Caveat: Tourist

For day, I was a pretty conventional tourist.  I took a day trip out to Miyajima (also called Itsukushima) and Mt Misen.   I rode the streetcar out to Miyajima-guchi and then the 10 minute ferry across to the island, and walked around the famous main shrine complex.  I ascended to the top of the mountain for the fabulous view.  I saw deer and monkeys and many, many humans (including women climbing steep, several-kilometers-long mountain paths in 3 inch spike heels — ah, Japan!).  It was very hot.  I drank a lot of water along with randomly selected beverages from the ubiquitous vending machines, and ate a shrimp-cake yakitori (or something like that, anyway) on the way down at the end.

I don't really have a lot of patience with being a conventional tourist, but I tried.  It was worth seeing, I think — it was a sort of "just like the postcard" experience.  I made more video… I now have so much that I will have to delete some or I won't have room to store it on my computer.  I'm going to try to make one of shinkansen ride and one of my visit here to Hiroshima.  Maybe I'll work on it tonight. 

I actually kind of like not having internet access in my room.  It keeps me from lurking in there rather than getting out and exploring.  I've had that epiphany before, actually.  Having internet access where one sleeps is a mixed blessing, for someone like me who has issues with self-discipline.