We’re in the middle of the 3rd longest tunnel in Japan and our phones have full signal. So I made this post. It’s 11 km long, btw. Sent from my TRS-80

We took a train from Kyoto to Toyama today, then changed there for a train to Takayama. The reason for this is that we’d heard that the ride from Toyama to Nagoya is one of the most beautiful in Japan, and we,ll be doing a Takayama to Tokyo via Nagoya in a couple of days….

Yes, we get actual certified Kobe beef in this class. Here’s the certificate. 🙂

I think pretty much everyone reading this knows that Japan is the home of some of the world’s oddest game shows. The odder ones are usually variety shows whose contestants tend to be comedians and other celebrities, advancing their careers via public humiliation. That’s beside the point. What this post is, is asking anyone with…

Pigeons bathing in snowmelt running off the roof of the gate to the Toji Shrine.

The U.S. may have some catching up to do with Japan when it comes to hotel amenities. So far we’ve seen:

And here’s a shot of Kyoto Station that’s exposed correctly for the levels of light in the concourse, rather than for the levels of light on a tray of donuts up on the balcony, unlike my previous post. 🙂

Sitting in Kyoto Station, eating Mister Donut, looking out over the concourse.

Japan has a lot of vending machines. On any given corner you can find vending machines selling hot drinks, cold drinks, hot soup, etc.* You can also find ones similar to the machines dispensing toys in U.S. supermarkets, and these are gachapon machines. You put in your money and you get out a plastic ball…