Category: Japan

Honolulu to Tokyo

This afternoon (Wednesday) Dwight flies home, arriving Minneapolis early Thursday morning, and I fly to Tokyo, arriving Thursday evening. In Tokyo, I’ll check into an airport terminal hotel. Friday morning, I’ll fly to Kochi on Shikoku, one of Japan’s four main islands.

Swings and Roundabouts

Japan is on sale: the Yen is 30% off its February 2021 dollar price. I kept that thought in mind today when I paid in Yen for an all-Japan rail pass. The price jumped 70% last October, the first increase since it was introduced in the 1980’s. Japan’s hotels continue to be a bargain.

Japan Plan 2024

Posted Japan 2024: Plan for a Plan. Travel is iterative: each journey is a prototype for the next time I visit an area; there’s no pressure to tick off all the boxes.

Japan 2024: Plan for a Plan

I don’t do bucket lists or trips of a lifetime. Places are not to be consumed like products; the journey is not an inconvenience. Travel is iterative: each trip is a prototype for the next time I visit an area; there’s no pressure to tick off all the boxes.

Kurisumasu Sushi

Gyaru peace sign (mandatory in Japanese selfies), in front of a boatload of sushi at a family lunch today. I’m wearing a Yokohama soccer team shirt, reminding my brother-in-law and nephew of a fine evening in a Shibuya (Tokyo) bar.

Peeling Back Japan’s Layers

Assembled map layers to help figure out a trip to Japan next March. Layers include a 19th Century journey by explorer Isabella Bird, a 17th Century journey by poet Matsuo Basho, an ancient 88-temple pilgrimage, rural train lines liable to be closed, and OLLE hiking trails on Kyushu. More layers to follow.

The Magical Realism of Japan

Dwight’s in Fargo visiting his mom, so I decided to watch some anime. Chose “Paprika” where dreams and reality lose boundaries. Magical realism pervades anime, as well as much of the Japanese literature I’ve read in translation, and (for me) Japan itself. I keep going back for more.

A Final Tokyo Walk

Stowed our backpacks in lockers while we walked around Tokyo’s Ueno Park before we headed to Tokyo HND for our journey home. Lockers are ubiquitous.