Microblog

I’m staying next to Hakata Station, a district of Fukuoka, so, of course I had Hakata-style ramen for dinner. The creamy broth is made from pork bones, cooked at a rolling boil for an extended period, 12 to 60 hours, depending on the recipe. I ordered and paid at a touchscreen at the entrance. When the meal was ready, the flap at the back of the cubicle rose up, and hands appeared bearing the meal. Eye contact was impossible.

I was met with icy blasts as I got off the bus at the trailhead bus stop, and after only a few hundred yards, I abandoned the ascent. Though a comfortable climb I’ve done three times before, today was not the day. There was no snow atop Mt. Yufu this morning, but this afternoon was a different story, as seen in this photo from Yufuin’s main drag.

Checked into a ryokan (traditional inn) in Yufuin, on the island of Kyushu. My room has this personal onsen with free-flowing water from a hot spring (that’s steam!) and I’ll be sleeping on a futon on tatami mats. At US$170 per day, the value is excellent, as it includes a multi-course dinner and breakfast. The tree in full bloom is a Judas Tree (or Chinese Redbud), fitting for Holy Week.

It’s been a rainy day, a good day to travel by bullet and local trains from Okayama (1) to Kyushu, one of Japan’s four main islands. I’m staying in the onsen town of Yufuin (2) for two nights then I’ll stay in Fukuoka (3) as a base for day trips.

Woke up to rain, so took the Shinkansen 130 miles to sunny Iwakuni on the other side of the weather system. At the Simose Art Museum, designed by star architect Shigeru Ban, I enjoyed a dessert lunch overlooking the Inland Sea. Eight brightly colored, rearrangeable gallery modules can be configured by two people to suit exhibition needs.

Kobo Daishi, born 774, founded Shingon Buddhism and established the Shikoku 88-temple 750-mile pilgrimage, among many accomplishments. Today I walked between temples 71, 72, 73, 74, and 75 (Zentsuji) his birthplace. I’ve now walked to 31 of the temples, sometimes more than once. The photo shows purification stations, one for each temple.

440 miles on a bullet train to Okayama, my base for the next three days. Took this rural train to Kibitsu Shrine, distinguished by a cypress bark gabled roof (unusual) and a 400-year-old, 1,200-foot covered walkway between buildings (again, unusual). Here, the train driver is doing what all train drivers do in Japan: “pointing and calling” (shisa kanko) at signals, status lights, switches, etc., with white-gloved hands. This is a safety protocol.

Took the Keikyu line from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Yokohama and checked in to the JR (Japan Rail) Hotel as the sun was setting on Thursday. I’ve stayed here before, the rooms are compact, but have everything I need. Note the pajamas on the bed. At a konbini (convenience store), picked up nigiri (rice ball), an egg salad sandwich (Japan does these well), and a small dessert to bring back to the room.

Couldn’t resist a slow-shutter shot at Chicago O’Hare ORD on my way to board a 13-hour United flight to Tokyo Haneda HND. I’ll be in Tokyo tomorrow afternoon: the machinery of travel never ceases to be an adventure.

All packed for a quick getaway tomorrow. Today I was taken off the clinical trial because it’s no longer working for me. My oncologist strongly encouraged me to go ahead with my trip: another scan and options await my return. I’ll be bearing Japanese Kit Kats from a cluttered Donki for the care team.

Helped a neighbor install the Airalo app and an eSIM for their Portugal trip. The $16 total was much better than Verizon’s $12/day international roaming. The price included a $3 discount with my code TOM7929 (feel free to use it, I get a kick-back). While I was there I helped resolve other techie issues: cheekily, Dwight called me the Florence Nightingale of Electronica.

Our Sunday walk took us across the curvy Northern Pacific Bridge Number 9, the closest Mississippi crossing to home. It closes tomorrow for eight months of railing, deck, and abutment work. I’ll miss this quick route to the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus and points beyond.

Lively works by Stravinsky and Dvořák, and a piece for four violas (unusual) by York Bowen–a British composer I wasn’t familiar with.

Assembled currency for my upcoming trip. My phone is reading the remaining balance on my Suica card, I use for local transit. That’s Hideyo Noguchi, a bacteriologist who researched rabies, polio, and syphilis, on the ¥1,000 note. Natsu Higuchi, Japan’s first prominent female writer, is on the ¥5,000 note. The nonsense in Washington this week is weakening the dollar, increasing the cost of my trip.

To fill time between body scans at the U, I peeked into “221B Baker Street” (the U has the world’s largest collection of Sherlock Holmes artifacts), explored an exhibit on Minnesota women architects, and enjoyed uplifting piano-playing at Coffman Union. Earlier, while waiting for my first scan, a pianist played funereal hymns, including “Abide with Me.”

Walked over to the Guthrie to see The Mousetrap, a play that’s inexplicably been running in London since 1952 (my mum fell asleep during it 70-odd years ago). I asked Dwight to have an elbow ready to prevent me from continuing the family tradition. By the intermission, he was ready to doze off but he had deduced the identity of the murderer. In keeping with the play’s tradition, we were asked to maintain the secret.