One Day When
These Days
Final Destinations
The countdown has now begun until our return to Australia. With five weeks or so before we leave Kyoto life has become dominated by boxes, bubble wrap and my serious attempt to be organised. For a small family in a small apartment, we have managed to accumulate a lot of stuff. The problem with that is not what to take home, because I'm good at about being ruthless in that regard, but how to get rid of what we don't want. Unlike in the wide brown land of Australia where you simply pile everything onto a trailer and take it to the local tip, Japan has a fairly rigid system for disposals, reasonably explained by much greater demand for land here. Electrical goods can be returned to the store they were purchased from, and second hand shops will take major appliances that are a few years old, but everything else, like the rusty old clothes wrack and plastic storage bins we have, the rice cooker that we no longer have a receipt for and the myriad other items that are just old, crappy and too large to be camouflaged among household rubbish, must be registered with the council for collection. Now that doesn't sound that hard I know, but it is yet another bureaucratic undertaking that I wish I didn't have to face!
Rubbish and bureaucracy, bubble wrap and boxes aside, I've really been enjoying these final months of life in Kyoto. The weather is perfect right now, that and the knowledge that our time here is finite have been a great source of motivation for getting out and doing things. In addition to having lots of long mornings at the park with friends, we have made some day trips and also had a short holiday to the peaceful island of Shiraishi in Okayama prefecture.
On Shiraishi, which you reach by shinkansen, local train and ferry, we stayed in one of the two or three villas that have been run for many years by the Okayama Prefectural Government. Sadly, they have recently sold a number of them to local governments. I'm not sure how those that have been sold will be operated, but the villa we stayed in was magic and I hope that they continue to use it as a means of encouraging tourists to see something of rural Japan. Perched high on a hill overlooking the bay, the villa is a modern buidling with a sweeping balcony and floor to ceiling windows throughout the main area. There are five or six seperate bedrooms that also have big windows, filling them with light and offering beautiful views. I felt relaxed as soon as we walked through the door, and Nina, excited by all the space, began to run up and down like a race horse let out of the pen, singing and jumping and grinning madly.
The island is home to 700 or so aging farmers and fishermen, with some tourism offering another source of income in the warmer weather. As we were there prior to the peak season it was very quiet, not another tourist insight, other than the couple that were staying at the villa with us, who were great company. In this peaceful environment we walked along the beach and around the maze-like lanes, read, poked around in the sand, hiked to the top of the mountain, visited the local temple and ate a mixture of good meals and throw togethers. I could have easily stayed for another week, and I think Nina, Finn and John could have too.
Sadly, we had demands on our time, obligations and all those other things that you don't miss when you're away. We felt immediately how removed from the problems of the wider world we'd been when we reached Okayama station and found that the majority of people travelling the trains were wearing face masks and the papers were filled with stories of how rapidly the swine flu was spreading in the Kansai area.
So, we haven't spent a long weekend in Kobe recently, as we'd have liked to, but we've had plenty to do locally - climbing Mount Daimonji, taking the ropeway and cable car up Mount Hiei, and most recently, my girlfriend Stephanie and I spent an exhausting but memorable day with our little people in Nara.
Unfortunately, I end where I began, as weekends from now on, and any other spare time look like being dedicated to packing. So, this will probably be the last you'll hear from me until we're back in Australia, hopefully not too exhausted from the preparations for getting there :)