Shinya Ota

It is my fourth visit to Asahikawa in three years since I came to visit Miura Ayako Literature Museum in 2023. I like this basin city surrounded by mountains. The Taisetsu Mountains are located in the east. Ayako Miura once stated the happiness she could live in front of the Mountains and look up the appearance of the brightly shining Mountains every day.

As soon as the meeting finished in Suzhou, I took a hotel car to return to Shanghai as I needed to take a flight to Tokyo the following morning. I booked Mariotte Courtyard Xujiahui, or Zekawei, Shanghai. It is west side of the city relatively close to Hongqiao airport. The hotel has a good access to the METRO. You can go to the airport by the METRO. There is a Catholic Church in the neighborhood. I am familiar with the area. I’ve been here before to visit the church. I wanted to avoid walking in the area I am not familiar with when I got Shanghai in the night.

There was no adventure this time. As soon as I arrived at Hongqiao airport in the city of Shanghai, I got on a car the hotel arranged for me and headed to the city of Suzhou, about 100 km west. No trains, no buses, no walk. It is not my style of travel. I mean no adventure this time. But I decided to do so as I was not feeling safe six years after my last China travel. I know it is way expensive using a hotel car. This time it was business trip the company would pay. When I got

I never thought I could see the paintings of Amedeo Clemente Modigliani or Monet in Honolulu. But I was standing in front of those paintings. I actually went to the town to visit Hawaii state museum of Modern art. But I found the museum was closed temporarily at the door. I googled the Honolulu Modern Museum of Art, which is also in the center of the Honolulu and I decided to visit the following day. It is located a few stops from S Hotel St + Richards St. It is just about 10minutes by walk. The picture above was painted by Georgia O’Keeffe..

I visited Sapporo to see Hokkaido University in winter. I like the campus since I got there first time in fall two years ago during the covid pandemic. It was just cloudy when I arrived at Shin Chitose airport in the morning. But when I hit Sapporo and got out of the exit of Odori subway station, it was snowing. Woo… it is way cold. I have not see snow in December for more than 30 years. It used to snow in December even in Yokohama. It is rarely now a day. I started walking from Odori Koen towards..

I went to Matsuyama, a city in Shikoku, one of the four main land in the midst of torrential rain by extra-tropical storm with a hope it is getting better, which was proved right later. I woke up by 3 o’clock in the morning and left home in the light rain. The rain got heavy around 11 o’clock by the time when I was waiting in a line before a restaurant near Dogo Onsen. Water flooded on the road in the torrential rain. Many shops and restaurants closed. But I was lucky that the restaurant opened..

Flowers have begun to bloom in Hokkaido now. I wanted to enjoy this beautiful season before the high travel season comes. I do not like crowded places very much after the Covid-19 pandemic ended. We kept a social distance for over four years during the covid. That has changed my lifestyle. After the pandemic, I would tend to evade crowded places without conscience. The high season for summer travel is starting from July. I thought the last week of June is the last chance..

I went to Ochanomizu this Saturday. Ochanomizu is known as town of young people. Around the station, there are universities like Chuo University, Nihon University, Tokyo Medical & Dental University and Meiji University. I am an alumnus of Meiji University School of Political Science and Economics. I graduated the school way 40 years ago. This is my first visit in the last 30 years if I remember correctly. I had no chance to visit since then. This time, I went to see ..

One of my favorite books Ayako Miura wrote is “Shiokari Toge” or Shiokari Pass. She wrote the story of a man who died in the railway accident near the station on September 5th, 1916. The last car of the train Nagano was riding gets disconnected from the rest of the cars by accident and begin to run away. He tries to stop the cars by the hand-brake in vain. He throws himself on the track and die under the car in an attempt to save passengers…

There is no snow in downtown. It gets around 0 C degree in the morning. It is still winter. However, the sunshine is different from the winter’s one. I can feel spring is not far. It was early June when I visited last year. I remember windy and chilly weather welcomed me at that time. Like last time, weather is not good. It is raining occasionally. I’ve begun to love this town since the last visit. It is a port town like the place I was born and raised..

I started to walk from Kita Kamakura toward Kamakura along the road. Within 20 minutes, I arrived Ennoji Temple, which enshrines the statue of Emma, the great king Yama, who is believed to be the judge of afterlife. In Buddhism, it is believed everyone who died will stand trial on their behavior during their life. Yama will decide whether you can go to Heaven or hell after series of long and detailed interrogations. If you acknowledged your past misdeeds..

I don’t remember when I visited the island last time. But I’ve been here three times. I wanted to return the Itsukushima Shrine Omamori talismans which my mom had bought me from the shrine long time ago. You can return them to a shrine in your neighbor. But I thought I should return to the shrine. Plus, I wanted to see the islands on the Setonaikai inland sea from the Misen mountain. Those are my main reasons to visit the island this time..

Asahikawa is a landlocked city, facing the Taisetsuzan Mountains with 2,291 meters in elevation, in Hokkaido. It is a gate way to Furano area. Tourists go through the city to their destinations. I love Ayako Miura’s litarary works. She lived most of her life (1922- 1998) in the city and wrote many popular titles with Asahikawa and Hokkaido as a place of the stories. She started her carrer as a novel writer when her story ” Hyouten” or Freezing point won..

I like Chinatown in Honolulu. Smell of Chinese spices, meat, fresh produces, lively conversations… I like the atmosphere of the town. It is just a few blocks away from Hawaii state art museum and the statue of father Damien stood in front of the government building. It is my routine to go to Chinatown after seeing the statue and watching the latest exhibition at the museum.  My father, who passed away in 2022, would buy grilled belly pork for his snack at his room in the evening..

Hakodate is a compact city for tourists. Most of those you must see gather around the port area and Hakodate yama area. You could visit them by walk, tram or bus.  The city was chosen to be a treaty port with other four cities like Nagasaki, Kobe, Yokohama and Niigata in the 1860s after Japan was forced to open its door by super powers like the United States, U.K, France and Dutch . Hakodate is a strategically important port in the northern Japan..