I have a massive backlog of writing to get through. Instead of holding back to post the pictures, I'll update this story as a blog post. It may not make sense at first, but I trust the process. We spent two full weeks whizzing around Japan in bullet trains - from Tokyo, to Kyoto, to Nara, and finally exploring the slower pace of life on the Nakasendo samurai trail and surrounding towns. Here's what we saw, ate, and thought about.
It's odd to start piecing together the trip from pictures of alleys, but I dislike walking down busy promenades with flashy brands and polished marble tiles. They're all the same and could be swapped between Paris, New York, or Tokyo. Jet lag is brutal so I research my morning jog route at 4am, burn through the room reserves of Nespresso coffee capsules, and kickstart the day heading Westbound from the Peninsula hotel.
I remember the first impression of Tokyo that morning. For 37 million people it's incredibly silent. Peaceful, even. Granted, I'm running before any sane person is up, but even at predawn hours cities like New York hum with ambulance activity, rushing cabs, hissing steam vents, and the occasional night laborer scuttling to or from their job. But Tokyo is chill. Birds chirp around me as I disturb them with my run, pedestrian crossings beep with polite tones for the visually impaired. I puzzle why every single sidewalk has a yellow central tile with a lego-like surface. I later learn these are "tenji tile" and have been invented by the Japanese 50 years ago to assist blind people with a tactile surface while navigating the metropolis. Now used all over the world, from Sydney, to London.