Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category
The explosive growth in tourist numbers in Japan
April 22nd, 2025 by Roger Darlington
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that, following a professional visit to Japan in 1998, I’ve just made a return visit as a tourist for a more extensive trip. In 1998, there were 4.1M foreign visitors to Japan. By 2014, there were 13.4M. By 2024, the figure was 36.9M. This is […]
Posted in My life & thoughts, World current affairs | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (13): reflections
April 18th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
How to summarise such an exciting and varied holiday? We all agreed that the highlight of our trip had been the day viewing the majestic Mount Fuji. Often the sight of the volcano is hazy or poor or simply impossible. We could not have had better weather and clearer views. For me, the other highlight […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (12): return
April 18th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Thursday was a day of departures with different members of the Great Rail Journeys group flying off to different destinations. Those flying to London had the day free in Osaka. Four of us joined together as a Northern Brigade: Dave & Jen from Grimsby, Jenny originally from Huddersfield, and me originally from Manchester. The weather […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (11): Arashiyama & Osaka
April 16th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
It was the last day of the official part of our tour (Wednesday). Leaving Kyoto after three nights, we first journeyed to the nearby town of Arashiyama. We were there to see a bamboo forest. The company’s description of the location suggested: “Listen out for the soothing sounds of trunks creaking and knocking together and […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (10): Nara
April 15th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
On the penultimate day of the official part of our tour (Tuesday), the pace slackened, when we did not leave our hotel in Kyoto until 9.30 am and we were back at 3.20 pm. We were out of the city all day. At a place called Fushimi, we visited a sake brewery called Kizakira. This […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (9): Kyoto
April 14th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
We spent the whole of Monday in Kyoto. The city is most famous for its fabulous temples and, in the morning, we visited two of them. On my visit to Kyoto in 1998, I saw four temples: Kiyomizu Temple, Sanjusangendo Temple, Nijo Castle and Nanzen-ji Temple. Today we went to a new location for me, […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (8): Hiroshima & Kyoto
April 13th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Sunday morning was at the Peace Memorial Museum which I visited in 1998. The museum consists of two wings with an overhead passageway between them. Since the Covid pandemic, the displays have been changed totally. The first wing is dark and shows exhibits illustrating the terrible effects of the atomic bomb, especially the long-term illnesses […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (7): Hiroshima
April 12th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
A week ago, we were flying out to Japan. A week ahead, we will be arriving back in London Today (Saturday), we were in Hiroshima. Actually we spent almost five hours on an island, officially called Itsukushima (Island of the Gods), but popularly known as the Island of Shrines. Our ferry approached at high […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (6): Takayama & Hiroshima
April 11th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Friday in Takayama started with thick mist but the mist soon burned off to provided a bright morning for our city tour. Meanwhile our luggage went off to Kyoto and we had to content ourselves with an overnight bag for the next two days. We began the city tour with a visit the Miyagawa morning […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Holiday in Japan (5): Matsumoto & Takayama
April 10th, 2025 by Roger Darlington
Apparently, during our night in Matsumoto, about 1.15 am there was an earthquake of 2.6 on the Richter scale. For some of the group, the earth moved. I simply slept through it. At 7.30 am, I had a call from Jenny wondering where I was. To be honest, I wondered where I was as well […]
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)