Things Japanese 日本のもの

両方の小説は現在、ジュンク堂書店と丸善で入手できます
それはちょうど私が子供の頃から私の世界は、日本の物事に巻き込まれているか私を襲った。

私の祖父（私の小説や私の仕事、海外に影響を与えた商人のマスター船員）、彼は島で、さまざまなポートを訪問されていたときに私と弟のために日本から戻って、おもちゃ、時計、電子製品をもたらすために使用されるとき、彼のラウンドで太平洋の航海。大学で私は和道流空手道を始めたともいくつかのボー柔術や剣道をしました。私たちは、交流プログラムのいくつかの日本人学生がニューヨークのセント·ジョンズ·カレッジでの乗馬クラブに参加しました。私の指導の過程で、私はイギリスとフィリピンの両方で、いくつかの日本人学生を教えてきました。後者の学生の親は、私は箸で寿司を食べる方法が示されたどこにあった、彼女の美術展であり日本大使を紹介してくれた。私は箇条書きに予定リターン（赤で、温泉や古い旅館を経由して鉄道で京都から東京への修学旅行を整理しようとしたときに、学生の祖母は私に日本の素晴らしいコーヒーテーブルの本を（私はまだ持っている）を得た）大阪駅から再び学校へ。残念ながら、コストがあまりに高く、完全にそれを整理するための短いまでの時間でした。

私は簡単に60年代後半と1970年代初頭にイギリスのテレビに表示された日本のマンガの漫画に影響された。マリンボーイは、私が思い出す私のお気に入りだった。私が所有していたとしても車はスズキとスバルが含まれている。その島の文字、依存性、海洋貿易や漁業に与えられた住民、日本とイギリス諸島の開発と態度の類似性があります。私はそれはかつてよりも両国の少ない広範囲であることを疑うだろうが礼儀正しい社会は、両国に存在しています。

それは私がアムステルダム、モスクワと北京を経由してここに来た後、ロンドン、ソウルを経由してウランバートルから飛ぶようにこの旅は、私は、近い過去に来たが、非常にそこになっていないされなければならないと思われます。

一日......

Both novels are available at Junkudo and Maruzen now
It just struck me how my world has been entangled with things Japanese since I was a child.
My grandfather (the merchant  master mariner who inspired my novels and my working overseas) used to bring toys, watches and electronic goods back from Japan for me and my brother when he had been visiting various ports in the islands when on his round the Pacific voyages.  At university I took up Wado-Ryu karate and did some Bo-jitsu and Kendo too.  We had several Japanese students on exchange programs join the riding club at St John's College in York.  In the the course of my teaching I have taught several Japanese students in both England and the Philippines.  The parent of the student in the latter introduced me to the Japanese Ambassador there at her art exhibition, which was where I was shown how to eat sushi with chopsticks.  The student's grandmother gave me a fabulous coffee table book on Japan (that I still have) while I tried to organise a school trip from Kyoto to Tokyo on the railways via the hot springs and old inns, with a return planned on the Bullet (Red) Train to Osaka and then back to the school.  Unfortunately the costs were just too high and the time to short to organise it fully.
I was influenced by Japanese Manga cartoons that were briefly shown on UK television in the late sixties and early seventies.  Marine Boy was a favorite of mine I recall.  Even the cars I've owned have included Suzuki and Subaru.  There are similarities in the development and attitudes of the inhabitants Japan and the British Isles, given their island character, dependence on marine trade and fishing.  Polite society exists in both countries, though I would suspect that it is less widespread in both nations than it once was.
It seems that this trip I shall be coming the closest ever to, but not quite getting there, as I fly from Ulaanbaatar via Seoul to London after coming here via Amsterdam, Moscow and Beijing.
One day......

The Camera "Pulls a Sickie"

A surprise at breakfast.  I found out that the trip I had presumed cancelled was, in fact on, due to leave in 15 minutes and I was expected.
Quickly I grabbed a digital camera and got on the school bus after rushing to the school.  First port of call was Suhkbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar and, not having explored that far across town, got  out the camera.  Unfortunately the camera appeared to have a glitch, the screen on the back showing a fuzzy "solarised" image reminding me of a poorly adjusted TV.  Tapping it did nothing to improve the situation so I put it away and started to just look around, taking in the views and atmosphere.
The bus then headed out to the east up over a pass at 1545m before heading down past an ethnic Kazak town where eagles, buzzards and vultures were aplenty, circling around in the sky.  I was able to see these and appreciate them without trying (as others were), to get the perfect photo.  The same applied as we stopped at the site where dromedary camels were sited near the road, and then again at the polished Chinggis Khan stainless steel statue and museum further along the road.
Cameras are fine, but what do they show?  An image of an object.  Why do people feel the need to take their own images?  What happens to the images once taken?  I will get images of the trip from others and select the ones I feel represent the things seen - raptors, two-humped camels, rolling plains and mountains, yak, horses, pleasant river with willow groves and an impressive statue.  With hands freed, I was able to collect a discarded eagle feather and from the river a lump of patterned crimson rock.   The pictures will not convey the horror of the school bus leaning over  by a ravine as the driver attempted to go down a steep rough track to the river and get the rear tyres next to the drop stuck in the soft sand.  Nor will the pictures record the jolts of the rough roads, the chill down the spine of the cries of the kites overhead not the joy of watching one grab a piece of chicken mid-air that had been thrown upwards.  The camera fails when it come to recording feelings first hand.  Others who see images are always going to be detached from the original situation ever if the picture is powerful.  The people taking the pictures are also putting a filter between themselves and the world they are trying to show. By focussing on a small view perhaps are missing the whole experience.
By the way, on returning to the hotel, my camera started working again.