My husband and I went to Tokyo last year! It was such a cool experience. I didn’t realize that Japan was the worlds capital for fake foods. My favorite thing was walking past all of the restaurants with the menus on display in the windows. Using the fake foods to depict the meals they offered. I hope that your trip was amazing. 🤍
My trip was amazing, thank you. Japan is a wonderful place to visit and it made me so grateful for all our lovely green space here in Australia. I can't imagine living in one of those tiny apartments, and yet millions of people seem to manage.
I also loved the fake food and we also spent a lot of time in the supermarket marvelling at the wide array of foodstuffs.
You just reminded me that quite a few things did happen on that ship. A story for another time perhaps? :)
The funniest thing about that trip was that our ticket was very vague about how we were expected to travel from Genoa (where we landed) to London, so we basically travelled all over Europe and told everyone we were 'en route' to London. We didn't buy any train tickets for any of our journeys or even a ticket for the ferry crossing from the Hook of Holland to Harwich on the Queen Juliana. I don't think you would get away with that these days.
Aren't the cakes amazing? I wasn't expecting that in Japan. And our favourite ramen place was in the basement of the station, and it was so cheap.
I loved Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) which is probably more correctly Futuristic SF and In the Blink of an Eye (your rec) which deals with AI and is no longer science fiction but reality.
The ramen was fantastic and very diverse. We had a great ramen at a tiny little place near the station and it was a whole $8.
Re science fiction - I'm always sad when people say they don't like futuristic books because they are about all of humanity. I agree that Klara and the Sun is a beautiful book that everyone should read.
Love your continuing reading life story, Marg! I never had a science fiction “phase”—not exactly sure why not. Perhaps it’s too cerebral for my earth-bound imagination. I did read Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and also Slaughterhouse Five and several others by Kurt Vonnegut, which I loved. Somehow I didn’t think of Vonnegut as sci-fi but more absurdist comedy with moral points that resonated (and still do). Now I’d like to reread them all.
I’d love to hear more about your trip to Japan, especially as I’ve visited a number of times since my son moved there. The food is often a delight and a surprise.
I thought about you a lot when I was in Japan as I know you have been there many times. We spent a huge amount of time wandering around discovering new foods. Google translate is invaluable!
I agree with your comments about Vonnegut - probably not science fiction in the strictest sense, but I love reading books that turn ideas on their heads.
What an adventurous young soul you were and still are. 😊
Not much of a sci fi fan myself but in saying that I haven’t ventured too far into reading many. Maybe because I usually have a list of books to read that I never get to finish before another book is added.
Japan seems to be the ‘flavor of the month’ as I’ve had a lot of people telling me they have either just been or are going.
I’m enjoying your travel stories, looking forward to reading more of your adventures.
I never really thought of myself as adventurous, maybe a little foolhardy and stubborn, but it's true that all of my family love travelling and experiencing new things.
Japan is definitely the place to go. I have many friends who have just been there or are planning to visit this year. We are the second highest number of visitors after the US. On our last night there we had dinner at a local hostel and all the other diners were Australian, except for one woman who was Canadian.
I don't read much science fiction these days, but I still love futuristic books. If you are going to branch out, I would definitely support Bev's suggestion to read Klara and the Sun. It's a very simply written book, but full of heart.
My husband and I went to Tokyo last year! It was such a cool experience. I didn’t realize that Japan was the worlds capital for fake foods. My favorite thing was walking past all of the restaurants with the menus on display in the windows. Using the fake foods to depict the meals they offered. I hope that your trip was amazing. 🤍
My trip was amazing, thank you. Japan is a wonderful place to visit and it made me so grateful for all our lovely green space here in Australia. I can't imagine living in one of those tiny apartments, and yet millions of people seem to manage.
I also loved the fake food and we also spent a lot of time in the supermarket marvelling at the wide array of foodstuffs.
Love this issue and the photo of you in front of the ship - priceless. I would read a book based on your ship experience!
You just reminded me that quite a few things did happen on that ship. A story for another time perhaps? :)
The funniest thing about that trip was that our ticket was very vague about how we were expected to travel from Genoa (where we landed) to London, so we basically travelled all over Europe and told everyone we were 'en route' to London. We didn't buy any train tickets for any of our journeys or even a ticket for the ferry crossing from the Hook of Holland to Harwich on the Queen Juliana. I don't think you would get away with that these days.
Aren't the cakes amazing? I wasn't expecting that in Japan. And our favourite ramen place was in the basement of the station, and it was so cheap.
I loved Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) which is probably more correctly Futuristic SF and In the Blink of an Eye (your rec) which deals with AI and is no longer science fiction but reality.
The ramen was fantastic and very diverse. We had a great ramen at a tiny little place near the station and it was a whole $8.
Re science fiction - I'm always sad when people say they don't like futuristic books because they are about all of humanity. I agree that Klara and the Sun is a beautiful book that everyone should read.
Love your continuing reading life story, Marg! I never had a science fiction “phase”—not exactly sure why not. Perhaps it’s too cerebral for my earth-bound imagination. I did read Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and also Slaughterhouse Five and several others by Kurt Vonnegut, which I loved. Somehow I didn’t think of Vonnegut as sci-fi but more absurdist comedy with moral points that resonated (and still do). Now I’d like to reread them all.
I’d love to hear more about your trip to Japan, especially as I’ve visited a number of times since my son moved there. The food is often a delight and a surprise.
I thought about you a lot when I was in Japan as I know you have been there many times. We spent a huge amount of time wandering around discovering new foods. Google translate is invaluable!
I agree with your comments about Vonnegut - probably not science fiction in the strictest sense, but I love reading books that turn ideas on their heads.
What an adventurous young soul you were and still are. 😊
Not much of a sci fi fan myself but in saying that I haven’t ventured too far into reading many. Maybe because I usually have a list of books to read that I never get to finish before another book is added.
Japan seems to be the ‘flavor of the month’ as I’ve had a lot of people telling me they have either just been or are going.
I’m enjoying your travel stories, looking forward to reading more of your adventures.
Cheers
Liz
I never really thought of myself as adventurous, maybe a little foolhardy and stubborn, but it's true that all of my family love travelling and experiencing new things.
Japan is definitely the place to go. I have many friends who have just been there or are planning to visit this year. We are the second highest number of visitors after the US. On our last night there we had dinner at a local hostel and all the other diners were Australian, except for one woman who was Canadian.
I don't read much science fiction these days, but I still love futuristic books. If you are going to branch out, I would definitely support Bev's suggestion to read Klara and the Sun. It's a very simply written book, but full of heart.