Japanese portraits

- Mr 'So-so' sat down at the next table in the quiet Paperback Cafe section of one of the 160 bookshops in the Kanda district of Tokyo. Keen to practice his English he broke into the silence of the lunch hour readers to show us pictures of the three musicals he had seen last week during a 4 day trip to London. His favourite was"Phantom" but he was sad to have missed 'The Miz'. He punctuated each comment with a delighted staccato "So, so !"

- 6 year old Mio skipped up to us in the lounge of our luxury ryokan near Mt Fuji. "Hello !" she smiled, "How are you ? I'm fine !" She was a living contradiction of several of my first impressions: yes, there are children about (after jostling with the dozens of school groups visiting the sights in Kyoto I don't believe the birth rate is declining at all); yes, some people do speak English (again, in Kyoto we found many more who could, and actually wanted to communicate); and no, the Japanese are not born with their eyes lowered, minding their own business. The next day I learned her mother had lived in the US...

- The sixty-something, dignified but slightly motheaten hotel manager/general dogsbody at the ryokan, with his bowing, his "thank you very much, sir", "terribly sorry, sir", reminded us of someone... We realised who when we left the place, with our backpacks, in the smart chauffeur driven shuttle car. He and a chief maid lined up outside the door to bow and wish us well as we drove off - Mr Carson of Downton Abbey !

- Nishimura Kazuya is our landlord in Kyoto. He is pleasant, very attentive to our possible requirements and wishes during the stay. And yet despite his quite good English and apparently international lifestyle he remains true to stereotype: inscrutable ! Any attempt at small talk is avoided or given a vague answer which is short and non-informative,  giving nothing away, and he carefully avoids looking us in the eye. A discreet and considerate landlord, after all, what more can you ask for ?