Restless 3 - February and Planned Trips
We had snow. It lasted about four hours.
Hello subscribers. This is Restless, a supplementary newsletter to my blog. Learning as I go, mistakes will be made.
Thanks to all of you who subscribed in February. It means a lot, especially as I no longer use (most) social media. I think it’s imperative that we all have our own corner of the internet that isn’t governed by tech giants and algorithms — a place where we can set our own rules and not worry about Likes and getting noticed. For me that’s my website and this newsletter. So thank you.
Don’t forget to load remote content if you’re not seeing the photos.
Contents:
- On February and Planned Trips.
- Avoiding YouTube - 1950s Japanese Films.
- Nippon 2010-2020 by Shuhei Motoyama.
- Posts this month.
- Currently Consuming.
On February and Planned Trips.
I’ve enjoyed February. I walked the Old Tōkaidō twice with my family and once alone at the end of January. We also spent a day in Magome and Tsumago on the Nakasendō. Usually thriving with Japanese and international tourists the streets of Magome and Tsumago were almost deserted. It was an absolute joy. The Tōkaidō has been a revelation and consequently finds itself joining the Nakasendō and Ise-ji on the list of future walks. It is perfect for days when trips to the mountains or travel further afield isn’t possible. As I wrote in the Tōkaidō - Walking Kameyama to Seki post, I could do this forever.
The list of walks and hikes planned for future trips (with no specific timeframe in mind) now consists of the following:
- The Ise-ji in Mie.
- The Nakasendō / Kiso-ji.
- The Tōkaidō.
- The Minami Alps.
- The Chuo Alps.
- The Kumano Kodō
Weekdays for cycling and local hikes, and weekends/extended holidays for the list above. There’s a lifetime of exploration to be had in that list alone and with all of them being in easy reach of Nagoya/Aichi there should be no excuses. It’s time to lace up the boots and get going.
Avoiding YouTube - 1950s Japanese Films.
I’ve been watching old Japanese films recently on Netflix (there’s a list below) to stem the evening repetitiveness of sitting down in front of YouTube and mind-numbingly watching camera review after camera review. I have no idea why I do this — there’s no intention to buy any new gear. I guess it’s akin to watching the best Premier League goals over and over — an easy way to switch off in the evening and not have to think. It’s also the YouTube algorithm. It’s so hard to ignore, especially after a busy day of work and looking after my daughter.
But back to the films. Japanese films of the 1950s can be hard work from a language perspective. They require dedicated concentration for a non-native speaker and with no English available my usual trick is to watch in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. But even then, some films — Sanshō the Bailiff in particular — stretched the limits of my vocabulary on numerous occasions (the films set more recently not so much), but that’s probably a good thing.
Comparing the differences in the environment with the present day was fascinating. Floating Weeds, set in a small coastal town was magically nostalgic and alien to anything you’d probably see nowadays, but scenes set in forests and shrines that make up the majority of Rashomon and Sanshō the Bailiff look the same today as they probably always have. And for anyone that’s been through the ordeal of a Japanese summer you’ll appreciate how well Kurosawa recreates the heat, humidity, and summer rain in Rashomon. Oh that rain! Watching Floating Weeds — also set in summer — makes you dread the impending torture of late July and August. Rashomon, for what it’s worth, may be the best film ever made. I certainly can’t think of a better Japanese film.
Possibly something you’d see in an old Japanese movie? I don’t know. (A bad scan of Fuji Provia positive film. Taken with a broken Contax if I remember correctly.)
Nippon 2010-2020 by Shuhei Motoyama.
Which brings me to a photography book by Shuhei Motoyama aptly titled Nippon 2010-2020. I picked this up on a whim from Shashasha online. This, the second of Motoyama’s books on Japan, documents the changes he has noticed between 2010-2020. None of the photographs are remarkable — my wife described them as ‘neutral’ — quiet everyday street scenes with people often tucked away in a small part of the frame. He photographs from a distance with what I guess is either a 35mm or 50mm lens producing subtle compositions that never overwhelm or wow the viewer. A far cry from the popular in-your-face street photography that has been so popular over recent years.
On a deeper level, according to Motoyama anyway, they document the influence of changes to the everyday environment between 2010 and 2020. I’m not sure if I buy into this — it looks more likely that he was just using his camera to get out and travel and use the changing environment as a narrative to produce a book. Not hard to do when Japan has a fascination with constant rebuilding. But Motoyama’s images are the kind of photographs I enjoy looking at and also taking, but rarely post online because they need to be seen as part of a larger body of work. One single image alone just won’t make the cut.
That said, Nippon 2010-2020 for me invokes the essence of pure, matter-of-fact travel photography. Pick up a camera, go somewhere, observe, and document. There are so many Japanese photo books that do this.
Posts this month:
Revisiting an almost deserted Magome and Tsumago on the Nakasendō.
Nakasendō - Magome and Tsumago - SeanBreslin.net
A quiet walk in Magome and Tsumago - two popular villages on the Nakasendō. With Japan’s borders closed we almost had them to ourselves.
Tōkaidō - Walking Kameyama to Seki - SeanBreslin.net
Walking the Tōkaidō from Kameyama to Seki in Mie. Quiet roads, a leisurely distance, and well-preserved village to finish the day.
Tōkaidō - Walking in Kuwana - SeanBreslin.net
Another walk on the Old Tōkaidō of central Japan. This time in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, along the banks of the Kiso, Ibi, and Nagara rivers.
Tōkaidō - Walking Arimatsu to Atsuta Shrine - SeanBreslin.net
Walking the Tōkaidō route from Arimatsu to Atsuta Grand Shrine on a sunny winter morning in Nagoya, following in the footsteps of shogunate.
Hoping that grandad in the U.K. gets to do this soon. I hope that grandads everywhere get to do this with their grandchildren again soon.
A short one this month. Yesterday (February 26th, about 3:45pm to be exact) I started to feel more optimistic about the future. Japan is lifting its state of emergency for most regions and the U.K. is pushing forward with its vaccination program. I guess Australia will follow suit shortly. It all make me think that maybe, just maybe, things are starting to get back to normal — the new normal — and that if things work out I can finally take our daughter to see her grandparents in the U.K.
Have anything to say? Feel free to email me: seanbreslin-net@protonmail.com
Sean.
Kasugai, Japan.
Currently Consuming.
Films
Rashomon (羅生門) 1950 - Akira Kurosawa
Twenty-Four Eyes (Ni-jū-yon no Hitomi 二十四の瞳) 1954 - Keisuke Kinoshita
Floating Weeds (Ukikusa 浮草) 1959 - Yasujiro Ozu
Sanshō the Bailiff (山椒大夫 Sanshō Dayū) 1954 - Kenzo Mizoguchi
Reading:
Rashomon and Other Short Stories - Ryunōsuke Akutagawa
Teaching a Stone to Talk - Annie Dillard
Atomic Habits - James Clear (reread)
Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers - Gordon Neufeld & Gabor Maté (This is a long and dense book that I started in December and am still ploughing through.)
Music
Guilty Pleasure / Rosa - Chihiro Yamanaka. A fine Japanese jazz pianist. I don’t usually listen to jazz but Yamanaka is an exception.
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Deluxe) - Gorillaz. It’s sooo good to hear Peter Hook’s base on this album even if it’s for only one track.
Xompulse - Sal Dulu
As The Love Continues - Mogwai