I just spent a couple of hours looking through some photo albums of Japan at the web site of Ejovi Nuwere. He seems like a great guy and I loved his pictures. I wish I could go back for an extended visit. I liked his Hitchhiking across Japan series. I rode a motorcycle from Tokyo to Hiroshima and stopped in Kyoto on the way. What a beautiful country. Bizarre sometimes, but never boring. Now that I'm older I think I would more appreciate the experience, on a deeper level. Not that I didn't but, well, time flies and before you know it you have to go home.

We spent Dec. 25 in Hiroshima and that is a very moving experience. On the way home when we were in Kyoto it started to snow. We were running low on cash and there is a treacherous (in snow) mountain pass to continue to Tokyo. And it was getting dark. The snow was accumulating and we were already out of the city. We found a hotel but it was one of those love motels and it was just too much money for the night. They jacked it up because they knew we were on a bike. We went to a restaurant and ate and sat for a couple of hours. There was another couple that had the same problem. We both left at the same time. There was at least an inch or so on the roads and the other couple decided to pay for the love motel. We didn't have enough money so we rode on. Just a couple of miles further we found a ryokin, a japanese inn. It was very reasonable and warm and very traditional. It's sort of like staying in someones house. In the morning the bike was covered in snow. The roads cleared and as we went through the mountains I knew we would never have made it through the night before. I was so glad for that inn.

By the way, Ejovi Nuwere wrote a book called Hacker Cracker. Check out the site.