七五三

After a long but relaxing 12 hour flight flight, we landed at Tokyo Narita International Airport at 9:15 am (1:15 am UK time) on a muggy Sunday morning. Instead of trying to get some sleep and becoming fidgety and frustrated by failing to do so, I kept myself entertained by reading, watching a movie and partaking of the regular food and drink provided by Virgin Atlantic, some of which was almost edible and the red wine positively zen-like in its effect. At one point, when the cabin was at its darkest, I closed my eyes and may have even nodded off for twenty minutes or so. I would guess that around 70% of the passengers were Japanese, and they seemed to be very quiet and calm travellers resulting in a much more serene on board atmosphere than I have experienced before.

Minutes after touching down in the Land of the Rising Sun my phone pinged courtesy of Charton Casual with the fantastic news that whilst I was airborne, Charlton had beaten Carlisle 4-0 at home. A great result, and in line with what usually happens when I'm unable to make it to the Valley. I always seem to miss the most enjoyable games!

We were met at arrivals by our hosts from Tsukuba University, Hideo and Jun, and enjoyed the unexpected bonus en route to Tsukuba of a visit to the Narita Shinshoji Temple. Shinshoji is a branch of Buddhism that came to Japan from China, and this temple was built in 940 AD, later becoming a popular destination for pilgrims. As well as the original temple, the site houses many other pagodas and similar traditional looking Japanese buildings. Following on from the aura on the flight, there was a very serene feel to the place and it felt great to be enjoying such a rich cultural experience little more than an hour after arriving in the country.

A 7 year old in festival attire

Our visit coincided with the Seven-five-three festival (七五三), a lovely event that takes part in Japan at this time of year when parents celebrate their children's growth and offer prayers for their continuing health and well-being. Children aged three, five or seven are dress up in beautifully colourful kimonos and jackets. It's a lovely, happy family occasion. Unfortunately my photograph doesn't do justice to the girl's costume, as I had handed the camera over to Hideo on the wrong setting. However, it does give a flavour of the colour of the event, which also has enabled me to learn my first Japanese character, the numeral three: 三.

 

Kieron, Hideo and me!

Whist at Narita, we also had our first experience at sitting on the floor beside a short table to enjoy some fish and seaweed themed food together with some Sake, the clear Japanese alcoholic drink brewed from rice. And when I say seaweed, I'm not talking about the shredded cabbage that goes by the name in Chinese takeaways in the UK. This was the tough and rubbery looking stuff that I remember so well from the Worthing beach of  my childhood, and was correspondingly chewy but tasty nevertheless. The Sake was smooth and delicious, but with a relatively high alcohol content of 17% it was probably a good that it was served in small cups, as by now I was starting to wilt a little due to lack of sleep and the muggy weather conditions.

A fishy and rubbery introduction to Japanese food

The journey by road to Tsukuba passed through flat and green farmland, looking a lot like England in places. Tsukuba is a new city and a real hub for scientific research. It's about a 45 minute journey by express train from Tokyo, and to the north. The city has built up around the University, and with its wide thoroughfares, extensive green spaces and sense of openness, it has the feel of a larger version of Milton Keynes.

After a late working lunch and a tour around the campus following which Jun headed back home to Tokyo, Kieron and I were ready to collapse into our beds in the spartan but clean University guesthouse. At £25 per night, it's proving very popular with our research projects' purse-holders! Hideo is such a gracious and accommodating host that we felt a little uneasy saying we needed to forsake dinner to get some much needed sleep before our 7:15 am pick up in the morning, having by now been up for over 30 hours.

After about five hours of very heavy slumber, my confused body clock caterpulted me into full awakeness at about 1:30 am local time (6:30 pm UK time). Unable to return to the land of nod, I've used the time profitably to write this post, but now I'm starting to feel very tired again, so hopefully I'll manage another couple of hours sleep before the alarm bursts into life.