This is my personal blog. Opinions and thoughts are my own.
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Japan #4 – Trains – Tokyo, Kansai, Bento and the Shinkansen
Japan loves trains. Many stations have a jingle or a melody that plays as trains arrive and depart. There is a culture of tetsudou (train) otaku – people so obsessed with a hobby that it defines their personality – in this case, trains. There are shops where you can exchange your yen, dollars and rupees…
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Japan #3 – Tokyo, the world’s most populated city and the world’s largest metropolitan economy
Tokyo is a massive city. Its scale, even when seen, is difficult to comprehend. The other similarly-sized city with which I am familiar is Bombay and Bombay is quite a bit smaller than Tokyo. The Tokyo region population is around 32% higher, the GDP is over three times higher as is Tokyo’s land area. Tokyo…
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Japan #2 – Food – Ramen
Food is central to life in Japan. Yes, food is essential to life for any human but the Japanese experience is different. Japanese food ranges from the utilitarian restaurants at busy train stations to the exquisitely honed culinary talents at work in a $ 400 per meal Wagyu beef specialty restaurant. It ranges from a…
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Japan #1 – General impressions of the country, my interactions and the infrastructure
Japan is a strange, alien country for a lot of people. Its exports are popular around the world and some generations are more familiar with Japanese manufactured goods and their accompanying, poorly translated text descriptions. Other generations know Japanese cultural exports – anime, manga, J-pop, cinema and video games. Regardless, Japan – from a western…
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Bahrain – Part 1
Sun. Sand. Pearls. Camels. Monarchs, but not that kind.