2016-11 - Blog Posts
To build or not to rebuild? The case of Heijô-kyô
In 710, the Imperial court moved from Kashihara to Nara. Just over 80 years later, the capital once again changed location, settling in Kyôto where it would stay for a millennium. The palace in Nara was abandoned, and in the 1000 years that followed, the grounds were used for menial things. However, a few structures have been rebuilt in recent years, such as the main audience hall in the background, which was completed in time for Heijô-kyô's 1300th anniversary.
Besides a museum housing artefacts from its 8th-century heyday, the palace is seen here hosting some art exhibits, and a play is underway, just visible in the above photo. Of course, I didn't understand a word of it...
This view of the Suzaku South gate shows how recently interest was given to the site: by the time excavations had begun, a railway was already running through it! This is the Kintetsu line, opened in 1914. As such, trains between Ôsaka and Nara pass directly through this historic site.
Remembering Eddie Jordan
I started watching Formula 1 properly around 1998, which meant that my introduction to the Jordan Grand Prix team, which made its top-class debut in 1991, was with the awesome yellow and black "hornet" liveries. The squad mounted an unlikely title challenge with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1999, and, while I was more of a Häkkinen fan at the time, if Frentzen had done it, I'd've been chuffed too.
Unfortunately, I cannot remember seeing any of these "hornet" cars in person. But I have seen a couple of Jordan's cars up close: a Honda-powered EJ12 at the Honda Collection Hall at Motegi (1st picture), and the second, at the private collection of the Manoir de l'Automobile in Brittany. It is painted in the team's 1997 "snake" livery, but it's not a 1997 car (the airbox out of shot is wrong). It has a high nose, which Jordan started using in 1996, so it could be a repainted demo car recycling the 1996 type, but then the sidepods are wrong! I think it's a 1995 car, with a 1996 nose, in the 1997 colours. What a mess!
Ultimately, Jordan was a midfield team that allowed good drivers to beat the front runners from time to time, and that, for one year, looked like it could morph into a top squad itself. Alas, that didn't transpire, but I will remember the yellow cars very fondly.
Cheers, Eddie!
Retired: the E4 and 700 Shinkansen
While we were on the topic of trains which will soon be retired, here are two that are out of service today, that I got to see in 2016. These are the 700 Series and the E4 Max Series.
The E4 Max, which stands for "Multi Amenity eXpress", was the second and so far last double-decker high-speed type operated by JR East, and was withdrawn in 2021. With a top operating speed of 240 km/h, they were mainly used on the Jôetsu line between Tôkyô and Niigata. They featured some "commuter" class rooms with 3+3 seating, and two E4 Maxes coupled together could carry a total of over 1600 passengers, the highest capacity for a high-speed service.
But of course, all people will talk about is the very distinctive conk. I didn't take as many pictures of trains at the time, so I didn't walk around to get a better view of this unique vehicle.
The original 700 Series was the first Shinkansen model that JR Tôkai and JR West cooperated on, for joint service on the Tôkaidô and San'yô lines between Tôkyô, Ôsaka and Hakata. Combining knowledge acquired by each company with the 300 and 500 Series, it has formed the basis of new models since then.
To be precise, the 700s which are now retired are the white and blue, 16-car sets, withdrawn in March 2020. Covid caused the cancellation of the type's celebratory final run on the Tôkaidô line. Eight-car trains painted in grey and branded "Hikari Rail Star" can still be found on the San'yô Shinkansen, as well as JR West's Doctor Yellow inspection train (JR Tôkai's set was recently retired).
The trains the E10 will replace
Following the announcement of a new Shinkansen type due to enter service on the Tôhoku Shinkansen in 2030, let's have a quick look at the oldest trains on the line, that will be replaced.
The E2 is the oldest high-speed train type that JR East owns, and many examples have already been retired. Built for the slower Jôetsu route to Niigata, they operate the Yamabiko and all-stop Nasuno services.
The E10s will also replace E5 sets. This sounds unreal to me, the E5 is the pinnacle of Shinkansen, still the only train running at 320 km/h in Japan (coupled with the E6, when the couplings work), and still young, having been introduced in 2011! Granted, by 2030, the first E5s will be nearly 20 years old, but they're probably not going to disappear completely in one go.
Photos taken at Utsunomiya station (as far North as I've ever been in Japan).
The New Year shrine visit: Meiji-jingû
A common New Year ritual in Japan is to go to a shrine, possibly a large one, a visit known as 初詣, hatsumôde. NHK reported that Meiji-jingû in particular was very busy. Of course, I would avoid that, so here we are with a more tranquil time, closer to the Autumn festival.
Meiji-jingû was, as its name suggests, founded to enshrine the spirit of Emperor Meiji after his death. The first Emperor of the post-Edo period presided over sweeping societal reforms, such as the abolishment of classes like the samurai, as Japan re-opened to the rest of the world and sought to catch up. The Imperial attachment is symbolised by the Chrysanthemum crests on the torii.
One of the things that can be wished for at Meiji-jingû is a happy marriage and family life, particularly at this dedicated spot with two camphor trees planted in 1920, linked with sacred rope - these are called "married trees", 夫婦楠 Meoto Kusu.
How early is too early?
Christmas markets have been a staple of the month of December in Alsace and Germany, and the concept of local specialities and gifts being sold in chalets has spread far and wide. Most are open for around a month, ending on Christmas Eve, maybe pushing a couple of days more.
Japan also has a few markets, and, considering how differently the date is celebrated (New Year is the family holiday), you'd think a Christmas market would be a little something to bring some cosy European atmos to wandering couples in the week or two running up to it.
Holy cow, the 5th of November! That is by a long way the earliest Christmas market I've ever seen! This was the one in Ebisu in 2016, just outside the Skywalk from the station (nowhere near as spectacular as the Mishima Skywalk), opposite a big mall. It was very calm, much less busy than the big shops nearby, which were also already decorated.
More faces on Dôtonbori
There are the classics on Dôtonbori: Kuidaore Tarô, there's a well-known animatronic crab, and of course the Glico man. I reckon this ramen-loving dragon is my personal favourite.
... though, giving it some thought, I quite like the hand holding a sushi and Spiderman reaching for a pearl too.
But oh boy, are you ready for some real randomness?
This is the front of the Dôtonbori Hotel. According to Atlas Obscura, the hotel had these pillars made to symbolise them welcoming people from all over the world - the faces represent East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe -, at a time when domestic tourism was dwindling (early 1990s).
Friendly faces on Dôtonbori
Dôtonbori is the street to go restaurant crawling in Ôsaka (if you have the stomach). As there's a lot of venues, there's a lot of competition, so a lot of wacky stuff to draw the passer-by's attention.
If anyone knows why this restaurant is called Shôwa Hormone, please let me know. Shôwa, I can guess, is nostalgia for the post-war Shôwa era; but Hormone needs a good story behind it!
Is this guy mad at people double-dipping their fried skewers?
By the way, that's two fronts featuring another monument of Ôsaka, Tsutenkaku tower, just in case you forgot where you were.
Finally, we have this guy, a true local hero: Kuidaore Tarô. This animatronic was introduced in 1950 as a mascot for the Cuidaore restaurant, which has since closed, but Tarô and his drumming were such a stable of Dôtonbori, that people clamoured to have him back.
I dunno. I think he looks like Brains from Thunderbirds under the influence of the Mysterons. A figure of his time though.
"Kuidaore" by the way, is from the proverb:
京都の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ Kyôto no ki-daore, Ôsaka no kui-daore Spend all your money on clothes in Kyôto, and on food in Ôsaka
Today, "kuidaore" is colloquially translated as "eat until you drop" - so go restaurant crawling if you can!
Sangaku Saturday #4
In the previous info post, we went over the debate on the religious aspect of sangaku, and the fact that the absence of prayers on these tablets was more puzzling to some than the mathematics. As such, the tablets are not ema prayer tablets, but donations, which usually don't feature prayers on them. Case in point, some consecrated sake and French wine seen at Meiji-jingû in 2016.
Beyond wishing for good fortune and health, such donations serve two very worldly purposes: to contribute to the life and prestige of the shrine or temple (having a famous contributor makes the shrine famous by association), and to advertise the donor in return, as their name is on display. See this large torii at Fushimi Inari Taisha paid for by TV Asahi (テレビ朝日).
With that in mind, Meijizen's cynical comment from 1673 that sangaku aim "to celebrate the mathematical genius of their authors" may not far from the truth. The authors of sangaku are looking to gain notoriety through the publicity that the shrine or temple provides. But was the bemused Meijizen the target audience?
More on that in a couple of weeks. Below the cut is the solution to last week's problem.
The solution to the first problem (below the cut in this post) is the key. Name K, L and M the intersections of the three circles with the horizontal line. Then, by using that previous result,
Indeed, as in that problem, we can construct three right triangles, ABH, ACI and BCJ and apply Pythagoras's theorem in each.
Now, it suffices to note that KL = KM + LM, so
or, dividing by 2*squareroot(pqr), we get the desired result:
Inverting and squaring this yields the formula for r:
This gives us the means to construct this figure on paper using a compass and a marked ruler. Having chosen two radii p and q and constructed the two large circles (remember that AB=p+q) and a line tangent to both, placing M and C is done after calculating the lengths IK=CM=r and IC=KM=2*sqrt(pr).
Before Hello Kitty, it was Evangelion
The Joyful Shinkansen made its debut between Ôsaka and Hakata in 2015, and marked two anniversaries: 40 years of the complete opening of the San'yô Shinkansen, and 20 years of the mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. And it's safe to say the mash-up of a 500 Series rocketship and a giant robot was bound to work!
For two and a half years, this train ran one daily return on a Kodama service, until it became the Hello Kitty Shinkansen. When I visited Japan in 2016, I made a point to see it en-route to Hiroshima. Timetable-wise, Fukuyama was the right spot.
As a Kodama train, the 500 TYPE EVA wasn't the fastest, and would often wait for Hikari and Nozomi trains to pass before continuing. This was the case here, and here's an N700 overtaking.
Erm, that didn't look blisteringly fast, did it? Well, taking into account the size and distance it may not, but a very rough calculation (length of a 16-car N700 set: 400 m, in 6 seconds) yields a speed of 240 km/h. The speed limit on the San'yô high speed line is 300 km/h.
Back to the Evangelion train! As is the case in the Hello Kitty train, two cars received particular attention. Car 2 was a decorated seating car, and car 1, with windows covered, had a mock-up cockpit and simulator game!
With the overtake done, the 500 TYPE EVA set off. Riding it didn't fit into my schedule on that voyage, but it was great to see it. Best livery on a 500 in my opinion!
Daylight Saving Time, Edo style
These Edo-period clocks are on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo. They are unusual in two ways: the display looks kind of like a ruler, and you may notice on the left example that the marks are irregular. This would seem to suggest that hours in one half of the day are considerably shorter than in the other half.
The basic idea is that the Sun always rose at 6 in the morning and always set at 6 in the evening. In between, the same number of hours, no matter the season. This means that in the summer, an hour was quite a bit longer than an hour in winter, and vice-versa for the nights. It turns out the Romans were doing this too, on a more elementary scale as their clocks were sundials, and soon noticed that they weren't getting as much rest at some times of the year...
Today, most of Europe and the US have Daylight Saving Time, and we're going through the "ugh, clocks forward, less sleep" movement in Europe tonight. But let's take a moment to consider that the owners of these clocks would have owned a set of rulers and changed them each month!