Another Quick Update

- Spent 3 nights in Kyoto, had a pretty good time, but frankly I was
not overwhelmed by the actual sights and tourist attractions. I was
discussing with Andy one night that the real notable experience in
Japan is really just being in Japan. The temples and such were cool
to see, but to some degree I felt that once you had seen one, you had
kind of seen them all.

- I got my first injury of the trip in the most ridiculous was
possible. Basically I slipped on the wet floor of a elevator, in a
sento (Japanese bath) while naked and got a cut on my toe. While we
were in Kyoto there was a sento (which is basically the same as an
onsen, but with artificially heated water) that we went to twice that
was quite large so the locker room was on the first floor and the
baths were on the second and third. As it says in the lonely planet,
probably the only time in your life you will ever have the pleasure of
riding in an elevator naked.

- That sento was also the first I have been to with an electric bath,
which is basically a small bath that was an emitter on each side that
emits some kind of electrical or ultrasonic wave that make your
muscles spasm. We figured out eventually were the emitters were, so
it was actually quite nice to get in far away from them, where you
could not feel anything, and then put your legs near them to get the
electric massage. However at first we did not know how it worked to
Andy just jumped in right next to the emitter and jumped out of the
water with similar speed.

- We also had a fun night in Kyoto with an expenses be damned 120
dollar (total for 3) dinner and some drinking. We went to this great
place where you get portions of meat and grill them on a hot stone
that is in the middle of your table. The steak, chicken, duck and
mushrooms were out of this world. After we were looking for a bar but
stumbled across a band on the street playing sort of jazzy renditions
of Motown and various other songs the street. They must have been
music students or something because the female singer as well as the
guitarist and bassist were really incredible, and were not asking for
any money. We ended up staying until about 2 AM, and drinking a bunch
of convenience store beer with a little group of people. Was really
great, and we did at least buy a round from the convenience store for
the band to say thanks.

- Drinking beer anywhere here is legal in case anyone is wondering.

- Took Nisha and Andy to a baseball game again last night, was pretty
fun, but the Tokyo Yakult Swallows do not have nearly the organization
in the cheering section of other Japanese teams. They did have a
pretty funny dance after a run was scored that involved little
umbrellas, reminiscent of the ones used in second line.