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John Walton

@thatjohn.bsky.social
3.8K followers 326 following 7.2K posts

Editor in chief of @theupfront.media: in-depth independent aviation journalism at the heart of the passenger experience. Subscribe today! Journo, Japan travel expert & bon vivant. Lover of gardens, 22°C, crochet & Champagne. Big 🏳️‍🌈 w/the 🏳️‍⚧️, 🇫🇷 in 🇪🇺, he/him

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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 19h
*stares in french* *sips dirt/chicory coffee* *takes stiff drag of baguette-sized gauloise* you know, our unions just have not chased enough suits down in the parking lot and ripped off their shirts as they wet themselves trying to climb over a fence recently
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
OMG you are up in one of my favourite bits of Japan! Genuinely smashing. If you're passing through Shin-Aomori station, btw, the station restaurant Mē has *incredible* local horse stew (and horse sushi) and grilled-in-shell scallops.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Never been to Okinawa, so alas I can’t help you there!
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Kind of amazing and a little bit sad that Newsround — the BBC news for kids — from 1976 feels more informative and better produced than most modern TV news. (Also that apparently "the Americans were thinking of buying some" HSTs.)
youtube.com
1976: British Rail introduces high speed trains | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
static.klipy.com
Julie Andrews: A Few Of My Favourite Things
Alt: Julie Andrews: A Few Of My Favourite Things
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
another absolute banger for this lufthansa birthday livery
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ooh ooh another one is: I never know how the word “scenario” is going to come out of my mouth. Will the second be as in “air”, “are” or “marry”? It is an eternal surprise!
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This is still a no. Even if your bookers call at 1am. (Especially if your bookers call at 1am.)
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
My reverse of that is going back to New York with my very cut-glass English boarding school accent and talking to my friends, saying things like “ugh I had to schlep all the way across west fourth before I found a coffee cart”, which makes many a head explode ☺️
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
*stares directly into camera* um.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yep. All for the sake of an inch per seat.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Mine aren't that old — I moved around too much to have many childhood papers or treasures along those lines — but I do have the Korean Air boarding pass with which I entered France the first time after buying my house, to live here. As well as the (empty) bottle of Champagne I drank on the way…
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
friends, the extent to which i zoomed in on those windows with the uncertified business class inside, i cannot even tell you :))
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Let's visit Japan's easternmost railway station! We start at the industrial port city of Kushiro, in late May 2017. See "Station Diner 946"? Japan loves doing this: 946 is kyu-shi-roku, which shortens to something rather like "Kushiro". #JohnDoesJapan
A four-storey brick station with a large taxi forecourt, and a "Station Diner 946" sign.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There are very few Japanese trains I don't love. But a rural single-unit diesel railcar, marked wanman (that's Japanese importing the words "one man" for "driver-only operation) — these are some of my absolute favourites. This KiHa 54 sits just behind my all-time fave, the KiHa 40. #JohnDoesJapan
A brushed steel 1980s-looking diesel railcar with a red stripe on the front and sides.Interior, same railcar. the seats are flip-forward/back padded benches in 2-2.
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Nick Benson @ottergoose.net · 01/10/2026
Please help us get camera gear, pay airport parking fees, and take care of infrastructure costs for the volunteers documenting ICE Air across the country. We're fortunate to be well-equipped here in Minnesota; we need to help out our neighbors in other states. If able: ottergoose.net/ice
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The next city on that loop north of Kushiro is Abashiri, home to Sea of Okhotsk iceflows and, as a result, this weird blue can't-legally-call-it-beer drink. There's a great yakiniku barbecue/beer place in town where you can try it — or grab one from the station convenience store. #JohnDoesJapan
Three tasting sized beers: one dark, one BLUE, one pale ale sort of coloured.A bunch of different beers, including some in weird colours like green, red, pink and blue.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
hats shaped like butts ONLY
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Senmo Line isn't exactly smooth, as Japanese trains go, but it *is* stunning. It's part of a gorgeous several-day scenic loop you can do around much of Hokkaido that I highly recommend. #JohnDoesJapan
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Look, I told you I had a lot of this shot… Kushiro is also a great jumping-off point for the *incredible* Senmo Line up north through the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park! It's a beautiful wetland (that's Japanese for "swamp") where the tsurumaru (iconic red-crested cranes) breed. #JohnDoesJapan
A similar shot out the front window of a train down a single-track line as a few photos ago, but this time it's sunny.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I stayed a couple of nights in Kushiro, which is so small that it doesn't even have a Toyoko Inn next to the station. (It *does* have a Toyoko Inn, but it's down the main street, so I stayed at the Route Inn.) It was like this for most of the time, but the seafood was *delicious*. #JohnDoesJapan
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
So long, Higashi-Nemuro. I wonder what happened to your "most easterly station" board. #JohnDoesJapan
Slightly wider shot of the Higashi-Nemuro platform. It's wood with white rusty railings. The standard rusty white sign in hiragana, kanji and romaji is supplemented by a Japanese-language post with lat-long on it that, I presume, says "most easterly station", or at least I see the kanji for "east" on it.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Anyway, here's what Higashi-Nemuro looked like when it was a station. (Look, between you and me, I'm not entirely surprised they closed it since our one-car diesel train passed it at full speed.) #JohnDoesJapan
A shot of a small wooden platform that does in fairness look rather temporary, with a vertical white-on-blue hiragana sign that reads "Higashi-Nemuro". Beyond are rather forlorn looking houses in the mist above green weeds on a small hill
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Electronic departures board, no. Beautiful ikebana traditional Japanese flower arranging in front of a diesel railcar, yes. #JohnDoesJapan
A considered and aetherial ikebana display, with a few fronds and two flowers emerging from an inverted cone pot, in a Japanese railway station.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Anyway, back in 2017 Nemuro wasn't *quite* the easternmost station. That went to Higashi-Nemuro — East Nemuro — which closed in 2025. Back then, there were five trains a day from Nemuro itself. No need for an electronic departures board. #JohnDoesJapan
Three tracks at a station narrowing to one, which ends a few hundred metres away. A Japanese sign that looks like it says "Japan's most easterly station" or something, with lat-long and stuff on it.The terminal station sign for Nemuro, with the next station down the line being Higashi-NemuroSix daily departures on a sign, which looks printed or on posterboard. A clock shows it's 1325, with the next departure at 1333.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I can't tell you the number of photos like this I've taken over the years, with views through these front windows from all across Japan. At some point I should make a coffee table book out of them or something. #JohnDoesJapan
A shot through a misty, wet front window down the narrowgauge track into the cloud. A building looms on the right, a turnout to the left for a station in the centre.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There's just something about the sound of a rural diesel train, the movement (especially on the narrow Japanese gauge of 1067mm), the slow travel views out the window… And, of course — as the great Dolly Parton once sang — the clickity, clickity, clickity-clack. #JohnDoesJapan
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is definitely a thing we had in the west at one point! I remember about 25 years ago on the Metro-North Commuter Railroad going north from New York, they bought these incredible old railcars with flip seating for extra capacity.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It is, as you might say, atmospheric out here in the marshes on a wet May day. But you'll still find me at the front of the train looking out the front at the single track, even if there's a rail safety person there in his natty hi-viz harness. #JohnDoesJapan
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There are very few Japanese trains I don't love. But a rural single-unit diesel railcar, marked wanman (that's Japanese importing the words "one man" for "driver-only operation) — these are some of my absolute favourites. This KiHa 54 sits just behind my all-time fave, the KiHa 40. #JohnDoesJapan
A brushed steel 1980s-looking diesel railcar with a red stripe on the front and sides.Interior, same railcar. the seats are flip-forward/back padded benches in 2-2.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Anyway, we are off to Nemuro, as you can obviously read from the station departures board. The service is… shall we say not exactly clockface? That's our train, over at the platform.
Japanese station interior, a departure board with a couple of trains, and a silver diesel railcar at the platform beyond.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
That's like National Cat Day being on February 22, or "ni ni ni", like "nyan nyan nyan" — Japanese for "meow meow meow". As this handsome ormj floof inside my favourite Tokyo cat cafe would, I'm sure, be happy to explain.
a fluffy orange cat with white toes looking skeptical inside a cat cafe
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Let's visit Japan's easternmost railway station! We start at the industrial port city of Kushiro, in late May 2017. See "Station Diner 946"? Japan loves doing this: 946 is kyu-shi-roku, which shortens to something rather like "Kushiro". #JohnDoesJapan
A four-storey brick station with a large taxi forecourt, and a "Station Diner 946" sign.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
no but surely there has to be a word in german for "the risk of the perception of nepotism"
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
yeah, hard to think of a time when the British Airways call centres have not been experiencing unusually high call volumes in living memory, tbh…
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I often treat it as a destination, for sure! It does get busy, and you may need to wait for a window seat. But — and this is me speaking with a British sort of perspective on what "quiet" is, not a Japanese one (which would be quieter, I feel) — I haven't ever found it *too* busy.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Never let it be said that I am not an absolute ham. Nor that I am not better at MarioKart arcade version than @airlineflyer.net. 💅 #Bowser4Lyfe #JohnDoesJapan
An arcade mariokart winning screen with my photo pulling an uwu finger face in the Bowser frame in first place, and Jason's face looking sad under a… I'm not entirely sure what character? A Mars Attacks brain? frame in second place.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In the restaurant floors at the top of the easternmost tower of the Nagoya station building is a Starbucks. It has this view. A #JohnDoesJapan must-visit.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A #JohnDoesJapan tale… @airlineflyer.net's and my subsequent visit to Utsunomiya, Japan's gyoza capital, in three photos.
A table filled with five plates of gyoza and one steamer of soup dumplingsSame table, all the plates emptyA very fuzzy photo of a stone statue of a gyoza mascot, a person with a gyoza for a head
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Oh yeah, this was the #JohnDoesJapan trip, before I spoke as much Japanese as I do now (still not a lot!) and before camera-translate worked well, where @airlineflyer.net and I went to a ramen restaurant and I managed somehow to order a meal without any actual ramen
a table with two meals on. One is a plate of ramen with gyoza next to it. one is a plate of just ramen toppings, no ramen, with gyoza next to it.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
this is just a list of things that i am during a #JohnDoesJapan trip, really #concentrated #grapeful #sparkling
A grape soda where the English just says "concentrated", "grapeful" and "sparkling"
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Choo, choo, it's the sound of the SL RETRO USUI STEAM LOCOMOTIVE #JohnDoesJapan
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A happy belated Bi Visibility Day to all Shinkansen who celebrate! #JohnDoesJapan
Two doubledecker E4 Shinkansen in white-pink-purple livery, connected at the nose, underground at Ueno station.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
You might not know this about travelling to Japan, but when the baggage staff put your bags on the belt? The handle is always facing you, the customer. #JohnDoesJapan
A bunch of bags on a baggage carousel, all with the handle facing the passengers.
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sorting through some #JohnDoesJapan photos (from nearly ten years ago, lolsob). Still marvelling at this Sapporo departure for Tokyo of a 375-seater Boeing 777-200 in high-density domestic configuration, scheduled for boarding to take 15 minutes.
Airport gate sign, gate 12.

BOARDING SOON: Tokyo
Time (departure): 1200
Current timestamp: 1148
Boarding at: 1145
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
right? and it would CERTAINLY not be helpful to let people know that there is a limit of devices *when they reach that limit* so they can delete an old one rather than just silently failing when they try to add one over the limit fucking banks man
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
no, my UK bank if this were a french bank i could literally phone Mme Dupont*, the personal banking adviser with a direct line that the bank is legally required to provide me, and get her to help instead of spending 20 minutes on hold and being asked if i have heard of apps *not her real name
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
and the solution is deleting your previous and penultimate phones via the app but then UNINSTALLING THE BANK APP from your new phone then VIDEOING YOUR PASSPORT and also SCANNING YOUR PASSPORT CHIP so you can open the app to RESET THE PASSWORD to EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS BEFORE
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John Walton @thatjohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
after fifteen minutes… bank person: oh yes i see you have three phones registered for online banking, you cannot add a fourth at NO POINT does the bank app tell you this is the problem, of course, it just refuses your password on your new phone while accepting it on your old phone
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