Sakuragawa in Kyoto

I went to Kyoto last weekend.  This time, our main purpose is to see The Temple of Golden Pavilion in snow.  I hear that it’s just amazing and I’ve wanted to see it at least once in a lifetime.  I accessed extended weather forecast site and found out the day when we could have the highest chance of having snowfall in Kyoto.

Actually, it snowed, but it was just Kazahana, a flurry of snow in a clear sky.  Without beautiful snow scenes, it’s not worth visiting during winter season.   Kyoto is just cold and old city and walking around temples was really taxing on me.  

However, every cloud has a silver lining.  It’s not as difficult to book good restaurants as I do in high seasons.  Sakuragawa is one of those Japanese restaurants and fortunately I had a chance to visit there. 

I enjoyed a series of Japanese dishes that used seasonal local vegetables and fish cooked in various styles.  All of them are very delicate and elaborate both in taste and presentation.  What impressed me most was “kaburamushi or stuffed and boiled turnip with fried oyster.  It’s one of the typical Kyoto dishes in winter and it made my body very warm.  I can say that it’s just what the doctor ordered on such a cold day.  The restaurant leaves nothing to be desired.

When I walked out from the restaurant, I noticed that cherry trees are planted along the Takase river that flows in front of the restaurant.  It would be very nice to come again in Sakura season.

It's a small, but comfortable restaurant.

Kinkakuji photo:carview.co.jp

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Japan as a Peripheral Country

Japanese people tend to talk about Japan and what the inherent about Japanese culture.  I’m one of those people and I’ve always wanted to know what may separate Japan from the rest of the world.

I read a very interesting book titled “Nihon Henkyoron,” or Japan as a Peripheral Country written by Tatsuru Uchida. 

Peripheral is a counter concept of Sinocentrism.  Geographically located in the East end of Asia, Japan has accepted various things that flew into the islands and also Japan has adapted and refined them in its own way.

Please spread a world map so as Japan locate on the right side and turn it right 90 degrees.  You’ll see Japan is lying at the bottom of the map like a pachinko pocket that swallows everything coming down from Rome, Persian, India, Silk Road and China.  This is exactly the image of peripheral country that catches everything and ferments it inside.

Uchida said that the way of transforming what we received is just the characteristic of Japanese culture.  And he added that Japanese people are likely to think that wisdom comes from outside and it’s superior to what we have now. 

Peripheral is a nice key word and with this word I was able to understand more about what we are.  It might sound a bit paradox, but reading this kind of books on Japan is a proof that I’m one of the peripheral people because, peripheral people likes new ideas and what they already knew is inferior to the newly acquired one.

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The Turin Horse

I watched a movie for a change when I got sick and tired of doing book keeping for filing a tax return.  It was called “The Turin horse.”

At first, I was lying down on the sofa and watching it.  But I got up and started leaning toward the monitor before I knew it.  “This movie is unusual!”   I was excited and completely intrigued by the movie. 

“The Turin horse” is a film directed by a Hungarian director, Tarr Bela.  He was inspired by an episode of a famous philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche and made this film.  The episode is; Nietzsche saw a man beating his horse because it hardly moved.  Nietzsche approached the horse, put his arms around its neck gently and started crying.  It is said that this incident drove him to his mental breakdown.

However, this movie doesn’t refer to the incident in any way.  It just depicts the every day life of a farmer and his daughter who live in the middle of nowhere.  They wake up, put on clothes, light a fire in the stove, cook two potatoes, draw water from a well, go to the stable, feed their horse and such.  It seems to be a boring and laborious ritual.  The only change that we can notice is the wind, which is strange.  It blows violently outside their house.

Day in, day out, the farmer and his daughter go through their routines.  The wind is getting stronger and stronger and they sense something devastating is going to happen.  Soon after, the well runs dry and a fire goes out, they are swallowed by the darkness.  They don’t know exactly what is in store for them, but feel something in the air that is hard for them to imagine.  It might be God, or the last day of their world.  

When it comes to Nietzsche, one of his best-known remarks is “God it dead.”

Tarr Bela might want to describe the end of the world based on the episode of Nietzsche and a horse.  The monochrome pictures are very beautiful but the air in the movie is horrible at the same time.  We are just to live in the world, which is ruled by something intangible.

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