Declan Murphy <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 15, 10:26?pm, mtfes...@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:
> > John W. <worthj1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Jul 14, 8:29?pm, The 2-Belo <the2b...@msdREMOVETHIS.biglobe.ne.jp>
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > > Oh, I know it's real. I've been twisted like a pepper mill on trains during
> > > > business trips to Tokyo more times than I can count. But it's not only the
> > > > native population that largely ignores the sticks... the offshore press does,
> > > > too. I'll see country courses aimed at the backpacker guys time and again, but
> > > > for the most part the image has always been "overcrowded, futuristic".
> >
> > > I have this argument quite a bit over on tripadvisor.com. People love
> > > Tokyo. Tokyo is soo cool. Tokyo is so fascinating. Never mind that, if
> >
> > Tokyo is, in fact, fascinating, and I never got tired of it. (Best place in
> > the world to be a single guy, IMO.) And if you're a tourist, you generally
> > won't be dealing with the trains during the worst of the crushes, and
> > that helps tremendously.

> I've found everywhere in Japan to be the best place in the world to be
> a single guy, so Tokyo doesn't have much of an advantage as far as
> that is concerned - if anything, Tokyo was less easy than elsewhere.

Really? "Fish in a barrel" is phrase that came to mind.

> > But even in and around Tokyo there are relatively unspoiled areas most
> > people know nothing about; some very nice areas are pretty accessible even
> > on the Chuo-sen. Not the spectacular wooded valleys of other parts of
> > Japan, but some nice, unspoiled waterfalls, some rolling hills, etc.

> "Unspoiled waterfalls"? What does that mean?

No garbage accumlating in the basin, etc.

>  Almost every decent waterfall close to Tokyo is protected in some way.

There were some, when I lived there, that were spoiled.

Mike