As we all start tightening our belt to prepare for this financial slow-down, it is not just me pondering whether the financial situation is going to have a bearing on our climate change priorities. Not so says Ed Milliband, UK energy and climate change secretary. He sounds very confident, and I speculate that its not entirely unrelated to the fact that a contraction in the economy will, without any effort by government, lead to emissions cutting in some areas because people just can’t afford to buy the things that emit C02.

Unfortunately I, a student in Tokyo, am one of them! But at least on one front, with airlines not being taxed for the fuel they use, and the previously mentioned expense of my beloved shinkansen, how can people afford to choose alternative and less polluting forms of transport when they are stretched more than Mr. Fantastic for funds?

Well, I have found a few savings, because I will have to go to Korea briefly soon. So what do we have left after shinkansen? What are the alternatives? Continue Reading »

My favourite thing in the world is riding the shinkansen, I have even come to be able to mimic the voice of the recorded Japanese announcer, I am that big a fan ‘kyou mo shinkansen wo goryou kudasaimashite, arigatou gozaimasu’ in a hypnotically rhythmic voice. Zooming through an alien landscape of mountains, rice paddies and temples; chewing on chocolate covered almonds. BUT, those priveleged days are all but a hazy memory from a time when I was 4′7″ and my parents were Continue Reading »

I’ve been living in Tokyo for a little over a year now and the time yet ahead of me stretches further ahead than I can reliably imagine. Naturally my blog postings fell off with arrival here, no longer a traveler, I was back to something resembling routine life and tired at the end of each long over-stimulated day in neon covered Tokyo.

More than that however I felt almost silenced, amputated from a lot of ties I hadn’t quite come to terms with cutting. I listened to radio 4 everyday and bought organic milk in comical denial. One thing harder than many other things is that the fact remains that going back and forth across continents can’t happen every 6 months or so. To go back to England for a holiday is to cross at least 7 countries, twice. How many times have the ex-pat gap year people I know gone home this year already? ~ twice is about average. That amounts to 5 long haul flights in a year that I haven’t taken.

Instead there are several trips I’ve made this year on the train / bus / boat / my bicycle. I went to Kyushu over christmas 2007, saw Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Mount Aso, including a 50 mile cycle ride and a thworted paragliding attempt. I’ve gone on hiking trips with the Friends of the Earthers to the mountains West of Tokyo, seen fireworks in Gunma, Taiko in Sado and plum blossom in Kamakura, and of course entertained my brave parents all accross Japan, after they actually did come here on a train from England to see me, and then go all the way back again 12 days later. And, I’ve seen many encouraging things happening in Japan that just aren’t in Europe, as well as others things that negate much of the good stuff in its mindless wastefulness. Hopefully I’m back on the blogging thread, stay tuned~~