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Date, Time, Currency Rate
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Sun, 12/8/2024, 9:43 AM
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Japan Days

My Days in Japan

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Welcome to Japan-Days.info

On this web site, I will share with you some stories and pictures from the time when I lived in Japan as a member of the United States Air Force, and from various visits that my wife, Ritsuko, and I have made there since my departure from the military in 1978. As you browse the site, please note that clicking (or tapping if using a phone or tablet) on any of the images will enable you to see an enlargement of the picture, clicking on it again will take it back to original size. Also, many words are highlighted to show the availability of a tooltip, which will provide you with more information about the word, and are invoked by hovering the mouse pointer over it (or tapping if using a phone or tablet).

I will add content to the site periodically, so please visit often.

News Feeds

News feed source: NHK News (Japanese)
NHKニュース
日本放送協会 NHKニュース

韓国 ユン大統領側近の前国防相 “検察に拘束” 未明に出頭
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 08:39:30 +0900

韓国の通信社、連合ニュースは、ユン・ソンニョル(尹錫悦)大統領に「非常戒厳」の宣言を進言したと伝えられた、キム・ヨンヒョン(金龍顕)前国防相が、検察に拘束されたと伝えました。
シリア 反政府勢力“首都に向け攻勢強化”人道状況悪化も懸念
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 06:26:33 +0900

内戦が続くシリアでは反政府勢力がアサド政権の打倒を掲げ、中部にある要衝に続いて首都ダマスカスに向け攻勢を強めていると主張するなど緊張が高まっています。国連は、先月下旬以降、少なくとも37万人が住まいを追われたとしていて、戦闘の激化とともに人道状況の悪化も懸念されています。
トランプ次期大統領がゼレンスキー大統領 仏大統領と会談
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 08:03:58 +0900

大統領選挙後、初めてとなる外国訪問でフランスを訪れているアメリカのトランプ次期大統領はウクライナのゼレンスキー大統領、フランスのマクロン大統領との3者会談に臨みました。詳しい内容は明らかになっていませんが、来月の大統領就任を前に、トランプ氏がウクライナ情勢をめぐりどのような姿勢を示したのか注目されます。
きょう寒気のピーク 日本海側中心に雪 交通影響など十分注意
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 05:56:57 +0900

冬型の気圧配置と強い寒気の影響で北日本から西日本にかけて日本海側を中心に雪が降っています。8日が寒気のピークとなり、広い範囲で雪が続く見込みで雪道での運転や交通への影響に十分注意が必要です。
【詳しく】ユン大統領の弾劾議案 廃案に 野党側は再提出の構え
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 08:04:47 +0900

韓国のユン・ソンニョル大統領の弾劾を求める議案は、7日、国会での投票に与党のほとんどの議員が参加しなかった結果廃案となりました。ユン大統領は大統領の職務を継続することになりますが、野党側は、今月11日にも再び弾劾を求める議案を提出する構えを示していて、政治の混乱は今後も続く見通しです。
日本政府 韓国の情勢注視 “日韓関係の重要性変わらない”
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 05:34:17 +0900

韓国のユン・ソンニョル大統領の弾劾を求める議案が廃案になったことを受けて、日本政府は、今後も混乱が続く可能性があるとして、引き続き情勢を注視していくことにしています。一方で、内政の状況に関わらず日韓関係の重要性は変わらないとして、アメリカも含め連携を確認していく方針です。
1日に摂取する野菜の量 過去最少に 平均250gあまり 厚労省調査
Sun, 08 Dec 2024 06:08:02 +0900

1日に摂取する野菜の量が去年、平均で250グラムあまりと、国が示す目標値を100グラムほど下回り、統計を取り始めて最も少なくなったことが厚生労働省の調査でわかりました。

Travel to Japan

Post Date: April 6, 2017

"A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." -- John Steinbeck

Late afternoon, April 15, 2016, after a 13 hour flight, Ritsuko and I arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport. With the flight from Chicago to Tokyo being the most arduous part of our journey, we were now very close to beginning of the fun part of our 2016 Japan trip. Clearing immigration and customs was quick and efficient, and we then had one more tedious task to complete before moving on to the city -- exchanging our rail pass vouchers.

2016 Rail Pass

2016 Japan Rail Pass

In the past, that had been a simple task, but this time, there was a line of people extending out of the Japan Railways office into the terminal. Making matters worse, the process had changed since our last visit, and the air conditioning in the JR office was not functioning properly. Dazed, confused, hot, and tired, we slowly moved forward. As we got closer to the counter, a group of young selfie stick toting jerks rushed to the head of the line, where their "place was being saved" by another in their group. Of course, these self indulgent twits all had to pose for selfies as they reached the head of the line, making the rest of us wait as they documented every mundane detail of their nitwit existence. Sensing my simmering discontent, Ritsuko gently squeezed my left arm. Other than issuing a muffled groan, I kept quiet, forced a smile, and waited patiently, as did the rest of the people in line while the noisy pack of self absorbed assholes ahead of us moved on through.

Upon receiving our rail passes, we proceeded to the airport terminal rail station, and boarded a JR Narita Express train for the 50 minute ride to Tokyo Station. By this time, we were pretty exhausted from traveling, and were in need of food and sleep. We sat near the rear of the car, and couldn't see much detail on the TV monitor on the forward bulkhead. It appeared to be news coverage of an earthquake somewhere. I figured that we would check into it later after we got settled in our hotel room.

By the time we reached Tokyo, it was early evening, and the station was a madhouse of activity. Pulling our bags behind us, we navigated through the crowds, finally exiting onto the street on the Yaesu side of the station. Our plan was to spend that night at the Hotel Ryumeikan, only a short walk from the station, and then return to the station at 6AM the next morning, and catch a Shinkansen to Osaka, where we would transfer to another Shinkansen that would take us to Kagoshima.

Tokyo Haneda Airport

Tokyo Haneda airport - our plane for Kagoshima

We were so tired by the time we got into our room, that all we wanted to do was sleep. I spent just a few minutes entering the WIFI ID and password for the pocket WIFI device that we had rented from Japan Wireless into our phones and laptop, then went to bed. Ritsuko was already asleep.

I woke up at about 1AM, and couldn't go back to sleep. I quietly turned on the laptop, so that I could check email, and have a look at what was going on in the world. The home page resolved to Google Japan, and I saw that the earthquake that had been reported on the news in the train was in Kumamoto, and it was a big one. The event would come to be known as the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. People were dead, injured, and missing. Massive amounts of property damage had been reported, aftershocks were frequent, and all train service into and out of Kumamoto was suspended. The train that we had planned to take that morning goes through Kumamoto, so obviously, we needed to formulate a new plan.

I woke up Ritsuko, and told her what was happening. She made tea and coffee as I checked email. We had emails from my sister, and from some friends back home, who were worried that we might have been in the quake area. After answering all the emails, letting everyone know that we were OK, I went online, verified that train service into southern Kyushu was suspended, and booked a flight on JAL for later that morning out of Tokyo Haneda for Kagoshima.

Sakurajima from hotel window

View of Sakurajima from our room on the 14th floor of Hotel Solaria Nishitetsu in Kagoshima.

Prior to the opening of Narita airport in late 1978, Haneda was Tokyo International Airport. Since that time, it has been primarily used for domestic flights. I always thought the kanji for Haneda is really cool. 羽田 literally means wing field. In the 1970's, I drove there several times, and was always thankful that the kanji for Haneda was so descriptive, especially when driving in heavy fast moving traffic in the tunnels of the metro expressway. Fortunately, we did not have to drive that morning. After breakfast, we walked across the street to the station, boarded the Yamanote line for the 8 minute ride to Hamamatsucho, and then rode the Tokyo Monorail to Haneda Airport.

We had not flown on a domestic flight in Japan for 35 years, and this was a really pleasant experience, especially compared to domestic flights in the US. The flight was quick - about an hour and a half. Kagoshima airport is located in a rural area, and there is no train service, therefore we took a bus to Kagoshima city. After about 35 minutes we arrived at the Kagoshima-chuo bus terminal, which, coincidentally, is in the same building as the Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel.

This earthquake alert app helped us keep track of the aftershocks of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake.

Solaria Nishitetsu is a really nice hotel. We had reserved a room on a high floor with a view of Sakurajima, the iconic active volcano that sits on an islet in Kagoshima Bay, and were given a room on the 14th floor with a perfect view. Of course, shortly after we got settled in the room, a big aftershock hit Kumamoto to the north, and our building swayed back and forth at an intensity sufficient to cause the blinds to bang against the window. Maybe this wasn't an ideal time and place to book a room with a view. My jokes about "isn't this a view to die for" kind of fell flat too.

I found a good earthquake alert app for our phones, and that helped us stay informed as to the location and intensity of the aftershocks that continued during our stay in Kagoshima. We stayed there for six days, during which we spent some time with members of Ritsuko's family who live in the area, and we also ventured out to see a few places that we had never visited.

After the first day, the damage reports became more disheartening as the aftershocks continued. The numbers of dead, injured, and missing continued to rise, and the affected area now extended into Oita Prefecture on the Pacific coast. Immediately, people in Kagoshima responded sending aid northward to help those displaced by the earthquakes. Students stood outside Kagoshima-Chuo station every day, tirelessly collecting money to help the earthquake victims. Collection cups were at supermarket checkout stands, convenience stores, and just about everywhere else. What the quake victims must have been experiencing was just unimaginable.

waiting in Kagoshima airport

Kagoshima Airport - waiting for our flight to Osaka

By now, all train and highway traffic was suspended going through a line from Kumamoto to Oita. We realized that we needed to reserve a flight for the next leg of our journey before all flights out of Kagoshima were booked. We were lucky to get tickets on a flight to Osaka for the day we had originally planned to leave. Fortunately, some of the airlines were adding flights to accommodate the increase in demand. Plan B would have been to book passage on a sea going ferry out of Kagoshima or Miyazaki to Hiroshima. That would have messed up our plan since we had hotel reservations in Kyoto for that night, but the ferry option does sound pretty cool. Maybe we will do that on another trip.

Every trip to this wonderful, fascinating country is different. Of course, it is always good to visit family, and it is always interesting to visit places of historical significance or places of inspiring beauty, but on this trip, the manner in which the people of Japan responded to a crisis affecting their countrymen was the inspiring beauty that touched me the most.

 | Published by: Japan Days  logo
 | Date Modified: October 11, 2023

Japan Culture

Post Date: March 6, 2017

In our 2016 Japan trip, we spent the last six days in Tokyo. I really wanted to go to the site of the National Stadium, so one sunny morning, we hopped onto the Ginza subway line at Asakusa station, and went to Gaienmae. From there, we walked to the site of the stadium.

National Stadium Tokyo site in 2016

Site of the 2020 Olympic stadium, Tokyo May 2016

The old stadium that was built in 1958, and that served as the venue for the opening/closing ceremonies and track and field during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics has been completely demolished, and the ground was being prepared for construction of the new stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It was sad to see that the old stadium was torn down. I remember one day in 1978 when Ritsuko and I were walking through the area, and on a whim, went into the old stadium and watched a soccer game. But, such is progress, and I look forward to seeing the new stadium. The plans have changed from the original design, but I am confident that it will be magnificent.

Nearby, some of the streets were blocked off for a children's bicycle race. That was really cute, and quite unexpected.

Near Gaienmae Tokyo 2016

Children's bicycle race near Meiji Jingu Gaien, Tokyo May 2016

Moving on, we continued to walk, with one thing or another catching our attention, and thus diverting our path. Finally, we found ourselves approaching Shinjuku Station on the east side, and made our way on to the main east entrance of the station. From there, walking into the famous (or sometimes infamous) Kabukicho district, I looked down the street and saw Godzilla, or as he is called in Japan, ゴジラ (Gojira), clutching onto the top of the Toho Cinemas building.

National Stadium Tokyo site in 2016

Godzilla atop the Toho Cinema Building, Shinjuku

2016 Toho Cinema promotes new Godzilla movie, シンゴジラ(Shin Gojira) by putting him on top of their building in Shinjuku

This was part of a promotion for the latest Godzilla movie, シンゴジラ (Shin Gojira), that Toho Cinemas was releasing in 2016. Later that evening, I emailed the pictures to a few friends in order to let them know that, just in case they had ever wondered what had happened to the big scaly fellow, Godzilla aka ゴジラ (Gojira) was alive and well in Shinjuku.

 | Published by: Japan Days  logo
 | Date Modified: October 13, 2023

My Air Force Days

During the early part of my tour at Yokota Air Base, Okutama became one of my favorite places to escape when I had a day off from work. Okutama is a small town in the extreme western extent of Tokyo Prefecture. Geographically, the municipality extends far beyond the town itself, encompassing a large mountainous area bordering Saitama and Yamanshi Prefectures. Several waterways, including the Tama River, traverse the area, and nearby is Lake Okutama, a large man made reservoir that is an important source of water for Tokyo Prefecture.

Traveling by train from Fussa to Okutama in 1973, on the Ome Line

Back then, as is now, Okutama was a popular destination for hikers and fishing enthusiasts. I used to go there in order to escape into a peaceful natural environment, to hike, and to photograph. For me, the area was very accessible, either by car or by train. By car, the roads were well marked, and although few road signs were in romaji, the kanji for Okutama, 奥多摩, was easy to remember and recognize. However, with the town having train service via the Ome line, rail was the the most convenient conveyance. Japan Railways Ome line provides service from Tachikawa to Okutama, with Fussa being one of the stations on the line. The original line was built during the Meiji Period, providing service between Tachikawa and Ome. In 1944, it was extended to its current western terminus, Okutama.

The video in this article is a short film that I shot on super 8 during one of my visits to Okutama in 1973. You can see in the various scenes, a change in terrain from the flat, low lying plain where Fussa is located, to progressively more mountainous terrain as the train travels westward.

photography in Okutama 1974

Okutama 1974, composing a shot with my Nikon F2, demonstrating proper technique of simultaneously holding camera and cigarette

I loved going there to take pictures. Mountain trails and waterways were just a short hike from the station, and they offered great subject material for a photo hobbyist like myself. Shortly after arriving at Yokota, I took up photography as a hobby, and Yokota Air Base was definitely a good place for one to pursue such a hobby. Not only did the Base Education Office offer several courses in photography through LACC (Los Angeles Community College), but also Yokota had an excellent Photo Hobby Shop for military personnel stationed there.

For a price of admission that was comparable to buying a beer at the NCO Club, one could use the hobby shop darkroom. All chemicals and equipment were provided, although you were welcome to bring your own enlarger lens, developer, and other assorted accessories. The hobby shop store usually had a good supply of photographic paper in various sizes, finishes, and contrast characteristics. Of course, if one wanted photographic supplies that the hobby shop didn't stock, Shinjuku was only about 45 minutes away by train. Across the street from Shinjuku Station were a couple of large photographic equipment stores, where one could find anything. I was a frequent visitor to the Sakuraya store in Shinjuku, where I usually tried to keep from spending all my money so that I could enjoy a hot bowl of noodles at one of the nearby standing soba shops before boarding the train for home.

near Okutama Japan

One of my favorite pictures from Okutama 1974- shot on Kodak Panatomic X film, I was trying to expose for maximum grey scale

Bridge near Okutama Japan in 1974 - photo shot while wading in the river

Recently, I found some prints of a few of my favorite pictures from Okutama, that I took during 1973-1975. They were photographs that I had printed at the Yokota Air Base photo hobby shop, and were still in excellent condition. I have the negatives somewhere at home, and considered producing digital media by scanning the negatives in a film scanner, but instead decided to scan the prints using a flatbed scanner. My reason for this is that when I took the photographs, I did so knowing that I would crop the negative to fit the aspect ratio of either 8x10 or 10x12 paper in the darkroom. Therefore, the print better represents what was in my mind when taking the picture, and since I sure can't remember what I was thinking while standing in a river or leaning off a cliff 40 years ago, I'll just scan the print.

fisherman casting from the riverbank

A fisherman casting from the river bank, near Okutama 1974

calm water

Hazy sky reflected in calm water

looking out of tunnel

Light at the end of the tunnel - near Okutama 1974

new mountain road

Newly improved mountain road - near Okutama 1975

This concludes my trip into the past for today. I hope that you enjoyed the video and pictures.

 | Published by: Japan Days  logo
 | Date Modified: July 28, 2023
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