Another 2 weeks off...(or, 'back to the old country')

The rollercoaster that has been 2006 continues unabated!

Last week, I returned to Japan after a sudden and unexpected fortnight in the UK. It was my first trip back there in about two years (the longest period of time off the island so far), and involved trekking across quite a large amount of the country. I was in London about three times, in Brighton twice, Shoreham too, plus North Yorkshire and the Welsh Valleys. A very British odyssey, it turned out to be too.

I managed to catch up with many people there, friends and family alike, which was the best part of it all. It was quite a strange trip though, as it reminded me once again what I loved about the place and why I left in the first place. Coming to Britain from Japan can be quite a surprise as much about Britain simply doesn't work as well as Japan. The trains trundled, slowed down and sometimes stopped completely, as they always did. Traipsing around London with a suitcase was a drag as escalators seem to be in short supply on the Underground (I felt for the mothers with pushchairs or the people in wheelchairs who have to do it evey day). The pavements are not as smooth to walk or wheel something on as the asphalt sidewalks here are. I was reminded of Britain's 'can't do' culture, which can cancel out some of the nostalgia felt for the place. I won't even get started on trying to make a telephone call and reaching an automated limbo land or a callcentre in Bangalore.

Nevertheless, there is no green quite like that of the pleasant land of the English countryside - a place that can veer between the most beautiful and bleakest of places to be even within the space of a day.

There was the strange dual feeling of fitting in and not fitting in at the same time. As usual, time doesn't really permit me going on into too great a detail about the whole trip here, so instead I'll let a few images from the journey do the talking instead. The following series of pictures are amongst those that will be added to the 'Images Of Britain' album over on my Image Gallery - when I get the chance to do so.

Bicycles outside Brighton Station


York Station, on the way up North


Railway arches beside Scarborough Station


Cloudscape at dusk over the North Yorkshire Moors


Throxenby Mere, North Yorkshire


Pub sign for The Leeds Arms in Scarborough


Anne Bronte's grave, Scarborough


Fish 'n' chips in Scarborough


Scavenging seagull, after those fish 'n' chips


Buckets and spades, for beach fun


Sticks of Scarborough Rock


Back in London, at Baker Street Tube Station


Welsh sweet shop


Back alley in a Welsh valley


Washing line, complete with clothes pegs


Shadows across the platfom of Hove Station

Pissing rain at Heathrow, prior to departure

2 weeks off...

As those readers who know me will probably already be aware, 2006 has been a very full and hectic year in many ways. It was therefore with great joy that I grabbed a couple of weeks off this month for my summer holiday. No going abroad this time, but I received my first family visit here in Japan. Along with the missus, we all managed to get some quality time in, relaxing, sightseeing and hanging out within and around Tokyo.

After a while, even when you live in a completely different place to the one you started in and no matter how exotic or different it may be, you get used to it and it becomes your regular routine life again. With this in mind, it was great to be able to look at Tokyo as a visitor or outsider again, as opposed to being just another runner in the wheel.

Below are some images and comment about a few of the highlights of two weeks off in Tokyo...

A few days into the break, I got to tick one of those 'must do before I die' experiences off the list along with throwing a big surprise on the folks. For between roughly $60-80 each and running in at a mere 15 minutes that could have gone on for much, much longer, we all took a sunset Helicruise over Tokyo.

It was quite an incredible sensation, floating in a bubble over a vast sprawl of cityscape as the night lights began bursting into show. I felt lightheaded without being dizzy and entranced by the perspective that it afforded over the city I currently call my home. All the way back, everybody seemed to share the same sensation of feeling somewhat elevated.

The tour operator doesn't permit photos during the flight however, so I've illustrated it with a picture from their website. The image depicts the heliport at Yokohama, where they also operate tours.

Speaking of Yokohama, above and below are a couple more images from Japan's second biggest city, the first day trip we took together.

I love Yokohama. The streets seem to be much wider than in Tokyo and somehow, whenever I go there, there's always beautiful weather and the bluest of skies. This time was no exception.

The Landmark Tower is a great place to take guests and visitors to Japan. At 70 stories high, it is Japan's tallest building and offers incredible views of Yokohama and Tokyo from the 69th floor Sky Garden. Above is a view from the ground, below is a view from the top, including the shadow that this beast casts over the bay. While it has now been surpassed by the one in the world's current tallest building, the 1667-ft, 101-story Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Landmark Tower once boasted the world's fastest elevator, which takes 40 seconds to get to the top.

A substantial focus over the last couple of weeks was on visiting as many Japanese gardens as possible, both for my mother's gardening research and a great opportunity for us to get some green air into our lungs and me to let the weight roll off my shoulders.

It does put a very different spin on the carpet of concrete that Tokyo can be if you let it. There are many parks and gardens all over the city, some big and bold, others squirrelled away on a back street somewhere.

We visited 4 in total: Shinjuku Gyoen, Tonogayato Teien, Showa Kinen Koen and Rikugi-en. The picture below is of a part of the Japanese Garden that is featured in Shinjuku Gyoen. It also has English and French style gardens too, and being in the heart of the city, makes for a very pleasant escape amidst the skyscrapers.

Below is a tunnel constructed from strips of bamboo at Tonogayato Teien, in my neighbourhood of Kokubunji. Japanese gardens make very good use of bamboo for all manner of features and structures.

Halfway through the fortnight, the Peace Not War Japan/Dynastic Records CD release party was held at Super-Deluxe in Roppongi.

A watershed moment of sorts for PNWJ, it turned out to be a most enjoyable event at a great venue, and included acts featured on the CD, belly dancing, a peace fair with local NGOs and a very talented VJ for the visuals. I made my live DJ debut as Control K, there were also DJ sets from Bhang Lassi and Young Jeff of Quante Jubila. Live acts were Cheryo & The Berovolas (depicted below, with whom I also sang 'Imagine') and KP, who were one of the highlights of the event for most people.

With a reasonable turnout too, all who attended gave me very positive feedback about it, which was almost a relief! Hopefully, it'll turn out to have been the first of a number of great music events for peace in Japan...

After finally getting some much needed sleep, with the launch party out of the way, it began to rain. This pretty much put paid the intended week's worth of hiking and required a set of 'rainy day in the city' activities. Fortunately, Tokyo's very well equipped in this department and has a wide range of fascinating museums to discover.

The highlight for me was the National Science Museum, that includes probably the most incredible array of fossil specimens of dinosaurs and other long-extinct beasts I've ever seen. The Tokyo National Museum is well worth a visit too, for learning all about Japanese art and archeology and which also includes a range of other Asian relics and treasures.

By Friday, the rains had cleared sufficiently for a trek out to the nearest peak, Mount Takao. 599m above sea level, it's one of the closest natural recreation areas to Central Tokyo and has a temple near the top.

Shortly after beginning work on PNWJ, I picked up a partner to help on the project. While he was a great guy and very keen on what we were doing, I had the feeling that we'd not complete the aim of releasing a CD together.

One day, we planned a trip to climb Takao. He arrived at the train station late, having been at a meeting in Shinjuku in the afternoon, and I looked at the climb as a metaphor for whether or not we'd be able to meet our aims together. Needless to say, it got too dark to continue before we reached the peak and we had to abandon the climb. I took this to be a sign.

He's back in England now, having been round the world on Peace Boat since. I stayed here in Tokyo and carried on with the peace project. Now, the CD is finally released and I climbed the mountain too.

The picture below is a forest reflection in a pool that gathered between some of the tree roots which line the paths up the mountain.

The parental visit and my summer holiday ended with a weekend visit to the region that includes Japan's most recognisable icon, Mount Fuji, and the Japanese Lake District that surrounds it. It was my first time on Fuji, having only experienced it from a distance. We only drove up to the 5th station instead of actually climbing the thing, but still managed to get some pretty remarkable views from there. The picture below shows some of the mists that were shrouding the peak on our visit.

Another view from the 5th station (shown below) depicts the ocean of cloud that spread between Fuji and other neighbouring peaks. Definitely a most mystical sight.

On the shores of Kawaguchiko (Lake Kawaguchi), we happened to come across the curious little museum named ArtGaia, that had a very modern Japanese set of exhibits going on, including a live 'graffiti' artist drawing fascinating cartoons on the walls and a major themed exhibition that seemed to be about the dog that belonged to a socialist Czech playwright from the 1920's...

...above is a back shot of me watching a film about the dog, and below is a shot of Tomomi from above, possibly watching the same animation.

These interesting little creatures seemed to be all over the museum too, hiding in corners or loitering in window sills - headless wire and wool sheep.

Now, the folks have returned to England, I'm back at work, autumn is upon us, and we're collectively hurtling towards the end of the year. Where on earth has this year gone?

Hope you had a good summer, wherever you are and whatever you did...

'Peace Not War Japan' CD: Released today...

After two years work on the project, the 'Peace Not War Japan' compilation CD finally hit the stores in Japan today. It's a great relief to see it having actually reached this point, yet now the energies and concerns switch to promoting it and hoping for a good response from the Japanese public!

It's also the first time that I've managed to get a music product into any store. The first two or three were made at home, then mailed out to friends and family. The fourth one was made available only through a press on demand website, based in California. This one doesn't actually contain any of my own music (unlike all the others), but I'm very proud of the material that we've managed to gather for this collection and consider it to be of a very high quality.

Below is most of the text from the International Press Release:

JAPANESE ARTISTS CALL FOR PEACE

New CD brings creative responses to troubled times

August 2006, the month of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki anniversaries, sees the Japanese release of a collection of artistic voices that are calling for an end to war and for peace in our time. This unique collection, released on Dynastic Records, is titled ‘Peace Not War Japan’ (PNWJ) and is the first compilation of contemporary Japanese peace music.

This CD sees Japan joining an international coalition of artists and activists who are opposed to the rise in global conflicts in recent times and who are redefining protest music for the 21^st Century. Acts such as Soul Flower Union and Dry & Heavy join with the likes of Jane’s Addiction, Public Enemy, Billy Bragg and Michael Franti. It also provides evidence of a new consciousness about peace and global issues amongst young Japanese people.

The artists, both well known and unknown, come from across Japan (Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Okinawa, etc) and unite around themes of peace, the horrors of war and other social issues facing the modern world. The collection also spans many genres, taking in rock, dub, breakbeat, hip-hop and others.

The PNWJ Project was founded by Dom Pates, a British musician living in Tokyo, who wanted to spread the message of peace in Japan and bring Japanese artists to this global platform. It is a collaboration between a range of international groups and Japanese volunteers. The parent organisation, Peace Not War (PNW), is based in the UK and Tokyo’s Dynastic Records made the Japan CD release possible.

PNWJ’s mission is to raise awareness in Japan about peace and war, and to nurture the grassroots of the Japanese peace movement. This will be done by donating proceeds from the sale of CDs to non-violent groups working to end war and create global peace. Peace groups will also be able to sell the CDs themselves. This DIY method of fundraising enabled PNW to donate over $100,000 to the global peace movement.

Japan has contributed much to the cause of world peace; the lessons of the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) and Article 9 of their Constitution (which forbids the country from the use of force to resolve conflicts), Yoko Ono & John Lennon’s 60’s global advertising campaigns (‘War Is Over, If You Want It’), popular opposition to the Vietnam War, and the creation of Peace Boat, an NGO with consultative status to the UN which takes a passenger ship round the world on educational cruises.

Now, with ‘Peace Not War Japan’, it makes a new contribution – its own soundtrack for the contemporary global peace movement. In this practical resource that can also be danced to, the pulse of young Japan’s fears, concerns and anger about the current state of the world can be felt, plus their suggestions for a way forward.

About PNW (UK)

PNW is an established and UK-based collective that promotes pro-peace/anti-war music by internationally renowned and independent, grassroots musicians, and raises consciousness about peace-related issues. It also acts as a fundraising organisation for groups working in the global peace movement.

By releasing CDs, and organising and promoting live concerts, these objectives are achieved. The CDs have so far been sold in over 20 countries. In addition, PNW has a website loaded with resources, including a large Online Jukebox and a global Peace Group Search Engine.

For more information about PNW, please go to www.peace.fm

The End Of Irony?

I've been moving house this weekend, amidst the demands of the pending PNWJ CD release, and today also turn 35. It's been a headlong rush to this point and has led to great neglect of this 'ere blog, but I guess that sometimes that's the way it goes. I always tend to begin regular diary entries with an apology for not having written for so long too. If only days were 36 or 48 hours long, then perhaps more things would get done (and maybe more people would drop dead of exhaustion too)...

American satirical pianist Tom Lehrer once famously claimed that political satire was made obsolete by the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger. I was reminded of this little gem when reading this morning's Guardian to find that George Bush's summer reading list has just been made public (seemingly an annual tradition, and maybe designed to cultivate an intellectual image for a notoriously unintellectual man).

Perhaps expressing his concern at the idea of it in the picture shown above, Albert Camus's 'L’Étranger' has apparently been giving our George a little light reading pleasure in his leisure hours away from the busy task of running the world in the early 21st Century. The tale famously tells the story of an alienated man who commits a murder on an Algerian beach and waits to be exectuted for it. The murder victim in question was of Arabic descent and the novel inspired The Cure's early track 'Killing An Arab'.

What can I say? One can only really comment that the mind boggles over what went through Dubya's head as he pored over that particular tome.

Thoughts and comments invited, of course...

"For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate."
Excerpt from Matthew Ward's translation (of 'L’Étranger')