Nagoya

Rode the bullet train to Nagoya yesterday. What a delight! So convenient.

My hostel is very small and very quiet…except for the musak. It’s in a shopping street and the canned music plays nonstop. It took about 2 hours to learn to ignore it.

Had a great afternoon at the Toyota Museum in town. The company got started by making spinning and weaving machines. All of the displayed machines were working, and the dudes would operate them if you looked interested. Neat!

On the car side, there was the original prototype, the A1. The guy bought a 33 Chevrolet and just copied it, lol. He thought “I wanna make a car. Ill just copy this one.” It took a year to make the first one.

Anyhoo you can read about on the he internet.

Today I’ll go to Ise Jingu, a very important shrine in the countryside. Its two hours away, a bit far but ive got a book to read.

Rainy Monday

Didn’t do too much.

So there’s this thing that people do here. They walk or run the entire circle of a particular train line, the Yamanote line. It takes hours and hours and hours.

Im doing this too, but only a piece at a time. So I cracked out 5 stations yesterday. When my feet were just too soggy, I had a coffee.

Before my walking tour, I found a Chinese restaurant for lunch. The ordering system was not in English, and by mistake, i ordered a hilarious amount of food. When the guy brought it, im pretty sure he was confused. I did my best and left with a stomach ache.

Im moving on to Nagoya today.

Sunday in Tokyo

Sundays are for coffee, long walks, and reading…anywhere i happen to be.

So that about wraps it up

Also, i had dinner with Allison, someone i met in Kawaguchiko

There’s a shopping mall across the street from Tokyo station with a free rooftop garden.
I could have stood here for hours watching the trains come and go.
Another free  observation deck, a government building across town

Back in Tokyo

Im back for just the weekend. I found someone to have dinner with tonight, so im stoked for that.

Yesterday’s rain kept me from doing much except for a decent walk down the train tracks. You can just follow the line, going from one neighborhood to the next. Lots to look at.

No smorking is allowed
They replaced this enormous lantern at the shrine. That thing is handmade. It weighs 1500 pounds or so

I look forward to this moment every year. These hot roasted sweet potatoes are just so damn good.
Looks sus but the taste is chef’s kiss