The only  constant, we are told, is change.

My wife can attest to it. In 1986 and still in her 20s, she led a Malaysian trade mission to Japan to promote our contract shoe-makers.

During the first bilateral meeting, the Japanese hosts belatedly twigged that   Rebecca-san was chairing the session. 

Scandalised, the all-male contingent walked out. In high dudgeon no less! 

Today, my wife’s Japanese friends are incredulous that it ever happened. 

As if to underscore the point, Sanae Takaichi, 64,  got sworn in as Japan’s first woman Prime Minister three days ago. 

That’s not the only change. Over the last 13 years, the yen has lost half its value against the US dollar. The upshot: tourism is booming in the Land of the Rising Sun.

We can vouch for it. Kyoto is so clogged with tourists that walking through its streets last week reminded me of trying to navigate Singapore’s Orchard Road on foot on a Sunday morning, 

There’s a difference: Orchard’s wider. Kyoto was relatively spared the heavy bombing the US dished out to other Japanese cities during the 2nd World War. 

Harry Truman thought, as Kyoto was a seat of Japanese culture, it should be preserved. 

Today, cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe have been made over with skyscrapers and wide boulevards. 

In contrast, Kyoto has no skyscrapers to speak of and is fed through a network of narrow lanes that can make even a taxi ride slightly harrowing.

Throw in thousands of camera-toting,  guidebook-clutching tourists and you can see why walking the streets can be tricky. 

The massive influx of tourists isn’t universally adored. According to news reports, many Kyoto locals resent the intrusion and an attendant loss of privacy. 

If I never see a temple again, it will be too soon! Kyoto has 1,600 temples and our guide Tossy-san seemed determined to eradicate our alarming ignorance about all things Zen Buddhist. 

Tossy-san used to be the quintessential salaryman, a former Sharp executive who’d been to Singapore and the US for work-related trips.

Now 76, he relishes what he does, conducting tours of Kyoto’s shrines and tea-gardens, a sort of Zen-style-ramble through-the-bramble.  

Despite their Unesco Heritage status, the temples left me cold. But the gardens were different. Meticulously raked gravel, carefully  placed rocks, ponds with a bridge, carp and surrounding trees. It was, explained Tossy, meant to conjure a contemplative environment, a rest for the senses, if you like.  

You can get dinner at Lawsons, the Japanese 7-11. And their variety in vending machines is unbelievable – anything from pizza to hot noodles. 

The shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto to Tokyo travels at an average 285 km/hour and it’s an instructive ride. 

A crazy quilt of urban life rushes past, almost coming up to the train windows, a jumble of gray: houses, shops, hotels and factories sit cheek by jowl in an unending stream. The scene shifts suddenly,  giving way to fields of rice so green Pas would have cheered.

Then the train hits  Yokohama and it pauses only to begin  zooming out a minute later. Indeed, speed is of the essence: even a minute’s delay can elicit an apology from the service. 

Therefore, a minute before the stop, passengers are advised to get their luggage, the better to leave without delay. 

An almost continuous urban sprawl flashes past now. And it goes all the way to Tokyo.  

That’s why you aren’t surprised to learn Malaysia’s entire population could fit into Greater Tokyo. 

With room to spare too.

ENDS