Bus to Kyoto.

The sleep-shade is an interesting idea - while you’re on a bus for 8 hours, you can pull this shade over your head to mask your eyes and make it easier to sleep. Sadly, it - like so many things in Japan - wasn’t made with foreign giants in mind; this photo was take with me slouching way over, and I don’t fit any other way.

Takashira St, Harajuku

An overwhelming crowd of people less than a block away from a quiet shrine. Kind of a common pattern for Tokyo, really. I think I like it more than New York’s unbroken streams of people.

Capsule hotel

I really liked this place. The beds were just long enough for me to stretch out to my full length (no arms overhead, 6'2"), but any taller and I wouldn’t have fit. They also had a traditional Japanese shared bath/sauna, no private showers - really nice if you can get over your modesty actually.

Yoyogi Park Arabian Festival

Accidentally found this a few hours before it ended. Most of the audience and performers were Japanese. Most of the visibly Middle Eastern folks I saw were selling food, and even then, most food salespeople were Japanese too. Interesting to compare that with the representation you’d see in the US, I think.

The blue dancer in the third photo was spinning a circular fabric/ornament of some kind on his hand, above his head - sort of like how you see Italian chefs spin pizza dough in TV/movies. I hadn’t seen this kind of dance before.

I can now say I’ve had an Arabian belly-dancing lesson in Japanese

Japanese-style room. I’ve always enjoyed sleeping on the floor so this was cool.