It rained sheets Friday (yesterday) from early morning to midnight, with zero reprieve. An incredibly consistent downpour for hours straight. Like God left the hose on. But that turned out to be lucky for me.
I woke up feeling just a little bit… off. There was that little itch on my inside telling me something bigger is on its way. Usually I call it sick when I feel that, since the way to stop it from worsening is to go back to sleep for the day. So… I went back to sleep for the day. Well first I made a quick run to Lawson to load up on snacks, and then I barely left the hotel bed until the next morning, catching up on the last 2 weeks of my YouTube feed between naps. I didn’t know just how badly I needed that. I tend to schedule these trips at a high pace, always be moving, make sure you see the next thing because you only have so many days here. But setting aside a day and deciding I will see nothing and do nothing and be nothing… I might schedule around that next time. It was the best day of non-productivity I’ve had in a long time.
Taking that day also made me realize, I think I’m just about ready to wrap this up. These international trips don’t make me less of a homebody any more than alcohol cures an introvert. They just make me a more traveled homebody. I’m looking forward to getting home and ordering in the sloppiest pizza imaginable. (I’ve also got an itch for Twitch again, another series of streams that I will probably renege on immediately.)
I’m not at the finish line yet though. Today I went wandering in Kyoto and stumbled onto another giant Buddhist temple. The place is lousy with them. This one had a lovely garden.
Before leaving for Japan I asked for advice from a friend who had been multiple times. She said the one thing she always wished she did more of is just walk down the alleys and take in the ordinary sights. So that’s what I did most of the afternoon and evening. One of the coolest things about Japanese cities is how compact everything is. You’ll find stores and restaurants tucked away often with non-obvious entrances and it feels like you found a secret. If I had another week, I’d eat lunch tomorrow there… then dinner over there…
But I don’t. Today I bought Shinkansen tickets back to Tokyo for tomorrow. I made sure to sit on the side facing north… one last chance to get a glimpse of Mount Fuji. Please, Mr. Fuji! How can I justify all these souvenirs with Mount Fuji on them if I never got to see the thing itself?!
