Three weeks of running in humid conditions meant that I was both well and ill prepared for today’s race. Well prepared because running in light drizzle was actually rather pleasurable. Ill prepared because I simply haven’t racked up enough miles recently to get round a half marathon easily. I reached the halfway point of a…
Having done Disney, it was now time to do another great American export that Japan loves: Baseball. Tokyo’s ‘dome’ is enormous and it was pretty full for a very exciting match between the Giants and the Swallows. I managed to find myself sitting next to a group of students learning to speak Japanese – from…
OK, I admit it. I am a fan of the mouse. So, today, instead of doing what all sensible tourists would do and going in search of culture, I went instead to join a large (very large) number of Japanese families in a pilgrimage to Disneyland Tokyo. There is something very strange about visiting somewhere…
I was told by the concierge at my hotel that Shibuya is ‘young and exciting’. She was right on both counts. The district almost pulsed with a dizzying tide of human movement… I wish I’d videod the crowds crossing the road. It made Piccadilly Circus look calm. I wandered through a number of department stores,…
Suddenly, “Lost in Translation” makes sense. This is a very, very strange city. (But then, I guess London could appear pretty bizarre to a foreigner who dropped in for three days as well.) I started the day with a 5k run and was delighted to discover that many local people do the same thing. Several…
An early start found me heading back on the subway to the airport and from there on to Japan. Korea is a great place. The people are so polite. What other country would have a visitor’s last memory be the ground crew at the airport all bowing and then waving as the plane taxis away?…
The show was not high quality drama, but it was enormous fun. There was a full house, made up mainly of Koreans but with a smattering of foreigners, including a party of Russian teenagers. The lights went down and we were treated to two hours of music making using kitchen implements, a large amount of…
Monday is the day off for the tour companies in Seoul, so I decided to see the city by foot. I now have sore feet. I started the day by deciding that I couldn’t possibly leave the city without having a run. The park where the Seoul Tower is situated is close to the hotel,…
I visited the Non Militarised Zone on the border with North Korea this morning, on an organised tour. (Note to self: Don’t strike up a conversation with any American lady on a tour bus, in case she wants to spend the rest of the morning telling you her life story). The Zone was fascinating. We…
I left Jeju with a bit of a heavy heart. It’s a beautiful island and everyone has been so kind. Simon and his team really did organise a superb conference. Even at the airport we were carefully looked after and shepherded through formalities… In fact, it was all considerably easier than any early morning flight…
