The hills are alive.......

Male models in Matsue

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September 22nd 2010
Richard and I exchanged bemused glances. How had we arrived here, in a beauty salon at 9pm in rural japan, looking like a cross between a burns victim and a papier mache model? It had been an interesting, slightly surreal day...... A few days previously I had travelled from Nagasaki to Shiminoseki, where I had met David Brent, sorry, Richard off the ferry*. In an attempt to save money, Rich had ... read more

Asia » Japan » Shimane » Matsue

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In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol... ... read more