On the Road

Jul 3, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Jun 22

Jack Kerouac I am not but I am traveling this month and away from my cubbyhole in Tokyo suburbia. As such, I will pause on my reprints of Japan Times humor columns and run "a few" photos of other moments when I have been away.

Some notes:

I am a crummy photographer. Yet, the Japanese have a proverb on this: "Even a dog will bump into a pole." It kind of means everyone gets lucky sometimes. That said, all shots here are mine, or were at least taken with my camera, unless otherwise noted.
The order is scrambled on purpose. A proverb of my own: "Chaos is more fun than form."
These pics are all from the digital age. I have albums of the other kind stuck in a box somewhere in one of our closets. Perhaps the oldest shot here is from around 2000. The most recent is from 2024.
I am not a globetrotter and have spent most of my adult life either in front of a blackboard or a computer screen. But I also had a span when I wrote features for the inflight mag of All Nippon Airways and they were kind enough to send me hither and thither. (I recommend thither. Quite the place.) I am envious of those who travel more than I do -- which means I am probably envious of you.

Now some photos while on the road.

Man in an orange shirt and wearing an orange cap sits on a bench in Parc Guel. — At Parc Guel in Barcelona

Yellow sign warning people to beware of crocodiles. — At a riverside in Queensland.

Small monument on a grass hill denoting where a soldier died in a battle in 1876. — At Little Big Horn

Colorful fishing boats viewed through the spokes of a bicycle. — A fishing port in Thailand.

traditional homes in Shirakawa-go in central Japan — The traditional dwellings at Shirakawa-Go, a World Heritage spot in central Japan.

A small cruise ship sails on calm waters amid mountain peaks in Halong Bay — At Halong Bay, north of Hanoi.

Large and round bales of hay in a field — Near Bayeux in Normandy

Small stature of Anne Frank — Not far from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

Very red sunset in Bali — Sunset over the Indian Ocean, viewed from Bali.

Everyone has sunset shots.

Here are two of mine.

Sunset over a lotus field in Cambodia — Sunset over a lotus field near Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia

Sailboats on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada — Sailboats on the St. Lawrence in Quebec

A Shinto Torii on a beach on Naoshima in Japan — A Shinto Torii facing Japan's Inland Sea from Naoshima.

One person points at dolphins in sparkling blue ocean water off New Zealand — Pointing at dolphins in the South Pacific somewhere out from Aukland

Man in blue shirt poses with wooden bust of Mark Twain

Legend says that in 1866 Mark Twain planted a monkey pod tree on Hawai's Big Island and when it fell in a storm, about a century later, a local artist carved this bust, which now rests in museum storage in Hilo. The curator was nice enough to dig it out and let me pose with it. Photo credit goes to the one and only Rudi van Starrex.

Man in blue shirt sits on a bench with a statue of Mark Twain holding a book — With buddy Mark in a far different location, in Dubuque, Iowa, and many years later. But the same shirt!

Man posing with two children, one dressed as Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and the other dressed as Tom's girlfriend, Becky Thatcher, in Hannibal, Missouri — Continuing the Twain theme, here are Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer in Hannibal.

Large illuminated parade float of a dancing Japanese woman wearing a kimono. — An illuminated parade float in the Nebuta Museum in Aomori.

Man in a blue shirt with two parrots on his right arm and shoulder — Parrots at a park near Cairns. I loved that cap, but lost it on a windy day while whale watching a year later. Note the shirt.

Vast mangrove forest with mountains in the background — A mangrove forest on Amami Oshima, a tropical island sort of near Okinawa. I lost that cap near here.

Statues in profile. Here is George Washington in the Black Hills and along side are faces from Angkor Watt.

Man in a blue shirt in a cave with thousands of blue glow worms — Our boat guide in a glow worm cave in New Zealand. Too good to be my pic. Maybe a glow worm took it.

Military guard stands near stature of an elephant — A pair of guards at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

White-colored mountain is reflected perfectly in a large lake. — Beartooth Lake, not far from Yellowstone

Mont-Saint-Michel seen at a distance during low tide — Mont-Saint-Michel

Shot through a stone window showing vast wetlands.

Short through a stone window showing ocean and beach — Ah, the old shot-from-a-stone-window trick. One is from Mont-Saint-Michel and the other from a Spanish fort on Guam.

Man on a hotel balcony over looking a beautiful sea — Guam

One of the Hobbit homes in Hobbiton in New Zealand — Hobbiton, home of Bilbo, Frodo and friends

A wall covered with chewed pieces of chewing gum — *Part* of the chewing gum street near Pike's Place in Seattle

Some Travel Food

That's kishimen from Nagoya on the left, sanuki udon from Takamatsu at the top, Ise udon on the right and miso ramen from northern Hokkaido at the bottom.

Which is best? Let me misquote Princess Ann in Roman Holiday, when asked to compare European capitals:

"Each is in its own way unforgettable... But ramen! By all means ramen!"