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.

Tag: travel

  • 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

  • 👘 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🏯

  • 🐈‍⬛ 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🍜

  • Japan Flashback : 📮Nostalgia なつかし

    Late April 2025 年4月

    Warning! This is a long read. You may need two cups of coffee….

    Random Notes: Do you chew your toothbrush? don’t. You never know what you might be eating…..

    歯ブラシを噛まないでください！

    Do you like fermented Natto for breakfast?  (er….no)  Grab the offer whilst it lasts….

    納豆は好きですか？

    Same day service.  Mr. Quick-san will fix it…..

    Quick-san. Hodogaya. 自転車の修理

    Saw these in Ena city – best described as “container hotels” !?

    エナの小さなホテル

    Need  a nostalgic TV to fit into your bag?

    🌏

    It was seven years ago when I made my first trip to Japan⛩️.  I did it the hard way – alone, and determined to practise the language. As I don’t like tourist spots I decided to stay in an ordinary town in Gifu Prefecture. It had an interesting river gorge nearby. Ena  (恵那市).

    Nobody had heard of it, and when I mention it to my Japanese friends now I always get this quizzical look, like “where’s that?” or “why would you want to go there?”.

    Never be put off by a railway station. Even on the Chuo Line……

    恵那駅

    And never be put off by “significant delays”. In Japan this means the train might be 3 mins. late or something. But don’t mess with earthquakes. Get the earthquake app.

    It was a unnerving but eye-opening experience 🤔 (I mean the trip in 2018, not the significant delays): The shock of entering the breakfast room of the hotel to see everyone tucking into noodles, fried fish, salads and goodness knows what else; the sense of achievement in borrowing an old bicycle from the local bike shop (no bike apps then) and sailing off on two wheels 🚲 down a country lane without an internet connection.

    So this year I decided to revisit the scene of my former adventures. Even using the same hotel.

    私が初めて日本を訪れたのは7年前のことでした⛩️. そこで今年は、冒険の舞台となった岐阜県恵那市にある同じホテルを再び訪れることにしました。

    The hotel has been smartened up a bit, but there are still no cereals for breakfast, and I had to ask for butter (what a wimp!) . The view from the room has not changed – a “western” clothing store sign….

    素晴らしい景色

    But how much more relaxed I feel, with some command of the language! I even find the bike store. The couple who run it are pleased to hear that I was a former customer, and point out the dog, who is now snoozing in the corner. The guy gives me an old but perfectly good 3-gear town bike and charges me 300 yen for the afternoon. That is about 1.85 Euros. Taking the same route as I did in 2018, I head for the Ena gorge and its dam. I am seeing so much more this time, not being worried about getting lost or making some faux-pas or other.

    A rural postbox…..

    田舎の郵便ポスト…..

    The route to the dam….

    恵那ダムへのルート

    It has been an unusually dry spring here, so the water levels are low on the Kiso river.

    水位が低い

    A pause to think thoughts….💭

    考え

    Years ago, when I first started doing calligraphy classes in Germany with Rena Kato, one of the first characters she taught us was this:

    石

    it’s a simple character, so I recognise it immediately here on this sign. Stones.

    危険

    Being in red, the warning of falling stones is a little disconcerting. Further on I discover the remains of the old suspension bridge crossing the Kiso river. That was 1907.

    木曽川にかかる古い橋

    In 1926 they built the dam, then much more recently: this road bridge. Confident and inspiring…..What about that for a nice piece of civil engineering…….take note GdLL 🙂.

    素敵な新しい橋

    On the subject of engineering, there are impressive road improvements underway nearby…….

    日本のエンジニアリング

    Riding back past a screen of bamboo…..

    竹の壁

    This is hot work. I park the bike and take a well-earned slug of green tea……

    一時停止

    They don’t seem to sell postcards here any longer. So on the way home I am denied the fun of slipping one into this postbox……(“Greetings from the paddy fields of Gifu Prefecture. Wish you were here……”)

    ここではポストカードを売っていません。残念です。

    The next day I board a local train to get to the start of my planned hike. But first it’s time to charge my transport card. The platform machine quite clearly displays the notice: 1.000 yen only. As if 1.000 yen would get me very far. Oh what the. I’ll stuff a 10.000 yen note in and see what happens…….

    ナイジェルはミスを犯す

    Naughty Nigel!  A red light flashes🚨 and a piercing alarm goes off. Out of a nearby door a uniformed station master pops like a jack-in-the-box 💥 Boing 👨‍✈️ !

    With a degree of self-assurance which I never had before I just say “don’t worry – I just put the wrong note into the machine….”. But he has to open the machine, type a code in and clang the thing shut before peace can then descend on Ena station. Honestly. These foreigners.

    I have to alight at a place called Nakatsugawa, where a bus takes me up into the mountains……..

    “Welcome to Natsugawa” is written in a local dialect. Better not tread on it…..😂

    行きます!

    Off we go. It’s a local bus, but it is modern, comfortable and air-conditioned with, I noticed,  UV protective glass. It goes without saying that the windows are crystal clean. Not a spec.

    We wind up into the hills, getting higher and higher, until at least we grind to a halt at Magome- juku. This little town has retained much of its Edo-era charm, however it feels a bit sanitized. There is no horse dung in the street, the loos are automatic and there are no prostitutes in the back alleys. But it is still a hotch potch of wooden houses and shops clutching to a steep winding street. It was a post town on the Nakasendo – the trade route built by the feudal lords in the 18thc. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868). “Nakasendo”  – it sort of rolls off the tongue, conjuring up a wild mountain pathway in the age of the Samurai. Haha. Today it’s mostly tourists. But it is fantastic.

    馬籠宿。中山道

    There was another route down in the plains called the Tokaido. But this one, as its name suggests, went over the mountains. But it wasn’t just a road. It spawned a cultural phenomena. Artists arrived to draw it – The famous woodcblock illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige, for example. In his prints you see labourers struggling along with huge loads, and the occasional daimyō  (feudal lord) on horseback. The surface of the road was mostly stone slabs, which must have made it hard work in wet weather (a bit like the Appian way in Rome). This print rather romanticizes the whole thing.

    歌川広重

    It’s all very picturesque (かいがてき  絵画的). Somehow these mountain villages avoided the Japanese post-War economic boom and subsequent construction mania. Power lines have been hidden. However, there are strict rules for residents. Even if a historic building is decaying and you as a foreigner offer to restore it, you will face immense bureacratic hurdles.

    素敵。でも、きれいすぎる

    I pass a colourful field of clover further up the hill,

    クローバー畑

    a Buddha or two to help you on your way…..🙏

    仏

    The trek is easy for me, with my modern hiking boots, bottle of green tea and iphone in the rucksack….

    著者

    Soon I had left the village behind me. Along the way some eccentric local was actually inviting people to come into their garden…..

    ニース 🙂

    Where whimsical things abounded…..

    offerings invited….

    I climbed up higher into the forest towards the boundary of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures. Those cedars….phew!

    中山道の杉

    Those bears……(you ring this to warn them off)…

    🐻!

    Ocasionally the modern road bisects the path. The mirror is there to help you. Except that this one was totally opaque. I’m sure Hermione Granger would have known the spell…….

    Those flowers. It’s as if a god has picked up several National Trust Gardens in the UK and scattered them around the mountains here. Of course in history it was the other way around.

    ….cherries are still blooming up here (the’ve long since disappeared from Tokyo)

    in so many varieties….

    …this looks like a wild orchid…..

    …and then, just after the Magome pass…(which is actually not very dramatic)….

    790 metres

    …. those waterfalls…..there are two quite near each other…

    Medake Falls

    Odake Falls

    It was a hot day. Needless to say, the cool water was delightfully refreshing…..

    素敵な冷たい水

    The route is not really a wild hike and is always clearly marked.

    Japanese families with their teenagers were ambling along in what looked like nothing more than town shoes. I met a father sitting on a rock, mopping his brow. He said his wife and daughter were faster than him………I think he had been persuaded to come, and would have preferred to be on the sofa at home watching baseball….

    🔩

    I often see a pride and fascination with all things mechanical here in Japan. As I left Ena in the morning I had passed a monumental steam engine parked outside the library……

    Then later in the day whilst walking I discovered this strange foot-operated machine. I hope one of my violinmaking colleagues  (Paul? John?) can work out what it did. I couldn’t….

    これは何ですか？

    And later on at the end of the trail, after I had passed through Tsumago en route to Nagiso station, there was another steam engine. An even bigger one this time…….just sitting there.

    南木曽駅。帰りの電車。

    The notice explains…………

    蒸気動力

    Back to the Nakasendo. They “do” decay well here. There was no hope of a coffee at this establishment….left to rot in the woods…..

    ここにはコーヒーはありません…

    メールもなし

    About 9km later I entered the post town of Tsumago. Could almost be a film set. Except that it is genuine. An elegant family drift by…..

    This has been a long post, but there is so much to write about! I will leave you in a Japanese lane…….

    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

    Oh, just a few more buddhas to send you on your way…..

    THE END 　終わる

  • Japan Flashback ⭕ Circle Line 名古屋

    This is the third in a series of posts which was previously hosted by WIX, a server based in Tel Aviv which has been the subject of an international boycott.

    April 25th 2025年4月25日

    As you can see below, the city of Nagoya has a very convenient circular metro line. Easy-peasy. Like in Tokyo or London, it’s the line for lost tourists. It has a clockwise service, and an anti-clockwise service (called the counter-clockwise service in American).

    Wow, this is easy I thought, and hopped on. Ah no, Nigel. Just to keep tourists alert, the line sometimes branches off….and of course that’s what happened to me. I branched off. To the port of Nagoya. It wasn’t painful, and I did get to where I wanted in the end. The end being a famous Shinto shrine called Atsuta Jingu (at about 7 o’clock on that purple line). Now there will be no carry-on there, understand?

    もう一つの翻訳の失敗

    Bad translations here are a constant form of amusement (or irritation) for me. I was using Nagoya as a convenient jumping off point for the Nakasendo, an old 18thc. road that runs through the mountains.

    But before going into the mountains there was time for sightseeing and a concert. I had picked up the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule link and was going to hear Maine Takeda (soprano) sing in the Aichi Arts Centre. Three other prizewinners were also performing.

    As I approached the ticket desk and gave my name, a certain ripple of worry seem to flit across the face of the elderly man in charge. But the moment was saved by the stage manager, who recognised my name and led me up personally to my seat (not before he had primed the seat attendant to look after me….). So it was that I was able to sit back and enjoy Maine-san sing two songs from Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn; Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga”; an aria from The Marriage of Figaro “Deh, vieni, non tarda” and “Nun eilt herbei” from Carl Nicolai. Very enjoyable. And, as is so often the case in Japan, in a smart new concert hall with excellent acoustics.

    Emerging from the concert hall, I meet Nagoya gleaming in the night……

    …..and discover the Sakae area the next day…….

    Sakae 栄 Centre

    As it’s pretty flat, lots of people use bikes here. And there are handy bike lock zones – this one outside the NHK  broadcasting house……

    名古屋で自転車を駐輪する方法

    This how you do it…..easy when you know how…..😉

    名古屋の自転車駐車場システム

    Nagoya is the home of many of Japan’s big names – Toyota and Kawai  to name just two. But I am neither going to buy a car nor a piano. No, not even this one…..

    名古屋の自転車駐車場システム ( 😂 )

    I had a tip to follow – to that 7 o’clock on the metro map. Quite a trek to get there, but Nagoya is big.

    The Atsuta shrine is one of Shinto’s most important shrines. And it’s huge. Big enough to warrant it’s own metro station….

    It enshrines the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and stores the sacred sword Kusanagi – part of the imperial regalia. So in I tread with awe, bowing my head and clapping once under the huge Tori gate.

    最初の鳥居

    The vast complex of shrines are set in a thickly wooded park, so I often have to refer to the maps to orientate myself. The atmosphere is calm, the weather benign. Young couples wander hand in hand; a mother guides her little girl along. The child is more interested in making patterns in the gravel than paying obeisance to the gods. Quite understandable. A group of middle-aged women chatter away from under their sun hats. It’s a Sunday afternoon stroll after all, gods and all. Cameras are clicking 📷…..

    And however secular society may seem in Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism sit naturally in daily life. There is no fuss about it. No hang ups. At the shrine office (Juyo-sho) it is obvious what is on offer here – an ideal wedding venue.

    理想的な結婚式の場所

    It costs of course, but every young couple want the perfect photo-op don’t they?

    I’m not expecting to actually see anything at the shrine. There will be a set of closed doors and that’s it. But that’s not the point. You can’t see gods anyway, and it’s up to you how you manage them.

    神社の正面 Hongu Main Sanctuary

    It’s advisable to have time when you come to a place like this. None of that “be back at the coach in 1 hour” business. Oh no. I turned left and right in the shady woods, never knowing what to expect…….although I was aware of a restaurant behind the trees. What is this dish they are serving? Let’s try it…..

    きし麺 😋

    OMG. Seriously now. I cannot remember when I tasted such a delicious meal…..it’s called Kishimen, the kanji translating as something like “Go stone noodle” (the noodle used to be shaped like the stone in the game Go).These thick flat noodles seem to catch the flavour of the soup and…well…I think the gods were smiling down at me…..

    Thoroughly revived by this simple but intensely satisfying meal, I sat on a bench and took in the scene…….

    That’s what these gardens are for. For slowing down and contemplating. Under Shintoism, everything has a spiritual dimension: the rocks, the trees, even the cars…..

    This old camphor tree has the Shimenawa (rope) wrapped around it for ritual purification, and is decorated with Shide (paper streamers) to demarcate it as a holy place and to ward off evil spirits…..

    What a tree!

    標縄/注連縄

    Some of the trees here look as if they could have inspired Hayao Miyazaki for one of his Ghibli films…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki.

    Around one corner the chief priest had parked his car (well, he probably had it parked for him)…..hmmm….Well, we are in Toyota’s homeland here. In fact I would not be surprised if the car was donated by the company. A goodwill offering if you like.

    祭司長の車ですか？

    An architectural curiosity here…heavy stone slabs have been used to support (?) or relay (?) the downward thrust of this hall’s roof….

    興味深い建築技術

    Before I left I noticed these Sake barrels………

    酒

     and a nice piece of modern craftmanship on the door of a smaller shrine…

    Even today, the Japanese entrust their prayers for health, love or good exam results to small ema (votive plaques). This an old one which I saw in the Yokohama Museum…a wish for good breastfeeding….the gods are represented by a small cloud…..

    Here in the Atsuta shrine someone had left a prayer…..“may the white bird carry my wish…..” or words to that effect….

    goodbye Nagoya…..

    名古屋 さようなら

    I’m now off to the mountains of Gifu…….🥾….sayonara…..

    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.

  • Japan Flashback 🚅 Sendai 仙台

    12th April 2025年4月12日

    Sendai is about 360 km north of Tokyo – that’s about 21/2 hours with the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train). First, I give myself plenty of time to navigate Tokyo station………..

    忙しい旅行者。東京駅

     and find my platform……..

    私の電車はどこですか？

    A Shinkansen glides in smoothly……..

    新幹線が到着する

    The smartly dressed cleaners are ready with rubbish bags (holding them out to passengers as they disembark). One has a small hoover. Announcements are made. A civilised queue waits on the platform. When I think of Frankfurt Station….no…don’t..

    If you are not sure which is your train just get on the one which is going at the time published. It will be the right one….

    印象的な

    A cool wind greets me as I step out of the train at Sendai a few hours later.  I walk to my hotel, crossing the bus lanes and other traffic on high overhead pedestrian bridges. I’m not good at heights, but the hotel 8th floor is bearabIe. It could be worse……..

    仙台のホテル

    It’s only early afternoon, so I decide to walk to the castle (or what’s left of it)…..It was a stiff climb, but well worth it……

    仙台城

    At the top, Masamune Date, the powerful feudal lord of Sendai, glares out imperiously over the countryside and the sea….

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

    He chose a good site for his castle, I must say…..

    街の素晴らしい景色

    Add a few early blossoms and he doesn’t look quite so fierce…..

    東京より遅い開花

    At important historical sites in Japan you will often see these great cedars – more of them anon….

    大きな杉

    Sendai is not really a tourist destination, but the place is a-buzz. Come evening and the Izakayas (pubs) and restaurants are heaving with young people eating, drinking, talking animately and laughing. Whilst outside the buses and taxis and cars seem to weave past on a sort of smooth wave……..

    仙台の夜

    A shopping mall…..

    The next day I used the circular bus route which links most of the historical sites around the city. The old feudal lords of Japan always found good spots to be laid to rest ( a prime example is the last Shogun’s -Tokugawa Ieyasu – shrine in Nikko, Tochigi ). The lord of the Tohoku region was no exception – Masamune Date. His mausoleum – the Zuihoden, originally built in 1636,  is a blaze of extravangant colour unlike anywhere else in Japan. You start first with a modest temple in a small garden….

    From here it’s a steep climb up to the mausoleum itself…..(the more important the ruler, the tougher the climb. Well that’s my experience).

    You pass the Nirvana gateway (as all good Buddhists know, Nirvana means reaching a state of enlightenment where worldly desires are no longer an issue and you escape the cycle of birth and rebirth)………..

    The mausoleum – front view

    藩主の瑞鳳殿

    派手な色彩

    The adjoining museum, which has relics of the pre -1945 original…….

    It may disappoint Europeans to learn that this whole complex is actually a replica of the original. But this doesn’t seem to worry the Japanese. There are colour postcards of the place pre -1945, and it looks exactly the same. Obviously the Americans wanted to destroy the port of Sendai, but fire bombing a 17thc. historical site, way outside the city?

    Leaving the precincts of the areal I took a woodland walk back down the hill.

    私は丘を下って森の中を散歩しました。

    At one point I came across a graveyard for children of the ruling classes….

    貴族の子女の墓地

    …. some of these cedars are about 380 years old….

    杉の樹齢は約380年です

    Before I had left for Sendai there was a job I had to do. I have a little friend who has just discovered the joys of pulling a bow across a string. But she is still not yet 3 years old! So did I have a violin small enough for her? As luck would have it, yes –  and it was easy to smuggle it into the overhead locker on the plane. Time to do a delivery in Sagamihara…

    Making someone happy. Is that not one of the greatest joys there is?

    幸福 🙂

    Meiko-chan was soon grabbing the bow – none of that beginners’ pizzicato for her….

    最初のステップ

    …and her brother was not to be left out…giving me a cheeky smile across the table…..

    小さな波

    Of course you soon end up on the floor….

    Kotaro-chan

    音楽一家

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

    音楽一家 🎶

    ~

    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 Flashback 🌸 Hodogaya &  Sumida 保土ヶ谷, 墨田

    7th April 2025 年4月7日

    There is an expression here (in Germany)…..”mir fällt die Decke auf den Kopf ” (lit. The roof is falling on my head )……😣….in other words, I need to get out of my little town – now  💨 So…………………

    off we go……..Two stops to Dreiech-Buchschlag station, then a bus to the airport…..

    空港に行く

    I’ve found a new route to go east. First go to Copenhagen and then get on an SAS flight. I’d never used SAS before, but was impressed. The aircraft was new and the crew were a friendly bunch with a very Danish sense of humour……

    SAS

    The food was excellent. However, I had to ask my fellow passenger what an upcycled  banana was……. (apparently, instead of throwing away brown bananas, the Danes put them in cakes- an excellent idea).

    「アップサイクル」は私にとって新しい言葉です

    We “lost” a night, and caught up with the dawn somewhere over China……

    …avoiding Russian airspace on the way….

    Japan was rather cold and damp on arrival, but that at least meant that the cherry blossoms and camelias were somehow more intense in colour than usual.

    星川

    カメリア

    My home base is always with the Kanakura family in Hodogaya Ward, just outside Yokohama. After I had complimented my host on the new tatami mats in the guest room, I wandered into town to do some shopping and get a simple meal. The local department store did the trick….some tasty mackerel in dark sauce…very yummy and as usual far too cheap for the quality….

    イオンでの簡単な食事

    Aeon department store…

    It seems you never have to go far in Japan before you meet some little surprise or other.  I smiled to myself when I came scross this little mini in a parking lot….

    有名なイギリス車…..

    Quite apart from it being a shining collector’s item, the Mini is ideal for Japanese cities….and what a nice colour……

    I have never seen any tourists in Hodogaya, except for the students who stay at Misako- san’s house. The Katabira river separates the area in two, and has a nice promenade running down one side. There are no crowds here, so you can enjoy the cherry blossoms in peace…..

     …whilst of course taking advantage of the numerous eating places en route. Like this Ramen shop, for example……..uncomplicated and good…..cabbage and bean sprouts in a yummy soup…..

    天王町の美味しいラーメン

    …….free water is a given, as well as lots of sauces to pep up your Ramen if you feel the need….

    The street is a classic Japanese side street with lots on offer….(not only food…er…..)….

    天王町

    Nice to see my feline friends again……

    4匹の猫のうち2匹だけ

    So what’s new in Hodogaya? Well, more houses are being ingeniously squeezed onto the hillside….

    巧妙な日本の建築

    …..although odd relics of post-war housing still exist…..

    古い家

    …and house renovation firms are busy……

    仕事がたくさんある

    And whether it is a kindergarten play session, a baseball practice or old folk playing a sort of croquet, there is always something happenening in the local park…..

    峰岡公園

    Apropos baseball (野球 yakyu)……..in a local sports shop……

    野球

    There is peace to be found up the hill at the local Buddhist temple……

    Koeisan Hossho Temple

    光栄山法性寺

    Around town.……The well known delivery service Kuroneko (black cat)

    ……Greetings from the Yokohama City Fire Dept.

    It’s hard to describe, but everybody seems uplifted by the appearance of the cherry blossoms……….

    Later in the week, when I had recovered from my jet-lag  jisaboke  時差ぼけ, I meet up with my Sensei (teacher) in Tokyo. First we went up to a 32nd floor to a view point next to the Tokyo Skytree. Here you can look down on the Sumida district and further……

    A short walk brings us to the Sakura Bridge Bashi  ( featured in the film Perfect Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZBbX5A1FA )

    ..and a stroll down the banks of the River Sumida, where people are enjoying themselves. It is a very Japanese scene.

    にほんぽい

    There is no loud music or commercials; but picknicking, walking, talking and eating……a nice vibe…..Hanami  花見

    花見

    😋

    The names of sponsoring firms are tastefully displayed on the lanterns…..

    The author……feeling good…..!

    良い気分

    Later on we end up in a seafood Izakaya near Shinbashi station. Without Miki-san I would have had my work cut out ordering food…….

    Sashimi – oysters, squid, octopus, yellowtail, tuna…..with tempura on the side (battered pumpkin, leek and shrimp)

    刺身 – 牡蠣、イカ、タコ、ハマチ、マグロ…天ぷら（カボチャ、ネギ、エビ）

    I think we need a close-up……

    Delicious 😋 (except for the baby squid, which I still cannot manage, even after several years).

    Some Sake is essential after such a meal…..

    Shinbashi……simply countless eating places….

    新橋

    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

  • 🍴 Fancy a bite? ちょっと食べたい?

    October 10th 2025年10月10日

    Fancy a bite? Someone does in these woods, but I assume they know what they are doing….

    お腹が空いていますか？誰かが……..🤤

    Because they always leave these guys alone….

    Perhaps the black and white pattern is a warning sign…

    誰もこれを食べない…..🤮

    Of course none of this is noticed by the passengers sitting in the cosy seats of their Inter Regio train which roars by…..

    乗客はこれらの小さなことに気づきません!

    I’m on a little walk between Neu Isenburg and Langen. Right beside the railway. My archaeological training is spurred to life by the sight of this bronze age artifact….a weapon of some sort maybe?…..It is well preserved I must say…….

    奇妙な物体

    However, on reflection…..hmmm. Has a rather late 20thc. aura about it.

    Back to those mushrooms. I prefer the fruits of trees. Like this one. The fig tree outside my door. The sensation of biting into that soft flesh – ever so slightly grainy and subtly sweet- so soon reduced to the mere stalk and then the need for the next one….

    イチジク！美味しい！

    Preceded by some Gyozas and a Kirin and I am in heaven…or at least in Takumi….(Mendelssohn Str. Frankfurt)

    天国

    Autumn………I must have been in an “flowing” mood when I drew this Kanji character…..

    まあ、ここでは翻訳は必要ありません！😅

    The turn of the season seems to affect different trees in different ways..The Acacia looks like it is getting a disease….

    …and reminds me of the time I once drew the Kanji character for tree (Ki), but realized after the first stroke that I didn’t have enough ink in my brush……😮

    ああ、まずい。インクが足りなかったんだ😐

    It is also easy to get too much ink on the brush. The ink itself has this extraordinary tendency to create forms – here the silhouette of a man’s head (?)………

    奇妙な形….

    Being confined to home this weekend with some bug or other I turned my attention to my calligraphy efforts. Of which there are many…..(!)

    今週末は体調が悪くて家にいなければならなかったので、書道を見つめ直す時間になりました…。

    With a well-loaded brush you can make music…🎵..The first character means “sound”, the second one “fun/enjoy”. Nice!

    🎵

    In the meantime I have found another little “bit of Autumn” ちいさい秋みつけた [Chīsai Aki Mitsuketa]…..This maple leaf has drifted graciously to earth…..

    ~

    What shall I cook today?

    Certainly none of those mushrooms near the railway…..Maybe some hearty European stew…? after all, the parsnip was a rare find in Aldi…

    Aha….let’s add a bit of Asian pep…..mmmm….

    In fact a warm vegetable stew was just right for the chilly downturn of the weather this week….

    寒い日には温かいシチューがぴったりです…

    ~

    The other day a Chinese friend of mine called round to pick up a ‘cello case. With her 3 yr- old son bounding about with far too much energy, I decided to dig out some childrens’ books 📔📚 as a distraction. Of course they were all in English, but this didn’t seem to matter. However, later on I found the book which I had been looking for the whole time.

    Lao Lao -🐉 is an old Chinese folk tale about a simple good person being maligned by a greedy emperor. The poor woman is forced to sit in a cold tower and produce paper cuttings ad infinitum (rather like the girl in Rumpelstiltskin who has to weave gold thread). However, in the end good conquers over evil through the intervention (Deus ex machina – rather like a Handel opera) of the dragon who roams the earth, who sees and hears everything.

    子供向けの本当に素敵な本

    The text is in Chinese and English and is beautifully illustrated…

    …..following the main theme of the story – paper cuttings…….

    切り絵

    …with the chance at the end to have a go yourself. This is a very special children’s book. I thought the story was probably an old Chinese classic, but my friend had never heard of it. One wonders what they teach children in China these days….

    ~

    Well, I’m told a typhoon is approaching Japan this weekend. And I see I once tried to paint the character. Not a good example of brushwork, but very fitting to the current season! Literally “great wind”…….🍃

    あまり上手な書道ではありませんが…

    And it also seems to be the season for that home-made plum wine…………..☺️

    Photo> 友子

    ~

    👉 Well, thank you for reading this, and feel free to pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. These days you can translate a web site instantaneously with A.I. or Google translate.

    さて、これを読んでいただきありがとうございます。興味があると思われる方に、遠慮なくお伝えください。

    See you またね 😉

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    The End

    終わり

    🍄‍🟫