Shinya Ota

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..

I’ve fallen love with Hokkaido since my visit last October. I had visited this northern island many times. However, they are all in Summer, Autumn and Winter, not in Spring. I wanted to visit while lilac is in bloom someday. And I finally decided to visit the city in May with the itinerary of two nights and three days. On this tour, I wanted to see blossom of Lilac on the streets and visit ”Kaitaku no mura”, historical village of Hokkaido, the theme park showing their lives during the ..

I am now staying City of Sapporo, the seat of Hokkaido to enjoy beautiful Autumn season. I visited the city about 35 years ago around that time of year. As it was just overnight stay for business, I do not remember now. During the Covid-19 travel restrictions, I stayed my town for over two years except Hiruzen, Okayama this summer. (It was a travel I had to make. ) I was feeling almost suffocated. I wanted to get out far from the town and do something refreshing..

My young brother and I went to Hiruzen Kogen, north of Okayama area to see our relatives and pick up my dad. He went to see his sister in person and needed someone to take him back home. We got on a Nozomi super express bullet train from Shin-Yokohama bound for West Japan at 08:10 in the morning. We hit Okayama at 11:10. At the station, we were supposed to rend a car. I thought we could rent a car without reservation, which turned out completely wrong.,

I’ve been to Hawaii many times since I first visited Honolulu to attend my young bro’s wedding. Hawaii is a favorite destination of my mom. She been to many places like Nepal, Finland, Taiwan, Thailand. She always told me she wants to go Hawaii while she was in good shape. She passed away on July 1, 2018. This trip is a special one for me. I visited the island with my younger bro holding a small jar of her ashes. I sprang her ashes over the sea off Kailua Beach. Kailua Beach one..

I made a visit to Takahata, a town of some 22,000 bordering Yonezawa city to its west in Yamagata prefecture. They produce rice on the flat area and peaches, pears, apples, grapes, cherries, etc., on the hilly areas. Takahata town is the largest producer of ”Delaware grapes” in the nation. With its abundant gifts from nature, the town has been called as “Mahoroba” in ancient Japanese word, or a fertile land surrounded by hills and Mountains.

Yonezawa is the seat of Yonezawa clan which governed the south part of Yamagata in the Edo period. The land was not so fertile. With large servants to feed and frequent orders for supports in terms of labor and money from the Tokugawa shogunate, they had bee under financial difficulty all the time. Uesugi Yozan (September 9, 1751 – April 2, 1822), the 9th load of the domain, has been admired as a leader to turn around the situation through frugality and encouragement of business..

I visited Shanghai from May 20 until May 26 for business. I do not remember exactly how many times I had visited the city. It could be over 10 times.  Every time I visit there, I would always realize the city is changing at a rapid pace. It’s been almost 8 years since I visited last time.  I thought I might have landed at a completely different place when I saw the view of the city from the aircraft.  I stayed at Intercontinental Shanghai Expo in Pudong near the Nanpu bridge..

I’ve never seen beautiful beach like this before.  White beach, clear water, palm trees swaying in the winds. It is never an exaggeration to say ” heaven in this world”.  The beach was ever ranked the most beautiful beach in the U.S. There are no shops near the beach. Only parking lots and wash rooms. People are enjoying themselves in a quiet setting. The beach is located on North East across the island from Waikiki. I takes about an hour to come here taking a city bus by way of Ala Moana ..

The city along the Yangtze river is a starting point of many cruises to the Three Gauges Dam. It is known as mountainous city. The center of the city is occupied with modern tall buildings. But It still keeps the atmosphere of old Chinese city, which Shanghai has lost now.  During my stay, I was able to enjoy myself walking around in those nice atmospheres.
As it is called mountainous city, there are a lot..

I flew a direct flight to Kona, the Big Island by JAL. I’ ve been here before in july, 2001 by JAL. But I arrived at Hilo, the eastern town in the island that time. I remember the flight flew along east side of the island shore line, which was black and smoke from lava flowing into the waters. This flight touched down the airport soon after the land appeared.,
Kailua Kona, the pricise name of the island, is a town on the west side, has different atmosphere from Hilo, which often rains. The airline..

I headed to the ferry terminal in Sheung Wan soon in the rainy morning after I grabbed some dim sums at Lin Heung Kui.

This small island was once a step stone for Jesuit monks to spread Christianity to East Asia. I wanted to visit the historic area of the former Portuguese colony and enjoy its exotic atmosphere somedays. I was visiting Hong Kong to attend a business meeting and leaving for Tokyo..

I visited Qingdao to attend a business meeting from May.17 through 19, 2017. This is a new place for me to visit first time in China. I was a bit excited about this trip. I left Haneda by a Cathay Dragon’s red-eye flight and got by way of Hong Kong after 12 hours.

Qingdao,  once a German colonial town before the WWW.I, is a beautiful city on the south of the Shangdong peninsula, Northeast China…