I’d love to tell you that my knowledge of the Japanese language has improved and my mastery has led to deep, meaningful conversations with the indigenous little people. But alas it remains as opaque to me as… Greek. Which at least I can read a bit. Yet its actually worse. The longer we’re here the more easily the names and places simply vanish from my mind. So to tell you that we traveled yesterday to Takamatsu via Okayama requires looking at the railway tickets. I look where I’m going and by the time the ticket’s back in my pocket that name has either vanished or worse, morphed into another, similar one in my head. Okayama, Okasaka, Sakayama… it just happens. Maybe its age, maybe its just overload of too many rhythmically sounding syllables divided by the letter ‘a’, but its not good.

But Takamatsu (copied from hotel book) is a gem of a city/town. Not sure how you tell when there aren’t any cathedrals in Japan. But it is just gorgeous. Clean, wide, tree-lined boulevards, a relatively small population so uncluttered and friendly. And it has ‘Japan’s oldest ornamental gardens’. Which we’d call Hampstead Heath but with order and, obviously, Feng Shui. And our Heath isn’t bordered by mountains like these gardens.

And in fact you kind’a get the whole ‘feng shui’ thing when you walk around. It’s about balance, its about wonderful aesthetic and its about places that just make you feel calm and relaxed and… ohmmmm…

Bit like the Tottenham Stadium does, but without the anxiety, disappointment, panic and upset.

We’re only in Takamatsu so we can go over to Naoshima (‘ere we go) which is supposed to be wonderful. I’ll let ya know. But I’m so pleased we’re here. Because its fantastic.

Liverpool beating Barcelona last night was quite unbelievable. Quite awesome. Very ‘Liverpool in Europe’ some might say. All I say is PLEASE GOD BY SPURS!!!!!

Got a boat to catch,

Happy Wednesday

A xxxx