It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. - President Truman, announcement on Hiroshima

Japan has a sea with no waves, where only narrow connections to the vast Pacific add salt and stop us calling it a lake. It’s an enchanting place, the distinctive shape of the islands a familiar romantic myth from much Japanese art. Rosemary and I spent much of last week travelling from Kansai along the north coast of the sea to Hiroshima and back. This picture is taken from a hillside temple at the fishing port of Tomo no Ura; it gives a good feel for the dramatic but cosy views across the sea in the sun. Even better was the Sete Ohashi bridge which we crossed on a day trip to Takamatsu. It was a dreadful foggy day, and all we could see from the train was white mist with peaks of the islands coming in and out of view. Only seeing the tops made them all the more mystical in shape.

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The astonishingly varied coloured carp in this photo are at Ritsurin-koen in Takamatsu. Their patterns are gorgeously speckled, and I think Frimlin would have had the Rainbow Sharklings in Creatures 3 like that if we could only have provided the engine to do it. Ritsurin-koen is my favourite of the gardens that we’ve seen. All the trees are regimented just enough to make the views from the various higher vantage points stunning, out across lakes and bridges with the wild forested hillside as a canvas behind.

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I’m now in Kyoto, ancient capital of Japan, and complete overload of temples. Unfortunately you don’t get to see much of the insides of the temples, just darkened views of distant painted screens and laquerware. The temples with active worshippers all require advanced reservations to visit, so no insights into Zen Buddhism. Instead, just as in Myanamar I acquired a taste for Theravadin Buddha statues from Phil, I’m acquiring a taste for Japanese gardens from Rosemary (my mum). The Japanese seem universally excellent at all art forms, and particularly at generating weird and unique new ones. The peculiar list includes tea ceremonies, all over body tattoos (for the yakuza mafia only), and handmade paper as well as more “normal” arts such as lacquerware, flower arranging and video games. Good gardens have been grown in Japan for centuries, and some are maintained to this day.

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I’ve spent the last few days touristing, and have now met up with a new travelling companion, my mum. We’re journeying round Japan together for four weeks. I’ve added a couple of pictures to the last few posts, and here are a few more. The photo to the left is of a Buddhist graveyard on Koyasan mountain. People are interred here to await the return of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, buried in poll position next to one of his mates. The grave stones were different from a Christian cemetery with more curves, spheres and posts. But the feel of the place was still the same, a purpose to respect and mourn the dead.

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Yesterday I went to Nara, site of numerous Buddhist and Shinto temples, but in particular to see one called Todai-Ji which I’d read about two weeks ago in a book on Mahayana Buddhism. Housed inside the largest wooden building in the world is a statue of Vairocana, the cosmic Buddha. I like the original theoretical Buddhism which Buddha taught, but by the time it got as far as Japan it became a bit wild. Vairocana is infinitely vast and free, showering all multiverses with his pure tranquil light, entering all atoms in all lands. There are brass lotus leaves there with pictures of him and his retinue of advanced Bodhisattvas, whom he eminates in order to teach his doctrine, and seven of the universes. If mankind could make this up in only fourteen hundred years (from Buddha’s time around 700 BCE, to when the monastry was built around 700 CE), it no longer surprises me how complex Hinduism and Judaism are.

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There are amazing gambling alleys near here (Minami area of Osaka) with countless ball bearings which get shovelled into machines that bounce them round and spit them out again at their own whim. In the morning there were queues outside, the addicts reading comics waiting for it to open so they can get their fix. Another place people were betting at machines in groups round a real, physical electro-magnetic horse race (see picture). Others had chosen a curious automatic roulette-like wheel, or something else a bit like a lottery machine.

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Wow! I’m in a slightly different sort of internet cafe, and not just because it is ten times more expensive than in China. It’s called Kinko’s and is more of a 24 hour business services centre, with photocopiers, binders and large volume printers. The computer I’m on is a Mac, which makes a nice change even though I don’t know the keyboard shortcuts. No new fangled OS X stuff alas, just OS 9. There’s a scanner and about four different sorts of zip/superdrives plugged into it, plus a choice of printers colour or black and white. Your’re even provided with a Merriam Webster thesaurus and a dictionary; yes, physical ones made out of paper. There’s nobody else here using the computers - obviously no Japanese person would be seen dead in such a place. Why bother, when you have a DoCoMo mobile phone with all its services? Give it a few years and there’ll be no public internet access at all and you’ll have to add buying a laptop to the considerable expense of Japanese travel.

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I’ve finally given up, and bought a plane ticket to Japan. I’m flying from Kunming to Osaka on Wednesday. Some reasons for this action motivated by fear:

1. The Chinese government is protesting too much about how safe China is from SARS. I object to this propaganda, when it is not based on sound detail of the health situation across the country. Every other country with SARS cases at least appears to have announced them in public as soon as it knows about them, and described what measures it is taking to prevent the disease from spreading. China has been covering it up for months, is still covering up the full situation, and is only even talking about it now because of international pressure.

• Friday’s China Daily mentions in passing that all the cases in 四川 province (Sichuan, Four Rivers) have been cured. Umm, what cases in 四川 province? These haven’t been mentioned until now, and I’ve been reading enough information sources. 四川 is where I was heading next. I’ve guessed for a long time that there must be other cases in the Chinese provinces, it can’t have spread to over 15 other countries in the world, but only to 2 or 3 provinces in China. This is definitive proof, if you needed it, that they are hiding information.
• I’m not afraid of travelling in a country which has SARS cases. Indeed, there are 14 suspected cases in Japan. However, I want to have confidence that the government is taking action to prevent spread throughout the population. And I want to know which areas are particularly dangerous, so I can avoid them. The Chinese government is not providing this information.
• A key irrational reason that all this has bothered me more than others is that I’ve been ill for about a week. It’s basically a cold that has gone to my chest and hasn’t gone away. But this has meant that I’ve had nothing much to do except read too much about SARS on the internet. When you’re not well everything seems worse, especially fear of diseases whose symptoms are different but not a million miles away from what you are suffering.
• I could take a rational decision that it is probably safe, that travelling on buses over Tibetan mountain passes or being in a country that is target of North Korean aggression is much more danegrous. However the irrational fears would still stop me enjoying myself. If I’m spending all my time on trains and at tourist sites with people from all over the country, I’m going to be thinking about SARS rather than living in the now.

I’ve wanted to go to Japan for a long while, but hadn’t planned to arrive for another month or two. So I’m busily reading websites to find out what to do and where to stay in Osaka. Suggestions and tips welcome!

On the first Friday afternoon I was in Kunming, I finished my last class and looked out the window at the alluring mountains on the edge of town. So I hopped on an appropriate looking bus, and went to the end of the line to see what was there.

As you get further out of town, things become that much rougher and less developed. Distinctive kerbed pavements vanish away, replaced by rougher road edges. I got off the bus as near as I could get to the mountain, and explored the local area to see if I could get up for a view. People’s expressions were much bleaker. In town you’re largely ignored; here you are ignored but it is clear and unsurprising that people are a bit suspicious of you.

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While I’ve been in Kunming, I’ve been doing a bit of touristing at the weekends. The great thing is that most of the other people visiting attractions are Chinese. Unlike in SE Asia, the Chinese are both wealthy enough and keen enough to be domestic tourists. And, well, they don’t quite do it the same way as Europeans.

The first weekend I went to 大观 park (Daguan, Great View) which is on the edge of a lake just outside town. Local people rave about it. It was a decidedly clinical place, very formal and unnatural. Square is the best description. Nothing was left even slightly untamed to nature, with lots of walkways across parts of the lake, carefully controlled and cropped trees and grass. There was no flow in the outline of anything, except the old pagodas - all the new buildings selling snacks or providing toilets had sharp corners and flat roofs. Nevertheless it was pleasantly charming walking round it, with lots of happy Chinese folk mainly flying kites in the large but carefully demarked kite flying area.

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