May 20th 2006 12.45pm………………….Ready to go, pre flight checks completed , move round on the billiard smooth asphalt , accelerate hard and airborne to 12hrs of artificial hell , goodbye Thatcher’s drab children and its pitiful Blair (ite) legacy.
So started our Japanese trip , a chance meeting ( read nearly bumped in to) Bill Bryson the travel writer bode well for our smooth journey, the rest as they say is history as the well prepared mechanisms clicked in to place speeding us onwards. Heathrow Airport is a real melting pot of humanity you could go for hours with out blissfully hearing an English tongue, the dual edged sword of tearful separation and joyful unification fills the charged ether, fear and excitement paint an unseen collage of life as potent and fragile as wind born pollen.
I have always had this thing about customs and being stopped and searched I really don’t know why, but as usual we waltzed straight through and on in to the departure lounge, this gave us a real flavour of what to expect as we were the only westerners in the lounge and indeed on the flight itself. Then it was off in to the waiting plane only for me to be confronted momentarily by the passing fear of confined spaces which eased as the surroundings were slowly acclimatized to. Flying is a real contentious subject and I personally think its exhilarating doing something man was never ever designed to do, ok so after 12 cramped , sleepless hours in economy class maybe not so much, but swooping in over The Sea of Japan perked me up no end , the juddering deceleration of the plane gliding in to Narita was totally awe inspiring, 6220miles later and 11 pm local time / 2am Alison and Phil time !.
Narita on the face of it is like any international airport and gives no clue to the country lying outside its bounds , we had the odd glimpse of massive snow covered mountain ranges ( Japan is 80% mountainous) the odd rice field through cloudy skies during our approach , and the word Narita cut in large letters in a lawn - 1950’s British railway station style but that was it, and anyway before we were let loose it was the tangle with authority time as customs approached.
Standing in line we were ushered towards passport checks and on my particular desk was what appeared to be a young teenage girl and behind her stood two what I though were ornately dressed security guards
who were actually police officers, this is in total contrast to the hard nosed gun toting officialdom in the U.K. and when it was my turn I tried oh so hard to take it seriously but simply couldn’t, I walked up to the desk and said “ yer alright ? “ to the girl - who’s hard official look dissolved in to a smile , and at this point I felt it was the true welcome to Japan.
Eastern Intrigue – Part 2
---------------------------------------
I’ll quote something here which sums up the next surprise in our Japanese education…………..
“ In America the customer is king , in Japan he is god ”, this is no exaggeration as we were about to find out. We were met by a really nice guy holding a sign saying Mr and Mrs Young, who literally ran about like a maniac carrying our very heavy bags and sorting out our travel arrangements in to Tokyo, bowing and smiling as he did so , which to us reserved English on our first trip to Japan , seemed mightily strange .He was kind enough to allow me to practice my rubbish Japanese on him – watacheewa Phil desu
( my name is Phil) , as he escorted us out to the Friendly Airport Limousine Bus area and we watched in amazement as an identically dressed team of young people attended to the passengers luggage , and I noticed the team leader bowed to every single bus driver who pulled in .
To a baku gaijin (ignorant foreigner) like myself there seemed to be a 1950’s theme running through out Japan, and this was further re inforced by the sight out of the bus window of five or six identically dressed guys, vintage American style working on a car as it pulled in to a service station , cleaning the windshield , checking the tyre pressures , filling the petrol tank etc etc , some may take this 1950’s observation as a slight on the Japanese national character , but believe me that’s so far from the truth, everyone we met were extremely courteous , meticulous and friendly and I think upon reflection the 50’s reference is to an attitude and standard of service which has all but been lost sadly in the West .
The hour or so long journey was livened up with announcements on the bus like “ do not use your mobile phone as it will annoy the neighbours ! ” and the roads were pretty quiet being a Sunday thus we got in to Tokyo quickly and to our hotel the fabulous five star Keio Plaza Hotel in The Shinjuku Perfecture.
We were met upon arrival by immaculately dressed bowing hotel staff, who ushered us through to the reception area where upon we stood for the longer than obligatory 10 seconds , and I saw a supervisor trying to hurry check in staff so we could be seen to A.S.A.P , at this point I turned around and noticed a western guy standing behind me in a military style jacket, he was approached by a member of staff and he gruffly rebuffed them in his clipped German accented English - saying “ zer is noffink you can do for me”, and at this point we were called forward to register, that done the guy behind the desk called for a porter and unfortunately there were none , it must have been beyond the obligatory 10 seconds wait time , so this guy literally jumped from behind the desk and ran carrying our luggage up to our room leaving us and our gruff Germanic friend ,who was carrying his own luggage ( serves him right) in his wake .
The hotel had upgraded our room and it was a magnificent if a little vertigo inspiring view from our 50th floor window over the city basking in the 80 degree heat haze, I thanked the hotel guy and introduced ourselves , and he at this point he realized we were English , I got the impression there and throughout the holiday the Japanese like the English but I was at a loss to know really why this was. Anyway we saw a market stretched out in to the distance and decided to change and go visit it, we were running on adrenaline at this point and forgetting it was now the equivilent of 4am Alison and Phil time.
The market actually turned out to be the Japanese equivalent of a car boot sale if that’s possible ! and we just wandered around looking at the magnificent skyscrapers and immersed ourselves in the sea of traditional back alleys standing side by side with the modern architecture and sculpture and parks ,
problem was when we sat down it was an instant wave of tiredness , we had been awake for 24 hrs straight and it was starting to show, so it was back to the hotel and have a snooze time , then it was out in to the neon glow.
Eastern Intrigue – Part 3
-----------------------------------------
The first thing that struck me was the enormous amount of people there were out enjoying themselves on a Sunday night , but then again I suppose the Japanese work ethic is such, any free time you do get , you use it to the full. To the un initiated like ourselves the backstreets at night were a strange and alluring place , the neon lit bustle of the shops , cafes and bars next to the pretty spooky looking deserted temples and shrines , but that’s how it is old and new side by side in perfect harmony.
I was awoken the next morning by the sound of rooks cawing at 4.30 am and sat looking out of the window at the awakening city drinking green tea , it seemed a real spiritual moment at the time, watching the rising sun and reflecting upon the irony of it.
Breakfast was in the Chinese restaurant of the hotel which initially seemed pretty odd to us , although less so when we were the only westerners there all week eating western food ! , I thought to myself I would try an eastern style breakfast later in the week but never did , I don’t think I could really stomach eating that style of food early in the morning and certainly not using chop sticks , our eastern friends were probably thinking the same about our western food and knives and forks, then it was out and about time , we had arranged a city tour in the afternoon , so decided to go explore the world famous department stores.
Now as a rule Japanese department stores are huge and The Keio was no exception, we were still having difficulty with the bowing and extreme friendliness of our oriental friends, and this seemed to be magnified in these stores, as we stood out ever so slightly thus were singled out for even more special attention , which was a two edged sword unfortunately for us reserved English , but we survived !, we actually adapted as the week went on bowing in return and speaking the appropriate Japanese greeting which in my case had a Geordie accent , but it seemed to be appreciated by all that we were actually making the effort to at least try. The stores actually reminded me of Selfridges on Oxford Street , a calm and totally refined atmosphere and there were all the big names fashion wise for sale but the Versace suits were not Italian style or the Burberry – British “ style”, but a typically Japanese - i.e. dare I say it 1950’s style and had brand names like- Human Woman, the guys clothing is very formal and some of the leisure gear is western style , but it seemed to be stuff like - pointy toed Converse All Stars , t shirts with totally un connected words on them, i.e. table – grass ! , lurid coloured checked blazers with un matching slacks , platform soled training shoes , and safari suits , Alison is a great buyer of clothes but couldn’t find anything at all she liked in her size at all, the sizes actually going beyond small to a size called ss, which to all intents and purposes looked like children’s clothes, but most certainly weren’t .
The most surreal moment was wandering through the jewellery department and have 12 identically dressed and looking females all turn to us simultaneously and say - ohio gozimas ( good morning ) to us , it really freaked us out, and there was also a young shop assistant being given lessons by a supervisor on how to bow correctly i.e. 90 degrees to elderly customers , as age is totally respected in Japan. An American pointed out the fact it seemed to him you had 3 people doing one persons job in the department stores - and I said ” that’s how you get such an immaculate standard of service” , and he happily agreed with that upon reflection.
The food halls were cavernous and there was loads of free samples of food , which we ate although we didn’t really have a clue what they were , several staff tried to engage us in Japanese conversations we just bowed , smiled and said ……wakarimasen …..Igrisu ,,,,,,yet again
The afternoon city tour consisted of part trip around the city on a bus, part walking tour and a cruise on Tokyo bay and its many rivers , the walking part was hysterical as our guide had a pokemon on a stick for us to follow, mind you we never got lost. We visited several shrines and observed a custom of locals covering themselves in incense smoke as part of their worship ritual , and of course the ignorant tourists were doing it too which we thought was a little too disrespectful - so didn’t , these shrines are real oasis’s in the hustle and bustle of the city and often have peaceful gardens with small waterfalls and of course the obligatory temple cats mooching around.
Eastern Intrigue Part 4
----------------------------------------
I’d love to say we ate “hardcore Japanese style” at a back street noodle bar , where we were the only westerners and the menu’s were in romanji script Japanese , that would be a great tale to tell but I’m sure we would have ended up ordering seal , whale or eels ! , so in the end we went to Mc Donald’s ! , mind you - all their menu’s were in Japanese so it was much pointing and smiling time.
We did however have a proper formalised Japanese meal in the hotel - low tables , tatami mats and shoes off style, the Maitre D’s face was an absolute picture of horror when we said we hadn’t eaten Japanese style before or even used chopsticks for that matter .We did manage to eat all of the meal with chopsticks and politely refused the kimono clad waitresses very kind offer of a knife and fork.
The majority of the immaculately presented and prepared food was totally unknown to us and at one stage we were presented with a glass of some kind of seafood cocktail - pickled octopus and fish eggs amongst others ingredients we reckon - I just picked it up without even looking at the contents and downed it in one- what a coward I am ! . I had actually read up about Japanese eating etiquette stuff like :- not spearing your food with chopsticks, not passing food around , the correct way for eating noodles and not pouring soy sauce on rice etc - so I think we performed pretty well considering, and gave the staff a good laugh in the process.
Food in Japan generally is very varied on the whole and the cuisine is totally international, every other shop seemed to sell food , and you could eat dishes from a different country every day for weeks :- Thai , Greek , Italian, Middle Eastern , Korean , Japanese, Chinese , French etc etc etc , the prices of which vary depending on your choice of establishment , avant garde food = avant garde prices . I must admit to not really being conversant with Japanese food at all before this trip and the only dishes I had tried were supermarket sushi and chicken teppinake which Alison made as a taster before our holiday, both of which I liked , so I had to try a sushi bar with the food on conveyor belts as seen on t.v. , problem was they were very difficult to find and after much searching I gave up wondering if these places were some kind of urban myth or more likely I didn’t really look hard enough - nevermind.
Nearly all restaurants do not require formal attire so we went dressed in combats and t shirts and no one batted an eyelid in even the more exclusive establishments , we were sat in one eating and I noticed a western guy in a suit and tie giving us black looks I just ignored him but made an effort to listen to what nationality he was- I thought to myself “ flippin French – I knew it”, this guy persisted with his looks so I surreptitiously gave him the old two fingered salute - he got the message like all of his countrymen did at Agincourt – “ up your’s Frenchy ! “ this is the only time I was rude to anyone on our holiday I hasten to add .
We actually fell for the “Japan is very expensive” myth , and took an absolute load of money with us - £3,500 ( 700,000 Yen - we were nearly Japanese millionaires !) we ended up bringing a whole lot back , as Tokyo is as a rule no more or less expensive than most capital cities , you can pay £15 for a cup of coffee if you really want to, but you can in London , Rome or Paris if you wish . New and used Harley’s are actually £ 500 - 1000 cheaper than the U.K. ( GRRRRR ) , clothes and food seem slightly more expensive on the whole , but there is no tipping required and if you leave a tip you could find staff running after you with your money, on the subject of general etiquette it is impolite to drink whilst walking , blow your nose in public on a hanky and pour your own drinks which we all observed during our stay , and it’s a myth Japanese people are small , several guys and women we saw were at least as tall as myself ( 6ft 2ins).
Eastern Intrigue Part 5
----------------------------------------
We were booked in to do a walking tour and a very nice Japanese lady called Kay ( which was a shortened anglicised version of her un pronounceable Japanese name ! ) presented herself as our guide , we originally thought only Alison and I were doing this tour but another guy with a Swiss flag on his hat turned up , who as it turned out was a doctor called Charles and who insisted on saying odd things to me like- “ you look like a hoodlum , but don’t act like one” which I thought was hilarious . Kay actually was fantastic as this tour was only supposed to be a morning but we were still looking around at 4.30, she took us to traditional Japanese area’s and markets etc - places where she would normally not go .
The markets had things like full size octopus tentacles , totally unknown vegetables fish and meat , and we made a brief stop in a 100 yen shop ( 50p) and Charles was speechless at the fact they sold Swatch watches in this establishment , we just laughed and consoled him with the fact they were probably fakes, his nations pride restored he perked up enough to buy us all lunch. The 100 yen shops are most certainly worth a visit, for cans of iced coffee ( £3.00 in the U.K. ) , baseball hats ( I bought two) and most importantly green tea which is my newest “addiction”, oh yeah Alison ran out of clothes to wear , so bought a t shirt which weeks later still hasn’t fallen apart . The afternoon consisted of a visit to a shrine which was an amazing place very dark , with a powerful smell of incense, the light and the smell made it seem other worldly as did the birds singing away happily in the eaves . I walked out in to the light from this place and sat on a low wall my senses still awash with the atmosphere and started to stroke some of the many temple cats, and a robed priest came up to me and we had a limited conversation due to both of our language constraints and he gave me a little bell to ward off the evil eye and I gave him a Harley badge back- as it was the only thing I had on me , he blessed me and went on his way probably throwing the badge in the bin as he went, and no doubt saying to his priest friends later –
“ I gave this guijin a holy gift and all I got back was this rubbish badge”.
We also had a tour of the Imperial Palace which was the only structure that survived the massive 1923 earthquake and the vicious Allied bombings of WW2, the massive cut stone walls had no cement or fixing in them which made it an even more incredible feat .There were several hundred police officers stationed in the grounds and we watched them practicing their martial arts :- kendo , judo etc , the average height of these guys must have been 5ft 7ins – but you really didn’t want to mess with them from what we saw.
Alison also sampled the imperial toilet facilities which were the basic hole in the ground , squatting Japanese style with no visible harm to her mind , body or soul. It was in complete contrast to the one in the hotel which had :- a heated seat , de – odouriser , automatic- sit on the seat- flush and two types of bidet ( hot and cold ) complete with water pressure adjustment etc etc .
Eastern Intrigue Part 6
------------------------------------
Western cars seem to be a bit of a rarity in Japan, the most common one we saw was a Mini, mind you I’d never heard of or seen over 80% of the Japanese cars before - Nissan Cube and Toyota Cedric anybody !. Tokyo for all its cars and bikes is a very pedestrian friendly city where walkers have priority over all vehicles, the crossings actually give you time to cross the road – unlike the U.K. , and instead of having a bleeper to tell you when to cross have what sounds like piped birdsong - which is totally mystifying the first time few times you experience it. Pollution seems minimal ,no black soot when you blow your nose like in London – here, you also see individual shop keepers brushing the area outside their shops frequently and litter is non existent, so are litter bins and I assume you take your rubbish home. Car parking is at a premium so they have a mechanical lift’s so you can have double deck park one car above another , although parking in the corporate buildings within the city means cars driving over heavily pedestrianised footpaths, and these crossing points are patrolled by a uniformed security guy with a lit up baton who stops the pedestrians , so its like a patrolled zebra crossing for cars really.
I inadvertantely made some money on this holiday. I had before we departed the U.K. found a rock / metal club in the Shinjuku area and decided we should go, so armed with directions we found this club pretty easily , it was quiet large by Japanese standards and packed out floor to ceiling with metal kids . I mentioned to the guy on the door I was a d.j. in passing conversation and a few minutes later was asked if I could do a set , I hesitated for a micro second then agreed , two marvellous sweat soaked hours later I was £50 richer, what an experience - Guijin M.C. indeed !, it was actually good to see the kids letting their hair down and enjoying themselves which in the ordered Japanese society seemed very difficult to do, but hey I tried my best to help !
Stepping out of the club in to the totally pedestrian area we walked a while and saw a black Mercedes with blacked out windows pull up and two guys get out I couldn’t see whether they were fully tattooed or had their little fingers missing but I thought it was a foregone conclusion and we just kept on walking - there was no threat what so ever – mind , they could have been normal citizens going about their business for all we know !. What was even stranger was people in business suits carrying briefcases looking as if they had just finished work- they had – and this was nearly midnight , you hear stories about workers not finishing work till their bosses did , so there is quiet a bit of truth in this unfortunate statement.
There were a few bars with no foreigner notices on the doors for some unknown reason (we didn’t ask) ,
but most establishments were extremely welcoming, again especially if you made an effort to speak a little Japanese , and at the end of a saki fuelled night f**k knows what language anyone was speaking anyway. Unlike a lot of western cities it is totally safe and un threatening to walk around at any time of night , we never saw any fights , trouble or the police arresting any one , just people having a good time, we actually walked back through the red light area several times and it was all totally cool, which no doubt if it had been in the U.K. , would have been full of drunk moronic football fans - fighting.
After dark in Tokyo is a real good time for people watching especially at the weekend but to be honest we saw this all week long .There were a group of guys wearing baseball shirts who looked like The Baseball Furies - a gang out of the 70’s movie The Warriors , goth gal’s teetering around on six to eight inch
( no exaggeration ) platform shoes and truly Japanese style gothic clothing , Japanese guys wearing black American gangster rap outfits complete with bling bling accessories , young guys in sharp looking suits with blonde spiky hair , serene looking women in traditional kimono’s , guy’s and girls on custom bikes , scooters and sport’s cars - all were very friendly people and loved to chat to us about music , fashion , culture and so on - we actually spent hours just hanging out with the locals- it was fantastic .
When we eventually arrived back to the hotel it was just in time to witness a massive thunderstorm and as we were on the 50th floor it seemed as though we were parallel with the lightning as it flashed red through the skyscrapers, a magnificent sight.
Eastern Intrigue Part 7
---------------------------------------
The next day we tackled the “infamous” wiring diagram – gone wrong , subway to visit Bikertown in Ueno, it was the end part of the rush hour so we missed the white gloved attendants pushing commuters sardine style on to the trains – luckily. The subway maps / train info’ etc is totally in Japanese so you really have to know where your going and you have to buy tickets from a machine which was in the Japanese language, we mused over this machine for ages until I saw an English language button, pressed it and all became clear- thank heaven , there was even a nice cartoon of a smiling , bowing lady thanking you for your business in English at the end of transaction.
We got slightly lost and asked directions from a exhausted Police officer who had previously been running down a main road trying to stop a vehicle for some unknown reason, I think the last thing he wanted at that moment was foreigners asking directions, but he did give us precise instructions despite him nearly having a heart attack.
Bikertown is unbelievable – street upon street upon street of motorcycle shops selling everything you could ever need , including a shop with five floors selling only helmets, there where loads bikes I’d never heard of for sale and it amazed me the fact that the Japanese customise ever size of bike from 50cc upwards , you had fully chopped 400cc bikes which are given the treatment only Harley’s usually have in the west , custom scooters, café racer style Yamaha 250’s with Norton written on the tank , flat track style trail bikes - you name it , it was there.
Well actually I tell a lie- no Harley shops , plenty of Harley signs in the shop windows and the odd bike for sale but no actual proper dealers , I knew there was an official dealer in Shinjuku but didn’t exactly know where, so when we arrived back at our hotel I asked at reception , and the guy behind the counter was straight on to the internet and had printed off several web pages and had hand written several instructions on how to get there before I could even blink !, so I ended up with a Japanese Harley t shirt after all, the biggest size in the shop large- just say fit me, I found it that most Japanese people spoke English with a Japanese accent , whilst the gal in the Harley shop spoke English with an American accent – coincidence or what ? .
It was odd being seemingly the only westerners in Tokyo at times , but we did run in to a few Texans, Aussies and Hawaiians ( who all seemed to be obsessed with visiting Las Vegas ) along the way, oh yes the Germans intervened again , we were getting the lift back to our hotel room when some Europeans barged their way in to the full lift and barked something in German as they did so, and then literally barged their way out of the lift again when it stopped at their floor , a few of the Japanese teenagers did a good impression of our Germanic friends and they all dissolved in to laughter , us included as it was obvious they were taking the p*ss.
Eastern Intrigue Part 8
-------------------------------------------
We visited Mt Fuji and Koyoto on the Shinkansen ( bullet train) , 200mph on its own dedicated track- a mind blowing experience . ( there’s a faster 500mph version on the way apparently ).
Our guide was a middle aged Japanese lady who looked for all intents and purposes like a school teacher
but was in actual fact an ex political reporter and there was never a dull moment and the journey flew over as she recounted stories from her very interesting life as a journalist.
Mt Fuji is actually referred to as a she , and is she magnificent , still covered in snow on the higher areas hence it was chilly at the place we stopped , oh yes guess who had a shorts and t shirt on at 5,000ft !, there’s a photo of me stood next to a paraffin heater in the cable car station – freezing cold - serves me right !, we had some food at a local restaurant and got talking to another English couple- it turns out they went in to a Japanese restaurant and ordered the most expensive beef dish on the menu, expecting a top class cut of legendary “ melt in the mouth” Kobe beef , but got a local expensive delicacy instead - beef tongue – Brit’s abroad huh !.
The latter part of this trip consisted of a lake cruise and a cable car ride to a crater lake, the lake had big shoals of 8 to12 inch long , wild coy carp in them which were being swooped down on by a big hawk of some kind , I suppose for all intents and purposes the lake area looks a bit like The Lake District in the U.K but without the hot springs and potential volcanoes !, we actually experienced a slight earth tremor when we were here, which are a regular feature in Japan I’m led to believe , it just sounded like two pieces of corrugated steel being rubbed together for a few seconds which just disappeared after a few seconds, strange wasn’t the word for this event.
The last day it actually rained during the day , the majority of the week it had been sunny and 80 degrees minimum, leaving me with a white strip across my sun burnt forehead where the strap of my backwards worn baseball hat had been !. The hotel actually loaned guests umbrellas on a trust basis, this trust in Japan actually extended to not locking motorcycles and leaving unlocked helmets hanging from the handle bars and hoards of unsecured bicycles- unthinkable in the U.K.
Whilst on the subject of bicycles I noticed there were very few mountain bikes in Tokyo , the common model being a yes you guessed it a 1950’s style bike with heavy steel frame, “sit up and beg” riding position , no cross bar , 3 gears and front wire basket which was ridden by old and young alike at terrifying break neck speeds.
Anyway my full length traditional style umbrella was a guy’s one as it had a bigger handle, small details like this made Japan such a wonderful place, the rain was just a fine on and off mist but all the population had umbrellas as its too hot even when it rains to wear a waterproof jacket. Outside most major shops is a metal cabinet in which you insert your umbrella and it comes out wearing a full length plastic bag to avoid dripping water on the shop floor, alternatively there was a handy umbrella park provided.
We went in top a shop called Tokyu Hands which unbelievably sold beanie style motorcycle helmets complete with goggles for only £12.50, I then picked a non English speaking member of staff
( poor guy) and then proceeded to try and buy one, difficult negotiations over the assistant rushed off and then wheeled a full size mirror around for me to inspect my purchase in situ , which surprisingly considering my head size , did fit .Then it was a - domo arigato ( thank you very much) later and we were off again to buy a Hello Kitty in a kimono for Alison’s “dangle off the backpack “menagerie, additionally Alison bought her self a Japanese style handbag and was a little taken aback when the assistant actually took her money and the handbag to the till ( which was miles away ! ) , paid for it , got it gift wrapped and presented it back to her with a flourish , bow and a smile – Service with a capital S .
We had to get up at 4.30am Sunday morning for our return flight and we were met by a young Japanese student type gal in the hotel foyer to sort our return travel arrangements out, it turned out she’d traveled all the way from a suburb of Tokyo especially for us at this horrendous time of the morning , and actually stood waving till our bus pulled out of the car park - what a gal – what a country !
I had a “mad moment ” whilst in the departure lounge at Narita , the airline crew turned up and the pilot sent one of his co- pilots to what looked like a bar, as he was returning, carrying a glass I said to him in a joke ” lets see what’s in that glass ? - don’t want the pilot getting drunk”, the guy just smiled and said
”not on this airline - sir “ and just walked off !.
The trip back home was pretty uneventful - totally enjoyed the in flight film a rap music biopic called
Get Rich or Die Trying , and guess what - straight through customs ! , when we got off the plane it was cold windy and raining that coupled with the depressing news papers prompted me to say to Alison
” when’s the next flight back again ?? ” - and I probably would have too.
Regrets - Not having “ discovered ” Japan before now , not hiring a motorcycle , not staying longer,and not meeting my friend Manasi - but there’s always next year for the latter three.
For all the western ( ish ) appearance of Japan , scratch the surface and you’ll find an intriguing modern culture rich in tradition and honour ,a bygone sense of values which we in the west could learn a whole lot from , and a people who’s friendliness and curiosity are beyond belief .
I would encourage anyone to visit Japan now before it is gone forever.
http://blog.japanalicious.com/japan-blog-matsuri.html
