So I am writing this from onboard the Shinkansen travelling from Odawara to Kyoto. Travelling at some bullet-like kilometre per hourage, the trip will take a little over 2 hours.

Out the window, the countryside is smearing past with a slight redshift motion blur not unsimilar to most of my photos. 

Standing at the station as one of these trains rockets past mere centimetres from my tightly retracting cremaster muscle (go look it up) never gets old. 

Right now, Mt Fuji fills a good portion of my window. The snow-capped peak pierces a long band of clouds hugging its lower slopes. The snow is glowing in the late afternoon light and together with the sunset clouds in circumambulating attendance, the whole scene has a slightly discomforting similarity to an upside-down, photo of the first milliseconds of an atomic detonation.

At least that’s what comes to mind. 

In truth, it is a glorious first day of winter. Autumn must have missed the bus because the trees remain in full crispy-golds and deep purple-reds. This afternoon light is a photographer’s dream. It is still and clear and we zip past forests and factories and so many houses and apartments. So many apartments.

Hakone-Yamoto has been even better than the last time we visited (and that was a 10 out of 10). In celebration, I consumed a rather large bottle of local beer with my dinner and then overstayed a late evening Onsen soaking (a steaming hot outdoor spa).
I was a lobster prune. But I was a happy one.

So now we thunder along towards Kyoto, where we will be based for the next 5 days. There will be side trips and many temples, way too much food, way too many large bottles of local beer, and way to many blurred photos.

I’ll sign off now. Put away the electronics. Drop my seat way back (we are travelling first class—of course) and just gaze mindlessly out the window at it all.

Talk again soon.