Bandaijima

We have travelled a long way by train today to Niigata on the coast of Honshu, which looks out over the Sea of Japan in the general direction of Korea and Russia.
Fiona chose and booked our hotel without realising how spectacularly tall it is, and we have been gratuitously upgraded to a room on the 27th floor.
We gasped at this picture - the view from our bedroom window looking west at sunset!
Bandaijima is actually a district of Niigata, located at the mouth of the Shinano River, which is the largest river in Japan.
Many years ago this was one of the first Japanese ports to be opened up to international trade, now being developed commercially.
The hotel consists of a glass tower on top of the Niigata Conference Centre!
Niigata was, in 1945, scheduled as one target for nuclear bombing, but was de-selected because of adverse meteorological conditions, and replaced by Nagasaki. The thought of that makes my blood run cold.
The city is sometimes called the "City of Water" because of the two rivers that flow through it, its position next to the Japan Sea, its many wetlands, and the canals that used to run through the city. It is also sometimes referred to as the "City of Willows" because of the willow trees that lined the old canals. In recent years, the city has been promoting itself as a "Designated City of Food and Flowers" highlighting ithe large agricultural areas beyond the city boundaries, where, from our train, we saw extensive apple orchards and orangeries.
As usual everyone we meet is friendly, interested, polite and generally inquisitive, and several have engaged us in conversation as we travel, asking where we are from and sharing life stories.