Scans from my late father Sid's transparencies of the April-May 1966 family expedition to Japan. At Melbourne the party of four embarked on the Dominion Line's SS 'George Anson' for the voyage to Yokohama via Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Manila, Hong Kong and Keelung (the port for Taipei). From Tokyo, the party of two adults and two teenagers journeyed west across Japan by train, reaching southernmost Kyushu before turning north, as far as Sendai. The only other foreigners we encountered were a scattering of US servicemen taking local leave from their bases. We met very few English-speaking locals.

For Australians back then, overseas travel was a luxury most often enjoyed by academics or affluent retirees, and Japan seemed a rather offbeat destination. Attitudes - and cost relativities - have now done a complete about-face. Japan, too, has become considerably more 'user-friendly' for visitors.