Weeeell this is a long overdue update to our glorious adventure through southern Japan. We are now in Kyoto, on the backward curve of our journey, heading back north in the vague direction of Tokyo (although I have no real desire to wind up back there). So far we have had 14 rides, hitched the whole way, spent christmas playing music in a pub, not been in any way attacked or uncomfortable (except for one mildly unsettling toothless trucker), and now have a good friend who is a 40 year old trucker with a strong Hiroshima accent (which I can't understand), loves pachinko, and who now contacts us every day with updates on good places to pick up trucks. He is a lovely man, and we gave him a cake. We've couchsurfed, stayed with the auntie of a friend, a hostel, and are now spending the night in a manga kisa with unlimited yummy drinks that will probably keep me up running to the bathroom all night. Matcha ole! We've had various other entertaining experiences, mostly to do with bathing, which include having to cram two of us in a tiny shower, going to sento (public bath) and getting accosted by a women who we believe was in a cult, and going to an onsen/sento and getting into a bath with electric currents running through it (yikes!) and a bright purple one that smelled like blueberries.
Also, Hiroshima is amazing! We went out to Miyajima and discovered Kuukai's temple, went hiking and got nibbled on by deer, ate dango and took photos of the big tori gate at sunset. What an unbelievable place. Also, there is a lovely bar there called Mac which plays the best music, and we made friends with one of the bartenders, she came to our gig at the Irish pub as well.
We are now spending the night in a manga cafe, reading comics and watching movies and working out our plan to get to Gifu tomorrow, then back to Tokyo the next day! I will update with the whole story of all of our crazy rides when we get the pictures uploaded, because it's much more entertaining that way!
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