The Fat and the Furious
In Europe, we’ve got our own sport for the big lads. Yes, there are some rugby players, who are much larger than average, but they’re only suited to certain positions. But I’m referring to darts, which allows a person to be as obese as they like, so long as they still have the strength in ...
Come Rain or Shrine
In general the weather in Japan has been amazing for us. It feels like 90% of the days have been gloriously sunny, temperate and wonderful for pictures. Today was not one of those days – and I think it felt all the more dreich because the rest have been so good. Yesterday, the gloomy weather ...
There is a Light and it Never Goes Out
My grandfather was in it from the very start – he lied about his age so he could join up. His first missions came on the notorious North Atlantic convoys, when British ships would navigate icy North Sea to sneak past German forces and deliver supplies to the Soviets. My grandfather was 15 years old, ...
Five, Seven, Five
My home town of Ayr isn’t known for much, although, over the years, we’ve had one or two famous denizens. The bloke who invented tarmac, for one; a tan-and-white cow for another. By far and away the most famous, though, is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Ring any bells? Maybe not, but if nothing else, ...
On Yer Bike!
There isn’t too much we’d change about Japanese society, but we’d definitely have more hand driers in public toilets. We’d improve the woeful lack of bins too: we’ve walked around for hours at a time desperately searching for somewhere to dump our litter (although that at least has some mitigating circumstances). Natto would go, obviously. ...
Wishy Washi
Paper making first arrived in Japan hundreds of years ago. It wasn’t theirs when it arrived, but like so many things, it was distinctly Japanese by the time it was being exported. The heavy, stiff paper, known as washi (literally meaning “Japanese paper”) was used for everything from armour to Shinto garbs to origami. Today it’s ...
One in a Dozen
When you grow up in the UK, castles are exciting for the first 10 years of your life. Until then you can run around fantasising about King Arthur, Merlin and chums, fending off hoards of villains from the ramparts. Then your adolescence approaches, the joy goes out of you, and you start to resent days ...
Spectres, Blue and Dancing Too
Truth be told, Tokushima prefecture offers us little we’ve not seen before. That might sound incredibly negative, but bear with me while I explain. We started today by visiting Aizumicho, a government-endorsed indigo dyeing studio and museum. The technique was imported from China around 800 years ago, and Tokushima has made itself the Japanese home ...
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Dizzy. I’m so dizzy, my head is spinning… But this whirlpool does end. A little too quickly, in fact. Forty-one metres below us in the Naruto Narrows dozens of little whirlpools are forming and collapsing, like a swarm of small hurricanes. They’re caused by a drop in water level that surges as the tide goes ...
What Udon?
My great auntie Dolly would never have tolerated it. In her hey-day she tolerated little: holding a knife and fork incorrectly, talking with one’s mouth full, inappropriate napkin deployment… Born at the end of the First World War, she worked in some of London’s best hotels after the second instalment, and grew up with a ...
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