How to kind of see Japan

The last thing that I have to say about our trip to Japan (really, this is the last of it) is to comment on how two members of the family spent most of their time as we saw it. There’s a lot of reading material online these days and for Michael and Emily it apparently proved to be far more interesting than anything that was going on around us. 

It annoyed the shit out of Caroline and to be honest, myself as well on more than one occasion. There’s nothing like trying to navigate a crowded Japanese footpath or subway when someone has their head down and is too absorbed in their screen to take note of what is going on around them.

I’m not saying that they needed to or should have spent the entirety of the trip watching what was going on about them, but there was certainly an opportunity to see a bit more of Japan than they managed. The fact that any stop of longer than approximately 2.3 seconds saw a phone/iPod produced and its owner engaged in reading was a little grating.

Michael will tell you that once you’ve seen one tall building you’ve seen them all, but the reality is it wasn’t just in the city that he did it. Part way through the trip I decided that rather than get angry about it, I’d just start taking photos of them when they were doing it. I think the most ridiculous time had to be the one where Michael went to the effort of pulling out his phone so that he could read while he rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain. 

So having said that, here’s the evidence:

Just walking the streets ...

Before or after food ... (Heaven forbid you talk to your family!)

Waiting just about anywhere ...

What temple?

At the top of the world ... What view?

And yes, as promised ... Even on a ski lift (Michael is on the right, Thomas is just looking at the ground).

There's something I've forgotten ...

So over the last few years I've been doing a lot of travel for work. That means that I am consistently packing a bag full of the stuff that I need and jumping on a plane to get where I need to be. 

Mostly I have it down to a pretty good routine, but no one's perfect and every now and then I forget something. Mostly it's fine because I'm usually in a city, have transport and can pretty much buy whatever it is that I've forgotten.

Every now and then go it doesn't quite work out that way. I've managed to leave a computer on a plane (which actually showed up a month later) I've left behind any number of toiletries items and occasionally I've forgotten that the weather isn't the same all around the country and been caught without some winter warmth (even that's not the end of the world given most of my work is inside offices. 

A couple of trips ago I managed to outdo myself though. I arrived at my destination, deposited my bag on the luggage rack and opened it up. I pulled out my running shoes, my shirt, my shorts and couldn't help but notice that the bag didn't seem to contain quite as much as I'd thought it would. There was a distinct lack of socks and underwear. There were those that I was wearing and one pair of running socks. That was it. 

I was going for a run, that was a given. I had three days to survive too. 

That left me the following options:

1. Go and buy stuff

2. Do the old, inside out, back to front trick

3. Just keep wearing it

4. Go commando

I'm not about to tell you which option I went for, but over the three days I ran 20kms and no-one around me complained about Amy untoward smells, so which ever it was it worked.