Bettôdeai - the start of the trail

The problem for me is that I’ve been unwilling to invest in nicer/proper gear because I just wasn’t sure how long I would stick around in Japan. More gear would be just one more thing to pawn off if I left, so I’ve done Hakusan twice with old cross-trainers and a hoodie, once sharing a hiking backpack and once with a small one-shouldered athletic backpack. No walking stick, no special socks, no fancy safari hat. It can be done, but you risk the local hikers looking at you like you will surely die on the mountain.

The suspension bridge

Proper gear is good, but planning is critical. Hakusan is nice because there are several places with restrooms and water supplies. In my opinion, the best time of year to go is the first weekend of October, thereby avoiding the summer heat and need to carry even more water, as well as the holiday weekends during Silver Week (end of September) and Health-and-Sports Day (around October 10).

Wayside flower

Having a good map to get you to the base with the buses is good, too. We ran almost an hour late due to iPhone maps and to late-comers to the massive caravan. Be sure to check when the last bus is from the start of the hike to the base, too. No, seriously.

Heading out of the woods and into a more open part of the trail.

The hike, which takes at about 8 hours from the base (including buses) to the end, starts out in a wooded area after a suspension bridge. This area is fairly steep and rocky, but not overly exposed. From here, you travel into a grassy and more open part of the trail, ascending higher and higher till you encounter a path winding through pine-like bushes.

Trailside shrine

Eventually, you will reach Murodo （室堂), a base with a shrine and a “hut” where you can spend the night if you make reservations. (You can also choose to reserve meals here, if you like to pack light.)

The view from Murodo

We left the base around 8 am, reaching Murodo around 1 pm due to some minor injuries. From Murodo, it’s about 30 minutes to the peak of Hakusan. We stopped for lunch (curry rice or oden) at the hut before making the final ascent.

Oden at Murodo

The ascent

The view from the top is amazing. In addition to the whole valley below, there are some gorgeous blue lakes in the craters on the mountain, a dormant (dead?) volcano. If you are spending the night at Murodo, you could go for a hike down to one, I imagine.

One of the lakes at the peak of Hakusan

For one of the other hikers, getting to the peak of Hakusan was also personal challenge. In my case I had failed to get to the top in July 2010 because of time constraints (trying to get to the hut down the other side of the mountain before dinner). One of my friends had had to call in the emergency services when the person she hiked with messed up his knee. (With all the rocks and the steep incline on much of the trail, Hakusan is brutal on the knees and groin muscles.) For the other two members of our group, going to the peak of Hakusan was a challenge to accomplish–their first time at the top of a mountain in Japan.

From the peak

The shrine at the top of Hakusan

Above the clouds

Unfortunately, being the kings of the world didn’t last long, as we had to make it off the mountain before sundown. What happens in the mountains around Ishikawa is when afternoon rolls around, clouds and fog move in on the mountains. Visibility was awful, the path was slick, and we were running on pure adrenaline the last hour as the sun set.

Our party lagged far behind the others because of a variety of minor injuries–pulled muscles, mostly–but we crossed the final bridge at 6 pm on the nose, in the dark and 2 hours after the last bus. Miraculously, a friend who had sprained her ankle walked down the path to the parking lot and drove back to get us just when we were trying to figure who would go down the last couple miles on the road to get to a car.

Don't forget a flashlight!

Will I be back on Hakusan for a third go this summer? Probably. But this time, I’m going to reserve a bed, pack a full meal or two, and bring a flashlight. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but something about Hakusan just keeps bringing me back there: every time I go, I  find something else I’ve left undone. That is, now that I’ve been to the top, I want to explore the lakes. Until then, sleeping mountain. I know you’re waiting for me.

I’m constantly amazed at how dramatic the landscapes are in the places I have lived since I left the Ohio River Valley. When I lived in Colorado, I spent spring and summer breaks traveling to places like Red Rocks, the Great Sand Dunes, Hot Sulphur Springs, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Lake, and Garden of the Gods. When I decided to move back to the Midwest for grad school, I felt a sense of loss–at least until I got to Michigan and discovered how gorgeous it was. If you’ve never been to Michigan in the summer or fall, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The maple leaves, Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, the lakeshores, the forests, the wine country in the north–even without the mountains I never wanted for beauty.

Moving to Hokuriku meant I got both the sea and the mountains, but the sea never grew on me. My old apartment was about two meters from the water, and while I had always hated the humidity, the tsunami also soured my attitude toward sea-side living. Now when I tell people in Chubu and Kansai that I live in Kanazawa, they often respond, “Oh, by the sea?”, but I live far enough inland that I can’t see it. Rather, I tend to think of Ishikawa as mountainous, with Hakusan in the south of the prefecture and the Central Alps also in the region.

Even though Michigan showed me there was beauty in non-mountainous regions, I still love the mountains (no matter how many times Hakusan tries to kill me). Over the long weekend, a friend of mine from high school who now lives in Wakayama came to visit and requested that we go to Shirakawa-go（白川郷), a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the mountain valley of Gifu.

To get to Ogimachi (荻町), the largest village, we rented a Nissan March and headed for the Hokuriku Expressway. I was quite surprised how easy it was to rent a car in Japan. My friend and I both have Japanese licenses (transferred from our US ones), and all we had to do was show up at the neighborhood rent-a-car, fill out some easy paperwork, and hit the road. The car, a small-engine “Kei Car,” was about 7200 yen for 12 hours, including the price of optional insurance. Tolls were another 4000 yen, but it was manageable between the four of us. For non-drivers, there’s also the Nouhi bus between Kanazawa and Takayama that stops in Shirakawa-go.

Because Shirakawa-go is near the expressway and close to the main roads, access was no problem despite the evidence of heavy snowfall.

The main attraction of these villages is the gasshô-zukuri (合掌造り), the steep thatched roofs shaped like “praying-hands,” which are characteristic of the buildings here. The roofs protect the buildings from the build-up of snow, though we saw more than a few workers shoveling the roofs.

The buildings tend to have several floors, with the first level for the family home and top floor(s) reserved for industries such as raising silk worms and manufacturing nitre for gunpowder. At the Wada House (和田家), we were able to climb up into the “attic” to get a closer look.

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The smoke and heat from the irori (囲炉裏), a open hearth, would filter up through the vents in the ceiling to the top floors, heating the workshops and blackening the inside of the roof, which apparently helped keep pests out.

After shopping in town, we decided to walk up to the Shiroyama viewpoint (白山展望台) . The hiking trail is inaccessible in the winter, buried under waist-high snow, but we and a number of others took the vehicle-access road–about a 20-minute hike. The view was well worth the effort.

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We also discovered an adorable restaurant called Hiiragi (Holly, 柊), which served Hida beef (hida gyû) and hôba miso yaki, a dish with tofu, vegetables, and in this case, Hida beef, all cooked on a magnolia leaf in miso paste. The staff was incredibly nice, which is not always the case in tourist-heavy restaurants when you look foreign, and the meal was delicious.

We came home with plenty of food omiyage for ourselves: miso, local nihonshu, and hôba miso kits. As we finished our shopping the sun came out, making the snow sparkle and glow.

On the drive home, we stopped in Suganuma (菅沼) and Ainogura (相倉) in Gokayama. Both villages were closed for the night, but we got to see a beautiful pink sunset and a huge full moon over the trees.

This area is stunning, and while Gokayama, with its flowers and rice fields, is gorgeous in autumn, I think I like it best in the winter. After all, there’s something magical about a winter hike, a view of the valley, and looking out on the frozen world while huddled around a table full of grilling magnolia leaves.

This post is an entry in Japingu‘s January 2012 JFesta “Winter in Japan.”

Why Osaka at Christmas? For the German Christmas Market, which proved to not only be an entertaining night out but also a sociological experience!

The 2011 Osaka German Christmas Market (ドイツ･クリスマスマーケット大阪2011) was held at the Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル), Osaka’s 12th-tallest building, which apparently has a garden in the top floors that connects the two towers. I still haven’t been to the top (¥700), but the building, which is about a 10-minute walk from Osaka and Umeda Stations, is quite striking. Fortunately, the market has free admission, so anyone can come and go freely.

The fair, held daily from 12:00 to 21:00/22:00 between 18 Nov. and 25 Dec., 2011, was a delightfully confectionery combination of illumination, retail, and food.

The site was packed–we were elbow-to-elbow with other fair-goers, shuffled from stand to stand, and stood in lengthy (but efficient) lines for food. Most of the booth attendants, who included a large number of (presumably) Germans, spoke Japanese and English. The shops sold Christmas ornaments, nutcrackers, crafts, and, of course, all manner of food and spirits.

Bratwurst with ketchup, mustard, and a roll.

The food was, of course, the real reason we were there. Although it was rather pricey, it was very satisfying to be able to eat a real pretzel and have a decent beer.* The beer was either Bitburger or Köstritzer (I didn’t take a picture!), but despite its light color, the beer had a full flavor. Cold beer isn’t exactly the ideal drink for a December night outdoors, but how many opportunities does a beer-lover have to get proper beer on draft in Japan? As for the other food, there was gingerbread, roasted nuts, mulled wine and hot cocoa in mugs, and imported bottled wine for sale–the cheapest was ¥1300; the average price was ¥3000.

My first real pretzel since I moved here.

The Japanese customers were ordering hot cocoa and sausages right and left, but no one was as enthused about the pretzels as I was. I used the mustard from the brat to dip the pretzel as well. Pretzels are definitely on my 2012 I’ll Make It Myself list now!

The Market treads a fine line between kitsch and Winter Wunderland–a sort of Christmas-themed ヨーロッパの憧れ (longing for Europe) with gingerbread houses with windows to let the fair-goer see the (European) people inside crafting cookies and sweets.

What does this mean from a sociological perspective? Is it a place for people who want to celebrate a foreign holiday with some traditional elements reconfigured to all be included and consumed in a convenient place? Does it feel more “real” to participants, as if the adoption and evolution of Christmas celebrations in Japan were not just different but somehow less valid?

On one hand, the German Christmas Market feels like Disneyland, like simulacra–a essentialized (and sanitized) “Germany” like that of EPCOT, centered around consumption of cultural markers (imported crafts, foods) and ultimately just made of sparkly distractions and concrete.

On the other hand, I didn’t feel like this version of Christmas was more valid than the Christmas Japan celebrates. I simply wanted to eat pretzels and beer, and the Market promised to provide a space for me to do that while enjoying a Christmas-themed light-up.

Another point to consider, related to the essentialization of Germany at this event, is that this sort of cultural-consumer event can act as a base of contact with another culture. For example, the University of Michigan holds an annual mochitsuki event for New Year where participants can pound and eat mochi; try calligraphy and origami; enjoy Japanese beverages and foods; play games; and listen to musical performances. The event is hosted to provide the community with a chance to experience Japanese culture with a focus on New Year’s celebrations. What separates Mochitsuki from the Market is lack of consumerist intent in the former. Entrance is free, as are all foods and activities, as the Center for Japanese Studies is an non-profit providing educational/community outreach. The German Christmas Market does not exist to educate people about German Christmas traditions as much as it does to sell those traditions in the form of food and goods.

There’s nothing inherently wrong in this–after all, some of us just want to buy a damn pretzel–but where outreach events provide a chance for cultural dialogue with participants and volunteers, the Market and EPCOT Germany exist to sell a hyperreal version of the culture, not to provide cultural exchange–hence the Market being called a market. While I don’t think the Market has the pretense of reality, that is, the promise that this is An Authentic Germany, it does promise an Authentic German Market:

The German Christmas Market is one of the noted Christmas events in the world, indispensable for the German folk to survive a long, cold winter. A market just like the real thing decorates Shin Umeda City (Umeda Sky Building).

Open with 24 hüttes (huts) imported from Germany, let alone one of the world’s tallest Christmas Trees. Feel the air of Germany in this heartwarming event in the cold.***

According to the marketing, the Market is authentic as a market. As I’ve never traveled to Germany, I couldn’t say if this is accurate or “authentic” for a German market or a German Christmastime market. Still, I can’t help but feel that I visited a representation of a “Germany” in which everyone lived in a sort of post-witch Hansel-and-Gretel world: a surreal fairytale Germany that was filled with Christmas magic and gingerbread houses for all.

And pretzels for me.

Osaka German Christmas Market official websites: Japanese; English

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice
Culture: Decorating
Food/Drink: Starbucks Japan vs. Starbucks US
Around Town: Lights
Culture: Mameshiba Christmas

Notes

* The Seishun 18 tickets cost about ¥1.2 man (¥115,000) and limit the rider to 5 days on the local lines–no express trains or shinkansen. Because you can share the tickets if you enter the gates together, we used 4 of our “days” traveling Kanazawa – Tsuruga – Maibara- Kyoto – Osaka and back. The first day more than paid for our tickets (~¥5000 on non-expresses, ~¥7200 on express trains one-way per person). These tickets are available a few times a year during major holiday seasons–check the links above for details in English or Japanese.

**Pretzel: ¥300. Small beer: ¥500. Sausage and roll: ¥600. Mulled wine: ¥700 (includes small mug). Hot cocoa: ¥900 (includes large mug). We passed on the drinks in mugs because we had already spent so much on so-worth-it sausages, beers, and pretzels.

*** “A genuine German market finally making an appearance in Osaka! German Christmas Market Osaka 2011.” Osaka Supporter. http://www.osaka-info.jp/supporter/en/topics/season/season-111125.html. Accessed 2 Jan. 2012. This appears to be a direct translation of the description on the Umeda Sky Building website:

本場ドイツのマーケットが丸ごとやってくる

会場にはドイツを代表する工芸品や温かいグリューワイン、香り豊かな焼きソーセージなどの飲食物を販売するヒュッテ（小屋）が約２４棟軒を連ね、そ の多くのヒュッテにはドイツ人が自ら店に立ちコミュニケーション豊かに接客してくれます。 会場に設置されるヒュッテ（小屋）はドイツ各地のクリスマスマーケットで使用されるものと同じものをドイツから輸送したもので、ヒュッテに装飾されるガー ランド（人工植物の装飾品）やイルミネーション（電飾）など細部にわたり全てドイツ人のディレクターによりドイツ風に監修されています。特徴のある装飾は もとより、ヒュッテ内の什器類も全てドイツ製が使われていて、コンパクトにまとめられた器具類からもドイツならではの合理的な国民性が垣間見られます。 このようにドイツ・クリスマスマーケット大阪は、ドイツとまったく同じ様式で開催されるものです。

「 ドイツクリスマスマーケット大阪２０１１」. ウメポタ. http://www.skybldg.co.jp/event/xmarkt/2011/fascination.html. Accessed 2 Jan. 2012.

You can watch all of the Mameshiba videos at the official site here or with English subtitles on the official site or on youtube.

Now, how does a Mameshiba celebrate Christmas?

There are no weird facts in the Mameshiba “Ma-merry Christmas” video, but it is pretty damn cute.

From the official website: If you connect with Kirin Afternoon Tea on Facebook, you can make a Christmas or New Year’s card for your friends! Go to the キリン午後の紅茶 page, then click on GREETING CARD MAKER. Click the red button that says “友達にグリーティングカードを贈る” (“give a greeting card to your friends”). Give the application permission to access your facebook (bad, but it’s for Mameshiba!) and choose “MAMESHIBA DESIGN CARDS” to pick from 5 cards to personalize and send. You can write your own message and decorate with stamps like at purikura. Then select the day you want your card to be sent to your friends’ wall and there you have it!

The Mameshiba cards are only good until 31 January 2012, so make one while you can!

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice
Culture: Decorating
Food/Drink: Starbucks Japan vs. Starbucks US
Around Town: Lights

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice
Culture: Decorating
Food/Drink: Starbucks Japan vs. Starbucks US

Image from starbucks.co.jp

In Japan, there’s cranberry white mocha （クランベリー・ホワイト・モカ) or frappuccino (クランベリー ホワイト フラペチーノ), gingerbread latte (ジンジャーブレッド・ラテ) or frappuccino (ジンジャー ブレッド フラペチーノ), and toffee nut latte （トフィー・ナッツ・ラテ）and frappuccino [トフィー ナッツ フラペチーノ] (and instructions for a light version called “bitter toffee nut latte” [トフィー ナッツ ラテをビターな味わいに]).

Image from starbucks.co.jp

Meanwhile, in the US, the seasonal flavors are Gingerbread Latte, Peppermint Mocha, and Caramel Brulée Latte. I honestly thought that “Let’s Merry” was a Japanese campaign, but now I see that the original English is actually “Let’s Merry.” Is this some sort of lesson on Baudrillard and simulacra courtesy of Starbucks?*

Image from merry.starbucks.com

Rest assured that I will figure out how to concoct a gingerbread latte myself because I’ve had only one this season and need to figure out a cheaper and lighter way to make it. On the other hand, proceeds from these six holiday drinks purchased in Japan between December 1-25 go toward earthquake relief efforts. Maybe that warm, fuzzy feeling isn’t just from the coffee…(or from the use of an awesome sociology class.)

Note

*These would be the successive phases of the image:

1. It is the reflection of a basic reality.
2. It masks and perverts a basic reality.
3. It masks the absence of a basic reality.
4. It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum. (Simulacra and Simulations)

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice
Culture: Decorating

This year we are tree-less. Every time we go to one of the home-goods stores we look at the trees and wreaths and wonder if it’s worth the 2000+ yen to get something cheap-looking. Every time, my husband and I decide we’d rather use the money for our trip to Osaka. However, over the weekend, our grocery store got its New Year’s decorations in stock. We usually get a shimenawa for the door, but we actually settled on a small kadomatsu (門松) for our tokonoma (床の間), the alcove Japanese homes traditionally have for seasonal decorations. We were surprised that this place has a tokonoma at all, since the building was built in the Heisei period. Even though we definitely don’t have a lot of decorations nice enough to use, the kadomatsu will do nicely this holiday season.

And no, I don’t think it’s actually supposed to go in the tokonoma, but new cultural participants bring new customs. At least we didn’t add any ornaments?

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice

Mochi is traditionally made by pounding the rice with a giant mallet called a kine in a large mortar, usu, carved from a tree trunk. While shrines and neighborhood associations will host festivals for New Year, inviting locals to participate in rice pounding, most household will either use an electric mochi-making machine (sort of like a bread-maker for mochi) or buy mochi premade.

In the basement of Omicho Market, there is a rice store called Fûdo Kanazawa (風土金澤), which sells at least ten kinds of rice, all grown in Ishikawa, in addition to rice products, soy beans, sauces, ice cream, and pickles. I buy my brown rice (genmai, 玄米) from here because I can purchase it by the kilo and I can buy from local farmers. I’m fond of the Kanazawa Daichi brand (金沢大地), which doesn’t use pesticides. The store will polish the rice to your liking on site, or you can just get it as brown rice, unpolished.

Fûdo currently has a display of mochi rice on sale. Last year, I had trouble finding an amount of rice for two people, and so, even after giving half of the mochi rice to a friend, I still have a bag in the freezer, which I use to make okowa. Fûdo sells mochi rice in a variety of sizes ranging from 300 grams to 3 kg, so I got the smallest size they had: 300 grams, 2 servings; I also got some of their locally produced mochi for making zenzai. New year, new rice, new adventures in cooking?

能登の風・加賀の土 風土金澤 (Noto no Kaze, Kaga no Tsuchi Fûdo Kanazawa)
〒920-0907 金沢市青草町88番地 近江町いちば館地下1階
920-0907 Kanazawa-shi, Aokusa-machi #88, Basement level
Tel./Fax：076-225-7798
Open 10:00-18:00. Closed if Omicho Market is closed.
Map

Website

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”

This post is an entry in the December 2011 J Festa “Christmas in Japan,” hosted at japingu.

Being in Japan for the holidays means that I can choose my own holiday music if I feel like listening to it. Even though the stores are all playing Christmas Muzak, Japan’s retailers seem to work from a more limited playlist than the US and even have some of the Santa-oriented songs in Japanese, which means I don’t feel encounter these songs often.

A lot of songs that get played around the holidays are meant to make listeners think about peace on earth and goodwill toward others, but how many make you think about your sexual health? For that, there is “Little Taiko Boy.”

Image from "Little Taiko Boy" by All Out Attack Films.

On the official youtube page for All Out Attack Films, the project is described as follows:

Little Taiko Boy’s soundtrack is a safer-sex parody of the American Christmas carol “The Little Drummer Boy” interspersed with the slow rumble of a traditional Japanese taiko drum that sounds like a massive throbbing heart beat. Against this backdrop, several men meet in [Ni-Chome, Shinjuku,] Tokyo’s bathhouses, love hotels and cruising spots for intimate encounters, watched over by a glamorous drag version of Amaterasu Omikami, the Shinto goddess of the Sun played by Japanese activist and artist MADAME BONJOUR JOHNJ. Like a queer Santa Claus, the goddess leaves each couple a condom in a bejeweled wrapper as a gift and blessing for the night.

Any video that contains the phrase “like a queer Santa Claus” deserves a watch, don’t you think? This video, embedded below, is not safe for work for partial nudity and language.

Christmas Eve in Japan is one of the most romantic date dates of the year, perhaps even more so than Valentine’s Day, which is more about giving out “obligation chocolates” (giri-choco, 義理チョコ) at work (and friend-chocolate to our friends). I imagine Ni-Chome, which is a district composed mostly of gay bars (read: most-major-iterations-of-Queer bars, adult stores, etc.) is hopping with couples on December 24, so the video is a nice inclusion of Christmas-Eve dates that won’t be targeted in hotel- and restaurant campaigns.

However, the true genius of the video isn’t Drag!Amaterasu or the editing, it’s in the mind worm the song creates. The first time I saw this, I thought, “Well, that was sort of strange” and went about my business. Later that week, “Little Drummer Boy” was playing at a grocery store. I was half-listening as I browsed the spice rack when I found myself mentally singing along, “It’s so much safer to come in a condom….” I actually cannot listen to “Little Drummer Boy” without a mental reminder to practice safer sex. Bryan Jackson and Dickie Greenleaf, you are clever, clever people.

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea

Mirro cookie press. Image from food.com.

I’m pretty sure we only use the cookie press for Christmas. After the Mirro stopped working, we’ve had a couple replacements , none of them as glorious as the original, and a couple recipes over the years, but cookie-press Christmas cookies must be 1. made with the tree tip, 2. green, 3. almond-flavored, and 4. decorated with red sugar or sprinkles. The recipe and specs are originally from the book that came with the press, since press cookies need to be a certain consistency to retain their shape. I know a number of families from southern Ohio who make these exact cookies, too, meaning that cookie presses must have been popular  That said, I like my mom’s the best.

Even if my nostalgia for Christmas tree cookies makes me want to continue the tradition, I fear I’d be hard-pressed (sorry!) to find a cookie-press in Japan. What I have found, though, is that Lupicia’s Cookie Tea (クッキー), which is made with almonds, tastes almost the same as Mom’s cookies.** I had resisted buying this type because I thought it would make me want real cookies instead of a tea that uses add-ins to approximate the flavor. That said, none of the holiday teas at the store really grabbed my interest this year despite the adorable Dino Tea Party for the year of the dragon, and so we decided that cookie tea would be our seasonal pick even though it’s available year-round. This tea is amazing with milk and a little bit of honey.

I’ll probably made some sort of homage to Christmas-tree press cookies this year, but until I get it right, there’s milk and cookies in a glass of tea for me whenever I want it.

Cookie Tea is also available in the US!

Notes

*I was shocked to see the new models on amazon.com with the clear plastic. That just doesn’t seem right.

**I am not affiliated with Lupicia. I am merely obsessed.