August 2010. All photos here

When I saw this by the roadside in Izu, I thought, “Gee, that’s a kinda fastidiously sculptural, and large, piece of topiary for a roadside in the Middle of Nowhere. Those Japanese really do like sculpting their plants.”

Just saw an ad for Taiwan Tourism showing women picking tea in the fields. It’s almost certainly a tea plantation! Case dismissed.

I don’t know how popular Izu is today, but very little of the tourist infrastructure looks built in the last 20 years, suggesting its popularity is waning. Along the coast, hulking slabs of 1960s hotel loom from the cliff faces. The style is part 1960s Austrian bath-cure resort, part Honolulu coast, and all Japan. Their rhythmic edifices remind me a bit of honeycomb – the same hotel room, 300 or 400 times. Many are in disrepair, some seemingly in disuse.

I drove along a toll road called the Skyline, which may win the prize for the worst signposted tourist road in the world. It is extremely popular with groups of motorcycle enthusiasts, but that’s about it. The route is winding, scenic and green.

Along the road, abandoned tourist pavilions sit derelict, weeds bulging through the cracks in the concrete. Decrepit third-rate restaurants crank out a meagre trade on passing desperation. I suspect the dilapidated golden-era tourist infrastructure speaks of a day when people still aspired to have holidays near home and foreign travel was not entirely democratic.

I stayed at a minshuku in Shimoda. Minshuku are B&Bs, Japanese style, except you usually have the evening meal too. In this case, an elaborate, delicious ten course banquet that I felt embarrassed for not being able to eat more of. There are only 10 guestrooms and they are traditional Japanese style with tatami and futons. The minshuku is a little dated, and is not glamorous, but it is comfortable and absolutely spotless.

The hospitality is generous and warmhearted. The Japanese word for hospitality is omotenashi which is very different from what people mean in the West when they say “I work in hospitality.” Working in hospitality is a sprinkling of customer service jargon over self-hatred and boredom. Omotenashi is commitment to, and pride in, your unfailing attention to the needs of the guest. If you get a chance to stay at a minshuku I would recommend it.
At night I went to the onsen of the Kanaya ryokan, also in Shimoda. It is a super-traditional wooden building with a simple large open wooden bath (possibly hinoki) and a rotenburo (open air bath.) A delightfully authentic experience. It is not far from Daitenji station.

Shimoda itself is a tourist oddity, highly recommended if standing on the place where milk was first drunk by humans in Japan is your idea of a good time. There is a strip of historic houses preserved by the canal which is quaint. I suspect there is a nice beach around but it was cold and miserable at the time so I didn’t get down there.

In the notebook I started writing notes about the maladies I was starting to suffer… as yet not fully documented in the scientific literature. They include:

• Map Anger Disorder (MAD) – Barcelona’s tourist maps were a crock of shit and you needed about three tablecloth-sized maps to successfully navigate anywhere. I suffered severe cartographic rage as a result. (As an aside, Hong Kong’s tourist maps are not much better. They show you where the station exits are but not which station those exits correspond to. Useful.)
• Sagrada Familia Neck – caused by way too much craning up to look at Gaudi’s ridiculously beautiful cathedral
• Miro Over-Analysis Neurosis (MOAN) – because sometimes, black blobs really are just black blobs.
• Tapas Over-Eating Syndrome (TOES)- The whole Barcelona tapas thing is over-rated – mainly because Barcelona’s surly tourist-haters aren’t likely to direct you to anywhere vaguely decent.
• Subway Over-Use Legs (SOUL) – who would have thought using the train would involve so much walking?

I went to Hobart. It’s nice, but there isn’t a convenience store in the CBD and everything looks seriously shut at 8pm. One thing I like about Hobart is it spiritedness. In parts it epitomises the “cool village” – and the determination of its community to punch above its weight in cool. Another thing I like is its patina – Hobart’s not quite prosperous enough that the quirky, daggy, humdrum and lowbrow have been bred out of the inner sanctum. This makes for vareity and authenticity. Same thing for architecture – a patchwork of old and new styles, functional and stylised buildings, makes for interesting flaneurship. There’s quite a few gorgeous Brutalist/New International-esque office buildings that are in mint condition. And a few horrible designs thrown in. Lovely town. Well worth a visit. Check out my pics here.

Azores

Maldives

Japan

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