I’m sure I’m neither the first nor the last person to note that it probably says something about Japan that the ordinary meet-new-people ritual includes asking them “Please be kind to me.” But, you know, sometimes you have to be obvious.
Anyway, I’m in Kyoto, typing on a loaner laptop in the hotel lobby. Don’t expect a great deal of blogging via this method, because the keyboard is different, and I keep doing something to put it into hiragana mode, which makes a great big mess. The hotel is very nice, though, abd the staff speak excellent English, so I have not needed my abominable Japanese yet, and soon we’ll be heading out to look at some cool old temples– we’re next door to ãããã ãããããã©ã (that would be Romanized to “Sanjuusangendoo,” I hope…), so tourism will get off to an easy start…
As for the travel here, only two comments: 1) thirteen hours on a plane is a very, very long time, and 2) jet lag sucks ass. I got a reasonable total amount of sleep last night, but in one-hour chunks, because my body was convinced that it was mid-day, and I shoud get up from my little nap.
On the bright side, the shower this morning was like a religious experience. Nobody manipulates hot water like the Japanese…
That’s enough for now. Mata ne.