The Journey Ends; the Blog Goes On

We're back in Tokyo after our swing through Kyoto and the mountain town of Takayama. Tomorrow morning we fly home, on a flight I've calculated will be long enough for us to watch ten formulaic romantic comedies, should we be so inclined (and that's not even counting the connecting flight to Hong Kong). Before we head out tonight for a celebratory meal of sushi-off-a-conveyer-belt, I thought I'd post a quick update here.

As is fairly obvious, we never really had enough time to keep this blog up to date, especially where photos are concerned. After we're back in New York, I'll keep posting until the whole trip is covered. I know it's more history than blog at that point, but you might be interested, and we'll have more time to do somewhat better posts. At any rate, it'll be useful for honing any "how was your trip" questions, and you'll get some interesting first-hand reports on the sounds and smells of camels.

Can't wait to be home, amazing as this trip has been. More meaningful reflection will have to wait, as there's an automated sushi dinner calling...

Greetings from Kyoto

I'm on a coin-operated computer at the Tomato Guesthouse in Kyoto, so I don't have much time to post before I run out of change, but just a note to say we're here.

We arrived yesterday by Shinkansen, the famous bullet train. Traveling in a country you find you have time to develop all kinds of sweeping and poorly-conceived theories about its people. For instance, yesterday we were speculating on whether there is a relationship among the following facts: 1. Many people in Japan apparently live in tiny apartments with little natural light - even when it would be possible to have bigger windows, they don't - which they further subdivide into small paneled rooms; 2. The traditional Japanese restaurant likewise features a series of small, windowless paneled rooms; and 3. When traveling by train - including the famous Shinkansen - people in Japan seem to prefer to lower their window shades and shut out the scenery zooming by, the better to focus on their handhold electronic devices.

We did manage to catch a few glimpses of Mount Fuji before all of the blinds were closed, but I'm looking forward to getting a window seat on the train next time. Meanwhile, we have lots of temples to see in Kyoto. After five months in Asia we may be a little jaded to temples, but Kyoto has a fabulous history, having served as Japan's imperial capital for around a thousand years (until the mid-19th century), and we're going to appreciate it if it kills us.

Seriously, though - we had a fabulous time in Tokyo; we probably enjoyed it more than anywhere else we've been so far. It'll be interesting to see another aspect of Japan.

Confused in Japan

We have made it to Japan, which unsurprisingly is very different to anyplace else we have been so far. Staying with friends in Koenji, a happening neighborhood (where the 'real Weird people' hang　Out, we're told)　Not far from Shinjuku. So far we're still in　The mode of trying to get our heads around things,　Like the multitudes of vending machines offering a bewildering variety of canned coffees and other beverages, to the mysteries of the various devices we try to use －For instance, the toaster, or in the current case, this keyboard, which keeps trying to render my text in Japanese and is the cause of the eccentric punctuation and capitalization in this post.

Uploading more China pix to Flickr today. Will do more posts here when we have the chance.