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: writing

  • 🐣 Hessen ヘッセン

    🐣 Hessen ヘッセン

    * The UK has counties, Japan has prefectures, and Germany has Bundesländer

    9th April 2026年4月9日

    ✍🏼 In reponse to the seemingly unstoppable diarrhoea of whatsapp hiking messages invading my phone of late, I decided on radical action. I would do the unthinkable. I would put on my walking boots and take a day out just for me. A solo hike .

    I choose my favourite railway line – the VIAS, a private company that offers a service from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof……

    WhatsAppグループにイライラしたので、一人でハイキングに行くことにしました

    ….directly into the hills and valleys of the Odenwald.

    ✍🏼 We slide out of Frankfurt to the sound of Easter bells from the Dom, and under the gaze of banks and insurance companies..

    フランクフルトからオーデンヴァルト行きの電車に乗る

    ✍🏼 I feel good. At peace. I settle down in my seat and watch as the urban landscape of the Rhein-Main-Gebiet gradually gives way to fresher, rural colours……

    ✍🏼 A short stop at Darmstadt Nord, with its ugly graffitti and morose buildings. I am reminded that we still have a way to go…..but soon afterwards we are sailing through the green fields which border the Odenwald…..

    ダルムシュタット北駅に停車した後、列車は田園電車は田舎を通って

    ✍🏼 I love train travel. You can talk or text to friends at ease whilst letting someone else do the driving. At some point I received an (evening) message from a friend in Tokyo …“…It looks like a very European landscape….somehow different from the scenery I always see from the train windows in Japan….”.

    ✍🏼 I alight at Hoechst in Odenwald, consulted my map, and walk through the town and over the Mümling river to reach a gorge famous for its fairy-tale path. The Obrunnschlucht. What a marvellous word that: Schlucht. (Gorge/Ravine).

    私はオーデンヴァルトのヘーヒスト駅で電車を降りました。ここはまるで童話の世界のような道です。

    ✍🏼 The gorge has always been a favourite beauty spot for the locals, but it was only in the early part of the 20thc. that the idea came about to revive fairy tales by building little miniatures of castles, houses and churches in the woods. Here is the Maüseturm from the river Rhein – in a scale of 1:20

    …here a bear..or is it a wild boar?

    Even nature seems to add some magical charm……

    ✍🏼 A storm, and subsequent vandalism in the 1960s threatened to consign this innocent project to oblivion. But in 2011, in a heartening show of local solidarity and initiative, local construction companies……like this one…

    地元企業が遊歩道の維持管理を支援している

    …..banded together to help rebuild…not only the little models….

    …but also the footpaths and bridges……

    As I walked up the gorge I noticed groups of excited little children chattering and enjoying the scene. Makes you happy to be alive.

    The Schwanenburg castle…

    …a more contemporary addition…..

    ✍🏼 Time for a rest on one of the many picnic benches provided for precisely that purpose. Out came my hard-boiled egg (an idea from a fellow hiker) and a phial of salt (a very practical present from yet another hiker!)

    私の最初のおやつ

    I never thought I would be publishing a photograph of an egg, but believe me, in the circumstances, it was absolutely delicious.

    You could get poetic about it. Well, let’s move on before I get too carried away.

    Reaching the top of the gorge…..

    I plunge into a tall, windswept woodland…..

    峡谷の上を、私は高い木々の森の中を歩く。

    … pines sway in the breeze..

    …and at ground level inumerable wild anemones push up through last years’ leaves…..

    野生のanemones (日本語名？)

    ✍🏼 Will I reach my next etappe before devouring my sandwiches? The way beckons invitingly…..

    道は快適です…………

    ….and eventually, I reach the outskirts of the village of Breuberg. Here I catch my first sight of the eponymous castle…..

    歩いて 数時間後（すうじかん ご）城につきました。どうやってあそこに登ればいいのだろう？ 🙄

    ✍🏼 It looks so high, up there on the hill……Maybe the memory of these little Easter eggs will keep me going…..

    Frohes Ostern…..🐣…….イースター、おめでとう!!

    After a breather at the bridge…..

    少し休憩……….😪

    I start the steep climb to the castle. Frohes Ostern, yes, …..

    サンドイッチのことを考えながら階段を上る………🤔

    but I am thinking of my sandwiches…..

    However, blessed with excellent walking boots, the climb is not that bad…….

    But I must admit it is a relief to finally reach the main gateway…

    ついに！城に着いた！…….🥵

    ✍🏼 Berg Breuberg. Continuously inhabited since the 12th century, it has served at various times as a bailiff’s castle, a residence for noble families, a district administration office, a camp for forced labourers during World War II, and the site of a toy factory. Each era has left its mark. 

    A token cannon is all that is left of its firepower….

    Whilst the interior has been converted into a youth hostel….for locking up unruly youth maybe?

    城の一部はユースホステルになっている。

    ✍🏼 It’s now only 5 km walk back to the railway station.. a pleasant route through the typically Hessen countryside…..

    wth its half-timbered Fachwerkhäuser……

    Only 1km to go…

    私は駅まで歩いて戻ります ……………….. 🚶🏼‍➡️

    ✍🏼 As there is only one train an hour back to Frankfurt I can fit in a Spaghetti-Eis in the one remaining open café….and Komoot says that I have walked 16km.

    Not bad, Nigel 💪🏼.

    (私は16km歩きました)

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

    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.

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

    THE END

    終わり🍨

  • 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

  • 🐈‍⬛ 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🍱