An excellent piece of writing, Leon. I would wholeheartedly second your recommendations of Seki and Hakone. Hakone is a real tourist trap but well worth spending a few days there, while Seki is relatively quiet but still well worth an afternoon. As for the service areas on Japan's expressways, they are one of the jewels in Japan's crown, in my opinion. I visited one at Takatsuki, Osaka, yesterday. The toilets were a showcase of cleanliness and technology, while the shopping and dining options would put many airports to shame. If only such facilities in other countries were even half as good as these! Bravo, Japan!
Incidentally, I think the Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen takes only 130-135 minutes!
An excellent piece of writing, Leon. I would wholeheartedly second your recommendations of Seki and Hakone. Hakone is a real tourist trap but well worth spending a few days there, while Seki is relatively quiet but still well worth an afternoon. As for the service areas on Japan's expressways, they are one of the jewels in Japan's crown, in my opinion. I visited one at Takatsuki, Osaka, yesterday. The toilets were a showcase of cleanliness and technology, while the shopping and dining options would put many airports to shame. If only such facilities in other countries were even half as good as these! Bravo, Japan!
Incidentally, I think the Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen takes only 130-135 minutes!
Great piece and pics. I learned a lot here.
Those headlines though!! Great article!
Fun fact: Hakone is possibly the inspiration for Pokémon's Viridian City.
News to me, but now I can't unsee it! Guess will need to visit Hakone again (and play classic pokemon more)
Something a propos I wrote: https://walrod.substack.com/p/after-godzilla
Scroll down about 40%
I have put Seki on my to do list. Thank you Leon!
Another great piece, Leon.
So well written and so interesting. I feel like I’m leaning so much about Jason through your newsletter!
As always, thank you for the wonderful piece.