Five Views of Three Japanese Cities

This week I offer a handful of illustrated scenes that linger in my memory — not because of their grandeur, but because of their simplicity.

These moments take place in three normal cities across Japan, each on a different island. Kokura (on Kyushu), Takamatsu (on Shikoku), and Amagasaki (on Honshu). In the drawings and reflections here, I invite you to step into these everyday scenes from Japan with me. I hope you can linger a bit with the drawings this week. Maybe you will find, as I did, some reminders of the beauty which often lies in the seemingly unremarkable details of life.

Kokura castle garden. My brother and I recently had a pizza lunch party here with our friend Chisai from Kyoto. Poor artist tip: most of the garden requires an entrance fee, and if you want to see the garden by strolling through, the fee is very worth it. On the other hand, if you want to have a little picnic or a beer while merely looking out over the garden, there is a little hidden ‘public’ corner connected to the river park by an unassuming staircase and gate along the east wall. If one enters through here, they will find a sufficient picnic bench with a view of everything.

During our participation in the Setouchi Triennale, Suhee and I lived for 6 months all told on the island of Megijima, a tiny community 10 minutes away from the urban center of Takamatsu by ferry. Megijima is technially part of the city. You can see the city. You can sometimes hear the city. In summer, Jet skis with gangsters often come over from the city — and they are quite nice gangsters if you get to talking with them. Living on that island, we got island fever, so every week we each took a vacation day in the city. My day course would be a breakfast set, bike ride, udon lunch, walk in the park, a beer, and grocery shopping just before hopping on the last ferry back, together with the one school-aged kid who lived next to us — she went to school in the city every day and back to the island in the afternoon. A lot has changed since we lived here a decade ago. There is a Mister Donut and a Burger King across from the greasy old cafe in the train station now. The ferry has a fancy new paint job. But the kid still goes to school on that ferry, and now so does her younger brother

Even if one knows of the city called Amagasaki, they probably only know it as the place one passes through on the way to go somewhere else. Years ago, Suhee and I met a group of schoolkids from here. “Amagasaki is trash city,” they said with embarrassed laughs. But I had a hunch it wasn’t true. Every time I passed Amagasaki on the train, the park outside the station attracted me. It stayed in my mind. The first time I actually got off the train here was with by brother, just this year. It turned out to be a really pleasant place. Definitely one of the more diverse scenes for a Japanese station entrance. People played guitar and picnicked in the park as if we were in Yoyogi Park. Trains clinked and clacked beside the foliage as friends waited for each other in the shade of Japanese Redwoods. People walked a slower pace and were more talkative. After fumbling through ordering breakfast at a small coffee shop, the waitress took to us. She brought us a gift as we left. A bag of Japanese sweets. Stopping here for a night helped us relax a bit and smile more. Amagasaki. Definitely not a trash city.

Question: What is a seemingly-mundane moment that you cherish? Why?

Next Week: I think it will be a surprise. For both of us.

Another Story: Nearby Amagasaki is another of the ‘passing through’ cities, and it is really something, especially for pedestrians. So much so that I call it the Pedestrian Empire. Then again, a lot of Japan could be called that. If you like maps and photos of pedestrian-friendly places, read this one…

Beautifully Abnormal Urban Japan, Part II: Jūsō and The Pedestrian Empires

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