The Trams of Kamakura

Kamakura is a wonderful coastal town roughly an hours drive to the south of Tokyo, famous for many sights, including the giant statue of Buddha, dating back to the mid-thirteenth century. The stature stands in the open, a stream of halls having been destroyed in storms over a period of two hundred years with the final one being taken by a tsunami in 1489. At this point the locals took the hint and left Buddha uncovered to smile at the stars.

Ringed by hills and only accessible by sea, from 1185 to 1333 it was also the capital of the fledgeling country until the destruction of the existing shogunate and a return to Kyoto rule. These days Kamakura is a popular tourist destination and equally popular with the windsurfers. But it is also home to the tightest electric railway in Japan. Slotted between the houses and back streets, the Enoshima Electric Railway opened in 1902, joining Kamakura with the town of Fujisawa, some fourteen stations further down the coast. 

The line, including some of the tightest turns or track in Japan, is a must for any train enthusiast but also has a completely separate influence on the town. When constructed, the railway cut directly through the residential centre, isolating many homes and the odd restaurant from their access roads. So if you want dinner, you're going to have to walk across the tracks. Not sure I'd really want to try that after a couple of glasses of sake it has to be said. However, good to know that 'Health & Safety' demurs to charm in Japan.

Back to the Future - a Car's Tale

The new Star Wars trailer may be making long-patient fans widely delirious after yesterday's launch but today surely belongs to Back to the Future, for at 4.29pm, 21 October, 2015, Marty McFly landed in the DeLorean to save the world once more. Released in November 1989, it's interesting how little, and how much, has changed since then in Japan. For example, X-Japan launched their breakthrough album and today, are about to hit the stage again.

Toshiki Kaifu became the third Prime Minister of the year and today we have stability (loved or not so loved). The soccer team had yet to qualify for pretty much anything and today the rugby team walks heads held high on the world stage. The bubble, the biggest money making scheme in history, was in full swing with the stock market peaking in the December achingly short of 39,000 but today languishes at a little over half that number.

School kids still wear the same uniform, a design copied from pre-WW1 Germany, but now they  have perfected the art of being the smartphone zombie, living in the world of single fingered interaction. Interestingly there are a lot less cars on the streets than in 1989 when a beat up Nissan Cedric was "de rigueur" for every twenty-something. But as the classic-car race, the Mille Miglia, winds it's way through the mountains of central Japan this week, it's reassuring to think that seven years from now, the DeLorean will be qualified.

Have a great Back to the Future day.

Exodus

It would take someone with a heart of ice-cold stone not to be moved by the images flowing from Europe at present as refugees pour through rapidly closing gateways. There is the greatest exodus in living memory crossing the continent with the hope of reaching the northern states and a new life. Germany is leading the way, but then again, it needs to. The German population is going into reverse; Germany needs the people.

Japan is staring the same stark long-term decline in the face, the count of Japanese citizens already falling following the peak in 2012. The government has announced a policy to ensure the population doesn't fall below 100m, from 127m today, but the problem is, the country needs people and it needs them young. And with a fertility rate of ~1.41, this is simply not happening. Towns and villages in the countryside are already shutting up shop, how long until the regional cities are forced to follow?

The Prime Minister has announced to the United Nations General Assembly that Japan has its own headcount problems and until these are resolved, mass immigration is off the table. Unfortunately the  outcome is imminently predictable; count the babies today and you know the population tomorrow.  In the meantime, one village has decided to take a stand. Nagoro, in southern Japan, is repopulating with scarecrow people. Not really sure this is a long term solution though. 

Sometimes you just get lucky

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION are a highly successful Japanese Indie band who can trace their heritage back to the days of the mid-1990's when they came together as friends at college sharing a similar taste in music. And in early 2015 they came together in Los Angeles to record their new album over two weeks of intensely creative development at the Foo Fighters' studio in the north of the city.

I was lucky enough to be travelling to California at the time with JJ, the famous Japan based music producer (you should hear his track for Fall Out Boy by the way). He knew the guys and they invited us to the studio one evening to enjoy a recording session (David Grohl was out of town before you ask). The studio was an incredible mix of guitars, amps and gold records and the recording desk itself had a legendary status having been used in the mid-seventies to lay down the tracks of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album amongst others. 

And yes, I did lay a very reverent hand upon the hallowed machine. But the story is not about getting lucky and having the chance of visiting the home of some of the world's most successful music. The point is these Japanese guys, who spoke little English, had looked overseas and taken a risk and, in the days of introspection, they're setting a great example for the youth of their home country. In the era of global communication, they're embracing the globe. And I have to admit, I like that.

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION at the Foo Fighters' studio in Los Angeles.
And the awesome Barefoot speakers in the background.

The phones they are a-changing

When I arrived in Japan in the early 1990's, the monopoly national phone carrier, NTT, kindly charged me $700 for a phone number. Just the phone number mind you, installing the line cost me another $150 and then I had to buy the phone itself. And then of course I could barely afford to use it with international calls cost around $4 per minute. Postcards became my default means of communicating back home.

Without recognising the irony, my colleagues pointed out (after I'd stopped ranting about the costs) that I'd be able to recover the $700 (or most of it) when I left Japan at the end of my secondment. None of them seemed to realise that they'd never be seeing their own money again, being Japanese, they were unlikely to be leaving. And still today, new arrivals are required to hand over this "bond" for the simple benefit of a land-line phone number.

Things started to change in on 17 January, 1995 when an M6.9 earthquake devastated the city of Kobe in western Japan and, at 5.46am, 300,000 reinforced concrete telephone polls fell over. Communications were out all over the city and the few with mobile phones would leave them on the street with a collection dish so people could make their calls. And today the market has taken the hint, NTT still charges $700 for a number, but it's becoming harder and harder to find anyone who has a home phone anymore. The mobile has taken over. And Skype of course.

Rugby World Cup - A team that chose to fight

So Japan won their third game and were cruelly ejected from the Rugby World Cup, the first time a country has lost only a single game and not continued to the later stages of one of the world's great tournaments. Eddie Jones and the team have done their country proud and set a very high bar for the men preparing for 2019 when the games will be held with home country advantage.

The loss of the national stadium, now back on the drawing board as the country re-assesses its options prior to the Olympics, is a blow but realistically it's not going to happen so let's move on. The opening ceremony will now be at the Ajinomoto Stadium in the suburbs of northern Tokyo, and the final will be held, once again, in Yokohama, a repeat of the football World Cup in 2002 though the choice of Kamaishi, in wave ravaged Tohoku, is inspiring for the pool games.

There has been quite some discussion as to the non-nationals who played for the country including the captain, Michael Leitch, who proceeded to astound the nation by conducting his post-match interviews in flawless Japanese. It hadn't been a question of Japanese or foreigner, simply who was the best man for the job. And those born outside these shores paid the highest tribute to the country they could; they chose, committed, fought for and were selected to represent this country, something I'm sure they are all very proud of now they are flying home. To Japan.

Kagurazaka - a village within a city

Kagurazaka, a small neighbourhood hidden in plain sight and tucked away in the centre of Tokyo, is strangely relatively unknown. It was traditionally a focus of manga artists and the publishing industry, boasted a thriving geishi culture and is home to seemingly hundreds of outstanding little restaurants and bars. For many years it was also home to Adidas that had set up in a Norman Foster designed building in the area (though the building is now gone, having not survived too well during the earthquake of March 2011).

Stepping off the main strip you quickly find yourself lost in a maze of narrow back streets, barely wide enough for two to walk shoulder to shoulder. The occasional geisha still frequent these alleyways as they stroll to the expensive kaiseki restaurants where they entertain the exclusive clientele throughout their meal. It's also home to the French community in Tokyo, the school being close by and the French Institute running a stream of cultural events.

Historically, the area was daimyo (feudal lord's) land to the north of Edo Castle where a bridge crossed the moat, which is now used as a fishing pool. Temples abound and the sakura, Cherry Blossom, is stunning in early spring. Everything has a story to it and even the rare tidal-flow street that reverses traffic direction in the morning (local folklore suggesting this was to allow an influential politician to visit and then quickly leave his "hobby" during the 1970's) adds to the charm. And you can walk the area in days or minutes. Up to you, but there is always something interesting to see and experience. Not bad considering in March 1945 it was a display of nothing but scorched earth.