Our travels to Japan this year will take us to Kyushu, Shikoku and Western/Southern Honshu with brief spells in Tokyo on arrival and before departure. We will be away from mid-February to mid-March. We will be travelling mainly by rail again and have a mixture of old and new style accommodation planned.
Because of the travel hiatus brought on by Covid in 2020, the sale of our French pied a terre in 2021, health issues necessitating staying at home and the installation of a lift from 2021 to 2023, we felt it was the appropriate time to reassess our strategy for future travel to align it with our desires and abilities.
The outcome of our thinking is that our future excursions will be determined by the following selection criteria:
- Single direct flight to and from
- No heat and humidity
- No tourist hordes
- No cruises
The first and third selection criteria effectively rule out future travel to Europe. Owning a house there for twenty years and having second Pommy passports meant that our past stays could be very protracted. We really have no excuse for not having seen everything on our “wish list”. To return there now would be silly and expensive.
The second criteria effectively rules out anywhere within 30 degrees of the Equator. With the addition of the third criteria it doubly rules out all of SE Asia. Again, having lived and worked in SE Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East from 1980 to 2006 there are not many places to survive on our tatty, dog eared “wish list”.
The fourth criteria needs no further comment. Perhaps in our dotage, although that would seem even less likely than now.
As we choose to miss as much of the Australian summer as possible and if you exclude the Tokyo “rush hour”, then Japan meets our criteria. In addition, it is an extremely interesting place to visit. Over the 44 years since our first visit we have developed interests in a number of traditional Japanese arts and crafts such as:
- Woodblock printing
- Pottery
- Lacquerware
- Knives
- Indigo dying and other fabric crafts
- Japanese gardens
- Japanese architecture (domestic and industrial not temples and castles)
In addition our visits so far have given us an appreciation of Japanese culture and behaviour. We are especially appreciative of:
- Politeness and consideration of other people – a list too long to itemise
- Civic pride manifested in clean streets and waterways, cared for gardens and public spaces
- Punctuality
- Efficient and clean public infrastructure and transport
- Abundant and excellent toilets. See movie “Perfect Days” .
We have yet to fully embrace Japanese cuisine and would not relish a 100% Japanese menu for a month. Fortunately, foreign food is done quite well in Japan and there is plenty of scope for other cuisines such as: Indian, Thai, Italian, “Western”. As for “the tea ceremony” and Japanese traditional music we can happily “pass”.
So, Japan it is for the foreseeable future of our holiday travel.
