Footloose in Bangkok: From temples to trendy nightspots
TOM VATER
BANGKOK -- Over just two centuries, Bangkok, known to its inhabitants as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (the City of Angels), has undergone a dazzling transformation from a sleepy settlement of palaces and temples to a pulsating metropolis that is home to more than 11 million people.
Kaleidoscopic, sometimes chaotic, yet friendly and never boring, the Thai capital has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as a safe and vibrant metropolis. Tourists are back, drawn by the allure of historic architecture, world-class cuisine -- from sizzling street food to Michelin-starred plates -- chic rooftop bars, buzzy speakeasies and sunset river cruises.
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Nikkei Asia
13 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Footloose in Bangkok: From temples to trendy nightspots
An evening street scene in Bangkok's Chinatown, an old quarter where real magic awaits curious wanderers. (All photos by Tom Vater except where indicated) TOM VATER BANGKOK -- Over just two centuries, Bangkok, known to its inhabitants as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (the City of Angels), has undergone a dazzling transformation from a sleepy settlement of palaces and temples to a pulsating metropolis that is home to more than 11 million people. Kaleidoscopic, sometimes chaotic, yet friendly and never boring, the Thai capital has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as a safe and vibrant metropolis. Tourists are back, drawn by the allure of historic architecture, world-class cuisine -- from sizzling street food to Michelin-starred plates -- chic rooftop bars, buzzy speakeasies and sunset river cruises.
Asahi Shimbun
2 days ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Quake rumor in Hong Kong forces canceling of Japan flights
Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai, left, holds an online meeting with Hiroki Ito, right side on screen, general manager of Hong Kong-based Greater Bay Airlines' Japan office, at the Tottori prefectural government's office in Tottori on July 2. (Yoshihiro Tomita) TOTTORI—An unfounded rumor of an impending major earthquake in Japan has forced international flights between Yonago Kitaro Airport in Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, and Hong Kong to be suspended at the end of August. The rumor that 'a major disaster will occur in Japan in July' has been spreading on social media and by other means in Hong Kong. As a result, the number of passengers on the route has plummeted since May. A representative of Hong Kong-based Greater Bay Airlines, the operator of the flights, said the rumor triggered the decision to ground the service. Hiroki Ito, general manager of the airline's Japan office, met online with Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai on July 2 and reported the decision to suspend operations. 'The trend of voluntary restraint on travel from Hong Kong to Japan has become more pronounced since the latter half of May and we are now below the break-even point,' Ito said. 'We will suspend operations for the time being and hope to resume when the situation improves.' Hirai said, 'I hope that we can continue to keep the pipeline open for discussions and communication in the future.' Regular flights between Yonago and Hong Kong had been suspended since February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheduled route had just resumed after an interval of nearly five years when Greater Bay Airlines began service in October 2024. Currently, three flights per week are in operation. The seat utilization rate had been hovering around 60 percent every month, but in May this year, the rate was 43.3 percent, a sharp drop from 58.7 percent in April. The prefectural government believed that this was due to the spread of a rumor triggered by a Japanese manga in Hong Kong. According to Greater Bay Airlines, seat utilization in June is also expected to be around 40 percent. In May, the airline reduced the number of scheduled flights between Hong Kong and Sendai and Hong Kong and Tokushima.
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
High-risk, low-return YouTuber explores world's red light districts
"I'm on YouTube because I want the people who watch my videos to think, they learned about an unfamiliar world. I'm not obsessed with making money from videos that I myself don't find interesting." So says "Muteki (Invincible) Leo," the handle of 28-year-old Japanese YouTuber who has made a name for himself by traveling around the world and posting videos about the local sex industry and dangerous places he visits. Many of his videos have obtained millions of hits. "Before I became a YouTuber, I had hardly ever traveled," Leo admits to Bunshun Online (June 29). Born and raised in rural Gifu Prefecture, Leo recalls that the nearest station to his house was practically unmanned, with only two trains per hour, and located about a 30-minute walk from his house. "In the countryside there was almost no entertainment," he said. "So I spent my middle and high school years watching YouTube all the time, particularly travel videos. In that sense, YouTube sort of offered me a small ray hope to escape my mundane existence." His first trip abroad, while a university sophomore, was to India. "From the moment we arrived, I was shocked at how different everything was from Japan," he recalls. "There were crowds of people, the air was polluted, and there were a lot of pickpockets and con artists. The buses and trains didn't run on time, so my plans were constantly messed up. On top of that, I suffered serious gastrointestinal problems for most of the trip. Still, I found it exciting." After graduating from university, Leo moved to Tokyo and worked in sales at an IT company, and then moved to a startup business where he worked as a writer and video editor. "Then the COVID pandemic hit and for a while I couldn't even travel domestically, let alone overseas. Eventually I traveled to Thailand, and posted my first video on YouTube." Back in India again, Leo visited "GB Road" the red-light district of New Delhi, and that was where he got the scare his life. "Even the locals warn you not to go there," he remarked. "But at the time, I had little travel experience, so I completely underestimated it, thinking, 'Even if it's dangerous, it's only pickpockets and rip-offs.' "As soon as I stepped into the district, hands reached out from all over and pulled my clothes. I suppose they were trying to drag me into a shop. I should have turned back then, but I gave in to curiosity and entered a shop. Then I heard the door slam shut and the lock click. "In a tiny room, mostly occupied by a bed, an extremely large man and an extremely small man were waiting for me, resembling the Toguro brothers demon team from the manga 'YuYu Hakusho.' The big guy was stomping around the room, ranting at me in what sounded like Hindi, and I thought, 'Oh god, maybe I'm done for.'" One of Leo's more memorable encounters was at a house in Bangkok, where a woman told him, "We're not selling our bodies. We're buying the future of our families." "The weight of those words was something I couldn't fully comprehend, as I had been living a safe and secure life in Japan, and it got me to thinking," he said. "I was also impressed by a young Hungarian woman I met at FKK, a mixed-gender sauna in Germany where you bathe naked. She was incredibly intelligent, and could speak five languages. She told me, 'I want to work for an international organization in the future, so I came to Germany, where the salary is better than in Hungary, to earn money for tuition.' Then I asked her, 'Don't you feel embarrassed to be seen naked by a man you don't know?' and she replied, 'What's embarrassing is giving up on your dreams.' That reply left me speechless." Leo's video of his visit to Greece received nearly 10 million unique views but earned him little money. "That video showed too much about the local sex industry, which may have been in violation of the guidelines, so it received almost no ads," he reflects, adding "YouTube determines compensation based on the number of ad views in the video, and it was hardly monetized. "But I post on YouTube because I want the people who watch my videos to think, 'I learned something about a world I didn't know.' That's why I feel it's wrong to miss experiencing things. I'm not obsessed with remuneration and don't make videos that I myself don't find interesting. "Every country has its own values and systems surrounding sex, which reveal the true face of that country," said Leo. "In other words, I think you can learn about a country's real culture and values through its sex industry." Winding up, the interviewer asked Leo about the first thing he does when he returns to Japan. "As soon as I arrive at the airport, I head for a restroom," he smiled. "Japanese heated toilet seats are the best. They are almost never available overseas, even in high-end hotels. For someone like me who gets sick often, this can be a matter of life and death. With just paper, you always end up feeling a little tired. It's a simple thing, but it's mentally taxing to endure that kind of discomfort day after day." © Japan Today
