The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Author: Nigel

  • 🖋️Japan Miscellany / 雑多な

     May 2025年5月

    Der Rückblick/Flashback/日本：回顧

    🔴 It’s Spring in Japan and I find myself enrolled for a Suiboku (Ink Wash Painting) lesson in in Tsurumi, Tokyo…

    The artist sort of assumed I could speak fluent Japanese, so I probably lost many of the hints he gave. However he was very complimentary about my bamboo drawing….

    すいぼくが　　水墨画　　鶴見

    That’s his drawing above, which he knocked off in about a minute. I started practising with just the stems, not the leaves…..

    私の最初の試み

    With a couple of deft strokes, he “improved” my bamboo. Stuck it up on the whiteboard and photographed it!

    At the desk next to me Tomoko is poised to go….

    🔴 soon after that I was in another part of Tokyo. A group of musicians (Aki さん – Cello, Takako さん- Flute, Ayakoさん – Mezzo Soprano) were “transcending boundaries” in their experimental Minorite concert in Koto City. They were not painting, oh no, they were tearing!

    This piece (by Benjamin Patterson) was all about doing just that – with different sorts of paper. I closed my eyes and let my imagination run riot. The audience loved it.

    🎵 The contemporary music scene is alive and well in Tokyo.

    🔴 Cakes…..

    Are always nicely presented here……..This Yokohama cheesecake is made after a recipe from the wife of  well-known Yokohama author Osaragi Jiro……

    おいしいチーズケーキ

    🔴 I love going to the wilder parts of the coast. The sand can be quite dark, due to its volcanic origin. It’s soft underfoot….

    砂は柔らかい

    🔴 As for flowers, the first European botanists must have been astounded when they reached the shores of Japan. I was lucky to witness the cherry blossoms…..in town…

    in the countryside……

    at temples……

    or just about anywhere in fact……

    Then came the camelias. The pinkish-red flowers adorn the forests. You walk through carpets of spent blooms on the ground…..

    Then it was the peonies turn…….

    …..and in my last week as I walked in the park at Motomachi, Yokohama, these irises were on every corner – in all colours…..

    ….and walking around the football stadium in Hodogaya there were whole banks of Azalias…

    …and if you are crazy enough to go to the Ashikaga Flower Park (Tochigi) in the first holiday of Golden Week……..Wisteria

    あしかがフラワーパーク

    Anyone for Wisteria Ice Cream?

    藤のアイスクリームを食べませんか？ツトムさん、ありがとう!

    🔴 What’s this? In 2019 a typhoon ripped up a tree on the “bluff” in Yokohama. Underneath was a very un-Japanese foundation. The local council decided to leave it there as a memorial, as it was evidently a western-style house which had been destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake.

    The calm after the storm: Yokohama 1923

    1923 年の地震後

    🔴 History is everywhere here. Just south of Yokohama is Yokosuka, where the American Admiral Perry landed in 1853.  Lucky he didn’t arrive 50 years later, or he would have been met by this: The warship Mikasa. It was built in 1902 and brought from Vickers of Barrow-in-Furness in the UK for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It sunk a few Russian ships in its time.

    1902年に建造された軍艦三笠

    In the event, Perry passed by Sarushima Island, and arrogantly re-named it “Perry Island”.

    Not well received. It had been a gun battery for the Tokugawa Shogunate.

    猿島

    🔴 Meanwhile the old undisturbed Japan was going about its feudal ways in the hills of Gifu and Nagano. A house on the Nakasendo way…..

    中山道

    …and the burial sites of the prehistoric Jomon culture were yet to be excavated.

    縄文文化

    🔴 It is much harder to find the past in the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo. I took this picture from near the Tokyo Skytree. It shows Sumida Ward with the Sumida river: well known to Katsushika Hokusai (  葛飾 北斎 )  the famous Ukiyo-e artist.

    Tokyo throbs. It buzzes. It works.

    隅田川の眺め

    🔴 Back to Yokohama.

    Along with Kobe, it was one of the first ports to open up to western traffic. But these first westerners were not artists or idealists. They were businessmen (“Merchants”). And there were lots of sailors who had been cooped up in steam ships for too long ⚓. Two cultures clashed. It was a chaotic and tense period. The British and American governments asked the Japanese authorities to build a “pleasure zone”, which acted as a buffer between the port and the town. Nowadays tourists arrive on cruise ships….

    …..or by train🚅

    The buffer zone (aka red light district) has since disappeared, in part due to the earthquake and the subsequent fire bombing in WWII twenty year later. Yokohama has been through a lot.

    A Norwegian cruise ship docked at the Osambashi pier

    大さん橋埠頭に停泊中のノルウェーのクルーズ船

    🔴 An unusual memorial in Yamashita Park – the park itself being created on the waterfront with rubble from the 1923 destruction

    …….

    インディアン記念碑の天井

    🔴 People…….have to work. Although distance working (Zaitaku Kinmu  在宅勤務 ) has become much more common after Covid.   

      人々は働かなければならない

    Peoples’ needs…….a vending machine, a postbox, and a launderette (“coin laundry”) . What more do you need?

    このコインランドリーが必要な人もいる

    🔴 Every year children have a special day :”Kodomo no hi” on May 5th. But the carp streamers (Koinobori) are already flying here in Nagoya.  Originally Tango no Sekku, the day has been celebrated  since the Kamakura period in the 12thc. The black carp (Magoi) represents the father, the red one (Higoi) the mother. All the others are the children…..

    子供の日 (Nagoya)

    But the children are not always happy……

    Kotaro-chan : “what’s up big sister?”

    「お姉ちゃん、どうしたの？」

    Meiko-chan: “I want my violin!”…….

    “ah…..that’s more like it…….👍”

    「バイオリンが欲しい！」……「あぁ……それもいいな……」

    People are helpful. Here a shop owner helps us find the way back to our hiking trail in Miyagi….

    店主が道案内をしてくれた

    🔴 Furry friends. “I will sleep where I will. For I am a cat”

    吾輩は猫である (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru ) 🙄

    “I will reign from here…..for I am the queen……”

    ごろちゃん

    🔴 Foreigners photograph the oddest things…….Behind the Tsunami wall on the Miyagiolle trail….A harbour no more….

    The Anglican – Episcopal church in Yokohama. Apparently only 1.5% of the Japanese population profess to be Christian…….

    横浜のキリスト教会

    🔴 Buddhism: Jizo are the guardian deities for children and travellers. They are properly called “Jizo Bosatsu”, originating in ancient India where in Sanskrit they are called Ksitigarbha , which means earth womb…..bet you didn’t know that….

    なぎそ 【南木曾】

    Buddhism has many interpretations and factions… here at the Rinnjo Buddhist temple in Sendai. A Zen stone garden.

    “………..Religion in Japan is manifested primarily in Shinto and in Buddhism, the two main faiths, which Japanese people often practice simultaneously. According to estimates, as many as 70% of the populace follow Shinto rituals to some degree, worshiping ancestors and spirits at domestic altars and public shrines. An almost equally high number is reported as Buddhist…..” (Wiki)

    「……日本の宗教は、主に神道と仏教という二つの主要な信仰に表れており、日本人はしばしばこの二つを同時に信仰しています。推計によると、国民の70%が何らかの形で神道の儀式に従い、家庭の神棚や公共の神社で祖霊や霊を祀っています。ほぼ同数の人々が仏教徒であると報告されています……」（Wikipedia）

    🔴…a local Shinto shrine in Hodogaya…..

    程ヶ谷宿

    The entrance to the  Aoba Shinto shrine in Sendai – tucked between the houses like a jewel in a nondescript urban landscape…..

    仙台の青葉神社

    🔴 Fuji-san 🗻 is certainly regarded as sacred. I go for a walk behind my house and there it is on the horizon. But the iphone camera with its wide angle lens does not do it justice. On another day I catch a surprising glimpse of it from the carpark.

    富士山

    It is so much bigger than anything else on the landscape, appearing like the backdrop to a stage. It is an awe-inspiring sight. And then it disappears again. Like some magnificent but fickle god.

    🔴 I’ve been recording these manholes for a palaeographer at Göttingen University. However they are hardly phD material. They are what is called fun…..not often seen in the corridors of town councils…

    Japan’s history is one of wooden buildings – 🪵 So it’s no surprise that fire-fighting has a long history.  And how typical to use a cartoon-like figure to convey an important message. A nice thing to have in the pavement! (it’s a fire hydrant). I must suggest this to the Langen Bürgermeister……

    🔴 And technology. Pride in the old…Another view of that pre-Dreadnought battleship Mikasa…

    三笠 (戦艦)

    and in the new….the monorail in Tachikawa, Saitama.

    立川市  モノレール

    Yamaha Music Store, Yokohama. Sound experiences……🎵

    A synthesis of philosophy, art and sport: Archery 🏹.

    弓

    🔴 The tilting vessel: an illustration of one of Confucius’s principles where a bucket is suspended from two chains and needs to be filled with exactly 80% of its capacity in water to come to perfect balance — this is where the Japanese expression “hara hachibu” or “eat until you’re 80% full” comes from……..I took this picture at Ashikaga Gakko in Tochigi – Japan’s oldest university, which was founded in 832 using a Confucian syllabus.

    Ashikaga Gakko 傾く器：孔子の原則の一つを示す例 . 友子さんありがとう。

    That’s it from Japan. I hope you have enjoyed reading these blogs.

    As always, thank you for your interest, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.

    Das war’s aus Japan. Ich hoffe, euch hat das Lesen dieser Blogs gefallen.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🖋️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    *

  • Monday 月曜日

    10th February 2026 年2月10日

    🔵 Do you like Monday mornings? I found the last one difficult. Getting going was like starting a cold diesel motor on a winter`s day.

    Well it is winter isn’t it.🥶

    But all the positive experiences of the past week sort of carried me over the threshold of Monday morning.

    🔵 For example, We actually saw some sunshine……

    月曜日の朝は好きですか？月曜日の朝を過ごすのに役立った経験をいくつかご紹介します。

    All rather pretty really, as long as you didn’t have to go anywhere…..

    Indeed, this reminded me of the German “Baumkuchen” although I don’t think the real thing has that icing on top….

    🔵 And then there was this picture of my two little friends in Sagamihara…..Big sister explains to little brother ….

    私の小さな友達

    Nice red piano 😅

    🔵 For one of those real black one’s I look forward to Liudmila’s ‘cello recital in Kassel…..

    Programme looks interesting….

    チェロのリサイタルを楽しみにしています

    🔵 Also this week I had practised a duet for 2 cellos and piano, which made me feel good. Although I will feel even better when I have another ‘cellist to play with…

    チェロのデュエットの練習

    🔵 ………..I interspered the work with a sugar kick from the local bakery….”Guten Tag” I say,” Ich brauche etwas Süßes ” (I need something sweet)….“gerne” (gladly, with pleasure)….replies the friendly Polish lady. So I return with some Frankurter Schnitte..….whatever that is…..

    コーヒーとケーキとともに……

    🔵 Of course there were struggles in the week…like this Beethoven (Beethoven is always a struggle….he was always so stressed …😅).

    ベートーベンはいつも苦労しているようです!

    See that 3rd note for the ´cello ? That’s an important F sharp, and it’s right on the G string where you will often find a “wolf” note on a ‘cello. If you’ve got a wolf note there then you can forget Beethovens’ A major sonata. Or play the note on the D string. But that’s not the same 👎

    🔵 What other good things happened this week? Well, there was that challenging but hugely enjoyable evening with the “Broken Frames Syndicate”. This is an interesting group of musicians who use music and prose to focus on the climate crisis.

    素晴らしい現代音楽コンサート

    Electric performances of Messiaen…… improvisations…all in the slightly weird venue of a Jugendstile church in slightly run-down Offenbach……

    オフェンバッハの教会で

    🔵 As I am concentrating on positive experiences I will not dwell on the fact that DB left me stranded on the rather bleak platform of Offenbach Station after this concert. But I did have a merry conversation with a Turkish taxi driver on the way home.

    帰りの電車が運休になった（ここは日本じゃない！）

    🔵 We all have to go shopping don’t we. I’m taking no chances here, wearing my yellow flourescent band. It really works. Cars slow down and respect you.

    買い物に行く

    Nothing but the heaviest lock of course…

    🔵 The supermarket offers a haven of warmth and brightly packaged food….and wine…..It says “welcome”, but hits you in the face at the same time…..for a native English speaker this is a truly dreadful logo….

    HIT という単語はイギリス人にとっては奇妙です…

    Got to get the priorities right. First a bottle of Italian Primitivo, then the milk and eggs etc……

    最初に買うのはイタリア産の赤ワイン1本です。

    🔵 The biggest plus of the week. A day out hiking, starting at Bad Kreuznach and coming back over the red cliffs of Bad Münster.

    The day starts for me at Langen station, where reminders of the original Main-Neckar Railway can be seen – freshly painted. Built in 1846, the railway operated as a joint state railway company, known as a condominium railway (Kondominalbahn), by the Free City of Frankfurt, The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Grand Duchy of Baden.

    So now you know.

    今週最高の体験。ハイキング

    🔵 The Rotenfels (Red Cliffs) is great walking territory, even on a grey day….

    Photo: Soren (edited)

    …..and the town of Bad Münster itself is a curious old place

    バート・ミュンスター

    ……. drawing patients to the salty air of the Gradierwerke, where highly charged natural mineral water if left to trickle down huge wooden constructions, evaporating and bathing the passers-by in a saline atmosphere…

    Photo: Soren (edited)

    🔵 People come and stay here for that most German of German institutions……the Kur…….the nearest word I know in English is “taking the waters”. This is the Kurhaus…..

    🔵 Above the town it’s a stiff climb…..

    …………but nobody complains, for we are a merry band of hikers…..

    ……. on the VITAL route…..

    🔵 Like a Fata Morgana, or mirage…the image of an Italian restaurant keeps us going…….A restaurant which later provides good food and drink for all…..

    Not bad eh?

    私たちは楽しいハイカーグループで、ハイキングの後はイタリアンレストランでおいしい食事を楽しみました。

    🔵 Back at home…..

    Violins can be pretty mischievous sometimes. I pick this one up to tune it……… But on its own accord, it seems to have landed on a chord which needs resolving……

    バイオリンがちょっとしたトリックを演奏する

    It seems to want to shift to D major. Naughty violin….

    🔵 Before I end this week’s post I must mention this:

    I walk out of my house and my attention is immediately drawn skywards. Something big is happening up there. It’s the geese. They are all squawking and circling….a hundred I would say. It is an awe-inspiring sight. Every year they do it, flying thousands of miles over Europe. Always the same routes. Often the same resting posts – in this case the lakes around Langen and Darmstadt. But you never know when they will do it…..such a mystery….

    渡り鳥が家の上空を飛ぶ。不思議で畏敬の念を抱かせる光景だ

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり✍️

    🔵 p.s. On a friend’s recommendation I went to see a film last week. Hugely enjoyable. Funny, sad, thought – provoking. Half in English, half in Japanese.

    In the huge city of Tokyo, you can rent almost anything…a man for your wedding, a father for your daughter, a journalist to interview your father….It sounds weird to us, I know. But it is not without it’s benefits..RENTAL FAMILY…..

    …..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0pqP6ClcE8

  • Japan Flashback: 🦪 Matsushima 松島

    (note: This is a blog which was originally published on the Israeli site WIX. After following the boycott of this firm and moving my blog to WordPress I nearly lost this report, but have managed to put it together from archive material.)

    18th April 2025年4月18日

    🟠 Be prepared for the unexpected. This is one of my mottos when in Japan. Is it the unexpected convenience of power sockets at a café table…..?

    予期せぬ事態に備えよ。これは私が日本にいるときのモットーの一つです。

    日本での多くの驚きの一つ

    🟠 Or the civic pride in a manhole?

    仙台のマンホール

    🟠 Or the discovery of a cassette player in the local department store?

    カセットテープは復活するのか

    🟠 Or a box to carry sake up a mountain to offer to the gods?

    大山に酒を運ぶ箱

    🟠 Or the discovery of a museum 5 minutes walk from your hotel?…..devoted solely to butterflies and Kokeshi?

    Mr. Bunzo Kamei was the third president of the Kamei Organisation. But he had a passion: butterflies. He travelled all over the world in search of specimens. And they are all here in Sendai, all 14.000 of them…….

    I am not going to try and name them…….

    亀井文三蝶々美術館 仙台

    Kokeshi? They are wooden dolls turned on a lathe. Originating from this region: Tohoku

    こけし人形

    🟠 Or how about these guys? They are about 2,500 years old and were found in graves from the Jomon period

    縄文時代の彫像

    🟠 Almost every day I am surprised by things here. I am walking through a residential area and suddenly come across a cement works. What next.

    ここではほぼ毎日、驚くような出来事に遭遇します。住宅街を歩いていると、突然セメント工場に遭遇するんです。次は一体何が起こるのでしょう。

    天王町のセメント工場

    🟠 Or I am walking in the forest and see this sign – it is so old. Is it a warning of some sort? I start decifering the Kanji: Security Forest?…..Protected Forest maybe? What about Forest Reserve. That sounds more plausible.

    仙台の森で

    🟠 And then there is the  sheer accuracy of the train carriage plans on the station platform……am I standing in the right place? (yes)….

    私は正しい場所に立っていますか?

    🟠 The pride in the railways……Indeed, I think this pride is part of the story behind Japan’s extraordinarily efficient transport system. They seem to love trains. At some point in the 19thc. somebody must have said > “This is it. If we are going to modernize this country it’s got to be trains”. And trains it was. Not cars. Ever been on a Japanese motorway? It’s boring. Trains are much more fun. And you almost set your watch by them.

    星川の歴史

    Hoshikawa history…..

    🟠 But for some inexplicable reason, there is no pride in getting English right. My hotel in Sendai has friendly staff, is efficient, modern, clean…in short everything you need…..except this… surely it is not that difficult to get a good English translation these days…or maybe this is Irish…..😅

    この翻訳は良くない 👎👎👎👎!

    You sometimes see strange English aswell….

    🟠 I’m now sitting an a rather squeaky clean train heading north out of Sendai. It’s the Sensecki local service to Ishinomaki.

    仙石線 宮城県

    🟠 I’m alighting at one of Japan’s beauty spots – Mitsushima Kaigan. I want to see the sea. The beautiful but destructive sea. The sea which removed sections of this line in 2011. And here it is, looking deep and calm. A few cruise boats are lined up. Not for me. I find the loud commentaries on these sight-seeing ships maddening.

    松島海岸

    🟠 This tranquil bay, dotted with little islands, was spared the worst of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami, being protected by Miyato Island/peninsular to the east (the red dot on the map is where I am)…..

    🟠 One of the first things I saw after leaving the station was one of those helpful signboards with all the sight-seeing spots marked. At least two islands connected to the land by bridges, with woodland walks and temples. But my map showed another small island which was not mentioned in the tourist blurb. Ojima. Some instinct in me (which rebels against being told what to see) led me to walk in this direction. I passed through a boat yard, and followed a trail cut out of the rock…….

    尾島

    ……..and was astonished to come across these caves along the way….also cut out of the rock

    cave for meditation はんせい  反省

    🟠 Crossing the small red bridge- the Togetsukyō Bridge  (a replacement for the one destroyed 14 years ago) I soon found myself on what can only be described as a sacred island……There is even a strange word attached to it – Utamakura (歌枕, “poem pillow”) – a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry.

    Ojima

    🟠 I had not done my homework (sometimes a good thing) and didn’t really know what I was looking at. The island had apparently been a retreat for monks, and is littered with manifestations of Buddha, the caves being for meditation. There are also Shinto shrines, and inscriptions from the famous poet Bashou.

    Many statues have been eroded by the elements, but still receive offerings…….(I have often wondered what the point of those 1 yen coins are, now I know)

    I followed the path around the island…

    私は島の周りの道をたどった

    …with the sea lapping under the cliffs….

    Now why was this island not on the tourist maps? I wonder……..I will let you come to your own conclusions.

    では、なぜこの島は観光地図に載っていないのでしょうか？ 不思議ですね……。結論はご自身で考えてください。

    🟠 Sightseeing is hungry work. The wind was cold, and all I needed was a warm soup. All the restaurants on the sea front were offering either oysters or beef tongue  (ぎゅう a local speciality). I felt like neither. Then I noticed it, having walked passed it once and dismissed it as off the scale regarding grubbiness and a general shabby air. There was just a glass door with words pasted onto it   ラーメン (Ramen)  カレー (Curry). I stepped inside. A little old man stood up from his television and gave me a broad smile of greeting….”Yes, of course I have Ramen…just take a seat….”

    牡蠣はごめんなさい。牛タンもごめんなさい。ラーメンはOK！

    Food of the gods. Stuff the oysters and beef tongue.

    🟠 Of course Matsushima is not all Buddhas and shrines. The beaches reveal molluscs…..barnacles…..

    まんきゃくるい     福浦島

    And oysters have been harvested here for centuries……

    かき

    A bamboo shoot pushes out of the sand like a rocket…….

    たけ    竹

    …and behind it is that glittering Pacific Ocean…..

    きらめく太平洋

    always moving things around…….

    leaving its flotsam on the beach…….

    ひょうりゅうぶつ

    Oh! low and behold, a rarely-seen object, probably left by some uncouth western tourist many years ago…..

    外国人観光客が残したものだと思います!

    However, the beach is so searingly beautiful…..and so casually adorned with flowers….

    美

    🟠 Do I really have to go back to Sendai tonight?

    今夜仙台に戻らなければなりませんか？

    The bridge beckons.  I must go 😔

    福浦橋

    🟠 As always, thank you for reading, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do send it on.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🖋️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    THE END 　終わる

    Japan

  • 🤔 Mistake 間違い

    January 25th 2026年1月25日

    ✍️ I always make the same mistake. In the days prior to leaving Japan and boarding a flight back to Germany I start scheduling events in my diary for the following week. I think. Oh, been here, done this before.

    I arrive in Frankfurt on the Copenhagen flight. “Jeeves, park the jet please. Thank you…..”

    コペンハーゲンで乗り継ぎ、フランクフルトに到着

    …..get home and open the workshop, go to a choir rehearsal, get out my ‘cello…..

    ✍️ But no. It doesn’t work like that. I’m fighting to concentrate in the choir. My ‘cello doesn’t sound right. I can’t calculate bills in front of customers. In town everyone is muffled up against the bitter cold. A shoe stares at me in a field….

    いつも同じ間違いを犯してしまいます。ドイツでの生活を普通に続けることができないんです…

    The light is different. It’s eggshell blue (if you’re lucky) in Germany, marine blue in Japan.

    ドイツはとても寒いです。空はいつも青くないんです…

    ✍️ There is litter on the trains and pavements. The Euros feel heavy in your pocket. The Aldi check-out feels 10 years out of date. The German language suddenly feels like hard work. There is no “reading the air” It’s all too direct. Not just the grammar, but the way it makes you interact with other people. It’s a totally different mindset. Most unsettling.

    ✍️ But you have travelled from one relatively civilized country to the other, thanks to Scandinavian Airways.

    ✍️ You passed through Denmark without seeing any American military; You were not pushed into a car by some masked thug working for an immigation authority; You were not arrested by the Met. for your disapproval of Israel’s genocide.Your appartment has not been hit by a Russian drone, leaving you without internet or hot water when the temperature is -15°c

    ✍️ So, in the words of a junior high school song, you could just say “Thank You”. Arigatou. You are alive and well.

    だから、中学校の校歌にもあるように、「ありがとう」と言えばいいんです。ありがとう。あなたは生きていて、元気です。Thank you to Kota Yanagishima and the vocalconsort initium, Tokyo

    ✍️ Don’t try and do anything too complicated. Go to Karlsruhe and listen to all those marvellous young people singing at the Musikhochschule. Hear your son sing some Hugo Wolf, accompanied by a dedicated young Korean pianist.

    Music. Where would we be without it…?

    音楽がなかったら私たちはどうなっていたでしょう？

    ✍️ Let yourself be swept away by the design exhibition at the ZKM…after coffee and cake of course…..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZKM_Center_for_Art_and_Media_Karlsruhe

    カールスルーエ近代美術館への訪問

    …be spirited away by a camera and some clever computer…….

    ✍️ …or simply indulge in some Baroque overkill…..

    カールスルーエのバロック様式の城は素晴らしい場所です

    Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach would have enjoyed this….

    Skating round my backside! ho ho…..

    ✍️ Have a laugh in your mother tongue….in this case our bookgroup discusses “The Glassmakers” by Tracey Chevalier…..

    英語を話す友達と一緒にいるのは良いことです

    Enough of this. Changing cultures is not just about getting on a plane…

    文化を変えるのは、飛行機に乗るだけではありません…

    ✍️ It is changing language, and language is not just the words; changing how you interact with others; changing your thinking; adapting to the climate and struggling with your body clock. I find it hard work.

    ✍️ And I make the same mistake every time, thinking that life will just go as normal. For it doesn’t. Being away for a month gives your brain an abrupt sharp focus on your “normal” life when you return. In English we say “it’s a sea change”.

    そして私はいつも同じ間違いを犯します。人生は普通に過ぎていく、と。でも、そうはいかないんです。1ヶ月も家を離れると、戻ってきた時に脳が急に「普通の」生活に意識を集中させられるんです。英語で「It’s a sea change（海が変わる）」と言います。

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり✍️

  • ✍️ p.s. from Japan

    January 18th 2024

    I now have to return to Germany, So let’s take one last look around……

    It’s January, so hello, what’s this – daffodils? no doubt introduced by the Dutch…..

    水仙

    And say what you will about cherry blossoms, long before they appear, we get plum blossoms – here in Hodogaya Park….

    梅の花、ほどがや

    Varieties all carefully labelled….

    Thankfully, Latin is the universal language for plant classification….

    What a nice surprise to see these on a random walk before lunch….

    lunch? That hints of food. It’s hard to describe just how important beer is here…it often accompanies a ramen or udon soup…like this one….

    おいしい食べ物の数々…

    or this one….

    ..and at the local onsen (which is on the old Tokkaido road)….

    ……….a famous woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 has been slightly adapted…….

    素晴らしいビールの数々。

    At this point Aki-san needs a huge “Thank you” for lending me her second ‘cello 🙏. Tomoko and myself played some duets in Hoshikawa……..

    アキさん、チェロをありがとう🙏🙏🙏

    …and even managed some Mendelssohn with Emi-san in Higashi Rinkan. Maybe I should not have drunk a Kirin beer beforehand, but a least the room was soundproofed. Playing music in Japanese houses is not a given. At least one member of the audience was prepeared to give a standing ovation(1 yr-old Koutaro-chan). Get the audiences early, that’s the message…

    子どもたちとメンデルスゾーン！

    Bye, Bye. Sayonara, Mata ne……

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり

  • 👘 Kimono 着物

    January 14th 2026 年1月14日

    🔶 Last week I mentioned kimonos, parasols, ladies playing the koto and neon flashing cities. Well, being winter, parasols are a rare sight, but not unknown. As for kimonos, well, ladies will never miss an opportunity to wear one – be it to a special event like a concert or a festival…or an exhibition, like this one in Roppongi….a rather smart area of Tokyo.

    …………..In the The Suntory Museum of Art

    Of course the disgraceful westerner was content to go casual……

    六本木にはカジュアルすぎる服装だとは分かっています

    But his companion had other ideas…..

    私の同伴者は服装が素敵だ

    🔶 The range of designs available for kimonos seems endless – here are some samplers from a shop in Tokyo…

    🔶 And back home in Hoshikawa you can’t have a tea ceremony without kimonos. So Misako-san and Sayuri-san gave some expert instruction to our two guests from Germany…

    ….It’s very difficult to put them on by yourself…..

    ミサコさんは私たちのドイツ人ゲストを助けてくれます…..

    Happy smiles….

    嬉しい…..

    🔶 Now it’s Nigel’s turn to whip up his Matcha tea…..He looks like he’s trying too hard….

    ナイジェルは頑張りすぎです…。

    He’s more at home wandering the backstreets of Hoshikawa…taking sneak pictures of Yokohama…..

    横浜

    …or the neighbour’s citrus tree….

    🔶 Now he’s met up with his Frankfurt pal Benedikt for a “European” chat, then with the rest of the family at Kikuna Ice rink, where Ema-chan has been swirling around, full of energy……..

    ナイジェルはベネディクト、マキさん、エミちゃんに会う

    🔶 The big adventure. Tomoko has booked a passage on the Ogasawara Maru to the Bonin Islands. These islands lie about 1000km south East of Tokyo in the middle of, well, nowhere really.

    Japan really does have some extraordinary contrasts. In the north the snow is deep and there is even an ice festival. If you go far enough you meet Russia. In the south it’s sub-tropical, and you eventually meet Taiwan.

    🔶 The Bonin or Ogasawara Islands have only one connection to the mainland. And that is this aforementioned cargo/ferry ship. It only sails once a week!

    大冒険。小笠原に行ったことがありますか？

    We meet at Takeshiba pier in Tokyo and lug our luggage aboard…See that crane on the right?

    🔶 Well, these containers have food for the shops, noodles for the restaurants, plus construction tools, post, wood, pipes, metal…anything really – even a small van.

    We pull out of Tokyo harbour….

    🔶 My experiences of ferries are limited to European cross-channel trips. Drive on/drive off jobs. So this 24-hour trip to the islands left behind some strong impressions. We are here in a different category altogether.

    🔶 “Sunrise, sunset ” except that contrary to the song in Anatefka, it’s Sunset, Sunrise… Having left Tokyo at 11am, we were well under way by late afternoon……

    In the evening we passed one of the many islands that lie like a string of scattered pearls in the Pacific Ocean….

    🔶And then...the night: Staring out from the lower deck there is nothing but pitch black darkness. I am reminded of a phrase in Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music”…….”….soft stillness, and the night….“

    Nothing. Until you climb up to Deck 7 ……No ship lights on the horizon, no moon (yet)…How did those early mariners feel without the blazing lights of the modern ship?

    Starlight Express…..

    フェリーで小笠原に着くまで24時間かかります…

    I lay down on my back and stared heavenwards….

    …………….

    星

    And then there was the moon…….

    月

    🔶 No internet : But helpful modern technology. Like my noise-reducing, bluetooth headphones. I lie down in my bunk bed and listen to a Mendelssohn piano sonata. Oblivious to the throb of the ships engines….

    🔶 Passengers: About 50 maybe. The ship feels quite empty…

    船はとても清潔です

    They gather in little groups – the islanders all know each other and soon a drinks party is underway. There is a funny-looking man in a black office coat (The Man in the Mac), there are young lovers – mostly students – clean shaven men and shy girls – all dressed in that casual but tasteful style that the Japanese are so adept at.

    I count all but three foreigners. 1 unshaven American, 1 serious German engineer with a huge camera (who tells me all about offshore windmills and how difficult they are to build here – the ocean being at least 1 kilometre deep) and myself (tourist, family friend, chamber music addict).

    乗客は約50人。島の住民、ビジネスマン、労働者、観光客

    🔶 Civilization: After 24 hours the bathrooms and toilets are still immaculate. The drinkers clean up their table, using the dishcloth provided. The staff empty the rubbish bins. The ship is clean.

    No half-empty crisp packets. No beer cans rolling on the floor.

    🔶 Eating: There is a quiet cafeteria, a busy lounge and a self-service kitchen rather like that in a youth hostel, with hot water and vending machines….and free chopsticks…

    🔶 For those who simply want to read a book : Quiet enclaves with an eclectic mixture of plastic and wooden chairs. Quirky and refreshing to the eye. Note the chain…typhoon or no typhoon…gotta keep reading that Joseph Conrad….

    本を読むコーナー…椅子のチェーンに注目してください!

    🔶 Notices and announcements: Too many of them. But really, I am being a bit critical here, for some are really useful….

    🔶 Crossing climate zones: On going out on deck the next morning at sunrise a strange new warm wind ruffles my hair.

    夜明け

    In Tokyo it was thick winter jacket, scarf and woolly hat. Here, leaning over the rail wearing a shirt and thin trousers one of the questions was – what shall I do with those clothes now?

    The light turned to lovely shades of blue as day dawned….

    How could anyone think that the earth is round? It is obviously flat isn’t it…….

    We have arrived.

    最後に到着しました

    🔶 The Ogasawara Maru is now docked at the harbour and will remain there until it returns to Tokyo in three days time.

    🔶 Suddenly it feels like a real holiday. It’s the vegetation which strikes us first….

    突然、本当の休日のような気分になります

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogasawara_subtropical_moist_forests

    The hibiscus flower is everywhere….

    ハイビスカス

    …and the first beach. Not of sand, but of millions of fragments of coral…cameras springs into action….

    Coral…..

    珊瑚

    🔶 The islands have a tricky past. With sporadic colonization by the Portugese, the Dutch, the British and the Americans since the Edo-era. And in World War II, bitter fighting in the Pacific war……

    島々は困難な歴史を持っている

    …..subsequent neglect and eventual restoration to Japan in the 1960s.

    🔶 On our first walk we encounter the Shinto shrine, so essential for the many who have died here, either through conflict or shipwreck….

    海で亡くなった人々のための記念碑

    🔶 The weather is kind to us as we hike along the coast (I am glad I brought my hiking boots, for the terrain is sometimes quite steep and rocky- though paved around the observation posts)

    ハイキング

    A view down to the harbour…

    Our host drives us to a popular bathing and snorkelling spot…..

    🔶 Sometimes we see plants whose poor relatives adorn the offices of Frankfurt, or are sold in pots in Ikea…

    フランクフルトのオフィスでは、鉢植えの植物が見られます!!!

    lunch snack is rolled rice balls and green tea…

    …..imported cats nearly destroyed the population of these ground-feeding pigeons….There is now not one single cat here…

    clams from the beach…

    A climb up a hill is rewarded by a stunning view…

    Your author poses….

    Other non-furry friends can be fed…

    Turtles. They are monitored at a research station nearby….

    カメ

    🔶 Unfortunately, due to an impending storm, our ship has to sail back to Tokyo a day early. We are given a warm farewell from our host, Shima-san….

    残念ながら、嵐の予報のため、出発が1日早まりました。ホストがお別れを告げます

    And a send off from the local Taiko drummers…

    ……along with a farwell flottila of small ships as we leave the harbour…

    伝統的な別れ…

    🔶 It may be strange to say it, but I felt deeply moved by this show of gratitude and well-wishing from the islanders. This is not just a show for tourists. A young mother, with an infant asleep on her shoulder, says goodbye to her parents. A diving crew cheer on their colleagues. An old man waves his stick at us passengers on the deck. The ship is an integral part of this community. There is no airstrip. Indeed, there is literally no other way to reach this place.

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🐬

  • ⛩️ Hoshikawa, Odawara 星川, 小田原市

    6th January 2026年1月6日

    🔵 I wake up in the middle of the night. My feet are freezing. Socks, that’s what I need now. Hiking socks 🧦!

    But why is my room so cold? I think of that photo I posted last week. Of the wooden framework of a new house being built. Japanese houses do not have central heating 🤔. When you enter a cold room you just flick on the air conditioning unit, which doubles as a heater in winter. And a very effective one at that. A completely different concept of heating compared to that in Europe. It makes sense.

    1月は寒いですが、晴れています

    🔵 Since New Years Day Japan has been in a holiday modus. Look: here is Japanese man enjoying his Austin Healey Sprite…….

    星川の古い英国製スポーツカー

    Everyone has time – to eat, to drink, to take a walk, to go shopping – to relax in other words. Time to wear a kimono,time to bring the children on an outing. Time for the family. And I notice how strong that latter tradition is.

    🔵 Let’s start with New Year’s Eve.

    At my host family’s house in Hoshikawa, relatives, guests and friends are all gathered………

    まずは大晦日から始めましょう。

    It’s a make your own sushi job…..first grab some Nori (rolled out seaweed)……add some rice and off you go…..yummy!

    I lost count of the courses……

    Yu-san seemed to be in charge of the sake, which flowed freely……

    酒はゆうさんが担当のようでした

    Whilst Bibi, Isabell and Lavi share a joke in one corner…..

    🔵 Before the stroke of midnight we all had to eat Soba noodles. It’s a tradition…….

    そば

    🕛!

    夜中

    Then it’s coats and shoes on and off to the Shinto shrine……

    Tachibana Jinja
    橘樹神社

    🔵 It’s at Tennocho, only about 10 mins walk from the house. We shuffle forward in the long queue, passing under the sacred Tori gateposts…..

    The moon looks down from above…..

    Photo: Misako-san

    🔵 We finally approach the shrine. Here, two by two, we shake the thick bell rope, throw in our offering, bow and clap hands together. We wish for good fortune in the coming year….

    🔵 At the stand nearby we collect a yummy (free!) sake from a tent and huddle around a big warm fire. I notice that the local Yokohama fireman have taken over the responsibility here. I feel privileged to be a part of this really rather intimate old Japanese tradition.

    🔵 The next day, New Year’s Day, the celebrations continued. With a very special meal, using tableware brought out only once a year…..

    ……and bearing the Kanakura family crest – a cross formed by two feathers….

    Photo: Isabell

    A special teapot…..

    Lavi helps by making a sweet brocade egg cake called Nishiki Tamago (錦玉子)……

    Photo: Isabell

    Thank you Misako-san for all the delicious cooking 👏👏👏!

    🔵 Yes, the nights are cold. But the days are bright, dry and sunny.

    I need to get out and take in the fresh January air. With a benevolent air of politeness, cleanliness and punctuality, the Tokaido Line train deposits me in the coastal town of Odawara. It is a charming place, with a pretty castle, a wide open beach and a busy fishing port. It also happens to be on the route of the Ekiden – an annual running event. Spot a runner…..😅

    小田原市. (駅伝)

    The castle is easier to spot…..

    小田原市

    You enter the inner ramparts via a bridge over the moat…..

    …….and pass through one of the imposing gates..

    🔵 Soon you can see the heavy toll that the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake  had on the place. At one point a whole section of rampart simply slide down the hill and has been there ever since…

    But thanks to restoration and rebuilding the clean lines of the Edo-era castle can be appreciated….

    Early plum blossoms near the inner moat….

    …a display of wattle and daub….

    …the impressive main keep rises up at the centre of the complex….

    🔵 Usually there is very little to see inside these buildings. There are lots of very steep stairs and slatted windows. You climb up to the top for the view of course. But today the holiday crowds had formed a long queue at the entrance, so I headed down to the sea instead.

    🔵 Whimsical manholes were set into the pavements……

    And even the drains received artistic attention….

    Ignoring google maps, I found a way under the main road to reach the beach….

    小田原市.

    …a beach not unlike Brighton in Sussex….

    ビーチはイギリスのブライトンを思い出させます

    With a Wiltshire touch..(bizarre!)

    ストーンヘンジ!

    ……someone had built little stupa to adorn the scene….

    ….and at one point, in one of nature’s flourishes, a fresh water stream meets the ocean…..

    小川が海と出会う

    I headed for the harbour.

    🔵 When I first came to Japan I had a naive image of a land where ladies played the koto or strolled in their kimonos under parasols. Of ancient wooden houses nestling in valleys, neon flashing cities and, and, and, and. All this is still there.

    But I was not prepared for the daring civil engineering – a necessary skill in a country where roads and railways have to use the limited space available, especially along the coast. There is beauty here aswell……

    私は日本の大胆な土木工学に感心しています

    …..which sits cheek by jowl beside the traditional…..here a fish restaurant …

    …a boat enters the harbour undeterred…..

    船が港に入る

    It is a day boat,. The fish market has already dealt with todays’ haul….

    今日の魚市場は終了です

    …and a young heron perches on the roof eyeing any available left-overs….

    サギ

    🔵 Being a tourist can be hard work, and sometimes you just need to sit down, open your rucksack and enjoy whatever it was you bought at that convenience store……in this case a dorayaki…mmmm….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki

    But the boats never rest…

    whilst the birds circle above….

    Time to head home…..

    家に帰る時間です

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🏯

  • 🎍 Happy New Year from Japan 🍶

    日本から新年あけましておめでとうございます!

    2026年1月1日🎉 January 1st 2026

    👉 You see this picture? It’s the stereotype of Tokyo isn’t it? The glittering glam city on the Eastern edge of the world…..

    新宿

    👉 Well, it was the film that brought us here. A newly released Japanese drama directed by a Sang Il-Lee, a Korean director. It’s called Kokuho, and deals with the world of Kabuki Theatre and the Yakusa (Mafia). Well worth the 3 hours! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k9Y-irvOE

    新しい映画「告白」を見に行きました。最高でした！

    👉 That’s if you can bear the thought of a cinema on the 9th floor in the Shinjuku district……

    👉 It’s a crazy time to be in Japan. “Christmas” has promptly been dismissed, and everybody is on holiday for the New Year. The decoration has already appeared on the gate of “my” house…

    日本人ならご存知でしょうが、私にとってはとても興味深いです😉

    👉 It’s not as cold as it should be. Climate change no doubt. The gingko fruits are scattered on the ground…….

    銀杏

    …and the sun is really quite warm….

    ….filtering through the late autumn leaves…..

    地元の公園で…素敵

    and onto the ground……

    There are tasty things in the shops……

    このたい焼きが大好きです！

    👉 I had one of these Taiyaki (a waffle shaped like a sea bream and filled with sweet beans ) with a coffee….having got lost in the local mega store.

    Looking for a thermos flask, I found myself in the wheelchair department for some reason…..may need one of these some day……!

    私たちは皆、いつかは年を取ります…..

    …Do I need a shrine?….er….no…..

    …or maybe a tasty fin?………

    美味しい？よく分からないけど…

    👉 As you know from my blogs from Langen, I am fascinated by building sites. I am sure you share my enthusiasm…….ahem……well….what’s this then? On a very steep slope in Hoshikawa they look like they have built parking spaces…I couldn’t work it out – especially the little trees….

    家が建てられているのを見るまで、私はこれらの空間が何なのか理解していませんでした

    👉 but oh no….of course….you dimwit….they will construct wooden houses in these spaces. Like the one down the road…..perfect high quality woodwork….very impressive…!

    👉 Whilst we are looking at what Nigel can see from his bedroom window we can pause and look at the fantastic evening light the other day…..The View of the Towers

    塔の眺め

    Not appreciated by all. Miro-chan has other priorities…..

    ミロちゃんには他に優先事項がある

    👉 You will remember* that last week I mentioned playing music (* I expect you to read all my blogs diligently of course) .

    Portrait of a ‘cello at Senzoku-ike railway station….before…..

    智子さんとの音楽…….🎵

    ….and after….

    👉 Well, this week Tomoko and myself finally got it together…..(no, I am not inserting the recording here. Nobody wants to hear two amateur musicians scraping away 😅)

    👉 So if you are not playing chamber music or sitting in the luxurious seats of a Tokyo cinema, what can you do here in December then? Well, go to the beach of course. No, not to swim. They are horribly crowded in summer, but in winter?…….let’s have a look at Muirakaigan – only 45 mins south of Yokohama……

    ビーチに行こう………

    👉 Hello Japan in winter.……yes, it’s a kite….

    凧が見えますか？

    ….and there are horses….

    and pretty shells…..

    きれいな貝殻ですね…。

    ..and odd things….like radishes drying in the sun…

    天日干しされた大根

    and….well…what’s this?…..

    これは何ですか？

    …..a fish left high and dry…poor thing !

    彼は海にいるはずだ……

    ………a fishing boat that didn’t make it home….

    この船も港にいるはずだ

    …and always that seductive sound of the sea…..

    海の音は魅惑的です…

    👉 I love to see what efforts have been made in the past to haul boats out of the water. Either with muscle power….

    or with the help of a motor……

    古い機械…。

    But the sea always wins in the end…..burying the boats…..

    最後は必ず海が勝つ

    or carrying nutrients to the rock pools….

    海は栄養分を岩のプールに運びます…

    or by it’s mere presence….See those people? They were collecting shells, and had a little saucepan of water to clean them.

    blue is the colour……

    青、青、青……。

    👉 So there you are. No Kimonos, no cosplay, no temples…..but I did find a few Buddhas…..They crop up in mysterious places….like in Oppama further up the coast….

    …some are even coloured……….

    追浜の近くには岩に彫られた仏像があります

    Some are too big to be coloured….

    👉 Sometimes you find an old book of Sutras to pray with……However, the elements or the ants have got to this one …

    👉 No Japan blog is complete without this scene is it? I was of course photographing the power lines when I noticed that volcano in the background….

    この風景なしでは日本のブログは完成しませんよね？もちろん、電線を撮影していた時に、背景の火山に気づきました…。

    Well, that’s all for this week. Take care everybody. Try and avoid the ‘flue, and again …🎍あけましておめでとう…akemashite omodeto…Happy New Year!

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🍾

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり✨

  • 🐈‍⬛ Purrrrfect practise 完璧な練習

    🐈‍⬛ Purrrrfect practise 完璧な練習

    Dec 27th 2025年12月27日

    🐈‍⬛ …….

    ミロちゃんはここにいる猫の中で一番速いです…

    👉 Miro-chan is the sharpest one of the bunch who roam Misako-san’s house in Yokohama. To be honest, I enjoy them all, if they want your company or not.

    A cat’s bigger relative is the lion, so we now go over to our lion correspondent down on the coast……….猫（ライオン）の親戚が報告します：

    👉”…… I used to have a quiet life guarding this shrine. It’s got a bit battered by sea winds in it’s time, but it’s still there….

    かつて私はこの神社を守りながら静かな生活を送っていました。

    …along with my neighbouring Buddha….

    私の隣人、仏陀

    But look down there! All these humans came and started to stack these boats up. It wasn’t like that in the old days….

    昔はそうじゃなかったのに…。

    And they spend half their time in or out of the water. I mean the’re not fish are they?…..”

    👉 “……You should try being a poodle, mate. I mean, I knew that foreigner was taking my picture, but he didn’t ask me did he? only my owner….so I turned away didn’t I?…

    プードルであることは違う

    …..all these humans do is leave their junk around. I mean, that was a perfectly good post van once….

    人間はゴミを放置する

    Not to mention the postbox…..I suppose it’s all texting these days…

    👉 Mind you, they respect a good designer when they see one…Here’s an Alec Issigonis I saw the other day……lovely job…

    しかし、彼らは優れた自動車デザイナーを尊敬しています!

    worth a second pic if you ask me…..

    👉 But come on. It’s Christmas. Never had that in my day though. It’s all this western influence. Mind you, some do it well. Like that choir in Rikkyo. They know how to do a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Sounded great under maestro Shaw-san. And didn’t all those students get so excited?…”

    立教大学ではクリスマスです

    👉 “……At least I managed to compliment the violinist who played in the Wexford Carol. That was lovely – In all the choir was accompanied by three guitars, violin and flute, plus the organ…

    Needless to say I couldn’t get a word in….🤣

    Here’s the view outside: Rikkyo University chapel, Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

    👉 I even found myself singing “Adeste Fideles” in Japanese. Lucky I know the harmony off by heart, so I could concentrate on the words….

    👉 Look mate, you poodles just spend your time being poodled around. We cats choose our own spots…. Mugi-chan, that’s me. My owners actually live next door, but I like it here. Better company.

    私の名前はムギちゃん。どこに座るのが一番いいか知っています

    We arrange ourselves tastefully around Misako-san’s living room according to seniority and availability of sunlight…

    👉 Christmas was actually pretty yummy, because Misako-san’s husband provided this outrageous creamy stawberry cake….

    トシさんがクリスマスケーキを切る

    Christmas Eve, Hoshikawa – all guests present….

    👉 Now I didn’t put those hiking boots into my suitcase (max 23kg!) for nothing. With the help of my hosts’ walking book ….

    逗子周辺をハイキングします

    …..and google maps, I find myself on my third day in Japan in the hills near a town called Zushi, (no, not Sushi) about an hour south of Yokohama….In the distance you can see Enoshima Island, which is beside Kamakura (The place with the really big Buddha)

    The camelias were still making a brave show. Amazing flowers these…

    👉 One thing I like about walking through the woods in Japan is seeing strange birds. Ok, this guy looks like a pigeon, but with that subtle brown shaded plumage he comes under the name of “Streptopelia orientalis” or Oriental turtle dove…..lovely !

    👉 So much for my bla bla about sunny days here. The rain decended at about 2pm, just as I had reached the Zushi marina. As luck would have it I spotted a modest little eating joint. Out of the rain, into the Ramen. Wow!

    小さなラーメン屋を見つけました

    This was a new one. Two different types of seaweed with a pickled plum in the middle. It was delicious, though I had a few problems with the consistency…sort of slimy 🤣

    👉 Later on, as I was waiting at the bus stop I turned to a lady standing beside me >

    “Can I use a Suica card * on this bus?” I asked. (*travel card)

    Although I had spoken a sentence of correct Japanese, she instantly deflected my question to her daughter (a teenager). This is a typical reaction I get here. The parents seem to asume that their children are better at English. However, I was having none of this and continued

    ” I can speak a little Japanese you know”.

    The mother then relaxed a bit and asked me what I was doing here just before Christmas of all times. Fair question. But they would probably would never understand that one of the reasons I was there was to flee a European christmas 😉and….to play the ‘cello.🎶.

    I tracked down ‘cellist Aki.san at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan – the Metropolitan Festival Hall, where she was playing in the Fauré Requiem.

    私はチェロを借りるためにこのコンサートに行きました

    The place was packed ……

    The (Waseda University) student choir was incredibly disciplined, most of them singing from memory I noticed! And thanks to the excellent acoustics I could hear every word.

    Nightime rendezvous in Ueno Park…..the handover…..😅

    チェロのランデブー 😉

    👉 Ueno to Yokohama on the Keihin-Tohoku Line takes about an hour, but it’s a straight run. You just have to hold on to your cello ….

    京浜東北線

    The next day Tomoko booked a rehearsal studio in Tennocho….

    天長リハーサルスタジオにて

    👉 With time for that all-important FOOD slot on the schedule……..You know, sometimes I feel I could just eat my way through Japan 😋 with a spot of chamber music now and again.

    リハーサル後の食事！

    p.s don’t be conned by the signs in English – they are just there for show. You see that word “Royal” ? ….Well I dunno what that was about. Like this train which I saw yesterday….

    Kamata Station. 王族の人は見かけませんでした😂

    No idea. Better not to ask. Just go with the flow. With or without the Royals.

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🍱

  • I skidaddle..逃げ出す

    I skidaddle..逃げ出す

    December 21st 2025年12月21日

    ▷ First the wonderful news: I have a new digital….electricity meter. Wow!…..🤣 the Langen company have promised that now it will be some much more convenient to calculate my bill.

    新しい電気メーターはあまりにも巧妙なので、誰も理解できない

    ▷ Fast forward a few weeks and there is my landlady and myself peering at the ever-changing information on the monitor. For heavens sake. Which display is the right one? ☹️

    ▷ The latest: A young man in a hi-viz jacket arrives. Oh. Apparently so many people have submitted the wrong information that he is going round reading the meters. How about that for progress…….

    ▷ I know you are just as excited 🙄 as myself to see “my” building site. Last week I caught a good schnapps moment for you. They work hard. But when I see the crane almost disappearing into the gloomy mist I know it’s time to skidaddle…..

    この暗い天気にはもううんざりだ

    ▷ So I have skidaddled. With a little help from the SAS flight out of Copenhagen…..no guesses where to.

    Mid-flight I went to the galley to ask for a glass of orange juice. On handing it to me the purser commented on the colour….”here’s you urine test sir…!” Trust the Danes. Merry bunch.

    ▷ For the first few hours we have to wiggle around conflict zones…notable Ukraine….

    私は逃げた………

    Let’s hope that little cabin pressure light never turns on…time for Spotify...”…….ground control to Major Tom…..” seems suitable….

    ▷ I love the way that, as the aircraft tilts, evening sun moves over the cabin….

    夕方の光

    ▷ Although it’s only marginally warmer than Europe, the big difference you notice when arriving in Japan at this time of year here is the light. There is lots of it…….

    日本は涼しいですが晴れています。青空が広がっています

    And it’s blue. Ginko trees in Yokohama……..

    横浜のイチョウ並木

    If you are not blinded by the sun, you will be dazzled by the clean floors of the train…..

    太陽で目がくらまなければ、電車のきれいな床に目がくらむでしょう…..

    ▷ Crossing the charmingly dilapidated bridge over the Tsurumi river…..to reach Yokohama…..

    ▷ I am befuddled by Jisa Boke – jet lag – on my first day. So the first place to go is the steamy, timeless world of the onsen – in this case the mineral spring baths of Hoshikawa……for just around 1.500 yen ( 8€. ) you have a wide variety of pools of different temperatures, indoors and out. Or you can lie in the water massage. Wonderful🫧

    天然温泉 満天の湯 Kamihoshikawa

    Every onsen has a rest area……

    Today is a lemon-floating day….

    ▷ The visit to the onsen is followed by a walk through Yokohama’s Chinatown. As well as the 250-odd Chinese shops and restaurants, there is a magnificently gaudy temple….a wiff of incense wafts across the street….

    横浜中華街

    ▷ The next morning it’s a walk on the promenade. My Whatsapp pings 💥My daughter has passed her Masters’ exam. Whooppee!

    ▷ Breakfast is pancakes, blueberries and cream accompanied by coffee…

    山科公園での朝食

    The coffee is“Koi”, which sounds the same as “love”, but when you write it you use a different Kanji Chinese character. Just one of the ways Japanese trips up Chatgpt et.al. Ha ha!

    ▷ Japan is safe, they all say. Yes it is, but there are some other challenges which are not in the travel brochures. Let’s say you want to park your bike and go into a restaurant. Park your bike? Try again. There is nowhere. Literally. Unless you are lucky and find a paying slot……it clamps your bike and then notes the time….

    レストラン街に自転車を停めるのは難しい

    But it’s worth the effort……The menu in the Izakaya is curious. No, I did not choose this….

    ▷ but this……

    Grilled pork, washed down with a nice beer…

    ▷ But there is more to life here than just skewered pork. There are are so many art venues in the whole area I would challenge anyone to visit them all. I decided to investigate the Tokyo Station Gallery. It’s actually above one of the grand entrances, and celebrates the restoration of the station after the bombing of WWII.

    東京駅では駅舎の修復に関する展示が行われている

    You get a fine view of the entrance lobby…

    With its Art Deco lighting…

    The gallery space has been left with curiously chipped brickwork….

    …and some of the original girders have been transformed by some deft iron cutting….(a half moon – of course – how Japanese!)

    The station today…..

    東京駅の現在 Photo: By Maeda Akihiko

    The actual exhibition was from about a young Showa-era painter……

    ▷ Later, on leaving the station I headed to the Imperial park complex, surrounded by the old moat of Edo Castle .

    ….

    ▷ Although it is December, people are sitting outside. Time to appreciate one of the many modern water features….

    …..and examine the purchase of the day…

    ▷ I’ll leave you now with with one of my Japanese icons. No, it’s not a Samurai warrior or a Manga figure. It’s a bottle of green tea. Thirst-quenching, ubiquitous and guaranteed to give you a lift….

    私の日本のシンボル：緑茶！

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🍜