Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [39]
Castles
Japan has an abundance of castles, most of them copies of originals destroyed by fire or war or time.
The first castles were simple mountain forts that relied more on natural terrain than structural innovations for defence, making them as frustratingly inaccessible to their defenders as they were to invading armies. The central feature of these edifices was the donjon (keep), which was surrounded by several smaller towers. The buildings, which sat atop stone ramparts, were mostly built of wood that was covered with plaster intended to protect against fire.
The wide-ranging wars of the 16th and 17th centuries left Japan with numerous castles, though many of these were later destroyed by the Edo and then the Meiji governments. Half a century later, the 1960s saw a boom in castle reconstructions, most built of concrete and steel; and like Hollywood movie sets they’re authentic-looking when viewed from a distance but distinctly modern in appearance when viewed up close.
Some of the best castles to visit today include the dramatic Himeji-jō Click here, also known as shirasagi (white heron) castle, and Edo-jō Click here, around which modern Tokyo has grown. Little of Edo-jō actually remains (the grounds are now the site of the Imperial Palace), though its original gate, Ōte-mon, still marks the main entrance.
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In the exquisite haiku travelogue Narrow Road to the Deep North, Matsuo Bashō captures the wonders and contradictions of Honshū’s northern region.
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Literature
Interestingly, much of Japan’s early literature was written by women. One reason for this was that men wrote in kanji (imported Chinese characters), while women wrote in hiragana (Japanese script). Thus, while the men were busy copying Chinese styles and texts, the women of the country were producing the first authentic Japanese literature. Among these early female authors is Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote Japan’s first great novel, Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji). This detailed, lengthy tome documents the intrigues and romances of early Japanese court life, and although it is perhaps Japan’s most important work of literature, its extreme length probably limits its appeal to all but the most ardent Japanophile or literature buff.
Most of Japan’s important modern literature has been penned by authors who live in and write of cities. Though these works are sometimes celebratory, many also lament the loss of a traditional rural lifestyle that has given way to the pressures of a modern, industrialised society. Kokoro, the modern classic by Sōseki Natsume, outlines these rural/urban tensions, as does Snow Country, by Nobel laureate Kawabata Yasunari. These works touch upon the tensions between Japan’s nostalgia for the past and its rush towards the future, between its rural heartland and its burgeoning cities.
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MOBILE-PHONE NOVELS: THE THUMB IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD
Take a subway in any Japanese city and you’ll notice that half of the young folks are frantically tapping away on their mobile (cell) phones with their thumbs. It’s a safe bet that most of them are sending text messages to their friends, but there’s always a chance that you are witnessing the creation of the next Great Japanese Novel. Keitai shōsetsu (mobile-phone novels) are all the rage in Japan. In 2007, five of the top 10 best-selling hardcopy novels in Japan started their lives as mobile-phone novels. This is an incredible figure, considering that the first keitai shōsetsu was only published in 2003 (a novel called Deep Love,