Japan

Most people probably pass through Narita Airport and head into Tokyo. The town of Narita is less than 10 minutes by train from the airport and gave us an opportunity to see some Japanese culture. The Naritasan Shinshoji Temple (900AD) is an impressive collection of pagodas, shrines and altars and hosts over 13 million visitors per year. The approach from the station offers a wide variety of shops selling every type of food to be found in Japan. We were here in 1999 and were immediately reminded of the sense of order and politeness and it is incredibly clean. After walking for over an hour through the streets and stations we struggled to find one piece of litter anywhere, no butts no cans or bottles. It is most impressive to see a team of ladies in green uniforms board the train and immediately start mopping and dusting (imagine that on the London Underground). However, nowhere is perfect and already after just a few hours in the airport lounge the ting, tang, ting of the endless plucking of some apparently out of tune stringed instrument is grating on the nerves! Ho Chi Min City is next.