By Ling Sing Lin
Singaporeans have been invading Japan in droves in the past few months. For the second time this year, in November 2023, I went on a bespoke tour with a group of friends and friends of friends. I do not write typical travelogues, but just what I consider interesting facets of the trip. Sometimes it is just a random remark from a tour guide that catches my attention.
Yakushima
Yakushima is an island off the southern coast of Kyushu. 90% of the island is covered in forest, of which 20% is UNESCO protected. The unique features of this forest are the ancient cedar trees, some over 1000 years old, with the oldest being possibly over 7000 years old. Due to the harsh environment, poor soil and high humidity, the cedar trees grow extremely slowly, a few mm per year, while storing resin, making them resistant to decay and insects.
In Edo times, 50-70% of the cedar trees were felled to make shingles for roofing, which was how taxes were paid. Fortunately, the forest has recovered with replanting. In fact, the penalty subsequently for chopping a cedar tree was chopping off the head of the perpetrator, and he loses an arm for lopping off a branch!
Yakushima has a population of 12,000 human inhabitants, 10,000 Yaku monkeys, 18,000 deer, and other wildlife. The Yaku monkeys are only found in Yakushima. They are a type of macaque, with red faces. We were excited to see them, as they look different from the macaques in Singapore.
We took the opportunity to practice the Japanese art of forest bathing (taking in the forest atmosphere), consciously connecting with the forest and wildlife around us.
From Tokyo to Kyushu by Foot
The distance is 1,213km. But it is possible to walk the 7.7km Nakasendo Trail by foot. Along the route you can visit the 69 post towns, which are charming towns, some with the original houses dating from 300 years ago.
We visited 2 post towns, Magome and Tsumago. Being the persimmon season, there were numerous trees heavily laden with fruit (see feature image). We had the thrill of picking a ripe persimmon which we shared, licking our fingers to taste every sweet drop of juice. We also ordered boxes of giant sized persimmons from a shop, which provides delivery service to our last stop (Tokyo). There were also dried persimmons, and dried persimmons filled with chestnuts, for the tourists who are ever ready to shop.
Fun Facts about Japan
- Toyota City
We are familiar with famous Japanese companies like Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, etc, but I was not aware that a city in Japan has been named Toyota City.
Toyota City is an industrial city east of Nagoya. It’s previous name was Koromo until 1959, when it was renamed Toyota City to reflect the importance of the town’s major employer — you guessed it— the Toyota Motor Corporation. It is a “smart city”, designed to test new technologies like automated driving, robotics and AI in a real-world environment.
- Karaoke
Karaoke means “missing orchestra”. It was invented by Daisuke Inoue in 1971, who unfortunately did not patent it. The patent holder of the karaoke machine is a Filipino named Roberto del Rosario.
- Uniqlo
This store is found in many parts of the world. The original name was “ Unique Clothing Warehouse “. It opened in 1984 as a unisex casual wear store in Hiroshima.
Gu is a sister brand of Uniqlo, featuring trendy fashion pieces at affordable prices. Gu clothes are comparatively cheaper than Uniqlo clothes, and Gu stores are starting to appear in other countries as well.
Follow Me Japan (FMJ)
This blog post is not intended to be a commercial for FMJ, but I am so impressed by Risa Nishimura, our guide from Singapore, that I cannot resist writing about her. I thought she was an employee of the company. She was always one step ahead of us, pre empting our needs, patient, helpful, courteous, etc, etc. During a conversation with Risa, I discovered that she was the founder of FMJ! Her father had set up Prime Travel and Tour, and when she broached the idea of self driving holidays in Japan, her father asked her to design and implement her brainchild. And the pioneer Fly and Self Drive package to Hokkaido was born. Yet, Risa is so unassuming and helpful, working extremely hard serving the travelers, instead of assigning the arduous work of an accompanying travel guide to a staff member. She made our trip truly memorable.
lingsinglin
Dr Ling Sing Lin is a medical doctor by training. She worked in MOH HQ for many years, in policy making and administrative positions, until her retirement.
