Ends

Our visit was just 2 weeks in three cities and one has the world largest population (Tokyo, ~37.7m, UN 2018 population estimates from Wikipedia) and another is the 10th largest (Osaka, ~19.3m) so getting around is time-consuming, even with the excellent public transport.  There are cars and some parking and small vans but not all, or even many, can have cars in metropolises like this.  But the trains are incredibly good and the stations are incredibly busy.  Tokyo's Shibuya is the world busiest railway station (3.59m people pd, Wikipedia) and Shibuya crossing is the "world's busiest pedestrian crossing" (~3k crossing at a time, Wikipedia).  So it's busy but not unpleasant.  The people are friendly and open and honest and helpful although I guess a dark side still exists but we didn't see it.  We explored and loved the food until a friend asked if we still enjoyed it, and it had us thinking we'd like some muesli rather than fish for breakfast, but it treats the bodies well.  These people live city lives with public transport and adequate but not excessive food and look well although they can look tired.  Our area in Tokyo was lively with Korean food and K-pop.  They can be playful.  But this seems so short a visit to such a different culture.  I remain entranced and mostly ignorant but quite fascinated.  Some final pics. And to end, cheers to Hong Lai, guitarist of the rock trio Mimosa from Shimokita/Yokohama, who I met on our outings, and Yudai Negishi, who was conducting his interview.

Megan and Eric visited Japan.  Yudai Negishi interviewed Hong Lai who plays guitar in the band Mimosa.