Microblog

Worn shoes and 35 liter backpack on MSP carpet.

Bloody Mary at SFO after a night in a hotel (to avoid a red-eye) and a night in flight. No need to rush the journey.

My first long-haul on a 787 Dreamliner (HND–SFO). Skeptical the LCD windows would be effective: they are.

12:30 a.m., Tokyo Haneda, about to board a flight to San Francisco, along with all the other jet-setters.

Six hours in Tokyo:☑ Walked across Tokyo Bay☑ Explored Imperial Hotel lobby☑ Sipped beer above Tokyo Stati

“My” street: ryokan’s, restaurants run by couples, homes. If the snow monkeys come out at night, I’ll be asleep.

Posted https://t.co/JMINHUkO67 A Small-Town Bullet Train Station

Futon on tatami. Traditional inn (Ryokan), Yudanaka, a small town near Nagano.

Japanese couple, Nagano.

The mountains taunted me as I walked around Matsumoto today: the trailhead bus I wanted doesn’t run until mid-April.

Now in Matsumoto in Japan’s “Alps”

Meijimura, huge building museum near Nagoya. Amazed to learn part of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel was saved.

Went for an urban hike on a grey, rainy day. I enjoyed the splash of color at the Hayatama Taisha shrine in Shingu.

Posted Temple Plumbing 2016.

Hiked part of the Kumano Kodo, an ancient pilgrimage route. I appreciated the beauty of the small tea farms.

In Shingu, I have a no-smoking, Leviticus-free room.