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Recent Microposts and Posts at tomwilson.com
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Took a ferry from Fukuoka to a rural island. Disposed of small change at a shrine: 15 coins worth 65 cents. In return, took an Omikuji, a fortune printed on a strip of paper. Mangled by Google Translate, it appeared to urge me to drown in color and alcohol, and be a little selfish.
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Posted Bullet Train vs. Plane.
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Explored a mountainous area north of Sendai by train, local bus, and foot. In Kakunodate I was interviewed, via an interpreter, by a reporter for the local newspaper. American tourists are few and far between. Further down the road, almost walked into a professional photo shoot.
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Yodobashi electronics stores are often located next to main train stations. Each store is at least 215,000 sq ft; a typical Best Buy is just 38,000 sq ft. At Sendai’s store I set a goal to find something I didn’t realize I didn’t need, but left, overwhelmed.
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Sendai, about 200 miles northeast of Tokyo, is my base for the next few days. From Sendai, rode a bullet train for 13 minutes, then rural trains to reach trails for some fall color hiking. The rural train line is in this photo.
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Arrived Tokyo HND, late afternoon Thursday, off a thirteen-hour flight and a +14-hour time difference. Took rush hour trains to a downtown hotel and an early night. Japan only reopened to independent travelers two weeks ago, so I’m expecting to see few westerners on my travels.
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On board UA881 en route to Tokyo HND.
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This evening I flew 700 miles from Sendai (Miyagi) to Fukuoka rather than taking three bullet trains. At the time of booking I was happy to pay $66 extra to fly. Current wisdom says flying has advantages over high-speed rail for journeys over about 500 miles (about 800 km). This data seems reasonable if we don’t take carbon emissions into …
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