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Recent Microposts and Posts at tomwilson.com
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On board United 882, Tokyo HND to Chicago ORD. In the good hands of father and daughter.
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Took the train to Asakusa, Tokyo, walked back until I ran out of time. Along the way it was my kind of urban hike: huge temple; buildings not intended to last (that's OK); the only Le Corbusier building in east Asia (went in); stark transit infrastructure (love it); and the gardens of the Imperial Palace.
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Kyoto is over-loved like so many A-list places. For this reason I’ve avoided the city for over ten years. Today I visited for a few hours, took the subway to places that have escaped top-ten lists.
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Dwight’s uncle was posted to Kyoto at the end of WW2. Today, I walked around his old stomping ground trying to reconcile some of his photos with today’s Kyoto. When I matched this 1946 photo I must’ve reacted: people started to gather around me and were excited to see the old photo. More…
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Walked across Teshima, one of the "art islands" in the Seto Inland Sea, looking for art installations. At one point, sat on the floor in a vast concrete inside space while little rivulets of water slowly formed around me, only to "find" tiny drain holes. (Photography wasn't allowed.)
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It was the one rainy day on this trip, so went to Osaka to ride transit, duck into buildings, and experience Tadao Ando’s architecture. Felt like a groupie, standing outside his office, touching the signature Ando concrete. The security sticker probably deters theft of the nameplate.
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Incorporated part of the Shikoku 88 (temples) pilgrimage and temples 80 and 81 into today's hike.
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Broke the journey from Matsue to Okayama to visit San’inkaigan National Park to walk on massive sand dunes beside the Sea of Japan. Okayama Station was bustling, a contrast to my last few days. An elevator took me to the welcome solitude of a hotel room high above the station.
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Couldn't resist including this rural Shinto shrine in today's journey. Three or four times an hour a train crosses the shrine's approach path, between the torii gates, like a scene from an anime movie.
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