1972年4月から8月までの5ヶ月間のヨーロッパ一人旅の記録。

Yokohama-Nakhodka-Khabarovsk-Moskva- Leningrad-Helsinki-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Lubeck-Hamburg-Amsterdam- Brussel-Bruge-London- Oxford- Stratfoed･upon･Avon-Lichfeild-Llangollen-Bangor-Ambleside-Keswick-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Inverness‐Loch Lomond-Edinburgh-London-Paris-Grindelwald-Zermat-Chamonix-Barcelona-Madrid-Toredo-Segovia-Granada-Lisboa-Madrid-Nazare-Madrid-Barcelona-Paris-Amsterdam-paris-Tokyo(Haneda)

Week 1 Diary in Europe 1972

4 April (Tue) Yokohama / Vladivostok Time 5 May 0:30

Last night Sakai, Seto, Ogawa - my friends from Hokkaido and Miss. Hida gave a send-off party for me in my house, so I couldn't get sleep enough.

In the morning at 6:00 Miss. Hida and I left home. The cherry blossoms were beautiful. At 8:15 we arrived at Yokohama Port. The procedure for departure started at 9:00 at No.1 gate. At 9:30 I finished the customer check, then dropped baggage in my cabin and came back to a wharf. My backpack was 18kg and a small bag 7kg. I felt a little anxious about this heavy baggage. The weather was a light rain.

Mr. Ishikawa, who had left from Hiroshima last night appeared as my first well-wisher after my girlfriend. Next were Morisawa, Suzuki, Kato, Sakai, Seto, Ogawa, my sister Kozue, Nishiwaki and Sekine. After boarding I found Kawasako had also come.

The departure of the ship was delayed for 30 minutes and I was on board at 11:00. The ship left the port at 11:30. While I had declined ticker tapes from the wharf, they threw them. It took a while before the departure; I felt a little embarrassed and it didn't feel real to go abroad alone. When I saw a small girl next me crying, I felt some reality. After the ship left the port to a point where I couldn't recognize the face of my girlfriend, I felt loneliness.

There were so many Japanese on the ship. So, it didn’t feel going abroad. After boarding, we had to change the time on our watches to 1 hour ahead.

After lunch, I felt a little sick. I spoke to an American and an Australian. They didn't care about my English ability. The cabin was hot. I still didn’t feel real.

5 April (Wed) On the Baikal /Vladivostok Time 6 May 1:45

The weather is partly cloudy. The rolling of the Baikal is very small, so I'm fine today. I feel the time interval between meals is short and it is boring to do nothing without formal meals. In the morning I talked to a Russian crew member, Mike Leepneksy, on the deck. He speaks little English, but lent me a pair of binocular and gave me a small badge. He is a very friendly and relatively a small man for a Russian. In contrast, the officers are not friendly.

In the afternoon I played billiards with my roommates on the deck and talked to Miss. Aoki who took her meal at the same table. She's going to Paris.

A dance party held for a guest player of the Royal Knights started from 9:00pm. It warmed up and I became a little chilled to remember Y once saying that the image of youth as going abroad.

I wrote post cards to Y and Sakai. The language is the biggest problem for me from now. Now we can't see Japan. Tomorrow morning we're going to land in Russia.

6 April (Thu) on the train to Khabarovsk / 11:00pm

In the morning I took a picture with Mike on the deck. He is 19 years old, lives in Spassk and has 3 sisters. I had some trouble with a customs officer about carrying a cassette recorder. After the customs control, we got into Nakhodka at 5:00pm. The weather had changed from cloudy to fine. During our voyage, it was very cold, but not so cold in Nakhodaka. The buildings around a rocky landscape without greenery seemed to be a film location sets. Mr.Taniguchi, Miss.Aoki and I took a walk till the departure time of the train 8:00pm. Children asked us for chewing gum and giving them some was a mistake. I was depressed by a forlorn atmosphere a little bit. Most of the trucks are military types. People who live here come across as if they are living through hostilities. It was my first experience that people’s eyes fell on me as a foreigner.

In the station, there are no ticket gates. Platform levels are lower than in Japan. Miss. Aoki and a couple of a Japanese man and his Swedish girl-friend were in our compartment. After 3 years' world travel with washing dishes, the man had come back to Japan on a New Year’s Day, and intends to travel Europe again now. From his delicate features he doesn't look like such kind of man. It's amazing.

Mr. Taniguchi bought a miniature bottle of cognac (2 rubles) and drunk with me. My bed is an upper bunk of a compartment. It's too hot.

7 April (Fri) Moscow time 11:00pm

At 11:00am(Vladivostok time) we arrived at Khabarovsk station. The weather is fine. On the way to Khabarovsk we could only see the woods of silver birch through train windows. I remembered the landscape of Hokkaido. There was some remaining snow. The impression of this country-side was relatively gloomy.

I couldn't imagine being in a foreign country because of so many companions. After lunch at a Khabarovsk hotel, we went to the airport. At 2:00pm we took off to Moscow. Mr.Tojo is staying at Khabarovsk, Doug is going to Moscow by train and Mr. Taniguchi is going to Irkutsk. I went with Miss. Aoki and Miss. Kawabe by plane.

We had to set our watch back 7 hours and arrived at 4:10pm at Domodedovo International Airport. They served meals twice on the plane, so we have had meals five times today. The time difference between Tokyo and Moscow is 6 hours. We can see totally flat land, with remaining snow, from the plane. From the airport 16 people on the individual tour including me went to the Hotel Metropol in a shabby bus. It took 40 minutes (40km).

My room is Room No.311, a twin room without a bath or a toilet. Surprisingly, the ceiling is very high. The weather is rainy. I can see the Kremlin and the Bolshoi theatre from my room. Four of us went into the city center and took dinner in a cafeteria. It was nearly the same restaurant as for students at my university. I couldn't eat yoghurt because it was non-sweetened. A shady man called me in a street. Niet!

The long day was over, it was 7 hours longer than usual and I was exhausted. I took a shower and washed my clothes.

Moscow is a big city, many people and many cars. But the atmosphere is quiet compared with that of Tokyo. I felt rather lonely. We couldn’t see neon signs in the streets. I'm traveling alone from tomorrow. I feel anxious. Miss. Aoki is going to Wien. She is studying painting in Paris.

8 April (Sat) Moscow

In the morning, I have breakfast in a cafe of Metropol hotel with Miss. Aoki and Y. We went on a city sightseeing excursion from the National Hotel at 9:30am. The River Moscow, the Kremlin Wall, Red Square and the University Moscow. The weather was rainy and chilly. In the afternoon, after we checked out the hotel, three of us went to Gorky Street and had lunch in the restaurant at the Minsk Hotel. Everything was slow. They didn't bring menus promptly and also didn't take our order for a while. We waited with patience.

We searched the underground station and got the tickets from a ticket machine. We inserted 10 kopek and we got 2 coins (each 5 kopeks) for the underground.

The escalator was amazing and very deep to the underground station. And the station was also beautiful. High ceilings and gorgeous chandeliers. Modern beauty in Tokyo and Classical beauty in Moscow. We hadn't known the name of the station, so we took potluck on a train to get on and get off in the next station. It was the station in front of the Metropol Hotel. We walked from Red Square and visited Lenin’s Mausoleum, Spasskaya Bashaya, St. Basil's Cathedral and walked along the bank of the River Moscow. The river was muddy from melting snow.

Once, we got on a trolley bus, in the terminal, but we didn’t know how to pay our charge. So, that was it. Da-! We took dinner with wine at the Metropol Hotel. 6 dollars, more than my expectation. Russians were seated next to us and they invited us for beer. It had a light taste. We talked in German and English to each other.

At 10:00pm, I knocked on the door of Miss. Kawabe's room. The key didn't operate properly from inside of the room. I asked an old lady who took care of all keys on each floor to help. She was very unkind. She spoke loud Russian only. Niet! So I couldn't meet Miss. Kawabe before I left. At 10:40pm, I went to Leningrad Bazar Station by car arranged by Intourist (the Russian travel agency). 5 solo Japanese tourists. There was a young Japanese guy who was going to Leningrad in my compartment. The train left Moscow at 11:40pm. I fell asleep easily.

9 April (Sun) Leningrad

At 7:05am, the train arrived at Moscow Station in Leningrad. An Intourist person guided us to the Hotel Astria. There were few people in the street on Sunday morning. I left my luggage in my companion’s room and took a short walk around the hotel. After breakfast at the hotel, we went on an excursion with a guide who spoke Japanese. Some ice was still floating on the Neva River and snow-flakes sometimes came down from the sky. It was bitterly cold.

The Winter Palace and The Russian cruiser Aurora (She battled the Japanese Navy in the Russo Japanese War. One of the first incidents of the October Revolution took place on this cruiser). There are more than 100 museums in Leningrad, so if I could have understood Russian, I'd like to have more time to look around. I generally prefer the baroque buildings, to the classic style. Today being Sunday, there were many solders in front of the Winter Palace, where was the site of the famous "Bloody Sunday".

I met a Japanese woman in the hotel. She had left Yokohama a week ahead of me and had come here by the Siberian railway. It was the same course as my companion had done.

I had genuine piroshkis and a cup of coffee for lunch in a cafe in Nevsky Avenue. The coffee was too weak and 44 kopeks. Generally Russian ice cream tastes good.

At 10:15pm, we went to Finland station with an Intourist guide and joined on American students group. The residents of my compartment were two American boys aged 14 and 13 (colored) and her. At first they called us Chinese. They were very merry, friendly and treated us to a Russian tea with jam. I happened to feel some kind of patriotism after just only 6 days leave from Japan. I hold myself to be careful. I wrote post cards to Y and Miss. Sekine.

10 April (Mon) 11 morning; Wrote at Helsinki Stadium Youth hostel

At 8:55am (Helsinki time, Moscow time 9:55), we arrived at Helsinki Central station. The first of all I exchanged money, 10 dollars to Marks. (1 Mark =186 Yen) When I left my luggage in the station, a Finnish man next to me gave me a coin. I was very impressed by the hospitality of this country. I got on a street car No.3T to check the place where a youth hostel was. It was a suburb a little far from the station. The weather was cloudy and sometimes rainy. I got a student flight program in the office of the ISTC. We had lunch in a cafe and departed. A bread roll and a cup of coffee were 400 Yen. That’s expensive. Compared to Russia, show-cases in the streets were gorgeous. It's the same as Japan. One difference is the selling of pornography in the streets. We could see Japanese products made by such as Toshiba, Seiko. On the way to the youth hostel, I was rumbling the streets. Women are so beautiful. I happened to go into a cemetery; I saw squirrels and they rode on my hand to ask for food. It's incredible that wild squirrels live in a center of the city. It might be far from pollution. I took a rest in a cafe and found the music "Sumidagawa". At 5:00pm I called the youth hostel. A man next to me gave me two coins again. I had been afraid of the Japanese reputation in Helsinki. Surprisingly people are very kind. At 6:00pm I go to the youth hostel. My roommates are 3 Japanese. All of us are on the start line now.

Week 2　Diary in Europe 1972

11 April (Tue) at 11:00pm Helsinki time : Cabin 228 at The Aallotar

I got food for breakfast from my roommates. If possible I'd like to stay one more night, but the youth hostel was full and the ship departures didn’t suit my travel plans. So, I took a shower and went to the station with my backpack. My roommates and I split up after arranging to meet at the station at 4:45pm. The Stockholm street cars No.3T and 3B start in front of the station, wind round it and go along Mannelheim Street towards the Studion. Actually, the distance from the youth hostel to the station was shorter than I thought, some 2 km. I went to the port and looked around a market. People were selling vegetables, fruits, fish, commodities and flowers on the stalls. Sea gulls were flying over the market. The colors of the vegetables and flowers were so beautiful. A lot of small block of drift ice were floating in the port. I walked past in front of a fruit stall which a beautiful girl was tending. I drank a cup of coffee under a marque. I searched for Japanese books in a book shop which reminded me of Kinokuniya. I could only find one Japanese book, by Yukio Mishima: the cover photo was his naked body with a national flag’s head band. I thought it was ugly. I bought two post cards in the Stokmman Department store, and send them to my home and Y. I passed by the Parliament Building, the National Museum, and the Finlandia Hall, and went around a lake. There are a lot of parks and the people who live here seem to love nature. We can see colorful curtains in apartments, and can see their good tastes. We arrived at the port at 5:30pm. The ship was named the Aallotar. Its interior design was also beautiful. Our cabin was for two. White, blue, green, yellow. Very colorful.

At 6:00pm, the ship set off for Stockholm in the icy Nordic Sea. There was a beautiful sunset. It seemed that the people don't get so much sunshine in Helsinki. At an old fort on the rocks, guns aimed to the sea.

The ship is going into a thick fog surrounded by drift ice. Tomorrow morning, we're arriving at Stockholm.

12 April (Wed) at 7:35pm Sweden time in Stockholm

I set my watch back 1 hour. Our ship got into port in a suburb of Stockholm at 8:30am. As we approached the harbor, the channel gradually got narrower. My roommate was asked about a pack of cigarettes in his baggage by the Customs officer. He probably looked suspicious. We went to a tube station by bus and went to the T-Central Station. Many Japanese who had left Yokohama on the 28th of March and the 4th of April were there. I checked in at a youth hostel after phoning. The hostel itself was actually a good looking sailing boat named Af Chapman with the big white sails. The rate was 12 Swedish Krone per night. It was expensive. I felt tired after hopping cities through the week, so I was going to stay here two nights in spite of its high cost and strict rules. In Stockholm, the people speak English very well. And it seemed that there were a lot of sex shops, more than in Helsinki.

I took a set-lunch in a bar for SKr 8.25. It was the first dish which I was fully satisfied with on this trip. Two Japanese guys were working in this bar. They looked earnest. My concern about disrepute of Japanese had been groundless. People were friendly enough. It was the same as in Helsinki. I walked alone in the Old City. There was little traffic. Few people were walking in the narrow streets. It was a city of the last century. Stone made historical buildings made a deep impression on me.

I bought food for dinner at a supermarket, and paid SKr.4.80

I've not been to any of museums I had planned to go to yet. I’ve just been wondering the streets. Is this what I've intended?

So many Japanese were staying at this youth hostel. Encouragement and anxiety. I found myself doubting whether I'd been in a street in a foreign country or not. Was I just wondering the streets of Ginza or Shinjuku? I wrote post cards to Y and Ishikawa.

I’m exhausted by walking all day! No more walking. Good night!

13 April (Thu) at 9:30pm Sweden time In Stockholm

The checkout time of Af Chapman was 9:00am. I changed 7 Dollars to SKr at a bank, and went to the Drottoningholm Palace with four companions. It was in good repair and quiet; few people were visiting, this still been April. We went to a market and got food for SKr12. After breakfast, I rambled along the streets with Mr. Seya. Today had the best weather of my travels. In the evening it was very cold in the street of Gamla Stan.

14 April (Fri) in Copenhagen 10:30pm

At 7:40am, the train left Stockholm for Copenhagen. I paid 4 Krone for the express charge on the train. No ticket gate, no bell. We could go straight onto a platform. The compartment was wide and comfortable. A Turkish girl was in the seat next to me. She could speak a little English. She was working for a leather trading company in Istanbul. She was pretty and was the first foreign girl I’d had a friendly conversation with. She showed me her family picture and I took a picture of her and we ate snacks together. She invited me to visit Istanbul. If I have enough time, I'd like to go.

Two carriages were set on the ferry and then transported over the sea from Sweden to Denmark. The weather was clear and a little bit cold. From the ferry we could see Kronborg Castle, the famous stage for the setting of Hamlet, and then arrived in Denmark. At 3:20pm, we arrived at Copenhagen Station and the Turkish girl left for Paris.

On the train I met Mr.Yamada who had stayed at the same youth hostel the night before. He was a 4th grade student, majoring in economics in Waseda University. But like me; he was travelling a year off.

We went to the youth hostel and checked in. The streets looked disorderly compared to those of Helsinki and Stockholm. Stroget reminded me of the upscale shopping district of Ginza in Tokyo. It has a car free zone like Shinjuku. I wasn’t surprised to see young Japanese there. I took lunch in a cafeteria similar to one at my university. There were a lot of Japanese at the youth hostel. There was a big dormitory like the Abashiri Youth Hostel in Japan. I wrote letters to Y and my sister.

Gradually I'm getting used to traveling. From now on! Goodnight!

15 April (Sat) In Copenhagen 11:55pm

Breakfast was a cup of coffee, a glass of milk, slices of cheese and some white breads.

I planned to visit Hersinger, which I passed through on the train yesterday. I hesitated about hitchhiking in Europe at first, but I thought it was one of the ways to communicate with local people. I walked for five hours from the city center towards Hersinger. I was a bit embarrassed about walking on a pavement while holding my thumb out, not only for making myself conspicuous but also for the fact of hitchhiking itself. Finally, a red Fiat stopped. A young man and his beautiful wife picked me up. They seemed to be Danish. People who lived there were international. We drove on the best highway in Denmark to Kronborg Castle at a speed of 120 km/hour. When I got out the castle, I gave them a Japanese talisman and took their photo.

There was an old man who spoke Japanese very skillfully at the ticket office. I met Mr.Yamada in the castle again. He had come by train. The castle was built in the 16th century and now exhibited a lot of world treasures. We could see rare wooden ceiling beams. More than 10 cannons aimed at the opposite shore, which was Sweden. Inside the castle was a maritime museum. There were a lot of exhibits, and great old doors! I imagined the life of knights in the 16th century.

I hitchhiked back to Copenhagen and was given a lift by two young Germans. I was surprised at their English ability. Their car was the same make of Fiat as I’d ridden in on my way there, and we traveled at 140 km/hour. After arriving in Copenhagen, we went to a cafe ran by a Japanese man. I hadn’t imagined listening to “Blue Light Yokohama” in a foreign country.

I was invited by them to go a beat and jazz concert beginning at 9:00pm. I tried a kind of LSD for the first time there. It was smaller than a single grain of rice. A lot of people smoked hash-eesh and took other drugs. They seemed to be high. I was invited to try those drugs but I refused because of a fear of addiction. I would never have had a chance to try those in Japan, so, I’d lost the opportunity forever. There were so many couples there and I remembered Y. I wondered if she was a little bit lonely at Yokohama.

I'll write to her tomorrow.

16 April (Sun) in Lubeck 17 (Mon) 11:00am wrote

I left Copenhagen yesterday after visiting the Mermaid statue and flicking through some porno-magazines. It was a cloudy and cold day. The Mermaid was sitting quietly on the shore 2 kms away from Central Station. Some dew drops on her face added to her lonely expression. I liked it all the better for a common statue, although it was famous throughout the world because of a story book.

Most of the pornographic magazines were nearly the same with only sexy, erotic and grotesque scenes. Anyway we couldn't see those pictures in Japan.

Yesterday was a Danish national holiday, the Queen's birthday. Coincidentally, I saw her and her family on the balcony of the palace.

When I was waiting for the 4:00pm train, I met Mr. Seya again. On the same day I’d left, he had tried to leave Stockholm by hitchhike. But after walking for 8 hours (and covering 30 kms) he had got on a train and arrived at Stockholm yesterday.

Mr. Yamada had left for the country side that morning.

At 4:00pm, I left Copenhagen for Paris on the Nord Express. I left Denmark.

I arrived at Lubeck Station around 8:00pm. It was Sunday and was too late to exchange money. I changed a 50-Mark traveler’s check into cash at a restaurant. I phoned a youth hostel but it was the wrong number, and a man bawled at me in German. But a man nearby me was kind enough to direct me to the Bahnhof Hotel near the station. I checked in to the cheapest room of the hotel. The rate was 12 Marks including breakfast and the room was on the 4th floor, an attic room but neat and clean. Hot water was supplied and I was satisfied with it! I wrote letters to Miss. Araki and Y. I had enough sleep and got up at 9:00am.

I'll stay here one more night.

17 April (Mon) in Lubeck 11:55pm

I left two weeks ago. Now, I’m staying at a hotel and preparing for the next part of my trip; I’ve re-arranged my backpack, washed my clothes etc. and I’ve reminded myself that my diary should be written on a daily basis.

Breakfast was a pot of coffee, two bread rolls and jam at the hotel.

At 11:00am, I left the hotel and went to the bank in the station and exchanged my remaining Danish krones into marks. I posted letters in a post office.

On the way from the station to the city center, the street went over a bridge and to a big red baroque-style building called Holstentor (Holstein Gate) with a pair of towers on its front. It was built in 1477. Behind it on the right was St. Petri Kirche and on the left was Marienkirche. They are distinguished by their red brick towers and red roofs. Lubeck was famous for being the centre of the Hanseatic League. There was a beautiful green lawn, budding tulips, pansies and other flowers in front of the Holstein Gate.

Girls in Northern Europe seem to be much prettier than here. I didn't notice any Japanese while I was walking through the city centre. And no-one seemed to bother about me being a foreigner, so I felt at ease. I felt nobody knew what nationality I was, Indian, Vietnamese or Chinese. Yes, I also couldn't identify the different nationalities of Europeans.

St. Petri Kirche is a place for sightseeing. A mother and a girl and the grandfather were in the ticket office. When I entered, I was the only tourist and the mother was singing the song “Tulip” to her child. I knew the tune! I’d thought it was a Japanese song. The grandfather operated the elevator which went to the top of the tower. It was a little bit cold, but the view of the old European town from there was wonderful. I had a late lunch in a restaurant, which consisted of a glass of Australian red wine and some fried chicken and paid 800 Yen. I treated myself!

It had been a cloudy today.

Week 3    Diary in Europe 1972

18 April (Tue)     10:20pm at Hamburg youth hostel

I got up at 9:00am. After breakfast, I paid the hotel charge at the front desk, left my backpack and went out. The charge was M.25.25 for 2 nights. It was more expensive than that of a youth hostel, but more comfortable.
I went to the border with East Germany at Eichholz by the No.5 bus. At the border, there was a brook with green meadows spread out on the western side.  We could see bushes and barbed-wire entanglements, and also some concrete towers and wooden sentry boxes on the opposite side. The road run from west to east and it disappeared under growing grass. Railway trucks went in the same direction in the same condition. They aren’t used any more. There wasn't the Iron Curtain anywhere, just stockades continuing over the hill. Birds were free to fly over. Seven soldiers wearing camouflaged uniforms and holding machine guns were watching the surroundings with binoculars. I certainly felt a wall and actual fear of being shot.
 Back in Lubeck, I visited a museum in the Holstein Gate. It had been closed yesterday. There were a lot of remains about the historical Hanza Union.
 I left Lubeck at 3:29pm on the Italian Express. There were no mountains in that area. The land wasn't flat, but was continuous green hills covered with grass.

I arrived in Hamburg at 4:21pm. I was exhausted after getting to the youth hostel on the underground. It is an international city, the second biggest city in Germany and one of the largest ports in the world. However, I haven't taken a fancy to the city. We can see a lot of foreigners in the streets. The big city of Tokyo was already enough for me.
　I met Mr.Setani and Mr.Yamada in a youth hostel yet again.

I have a feeling of gloom, because of anxiety. It may be called "fear". Through the last two weeks of my city to city tour, I haven’t been able to find a feeling of freshness; visiting stations, old churches and youth hostels. I’ve come to Hamburg without any trouble or adventures. Does it mean a lack of sensitivity? I haven't had a feeling of loneliness yet. An inner voice asks me, "Why did you come to Europe?" If I said it to Sakai, would he laugh at me? Even if I had enough money, this journey would make it hard on my spirit.

19 April (Wed).     8:15pm at Hamburg youth hostel
I went into the centre of Hamburg. I drank a cup of genuine coffee for M.1 at Cafe Le Petite Coin. And I spent some time reading "Situation Ⅲ" written by Sartre. The weather was very changeable; sunshine, cloud and rain. I felt some antipathy towards the youth hostel, and myself.

20 April (Tue)      10:30pm at Amsterdam youth hostel

It was cloudy in Hamburg. I got on a train at Hauptbahnhof at 9:00am and changed trains at Osnabruck to Amsterdam. If the weather had been sunny, I would hitch-hiked to Goslar. The weather seems to affect human spirits. It was getting clearer when a train crossed border into Holland. At 3:36pm, I arrived at Amsterdam Central Station. There were tulip beds in front of the station, the bustle of people and canals. The atmosphere was very different from what I had imagined. I knew I would really get to like this city. It was a dirty city with so much litter in the street, but it had a cozy atmosphere. The sound of a hand organ was pleasant. In spite of the muddy canal water, I could understand the feeling of Rembrandt and Van Gogh. I enjoyed the view of canal path at the back of the youth hostel. I wrote a letter to Y.    

Tomorrow I'll write post cards to my friends who gave me parting gifts.
Why are the people who stay at a youth hostel so dirty?

I have to talk to foreigners more.

21 April (Wed). 10:30pm at Amsterdam youth hostel

By checking my records, I found that my average expense was $8 per day. It was a little over budget. Today the weather was nice, so I felt good all day long. I had breakfast in the youth hostel and went into the city-centre alone with a help of a map. From the back of Mint Tower to the flower market, I took a walk along the sides of canals, and I called at JAL’s office to read Japanese newspapers.

After the walk, I went to the National Museum and saw Dutch oil paintings, including those of Dutch masters such as Rembrandt. "The Night Watch" was a huge masterpiece. But I was little interested in paintings of the 17^th century. The    entrance fee was GL.2. Daffodils were very beautiful in the park at the back of the museum. I took lunch in the café in the Municipal Museum. We can see Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso and other modern abstract paintings in the museum. "Fiddler "and "Man with seven fingers" by Chagall were worthy of seeing. So were Gogh's. Anne Frank's house, behind West Church was just an ordinary house which was only indicated by a name plate at the entrance. After climbing the steep stairs inside, I came to the entrance of the hidden room behind some bookshelves. Her room had been kept as it was and her portrait was on the wall. I could see markings of children's heights on the pillar. A part of her diary in 1945 touched my heart deeply.
A lot of people use bicycles in Holland. Girls in miniskirts on bikes caught my eyes, many with seemingly long feet.
In the evening, my roommates and I went to the street, which is famous for "decorative windows". The windows were bigger than I had imaged. There was a girl sitting on the chair under a red light with her legs crossed. Another girl, with her arms crossed, standing on the edge of the road leaning against a wall. There seemed to be a great range in their ages. The road along the canal was not so empty. A girl beckoned us and another girl spoke to us in Japanese. When we were walking along through a narrow alley where those girls were on the both sides, I felt "change of subject and object", as if we were being selected. I was embarrassed and hurried along the street, watching them with in the corner of my eyes, of course. Eventually I went back to the youth hostel alone, feeling some hidden desire and unexpressed sorrow.

　I have to remind myself not to read Japanese newspapers during my stay in Europe.

22 April (Sat)     9:45pm    at Amsterdam youth hostel
I took breakfast at the youth hostel and went to Keukenhof Tulip Garden, in an Amsterdam suburb, from Central Station. I got on the special train to the garden. The return ticket to Lisse was GL.7.5. The weather was fine. We could see red, purple and yellow carpets in the fields from the train. There were a lot of visitors at Keukenhof, and it attracted large numbers of tourists just like famous places in Japan. The tulip garden was absolutely huge and the colors were brilliant.  I saw a lot more species than I had imagined, and they had charming names. I even found the name "Yokohama".
Lisse was a local station, only just a station. There was no ticket gate, the same as at Amsterdam Central Station. And on my return, I didn’t have my ticket inspected.

23 April (Sun)   on the train to Brussels
It was a very lucky day. I left my baggage at the station and went to hitch to Volendom. The weather wasn't so good and a little bit cold.
Mr. Kay gave me a lift and we drove to Volendom. He was a 27-year-old yachtsman and had 2-year- old child in Stockholm, but was not married. We called at a restaurant and he treated me to a glass of beer, herrings and eels. It was a famous local restaurant and I tried escargots for the first time. I hadn’t expected to try them there.  They were absolutely delicious.
His yacht was a big cruiser and named "Jessica" is after his daughter.
In this area, the land is totally flat and divided by small dykes.

We went back to Amsterdam and drunk coffee on a cafe terrace. He was German and has been staying Amsterdam for three months. Next July he is going to sail in the Mediterranean Sea, so we arranged to meet again in Nice. He showed me the train to Brussels and we parted.
I spent nothing today, despite my wonderful meal. "Eel" had tasted like "smoked Unagi" and was very good. We had eaten raw herrings with leeks by holding their tails and starting with their heads..
I left Amsterdam at 5:28pm.

　I’m going to stay at the youth hostel in Brussels.

24 April (Mon)    at Bruges youth hostel
It’s 8:40pm and it’s still dusk outside. It's a little windy and cold. The sky is clear and blue. I'm in a dining area/lobby of the Youth Hostel. Few people are staying here. I'm the only Japanese.
Let me go outside and indulge in some sentimental feeling under the evening sky.

I've almost forgotten Brussels already. I left there at 5:44pm and came to Bruges. It seems to be a town of the past. A tranquil town is better than a big city.  I didn’t think there is much difference between big cities, even if they have their own history.
If you come to Europe, Lubeck, Amsterdam and Bruges would be worth a visit.
A girl who is writing a letter opposite me has sadness in her eyes. This youth hostel seems to make people sentimental.  I remember some lyrics of the fishery department's rallying song at my university. Ishikawa sang it to me at the port of Yokohama at my departure. "I'm fierce in my mind, but not a fiend." I'm probably a man of weaker character than average. A Japanese wallows in sentiment among strangers.

Week 4　Diary in Europe 1972      2014/11/13 Bob’s Review

25 April (Tue)　5 Doughty Street London

I went to the city center of Bruges with a student from Amsterdam who was in the next my bed to me last night. There was a cold wind blowing and I felt very cold.

I went with him to various place of interest. I wrote a post card in a cafe at Markt Square. Burges was an old and quiet city.

I took the13:59train to Ostend and I boarded a ferry. It put out to the Strait of Dover at 17:45and went along the coast passing Dunkirk, the scene of British evacuation in 1940.

I landed at last at Dover in the UK at 18:00. As we approached England, I saw the famous white cliffs. Unlike what I had been told, immigration procedure was swift, and boarded a train. Dover was exactly the U.K. and I could see beautiful famous white cliffs. I spoke to a girl in the ATS opposite me, she was working for Royal Army and was going to go home from Germany on leave.

The train arrived at London Victoria Station at 20:20. When I got off the train, I found Mr. Landon and Japanese guy who were waiting for me. It was a big surprise and joy. I’ve send Mr. Landon my message to arrive today or tomorrow. While on the train, I wondered how I would get to Doughty Street. There were two trains from Ostend to Victoria daily and they had waited for an earlier train too. Since I hadn't expected him to meet me, I was delighted to see him waiting for me. His Japanese companion named Takuro was on leave as I was from the second grade of Hokkaido Univ.

Three of us went to a Chinese restaurant in Soho. We were guests of John. After dinner he put on some coins on a saucer of the tea. He taught me how to pay a tip. We went to his flat in 5 Doughty Street. The apartment block was mainly occupied by students from Kenya, India, Ghana and etc. My roommate was a Ghanaian named Mr. Quincy. I took a bath for the first time in my trip. I went to bed at 01:00. Goodnight!

I got Mis. Hida’s letter from Mr. Landon at Victoria Station. She told me in her letter she had at last received the cards I had sent from the Continent. She said she could come to Europe this summer. I was a little worried about her health.

26 April (Wed) 11:30pm Doughty Street London

After breakfast John and I discussed where I would stay that night. The flat was primarily used for Christian students. Takuro had been staying there for nearly three months, but it was an exception made at John's request. I was reluctant to ask John for the same consideration. But anyway, three pounds fifty per week was very cheap. Those B&B near here was two pounds per night. I called youth hostels in London, but all of them were full. There seemed to be about 6000 Japanese students studying English in London and including other Japanese would increase the number to 10000. It was unbelievable. Each student hotel was full, and I was completely at a loss. So, John asked the apartment manager (a lady named Dotter who are called Chief) to allow me to stay for one more week.

I had a 40 pence lunch at a restaurant and my evening meal was a 13 pence pie and mash potato from a take away. Generally accommodation and travel are quite expensive. Live in London is very costly.

I sent a letter to Yasuko by express mail. If she comes in July, I'll have to wait for her in London. But I’ll be short of money if I can't work until she comes. Rather than stay in London, I decided to tour the country. To save money I decided hitch-hiking would be the best option.

It’ll be dreary to stay at a Youth Hostel when Yasuko joins me in London.

John said that his fiancé Tina came this Saturday. He is going to marry her next year. I’m very envious of him.

 Quincy is studying for an exam next week.

27 April (Thu) 11:59pm Doughty Street London

I got up late this morning.

Takuro and I went out to the city center. We had a 35 pence lunch at New Shanghai with Takuro’s Yugoslavian friend. Piccadilly Circus was just a messy place. It didn't live up to my expectation. However the traditional red buses and black cabs were a delight to see. When the bus stopped at the traffic lights, we could get on or off anyplace. Regents Park was surprisingly wide and quiet. The weather was cloudy and occasionally sunny.

We went to the Zoo to see famous giant pandas (called chichi and Minmin), but they were too old to leave their den. We felt that we had been cheated? 

We went back to Doughty Street at 7:00pm. Dinner: pie, corn, Hamburg a 30 pence.

I wrote letters to Yasuko and my grandfather. I received an English summer school guide which she considered attending this summer. The post mark was 25^th. I talked with Quincy while we were drinking Japanese tea. He knew a lot of things about Japan. As might be expected, he was studying economics. When he went to bed, he prepared a hot-water bottle in his bed. He said that the nights of London were cooler than his country. Good-night!

28 April (Fri) Doughty Street London

Today was the first time I had ventured out alone in London.

The Houses of Parliament (House of Lords and House of Common). Big Ben. Those buildings were on the banks of River Thames and had great depth of history (Bob taught me later it was rebuilt in1834 after an accidental fire). These buildings are steeped in history. I joined the tour of the House of Commons. From the visitors’ gallery we saw one of a front bench MP slouched in his seat with his feet on the edge of table. I was surprised to see an MP in such an indolent attitude.

Westminster Abbey had very beautiful stained glass windows and many different memorial stones and plaques. The first Labor Party’s Prime Minister MacDonald, Newton, Lord Byron, Keats, Sherry, Bronte sisters, TS Eliot, Livingstone and Royal family.

To reach the underground platform, we went down in huge lift.

Mainly Asian party was held in the open house. Most of the people spoke English fluently, so I was worried about my limited knowledge of English.

I wrote a letter to Yasuko.

29 April (Sat) 30(Sun)  3:00am  Doughty Street London

It was raining and there was a strong wind blowing.

I had a slight cold and coughed and sneezed, so I stayed at my flat all day long. I had 5 or 6 hour-long conversations with Mr. Arimoto from morning to midnight. The subjects were as follows.

・Power cut for 7 weeks in London

・Using English for university education in Asian and African countries

They have more than a hundred tribal languages in those countries and it’s impossible to unify one language. But using one's own language is a barometer of one's own culture.

・About girlfriends ( Bob taught me the word of " birds" later)

I’m going to stay at the Youth Hostel from the 1^st of May on Monday. And anyway I feel that only sightseeing is unproductive.

30 April (Sun)  1 May 11:30pm  Holland Youth Hostel London

It’s mostly cloudy with occasional sunshine. I had a head ache from the slight cold.

I went to Hyde Park via Victoria station. There were many families and couples in the big park hoping for better weather. The tulip beds in the extensive lawns were a delight to see.

What do I think about, while sitting on a bench in a foreign country? I sometimes have a sense of loneliness.

As I left my flat at 3 pm, it was almost past 5 pm when I arrived at Tower of London. I saw Tower Bridge spanning the Thames and I was beginning to feel the evening chill. I paused for a while amid the passing crowds.

1 May (Mon)   2 May at Tower of London

At 8 am having wakened later than usual, I went to Buckingham Palace to see “the Changing of the guard”. The weather was not so bad. I arrived in front of the palace at 10:00, but it was said that the event started at 11:30. The guards wore that traditional uniform and I was impressed by the precision of their drill. People gradually crowded around the Palace gates and the Victoria Memorial. I heard Scottish music from far away and my pulses rose at the thought of the coming spectacular event. Some mounted police officers appeared and moved tourists. The Scottish Band and the Royal Guards with Bearskin head gear wearing bright red uniforms marched down the Mall. My position wasn’t so good, so I could hardly see “the changing of the guard” myself. But it pleased me to see the other tourists enjoying it so much.

This ceremony takes place every day. It is marvelous sight for visitors.  Anyway the guards were very cool. I was surprised that the band played 6 tunes and all of them were current popular melodies.

I went to Trafalgar Square via the Mall. I looked around the National Gallery for two hours. I was pleased to see the entry was free. I like French modern paintings such as Cezanne, Monet, and Pissarro. The night in Montmartre by Pissarro and Water Lilies by Monet made a great impression on me. The exquisite color scheme in Monet’s work was delight to see.

In the afternoon I moved to the Youth Hostel at Holland Park (High Street Kensington).

Week 9　 Diary in Europe 1972  Part of Dulwich visit

This translation made by Bob’s assistance in 2014

3 June (Sat)

Today was the official Queen’s Birthday and the Trooping of the colour ceremony took place. Unfortunately I was elsewhere and didn’t see it.

It was a cloudy day and occasional rain. I visited the Egyptian room in the British Museum in the afternoon.

I had an appointment with Mr. Bob Denwood at 5:30 pm at the Oval on Northern Line. He was a man who I met in the Lake District while hitch-hike to Scotland (on the way to from Keswick to Glasgow). He gave me a lift to Carlisle. He said “I had been to Japan this April. If you’ll go back to London, would you visit my house?”

 He took me to his house in the rain. And on the way to his house we stopped for a pint of beer at “the Grey Hound”, an old pub in Dulwich Village.

His small wife, Betty, was quite petite. A 17 year-old daughter, Carollyne, was now at University and living away from home. So I was unable to meet her just them.

 It was a 1920’s detached four bedroom house, an old but had the quite new interiors. It was very nicely decorated throughout by themselves. There were so many collections.

We watched the Queen’s Birthday cerebrations on TV at 8:00pm.

4 June (Sun)

Bob brought me a cup of tea to my bedroom in the morning. We went to the airfield “Biggin Hill” where he belonged to a flying club. On the way there, I saw a Spitfire and a Horker-Haricane outside St. George’s Chapel. Many private light planes were flying. I found the Kentish landscapes were very beautiful. There were many war-time buildings and I imagined the German bombers coming in the sky during the battle of Britain.

 I thought flying oneself was a wonderful feeling – Bob agreed.

 He let me shot his 1850’s American Colt Lightning rifle which was one of his collections in the corner of the airfield. It was heavy and shooting was more difficult than I had imagined.

 After a few beers in a pub, we returned to Dulwich and had lunch. I was surprised that Bob washed the dishes after lunch. I said to him that ordinary Japanese husbands never did such works, so he said “Love was more important than dignity”. I began to understand the English life style a little.

 We watched a drama “the Snow Goose” which I had learned in my university English lesson and the show of Moulin-Rouge” on TV.

5 June (Mon)

 Bob took me to Oval underground station in the morning. I arrived late for the English lesson. I had lunch in a cafeteria, as usual, and went to a bookshop. I was surprised at the cost of the book ,Marxism in Our Time, at ￡2.95 as I was short of money at that time. So I had to cut down on my food expenses.

 On my way to home, I called in John who had two letters for me from Yasuko and Miss. Tanaka. I was delighted to receive Yasuko’s letter.

23 June (Fri)

Three weeks had passed, and I hadn’t heard from Yasuko. So I didn’t want to go to my class. But it was the last day of my course. I was a little depressed. I took time to type a letter in John’s flat and returned to my flat.

 I had an appointment with Bob at 6pm at the Oval tube station, so I hurried there. On the way to his house, we had a pint in the Grey Hound. And we had a chicken dinner.

24 June (Sat)

Betty brought me a cup of tea in the morning.

At about 10am, on the way to Bob’s office, he gave me a lift to the Imperial War Museum.

 He invited me to stay again at Dulwich.

There were amazing exhibits in the museum. A biplane Swordfish, Sopwith Camel, Messerschmitt with rocket engine,Ⅵ, Ⅶ, Focke-Wulf 190, the font fuselage of Lancaster bomber and cockpit of a Zero fighter etc.

 Having seen these instruments of destruction, I thought that the money spent on their construction would have been better spent for peaceful purposes.

 I returned to my flat and I was happy to have a letter and took some travelers cheques from Yasuko. I was unable to cash them as banks were all closed for the week-end. So Bob cashed them at his shop for me. I got ￡18.95 and felt a relief.

 The letter which came from Yasuko was made me feel very homesick as I had now been away from Japan for almost 3 months.

 I packed my belongings ready to leave England and went to Bob’s shop around 5pm.

 I stayed at his house again.

 We watched an interview of Peter O’Toole of Lawrence of Arabia on TV. That was the last night in the UK after two months visit.

25 June (Sun)

Betty left for a church as an officer of girl’s guides in the morning. After Bob and I had breakfast, we went to pick Betty and Bob’s mother up. Bob’s mother was 77 year old. She and I worked in the garden in the afternoon. She looked quite young. After cutting some grass with shears, Bob and I went to a pub. It was full despite it being Sunday’s afternoon. There were people on the street in front of the pub. Betty told me only drink half a pint today, because we met an Irish friend of Bob and drunk far too much beer (2 pints) yesterday. Bob went to the pub wearing his working trousers. It seemed the light thing to do.

 Going back to the house, Betty had prepared a farewell dinner for me in the dining room. The room was white walls and surrounded by various collections. There were nice pictures hanging on the wall.

The main dish was pork with apple source assorted potato which I had dug up in the garden that morning. Port wine.

 The desert was a rhubarb tart and custard and Liqueur called Adbocadt brandy made from egg.

Bob and Betty gave me presents for all of my family. So I said Good-by to Dulwich.

 I arrived at my flat at past 5pm. I took some photos with Lui and Das. I waited for John for two hours in his flat from 7pm, but he didn’t come back. So, I left a message on his desk.

 Before 10pm, John and Mr. Arimoto were waiting for me at Victoria Station. We parted as we did when I arrived in the April.