Police, police on the streets, who is the fairest / smartest of them all?

One of the things you will definitely notice in Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK with a population of around 3 million, is the sheer number of smartly dressed police women and men on the streets. There seemed to be more police women than men, and many of the ladies are fairly young. They used to control traffic flow, although now traffic lights are available in most street corners of the city, most of which have been put up just a few years ago. They do not quite control traffic now but are nevertheless interesting to watch as they move about smartly, often turning sharply to the left or right in a military fashion.

Roads are not very busy but sometimes I worry for them when I see them in the middle of the road with big vehicles passing so near to them, but somehow knowing exactly how to avoid them.

So who is your favourite cop?

Photo Essay of a Visit to the DPRK

In September, we visited the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK but more commonly referred to as North Korea).

The next few blog posts will document, mostly in photos, what I saw and felt as a curious outsider as I moved through this country still rather restricted in trade (due to longstanding trade sanctions) and travel. It is a country that is portrayed so differently by the western press and by its own highly controlled media.

Crowds of people lined the streets to cheer the military contingent as it went pass the streets of Pyongyang on 9 Sep. Many were shouting “Kamsahamnida” (which means thank you) as the soldiers passed by. I reckoned some 1 million North Koreans were out in Pyongyang celebrating the event, with probably up to 100,000 in the performing / marching contingents. Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring cameras or phones into the parade square. It was a most spectacular and well synchronized performance. We could only take photos from the streets after getting back to our hotel from the parade.

Flags adorn the streets of Pyongyang especially during their national day celebrations of 9 Sep. This year is the 70th anniversary.

The Air Kroyo plane that took us from Beijing and back. Scheduled commercial flights are few, namely from Beijing, Shenyang and Vladvostok. Chartered flights can be arranged from China, Russia or Mongolia. Alternatively, many take the 24-hour train  from Beijing to the border of North Korea or an even longer ride from Moscow.

Places and buildings, Japan

Some buildings and places we visited in Japan, Nov-Dec 2015

Walking tour of West Shinjuku, Tokyo

The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku

View from the observation tower on the 45th floor of the Shinjuku Sumitomo Tower. Entrance is free.

Inside view of the Shinjuku Sumitomo Tower

World’s largest pendulum clock in Shinjuku NS Tower. We visited the skywalk bridge and found to our pleasant surprise that there were many reasonably priced eateries there for such an expensive looking place.

 

Miyajima, one of top 3 official scenic spots of Japan

The famed Itsukushima shrine in Miyajima at low tide with a multitude of visitors on a public holiday.

No obstacles can stop these business professionals from visiting the shrine, not even having to carry luggages over the sand and to brave the huge crowd on a public holiday.

 

Flowing stream and autumn leaves

A shop sign in Miyajima. Someone should ask President Obama if he likes green tea ice cream. We did anyway 🙂 President Obama did visit Tokyo, Japan in April 2014 and perhaps green tea ice-cream was served?

Naritansan Shinshoji Temple and Garden, Narita Town

An old Pagoda

A closer look at the pointed roof of a temple building

Shadow selfie – lots of photos to take in this beautiful temple and garden!

Beautifully landscaped garden

Peaceful walk in the garden

 

More Temples, Shrines and Castles

Kyoto

Higashi Honganji, Kyoto

Sign outside Higashi Honganji

Nijo Castle, Kyoto

Himeji

View from park

View from walkway into castle

View from castle lower floor – packed with people queuing to enter

View of city from window on a top floor

 

Towers, towers everywhere, in cities and in towns

Cycling past the Tsutenkaku Tower in Osaka’s Shinseikai area, originally builit in 1912 supposedly inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris and rebuilt after the war . Weather was nasty during our stay in Osaka, with intermittent rains

Goryokaku Tower, Hakodate

Zoomed-in view of Goryokaku Tower and its neighbourhood from Mount Hakodate in late afternoon

Kyoto Tower on a gloomy and rainy day

View of Sendai from hotel room on 18th floor, with a building towering over its neighbourhood.

Sleepless in Sendai. Night scene from hotel room, facing the tower

The 100m tall Beppu Tower in the background on a late afternoon

 

Matsushima, another  of the three most scenic places in Japan

“Matsu” means pine or 松. You will find lots of pine trees here, little islands, clear blue waters, beautiful sky and lots of boats. Well worth the slow 40 minutes train ride from Sendai.

The 252m-long bridge to Fukuura island

Perfect weather for a walking tour of the bay of Matsushima

 

Hakodate, viewed from Mount Hakodate from 330pm till 5pm

 

The 8 hotspring “hells’ of Beppu

Bubbling mud

Beppu’s own Old Faithful, erupting more frequently at around 20 minutes interval

and some the animals and plants in the “hells”

 

Hiroshima Atomic Peace Memorial Park

 

Toya – Nishiyama and the destruction caused by Mount Usu’s eruptions

A lake formed after Mount Usu eruption in 2000

Destroyed and abandoned kindergarten

Cold wind blowing across the crater

A town abandoned

Destroyed old garbage incinerator

and the cold, cold walk after last night’s snow

 

Lake Toya, where G8 leaders met in 2008

Colours of autumn, Japan

Late autumn in Japan, 2015

Garden in Naritan-san Temple, Narita city

Shades of colours – Garden in Narita-san Temple

Red tree in Nijo castle, Kyoto

Matsushima mid morning sun

Multi-coloured tree in the morning, Himeji castle

Himeji castle, late afternoon

A glowing Nakajima island in Lake Toya in the evening. The orange glow on the island is from the sun breaking through holes in the cloud

Colourful hell – at one of the 8 hotspring “Hells” of Beppu

Evening, Hiroshima Atomic Dome

Hiroshima waterfront evening

View from Mount Hakodate in late afternoon

Night at Hakodate old public hall

Lady in blue on multi-coloured fallen leaves, Kyoto

I’ll be back. An almost bare tree in Narita town readying itself for winter. See you in spring.

 

Christmas Colours, Hakodate on 28 Nov 2015, the night of the light up

 

Christmas lights in Beppu

Tunnel of light

Colourful garden

Colourful garden

People of Japan

Here are some photographs with people as the main theme from my recent Nov-Dec 2015 travel to Japan.

Religion

Three business professionals with luggages in the sand at low tide at Miyajima Itsukushima Shrine on a public holiday. The island was jammed packed with people everywhere. We found out later that it was a long weekend.

Devotees zooming in on the incense burner at the centre of the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. People were literally fanning the fumes into their nose, presumably to cleanse themselves or to take in the blessings.

Queuing for blessings in Miyajima

Trades

A chef in Narita’s Omote Sando Street  masterfully prepares a live eel while camera crew films him in action. The street has many restaurants serving eel meals and they proudly put their chefs in front for passer-bys to see how they skilfully prepares the food. We tried the meal at a restaurant that had a reasonably priced set lunch. Oishi-desu!

A noodle shop in Himeji with very high tripadvisor’s rating. We found out why after trying it ourselves. Inexpensive and prepared right before your eyes from raw flour.

An elderly street vendor at Miyajima preparing our BBQ squid snack. Many stalls were run by elderly folks.

A rather elderly man hired to dress as a Samurai warrior in Miyajima. This was by a company providing costumes for rent. From Himeji castle to Miyajima, we noticed that a number of those dressed in these traditional costumes were the senior workers.

Not a person, but a performing monkey in Miyajima working for a busker.

A group of all Japanese workers working on the pavements. Despite an ageing population and expensive labour costs, Japan relies almost entirely on locals for its workforce. We did find a Cambodian adult student working in a supermarket and two China adult students working at a restaurant. They all speak Japanese.

The reason why plants are so nicely manicured in Japan. Workers carefully trimming the trees at mid day.

 

Life

Chanced upon this couple whom I think were getting married. They were waiting to enter  a shrine next to Himeji castle while two lines of people waited inside next to the red carpet. I presume they were the immediate families of the couple. They greeted and bowed to one another as the whole process was captured on video.

An old lady with walking aid inched her way slowly through the market in Aomori as customers zipped around the centre. Japan has been dealing with issues of an ageing population.

Singaporeans aren’t the only ones who love queuing. A long queue for sweet potato ice-cream in Miyajima. We paid in front thinking that was the queue for the ice-cream. It turned out that we bought only the tokens for the ice-cream and had to wait another 30 minutes to get the ice-cream. The queue snake all the way into the shop and there were several turns inside! We queued many times during our trip, get to trains, for rides in Disney, for food, and many more! Yes, we were told by local that they do queue overnight for launches of highly sought after products too.

Yes, travel can be exhausting. A weary traveller totally knocked out at a bench inside Goryokaku Tower, Hakodate. He seemed to be from a Taiwanese tour group, some of whom were watching a performance at the hall.

 

 

Rolling through the land of the rising sun

It has been a long while since I got to travel for 15 days at a stretch. We decided to get a JR Rail Pass and do a DIY getaway. Our travel took us from Tokyo to Beppu in the south (Kyushu island), north to Hakodate and then back to Narita for the flight back. We had stopovers in Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Osaka, Kyoto, Kokura, Sendai, Matsushima, Aomori and Toya, some of which were just day trips from a nearby town.

Cycling from our AirBnB homestay in Himeji to the station. We had loaned out free bicycles from the Tourism office next to the station and decided to cycle with our luggages from our stay near the castle to the station before returning the bikes. When we first arrived, we had to walk nearly 40 minutes to find this house (Google map said 20 minutes walk only!). I thought that bicycling with our roller luggages for our return may be better. Turned out to be challenging as we had to cycle mostly on pavements and there were curbs and lots of bumps. We managed eventually. Do look for the free bicycles at the Tourism office (office hours only, first come first serve). Without luggages, Himeji is a nice place for cycling.

It was quite an experience travelling some 4,500 km without any private transport or taxi. The trip was done entirely by trains, trams, buses, boats, occasional cycling and lots of walking with our roller luggages. We experienced both peak and off peak travels, including the famed Tokyo peak hour trains. For some cities, we bought the day passes for either trams or buses or subways, depending on our travel plans if it works out to be cheaper than the rather expensive individual rides.

Looking for food near Kokura station on the northern tip of Kyushu island while waiting for the connecting train to Beppu. We found this eatery from Tripadvisor but discovered that it was actually a takeaway kiosk and not a sit down dining. We tried it anyway. Juicy buns but not the food we were yearning for after a long ride from Osaka.

When in Japan, do as the Japanese do. We often bought along our pre-packed food and start our picnic on the long Shinkansen (bullet train) rides the moment we got to our seats. The system is so efficient that we can stopover at an intermediary city just to catch a meal at a restaurant near the station that has great online reviews and then catch another train after our meal, carefully timing our stops and monitoring the schedules.

A train schedule for Hokkaido. Trains are relatively infrequent here and you will need to plan carefully to minimise waiting times or to avoid missing the last train back!

A bus schedule in Beppu, a quiet town in the southern island of Kyushu. We usually snap pictures of schedules at the stations so that we can plan our return after visiting an attraction.

The transport system was amazingly efficient, even on networks that are decades old. We relied on the published timetables. Train were reliable to the exact minute arriving and departing at the various stations we were at. The punctuality was critical for planning especially in the more remote parts of Japan where transport services were often infrequent. We wanted to minimise waiting time and had to match the timetables of trains and bus / tram services.

My most frequently used words for the trip? “Sumimasen, xxxx wa doko desu ka?” (or “Excuse me, where is xxxx?” as we stop strangers and transport officials and ask for directions getting around to new hotels, to restaurants that were highly rated on travel sites and to the many places of attractions. Almost all whom we had asked tried their best to be helpful, giving us instructions which we often cannot quite fully comprehend due to our very limited range of Japanese vocabulary. However with sign language, we can roughly figure out and get near enough to our destination to ask another random stranger if we need to again. Some were even so helpful that they walked part of the way with us. A young lady even used her mobile app to translate her instructions into English for us!

Stopping at the office of a bus company in Beppu to explore transport options. We eventually took the day pass from another bus operator which had better connections to the places of attractions we wanted to visit. Enquiring at bus stations, train stations and Tourism offices was something we did a lot at every new town to make sure that we get the transport options right to start off the visit to the town.

I must say Japan is a relatively safe place as we navigated sometimes early in the morning to sometimes late at night, in both busy and quieter areas feeling completely safe all the time. Bicycles are commonly used by Japanese but not always safe as roads can be busy and there are no bicycle lanes. Bicycles often share the pedestrian walkways but I notice that cyclists are careful to coexist safely with pedestrians.

Have travel passes, will travel!

Sumimasen, xxx wa doko desu ka?