SMAP - the ultimate forty-something boy band

UPDATE: looks like the papers called the shot a little early. SMAP are staying together but in the most unusual of fashions. Calling a press conference they appear to be more apologising than celebrating.

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SMAP are that very rare creature, a boy band that has increased in popularity with time. And it's been quite some time. Formed as a six piece backing dance, rather than singing, group for the formulated acts of Johnnys (a juggernaut talent agency, curiously spelt without an apostrophe) in the closing days of the 1980's, they didn't really hit their stride until the early 1990s. But when they did there was no stopping them. Some fifty singles and twenty albums later they are still churning out the hits.

Now a quintet of ageing forty-somethings, this "boy" band may be about to hang up their microphones and dancing shoes but it is hard to overstate their mass appeal in Japan. Even hardcore fans recognise their somewhat limited vocal abilities with their success being based more on their characters, acting appearances and multiple TV talent shows rather than close harmonies and soaring melodies. But you have to be impressed they've kept it going for over twenty five years. 

35 millions units later, the closest western equivalent would be The Back Street Boys or New Kids On The Block in their heydays. Being considered virtual cultural icons, the shock in Japan of a break-up will be similar to the news of the demise of Take That when they went their separate ways the first time back in the 1990s. And you never know, if only they could sing and speak a little English you might just have heard of Japan's most successful boy band ever. But they can't and you probably haven't.

Oishii Tokyo - the tasty way to see the town

Tokyo, in recent years, has famously become the most Michelin starred city in the world and guide books abound of the gastronomic delights available to the nascent visitor. The cost of an evening on the town can comfortably range from a few dollars to a few thousand and the range can be exquisite though in some cases a little surprising to those new to Japanese foods. You won't find whale at at every restaurant, but you just might find something still alive.

But if you'd like an experience a little out of the ordinary, something off the beaten tourist track, it has traditionally been somewhat problematic to find. The average visitor to Tokyo simply doesn't know where to go and if they stumble across a local experience they are often confronted with the immovable wall of the Japanese language barrier. Pointing at the food on the next table and giving the thumbs up helps but is only going to get you so far, what you really need is a food guide for an evening.

And now you have one. Oishii Tokyo (Tasty Tokyo) is a fluently bilingual wonderful new start up that takes the unsuspecting guest in town to locations where the Japanese themselves will go rather than just the tourists. Not just somewhere in a travel book, your guides will spend an evening introducing local backstreets and the food and atmosphere to be found there, talking about the contents of your plate and life in Japan in general. And a guest of theirs was recently seen carrying a copy of one of my books. Though I'm sure the great food and interesting conversation made up for that....

The interesting architecture of Japan

There is a Zen garden in Kyoto composed of nothing but a sea of pebbles and fifteen rocks, which are placed in such a way that only fourteen can be seen at any one time. And this begs the question whether there are actually only fourteen rocks and to enhance the experience, the story as grown with history of the additional elusive individual. But Japanese architecture is not all Zen and temples, fine as many of these examples may be.

Residential housing is typically constructed with the intention of a mere thirty year life span before being razed and replaced. Even many of the temples themselves are often demolished and rebuilt on a regular rotating basis, few remaining long enough to become the equivalent of a national treasure. Given the country's paucity to typhoons, fires and earthquakes, this could be considered somewhat unsurprising; why build for the millennium when mother nature will reclaim the work in a few short years?

Asahi Beer's head quarters in Asakusa - hmmm

Some of the more modern architecture can be of quite some interest though. The new Hikarie Building in Shibuya is an example of the work of someone schooled in 1960's London and what the discussion was at Asahi Beer, when they reviewed Philippe Stark's plans for their new "poop" building, is anyone's guess. But my favourite is the Aoyama Technical College. Constructed to resemble what is clearly a Transformers fetish and located in the backstreets of Shibuya half way to Daikanyama, it always leaves you wondering, just what is in the bubble on the top? Still, I guess I prefer a world of imagination to one of concrete high rise blocks. Like London. In the 1960's.

Aoyama Techinical College - good Indonesian next door

The Japanese elevators of North Carolina

Having recently stumbled across Steve Wozniak, an incredibly gracious gentleman, at the intro to the new Japan ComiCon, I have to admit I was a little surprised walking into my hotel in North Carolina (after a twenty-two hour door to door train/plane/train/plane/car journey) to be met by a six foot fox. And then a polar bear. By the time I checked-in and got to the elevator, which was offering free hugs, I was actually feeling quite at home. Ichibancon 2016 was, by pure chance, exploding around me.

I was actually in town for a single day for a series of totally unassociated meetings but it was fascinating to see how far and wide Japanese sub-culture has travelled. Cosplay, short for costume-role-play, is now something to be enjoyed not just with the karaoke microphones of Japan but the restaurants and bars as well. The streets of Akihabara, the old time electronics district of Tokyo, realised in the early 1990's that the geeks of the world not only love gadgets but comics and characters too. Today it is the heart of an alt-lifestyle.

What started in the backstreets of downtown Tokyo appears to have taken the world by enjoyment. The atmosphere was friendly and fun (though I must admit I was a little out of the average age group as I carried my luggage to my room) but there didn't seem to be a tanuki in sight. Maybe next time; but to the organisers of a little part of Japanese culture in the southern states of America, to which I have never been before, and to all the participants, very nicely done. Maybe Japan could learn about an elevator hug in return. Next year perhaps.

Richard Brunton - an accidental lighthouse engineer

Richard Henry Brunton was an unlikely candidate to be the father of the Japanese lighthouse. Born in Scotland in 1841, and with no engineering background in the design of the sea defences, from 1868, in little under a decade, he oversaw the construction of no less than twenty six lighthouses along the eastern coast of Japan whilst in his spare time designing the sewer system of Yokohama and establishing the Lighthouse Keepers Guild of the country to boot. 

Brunton survived into the twentieth century however his time in Japan during the Meiji restoration also saw him returning to England to host the Iwakura Mission, a delegation from the Emperor to experience British technology. Arriving in Liverpool, the forty-something strong group of Japanese representatives would become witness of more than a century of the industrial revolution. The forerunner of the trade delegation, there is a good reason why the first trains in Japan were made half way around the world.

Covering the Pacific coast, Brunton's lighthouses replaced the single story Japanese ventures that had existed to date and were constructed in little over five years from the breaking of ground in Shimoda, south of Tokyo, in 1871, something the British had been pressing both the Shogunate and subsequently the new Meiji government to complete as a priority facilitating trade with Japan. Replaced in purpose by modern satellite based navigation systems, many of Brunton's creations still stand today nearly 150 years later. Not a bad achievement for a man trained as a railway engineer.

The New Year Fukubukuro - the lucky bags of Japan

One of the traditions of retail in Japan is the New Year lucky bag, the slightly difficult to pronounce fukubukuro. A lot of fun for the consumer, retailers use the tradition to clear end of season inventory by offering a closed bag for a fixed price. Inside will be a mix of product that would have cost significantly more had each item been purchased individually. The catch is you don't know what you're getting; no peeking inside. The bags are often sorted into men's, women's and kids to make the decision lightly easier but what's inside is a simple game of chance. 

Occasionally the luck of the draw can fall to the buyer; the bag at an electronics store may contain a computer instead of a hairdryer for example. But there are no guarantees and it is usually the early bird that wins the prize and stores that are known to provide surprise offers will have queues forming from the early hours of the morning. The offers continuing until the final bag is in the hands of the hopeful consumer and the shelves are nearly empty. And it's completely unrelated to the unfortunate Japanese "Sale" sign circulating to hilarity on Facebook.

The Families of New Year's Day

It's the turn of the Monkey and a fine and Happy New Year to you all where ever you may be! Japan's philosophy is to look to the new year without holding regrets of the last and so although I hope 2015 was a good one for you, I believe 2016 will be. This morning will have seen multiple generations breakfasting together and continual television coverage of the wildly popular ekidens (short, marathon style, road relay races) being held across the land. Sake will have been sipped and mochi chewed and chewed (and chewed).

20% of all annual mail will have been delivered on this one single morning, people sending New Year nengajo rather than Christmas cards and Japan Post having stockpiled them for this special day. Traditionally not sent if a close relative has passed away during the year, today's youth sometimes chooses to mark and remember the moment rather than mourn it, sometimes with hilarious but heartfelt imagery. 

Children will have been presented with envelopes containing a few crisp new notes known as otoshi-dama, often specially ordered from a bank to ensure their pristine condition. And then it will be time to visit the ancestors with the family piling into the car and visiting the grave site where their remains will have been interred and memories recalled. And then it's time to spend the remains of the day with friends. As I say, a fine and Happy New Year to you all.