©1987 Lawrence I. Charters and Catherine Hall
Off Duty, May 1987, pp. 26-27d.
This month, visit one of Japan’s colorful castles, experience the Black Ship Festival or enjoy the thrills of spring sumo.
Even though samurai movies have been exported to the U.S. for a couple of decades or more, many Americans are surprised to find that the Japanese have castles. When they visit the Imperial Palace in Tokyo during Golden Week (April 29-May 5) they seem startled to see this monstrous fortification with its wide moat.
Castles were very much a part of Japanese life until the nineteenth century. Many large cities — Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and others — got their start as “castle towns,” founded for military purposes but eventually growing much larger as the castle became a hub of commerce and transportation. Chiyoda Castle, site of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, is six miles around, and the largest castle in the world. It was once much larger, ten miles around, and capable of accommodating hundreds of thousands of warriors.
This huge scale makes sense when you look at how Japanese castles were used. The average European castle rarely had to do more than hold off an angry baron or a few dozen enemy soldiers, and the owner was rarely in residence. Japanese castles, on the other hand, were designed as regional military headquarters, and the owner used it as his home as well.
If you visit Odawara Castle today, just a 30-minute shinkansen (bullet train) ride from Tokyo, you may wonder why the Japanese stopped building such beautiful structures. Sadly, the Americans are partly to blame. When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853, he unintentionally ignited a political storm which resulted in eventual civil war and the overthrow of Japanese medieval society. One look at the huge cannon on Perry’s ships was all it took for most samurai to realize that castles were doomed.
Odawara Castle is just 30 minutes west of Tokyo on the bullet train. Photo by Lawrence I. Charters, scanned from print.
Fortunately, this is not something that the Japanese hold against the Americans. In fact, Perry is something of a Japanese hero, and Shimoda’s Kurofune Matsuri (Black Ship Festival) on May 16-17 honors both the commodore and the long friendship between the U.S. and Japan. Named after the black-painted ships of Perry’s fleet, the festival is a great opportunity to see the rural lzu peninsula, visit the famous Shimada Hot Springs, and see Gyokusenji, the temple which served as home to Townsend Harris, the first U.S. consul general to Japan.
May brings several other treats in addition to the festivals. Naval Air Facility Atsugi will be open to the public on May 17 for Armed Forces Day. This extremely popular event offers a wide selection of aircraft for viewing, photographing, and admiring, plus flight demonstrations by various aircraft. Navy officials warn that 150,000 visitors are expected (local Japanese plane buffs are anxious to see the Navy’s hot new F/A-18 Hornets), so forget about driving and parking on base. The gates open at 9:30 a.m.; events will last until around 4 p.m.
If you are quick, Camp Zama’s tours office can send you to Hong Kong from May 24-30 from just ¥92,000. The price includes round-trip airfare, six nights at the Park Hotel and an English-speaking guide. Call Mrs. Singer (233-5273) and sign up now. She has a wide range of other international tours if Hong Kong doesn’t suit.
The New Sanno Hotel will have a special Mother’s Day Brunch on Sunday, May 10. If you’ve never experienced a Sanno brunch, you’re missing one of Tokyo’s finer treats. The following weekend, on Saturday, the New Sanno is planning a Cinco de Mayo Mexican Food Festival. Why is Cinco de Mayo being honored on the 17th? Maybe the International Dateline has something to do with it…
Finally, if you can’t be budged from your chair by the glorious spring weather and activities, turn on NHK’s Channel 1 and catch the Natsu Basho (Summer Grand Sumo Tournament). Broadcast live from Tokyo every day from May 10 through May 24, starting at 4 p.m., Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Chiyonofuji will be trying for an unprecedented eighth straight win. Don’ t miss it.