Zach Margolis

Nagoya Design Museum

Yesterday’s excursion was to Nagoya. I had intended to check out the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology and the Nagoya Aquarium, but it turns out they are closed Mondays. By the time we found this out, it was too late to change our train reservations, and we were a little short on days remaining in Japan as well.

Hence, the Nagoya Design Museum as a consolation. It took forever to find the building, and we passed it at least once, since from that side it was not obviously labeled. We were going to try to check out a temple, but accidentally picked a train in the wrong direction. That ended up getting us too far, and we lost too much time to be able to make it back in time for our Shinkansen reservation. I attribute the error to fatigue—this long, nonstop week is definitely catching up with me.

Harajuku

One of the most fashionable districts in all of Tokyo, which is saying something. We wandered the area about two days ago, but I’ve been a little behind on posting.

Harajuku also has a lot of vintage clothing, and I heard once that Americans can make a huge killing by selling American vintage apparel here.

Inari

I don’t remember what the word is for these square arches, but I walked through at least a couple hundred of them today in Inari, near Kyoto. They covered many yards of footpaths, and were all kind of the same after a while. My feet got tired, too.

Crowded Bus

We were packed in like sardines on this Kyoto bus. I like riding the train more than riding the bus, because even though the trains can get more dense, the fact that a train is on a track means it won’t make any crazy sharp turns that throw you against your neighbors.

Kyoto

This is a street on the way to Ginkakujin, the silver temple, in Kyoto. Kyoto has a much less urban vibe to it than Tokyo. That’s not to say every street in Kyoto looks like this, but to me, this kind of scene is generally what Kyoto felt like.

Shinkansen

Today, I rode both my first and second Shinkansens, known in English as Bullet Trains. Definitely a pretty comfortable ride, and of course, super fast, very reliable, on-time, all that good stuff. Makes me super glad that California is going ahead with our high-speed rail plans.

Youth Hostel

We have been staying at Tokyo Sumidagaya Youth Hostel since last night. Totally forgot to post this: bunk beds! I have top bunk! Definitely better than sleeping on a traditional Japanese futon (as I have been for the last 10 weeks).

Himalaya Curry

See the Comic Sans on the sign? If I had seen that before I had eaten at this place, I probably would have snubbed it. That would have been a bad call because this place was great. I had super spicy curry and delicious garlic nan.

Mos Burger

I want to say that Mos Burger is the In-N-Out Burger of Japan, but that may be a stretch. It’s pretty good, and the locals like it, but it’s not even close to giving In-N-Out a run for it’s money.

I had a chicken burger today, and it was pretty good.