Category: Traveling 旅行

Visiting United States military bases in Japan

Visiting US military bases is fun for me. The US Army, US Navy, US Air Force and US Marine Corps use 75 facilities within Japan and Okinawa, 51 of which are dedicated and the rest 24 shared with Japan Self Defense Force. Though those facilities are usually closed to civilians, they are open to residents around them once or twice a year, and you can get inside the military places during these festivals.

Visiting those facilities is one of the few occasions to get in touch with the United States. You can eat American-made hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, turkey legs, and other American foods. You can pay foods, sodas, beer, sweets, and souvenirs with US dollars. You can talk to Americans in English. And, you can find out how average Americans live their daily life. What kind of groceries do they buy? What kind of foods do they eat? What kind of newspapers do they read? What kind of school do they make their children attend? You can catch a glimpse of those things without flying more than 12 hours to get to mainland America.

I have visited US bases and facilities in Japan and Okinawa for more than 15 years. With respect to what I have experienced, I’m grading each of these out of 5 by categories of accessibility, smoothness of entry and exit, freedom of movement, and availability of on-base building. 5 is the most excellent, and 0 the worst.
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September 21, 2019
Visiting Hong Kong / 香港へ

日本文が後ろに続きます。

A few weeks ago I visited Hong Kong to deposit part of my fixed amount savings, deposited in Japan’s post office and matured last month, in HSBC Hong Kong where I’ve had my bank account for 13 years, and to buy some gold which was a bit inexpensive than what you buy in Japan. Since nobody can predict what will happen to Japan and its economy in the future, I think it is reasonable to diversify assets both nationally and internationally to reduce risks of the loss due to possible economic confusion.

I found out two notable things through this trip. One is that Kagoshima is in fact one of the important gateways of Japan for some foreign travelers. From a Tokyoite’s point of view, Kagoshima looks like the southernmost far end of Japan, but for some people, it is not. I heard that a sales clerk of Chow Sang Sang’s Central store selling a gold necklace to me saying that she had ever been to Japan for leisure, entering Japan at Kagoshima Airport, and then moved east to Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, where she departed. She also said that it was a golden route for travelers from China and Hong Kong. Those facts suggest that cities like Kagoshima, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka should look at Asian countries rather than Tokyo to survive in the future.

The other thing is my lacking ability of English conversation. When I talked to the sales clerk or any other people in Hong Kong, all I could say to those people were one-to-two-word sentences like “Yeah,” “No,” “Thank you,” “Oh really?” or something like that. Response speed to English was apparently slower than that of a few years ago. Clearly, it was because I hadn’t used English so much for years as it is now irrelevant to me in the workplace. All I can do (and need to do) would be to have at least my home Englishized to get accustomed to the English environment and help live in an English way.

先日、香港へ行ってきました。郵便貯金の定額貯金が満期を迎えたので、一部をハンドキャリーして13年前に開設したＨＳＢＣの口座に入金するのと、現地で金製品を買うためです（日本で買うより安いのです）。この先日本がどうなるかわからない中、国際的に資産を分散しておくのが理にかなっているかと。

旅行記をフォートラベルに転載しました。

https://4travel.jp/travelogue/11718398

September 18, 2017
Japan’s northernmost end / 日本のさいはてへ

日本文はフォートラベルに転載しました。

https://4travel.jp/travelogue/11321411

Though it was almost half a year ago, I visited Wakkanai, the northernmost end of Hokkaido. Since it was the beginning of January this year, it was extremely cold outside with plenty of snow and the streets were very slippery.

Wakkanai is deeply related to Russia, since this city is just 40 kilometers away from the southern end of Sakhalin. When Sakhalin was part of Japan in the beginning of the 20th century, the city of Wakkanai played an important role in connecting to ports of Sakhalin by ferry.

Defense is also important since it is very close to the border and there is such a risk to let illegal immigrants in and to let foreign ships invade this town.

Wakkanai is one of Japan’s cities symbolizing tragedy of the WWII. When the USSR began invasion to the southern half of the Sakhalin Island after Japan’s surrender in August 1945, nine young women were working at a telephone exchange in the island. They were encouraged to escape from the island to flee to Hokkaido as it was going to be a dangerous place very soon. They refused to do it and chose to stay there because they wanted to do their job until the last time. At the time when Soviet Union’s soldiers came to where they worked, they took their lives as they didn’t want to be captured and molested by the soldiers. The memorial monument for them is build on the hill of Wakkanai city. I was eager to see this monument, but I couldn’t do it since the hill was closed due to the heavy winter snow.

With one more day I could’ve visited the Cape Soya and see the Sakhalin Island over the Soya Channel. This would be a good reason for me to visit Wakkanai again this summer.

June 10, 2017
ロンドン散歩

（ハワース散策からの続きです）

３日目の朝、雨の降る中、Ｂ＆Ｂをチェックアウトしました。

平日なので蒸気機関車はやっておらず、Ｂ＆Ｂの奥さんがロードン・ロードにある最寄りのバス停まで連れて行ってくれ、そこでキースリー行きのバスを待つようにと言ってくれました。

バスを待っていると、年配のご婦人が話しかけてきて、どこまで行くのかと尋ねられたので、「ロンドンまでです」と答えると、もう１人のご婦人が話に加わり、バスがくるまでの間、３人でお話してました。
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September 8, 2014
A walk in London

(Continued from A stroll in Haworth)

On the third day, I checked out of the Heathfield B&B on the rainy morning. Since it was a weekday, Keighley Worth & Valley Railway was out of service. The mistress took me to the nearest bus stop on Rawdon Road and told me to wait there for the bus for Keighley.

While waiting for the bus, an old lady talked to me. She asked me where I was going. I answered that I was going to London. Another lady joined us, and they and I talked a bit until the bus was coming.

On the bus, I sit on the upper front seat, and the ladies stayed downstairs. Arriving at Keighley bus terminus, I got out of the bus. The train station was a bit distant from the terminus, so I didn’t know how to get there.

Then the lady who had talked to me first at the Rawdon Road bus stop found me standing there, and told me to follow her to the train station as she was just going for shopping near there. How kind of her! I was able to get to the Keighley train station with her help.

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September 8, 2014
ハワース散策

（本当のイギリスへの旅からの続きです）

ヒースフィールド・ベッド＆ブレックファーストの朝食はまさにブリティッシュ・ブレックファーストで、目玉焼き、フライドポテト、マッシュルーム、トマトを半分にして焼いたやつ、ベーコン、ソーセージ２本、そしてシリアル、トースト、オレンジジュースに紅茶とすごいボリュームでした。イギリスの朝食時間帯はちょうど日本の夕食どきなので、一番食が進む時です。

朝食中にも宿のご夫婦はいろいろ話しかけてくれます。食事しながら英会話するのは少しハードですが、お話するのは楽しいものです。
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September 7, 2014
本当のイギリスへの旅

ちょっと前の話ですが、イギリスに行ってきました。ブリティッシュ・ヒルズでも英語村でも栃木あたりにある英国風のコテージでも日本にある他の「ニセ英国」でもなく、死ぬまでに一度は訪れてみたかった本当のイングランドです。行き先は、森薫「エマ」の舞台のロンドンと、ハワースです。
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September 7, 2014
A stroll in Haworth

(Continued from A trip to real England)

Breakfast served at Heathfield Bed & Breakfast was really British-style, with a fried egg, fried potatoes, and mushrooms, a fried tomato cut in half, two slices of bacon and two sausages as well as cereals, slices of bread, a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea. I have a good appetite for breakfast in England because when it’s breakfast time in England, it’s time to have dinner in Japan where it’s nine hours ahead.
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September 7, 2014
A trip to real England

Although it was a bit while ago, I made a private trip to the United Kingdom. It was not the British Hills, not an English village, not a British-style cottage in Tochigi Prefecture, not any other “fake Britain” in Japan. It was the real England, where I had wanted to visit before I died. I visited London and Haworth, West Yorkshire. Both of those places were introduced in Japanese manga, Emma, by Kaoru Mori, which was one of my favourite comics I’d ever read.
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September 7, 2014