unless you are young and in a major, modern metropolis.
Kasi, my new and wonderful co-worker, pours a large measure of sake in the well-appointed home of Mineko-san. Mineko was bored since her husband was away so she laid on a big spread of food for an end-of-year party and invited a bunch of random people. Cosy.
The shrine we cycled to after midnight to observe the 'Hatsumode' New Year traditions.
Chihiro and friends.
After picking out a fortune, most people tie up anything other than the best fortunes on these strings or nearby trees. I got the smallest possible amount of good luck (but not bad), Chihiro and Kasi one step better, they all ended up on here. I like the fact that people can and do draw really bad fortunes, but have the option of avoiding such a fate by tying it up in the shrine.
Having a lion eat your head is part of the deal. No-one has told me why yet.
As we were leaving we saw this group getting their photo taken by a nearby policeman.