For the first time since I came to Japan I am stuck with an excruciatingly slow internet connection. The mobile connection out here in the foothills to the mountains is spotty, at best, and the WiFi at this otherwise lovely hotel in Wada-shuku isn’t exactly rocket fast. So I’ll just make a short “I’m alive” post, and save a lot of the fun stuff that happened today for an update tomorrow instead.

Teasers: Two new birbs! Two more museums! The Kasatori Namiki, which isn’t more than a tree-lined avenue, really, but it’s in Japan and from the Edo period! (And the Japanese pen maker Pilot has named its flagship line of fountain pens Namiki!) And finally, the mountains loom large!

Well, I think just about covers it. See you tomorrow, if I survive the infamous Wada pass in what looks like to be a downpour…