Ken@Japan

I like reading books and visiting book places, too.  A friend of mine in Japan noticed my Instagram postings on my Dutch trip and suggested me to visit the public library in Amsterdam “ OBA Oosterdok ”. It’s located on the river side around Amsterdam Central Station so I visited on my way back from Delft. Firstly, I was overwhelmed at its stylish interior design; when I entered into the library, a huge atrium welcomed me. Alongside the atrium, there were Wi-Fi-connected desks installed around on each floor. The bookshelves are organized well with subtle kindness helping visitors look for books they would like to read; a bar light installed on  the bookshelves enabling us to see spines of books.  Spaces between bookshelves are enough for a group of people to pass each other at once. A lot of reading booths are installed here and there throughout the library. The library is open to everyone including foreign travelers like me; free visit and free browsing the book. I brough...

コアラのマーチは、私が子供の時から有名なお菓子で、今も店頭に並んでいます。味やコアラのデザインの変化はあるものの、ある意味茶道の主菓子のような、伝統を感じさせる長寿のシリーズですね。 幼いころ、このコアラのマーチを食べるのが少し苦手でした。味はおいしいのだけど、可愛いコアラのイラストが丁寧に描かれているこのチョコレート菓子を口にするたびに、なんだかコアラを殺しているような気がしてならなかったからです。思えば、こんな変なところで感受性を発揮する少年だったように思います。 今もコアラのマーチは食べないし、同じような愛らしいキャラクターを描いた菓子類は、どうも苦手です。さすがに、茶事で高槻名物「はにたん最中」が出た時など、出していただいたものは口にしますが、自分からは手を伸ばしません。 茶道とわたし さて、そんな感受性こじらせ系おじさんなワタクシ、茶道との相性はぴったりでした。 お点前の一つ一つの作法には、それぞれに意味や実用性がこめられています。また、お客さんに楽しんでもらう一つのショーとしての機能もあり、点前を優雅に見せるテクニックとして作法が磨かれてきた経緯もあります。 ただ、私が茶道の根底に流れる本質の一つとして感じ取っているのが、「道具を大切に扱う」ということ。特に私が属する石州流大口派は、数多くの派閥のある石州流の中にあって、道具の扱い方が事細かいことで有名です。お点前の中でも、道具を愛おしむかのような作法がいくつかあり、それを見た多くの茶人に不思議がられます。「今のお点前、何だった？」と後で聞かれることがとても多いです。 幼いころから行き場をなくしていた感受性、コアラのマーチのコアラたちに愛着を持ってしまう不思議なその感覚が、この道具を愛おしむ茶道の世界にピッタリと合致しました。そこから、茶道の魅力に取りつかれ、早14年。茶名を取り、茶事を仕切り、点前を指南する立場にまでなってしまいました。 小さな子供たちにも茶事を体験してもらう機会もあるのですが、特にこの感受性の部分はお伝えするようにしています。細かい作法は覚えなくてもいいけど、道具は大切に扱うことは覚えようね、という風に。子供たちも最初は不思議がるのですが、私が披露する作法に非日常性を感じ取ることも相まって、深い印象をもって道具に相対してくれるようになります。 そんな人間教育の場にも茶道は開かれているの...

To the south from the Hague, there is a town called Delft, which's famous for the Dutch traditional porcelain "Royal Delft".  But the porcelain wasn't my passion to visit there.  From Day 6, my purpose for this trip turned into alchoholic; I went back and forth between Amsterdam and other cities having local craft beer. Delft, combining with Vermeer's brith house (he was born in this town), caught my curiosity to taste its local beer. Hi, there. Delft beer! I googled the town's local beer and found a beer pub called Delftse Brouwers Huis , where the beer is flesh from its own brewary. The server lady came to me for order but I wondered what beer was the best out of their choices on the menu. She noticed me undecided and she recommended me a a set of four craft beer. Each cup of the four is smaller than one glass but enjoy comparing the tasts. I rode on it and ordered Dutch croquette together for my lunch. Yes! The set was a right choice; all of the four were D...

The Hague or Den Haag reminds me of one thing; International Court of Justic（ICJ). I remember well how excited I was when I firstly came to know this Court as a kid; I thought the Court had huge justice going across the nations to stop any henious events on this planet. How cool this is! Well, I came to realise great complications to achieve the primary objective that ICJ'd had through my education in my graduate school majored in international public administration but name of the Hague spaked my curiosity embedded deep in my childhood memory. Eventually, I decided to visit there. ICJ, where trials are held for soloving conflicts among nations  in a peaceful manner, and　Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to arbitrate conflicts among nations, entities and individuals are located in the same building called "the Peace Palace". We can join a guide tour inside when the schedule is open but it was closed when I visited since there was a public hearing about conflicts betwee...

The Capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam but the governmental buildings including the Royal Residence is based in The Hague or Den Haag, the third largest city in the nation. In Amsterdam museum I visited on Day 2, I realized that some of the masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer were placed in Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. I therefore decided to visit there for…the most famous painting to me by Vermeer; Girl with a Pearl Earring. Mauritshuis, the house for Maurits Mauritshuis was originally built in the middle of 17th century as a mansion for Johan Maurits van Nassau, the stadtholder for the Dutch Colonial Empire in Brazil, who came from a collateral family of the Royal Bloodline. Years later, the huis was renovated to a museum in 1822 for art collections possessed mainly by the last Dutch stadtholder Willem V and his son, Willem I-the first King of the Netherlands. The museum itself is not that huge like the one in Amsterdam but possesses three originals by Vermeer out of the ...

One of the eye-catching sceneries in the Netherlands is a windmill. Green glass fields with windmills and goats/cows. It could be a Dutch traditional scene we would imagine. From Amsterdam, we can go to a traditional village called Zaanse Schans; it takes 30 minutes or so by train from Amsterdam Central station. Well, on my Day 4, I decided to visit there. But it wasn’t only me but also other foreign travelers to do so. Like a part of Kyoto, Zaanse Schans has been well developed for sightseeing purpose: there were souvenir shops, restaurants and attractions. The windmills, some of them were out of operation and we needed to pay an admissions for active ones. Of course, the active windmills were a lure for travelers. My first target was to experience the windmill but the clouded travelers staying in a long queue to admission made me skip the windmill first and re-route to the museum. Zaandam, the history of Dutch Indusrialization Zannse museum was not like the one in Amsterdam, where fa...