The Cutting Edge of Japan

Ever since high school, I have always had a fascination with Japan; studying the language for 7 years really got me interested in the culture. As I have mentioned in other posts, Japan still stands as one of my favourite countries - if you haven't visited yet, certainly do yourself a favour and get on to it!

In more recent years, as I have become - let's face it - older (!), my interests in life in general have gradually changed, as one might expect. I've never been much of a cook, but have always had a vested interest in food, and as I have aged, my interest in eating the food has slowly been equally matched with preparing it. And as my work took me to Japan several times over the past few years, I found myself captivated with the dedicated concentration and pride with which Japanese chefs (particularly sushi chefs) prepared their dishes. And the one aspect that caught my attention the most was the ease with which they could slice through raw fish with almost no effort, which got me thinking that it was time to update my kitchen knives with something a little more fancy!

Nokogiriyama and Daibutsu

Daibutsu sits peacefully on the mountain side.

Across the bay from Tokyo lies the Bōsō Peninsula; to north end you will find Narita airport where a lot of people fly in to experience the wonders of Japan. My work in Tokyo always takes place towards the southern end of the Peninsula, in a town called Kimitsu, which I have written about before. On this occasion, I had a bit of time up my sleeve and so I asked my interpreter for some ideas of things to see and do. One of his suggestions was to check out the Ropeway up to the top of Nokogiriyama, Chiba prefecture's "sawtooth mountain".

Fuji Five Lakes and Hakone

Another work trip to Japan, one of my favourite countries in the world! Once the work was over and done, my fiancée flew in to meet me at Narita airport. We had arranged a couple of nights in the Mt. Fuji area; neither of us had seen Fuji-san in all its glory before, so this was a bit exciting!

A Little Seaside City Called Kimitsu

A couple of hours' train ride around Tokyo Bay lies the small industrial city of Kimitsu, in the Chiba Prefecture. Formed towards the end of the Second World War, it relies heavily on its port industries, namely fishing and the massive Nippon Steel factory - the latter of which is my reason for coming here. I have visited several times over the past 5 years or so, but my exploration of the area has been quite limited. I never have a car to get around, and my limited skill of high-school Japanese makes wandering into a restaurant a bit of a daunting task. However, on this occasion, I had a little help from my customer and translator in seeing a bit more of what this part of Japan has to offer.