And some cool pictures taken during a nice trip to the coast yesterday:

Two amusing purchases from a shop specializing in Japanese sweets from the 1980s. First, "Terrible Ghost Story Gum" and those inappropriate sugar cigarettes you haven't been able to buy in the UK for years now:

Sorry for the lack of updates, been somewhat sidetracked by work and medical issues. Feeling better, so some updates on the way, hopefully! It's November now and it's very much winter here; the temperature has dropped sharply now. As my wife says, "It's UK cold!" (She remembers the subzero temperatures of midnight at Weston-super-Mare beach on New Year's Eve). A rainy day here, so I took a couple of lovely shots of clouds coming down the mountains. And even though it's November the local town have put up their Christmas tree. It's not much by day, but the whole area is covered with lights and looks beautiful at night (photos to come soon!). 

I found this is in a local cafe. It's basically supposed to say 'how much we're going to get done today', but accidentally comes out sounding a lot more pessimistic!

I guess Japan likes to prepare for Christmas early too..!

Here are a couple more photos of my home, Midorii. The first shows the local train station in the foreground; as you can see, bicycles are still a very popular form of transport in Japan! The mountains in the background are beautiful, but can be dangerous. Four years ago, unusually heavy rainfall caused massive landslides that crushed many houses and killed dozens of people. The second photo shows the opposite direction, with its large department stores and pedestrian bridges.

Okay, more apologies for the lack of updates; the new book has suddenly needed some big rewrites so I've been pushing it hard recently. Got a few updates ready, will turn them loose as soon as possible. Today we're going to look at one of Japan's most popular inventions (inside Japan, at least!): the kotatsu. A centuries-old device, the kotatsu is essentially a table with a small electric heater underneath, covered with a duvet (the pictures will give you a better idea of how it works). Then a wooden tabletop is placed on the top, and you sit with your legs under the duvet and use the table as normal. Even without the heater activated, it's a very snug and warm experience, especially in the depths of winter. Because of the size, it's also possible to sleep underneath the kotatsu, and in the colder parts of Japan many old people do so. However, it's also important to be very careful when using the kotatsu; the warmth and comfort are accompanied by an intense sleepiness and a general reluctance to leave. One person I know has been known to spend days under the kotatsu, emerging only to use the bathroom and make sure there are enough snacks within arm's length. In Japan these people are known as 'kotatsu turtles'. The pictures show me assembling our kotatsu, using a fold-out sofa bed as a base:

This is where I go geek. This is what the Japanese call a 'pot' (a great present from my mother-in-law). It's a type of kettle, but unlike other kettles, you don't switch it on every time you want you want hot water. Instead, you fill it up, it boils, and then it keeps the water permanently at 90-95 degrees. When you want tea, coffee, cup noodle or whatever, you just hold the cup under the spout and press the button. If you're the person who drinks tea or coffee pretty much constantly (like when I'm working), it's a godsend, never having to wait for the kettle to boil. Yeah, I know, simple things...

Today we went to visit my wife's parents in their hometown of Saka, a few miles outside Hiroshima. With several chain stores, a large college and a police training academy, this would be a good-sized town in Europe, but in Japan, Saka is definitely the countryside. We went to visit the cemetery (ohaka in Japanese) where my father-in-law's parents are interred. Many cemeteries are on mountainsides that are not ideal ground for farming. As you can see, they consist of many marble monuments. You can see my wife's family cleaning the family memorial, placing new flowers and lighting incense and candles. The ashes of my grandparents-in-law are interred in the large central monument, with plenty of room for other family members to be placed there too. The names of the deceased are inscribed just to the left of the main monument. The three plots behind are all other related families, cousins and aunts/uncles etc. The wire fences you can see are actually used to stop wild boar from getting in and digging up the unused plots! Prayers were offered to the deceased, and I was formally introduced to my wife's grandparents. My mother-in-law joked that they would be very surprised to see me there (foreigners are still very rare in rural Japan). In some ways it's a lot less formal than western cemeteries; nobody else was bothered that my wife and I should have a cigarette after cleaning the monument, but I still felt self-conscious smoking in a cemetery! Nonetheless, it was a very interesting occasion for me.

Tonight my wife and a college friend are off to see a band called Yuzu in concert. They started out as buskers 20 years ago but have since become one of Japan's most popular bands. Their Hiroshima concert in June was cancelled because of the massive flooding and rescheduled for tonight. As far as Japanese pop goes, Yuzu are quite listenable, but I'm waiting for December 1st, when I will be going to see one of my all-time favourite Japanese bands, legendary dark rockers Buck-Tick. Check this:

Buck-Tick: 'Romance'

I won't be right up at the front, because quite frankly the singer's female fans can get kind of scary...

Apologies for the late update! Been very busy with work and family commitments. Anyway, yesterday was my first trip to a yakiniku restaurant, a type of eatery that specializes in grilled meat. The ingredients are brought to your table and you prepare them yourself on the kind of small barbecue that you can see in the picture. It's an unusual place to find a long-standing vegetarian like myself, but my wife was tired after work and wanted something special, so off we went. Even if you don't want to sample the many different kinds of meat on the menu, there are usually plenty of vegetable dishes available, as well as standards like fries/chips and in this case some truly delicious deep fried cheese-and-potato balls. Sitting around that open grill is definitely a warm experience, so I imagine that it's a fantastic place to eat in the dead of winter. Very much recommended if you come to Japan!

This is the view from the smoking area outside my local 7-11 where I like to have a quick cigarette each morning. Contrary to certain western claims, Japan is not the 'last smoker's paradise'; in many respects it's more restrictive than my native UK. A few restaurants and cafes have separate smoking areas, and there are small areas outside convenience stores and bus/train stations, while shopping malls often have indoor smoking rooms that are usually tiny, crowded and smoke-filled. However, smoking is not allowed in town- and city-centres, so you can't wander around and see the sights with a cigarette in hand. So if you're a smoker planning to come to Japan for the Rugby World Cup or the Olympics, be warned, you won't be able to smoke in most of the places you can at home!

Gonna be controversial here and say that I prefer Brian Cox's Hannibal Lektor in Manhunter to Anthony Hopkins' Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Hopkins is a fantastic horror movie monster, but there's no way in hell you'd ever go to him for therapy. Cox on the other hand is urbane and charming, chatty and friendly. Until you realise he's just manipulated a serial killer into slaughtering your entire family. The kind of man who can make witty little jokes about the pleasures of mass murder, but never once lets his mask of sanity slip. No anger, no drooling madness, just a calm and collected picture of unspeakable evil.

Today's schedule involves analysing the structure of Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza's [REC], and watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. So far, it's going pretty well...

Back in 2011 I wrote a book about anime horror that reached the final stages of preparation (finished layouts, advertising, possibly even the odd advance review copy in PDF form), before the publisher went bankrupt and the book disappeared. According to the GoodRead website, that book has two five star reviews. Honestly a little confused by that. Mind you, they've also got me confused with another Jim Harper (an American) who writes about identity theft and online security, so fact-checking obviously ain't their strong point...

Last night was my first ever baseball game, watching local heroes the Hiroshima Carp take the number one spot in the league (so I'm told!). Pretty crazy stuff for a non-sports fan, watching thousands of normally reserved Japanese people screaming and shouting in joy. I'm not fully familiar with the game yet, but the Carp fielding was pretty amazing- sometimes it seemed like the other team were only at bat for five minutes before bugging out for the dugout. I wouldn't say I'm a baseball convert yet, but it was definitely a fun evening!

And this is the cafe I visit every morning for an espresso before I head back to the apartment to work (and do the housework, of course). The coffee's good, and the prices are a little better than England, especially London. The deadline isn't until May, but I've got most of the work done. Just got to keep it within the word limit and try to make it sound like I have some idea what I'm talking about. Easier said than done, etc...

Welcome to the blog of Jim Harper, freelance film and music critic and resident of Japan. I hope you enjoy my ramblings and rantings. All the best!

As I was shopping at the local Tenmaya, I discovered they were hosting a big secondhand CD sale, so I swooped in and nabbed a handful of goodies, including Kiyoharu's Poetry (which I haven't heard), a Gackt single, and two of my favourite J-Rock albums: LM.C's Super Glitter Loud Box and Girugamesh's mighty self-titled album, probably their finest work and one of the best Japanese metal albums of the 21st century. All for bargain prices, so I'm pretty happy now!