The past few weeks have had an inadvertent - Japanese theme to it - what with a re run of U.K. motoring program - Top Gear racing the Bullet train in a Nissan Skyline , the travel show - Lonely Planet featuring - Tokyo , and the arrival of a air mail parcel from the oh so mysterious east , the contents of which are top secret and are not squid orientated you’ll be relieved to hear :)
I also saw a program on B.B.C 4 the other day which had colour photographs and black and white film of Japan in 1908 , and it was in some of the area’s I had visited myself on my travels , so I thought I’d watch it .
What did surprise me was the three or so , temples that were featured , looked exactly the same then as they did now , and a working mans out fit was identical to some guys I had been talking to in the gardens of the Imperial Palace last year.
Saying that this was also a time of change thus there was quiet a few people wearing western style clothing , which I think is a bit of a shame to be honest as I do like the traditional clothing which seems to be rarely worn in Japan today , although I did see several women in a park lat year and after a pathetic “baku guijin”( ignorant foreigner) act - I photographed them .
I think I’ll keep this program for when Atsu visits , as no doubt it will fascinate her.
This oriental theme must have been in my mind , as I was awoken this morning at three am by the oh so “delicate” sound of a helicopter , which was so low it was actually moving the trees around…………………………
Yes it was my old mates the police , who were - no doubt - chasing parking ticket evaders :) , but surprisingly , instead of being annoyed , this got me thinking about booking a trip over Tokyo at night in a helicopter - next year - talk about lateral thinking :)
Talking of choppers , I learnt yet another Japanese word today , and that is
………………..Hanetobasuis ………………….
………….which in reality is one word made up of two others and means –
…………… “to cut off someone’s head and send it flying.” .
Now I suppose the nearest English word is decapitation, which usually relates to an accidental death , but why do I get the feeling the Japanese word is probably something to do with some one violently hacking someone else’s head off with a Katana.
I suspect through my own personal experience , this is probably due to the fact it seems nearly everyone under 25 sits and reads ultra violent manga comics on the Tokyo metro , to while away the hours on the long journey home :)
