“Great work getting this delivered to our customer on time. It was a challenging task with virtually no float in the delivery schedule, and your team executed the plan flawlessly. We appreciate the dedication, communication, and effort that went into making this happen. Again, great work, and thank you for your support. We truly appreciate it!”
-Logistics & Procurement Manager for a Large-Scale Energy Company
All,
Got to spend the last two days here in Tokyo. Believe it or not, Tokyo is the largest city in the world, with a metropolitan population of approximately 37 million people.
Rank | City / Metro Area | Country | Approx. Population
1 | Tokyo | Japan | ~37 million
2 | Delhi | India | ~33 million
3 | Shanghai | China | ~30 million
4 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | ~24 million
5 | São Paulo | Brazil | ~23 million
6 | Mexico City | Mexico | ~22 million
7 | Cairo | Egypt | ~22 million
8 | Beijing | China | ~22 million
9 | Mumbai | India | ~21 million
10 | Osaka | Japan | ~19 million
But, as you would probably expect if you have been reading any of my blogs from Japan, it is an incredibly clean, friendly, and well-organized city. No horns honking. No chaos on the sidewalks or streets. Beautiful to look at and seemingly run with incredible efficiency.
This has been a great trip. Hong Kong, Taipei, and half a dozen Japanese cities. All of them interesting and well worth seeing. (And Viking does a GREAT job on these cruises. Always enjoyable.)
I would say, though, that the highlight of our trip was the day we got to spend with Take Hosomi and his wonderful girlfriend, Asuka.
They had planned to take us to see some Tokyo temples and shrines (Buddhist temples/Shinto shrines : ), but I suggested we just “hang out.” We had already seen lots of temples and shrines and really just wanted to experience the non-touristy parts of Tokyo. (And, honestly, I think Take was a bit relieved as well 😉)
So that is what we did. We wandered around, ate at some street vendors, and while Asuka and Hallie did some shopping, Take and I spent time just talking about work, life, and things in general.
I LOVE that the relationships I have always had with our country leaders and colleagues around the world have felt more like friendships than business relationships.
As Take said during our conversation, when you are lucky enough to work with people you genuinely like, it does not feel too much like work.
A thoroughly enjoyable day and, honestly, the highlight of our trip.
We look forward to repaying their hospitality someday when Take and Asuka are able to visit us in Erie or Long Island.
Thank you both.
Tokyo – the biggest city in the world
Tokyo Tower
….and at night
Which one is the real Geisha?
Guess which one is the real ninja?
I think I may have been unclear of the concept
Take
Asuka
PS – We finally DID get to see Mt. Fuji from our bus on the way to a national park. So, it is NOT AI and really DOES exist 🙂
Mt. Fuji is the highest and most revered mountain in Japan. Today was our day to visit it, but since the weather was totally cloudy we did get to go on it, but never got to see it hahahahaha. So here are some pics we screenshot from websites and the local museum.
It was cool to drive there as Japan continues to amaze at how green everything is. If you think about it, it’s just a series of islands that are simply mountains jutting out of the Pacific Ocean. Japan is 70% mountainous, and everything is green—varying shades of green—really beautiful.
Enjoy the pictures. And the knowledge that you have seen as much of Mt Fuji as we did yesterday hahahahahahaa
Onward! -JB
Mount Fuji is Japan’s highest and most iconic peak
It remains deeply sacred and a major cultural and recreational destination
The crater atop Mt. Fuji. The volcano has been dormant since the last blast in 1707
It is one of Japan’s three holy mountains (along with Mt. Tate and Mt. Haku)
Seems weird that we went halfway up but never saw it
The peak is visible from Tokyo on clear days. On the ground, the volcano is surrounded by the famous Fuji Five Lakes region
Tea plantation. They say the pure mountain water flowing down into the valleys from Mt. Fuji makes for wonderful tea (and rice for sake)
This is what wasabi is made of. 90% of the wasabi (Japanese horseradish) in Japan comes from near Mt. Fuji
The “divine wind” story is one of the most famous legends in Japanese history — and it’s where the word kamikaze comes from.
In the late 1200s, the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan tried twice to invade Japan after conquering huge parts of Asia, including China and Korea.
First invasion — 1274
The Mongols sent a massive fleet across the sea toward Japan. They landed in Kyushu and fought effectively, using coordinated tactics and explosives unfamiliar to the Japanese samurai.
But then a powerful storm hit the Mongol fleet. Many ships were damaged or sunk, and the invaders withdrew.
Second invasion — 1281
Kublai Khan came back with an even bigger force — one of the largest invasion fleets in medieval history, possibly over 100,000 men.
The Japanese had prepared this time, building coastal defenses around places like Hakata Bay in Fukuoka.
The Mongol fleet lingered offshore for weeks. Then a huge typhoon struck.
The storm devastated the fleet:
The Japanese believed the storm had been sent by the gods to protect Japan. They called it:
Kamikaze (神風)
Meaning:
So literally: “divine wind.”
Centuries later, during World War II, Japan revived the term “kamikaze” for suicide pilots. The idea was symbolic: just as the divine wind once saved Japan from invasion, these pilots were expected to sacrifice themselves to protect the nation.
Modern historians think the Mongol fleets were especially vulnerable because many ships were hastily built river/coastal vessels not ideal for open-ocean typhoons. But the storms themselves were very real.
-JB
Our voyage from Hong Kong to Tokyo
Container port
Container ship arriving in Osaka
Unlike the Mongol invaders, we came in peace
Samurai
A model Japanese warship
All,
Hiroshima is, of course, the site of the first atomic bomb dropped on August 6, 1945. The bomb, which detonated above the ground (I did not know that), leveled much of the city, with well over 100,000 deaths from the blast, heat, and radiation. Today’s nuclear weapons are hundreds of times more powerful. A sobering thought.
But Hiroshima today is a beautiful modern city with over a million inhabitants—living proof of rebuilding and resilience.
We visited the Peace Park and museum, which displayed the damage done to the city and its people. More than the statistics, it was the personal items—clothing, watches, photographs—that hit hardest. Though obviously a very different event, if you have been to the 9/11 site in NYC, it carries a similar somber and reflective feeling.
We also visited Miyajima Island, which has been considered sacred since ancient times. The shrine there was first built in 593 and later rebuilt in 1168. Its famous giant gate sits offshore and appears to float on the water at high tide, while at low tide, you can walk right out to it on the beach.
One thing Japan continually reminds you of is how comfortably the very old and the very modern exist side by side.
Onward! -JB
This building was one of the few in downtown Hiroshima that survived the atomic bomb
This is how it looked at 8:14 on August 6, 1945
And this is how it looked after the blast
More of the city of Hiroshima after the first atomic bomb
Lots of deer roam wild on Miyajima Island
And some of them don’t know their boundaries (look closely – it’s a deer not a dog 🙂
Itsukushima Shrine
The gate seems to float on the water at high tide and is on the beach at low tide
Sundown in Hiroshima