Iain Maloney's Posts

  • Kiyosu Castle
    November 11th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    While the Sixties bring to mind images of hippies, Woodstock, students on the street, The Beatles on a rooftop and Jimi’s guitar on fire, the decade wasn’t all colour and light. In Japan, from the late Fifties through the Sixties, while campuses became battlegrounds, a government project to rebuild national pride was underway. Only four » Continue Reading
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  • Komaki: Culture, Sex and Death.
    November 9th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    Thirty minutes north of Nagoya, in the heart of the commuter belt, lies Komaki. This town was formed around the castle built by Oda Nobunaga in 1563. The castle was the 3rd to be built by Nobunaga, after Nagoya and Kiyosu. The idea was to make it a staging point from which to take control » Continue Reading
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  • The Paths of Glory: Yokohama Foreign Cemetery
    October 20th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    During difficult times, it is always comforting to know that you are not alone, that others have stood where you stand, have gone through what you’re going through and come out the other side. Regardless of how adventurous we feel when first we board the plane that takes us from home, the route that is » Continue Reading
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  • The Pastels / Tenniscoats: Two Sunsets
    October 19th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    My interest in this album started back in Scotland in 2007 during the Triptych festival. Indie senpai The Pastels were joined onstage by Saya and Takashi from Tenniscoats and the music they played captivated the audience until an amplifier blew and stopped the show. I stocked up on Tenniscoats albums – of which there are » Continue Reading
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  • Shirakawa-koen: A Work of Art.
    September 28th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    I find attending art exhibitions in Japan to be a frustrating experience. The prices are often extortionate, the pieces badly displayed, and the visitors herded through like cattle on their way to an abattoir. Exhibitions of work by artists like Monet, Dali, Van Gogh et al are focused solely on getting us in front of » Continue Reading
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  • Gujo-Hachiman: Are You Dancing?
    September 24th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    Gujo is rightly famous for it’s dance festival, considered amongst the top three in the country by whoever decides these things. Initiated over 400 years ago in an act of socialist generosity by Endo Yoshitaka, the festival was meant as a way of levelling Japan’s rigid social hierarchy and bringing the whole community together. Today » Continue Reading
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  • The Red Devils of Hikone
    August 26th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    Hikone Castle was built at the end of the civil war period by Naotaka Ii. It stands high on a hill, the focal point of the town, and has done so, untouched by war, natural disaster and attempts to modernise for over 400 years. It looks much like other castles in Japan: ivory white walls, » Continue Reading
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  • Himeji Castle
    August 5th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    Himeji Castle was probably the first part of Japan I ever saw. I don’t remember it happening but I’ve been watching Bond films all my life, and You Only Live Twice is on UK television a couple of times a year without fail. In the film, for those who haven’t seen it, Bond follows the » Continue Reading
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  • Higashiyama Zoo
    June 19th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    I am ambivalent towards zoos. Part of me – the inquisitive, endlessly fascinated side – loves zoos. Seeing these creatures up close and personal, watching them move, eat and sleep at a proximity I could never experience in the wild is wondrous. Stop for a second and think about what it » Continue Reading
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  • Magome and Tsumago: Following the Footsteps
    June 10th, 2009By Iain Maloney
    All roads led to Tokyo. Anyone who has travelled in Japan will have heard of the Tokaido, even if they didn’t know the significance of the word. The eastern sea road ran between the Emperor’s court in Kyoto and the Shogun’s capital in Edo (Tokyo). Now it’s the name given to » Continue Reading
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