Kobe: Nov. 16-17, 2019

I visited to Kobe to attend a conference. I spent some time during my stay to walk around the city.

Kobe locates between the Rokko mountains in the north and the Seto Inland Sea in the south. The population is about 1.5 million.

I watched the landscape of the city in the daytime from the observatory in the City Hall tower. The top photo is a view of the city with the Rokko Mountains in its back.

The left photo is a view of the sea area.

The City Hall is 132 meter high. The observatory is at about 100 meter in the 24th floor.

The landscape in the night was beautiful. I enjoyed it from Kobe University, which locates on a hillside of the Rokko mountains.

Sannomiya is the busiest area in the city. There are railway stations of JR, private railway Hankyu and Hanshin, as well as subway in the area.

Modern shopping malls were crowded with people.

There spreads a China town in Motomachi area, west from Sannomiya. (See also the 3rd photo)

Kobe Port is one of the largest ports in Japan. It has long history. I found people enjoying a beautiful day in a park near the port.

There are many western-style houses at the foot of the Rokko Mountains. There houses were built by the Europeans and Americans in the Meiji era. The came to Japan to engage in trade business; the Meiji government allocated some places for them to stay.

The old houses are now popular tourist spots. (See also the 2nd photo from the top) 

I found many foreign tourists, especially Chinese tourists, enjoying sightseeing in the area.

I also visited Ikuta Shrine, one of Kobe's oldest shrines. Many families were there to pray a good fortune for their kids. Japan has a kids festival in the middle of November.

Kobe was seriously hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Many buildings, houses, roads, railroads ports and highways were destroyed. Thousands of people were killed.

I visited Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute, a museum where the records of the earthquake are displayed. The institute also shows recent developments on disaster reduction and other quake-related topics.

A 360 degree-wide panorama movie showed us the impacts of the quake. Other displays taught us how widely and deeply the earthquake hit the area.

There were groups of Japanese high-school students and foreign tourists in the institute. Everyone watched the displays seriously.

25 years passed since the Earthquake day. The destroyed towns, such as Sannomiya, were rebuilt. Still, people live with the memory of the disaster – it is the impression I received when I was talking with local prople.

London: Oct. 22-24, 2019

I made my regular visit to London. It was when the political developments around Brexit were in the last stage with the latest deadline date scheduled on Oct. 31.

PM Boris Johnson and the EU leaders agreed on the new condition of Brexit in the EU summit on Oct. 17 in Brussels. (A plan to place Northern Ireland in different position from the rest of the U.K. to avoid hard border between Northern Ireland and the Ireland republic). The adoption of the agreement in the U.K. Parliament is still unclear as of Oct. 24.

I found both pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit groups appealing their positions in front of the parliament. (See also the top photo)

Many of them were old persons, perhaps partially because it was a business day.

There were many Union Jack along with the U.N. flags in the Parliament Square. The statue of Winston Churchill (as well as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and other great figures) is placed in the square.

London was attractive and energetic as ever, I found.

The Westminster Bridge was crowded with tourists as usual.

I got the impression that the number of Chinese tourists continued increasing.

The city is also changing rapidly.

The number of skyscrapers has increased in the City district in the last few years.

I was lucky as I was welcomed by a nice weather this time. I could take good photos of the metropolis from the plane.

The photo shows the landscape around the Westminster. The towns spread around the Big Ben and the London Eye.

The 2nd photo from the top shows the River Thames, the the City district and the neighboring areas.

This shows the Canary Warf and the Olympic Park.

I also took a photo of windmill generators I the mouth of the Thames. (on Oct. 17). (see also the 3rd photo)

Brussels: Oct 20-22, 2019

I visited Brussels for the first time in a year. My visit was just a few days after the EU summit, in which a new agreement was made on Brexit conditions between the U.K. and the EU. The following process is still unclear and the future result of Brexit is unpredictable.

I walked around the Schuman district, where the EU institutions locate.

There were still 28 flags of EU (the number of member states) in front of the European Commission building.

I also visited museums run by the European Parliament.

They exhibit information on European history as well as on the roles and functions of European Parliament at Parlamentarium.

Further information of European history is explained at the House of European History.

There are many other facilities and institutions of European Parliament in the Esplanade Solidarnosc 1980 area.

There is a message that says “the future is Europe” on the wall of a building in the Loa street in the Schuman district. (See also the top photo)

I also visited the new headquarters of NATO in the northeast side of Brussels. It opened in 2018. (See also the 2nd photo)

It was rainy when I visited the Grand Place in the enter of the city. Still, tourists were enjoying the historical atmosphere.

Toledo: Oct. 19, 2019

I visited Toledo, a historical city in La Mancha, for the first time in my life.

The city, which locates about 70km south of Madrid, was an old capital of Visigothic Kingdom.　It continued to flourish as a main city (sometimes as a capital) of the Moslem dynasties and Christian regimes which followed the Visigoth.

The city stands at the side of the Tajo River. It is now registered as a World Heritage city.

The city has witnessed the rises and the fall of many countries, races, religions and cultures.

The cathedral was built between 13^th to 15^th centuries by the rulers of the Castilla Kingdom.

El Greco’s famous pictures are displayed. (See the 2nd photo)

Christian, Muslim and Jewish people co-existed in the city in for centuries towards the 16^th century. The memory of the Jewish quarters remains.

There are many metal craft shops in the city. They sell gold and jewelries in addition to artificial crafts. The history of the rises and falls may have developed the business.

I had a pleasant time walking around the old city.

Madrid: Oct. 18-21, 2019

I visited Madrid in Spain.　It was my first visit in more than 20 years.

The basic structure of the city remained unchanged in my impression, but there have been many changes in the towns.

Many peoples gathered in the Puerta del Sol, a plaza in the center of the city. There were street performers, musicians as well as tourists and local people there. All of them were enjoying their times. (See also the top photo)

The place is kilometer zero of Span. It is also known as a place where fierce resistance battle against Napoleon’s French army took place in 1808.

Grand Via is the main shopping street of the city. People enjoyed café at the side of the sidewalks.

There are lots of masterpieces of Goya, El Greco, Velázquez and many other painters in the Prado Museum. Taking photo is prohibited inside the museum.

The museum opened in 1819. The statue of Goya was looking the sign to celebrate the 200^th anniversary. (See the 3rd photo)

The Queen Sofia Museum exhibits Picasso’s Guernica and many other masterpieces of the 20^th century. Famous pictures of Dali and Miro are in the museum.

Current works ware also displayed. I found that some of them focused on the issues such as poverty, inequality and environment problems.

Foods and drinks are excellent here in Spain. At the San Miguel market in the downtown, I found many people enjoying the tapas with wines and beers. (See also the 2nd photo)

Other must-visit places in the city include:

The royal Palace

The Plaza Mayor

They had large scale demonstrations in Barcelona when I stayed in Spain. It was organized to oppose to the decisions made by the supreme court, which sentenced years of imprisonment for the political leaders of Catalunya. They lead the independence movement of the region in 2017.

TV and newspapers reported the incident largely. People’s reactions in Madrid, however, looked to be limited.

I visited the supreme court, the congress and other places related to the politics. No movements were found around there.

I found several homeless people and beggars in the streets.

It is not sure whether it was the aftermath of the financial crisis in the early 2010s.

The country will have a re-general election in November as the formation of the new government has been unsuccessful after the latest election in April this year. I visited the headquarters of the People’s Party, the largest opposite party. No campaign posters were displayed yet.