John's Travels in Japan

Why Japan? Why now? This all started with a news report on the economy. Bankrupt airlines, spiraling fuel prices, and a U.S. Dollar that looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. If I had waited a year to go to Japan, it might have been beyond my reach financially. So here I am beginning a trip that I'd spent months dreaming about, thinking about where I would go, what I would do, and how I would pull it off if I went. I know a few words of Japanese, which I probably mispronounce horribly. A phrase book, kindly natives, and Japanese kids who speak some English will have to be enough. And where all of the above fail me, I'll be reduced to charades and possibly trying to draw the occasional picture of a cow, chicken, or shrimp. There's no sense jumping in if you're not going to jump in with both feet. Bonzai indeed.

For those of you who have indulged me when I have gone on and on about Japan's art, culture and history, and that's pretty much everyone who's visiting this site, you know I've done the reading. I've also done a lot of research about all of the places I want to visit. I've learned enough about the manners and customs to keep from embarassing myself, hopefully. And I'm working on getting myself into a mindset that will allow me to shrug and move on when things don't go just right. If I'm trying to find a museum on a back street and having no luck, my mantra will be, "Okay, you can't find the museum. Look around you. You're in JAPAN!!!" I'm pretty sure that will be enough of a reminder to let go of the frustration and get back to enjoying the moment.
My ace in the hole is my Japanese pen pal, Rieko. She will have four days off from work while I'm in Japan, during which we'll see many of the sights. Her English isn't perfect, but it's far better than my Japanese. She'll be able to show me the ropes on using the subway, ordering meals, and behaving properly in social situations and at temples. And it'll be nice to see some of the sights with a friend.

A bit about how the site works... Once you get past the title page you just came from, all pages will have the same navigation links that you see on the left. They will all be live, even if the date hasn't passed yet. It's too much trouble to activate them day by day. You can use this rule of thumb: if it's after 10:00 AM Eastern time, you can probably check my entry for that day. That's midnight Japan time, and hopefully I'll have posted and gotten to bed by then. If you click on a date and get a "not found" error, that means I haven't made my entry. I'll try not to let that happen.
Over on the right, you'll see thumbnail images of that day's pictures. (The ones you see over there right now are pics I grabbed off the web.) Click on them to see the full-size pictures and comments. Where applicable, I'll try to include a link to an image of a woodblock print of the same scene, or to an explanation of the significance of the subject matter. Or both. Go ahead and click them - you'll learn something!

If you happen to be using Internet Explorer to view this site, the photos may be automagically resized to fill the browser window. This will degrade the quality of the photos and make the pages harder to view. I don't know offhand how you can make IE stop doing that, but if you figure it out, go ahead and disable that feature. And drop me a line explaining the process, so I can pass it along.

I hope you will enjoy the pictures and stories as the days go by. If you want to drop me a line, send it to: jbecker "at" advantagetn.com (sorry that's not a live link - they generate too much spam). I'll try to answer you the day after you send it.

Wish me luck!

John's Travels in Japan

Intro March 25 and 26 March 27 March 28 March 29 March 30 March 31 April 1 April 2 April 3 April 4 April 5 April 6 April 7 April 8 Recap & Reflections		Introduction Why Japan? Why now? This all started with a news report on the economy. Bankrupt airlines, spiraling fuel prices, and a U.S. Dollar that looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better. If I had waited a year to go to Japan, it might have been beyond my reach financially. So here I am beginning a trip that I'd spent months dreaming about, thinking about where I would go, what I would do, and how I would pull it off if I went. I know a few words of Japanese, which I probably mispronounce horribly. A phrase book, kindly natives, and Japanese kids who speak some English will have to be enough. And where all of the above fail me, I'll be reduced to charades and possibly trying to draw the occasional picture of a cow, chicken, or shrimp. There's no sense jumping in if you're not going to jump in with both feet. Bonzai indeed. For those of you who have indulged me when I have gone on and on about Japan's art, culture and history, and that's pretty much everyone who's visiting this site, you know I've done the reading. I've also done a lot of research about all of the places I want to visit. I've learned enough about the manners and customs to keep from embarassing myself, hopefully. And I'm working on getting myself into a mindset that will allow me to shrug and move on when things don't go just right. If I'm trying to find a museum on a back street and having no luck, my mantra will be, "Okay, you can't find the museum. Look around you. You're in JAPAN!!!" I'm pretty sure that will be enough of a reminder to let go of the frustration and get back to enjoying the moment. My ace in the hole is my Japanese pen pal, Rieko. She will have four days off from work while I'm in Japan, during which we'll see many of the sights. Her English isn't perfect, but it's far better than my Japanese. She'll be able to show me the ropes on using the subway, ordering meals, and behaving properly in social situations and at temples. And it'll be nice to see some of the sights with a friend. A bit about how the site works... Once you get past the title page you just came from, all pages will have the same navigation links that you see on the left. They will all be live, even if the date hasn't passed yet. It's too much trouble to activate them day by day. You can use this rule of thumb: if it's after 10:00 AM Eastern time, you can probably check my entry for that day. That's midnight Japan time, and hopefully I'll have posted and gotten to bed by then. If you click on a date and get a "not found" error, that means I haven't made my entry. I'll try not to let that happen. Over on the right, you'll see thumbnail images of that day's pictures. (The ones you see over there right now are pics I grabbed off the web.) Click on them to see the full-size pictures and comments. Where applicable, I'll try to include a link to an image of a woodblock print of the same scene, or to an explanation of the significance of the subject matter. Or both. Go ahead and click them - you'll learn something! If you happen to be using Internet Explorer to view this site, the photos may be automagically resized to fill the browser window. This will degrade the quality of the photos and make the pages harder to view. I don't know offhand how you can make IE stop doing that, but if you figure it out, go ahead and disable that feature. And drop me a line explaining the process, so I can pass it along. I hope you will enjoy the pictures and stories as the days go by. If you want to drop me a line, send it to: jbecker "at" advantagetn.com (sorry that's not a live link - they generate too much spam). I'll try to answer you the day after you send it. Wish me luck!