Category Archives: Tactical Wandering

Kinfolk + Pals, Tactical Wandering

“BC Invasion” trip (Ryoko, Ichiro & Dave coming April/May) #driBC [updated]

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Briefly: Ichiro, Ryoko and Dave are hopping the jetliner to BC from April 11 – May 25 to introduce Ryoko and Ichiro to family, friends and culture and together enjoy slow adventures and *usual life* with you

Theme: Family, Friends, Parks and Gardens

Locations:

  • Langley/Surrey: current til April 19
  • West End / DT Vancouver: April 19 ~ 25
  • Metchosin: April 25 ~ 29
  • Victoria / Oak Bay: April 29 ~ May 3
  • Pender Isle (Woods & Sparrow): May 3 ~ 10
  • Fairview / Kits: May 10 ~ 12
  • North Van / Lynn Valley: May 12 ~ 17
  • Langley / Surrey: May 17 ~ 25
  • Home to Tsuchida Cottage: May 25/26

Note to Pals *yes you* – get in where you fit in and please be a part of our activities. As such, there is a GDoc to which you can request access with all the deets cause i/we don’t wanna be monitoring all the social comm-channels via pocket-robot while on the ground.

If, for some reason we aren’t able to get together because, I get it, people have lives, and I’m a bit elusive, consider this an invitation to come to Japan, which is safe, efficient, amusing, endlessly interesting, and surprisingly affordable / we will welcome you with enthusiasm and tea.

We want to:

  • visit parks and gardens (Stanley, Butchart, Bear Creek, Lynn Canyon)
  • check out White Rock pier, Granville Is market, Lonsdale Shipyards, maybe Steveston & various tea gardens
  • meet up with pals at the locations above and especially other Ichiro-aged kids (you know who you are)
  • eat dim sum, perogies, meat pies, fish and chips, etc
  • hit up low-key museums and chill public spaces
  • share tea ceremony and awsum gifts (and hugs)
  • usual things like home centre and grocery stores for Ryoko
BC Invasion trip / energy vs expectations and plans

Memo: we aren’t crossing the USA border for WA, UT, ID, OR etc visits this trip (for various reasons)

Need to figure out (advice welcome):

  • Translink compass pass (ok, confusing but got it)
  • Pay-as-go data/phone SIM card (sorted out, travel eSIM)
  • Ride hailing service that doesn’t suck (nope, so updated Ubr and Lft)
  • Are there public restrooms yet? (seems like mostly “no” including at Skytrain, shocking!)
  • yikes tipping!?!?! and taxes? how does that all work again (yes, onerous, will avoid restaurants to over-stim and thrifty reasons)

Considerations / Disclaimers:

Dave avoiding MECFS “crash” by pacing activities, limiting transportation and exertion [read more about MECFS], by:

  • avoiding restaurants at busy times / dinners (i.e. hotel breakfasts, picnic lunches etc) to limit over-stim
  • not getting overwhelmed by planning and details – let’s enjoy time together, not on phone / social planning
  • of course, realizing albeit sadly, we won’t be able to do everything and meet up with everyone and some things will get canceled… it’s just the way the world works with the illness
  • & obv, avoiding C19 (makes return to Japan complicated etc etc)

Even More: there is a GDoc to which you can request access with all the deets

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Healing Ramble, Tactical Wandering

Healing Ramble: Tips for airports & traveling whilst chronically ill

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Memo: What follows comes from my erstwhile “Healing Journal” – written/compiled on a foggy meandering journey to various countries (Pacifica, Phitsanulok, Cochin, Pokhara, Dikwella/Galle…) visiting all manner of hospitals, clinics and exploring various healing modalities and techniques.

Shared here more-or-less unedited for posterity (whatever that is) and to shed light to those struggling who might come across this riff. Please watch the “Healing Ramble Introduction” video for context on this series.

With respect and understanding that not everyone can do *this* – i have another riff about “why” to seek medical care or healing treatment elsewhere (not in US/Canada in this case). For now, use it if you need it, if not just pass along.

Tactics:

* Request wheelchair service well in advance and use it proudly – Besides getting you around the airport, you fast track through security and immigration lines / You are usually be first on and last off the plane, be patient

* Fly Tuesdays and Wednesdays mid-day, the airports are most mellow at this time (also tickets usually cheapest)

* Dark glasses and earplugs/noise canceling headphones for when you’re in the airport

* I use an aisle seat so easier to go to the back galley area and stretch if needed + restroom breaks without hassle when a sleeping passenger next to you

* Lavender oil, compression socks, eye mask and your most comfortable sweater for the flight, dress respectable to increase chance of upgrades (and because you are sharp like that)

* When flying far – for me anything longer than three or four hours – book a hotel in (or close by) the airport at the other end, in some cases you can get wheelchair ride to the hotel to crash out and recover. Bonus points to get one with a bathtub

* Check your bag, only take a small carry-on with comfort items, don’t try to be that “efficient business traveler” and / or save money with just a carry-on

* Turmeric tea/tincture & aspirin and water water water & coconut water & NO booze – Did I mention noise canceling headphones?

* Put on an audiobook or chill music… Keep the sensory stimulation low by not watching movies especially on the crappy seat back for the videos. For me, the fuzzy screens spin me out plus you see all the other anxiousness and activity going on

* Get a credit card which gives you access to airport lounges… go to the airport early, find a quiet corner and hydrate and snack with protein rich foods so when you’re on the plane, you’re not eating the crap or being interrupted… Plus when using wheelchair service, best to go well in advance as some airports have a limited staff performing this service

* When you board (using wheelchair you’ll probably be first on) introduce yourself to the flight attendants and mentioned that you may need extra water and make sure you are close to bathroom if you need a little sensory de-stimulation

Tip: Oh one more thing, seriously don’t try to do a lot of stuff when you travel, for me I go places to find bookstores and quiet coffee shops and simply be somewhere else.  Just because you are a “somewhere else” doesn’t mean you suddenly have a bunch of energy to go out and about and meet lots of people. Avoid restaurants at busy times as well (i.e. hit lunch after 1:30 get a table in a quiet corner) … for me this reduces sensory overload.

Note: Not all of these tips are applicable to everyone obviously but for me dealing with ME/Fibro find them to be critically handy. All for now, curious to hear your tips or any thoughts about the above.

Also this archive is laden with other riffs about healing elsewhere and taking baths in the Healing Ramble series.

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Japan Life/Travel, Personal Musings, Tactical Wandering

Diary: visitors see new life & family + trip to Teshima w/ Ichiro annotations

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A mysterious brilliant visitor from overseas – first in three years – captured me, at home, in my new life. This is my family, this is our home.

my adorable family with whom Xo Ryoko, Ichiro (thanks Amber Sensei)

I wandered far and endured plenty to find this life, and immensely grateful for it all. I’m so happy to show someone from my “old life“ what i found & and she understood very well.

and now with remarkable in-laws/grandparents

With out guests coming, we pulled out the special stash of saké, some fermented carrot pickles, housemade miso, and a few other fermented treats. Also started to soak in soy beans to make soy milk; prepared the Bizen yaki ceramic cups & small dishes for sashimi; also have bamboo shoots from our forest. (thanks M-i-L and F-i-L)

garden vegetables and bamboo shoots right out the door

Ryoko also prepared matcha tea in an abbreviated tea ceremony with tea bowls from her great-grandparents and made anpan (anko sweet bean paste in lil pancakes) to go with.

tea bowls and accessories, freshly washed

I should add that, “no, Japan is not open to tourists at this time” – Our recent particular international guest was on a publishing-company-sponsored book tour / meaning the company supported a business visa requiring a detailed itinerary and accepting of various risks / responsibilities etc. visit with issued by Japan consulate in USA before departure and required 10+ various forms, letters, etc.

Out n About to Teshima

the hilltop minimalist cafe where fig farmers served curry and you can chop your own green onions

Briefly: The many islands of the Seto inland sea (nestled between our home prefecture of Okayama and neighbour pref. Kagawa and the 4th of the main island of Japan Shikoku) host a triennialle art festival – not shockingly unheld for a few years – more to say about the economic goodness and reinvention and volunteer spirit but for now, i’ll say:

We went with our guests rather spontaneously (they had planned and reserved museum access) by our groovy “Esquire” van, then walked onto ferry and used various busses around the island of Teshima, ate curry, drank coffee/tea, more curry, postcards, then a walk-on ferry back to Uno port, more art and drive to Okayama station – the busiest day i’ve had in forever but was buoyed by conversation, views and friendship. Further annotations follow:

whilst friends went to museum, r, i and i went to a hilltop sorta café (really some fig farmers putting out a shingle for a few hours a day) and enjoyed views of Inushima (Isles of Dogs) and back to Okayama #panorama

Ichiro, postcards, ships (all sizes) etc

After our day out, in the bath he explained over and over again all the different modes of transportation and conveyance (big ferry boat, small ferry boat, two buses, baby car/stroller, our usual van etc.) he used during that day, using new sentence construction skills with conjunctions and verb conjugations. His magnificent brain spinning – even working out the names of our friends.

this obv was not our ferry but Ichi loved checking out all the fune

Lil dude got a bit of a fat lip running down the hill too fast and tripping but still was able to chill out at a café and enjoy his beverage.

dude knows how to lounge at a quirky curry cafe with Suzuki and Ota san

Papa wrote postcards and drank chai, sitting on cushions and sending geo-coordinates to pals who found us at カレー喫茶 異邦人 near Ieura port across the island from Kubota where we originally disembarked.

Ichiro mailed my postcards for me. “Choose the right portal for postcards Ichiro” i said {update: he did, what a smart fella} Inventory: 2 cards from Teshima to Gifu and Kyoto.

2 are decoys but one whisks secrets anywhere

Ichiro has now learned how to use the coffee bean grinder and insists on being the coffee captain in the morning, two scoops of the right beans, puts on the lid, covers with his hand, inspects to see if it’s the right grind for French press or Moka pot, all very serious & perfect.

And my darlings auditioned for a role in the next Wes Anderson movie (so to speak) with a pose by this blue truck.

blue, red, yellow – the day was my fave sort of weather, warm, breezy and overcast

Back to the port – love the salty smell, rusty metal and reinvention from industrial manufacturing and process to artistic tourism.

Ieura port – like most of Pacific coast of Japan, lots of factories in various states of use or decay, boats/ships of all kinds including container ships and now ferries, all sizes

Dozen+ of these islands with art, more to say but time to head home with my snappy shoes, happy. Thanks family and friends.

Fluevogs, since 1970 (like me) now with new aglets – getting very worn in

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Tactical Wandering

Suez Canal Transit Dossier and Musings

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Queen Mary ahead in the mist – the ships make caravans with cruisers / liners in front of containers and fuelers

+ Suez Transit Dossier and Musings +

If i was crafty and timely, woulda shared these snaps a few weeks when Ever Given was blocking up the flow of the Suez Canal (yeah you saw this…) i had/have a lot to say about it all and well, lot of more important things to do (nursery school!) so just didn’t get to it, but today is now, so: 

up early to note the transit – takes most of a day to work through / and yes the desert is chilly

Quick annotations:

  • Suez isn’t “squared off” with tidy concrete walls and locks
  • Was dug mostly by hand/buckets
  • Ships assemble caravans at either end and go very slow
  • Winds are weird (really) which makes mishaps not shocking and coordination important.
  • Don’t start with the Egyptian pilots!

Let’s begin our transit in the “staging area”… (note captions and annotations)

Ships assemble at anchor in Gulf Suez at tip of Red Sea (see also Gulf of Aqaba) and then are organized into caravans / quite enjoyed the sound the anchor chain dropping and reeling back up

Local Traffic amongst the behemoths 

Importantly, the canal is active with local ferries darting back and forth between lumbering giants. The sides are so close you can wave to folks (of course i did) and the ships in-front/behind are also so close and don’t have brakes.

Ferries time departures to slip between the ships, looking like likely collisions and almost comical variations in scale
Ferry loading up (i think East Qantara Ferryboat or the West Qantara Ferry – regardless, wave hello (they did)

Continue reading Suez Canal Transit Dossier and Musings →

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Japan Life/Travel, Notes to Future Self, Tactical Wandering

Meta Notes: Japan Travel organized + upcoming *almost finished really* riffs

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If you’re curious, I put together a category in my web archive for “Japan life/travel” to round up all the various riffs, transport videos, train rolls, diaries and museum galleries i gleefully assemble. It’s an ongoing process but hey, I’m not going anywhere.

Still have a lot more museums and train stuff to share (not surprisingly) but really limit my screen time too short sessions of productivity.

So much to share with you though! Especially some sorta olden stuff about:

  • Galleries, exhibits & museums in Japan, SF, & Nepal + a visit to Subpop HQ in 2010 (not to be confused with visit in 1999 ish)
  • Ayurveda treatment in India, Lanka & Pokhara
  • Artifacts from Palau, Yap and Guam which have been on my mind again recently
  • Tour with The Matinee in Ontario, 2017 (or was that 2018?)… 

Oh, I’ve also been tidying up an archive of Vancouver Olympic “meta coverage” meaning coverage about the coverage and media about media if you know what I mean… More to say about this in True North Media and Olympics category including a live twitter coverage of an interesting CBC panel #NoteToSelf

Also tuned up a section called Transit Chronicles which consists mostly of twitter riffs while rolling around Vancouver 2008-2012 ish.

In the meantime, here’s stuff about Japan so I have somewhere to point people to want to ask me about “where I am” “what to see” “how to do stuff” etc. etc. – keep in mind, I am a “inaka/country boy” – well really I live near a sort of forgotten provincial capital city which is just perfect in my mind, and don’t really know anything about Tokyo or Osaka and very little about Kyoto… but there are loads of resources about those places.

I know more about small cities, rural/farm experiences, scenic trains, remote hot springs, fermented foods, and post offices #theusual

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Japan Life/Travel, Tactical Wandering

Japan: Travel primer / places to go, getting around, accomms, culture, etiquette and geography

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A rather rough overview originally compiled in advance of friends coming to Okayama for wedding. Re-purposed in slightly more general terms for logistical convenience as needed.

See also: “Travelling to and Around Okayama, Japan,” “Japanese Culture and Language Primer” and other resources in this archive including video guides. 

Japan Ramble Primer

Japan can be intimidating, even for seasoned travellers. You arrive to massive sticker shock, tiny octopi in soup, and 30 kinds of hot canned coffee (which all taste moreorless the same) in ubiquitous vending machines. 

Japan is a long country with 80% mountains – covering several climates, from frosty Hokkaido in the north, to tropical Kyushu giving adventurous folks much opportunity to head to the outer provinces for exploration of the heady scenery of this varied archipelago. With some planning, politeness and persistence, combined with a little zen, you can find big adventures.

Indeed, it is easy to get lost in the big cities of Tokyo and Osaka – crowded with skyscrapers and twisted alleys, piled high with screaming neon clubs pumping techno, reggae or karaoke and shops piled with futuristic technological gadgets that won’t make it to North America for another decade – but, far away from the expensive hotels and talking toilets of the huge Pacific metropolis, you may find yourself soaking in alpine hot springs on a starry night, drinking sake with strangers crammed into a mountain hut after a backcountry dinner of rice, seaweed, miso and green tea.

Continue reading Japan: Travel primer / places to go, getting around, accomms, culture, etiquette and geography →

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Japan Life/Travel, Tactical Wandering

Japan: Travelling to and Around Okayama, Primer

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A rather rough overview originally compiled in advance of friends coming to Okayama for wedding. Re-purposed in slightly more general terms for logistical convenience as needed.

See also: “Primer: Travelling Japan / places to go, getting around, accomms, culture, etiquette and geography“, “Japanese Culture and Language Primer” and other resources in this archive including video guides. 

Getting to Okayama, Japan

Airport

Best to fly to Kansai (KIX) Osaka airport. This schmancy modern airport is located on a human-made island in the middle of the bay and includes 2 hotels, like 100+ restaurants, post office, an airplane viewing platform and importantly, a train station.

The hotels (the full-service Nikko Hotel & business-single-pod-style First Cabin) are super useful if you arrive exhausted from the long flight (usually about 14 hours from N.A. west coast). A short trip from the airport’s island by shuttle bus brings you to loads of other hotels. This airport village also has loads of shopping for buying treats on your way home.

Of course, the are other airports, specifically Tokyo (massive international hub Narita NRT or sometimes Haneda HND which is usually used for domestic flights) and the new Centrail/Chubu/Nagoya (NGO) airport. While you might save a few dollars on the flight, you’ll have a longer (more expensive) train journey to reach Okayama which is the destination for the shindig.

Fly direct to Okayama (OKJ) via the charmingly convenient and cute Momotaro Airport. If you fly to Haneda or Narita (Tokyo) mentioned above, you can transfer and fly right here.  Sometimes this requires an airport shuttle between Narita (mostly international) and Haneda (more domestic).  There is a bus service from Momotaro to downtown Okayama too.

Note: there is a huge service difference for the long-haul flights from North America. My personal experience is to fly an Asian-based airline, i.e.: Japan (ANA *fave, JAL), Korean (Korean or Asiana), Taiwan (EVA), HK (Cathay Pacific) or Singapore if coming from YVR, SFO, LAX, etc. If coming from other Asian destinations, well you are usually all good. I have experienced much less enjoyment from US-based airlines and China mainland airlines often have low prices but check the reviews and adjust against your comfort levels.

Consider tracking flight options/prices with Skyscanner with a price alert or same with Google Flights and try Hopper (app) to see when best time to “pull the trigger” on purchasing flight. Flying from Vancouver? Check out YVRdeals.

Continue reading Japan: Travelling to and Around Okayama, Primer →

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Japan Life/Travel, Tactical Wandering

“Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories

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an Akiya (abandoned) building (former post office?) with a splendid postbox – taken from one of many sites i’ve dug around, sorry can’t remember which one… so many! if this is your photo, please tell me and i’ll add credit.

+ Cheap Houses Abound in Japan + 

memo: have resources to add/ recommend? please drop a comment or contact – of course there are loads, this will get ya started.

Background Riff

So many vacant houses in Japan – millions! The general term you’ll hear is “Akiya” houses (free/cheap abandoned houses).

Sometimes the owner is unknown, sometimes there are mysteries, sometimes houses have businesses attached, sometimes from way back in Meiji or Edo period! Sometimes someone died in odd circumstances within, or sometimes just died.

Often very (very) messy, always requiring work, a lot sometimes. Materials, labor and disposal can be really expensive in Japan so good to remember (speaking generally for anyone else who is reading along, not just you :-)). But hey, you are crafty right? Keep in mind, its a whole other style of construction than “western” places. Tile roofs! Foundations, plumbing, electric all different and sometimes you’ll need boundary surveyed.

Importantly: Foreigners can buy houses/properties in Japan BUT just cause you own a house, doesn’t mean you get a visa. CheapHousesJapan Newsletter has a great overview (appropriately called: Can A Foreigner Buy Property In Japan? read this first).

Plus:

  • immigration to Japan is *extremely* difficult, so the pithy “Millennials, you are going to Japan” headlines are very overstated to say the least
  • these cheap/empty/trad places are usually quite remote and require a lot of work. “No big deal, right? I’m handy!” is first hunch but keep in mind, the cost of upgrading can be verrry high (gotta have cash since no mortgage or home improvement loans for you unless you are well established) and building skills are very different than “western” houses.
  • in snowy areas (where many/most of these houses are, not beach front or modern/urban), keep in mind the houses are uninsulated and literally made of curvy logs, complicated joints, sticks, mud and paper
  • also worth noting that internationals often look at Japan like we could fit the whole country in our “back pocket” without realizing most of the population lives in the megasakiopolises between Tokyo > Nagoya > Osaka and 90% of the country is blissfully rural and mountainous (a lot of it quite like Cascades really) and can require long drives on twisty roads to get to services

Handy Vocab:

  • Akiya = abandoned/unused houses, see also,
  • Akiya banks = directories managed by municipal govs seeking to find residents for akiya (often to prevent eyesores, demolition and/or  revitalize areas)
  • Minka/Kominka = traditional houses of various styles and eras
  • Machiya = traditional townhouses (usually narrow and deep)
  • Administrative Scrivener (行政書士 or gyoseishoshi) = your ace to do the transaction
  • Kura / Naya = various types of out-buildings on compounds/farms

The situation in brief: The big cities are growing and the countryside is shrinking, fast. Young folks move away to the big city to work, old folks stay in country, working til they grow old and in Japan, folks grow very old. When they die, often the heirs are unknown or simply refuse the “inheritance” or they try to think they will go back and fix it up and enjoy the legacy but year after year paying property tax, they finally realize they won’t ever fix it up. In other words, property/houses is generally/always a depreciating asset in Japan.

Anyway, the laws of changed significantly in recent years allowing local governments to expropriate more easily so there’s loads and loads of these houses available, does definitely take some hunting around though. Indeed! It’s definitely a scavenger hunt… so this dossier is a clearinghouse of resources, stories, articles, musings, directories, etc.

Continue reading “Akiya” abandoned, cheap/free* houses in Japan / annotations, resources, riffs, musings, stories →

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Japan Life/Travel, Tactical Wandering

Japanese Culture and Language Primer

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A few notes and tips and phrases compiled for guests coming to wedding but likely useful for most anyone coming to Japan. 

Culture-ness

Remember you must always have your passport with you (stupid but hey… rules is).

Shoes are never worn in homes, change into slippers (which will never ever fit), then different slippers for toilet, don’t forget to change back (you will forget), socks only in tatami (straw mat) rooms.

Big stores / malls often offer tax-refund. Gotta take receipt, passport and credit card (if used) to special kiosk. They will stick receipt and stamp in passport, weird but hey, ya get money back.

Don’t walk and smoke. Hang in front of konbini store, pachinko, find smoking cage, or smoking section of resto or park. 

Can drink alcohol on streets and parks however… no sloppiness, penalties/jail harsh.

Language Primer

Handy Phrases:

  • Konnichiwa = Hello
  • Chotto matte = Just a moment/please wait
  • Hai = yes
  • Iie or Chigaimasu = no / different or wrong
  • Douzo = go ahead, please (this is super handy!)
  • Sugoi! = Great! Amazing! i.e.: How is Japan? Sugoi!
  • Suimasen = excuse me (used allll the time as is Go-men which is like “sorry”)
  • Kudasai = please i.e. “Kohi o kudasai” = “coffee please” 
  • Domo, Domo Arigato, Domo arigato gozaimasu = thanks, thanks a lot, thank you very very much
  • Jaa ne / Matta ne = See you / again
  • Toire (toilet) doko desuka? = where is the toilet (there are more trad words for toilet “benjo” and “o teirei” but the Japanese-i-fied english word is easiest
  • Konbini = convenience store (7-11, Lawson, Family Mart are plentiful & amazing)

Continue reading Japanese Culture and Language Primer →

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Personal Musings, Portraits of the Artiste, Tactical Wandering

Diary: (Comfortably) Lost in Translation / Arriving at Kansai (KIX)

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(Comfortably) Lost in Translation

Upon arriving at Kansai (KIX) airport, i immediately went to post office, konbini (for onigiri, pocari and royal tea), then a photo booth – also sushi. The following lousy photos will verify these claims.

Continue reading Diary: (Comfortably) Lost in Translation / Arriving at Kansai (KIX) →

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