As the sun rises on a June morning, an unsuspecting Edward Colston stands in a slightly awkward position — resting his head on his left hand as if he is purposefully surveying the people who pass by beneath him. He’s not smiling and it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking…

If you’ve just tuned in, fear not, for you’ve missed none of the action. The athletes are gathering on the start line for the 100 metre Economy Restart Final. They’ve been training hard in recent weeks and surely many of them thought this day would never come. Let’s go through…

Remember those days when people could go where they wanted, meet who they chose and didn’t flinch every time someone walked past them in the street? The days when there was more to photograph than the wilting poppies and the cracked paintwork of the block where you live? Mmm, those…

As our huge bus gingerly negotiates the mini roundabout, the tour guide points out the red dome on top of the hill, “this is the famous Nonnberg Abbey where Maria Von Trapp became a postulant.” Well, I can see a red dome on the hillside, nestled amongst other buildings but…

Now you may remember at the end of last week’s episode, we saw our protagonist — i.e. me — spending the night in a ryokan and half way through a traditional kaiseki (multi course dinner).

As I near my destination, I start to feel inappropriately dressed. The Bikan district is the old merchant centre of Kurashiki and is sandwiched inside a wider city of some 480,000 people. Twenty minutes walk from the train station, I turn a corner and suddenly I’ve gone three centuries back…

As soon as I step out of the station, I feel it — the sense of calm and tranquility. Maybe because it’s a Sunday and everyone is chilled or maybe this place is always like this. Kinosakionsen is a spa town (onsen=hot spring), two hours north of Kyoto. On my…

I Only Went Out To Get Gyoza So, on a Sunday night, I find myself in Kinosakionsen, a small coastal town, north of Kyoto. I’ve been to the public baths (blog of which to follow), it’s dark and I’m hungry. I fancy some gyoza (dumplings). Traditionally, I know it’s not a great night for food availability so…

A large proportion of eat-in restaurants allocate you a plastic shopping basket for you to put your bag in. I’m not sure whether it’s to stop your dirty “outside” bag from contaminating their clean floor or to stop your clean bag from attracting dirt from their floor. …