I have lived here in Shikoku Kagawa and Ehime for the past 15 and a half years and I just love it.
4 Likes
I figured it was something like this… 
5 Likes
Sure. It was in the Tōhoku region, which is the northeastern part of Japan. I left 10 years ago.
1 Like
Well I’m sure that there are some on here who are much more qualified than me to suggest something like this. And moreover it really depends on what you’re most interested in doing or seeing. You would get a different itinerary depending on whether you’re interested in outdoor activities, visiting onsens, seeing temples, or historical sights, for example. But I’m happy to share my thoughts.
First of all, if you’ve never been to Japan you should really make sure you don’t miss visiting Kyoto, which is one of the most amazing cities.
I lived in the Tohoku region, which I love and encourage people to visit. It’s a bit underdeveloped in terms of sights compared with the rest of Japan, but it’s also less populated than those areas too, which is nice as it’s less crowded. It also has some of the best unspoiled natural areas in the country. They don’t get much domestic tourism there, much less foreigners visiting, but it’s also more challenging as there’s less English spoken and written up there.
Some of my favorite sights in this area are Yamadera in Yamagata, Aizu-Wakamatsu in Fukushima, Hiraizumi in Iwate, and the hot springs in Naruko, Miyagi. You might also want to time your visit around some of the big festivals they have in the larger cities, which are worth seeing if it fits into your schedule. For example, visiting Sendai during the Aoba or Tanabata festivals. Well hope that helps and have a great time.
Thank you for this.
I note that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred after you left. I understand that things may be differ in 2018 from your last opportunity to observe.
I would like to find out how traditional farming and traditional crafts are faring in Japan. How are these skills being transmitted? I am aware that in some cases recognized masters can be designated “national treasures of Japan” and receive a stipend for the rest of their lives, which often frees them to provide instruction, take in an apprentice or pupils.
From what you may have seen, have colleges/schools in Japan made room for masters [of their crafts] to instruct people on the crafts, even at a basic level? Is there an apprentice system still intact for things like timber framing, pottery, basketry, thatching, and so on?
Have young folks (the next generation) shown interest in taking up any of these? Is there governmental or other kinds of supports for young people who demonstrate skill and ability to pursue endangered crafts?
The fact that you have lived away from the biggest cities in Japan may be helpful here. I understand that my questions may well be outside your knowledge area. I am grateful for any insights you can provide.
I am not so much interested in the state of the fine arts like Japanese painting, music, theater, etc.
Thanks in advance!
I have lived in rural Japan for the last 30+ years and the problem is that you are forced to do all kinds of jobs for the community that in the cities are done by the council - despite paying higher tax than in the city. With the dropping population it means that there are less people around to do these jobs and so the burden gets heavier annually.
1 Like
@j9c
‘Living National Treasures’ only receive ¥2,000,000 ($18,136) per annum from the government. My friend is a cabinetmaker and it takes him a long time to create a single work, so even though he is now a national treasure, he is no better off than he was before, particularly as he has to give lots of talks etc., that keep him from his work.
2 Likes
Oh no, this is not good news! Thank you @Hellokitty for posting. I am sorry to hear this.
Something is wrong with this system. I imagine this will only encourage true masters to stay away from the Living National Treasure program. Surely this is not what the program was originally intended to do.
While it is utterly necessary to spread precious knowledge out to the public, directly from the very people who are at the top level of their craft and calling, having burdensome requirements that get in the way of still having the master work at his or her craft is counterproductive.
I had a look here
and here
and I do hope for the best.
Japan’s master artisans have much to teach us.
Ouch!
What is the understanding, as you understand it where you are in Japan, about how to address the shrinking population and pool of workers?
I lived in rural Japan for 2 years in the late 90s. I returned once in 2013 and I’m still in touch with a few friends there. In some ways, this video was not particularly reflective of my experience there, mostly because it wasn’t about rural Japan, but just small city Japan. Here are a few things about rural Japan:
- Technologically backwards in some ways. In the late 90s, most houses still didn’t have flushing toilets or running hot water. Most houses had septic tanks that needed to be emptied every few months. And hot baths only came from lighting the furnace under the tub. Most people just went to the bath houses, so it didn’t matter much. You can still find this sort of stuff. It’s only a bit harder to find than 20 years ago.
- Things haven’t changed much since the late 90s. I mean like in odd ways. In the 90s, most people had cell phones with 2 megapixel cameras in them. It was awesome! In 2013, most people in my town still had the same cell phones. It was pretty sad, actually.
- Although many people love living in rural Japan, this breeds a small-mindedness and fear of change and outsiders. Since I was a white guy, I didn’t notice this much and made lots of friends, but others of East Asian descent (and especially ethnic Japanese born abroad) really felt like outsiders.
- That being said, there was a strong sense of community and every neighbour looked out for everyone else.
- Rural Japanese love to burn their garbage. When I lived there, we had to separate our garbage into two piles: burnable and non-burnable. Burnable included food waste, plastic (!), batteries (!!), and most other things. Non-burnables were large things like TVs, appliances, and mattresses. Though, I do remember neighbours burning their non-burnables (one guy even tried unsuccessfully to burn his motorcycle). I hear this practice has changed now and most people recycle.
- The food is fantastic, wilder, and more varied than what you’d think.
I could go on, but I think that’s good enough.
2 Likes
@j9c
When somebody becomes a living national treasure they are able to ask much more for their work so people who work in field like ceramics with high productivity are able to do well but my friend is an exception in that each work takes so to produce. The purpose of the system is for them to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.
Regarding the shrinking population, it would appear that the government wants everybody to live in the cities as it is much easier for them to provide services if everybody is together rather dotted around the mountains.
1 Like
Happy to oblige. I can’t say that this is the best trip through Japan, but it is truly fantastic. It will take you through the Tajima region, famous for (among other things) it’s beef. It’s where Kobe beef originated and extremely rural. And when the beef was sold outside of Japan, Kobe was seen as more marketable than Tajima, so they used that city instead. Also, there are mountains, forests, shrines, skiing in the winter, beautiful beaches in the summer.
- I’d recommend that you fly into Osaka and spend a few days there.
- Head to Kobe and see
- Take the train to Himeji (the capital of Hyogo prefecture) and check out one of the best preserved traditional Japanese castles.
- In Himeji, you can rent your car and head north towards Toyooka, which is not worth staying in, but it is the last big city before you hit the real Tajima.
- Head a bit west and make it to Kinosaki, which has some of the best Onsens (natural hot springs) on the Japan sea.
- Make sure to eat some crab, since that’s what the region is known for.
- Head about an hour west until you get to Shin-Onsen town. If you’re there in the summer, check out the beaches near Hamasaka. They are beautiful. (And say high to my high school, where I taught for two years).
- Also check out the
- Maybe head to Tottori, another 40 minutes west of Shin-Onsen. The town isn’t interesting, but the drive is phenomenal.
- After you’re done there, head back east, past Toyooka again and keep going. Eventually you’ll get to Amanohashidate in Kyoto prefecture (if you don’t get lost). Amanohashidate is a sand spit and quite beautiful.
- Finally, drive south and make it to Kyoto city and back to civilization.
I’ve already said too much. Make sure to do the slow drive through the back roads and try to stop at all the small towns to have a look. But, if you do this drive, I can guarantee you will enjoy it. And let me know if you do.
1 Like
Sorry I can’t really answer any of these questions directly, but I don’t recall any sort of big push to retain or preserve traditional farming or arts and crafts. One exception is that in my area they were really proud of their kokeshi dolls, and there seemed to be a desire to retain the traditional way of making them.
But my overall impression was that there is no real great love for the rural way of life in Japan. I think the Japanese are very aware that their country is generally perceived as a sleek and modern nation, and the dinky rural towns in the countryside, as well as the entire way of life that goes along with them, don’t really fit into this perception. So there are small towns that you and I might consider quaint and charming but the Japanese would instead consider them backward.
One example of this is the general lack of interest from young people to speak in the local Japanese dialect. It seemed to me that the only people who used the local dialect were the elderly.
At least this was my personal impression in Tohoku, which I could be completely wrong about. And I don’t know about the situation in other parts of Japan.
1 Like
Thanks for this. Your report means a lot.
I have been tracking similar trajectories in China, and I really hope somehow the life skills, knowledge, crafts, etc. that have made life possible up to the here-and-now don’t disappear.
I sense multiple “burnings of libraries at Alexandria” going on in a lot of centuries- or millennia-old cultures as the shiny, novel, modern stuff takes the place of accumulated skill and craft. It’s not all improvement, or all detriment. The choices we humans make is a constant source of fascination for me.
That really struck me too- I know by some standards that’s small, but 500k? That’s not rural.
1 Like
Funny, I was thinking of crafting a post along these lines in the medieval food thread. All the trendy food stuff of the last decade is the youngest generation re-discovering and re-learning the stuff they would already know, if they hadn’t been so eager to shun their elders. Turns out un-cool great-grandma actually had something to offer if you’d bothered before blowing this lame-ass small town as soon as possible.
1 Like
Thank you all for these. Great starting points and I will dig in to the research from there. It’ll be a while before I can report back, but I will do my best to start a new thread in the BBS and @ you when it’s up.
Our most recent road trip was Kennedy Space Center to Mar a Lago via the coastal-most road. There’s definitely good stuff sprinkled along there — fresh grouper sandwiches at a zero-frills fish market, the sea turtle rescue center, etc. — but it’s subsumed by the relentless linear sprawl. When we got bored it was tempting to cut inland to make some headway, but every block you go away from the ocean is noticeably less interesting, and then it would be all boring. Sometimes the whole inhabited area is only one block deep and then nothing but undifferentiated flatness and shrubbery. Bleh.
1 Like
It is not such a small city either, it is the largest on Shikoku and the 34th largest in the country.
Pah. Criticising young people for not appreciating the secrets of their elders is like criticising the wind for blowing - and it’s not the fault of youth that opportunity and interest is flowing away from small towns like water.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
