Japan: Ancient & Modern

Japan is the most incredible country I have ever been to! I'd wanted to visit Hiroshima since the age of 11, having seen the iconic pictures of the remnants of the 'city hall building'. It's still there, and preserved for posterity. The people are incredibly friendly and polite(!), and the younger generations are SO keen to learn English, that even just returning a polite "Hello" to their own greeting sends them into raptures of delight! If you have never been, be prepared for cleanliness like you have never seen before, pedestrian-crossings painted with the aid of a laser marker (yes, really!), trains in which you could eat your dinner from the floor (did I mention things were very clean?) - and food..... Ah! The food! The cube-shaped marshmallow-type things we found in a market-place one day... You can forget all your poncy London restaurants; this little wooden shack beat all of them hands down! You just HAVE to GO!!!!!!! Arigato! DP