Flashback 1 - Nihonkai: Akita to Kyoto
Over the next few weeks, depending on time, I will be putting up some of my notes from my trip from the north of Japan to the far west of China.
A night journey I have taken before. The Nihonkai Sleeper from Aomori down the Japan Sea Coast to Kansai departing Takanosu in Akita Prefecture at 18:14 and arriving in Kyoto the following morning. The train was delayed by 10 minutes or so by something or other. My wife and brother-in-law waited patiently just outside Takanosu Station at a little white wire gate to wave me off.
The next town down the line from Takanosu is Futatsui - the town where I lived and worked from August 1999 through August 2001. We passed through without stopping, looking out over the river that runs down from Fujisato, Futatsui High School and in its vicinity the house I used to live in. The town didn’t seem to have changed at all so it was like taking a little step back in time. Lights on in a few of the houses, a few of the local sewing factories working on into the dusk.
Then across the plains past the little outpost of Tomine along the Yonoshiro River, past the town of Yamamoto and on into the station at Higashi-Noshiro to pick up some more passengers. Near me a couple of “housewives” with their respectable clothes, green tea and snacks. And a dwarf down the way. But the train is mostly empty. I listen to some music on my shuffle. Psychedelic tunes blasting me through the quiet countryside.
It is beautiful here as dusk settles in for the night across the rice fields and the lakes and ponds turn silver with the trees and hills black ink behind them. A gymnasium pierces the pale blue sky. One can imagine the kids in there practicing kendo with sweat dripping down their faces under their masks.
I used to wonder at sumie paintings before I came to Japan. Black ink brushed on paper. Here, black silhouettes stenciled against the dying sky or, pines against the snow in winter at dusk and the paintings, they are simplicity itself. Apparent.
Woke up near Lake Biwa. Dew covered rice fields and a gorgeous sun peaking through the clouds, rimming them with brilliance. Last night I slept for a while and then, was woken by a family from Yamagata. So I got up and wandered around. I met a couple of guys with whom I chatted for a while. Both were originally from Akita, both now living away from there, and both, strangely enough enamored with China.
The first guy was in his 70’s and he seemed overjoyed to find I could speak some Japanese. He was was working and living in Osaka - what doing I didn’t ask. He had moved there, down to Kansai at the age of 18. His sister, and the family grave had brought him back to Akita for Obon, for the Japanese festival honouring the dead. He was also an avid reader of Chinese history although the differences of pronunciation of Chinese names between English and Japanese (English sounds mostly like Chinese whilst the Japanese use their own readings of the characters - and my Japanese isn’t that good) prevented us from having much of a meaningful conversation on that point.
The other guy was originally from Akita City (unlike me) but like me his wife was from Takanosu (now Kita-Akita City) and it was quite a surprise to find that out - he knows a lot about the district of Takanosu that my wife’s family is originally from. He used to be a high school teacher at Towada High School ( I know a guy who used to teach there whom I met whilst on the JET Programme) and also, about 15 years ago, he taught at Futatsui High School.
Deciding that the life of a school teacher was too hectic, affording him too little in the way of spare time he took up a position at the University of Hiroshima (or perhaps a University in Hiroshima - he was too polite to be so direct) teaching calligraphy and art history. His field of interest lay in early Japanese sumie (ink paintings), how they were introduced to Japan from China into the courtly world of Kyoto and the ensuing spread throughout Japan. We talked also about Hiroshige and Japanese Ukioe (woodblock prints) although he was rather disdainful of their popular culture roots.
Despite the delay the previous evening we made it into Kyoto Station dead on time at 6:43am. I struggled to get my pack on, then off the train to meet a couple of friends who were waiting just outside the tickets gates. Pretty special given the early hour.
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