Beautiful Weeds and the Sixth Extinction

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've muttered a bit before about weeds and how they might not be the baddies we've condemned them to be - and can also be quite beautiful.

Since then, I've started doing some reading about said weeds - mostly to see whether I was being naive to suggest that "weeds" and "exotic pests" will probably just take over the landscape as part of the natural cycle of things. So far I'm still straggling through the thick scientific-ness of the books but I've found some interesting insights.

For one, I'm certainly not the first one to show a little sympathy to the poor weed. Really, it's a matter of nomenclature.

Beautiful invasive "weed" - Lantana Camara, spotted in Wakayama prefecture, Japan

Because really, there's no difference between a so called "plant" and a "weed". Weeds are just something we humans have decided are plants in the wrong place and are not advantageous for our purposes - eg invading an otherwise productive crop area, messing up a paddock we decided to graze sheep or cows in graze (also exotic, by the way), etc etc.

Some weeds can also be classified "invasive species", which, if you want to get finicky and historical, is mildly unfair, given we Australians got off boats from overseas and spread all over this place. (ha!) As a side note, see this interesting explanation of why some call Australia Day, which falls on January 26th "Invasion Day.

One book I've started reading is "Beyond the War on Invasive Species" by Tao Orion. She's all for taking a natural approach to controlling weeds and restoring habitats and one thing she says stands in the way of that is the way we talk about weeds using unscientific and emotional words like "invasive" and "noxious".

http://www.chelseagreen.com/beyond-the-war-on-invasive-species

Tao explains how some ecologists will make the case that introduced species are a threat because it can't be predicted exactly what long term effects they might have on their adopted habitat or neighbouring species. And yet, there are actions taken to eradicate certain invasive species using herbicides that have, when you look into it, highly questionable ingredients and effects which no doubt pose risks in the future that cannot be fully predicted.

Wouldn't it be easier to just let the "weeds" be? Probably that is too naive of me. I haven't read far enough into the book yet to see what Tao suggests instead of severe chemical eradication.

It's interesting how things have come to this point of demonising some plants over others. I guess it's a side effect of agricultural society. When really, 

the idea of "invasive species" is peculiar since all plants and animals are native to our singular and unique planet. 

Tao Orion, "Beyond the War on Invasive Species"pg 10

Blackberry - Invasive (and delicious...) image from Eurobodalla Shire Council

On a different note, did you know there is an official list called "Weeds of National Significance" in Australia? Sounds quite noble, doesn't it? (Not as much when you use their abbreviation of WoNS...) It's a list of 32 weeds that is: 

"a proactive attempt to strategically manage priority weeds that pose future threats to primary industries, land management, human or animal welfare, biodiversity and conservation values. It is an effective tool that...assists States/Territories to prioritise their weed management strategies for the benefit of Australians"

On the list of 32 WoNS, only some are found in the ACT. You can find more info here, if you're into that kinda thing. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/weeds/weeds/lists/wons.html

More info HERE

One more book I found, which is not as relevant for the humble weeds issue but interesting in general is "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert. Her book title refers to the wave of extinctions that have occurred in the last 500 million years or so; "The Big Five" Extinction events which have been altering the species on the planet and suggests that we are now in the Sixth wave. In other extinction events, climate and sea level changes could have been the triggers but this "Sixth Extinction" is said to have been caused by Humans. There's also suggestions we may be in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, marking the overwhelming human impact on recent modern history.

Kolbert's book documents, amongst other things, some of the species that are becoming extinct around the world, at remarkable rates and the efforts by scientists to study them. She makes an interesting point about the mixing of species across continents in the modern era. To me it seems unavoidable that plants will mix and collide and naturalise.

"From the standpoint of the world's biota, global travel represents a radically new phenomenon and, at the same time, a replay of the very old. The drifting apart of the continents that Wegener deduced from the fossil record is now being reversed - another way in which humans are running geologic history backwards and at high speed. Think of it as a souped-up version of plate tectonics minus the plates. By transporting Asian species to North America, and North American species to Australia, and Australian species to Africa, and European species to Antarctica, we are, in effect, reassembling the world into one enormous superccontinent - what biologists sometimes refer to as the New Pangaea."

(pg 208 The Sixth Extinction, An Unnatural History)

Some examples of plants "jumping continents". It's all give and take though...

Prickly Pears - weed gift from the Americas to Australia

Sweet Hakea a weed gifted from Western Australia to South Africa

Tasmanian Blue Gum - hey California, you're welcome!

Camphor Laurel - Thanks for that China & Japan! now a weed in NSW and QLD

ANYway. I'm still reading these books (well, let's be honest, there's not a whole lot of reading happening at the moment) and these are just tid-bits that have tickled my interest.

It's all been part of thinking about a new series of work I'm making, "The Beautiful Weeds of Canberra"

For this series, I've been sketching and dyeing some of the weeds found aoround nature reserves and suburbia in Canberra, kind of elevating them from ordinary stragglers to elegant, proud plants. As I've been sketching them, which takes a lot of concentrated observation, I've noticed how many are really quite beautiful. Well, re-noticed. I already had an inkling this was the case and it's proven true. I hope the weeds will come across as I intended when the works are complete. 

Here are a few progress shots. The finished works will be in show in Sydney next month. More to come on that next time!

Kyoto's backstreet Textile Industry 京都の裏道にある染色世界

When people call Kyoto the Textile Capital of Japan, it's easy to write it off as some kind of nostalgic comment.
京都が「染織の都」と呼ばれているのは、昔を懐かしむくせに過ぎない、と思いやすいですね。

But there is still a very real and functioning network of textile companies in Kyoto today, tucked between carparks and petshops, incomprehensible from the next house on the street besides a small company sign, and taking up multiple floors on non-descript 1980's office buildings.
しかし、決まり文句っぽいのに、今でも本当にその通りです。もちろん、昔のように盛んでいるとは言えないですが、今の京都では染織関係の会社がいっぱい残っています。コンビニとペットショップに挟まれたり、80年代っぽいオフィスビルや何も目立たない町屋で営業しています。

Looks like any old house right? 普通の家に見えるでしょう？

Almost all of the signage and information about these companies is in Japanese, of course, so visitors to Kyoto probably don't even notice. These businesses also tend to be concentrated in pockets of the city that are removed from the tourist areas, so it's easy to miss them. I think even Kyoto residents don't even really notice.
この会社の看板はほとんど漢字で書いてあって、観光客はもちろん、京都人でも気づいてないだろうと思います。場所的に、街からちょっと外れている通りに集中しているから、気づかないでしょう。

近く見たら、染織関係だ！看板小さいね。A closer look at the building above shows it houses a Textile Artists' Association and a decorative textile research office.

As a kind of experiment last week, I walked around some of the streets I know to be textile areas just to see how many of these companies I could spy. The answer? In just 30 minutes, stacks!
先週、京都市内の染織が有名な町を散歩したら、何軒の染織関係の会社が見えるのかという実験をしました。その結果は？いっぱい見えました！

I was excluding those specialising in weaving (you can hear the whirrs and clacks of the looms beyond the frosted windows); trying to just narrow it down to businesses related to dyeing and the kimono industry. The number is practically exponential, once you start looking up and reading the signs.
織物関係を別にして(窓の向こう側に織り機のカシャカシャが聞こえます!)、染物屋さんだけに限りました。それでも、上を見て看板を探し始めたら、数え切れないほどあります！

A company specialising in dyeing Black. Black is known as a very technically difficult colour to dye well, hence entrusting that step to a separate business. 黒染屋さん。黒って、染めにくいから、分業して、黒染専門の工場が作られたでしょう。

黒染屋さんの看板。着物の形。Black Dyeing shop with it's Kimono shaped Sign.

tiny sign to indicate this is a dye workshop. In the Nishijin district of Kyoto. 西陣にある染め工房。

This one was a triple line-up. Dyeing workshop with the blue signs, then a business that does dye finishing processes and then a flag business. 三つも並んでいた！

Right next to a pet shop, this one is more weaving oriented, silk fibre company. 

Typical looking house on a typical looking street.. 普通の通りに普通に見える家は

but it turns out to be another business that does specialised Black Dyeing. 黒染屋さんでした！

Business making chirimen silk kimono

Another dyeing company...

and another...

And another...

and another!!

This business sews Japanese clothing like kimono or haori etc.

This one specialised in Kyoto style embroidery. Probably for embellishing kimono

the shop with the red noren curtain sells kimono lining fabrics.

これは紅型の会社だそうです。This one is a Bingata (okinawan style stencil dyeing) business.

I think you can start to get a sense of how numerous these businesses are. There were many others I didn't take photos of because it felt rude. I know there were also many more that I missed or that are not specifically marked on the building even though they are operating some kind of textile business. You can see below where these businesses are concentrated.

the red dots are dyeing-related businesses in Kyoto

Now that kimono are no longer standard everyday wear, many businesses such as these presumably have less work than they used to. I wonder what will happen to them in the future? They are powerhouses of knowledge and specialised equipment as well as links in the chain of kimono production. The division of labour means that when one business closes down (such as a steaming company that shut down 2 years ago) then the rest of the chain is affected. As more start to close, the chain will end up with some big holes. Can the individual businesses find ways to keep their services relevant in future? I guess it remains to be seen.

The Mismatch, The Spaces Between.

At a review meeting I had two weeks ago at school, my head Professor saw my draft design and declared, "It's like an Australian Sōtatsu!" (Sōtatsu Tawaraya is a very famous founding member of the Rinpa school of Japanese painting and is most famous for his bold designs and folding screen paintings which are a staple in Japanese school textbooks) It was a laughable comparison but essentially, my Professor was suggesting that my artwork looked pretty Japanese.

VERY Famous pair of screen paintings by Sotatsu. Reproductions are on permanent display at Kennin-ji in Kyoto.

Another teacher then asked me whether I'm "conscious of that mismatch between the Japanese and Australian". Yes, of course and I feel like I still haven't managed to tread that fine line with sufficient finesse. Perhaps my artwork still does look too Japanese.

But let's think about what that means; to "look Japanese". Maybe my compositions or colours are heavily influenced by Japanese painters. But isn't any artist inspired by someone, or by some art that came before he did? It just happens to be that what I am inspired by is "outside my own culture" or has a history attached that was borne in another country. I'm not trying to appropriate or parody Japanese paintings or Japanese traditions, rather I am impressed and moved by them. So perhaps the questions should be more about where the line is between Parody and Homage. 

It comes back to the very crux of what is "creation". All we are ever doing is recycling. Grabbing all those little skerricks of things we love, things that excite us, things that make us go "ohhhh" and bundling them up together cleverly and beautifully in a way that becomes us. 

Where we grab those strands of inspiration from will influence the whole but the sum of them will be unique.

I can be influenced by Japanese painting or scrolls or Abstract Impressionism but if I am a talented artist, if I am engaging in creation, then the artwork that I create won't be an imitation of those or a parody but rather an artwork that rings of a certain taste, certain familiar qualities, certain influences that are important but not all-defining. 

I happen to love art that makes you look twice because it's a special play on imagery or tradition. How about this list for starters? Australian Danie Mellor, Ceramicist Ah Xian, Sculptor Ricky Swallow, Painter Yamaguchi Akira, 

Yokohama-e Prints from the 1860's, Edo-era Bird scrolls, Japanese painter Takeuchi Seiho.......

Quirky scrolls depicting imported bird species from the early 1800's

Ah Xian "China Bust 15" 1999. Porcelain

Akira Yamaguchi 『演説電柱』2012

Takeuchi Seiho "Painting of Rome" 1903

These are artworks and artists inspired by tradition, inspired by certain tastes or cultures but they turn those influences into something else entirely. 

In my own work, I feel the same push and pull. The technique gives the work a certain look, and I push it towards something else; as a result it can be neither here nor there. And why not be both? If we did the same thing as everyone else, we could expect the same results, and we know from the definition of "creation" that every recycling produces a new combination.

I have now officially spent half of my art education in Australia and half in Japan so the images and artworks that I've been exposed to are from both backgrounds. Perhaps if I was doing katazome purely within an Australian art school, my work would tend more towards design or abstraction or experimental textiles. But with the things around me like Nihonga (Japanese painting) and contemporary pictorial textiles, this is what I have gravitated towards. Also I'm really interested in the ideas behind Japanese painting about compositions and seasonal imagery and flow, it's not purely just that those paintings are around.

Instead of feeling odd or uneasy about the mismatched things and the spaces between, why don't we celebrate them? 

Bashofu and the centenarians of Okinawa 芭蕉布と長寿の村

When you speak of Okinawan Textiles, the most famous technique is probably bingata stencil dyeing (which I recently posted about) and I would guess that a close second goes to basho-fu, a kind of hand-woven fabric from the Japanese banana fibre plant.
沖縄の染織と言えば、一番知られているのは今間も書き込んだ「紅型」のだろう。その次はもしかしたら糸芭蕉からできてい手織りの「芭蕉布」のではないか？

beautiful bashofu with it's distinctive beige colour and intricate dyed thread patterns

"From the what!?", I hear you say? Yes, a mostly female group of workers farm basho fibrous banana trees, hand process the fibre into thread and dye and weave it into a wonderfully light but strong beige fabric called basho-fu. The small village of Kijoka in Ogimi, Okinawa, is most well known for basho-fu production thanks to efforts to maintain and revive basho-fu production by Taira Toshiko, a nonagenarian designated as a so called "living cultural treasure"in the year 2000.
糸芭蕉って？！と思っている人もいらっしゃらないか？そう！バナナのような木を栽培して、手で糸に加工してから染めて、麻のような手触りがある布に織るは「芭蕉布」というものだね。沖縄の大宜味村にある喜如嘉が芭蕉布を作っている町として有名のだ。それは、2000年に人間国宝に認定された平良敏子さん（現在93歳）が芭蕉布の技を守る努力に大きく影響されたのだ。

ito-basho or fibrous banana plants being cultivated in Ogimi. They are grown until the trunks are about 1-1.5 metres tall. 大宜味の芭蕉布会館前の糸芭蕉。

As you drive into the Ogimi area, the signage boasts not only of Ogimi's basho-fu production but also that it is a region famous for shikwasa citrus, for bunagaya fairytale creatures (see here) AND of long life. Indeed, the numbers of centenarians living in Ogimi means it's population is touted as having the greatest longevity in Japan! These older members of the community attribute their good health to exercising and farmwork, to their positive attitude towards life and to staying involved in the community. One such community that elderly women remain active in is the group work environment required for basho-fu production.
大宜味村の地域に入ると、大きな看板に大宜味村の名物が書いてある。それは、芭蕉布だけではなく、シークヮーサーも、ぶながやも、長寿も書いているのね。沖縄での平均寿命が海外の研究者の間でもよく勉強されている。大宜味村は特に平均年齢が高いらしいです。大宜味の老人たちは畑で仕事したり、クラブなどに参加したり、自分の食べ物を作ったりしている元気な人々です！おばあさんたちがコミュニティーに活躍している場の一つは、皆で協力しながら作る芭蕉布の畑や工房ですね。

I think it should also be noted that the eldery population in Ogimi has a healthy sense of humour too. These daikon radish people were on display at the local produce centre. 大宜味村の人もユーモアの感覚も元気に生きている。大宜味産の物を売っている道の駅にこの赤土大根人間も見かけた。

Check out this nice video about Okinawan longevity made by some foreign students in Japan. I especially like the old lady singing at the very end. Too cute!　この留学生に作られたビデオは大宜味の「おばぁ」と「おじぃ」の生活を紹介している。最後に歌っているおばぁがすごくかわいい！

Link to youtube: The Longest Lived Village in Japan

Last month I visited the so called "Ogimi Village Basho-fu Hall" which is a working facility where basho-fu is made by hand. They have a display of basho-fu examples and equipment on the first floor with an informative video running and you can go upstairs to see the women working away on looms, on low tables, sorting threads, stretching cloth and whatever processes they happen to be working on that day. 　
先月大宜味にある「芭蕉布会館」へ行きました。一階には、芭蕉布の歴史や工程を説明する展示とビデオがあって、二階へ上がると実際に作っている作業が見学できます。その日はいくつかの工程が見えました。

plaque outside the Bashofu Hall, tells of how bashofu knowledge was something passed from mother to daughter.

The process of turning banana plants into fabric fit for wearing is long and involved and you'd be forgiven for wondering how anyone has such patience to pour that amount of effort into one roll of fabric. But see the final product in real life and you can appreciate that the group effort involved in its making results in something hand-crafted and wonderful that is unique in the world.
糸芭蕉を布にするのが信じられない手間がかかる工程です。どうして一反の生地をそんな時間を入れるだろうと思ってしまいそうですが、実物をみると、共同の努力で作られた、いわゆる大人数の手で作られた物であるこそ独特で美しい生地とすぐに分かります。

According to a brochure I bought at the Basho-fu hall, the process goes something like this:
-Farming the fibrous basho plants and then harevsting at approximately three years when the trunks are over 1 metre long.
-U-hagi Stripping the concentric layers of pale fibrous material from the felled trunks and classing into 4 ranks based on softness.
-U-daki Boiling fibres in lye to soften them
-U-biki Dividing the strips into finer fibres by running a bamboo scraper down the length of the fibre. These fibres are sorted according to softness and colour.
-Once dried, fibres are wound into fist-sized balls called chingu to assist in the next step.
工程を下手な日本語で説明するより、もう丁寧に書いてあるサイトを見た方がいいと思います！この二つは分かりやすいと思います：こもれび工房　＆ 芭蕉布事業協同組合

On the left a small bunch of these softened fibre strips. These will split into even finer strands to form the thread. On right a swatch of the fibre as it first comes off the stalk. 手に持っているのは、「うびき」の工程が終わったもの。これから、また細かく分けて、糸にする。右は木から剥がしたままの素材。

-Which is, U-umi or forming the thread. The chingu balls are soaked in water, and split into even finer threads with a knife then the individual lengths (remember the tree trunk is only around a metre long, so the fibres are too) of fibre are knotted together end to end with TINY knots to form skeins of basho yarn.

Did I mention the knots are TINY?! see that little knot on my fingertip? This is the most time consuming and skilled step of the production. Tension will be placed on the threads when on the loom so the knots must be strong but not form large bumps in the fabric surface. 小っちゃいと言ったよね！？指先に見える結びは一番手間がかかる工程らしい。織るときは糸が張力も必要から、結んだ所が強かないといけないし、できている布に目立たないように小さく結ばないといけない…

-The yarn is lightly spun to prevent fraying when it gets woven
-After measuring off the lengths of warp and weft required for the fabric to be woven, this is softened in lye again.
-The distinctive patterns in the fabric are dyed at this point by tying resists on the threads and dyeing in hawthorn (for a terracotta colour) or Ryukyu Indigo.

LIving National Treasure Toshiko Taira dyeing threads that have been selectively tied with tight resists also made of basho.
人間国宝の平良敏子が糸を染めている。白い部分は染料が入らないところですね。イメージは 芭蕉布事業協同組合　からです。

Threads before the resists have been removed. the tightly wrapped white sections will be unwrapped to reveal the pale natural colour of the basho fibre.
平良敏子。イメージは 芭蕉布事業協同組合　からです。

-The threads can now be setup on a loom, ensuring dyed patterns stay in alignment and threads kept supple with moisture.
-The fabric can finally be woven. Because of the fragility of the threads, rainy season is best and it can take one weaver roughly 3-5 weeks to weave one bolt of fabric for kimono (!!!)
-The woven fabric is again boiled and soaked, pressed under a weight, stretched by hand to it's correct width, and correct length by a tug of war type effort by two workers.
-The surface of the fabric is polished with the rim of a ceramic cup and the process of stretching is repeated.
-After final ironing and checking for faullts, the bashofu cloth is finally finished.

We saw this step in progress when we visited the Bashofu Hall. Workers at each end of the fabric give the fabric a few strong pulls to bring it back to it's correct length..

PHEW! what a process.

I admire the strength of purpose of 94 year old Taira Toshiko who I mentioned above. She has really dedicated her life to making sure that basho-fu is kept alive and carried on for future generations. You can see her big personality in this Japanese news feature:
もう94歳である意志の強い平良敏さんがすごいと思います。将来の世代でも芭蕉布が楽しめるように活躍しているのは素晴らしいですね。

Link to Toshiko Taira Interview (in Japanese) Toshiko Taira

To finish let me share this quote from Toshiko Taira that was on display at the Bashofu Hall.

...bashofu-making is a priceless tradition and skill that our mothers and grandmothers and ancestors have safeguarded and passed down here in our homeland through many centuries. If we break this chain, bashofu will cease to exist. The thought of what a betrayal that would be has kept my colleagues and I going, despite many challenges.
 While in recent years our work has begun to be recognized around the world, the future is still far from assured. Our members at Kijoka are aging.  In particular we have fewer people able to perform the u-umi task of joining basho fibres to make thread, so that even securing a high-quality supply of this most essential material is becoming difficult.
...My goal is to have as many people as possible come to know this local heritage and see its value and understand, too, what we here at Kijoka are trying to accomplish. If more would step forward to join in the effort bashofu will live on for generations to come. That is our dearest wish.  Toshiko Taira, March 2013 

Kacho-ga 花鳥画 - The Art of Birds & Flowers

There is a genre in traditional Japanese painting called 花鳥画 kachou-ga, which literally translated means 'a painting of birds and flowers'. It has its roots in Chinese painting traditions where themes of natural beauty were highly valued. I've been reading about kachou-ga because my textiles are also essentially paintings of birds and flowers.

There are some things that are inherent in a kachou-ga that make it more than a mere image of a flower of bird or animal. These things are hard to define but according to Uemura Atsushi, a famous Japanese painter from a lineage of famous painters, the following is a clincher:

"Depicting natural phenomena as is doesn't make something a painting. To produce a work of art, the artist must give shape to the world he imagines in his own mind and heart" (forgive the translation)

Folding Screen by Suzuki Kiitsu, "White Crane & Willow Tree"

Another Japanese painter, Kawaguchi Naoyoshi, says that if an artist is to paint kachou-ga , they should not be painting the true to life external appearance of a subject but incorporating their own feelings and spirit into the work.

Also, Uemura adds that a frequent ingredient in kachou-ga is 「余白」yohaku, meaning "blank space". He says that it is by incorporating blank space in a work, the artist is hinting at this otherworldliness.

From the series "Birds & Flowers of the Twelve months" by Sakai Houitsu. Left: October. Right: September.

There's still a lot to read about kachou-ga but these are some of the most fundamental ideas.

I'm currently planning new work that follows some of the kachou-ga  styles and ideas, this time depicting Major Mitchell's Cockatoos. I'm still in the sketching and designing stage.

Also here's a few images from this week at school. I put up all the pieces I had finished during the spring break to show my professors. They were very positive and encouraging which was nice.

Kyushu & A Japanese History Lesson 九州に行って来た

In mid October I took a little trip with my parents down to Kyushu for the first time where we spent a day in Fukuoka and two visiting Nagasaki.

My research here in Kyoto revolves around the depiction of foreign birds in Japanese art and part of that has involved looking into the history of international trade with Japan. Nagasaki has been an important link in this research as it was the location of Dejima, a manmade island off the harbour of Nagasaki where Dutch were given exclusive trading rights in the 18th century.
Going to Nagasaki I was interested to see how much of the old trading area still existed and hoped to read more about the history of the Dutch trading presence in Nagasaki.

Some beautiful karakami 唐紙 block printed wall paper in one of the rooms at the Dejima replica museum

What we found in Nagasaki was a beautiful and historically rich city. It has had brushes with Portuguese missionaries, Dutch merchants, Scottish entrepreneurs and Chinese merchants. These periods of its history are still visible in the city; Chinese style temples, Cathedrals, rows of beautiful arched stone bridges, Western style homes and buildings.

Meganebashi 眼鏡橋 The eyeglasses bridge, so called because the reflections cause the bridge to look like glasses

As for Dejima itself, there has been activity in recent years to reclaim the original Fan-shaped land of the small island which has been swallowed into the modern city of Nagasaki. Today you can visit a museum on the original site with reproduction buildings and a lot of very detailed and interesting information about what took place there. Its a little bit touristy of course but great to see.

Dejima Museum, a reconstruction project still in progress on the original site of the trading post of Dejima Island

From my research so far I knew about some of the things the Dutch had contributed to Japanese society already (coffee drinking, red bricks, mechanical clocks, beer, billiards potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, glass making practices, medical knowledge, exotic animals…) but was surprised to learn of Scottish Entrepreneur Thomas Blake Glover’s (in Japan from 1859-1911) contributions. He was a clever business man, sinking money into whatever he saw to be profitable at the time, including shipbuilding, tea-roasting, coal-mining, beer brewing…you name it, if it was a business in Nagasaki, Glover probably had some share in it. He played a big part in establishing what are now Mitsubishi and Kirin Brewing Company and even received an Order of the Rising Sun for his contributions!

Thomas Glover certainly knew how to pick a good spot to build his house.

It's surprising to see how great were the contributions of non-japanese to the development of Japan. I don't think many Japanese people know very much about it. Maybe if they did, they wouldn't still have this tiny niggling anti-foreigner thing in the back of their collective psyche. Look how much people from other countries with other sets of knowledge and expertise can do for you country if you let them!

Anyway, it was great to see new parts of Japan, so very far removed both distance and history-wise from Kyoto. (And to go by bullet train was nice too!) Thanks Kyushu!


View over Nagasaki by night from the top of Mt Inasa. Pretty speccy!