This will have to be a really quick journal entry. It's approaching noon already, and I should have departed.

Last night Kenji, Sumiko and three of Kenji's older students had a going-away party for me. Akane, a student of his in her early 20's, presented me with a beautifully made box of Japanese cakes. She mentioned, that they were made by an Italian chef who came to Japan, presumably to learn to make Japanese confections. The detail which went into them is just stunning -- one of them had a top which looked so much like a flower petal, that I realized it was just a representation only later. I took pictures of them because there is no way that I will be able to keep them nice on my bicycle.

I'm both excited and nervous about the next couple weeks, which will be mine and mine alone, but also I'll be very much on my own. So far I've been looked after by Japanese -- first Masami and Shoko, and then Kenji and Sumiko. But I've also been practicing doing daily things in Japan. The day before yesterday I went into Tokyo by myself to activate the train pass, and with the help of people I asked, managed to navigate the subways a bit too, I've been getting comfortable with navigating Japanese streets, and very slowly getting better at speaking and understanding Japanese. I think if I didn't understand any Japanese, I'd be almost helpless.

According to the papers I have at least a week before the rainy season starts, and I'm going in a direction where the season starts later anyway, so I'm not so worried about rain anymore. My plan now is to ride to Nikko, a two-day (or three lazy-day) ride from here, and from there go on to Sadogashima -- a small island on the west coast of Japan. After spending a couple days there, my two weeks should be just about used up, and I'll go to Kyoto by train, to meet Nobuyuki.

Kenji and I had an interesting discussion yesterday -- it turns out we both share a slight aversion to famous places. We'd both rather learn about a new place by going to the grocery store, than to a famous monument. So why Am I going to Nikko, which is almost as much a tourist destination as Kyoto? I guess I see it as an entry into the Japanese mountains, which will probably be not-so-crowded, at least on the week days. I'll probably have a full day of torturous hills, but only a day I hope, and there are hot springs along the way.

Here are four new pictures.

Sumiko with a young chick, a few days old.

A chicken in the kiwi vines, peering in at me.

A mouse hiding under the kitchen stove

Me picking more dokudami, not very far from a "no trespassing" sign. (Sumiko taught me a new word: dorobou -- thief.) I guess the land was bought by a company who wanted to make a golf course. But they went out of business, so the property has just been sitting there.