We’ve just had a wonderful weekend enjoying the pleasures of the Tama Hills Recreation Area, which combines luxurious quarters with wild, somewhat terrifying scenery reminiscent of what a world without humans might look like. It’s the latter that continues to delight me in the bi-annual visits we’ve been fortunate to make over the past decade or so, though such opportunities may about to draw to a close. We will enjoy them while we can, though. Related posts: Tour de Kagoshima-Kyoto Day -1A: Tama Hills to Haneda Bromocalypse, Now! Satoyama Blessed By Wonderful People in 2023 Campbelltown Forest of Wild Birds…
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As fate would have it, I got to ride my Brompton in a post-apocalyptic landscape over the weekend, making for some eerie-looking pics. It’s not the first time I have been able to ride through the area, but it was Brommie’s first chance to do so. Although the scenes appear post-apacolyptic (and I referred to them in that manner), it really wasn’t the case. We were in Tama Hills Recreation Area. I woke early, as is my wont, and got on the bike I had stored in the cabin where we had stayed. The camp area was deserted and the…
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For the past few years, I’ve been very fortunate to live adjacent to (and, more recently, nearby) a satoyama, a little strip of near-wilderness amid the hustle and bustle of suburban and metropolitan areas. Tokyo is the world’s largest city and it is densely populated. Much of the city is industrialized, but frequently there are little havens of almost untamed natural woodland or small-lot farms. I used to go for walks in the farmland near our previous home and loved the serenity. I could walk through pristine forests just a couple of minutes’ drive from bustling highways and densely packed…
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In 1942, Japanese forces launched the only attacks on the Australian mainland, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first premier to visit Darwin, the most heavily damaged city bombed by the Japanese. Apart from Darwin, Japanese forces also attacked Sydney, Broome, Katherine, Wyndham, Exmouth, Port Headland and Townsville in the early stages of World War II. Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, was arrested for war crimes, but released without conviction. Kishi was instrumental in re-establishing a strong postwar trade relationship between Australia and Japan. Shinzo Abe arrives in Darwin for first visit by Japanese leader Related…