England Coast Paths

This blog idea has been sitting in my draft box for a while. Today I found out that England is finishing up the Longest Coastal Path in the world next year, so I have decided to wrap up the post. I really hope that it will be safe to travel anywhere by the time the path is finished! I can’t wait to do some hiking along the coastal paths. I also hope there will be expanded luggage transfer services :)

This post is a collection of a few coastal paths that I enjoyed back in 2015. I really enjoyed these paths, not too intense compared to hiking in hills.

1 - South West Coast Path: Charmouth-Puncknowle-Abbotsbury-Weymouth

I did this hiking trip solo and without planning, only wanted to escape from the city and indulge in the nature. I thought it was just straight roads along the seashore, until I got lost walking among farms on my first day. I stumbled upon a cafe that had wifi and also a pamphlet for trails and bus routes that covered the South West Coast Path, life saver! I discovered the Abbotsbury Swannery and Bennetts Water Gardens along the way, both spots were memorable surprises during this unplanned trips.

The South West Coast Path website has very useful information so plan ahead!

2 - Viking Coastal Trail: Ramsgate-Broadstairs-Margate

Ramsgate, Broadstairs, and Margate are seaside towns along the Viking Coastal Path. All three towns are easily accessible from London by train. Walking from Ramsgate - Margate makes a great day trip.

More information on Viking Coastal Trail.

3 - Seven Sisters Cliffs Walk: Seaford-Eastbourne

This is an easy 22km walk with a view of the famous chalk cliffs. You can arrive at the Seaford station and then depart from Eastbourne station, which is convenient for people who don’t have a car. Walking on the greens on top of the chalk cliffs feels like it is a scarf dancing in the wind.

England is full of natural wonders. Besides the coastal paths, Cotswolds and Lake District are great options for biking and hiking. I really wish the world is back to normal soon so we can continue to explore the nature!

My Top Two Favorite Spots in Tokyo

A brief post to recommend Futakotamagawa (二子玉川) and Okutama (奥多摩), my favorite places in Tokyo. If you are looking for a different feel of Tokyo and to get away from the shopping and crowds, check these two spots out!

 

I liked Futakotamagawa for the long stretch of greenery along Tama River. It was the perfect place to enjoy a cycling day under the sun with some windchill, while overlooking the high-rises from the metropolitan area from afar. I recall the ward offered free bicycle rental options for residents / foreigners with passports which was a nice perk.

An interesting place to visit in Futakotamagawa is the Tsutaya Electrics, a large lifestyle store where you can browse books from the bookstore section or play around with some home appliances / gadgets in the electronics section.

Jiyugaoka, which is nearby, is also a trendy place to visit!

Whenever I didn’t feel like mountain hiking, I would think of Okutama, another outdoor haven close to Tokyo. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for light hiking options. There is the Hatonosu Ravine as well as the Okutama Lake, both with easy hiking trails and suitable for a relaxing day out.

 

Yokohama: Chinatown & Cup Noodles Museum

Dedicating a post to Yokohama (横浜市), which is the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo and also synonymous with Chinatown for many, especially the Chinese population living in Japan.

Yokohama is situated by the Tokyo Bay and it is less than an hour away from Tokyo by public transportation. I particularly liked the waterfront. Biking, strolling, sitting in the park, feeling the sea breeze, This is a great day trip spot from Tokyo if you want something that’s less nature!

The Chinatown there is the largest one in Japan. It is by far the most crowded Chinatown I have visited. This place is very very touristy, with restaurants after restaurants and rarely you see supermarkets like in other Chinatown. In there you also won't hear shop owners or regular customers speaking the Taishan dialect, like what I encountered in Chinatowns in North American cities. Yes, the Yokohama Chinatown is quite Japanese. There are even souvenir shops that sell Japanese-style Chinese sweets/food. Nevertheless, this is a great spot to satisfy a Chinese expat craving for some authentic Chinese food when living in Tokyo.

Aside from the Chinatown, Yokohama has many interesting spots, one of which is the Cup Noodles Museum. Yes, a museum for cup noodles. It is perhaps more well-known for the make-your-own-cup-noodles workshop. The exhibits in the museum are actually very fascinating as well. First introduced in 1958, the instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando 安藤百福 after one year of hard work in a small house and sleeping only a few hours a night. The unique deep-fried drying method was inspired by Mrs. Ando's cooking of tempura one night. Instant noodles became an instant hit, but they didn't become the global food until the cup noodles version which was introduced in 1971. The convenience of cup noodles make them ideal for many occasions, including as a snack during long-haul flights. Mr. Ando didn't stop just there. In 2005, at the old age of 90+, he invented the Space Ramen, instant noodles that can be eaten in space. Be creative. Always go above and beyond. Never give up. The Cup Noodles Museum is a charming place that it is fun for kids and at the same time it is inspiring for adults. Note: if you want to make your own cup noodles, be prepared to spend a few hours in the museum to wait for your time slot, unless you go very early. Maybe going in a weekday would be the best to cut the line. 

Chinatown and the Cup Noodles Museum are the two places I have explored. There are many other things to do in this big city. For shopping, there is the Red Brick Building. For nature, there is the Yamashita Park. For culture, there is the classical Senkeien Garden.

Living and Working in Tokyo Part III

Finishing off the series..

5 - Community Centres

Besides exploring different cities and going for hiking trips, my two main hobbies were taking Japanese culinary lessons and playing badminton. From both activities i learned about the amazing community centres in Tokyo.

Residents living Tokyo belong to one of the 23 wards in the city. Each ward has its own community centres, where the facilities can be booked by residents of that ward. I recall there were limitations on the number of guests from other wards that you could bring. For both cooking lessons and badminton, I was lucky enough to find organizers who could host bigger groups.

For the cooking classes, I did a few with Kitchen Nippon. The kitchens were fully equipped with pots, pans, utensils, plates and pots, all in various sizes for different cooking methods and different dishes. Perhaps not a surprise, given how complicated Japanese cooking is (to strive for the perfection) and the amount of side dishes that come with each meal. The only things which the organizer needed to bring in were the ingredients. I thought these were very nice facilities for the residents to host parties, since most people didn’t have big kitchens at home. They were also great for part-time culinary lovers to host classes without putting up the expensive cost for renting their own studio. To see some pictures of these cooking lessons or to check out classes that you can join on your next trip to Japan, check out Kitchen Nippon!

For badminton, if you ever need to look for a group to play badminton with, check out the Tokyo Badcox International Badminton Club. As the name suggests, the group is geared towards expats living in Tokyo. The group has a few stable locations at the ward community centres, and there are different activities for different levels.

Besides the kitchen space and the badminton courts, the community centres were also equipped with libraries and facilities for other sports like swimming and basketball. There were even free Japanese language lessons offered by Shinjuku City. it was great to be a resident of Tokyo!

6 - Other

Here is a collection of little things which made up my experience living and working in Tokyo:

• Convenient stores (Family Mart, 7-Eleven, Lawson, etc) were truly convenient: wide varieties of snacks and food (especially the hot oden during winter times), useful household needs, concert/amusement park ticketing kiosks, ATMs, etc. I could pay all my utility bills in these convenient stores, without having to mail in cheques. One could really live off convenient stores when feeling lazy!

• When dealing with government agencies, they would issue a paper receipt for everything that was done. These receipts were not necessary for reference (i.e. no legal implications), so it was quite a lot of tree killing. From my observations in changing address / reporting lost items to police, I saw many of the information was recorded on paper notebook (maybe translated to computer later?) and some back-end approval had to be physically signed by the authority (with a stamp or hanko 判子), so everything appeared not as advanced as I thought of Japan. Though in the end the work did get done properly, so the workflow was still well organized and efficient. Not too long after I arrived in Japan, I lost my wallet which contained EVERYTHING including the passport. It was a nightmare when I realized I dropped my wallet by accident, but the police located it at a station within hours after reporting it. Also thanks to the honesty of the person who found it!

• I get asked a lot about what it was like to be a female working in Japan. I didn’t feel anything that was different from the North American work culture, largely because my team was 100% expats. However, when I attended a “Women in Leadership: training, I learned that females workers felt inferior to their male counterparts / there were unequal opportunities due to societal behavior expectations. While I couldn’t echo some of the comments, I felt it must be very tough for those working women who couldn’t get their opinions heard or the opportunities which they deserved.

• Minor earthquakes were often. I remember the first night I experienced it, I freaked out and didn’t know what to do since it was before I got the training about earthquake emergencies. Then after a while I got used to it. It is worth noting that all low-rise apartments came with a small ladder for emergency situations so you could evacuate yourself. Also, everyone was supposed to stock food enough for three days. Some stores sold pre-packaged survival kits. Perhaps I didn’t see myself living there for too long, I never managed to get myself any supply for emergency situations.

• There were a lot of delicious food in Japan. After returning from Japan for 3 years now, I realize there are just a few food that I absolutely miss / haven’t found good equivalent in North America: sukiyaki, Japanese fat leeks (negi 葱), raw eggs or tororo (とろろ grated yam) over rice, horumonyaki ( ホルモン焼き, beek or pork offal for bbq) or anything with horumon, Matsuya breakfast sets.

Living and Working in Tokyo Part II

Continuing on what it was like to live and work in Tokyo..

3 - Holidays

The best perk of working in Japan was the number of national holidays I got to enjoy. There was at least one national holiday each month (see 2020 calendar here) so I had the feeling that there was always a holiday coming up! Due to this fact, I found myself more motivated to work as I knew there would be a break shortly.

In addition to the national holidays, I started with 20 vacation days + “free” 5-day consecutive summer leave (basically extra holidays for Obon festival in August). It was truly a working holiday when I was in Tokyo! With what you heard about long working hours in Japan you might be wondering if I got to enjoy these days off? I could only say I was a lucky soul; being a foreigner working in the most foreign team (100% foreigners) in a foreign-owned corporation, I got to unplug completely during all national holidays and personal days off. I was told that the generous national holiday system was meant to encourage/force workers to take time off as people typically don’t take their personal vacation days off. I got to enjoy the benefits of both worlds!

New Year is the most important holiday of the year. Despite the Chinese influence in its culture and language, Japan does not celebrate the Lunar calendar New Year as observed in the Chinese tradition. It has adopted the New Year of Georgian calendar since the since the Meiji Restoration. However, the way the New Year is celebrated is still tied to the Chinese tradition: visiting local shrines, children receiving otoshidama (お年玉; the Japanese equivalent of red envelopes/luck money), family gathering, Jinjitsu (人日, "Human Day") coinciding with a similar observation in Lunar calendar, etc. These traditions and celebrations are ways of wishing a wonderful year to come, particularly for ensuring health and prosperity.

Besides the New Year, the three most important holiday periods (i.e. travel peak seasons) are the Golden Week, Obon festival and the Silver Week, which are string of holidays occurring in May/August/September respectively. Golden Week consists of four holidays within 7 days, it basically means a week off if you take one personal vacation day. The Obon holidays would be a week off as well with the consecutive summer leave offered by some companies. Silver Week is typically a 4-day long week but it becomes a “mega” 5-day holiday when there’s a workday sandwiched between the Respect for the Aged Day (a set date) and the Autumn Equinox (not a set date and tied to astronomical observations each year). I was in Tokyo in 2015 during which the Silver Week was a 5-day holiday!

Easter/Halloween/Christmas are also celebrated (not observed) in Japan. Throughout the year, there is always something themed for the seasonal celebrations. All the plum flowers/sakura/fireworks/illuminations/etc seasons attract tons of tourists to Japan. All things the Japanese way were prettier and cuter and it was fun to go shopping during those holiday periods! In a way, it is a way of boosting tourism.

4 - Hiking

70% of Japan is mountainous, so there’s plenty of hiking opportunities. Besides the generous national holidays system, hiking is the main reason why I miss Japan so much.

What I liked about hiking in Japan was that:

• A lot of the hiking trailheads were accessible by public transportation so it was easy to go on a hiking trip.

• There were so many options for different levels. Just within Tokyo, Takaosan (高尾山) would be a touristy spot that was less about exercising but more for a relaxing outing and to see Mount Fuji (富士山 Fujisan) from afar, while Mount Fuji would be on the other extreme for a long hike. In between, there were many many options depending how hard-core you would like to go. No more excuses to get close to the nature!

• I loved bringing O-nigiri (お握り; rice balls wrapped in sesame) as lunch for the hike. These O-nigiri were sold in all convenient stores and definitely were the best convenient food in my opinion. On the convenience of food options, the Ekiben (駅弁, bento boxes for rail rides, sold in train stations) makes it easy to go on hiking trips as you can just grab yummy food on the go.

• Lastly, all my hikes ended in Onsen (温泉 hotspring). Simply luxury.

Through my encounter with mountain-lovers, I found out that many Japanese mountaineers look to the list outlined in “One Hundred Mountains of Japan” (日本百名山 Nihon Hyakumeizan) for hiking goals. Unfortunately I didn’t stay long enough to become more connected to the hiking tradition.