More snippets from Japan

Just as I began to order breakfast by name, I stopped being tested on vocabulary because I was now a regular.

We went inside the giant Buddha at Kamakura. Wow. Huge. Its walls were warm from the sun.

I took a spectacular fall at Engaku-ji. Boy do I have some bruises. One's as big as my palm and a deep, deep purple.

We spent the last two days in Hakone, including seeing exactly that view in the first photo, riding that pirate ship, smelling that sulphur, and eating those eggs. (They're a lot blacker than that. They also have their own cable car. I am not making this up.)

Rest stops on the highway here are vast malls of parking and food. Green tea, hot water, and cold water are provided free from vending-machine-like contraptions.

If you ride a multi-story water slide (scroll down), it is possible to get water jammed so far up your sinuses that your brains short out. (Almost, anyway.) I rented a bathing suit. In Japan, I am extra-large.

I have now seen a cherry tree bonsai. Two, actually. Blooming.