SapperJon comments

Today I will have great sadness in my heart a young life lost. I will think of her and her family.

Here in UK life is back to normal only real testing is done when people enter hospital for admittance for treatment for other problems. You don't even wear masks in hospital except when medical staff ask you to, which is rare.

I see iPhone's are cheaper in Japan compared to the UK, however our VAT (purchase tax is 20%. Also I hadn't realised that mobile phone tariffs were so expensive in Japan, in the UK on Smarty carrier I pay equivalent of Y1160 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 12 GB data on a monthly rolling 5G contract.

Here in the UK we are invited to supply a faeces sample by using a supplied kit from age 60 every 3 years for bowel cancer. Women have Smear screening till 60 and mammograms at reaching 50 and then every 3 years. Men also have an aorta scan at 65 all these screening are carried out free of charge on the National Health Service.

We have the same problems with deer in most area's of the UK. I myself was lucky when I hit a Fallow deer a couple of years ago as I was going quite slowly in the dark on a country lane. My car only received minor damage to its bumper which a local garage filled and resprayed for me.

A few years ago in the same place a man was killed as the deer jump over a hedge and smashed through the windscreen killing the driver and seriously hurting his wife in the passenger seat.

It difficult to obtain a licence to own a hunting rifle and also get permission from the land owner to hunt deer, so basically their number are increasing year on year.

Mask wearing is a rare sight now in the UK, I've only warn one once and that was last week in a routine Aorta scan (65 years) at the request of the 2 nurses present, there was no requirement to wear one whilst walking around hospital.

I've had my 4th booster along with flu vaccine a couple of weeks ago so there is no more I can or want to do.

Here in the UK we queue as in Japan, it appears only truly civilised countries are not afraid to queue.

Had my flu shot last Saturday and my autumn booster of covid 19 vaccine Sunday I can do no more.

I really hope Japan doesn't get ruined like Bali and Thailand. Quantity doesn't make quality

Odd ceiling for a Victorian London building, they had cornicing and a central ceiling rose, it appears to be a rough copy of the room in the Sherlock Holmes museum in London. That London taxi dates from about 1949 long after the last Sherlock Holmes story!

Fax machines really, neither of my sons have ever used one, One works for an investment bank the other is a electrical project manager they are 41 and 39 years old. Email has been king for years and years.

I do all my government, local council and utility bills online and have done for years, my car tax and insurance is done online only old people use the telephone. I buy most items online hence why the high street shops have mostly disappeared.

Older people complain about the number of actual bank branches that have closed but here in the UK the vast majority of people do online banking either on PC's or tablets and smartphones. I myself never carry any physical money as everywhere takes debit cards or NFC payment on smartphones and due to Covid physical money is very much in decline.

The first time I visited Japan I was amazed how far behind they were, as for the USA being number 1 I can't believe it as they still use those antique cheque's.

We've been to Japan 4 times and had to cancel in 2020, we will not return until we can travel where we like without having to be part of a tour group which would be our worst nightmare. We don't mind wearing a mask inside if we have to but outside is just silly. Its very rare to see anybody wearing a mask in England even in the hospitals.

Its very rare in the UK to see anybody wearing a mask even in hospitals. Besides the cost of living worries England is back to normal and has been for quite awhile.

As a couple we are fans of Japan having visited 4 times, however we will not visit if we have to join a tour group, its not the way we travel, having to wear a mask inside we could accept but to wear one in the open air will stop us from visiting.

I live in the UK and have had 2 initial vaccinations followed by a booster. Within the next 8 weeks I will be getting the new type of vaccine that covers the Delta and Omicron variants along with the normal annual flu vaccination and yet I feel that I'm unwelcome to go to Japan. So once again I will rent a villa in Europe instead of travelling further a field.

We've been to Japan 4 times over the years as independent travellers and have absolutely no interest in joining a tour group to visit Japan we couldn't think of anything worse being dragged from place to place.

When we can finally visit we plan in visiting Nagoya, Hikone, Okayama, Hiroshima, Wakayama flying in and out of Osaka. We normally spend somewhere around Y600,000 in Japan excluding flights.

Here in England all food restaurants and takeaway outlets are regularly inspected by the local food health inspectors and awarded a star rating. I personally would never use a place without a top 5 star rating, a 1 star rating will need to improve quickly or just close due to lack of business. If a restaurant or food outlet don't display a rating in their window I would walk on by to one that has. The inspectors can shutdown a business on the spot to make improvements ready for a further inspection.

They have an inspection list that is very strict, hand washing facilities, food storage separated for types of food, cleanliness, staff food hygiene certificate's and many other checks they make.

Here where I live almost weekly we get a charity bag in our letter box collecting for lots of different charities its a convenient way to dispose of unwanted cloths books etc. You place the bag on the kerbside on the day of collection. We also have a growing number of charity shops as traditional shops disappear due to online only stores growing.

So far where I live on the south east coast of England we've had 1.2mm of rain in 2 months, my grass is brown as are all the fields around, nearly as bad as 1976.

Do they sell fizzy drinks which of course are carbonated with carbon dioxide not to mention the carbon emissions whilst making and transporting it.

Fake meat and vegan products are highly processed and full of chemicals.

Here in the UK the minimum adult wage is 1550 Yen, in a major city there is a thing called a living wage which is 1800 Yen.

Why was the un-elected EU flag there or was it a joint EU Japan meeting. The Republic of Ireland is also called, "The free state" and Eire whilst the north is known as Ulster or Northern Ireland which is part of the UK.

Here in the UK the over 70's have to renew their licence every 3 years and are legally obliged to inform the authorities of any illness or impairment. Some illness's or impairments have to be declared no matter what age, type 1 diabetes for instance.

We've visited Japan 4 time with our last trip cancelled in 2020, we will not be visiting again until we can travel and go anywhere we want. Staying on a restricted group tour would be so boring, traveling with the same people going to the top tourist destinations we have probably all ready visited. We like to visit out of the way places and experience some real Japanese culture like Mt Koyasan and Kamkura and small towns and gardens.

I've visited Japan 4 times over the years the last time was 2018 and was meant to return June 2020. I will not visit Japan again until all restrictions are removed, being on a guided tour would be our worst nightmare.

No mention in the article about the King of all cheeses 'Stilton' which is a English blue cheese and probably the best cheese in the world!

A real cheese with real taste

Here in the UK (England) life has pretty much returned to pre-pandemic levels. Only medical establishments require you to wear a mask. The majority of my friends and family have had Covid most having had the Omicron variant. Its very much on retreat now.

It's probably to late for this year but as a frequent tourist to Japan, 4 times now hopefully Japan will be open for tourists soon. May is our favourite time to visit we were due to come in May 2020!

We had to cancel our trip in 2020 I can't wait till the border is open to tourists again. It would have been our 5th holiday in Japan. I hope its soon as we're not getting any younger. My favourite places so far Mt Koya, Osaka, Kyoto, Himeji I'm afraid Tokyo not so much although Disney-sea is far better than USJ.

Here in my home town in the UK all school children wear school uniform which are different from other schools with rules about footwear which must be black, no hair colouring and only small studs in pieced ears but there are no rules that don't apply equally to boys and girls. At 16 ( sixth form college) no uniform is worn.