Excuse the redundancy, but having found the secret to fixing my scanner I find myself needing to ‘re-package’ a few of these old ‘flashbacks’.

I lived near a river called Tamagawa for most of my 9 years in Japan. Without too much of an exaggeration, this long strip of cycling bliss probably saved my sanity on more than a few occasions. Living in Tokyo can be tough for a hick like me.

The cycling path along Tamagawa starts right at Tokyo Bay, near Haneda Airport, and runs up over 50 km to around the city of Ome. From Ome you’ve got relatively quiet roads to bring you into the low mountains at the western edge of Greater Tokyo.

In these mountains, perched 900 meters up on top of one of them, is the isolated village of Mitake, filled to the gills with quaint inns, a very famous shrine, and one youth hostel, which I used a couple of times, hoping they wouldn’t ask me for ID!

Here is the first time I went up, evidenced by The Emperor, in all his shit-brown glory.

The sign says 44 km from the sea, by the way, so this is pretty far up the path. The next one is a random photo a little farther up, only of interest because it shows how the path gets more ‘natural’ and rural. Admittedly this isn’t very illuminating if you don’t know how utterly urban the scene is 20 km down river.

Here is where I had lunch. This is a bento shop, a little place that sells already-made meals to go. Bentos, although probably not very environmentally friendly, are one of the things I miss most about Japan, especially now that, being in France, all I can get quickly are sandwiches and kebabs.

Well, that was my first trip up there, probably in around 2003. Following is the next one, with Nigel. I think this was in the spring of 2005.

Here we are on our way to Mitake-san. Me tempting fate to get a shot of Nigel…giving me the finger? And next, one of the hundreds of plum trees that were in full bloom that weekend.

In the village of Mitake -san now. An amazingly thick thatched roof.

Above: Mitake-san. Accessible by cable car or stupidly steep road. Two tickets, please!

This is Nigel the next morning, choosing his Cannondale for the ride home.

Next, a restaurant I think you’d have to be pretty damn hungry to stop at.

Following are a few pictures near the end of our ride, at a beer/sake maker on the edge of Tokyo.

I guess that last picture is a good way to finish off. Anyway, I don’t remember anything after that last round..!

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Well, I just got back from Japan. Woke up this morning gagging and reaching for the airsickness bag. I thought something had died but realized it was the stench of United’s breakfast omelette. Finally got my appetite back two hours ago.

It was a successful trip.  Despite four days of real work, I was able to fulfill my three requirements for adventure overseas in my two days off: 1) eat something Americans think is nasty, 2) do something outdoorsy, 3) listen to live country music.  Got ‘er done, then some.

The noodle shop across the street from the hotel. The meals are quick, tasty, and cost less than a meal a Subway.

I was planning on going hiking but one of my customers, an avid mountain biker and dirt biker offered to take me to Mitake-san, a ‘local’ mountain, about two hours outside Tokyo.

It was pretty tame.  Even I could do it, he said.  Heck there was even a cable car to the top.

Got some mabo tofu and a rice ball from 7-Eleven on our way to the mountain, huffed and puffed around (some parts were pretty steep up top) and had lunch before riding down.

Most of the way down was paved so it ended up being pretty tame.  You know, AFTER I figured out that on Japanese bikes, the rear brake is on the LEFT handle.

Trolling around Tokyo’s Imperal Palace for tourist snaps on a late afternoon after work.  Cherry blossom season is early to mid April, but I ended up being there a week ahead of full bloom.

Of course, my favorite thing to do in foreign countries….

How to order whale meat–with a side of dolphin.

Actually, they had an English menu.  This whale steak is one of the three available set lunches available.  Also offered were fried whale and whale sashimi.  The full menu was quite extensive (whale tempura, ‘whale bits’, etc.), but they only served whale, the host warned (probably to every foreigner who walks in).

So how did it taste?  Alright.  Kind of like aquatic beef.  Reminded me of kangaroo.  Would I have it again?  I guess, but it’s not something I’d crave.

Kameino Manneri Do, an Andean Folkloric group based from Japan, performs at Rocky Top, a Bluegrass music bar in the heart of Tokyo.

Apologies for the poor audio, which makes them sound quite shrill, but they sounded great in person!

So this is what happens when you open your big mouth.  I was chatting to the guys from the Andean band and another Bluegrass band and mentioned that I played the banjo.  The banjo player gave me his banjo and they dragged on stage to play to play a number.

“We have a new challenger!”

I ended up playing Dear Old Dixie.  I’m a bit rusty and out of practice, and having someone else’s finger picks didn’t really help.  I sounded awful but had a blast.

Time to add ‘fingerpicks’ to my don’t-leave-home-without-it-because-you-never-know list.

For the camera nerd readers (2/3 of you!), all photos are from the Nikon D90 + 16-85VR and Canon G9.

Lire ce billet en français

[en] Webtravelling through digital images, one can always find ways to nourish one’s taste of Japan. Here an old photograph from New York Public Library digital collections, showing a bronze dragon, photographed at Mount Mitake.

More about Mitake-San : an article from Japan Navigator by Ad Blankestijn, and this site (in Japanese), thanks to him, too.

More details about dragons : The Serene Dragon, an old but sober site (2002-2004). A comprehensive synthesis of dragon, draconic, and dragon-related myths, legends, and tales from around the world.

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[fr] En voyageant sur la toile, on peut nourrir son goût du Japon par des milliers d’images, à travers le fourre-tout iconographique des moteurs de recherche et les étiquettes des sites de partage d’images. Rien ne vaut cependant les corpus constitués, les collections choisies, les sites construits avec soin. Ce dragon de bronze provient de la bibliothèque numérique de la New York Public Library (photographie ancienne prise au Mont Mitake, Japon).

Pour en savoir plus sur Mitake-San et les dragons, voir ci-dessus les liens de la version anglaise du billet.

Pour comparer la silhouette du Dragon de Mitake (aux moustaches superbement hérissées) à d’autres, et en savoir un peu plus sur la dragonologie, lire deux billets de Marie 1 : la question et 2 : la réponse dans Le Konnichiwa.

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