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Hiked to 5,600 feet where we could see the smoking landscape on all sides. Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, southern Japan.

A caldera lake gradually revealed itself as we hiked up a volcano then along the rim in Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, Kyushu, southern Japan.

Rented modest bicycles from a modest shop for 4 hours. Cycled a loop around the base of a smoking, roaring volcano, Sakurajima, taking care not to slip on volcanic ash. When we returned the bikes 40 minutes earlier than planned, the owner refunded ¥200 each.

Took a train to a tiny country station, the southernmost in the Japan Rail system. Hiked past fields of vegetables that will be harvested in the coming weeks. Walked through many cobwebs “blocking” the trail, reminding us it’s almost Halloween. Caught glimpses of Mount Kaimon.

Posted Nagasaki Origami Peace Cranes.

Stood on the verandah of a former Mitsubishi guest house, opened 1896, where crews stayed while their ships were repaired at the Mitsubishi shipyard across Nagasaki Bay. The shipyard still uses a dry dock opened in 1905. The original British electric motors still drive the pumps.

Origami peace cranes, Peace Park, Nagasaki.

Paused today’s rail journey from Onomichi to Nagasaki at Kurume for a few hours to do a self-guided OLLE hike. The concepts and trail markers for OLLE hikes originated in South Korea. The energetic hike included forests, bamboo stands, shrines, great views, and fields of azaleas.

Took a ferry from Onomichi, where we’re staying in a “bicycle hotel,” to Ikuchi Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Rented bikes, then cycled back across islands and bridges (including the one in the photo), and past a children’s playground.

Last night we slept in a museum designed by starchitect Tadao Ando on Naoshima Island. Tonight we sleep in a bicycle-friendly hotel in a former warehouse on a wharf in Onomichi. There’s a bike hanger in each room for those with bicycle separation anxiety.

Our day pursuing art on Naoshima Island was interrupted by this happy scene. The men were having a great time occasionally hollering and making the platform sway, rise, and drop. Meanwhile the kids on the platform maintained both their composure and the rhythm on a taiko drum.

Posted Temple Plumbing 2019.

Walked into art at the Chichu and Lee Ufan Art Museums on the island of Naoshima in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Photography was not permitted, but I took this photo without fear of discovery. Note Tadao Ando’s signature concrete.

It was rainy, a good day to change plans and ride a bullet train for 230 miles to visit Meiji Mura, an architecture museum. After coffee in the lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tokyo Imperial Hotel, we explored many of the 60 buildings. We then rode a bullet back.

Explored on foot, helped by two trains. Shikoku 88 temples (52, 53), pilgrims, a castle, a museum designed by Tadao Ando all about a novel, a convenience store, pre-schoolers shouting “hello” and “konichiwa,” houses and gardens, kind people, rice fields ready for harvest, … .

Rented bicycles, cycled across Japan’s Inland Sea on part of the Shimanami Kaido trail. The trail provides spectacular views as it crosses huge bridges and small islands.