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You would think this would be a small section. After all, it was my 10th time to Japan, but this place never ceases to surprise me.
As an example, I was hitchhiking from Nagano to Osaka, about 400km. I had no reservation for any place in Osaka, because one, I don't believe in reservations and two, I was hitchhiking and didn't know how far I would get. I don't know how many other cities of over 10 million people that I would be so lackadaisical about it, but that's me. In Japan I always think it will work out, and even when it doesn't, I don't lose my optimism for the next time.
It was a rough start to get out of the mountains and the day dragged so slowly that I was about 40km from Osaka at 9pm--in the dark. The guy on the left in this picture picked me up and soon after invited me to stay at his place. Often offers and invitations in Japan seem to be "giri" (i.e. they feel obliged) so I always initially decline, but he was earnest and I took him up on the offer. He lived in a very small place, and yet he slept on the floor so I could have his bed, again over my protestations. The next morning he insisted on getting me McDonald's as he drove out to the highway to leave me at a good place to continue south.
A white foreigner can really take advantage of Japanese friendliness, if one was so devious.
I have more photos of people who have picked me up hitchhiking in Japan here.
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Even though I have seen these dancing rockabilly guys at Yoyogi Park several times by now, I always have to stop and check them out. The Yoyogi Park scene is the best. I have another section about it here.
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Tommy Lee Jones in Shibuya Station, Tokyo
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On Nekodake, near Greg's lodge, with Daisuke and Greg.
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"Kaiten" conveyor belt sushi. Greg taught me to never take from the rotating belt; order (in this case, via an automated system) so it is fresher. It isn't hard to find sushi places that are only a dollar a plate.
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I went to Fukuyama in Hiroshima prefecture to meet up with an old friend (the friendship! not the person!), Mutsumi, and with her friend and daughter we made a nice little tour in the surrounding area on the sea between the main islands of Honshu and Shikoku. This was a beautiful beach area south of Fukuyama. I find it odd that the shelter is on the cement and not the sand.
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This is a temple for mothers to pray for breast milk for their newborn babies.
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It is common for people to take their new cars to be blessed. Supposedly it is very expensive to do so. I am thinking of starting a discount blessing service. Investors?
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Even though we were closer to Hiroshima, this is Osaka style okonomiyaki. And that's mayonaisse on top.
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Mayuko's dream is to be an astronaut. Hey, that's takoyaki in the background.
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I visited another old friend in Kagoshima, one of my favorite places in Japan near the southern end of Kyushu. Naomi and I and her two kids made a daytrip further south. Above right is Mighty Mt. Kaimon from the Flower Garden.
Below left was an incredible lunch in a huge restaurant built on top of a carp pond. Very delicious with the grilled fish, the rice balls, the miso soup and the dipping sauce, but it was also my first time eating koi (carp) sushi. That would have been an experience by itself, if not for the gizmo you see in the middle of the table.
I had never been asked before eating, "Are you left handed or right handed?". The somen noodles in the bowl are dumped into the spinning water. In our case we had water in each circular tank going in both directions. It is easier to stick your chopsticks in and take out the noodles if the water is going against your chopsticks. Afterwards, with any leftover noodles, you feed the fish under you as seen in the photo below.
The other photo below is taken in a moving car; Japanese have no sense of child safety in cars. Child seats are often used to keep groceries in place!
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So cuuuuuuute!
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Ibusuki black sand onsen! Oh, but what lurks ahead?
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Women shovel hot black sand to bury you! "Onsen" usually refers to hot springs, but in this place the sand heats up. It is so hot that you are advised to only try and handle it for 10 or 15 minutes.
"Mainland" Japanese are envious when i tell them I have been to this place. I am sure they would love to go, but from Tokyo it is cheaper to fly to Bangkok or Singapore than take the train to Kyushu. Flying domestically is also often just as prohibitively expensive.
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That's me in the foreground with the two kids next to me and Naomi on the other end.
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Individually wrapped bunches of grapes--all agriculture is precious in Japan.
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Daniel and Chieko playing a boxing game in Kumamoto. I was ecstatic to be there as it was a maddening evening of hitchhiking. I was about 200km away in Kagoshima and hitchhiking in the dark under very weak lights, but a guy saved me and drove me straight to Daniel's door, curious about the party I was missing. I swear I begged him not to go out of his way!
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Ugly buildings/scenery like this are surprisingly common
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Soon to be the Compost Club
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Pan de Pu-Pu! Could be tough franchising that internationally.
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I pack light when I start out, but by the end I had these 35kg to lug home. Not fun.
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