My relationship with Fuji-sama is special. As I knew I would pass it on my first trip to Japan in 1998, I longed to see Japan’s sacred mountain from the Shinkansen. However, all that day haze obscured much of any view. Close up, the towns and houses galloped by. No distant hills were visible at all. Continue reading
Last view of Japan 2015
Waiting to depart at the free WIFI bar at KIX. Enjoying the view of planes taking flight and letting my words fly through the ether to family and friends. Sayonara Nippon!
From the New Osaka Hotel’s 13th floor Belle Vue restaurant the sun drops behind the smoke-blue hills. Slowly the threads of gold and orange hanging over a blue-gray world fade into ink and indigo.
Like a great blanket of shibori cloth, pricks of illumination and reflection dot the night. Continue reading
It’s hard to argue with that. Certainly no need to explain it. Live it. That’s all. Continue reading
I don’t usually post live. I also don’t usually post half way into a half bottle of wine. However. Continue reading
Unknown Photo Source
This morning I took the JR Shinkansen to Nagoya and switched trains to Kinjofuto, the end of the Aonami line right, across from the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park. That has a fantastic collection of JR’s finest railway transport together with superb explanations of the technology behind the system dating back to its original bus. I’m no train geek, but I could get the bug. Machinery is sexy. Even sexier after I win the chance to drive the Shinkansen training simulator. Continue reading
Just because I can! And because it’s somehow cool to fly low to the ground at more than 200 kmh. How the world has changed since I first travelled via the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Toyohashi in March of 1998.
The ticket guy has just bowed to the passengers from the front or the car. I’ll have to dig mine out and save battery power.
As I wanted to explore Tokyo Station before leaving for Toyohashi on the 12:33 Shinkansen, I hightailed it out of my hotel at 8:00 via the free shuttle to Akihabara. There the crushing surge of humanity moved like gravel on a beach in a rhythm all its own. Continue reading
I AM NOT WEIRD I AM A LIMITED EDITION
CALL ME HANDSOME
DISCOVER THE REASON OF YOUR BIRTH AND JOY OF LIFE
EAT PARADISE
NOW. LIFE IS LIVING YOU
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Manifesto. Credo. Philosophy. Self Help. In songs, on t-shirts, temples, windows, walls. The signs are everywhere.
Photo: EPA/Friedrich Von Ericsson in The Telegraph UK
I was up in the air! Literally. As high as I could get on Tokyo SkyTree’s 451.2 meter Sorakara Point along the Tembo Galleria “air walk,” a gentle slope from floors 445-450. Below, the city of Tokyo glittered and flickered. Continue reading