Japan's love of the bicycle

Maybe you are now familiar with my liberal use of the term "zen". Definition of zen can only be achieved as a branch of philosophy, or maybe, if you are particularly dense, theology, yet in the general run of things to define zen is to loose a sense of its meaning. Once you work out that statement then you will have achieved enlightenment. Naturally, I am still working on it.

Whilst I have a working theory about zen it is actually of no use to anyone else so it is pointless me talking about it here. Instead I want to talk about bicycles (not motorcycles you understand) and how they impact on the Tokyo consciousness. Oh, O.K., let's not try to make this grander than it really is, I just want to share my own prejudiced and biased insights into bicycles and try to spuriously attach whatever level of depth thinking I believe I can get away with. Obviously I have every faith in the readers to see through such arrogant nonsense.

Once you are in Tokyo there is a huge amount to see and take in but you have to be blind not to see all the bicycles everywhere. The pragmatic, efficient, healthy, ecologically sound, environmentally friendly bicycle has everything about it that fits into the contemporary Japanese psyche without even a whisper of objection. They even have a cultural history firmly within the annals of Japan.

Within every social image you will find two wheels good, four wheels bad, well you know what I mean by George. This mode of transport is highly favoured as being a very pragmatic solution to local transport issues.

There's an old bike, or even a new one, parked on every street, left in front of every shop and stacked in rows in every market. In Japan there are two business ventures I believe will set you up for life, one is umbrella manufacture and the other is anything to do with bicycles.

All ages use the bicycle and as regular readers will know, HMiL is an inveterate rider of this simple machine. The images you see are all in and around Mushashi Koyama, central Tokyo, and it really is no different anywhere else.

The school run is markedly different in Tokyo. 4x4 fuel guzzling selfish wealth displaying kid carts do not clog up the streets in the mornings and afternoons. Mothers load their kids onto bikes and peddle them to school. Just pause for a moment and think about this, consider all of the benefits to society this entails.

What is important in this social acceptance of the bicycle is safety. In Japan you ride bikes mostly on pavements. Everyone knows the sound of a bell tinkling behind them to make the pedestrian aware of the approach of a bike. More importantly everyone has a daughter, a mother or a grandmother who rides a bike, everyone knows how important it is to be safety conscious around bikes. Even when you ride them in the street the traffic still knows your vulnerability. In Japan there are rules and generally everyone obeys them. In Japan you can have bikes and traffic, you can have bikes and pedestrians and you can transport your children on bikes, in Japan the bicycle is a valued commodity for many, many reasons.

In the UK, nearly thirty years ago, a young Japanese woman was riding her bike around London when an articulated lorry turn left all over her. She was dragged under the wheels and was lucky to survive, she was desperately injured and bears the scars and trauma to this day. In many ways I feel this is an allegorical tale for Japanese people arriving in mid twentieth century London. God knows what they think of us, the dirt on the streets, the aggression on the trains [see Dee's Comment after Japanese Garden article] and the general lack of respect in society, I am sure there could be a healthy business in providing therapy to newly arrived Japanese who do not understand that they have not just travelled across the world but travelled way back in time.

In England you couldn't have the Japanese bike culture anymore than you could leave your garden pots lined up on the street against your house. No matter what we do our culture is stressed and under pressure. If you cannot see that then you have just been conditioned to bad behaviour as the norm.

Even taking a photograph without permission invokes a disapproving stare but it doesn't invoke a violent reaction or full on negative response. That look is enough but then again the photographer is a foreigner so what do you expect? He is not one of us, how would he know the rules, he probably doesn't even know how to ride a bike.

In the meantime if any of you want to buy gold or silver rather than leave your money in collapsing currencies and negative interest rate bank accounts then here is where you do it: Saving in Gold Alternatively  you could simply believe what the politicians, bankers and economists are telling you, after all we all have to believe in something!

Zen Garden Supplementary

I have just returned home from the hospital visit, more on that later, and managed to capture a couple of shots of another local garden. As I had mentioned that Japanese gardening is actually mostly restricted to "service space" or "utility areas" I thought it best to try and illustrate the point for you.

This picture is of one of our immediate neighbours. As you can clearly see the garden space potential is spartan but more than well utilised.

What particularly impressed me was the fact that the senior lady living here is growing flowers and vegetables. This is not at all uncommon and walking around the immediate area you often see fruit and vegetables growing in abundance at the street side of homes.

As you can clearly see, this cucumber plant is already producing its fruit. Another eight weeks and there will be a nice crop of cucumbers gracing the evening meals of this Tokyo home.

A shot from our balcony shows the "garden" in greater context and if you note the gap between the houses then you will realise just how tightly Tokyo is "built up".

Whilst we may have a right to light provision in the UK, in Tokyo you are lucky if you get a right to breath. Houses go up literally millimetres from each other. One moment you can be looking out at an empty lot and the next your view can be the concrete wall of a block of flats.

A detailed study of this photograph will reveal one of the consequences of this premium space. Maybe not obvious to the casual glance but when you start to study you are able to see how roof space is utilised in a way we are not used to in the UK.

I am hoping that the Zen Consumer Poll [Swift 2012] will yield some results on the need for further anthropological studies. I am preparing a very serious work on the fashions of Tokyo and managed to observe two more candidates earlier today.

This is the bright summer look of a light dress, matching shoes and handbag, which is seen a lot in the summer sunshine.

Here we have leopard skin print with face mask. A very popular line this year. More to come if the readership approves.

Zen Consumer Poll

I am considering a detailed article on what we call here "Tokyo Trotters". These are young ladies who wear fashion as a second skin and totter around on high heels in the most ungainly manner. Sensitive to the female readership of this blog, an enlightened group of literati, I am feign to be saddled with the tag of chauvinistic male or worse still, sexist pig, which is always a danger when writing serious anthropological studies that have to be gender biased. Therefore I have conceived of the idea of a Zen Consumer Poll [Swift 2012] as an essential piece of market research.

Below are a few examples from the 475 photos taken the other night in a Trotter hotbed known as Shinjuku. I stress again that this is a serious anthropological work which I have devoted serious time to and hope, should academic acceptance from the enlightened readership of these pages be forthcoming, to produce a "coffee table" book later in the year entitled "Tokyo Trotters: A work of taxonomy."

If there are any serious objections then please comment, if there are any serious supporters of such a work then please also comment. The pictures below are a very small sample and not necessarily the best in terms of content or quality but merely provided to hint at the possibility here.

The classic Tokyo Trotter in full Trot 

 Fashion is an absolute crucial element of Tokyo life.

 Style is also important and how you accessorise defines you.

But what really defines a Trotter is the gait.

Comments required please.

Riding the wings of a storm

The readers of Japanease are modest discerning people rather than members of the stomping herds of consumer cattle. The figures for those who appreciate this blog are humble and so it shall ever be; these pages are meant as art rather than commerce. However there was a startling peak, as shown above, in the recent stats and I did allow the vanity of thinking the blog had gained some noteriety however, pride comes before a fall!

On further inspection I found that the article on the typhoon entitled, Japan Typhoon Latest: Tiger Lillies Saved had hit the Japanese search engines for the first three words and people had flocked to these pages in search of hard facts no doubt. That they found only soft ones may have been a disappointment but then again at least they all now know of HMiL's disdain for any lame excuse when the trains are delayed!

The Japanese Garden

Here in Meguro the sun has come out after the grey clouds and rain of last week's typhoon. This change in the weather has been like a shedding of old skin for me. I am at home, peaceful and happy pottering around the local environment, listening to the sounds of inner city Tokyo and enjoying watching the activity around me. My heart rate has slowed and I feel a gentleness of spirit wrap its arms around my soul. I am back in the garden again, tending to the plants and cleaning up in readiness for the autumn season planting.

I cannot apologise for uploading large images, they may take time for you to download if you are trapped in the dial-down consciousness that is Virgin Media Broadband and its insidious brothers UK side. Here, in the 21st century, the broadband is a standard 100Mb, fibre optic and available, you can even watch movies without being choked off. So be patient and wait for the images to load, living in the 20th century you really do not have much of a choice. Just be thankful because from what I am hearing of government policy it looks like you may well find yourselves in the 19th century before long.

Because I only get to do the gardening twice a year, I have to plan for approximately five months of growing and maintenance self sufficiency. The first task is always to clear the decks and set about tidying up both the pots and the landings. This is work which I relish. I can sit on the balcony, usually perched on an upturned bucket, and work my way through each pot and trough. I use my hands and a pair of secateurs, fingers find the weeds and then delve into the soil tracing the root system before lifting the interloper out. All surplus growth is cut away and slowly but surely the pots are rationalised.

Seeing the overgrowth of the previous five months is always astounding when I arrive. Everything grows which such enthusiasm here, for a gardener this land is a gift to green creativity. As I started about my task I really began to feel very content, if life was nothing more than tending to these pots then I would be a very happy man.

As I approach each tangle, gently I have to find my way through the complex of relationships which have developed. Never, ever rush, a hasty snip, a reckless pull and in a moment something of beauty can be lost. No, feeling your way around with loving hands is the way to ensure that all of value is safe and preserved. This is not an occupation for the feckless or impatient.

The back stairs become my workshop. One of the disciplines of the Japanese Garden is optimisation of space, there are tight limitations on the areas you have to work within. This is Tokyo, the most densely populated place on earth, where I have built a garden is in the utility spaces, the corridors, the stair wells, the balcony, this is where the urban Japanese garden.

We are fortunate in that we also have the edge of the car park. If I had my way I would turn the whole parking lot into a garden but this would be an offence to local sensibility. More importantly it would impact as a loss of income and where the contest is between money and nature, in Japan money will always win.

So adopting the local cult of pragmatism I continue my progress by moving almost everything I can to the stair well. This gives me a chance to clean the floors and gulleys of leaves and loose earth.

Such a thorough approach increases the workload but this task is anything but onerous. Again, any attempt to rush will inevitably end in damage and loss, slow, patient steps preceded by consideration and contemplation. A zen garden can be more than stones and pebbles.

Practicality is always an issue in Japan, they like things that work, they like trains that run on time because it makes travel practical and efficient. Instigating a practical approach to this garden is the essential underpinning of its success.

All began with putting in place the solar powered irrigation system. That has worked with minimum maintenance for four years now. I am concerned that the basic unit may naturally loose its functionality (I mean breakdown of course, god I have been working with computer geeks for far too long!) .

This would be a problem as the unit I bought in 2008 is no longer made, I suspect there was not enough profit in a solar powered model so all now use batteries or run off of mains supply. The solar powered model works well for me because I can leave it for five to six months knowing that it will just work day in, day out. I can't use a battery model as I am not here if the batteries run out. If we need to use the mains supply then I have to get an electrician in to run a supply out into the garden.

Solar power, clean, efficient, functional, pragmatic but when viewed from the heartless, blood sucking pages of the business model, well, once its installed just how is anyone meant to make any money out of it? I whisper back into rich and wealthy ears that there is a rather subtle beauty in the sun growing the garden and feeding it with water but they shake their dusty heads and ask, "Subtle beauty? How much does that cost?"

Another one of the tasks is to keep the bushes and shrubs tidy. All that is needed for this work is a good sense of balance and a pair of secateurs. Anything else is over-embellishment. I have been working on shaping these plants for four years now and this year the shapes are beginning to appear from out of the growth. There are many reasons to love this work and I am going to share some of them with you now.

Perhaps you have to flick between the first picture of the shrubs and the second to see the difference in any detail. Working with these shrubs is an intensely personal occupation. With a secateurs you can only cut one leaf at a time so each shrub demands much attention and you have to get in close. The shapes are what you see within the plant itself, trying to force nature is never really successful, you have to open avenues, create options and shape the future growth from the moment you start to lay your hands on each bush.

As you can see, I am not a traditionalist more of a free style sculptor when it comes to topiary. Some of you may remember the privet hedge at St Georges Avenue. That was six years work, a labour of love that was much appreciated by local residents. The property developers who bought that house tore the hedge down within days of us leaving. I say tore because they literally ripped it out of the ground and threw it onto a skip. Their balance sheet looked better without trying to develop and sell a property which had a hedge that required love and attention. A hasty brick wall and some cheap railings stand prison like where that privet used to grow and entertain local people.

Deeply immersed in my bushes I trim and prune, jump down, take a perspective from all angles, jump up and continue. The sun shines, the crows laugh at me; arghh arghh arghh arghh, and sparrows squeak around in the bushes as I am working on them. A slow but steady stream of passer bys bow and offer words of appreciation. I so love Japan and the Japanese.  A lady on her bike bows as she passes:

"Go Corro Sama" she says, which sums up something I never really get when building gardens in the UK. She is saying, "Thankyou for your effort". "Doh Itachi Mashte" I reply and bow in response. "It is my pleasure."

Perhaps I am romanticising but I don't think so, you see I believe that her thanks for my effort is about an idea of Japanese neighbourliness. In working on the shrubs and bushes I am seen to be making the area nicer for everyone, the community benefits from the pleasantness this small work provides as an old lady cycles back from the shops. My efforts are seen to be something of value socially and that is a value which brings deep satisfaction to my heart. Ultimately, it is just so pleasant to be in such a neighbourhood and with people who care.

Then local people all pass by as I am working, they stop, they talk to me  and they tell me wonderful things about what I am doing. I don't understand a word they are speaking but I know what they are saying. All I need is to say; thankyou for your kindness, it is my pleasure, please, if you please, thankyou, all I need are these few words in Japanese planted into their words at appropriate places and they believe they are having a conversation. Perhaps we are.

Yesterday an old man talked to me about the importance of using secateurs rather than power tools, he admired how I was shaping the plants with single snips. I did not understand a single word he said, how zen is that?

The hydrangeas burst into colour and bring joy to all who pass by.

Japanese Typhoon latest: Tiger Lillies saved.

In America they call it a hurricane, in Australia they call it a cyclone but here in Japan they name it typhoon and deal with it in a very Japanese way. The fact is that this is a severe storm weather system with wind speeds that literally take your breath away. People die in events such as these, this is a serious situation. Perfect then for the Japanese as they love to take things seriously when seriousness is called for.

The first place to start being serious is on the television and immediately there is a threat such as this the graphs and maps start appearing on the screen. As the storm makes landfall everyone needs to know where it is and where it is going to. Consequently a map appears in the bottom right of the news marking out the progress of the typhoon.

The white dot is the eye of the storm and the red area around it is the circling fast winds and rain. As you watch the programming slowly the storm moves your way and the noise outside starts to increase in volume. Pictures start to come in showing what is going on in the outside world.

Looking out beyond our window the whole city is enveloped with the typhoon and the wind is now battering everything.

HMiL remains unconcerned.

She has brought the tiger lillies in for safe keeping so nothing to worry about.

The man on the telly speaks of flooding, extensive damage and delays on the trains. HMiL believes that is scandalous. "One small typhoon and the trains are delayed. What are they doing? This is not very good at all."

We can see that the coast is getting a battering but then that is what the coast is for.

Tokyo is about to see the brunt of it all. We go to bed, it will all be over in the morning. Yawn.

In the meantime if any of you want to buy gold or silver rather than leave your money in collapsing currencies and negative interest rate bank accounts then here is where you do it: Saving in Gold Alternatively  you could simply believe what the politicians, bankers and economists are telling you, after all we all have to believe in something!