Tag Archives: Moshimo Tours

Twelve Hundred Monkeys

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Super Typhoon Neoguri is planning to slam into Kyushu in two days time. Bringing with it rain, wind, high tides, and destruction. Looking at the predicted trajectory, the eye of the storm is where I was yesterday, Nishioita Station. All of last night I was woken up by heavy thunder and flashes of lightning all around me. Since 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon it hasn’t stopped raining. Water on the pavement outside pours downhill toward the ocean. Typhoon ‘Wild Raccoon’ is coming.

eyeofthestorm[1]

On a much lighter note, I spend about half an hour drying my shoes with a hairdryer; before heading to the station. My shoes are still soaking wet. What a waste of time. At Beppu Station the rain suddenly stops and a little bit of sun comes out. I decide that I should probably go to the Monkey Park and Forest Therapy Road, while I still have the chance.

As I wait for my bus a 68-year-old Japanese woman approaches me and asks me the usual questions. “Where are you from?” “What is your age?” “Do you know Elizabeth, the Queen?” She is quite polite about it, however, and I am somewhat relieved when my bus finally arrives. The 68-year-old woman thanks me for that chat, and apologises for bothering me. I reply with my favourite Japanese phrase, “Tondemo gozaimasen.” It is a super polite expression meaning ‘no problem’. She is surprised to hear me say it.

The entrance to Mount Takasaki Monkey Land National Park is at the bottom of a mountain. The mountain is 628 metres high, and the monkeys are about half way up. I pay my ¥510 entrance fee and begin to walk the rather easy path. There was an option to pay to take a small train to the top, but I would rather walk, immersing myself in the atmosphere of the woods.

monkey_steps[1]

I get to some stairs and there are wild monkeys wandering around all over the place. A sign tells me, “If you look into their eyes, they will perceive this as a threat and they will attack.” Not looking into their eyes is actually harder than you might think. At the Monkey Park there are Japanese monkeys everywhere. Just over 1,200 monkeys, to be almost exact. They wander around by my feet, pretending not to notice me, or just not caring about me being here.

There is a staff member speaking Japanese on a microphone. Randomly all of the monkeys in every direction scream, this occurs maybe every minute or so. The sound is deafening. It turns out I have arrived just before feeding time, and the monkeys are screaming because they know this and want their food.

feeding[1]

A crate of food is brought out and the screams get even more intense. From every direction monkeys run toward the food. The member of staff takes the makeshift wheelbarrow carrying the crate of food, and runs away from all the monkeys. They chase him, jumping into the crate to grab food before jumping out again, satisfied.

The monkeys find their own little private spots to enjoy their food. One sits down right next to my foot and munches on a miscellaneous vegetable; another monkey swings back and forth on a swing. I wander around taking photographs of monkeys before heading back down the mountain. I was hoping to go to Forest Therapy Road, but it turns out that the path up the mountain was the magical healing forest.

swing[1]

The next bus to Beppu is in forty-five minutes time. Not as lucky with the bus as I was yesterday. Through the mask of clouds in the distance I can make out Beppu Tower. It doesn’t look too far away so I begin to walk. Some 4.3 kilometres later and I arrive at the supermarket near my hostel. Inside, I head to a restaurant and have a delicious lunch of raw tuna and fried salmon on a stick.

Back at the hostel I watch the television show that aired on Fuji TV on Saturday, Moshimo Tours. I am on screen during the very opening scene of the show. I also appear in the background at the very end. I was going to share the link but it has already been removed from YouTube. Instead, here is another poor quality photograph of my computer monitor. I promise the next photograph will be better.

moshimoto[1]

After watching the show, I take a bicycle and travel for a few hours with no real destination. It suddenly becomes really foggy in Beppu. I start to head back to the hostel, just as the first few drops of rain begin to fall. I grab a snack (a cake) from Seven Eleven and retire to the hostel computer to research typhoons.

Reid Wiseman is an American astronaut living on the International Space Station. He took this photograph of Typhoon Neoguri. In a few hours it will hit the tiny island of Okinawa. Then a day after that it will come to Kyushu, the island I am on. If its course stays the same, it will pass directly through Beppu.

space

After a discussion with some of the locals, I’m undecided on whether to stay here in Beppu or take the train further north. Beppu has mountains behind it, which might act as a shield against the onslaught of wind. The exact path of the typhoon can easily change. Considering its size, most of Japan is likely to face the worst of it anyway, so attempting to escape it might have the opposite effect.

I think about the people in Okinawa. I also think about the monkeys on Mount Takasaki. Probably two of the worst places you can be during a Super Typhoon; on a tiny island, and half way up a mountain.

Moshimo Tours, Robots, Red-lights, Coming to Life

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I am blaming everything on the constant breathing in and out of air-conditioned air. Everywhere I go there is air-conditioning. In my room. Inside the train. Outside the train. It has destroyed my throat to the point that it is so dry, it hurts when I swallow. Clearly the magical cow didn’t work. Thanks to illness, I haven’t done as much these past few days; not enough for a whole post each day. Instead, I will summarise the last three days here:

Wednesday

Today I am filmed as part of a television show for Fuji Television. The show, called Moshimo Tours, is about Cafe Byron Bay. Presented, I think, by Airi Taira. There are eight western guests in the cafe including me. We chat amongst ourselves as the lighting equipment and tripods are set up. There is basically nowhere to move with all the crew. Cameras three times the size as TV Tokyo’s. A team of about fifteen staff members all wait around outside until it is eventually time to film.

With the crew in place, Airi Taira, four comedians and a Japanese pop idol enter the cafe. Udo Suzuki and Hiroyuki Amano are here, they are the famous comedy due Kyain. Sanpei is here too; a football shirt wearing Japanese comedian who’s catchphrase is saying his own name. I instantly recognise him from episode two of cult classic ‘Adam and Joe Go Tokyo’. I am now on the same television show as him, which is quite exciting. The name of the famous Japanese pop idol escapes me. I am told that the band he is in are the Japanese equivalent to One Direction.

TV・｣・ｲ・ｷ[1]

My part in this show is in the background. I am a customer enjoying a drink, talking to my friends, and pretending I haven’t noticed the comedians, and idol, at the bar. Pretending I haven’t noticed the huge lighting rig, the cameras, the guy furiously hand-writing cards which he holds up for the comedians to read from or garner instruction from.

After filming for some fifty minutes, the comedians leave and we are interviewed on camera. Following the interviews we are each given a gift from the producer as a thank you for taking part; a Japanese hand fan. As a thank you for coming, the cafe owner gives the eight of us some money to buy dinner, although she didn’t need to; just being on television with famous Japanese comedians was thank you enough. The show will air on Saturday 5th July at 6:30pm on Fuji TV.

I book another month in Asakusa for the middle of August. It really is beginning to feel like home. Between now and then I am going to travel across Japan like I had originally intended. I get talking to a Japanese guy in a bar, he asks of my plans. I tell him that I am thinking of travelling first to a place called Beppu; famous for its hot springs and various kinds of geothermal healing. It turns out that the Japanese guy in the bar is on vacation in Tokyo, and he actually works at a hostel in Beppu. The same hostel I am considering booking. Beppu is on the other side of Japan, some 496 miles from Tokyo. Yet another strange coincidence.

Thursday

It is another hot clear day. I have been here for three weeks now and it has only rained for three of the days. I go into Cafe Byron Bay to thank the owner for buying me lunch. It is very early and I am the only customer. I ask her to make me some eggs. We talk. She says out of the blue that when I come back in August, she will happily employ me. “Thank you,” I say, tucking into my happy free-range eggs and happy toast. After breakfast I hire a bike again and spot this random guy:

no_idea[1]

I spend about four hours just cycling around Taito, exploring side streets at not-so-great speeds. Even the policemen here have one speed bicycles. I cycle down the Sumida River and back again, looking for interesting things, mostly seeking odd signs, hilarious typographical errors, or ‘staff wanted’ notices. I see a woman in black face makeup and red eyes. She is holding a doll. I have no idea why.

blacked_up[2]

At the hostel Daisuke and I talk about farmyard animal noises and phone sounds. Different in every language; my favourite is probably the Japanese frog sound. We hang out at the hostel bar for a while. Today is Thursday but the Jazz Club isn’t on tonight, instead there is live music from three staff members; a guitarist, a vocalist, and a violinist. They are playing an evening of music from Studio Ghibli films. For each song the lyrics are read out in English, then the song is performed in Japanese. I stay and watch both sets.

Friday

Luis Suárez is out of his wheelchair and scoring goals. Not worth getting up at 4 a.m. for. After the game I had planned to watch ‘Japan versus Greek’; or so the sign in my hostel says, however, I decide to give it a miss and I’m glad I did. After breakfast I take a few trains and end up in Shinjuku. Here I walk around. I see a typo on a McDonald’s sign and wonder how a company of this size could not employ just one person that can proofread English. I think about writing to McDonald’s but the moment passes.

McTypo[1]

I take a walk to Kabukicho, the red-light district in Shinjuku. Here I find the famous ‘Robot Restaurant’ that everyone keeps telling me about. The restaurant features a live Japanese cabaret show. The female performers wear neon and not a lot else. They dance around on giant robot tanks, robot samurai, robot dinosaurs, all to the sound of techno music. It costs ¥5000 for a sixty minute show. I suppose they have to charge a lot to make back the ¥10 billion they allegedly spent on the place when it opened last year. ¥10 billion! I decide to give it a miss.

Back in Asakusa, I go out for a tuna sashimi set meal. It is served with the usual suspects, rice, miso soup, wasabi, a selection of pickles, and some love in the style of heart shapes and flowers. It costs ¥1830 with a beer, which just happens to be the exact amount of change I have in my pocket. Yet another strange coincidence.

tunawithlove[1]

My night ends at Cafe Byron Bay for last orders where I impress with a couple of card tricks. “What’s your favourite playing card?” I ask a Japanese salaryman. He tells me the seven of clubs; he actually says ‘clover’ instead of ‘clubs’. I reveal the top card and he gives me a puzzled look before bursting into applause. The top card is of course the seven of clubs. The magic trick earns me a beer.

I pop to a late night supermarket called ‘Life’. Here I buy a couple of cans of Suntory whisky highball. As I leave the shop I notice this amazing sign:

thank_you_for_coming_to_life[1]