Japan in 2023

Sushi restaurant by Mishima Station. Really fast. Nice place. Friendly, efficient staff.

¥1930, $13.12.

They give you this to give to the cashier to identify your bill.

Mishima is a significant train station. Shinkansen flashing by are pretty quiet for what they are, and the station is quiet.

At the front desk, there is a step up where you take off your shoes and step into their slippers. Then you walk through the building to the courtyard, where you take off the indoor slippers and step into the courtyard slippers. Then you go through the courtyard and step into your room slippers.

In spite of the translations, I could not correlate any of these buttons with responses from the air conditioner.

The ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel room, with tatami and a futon the staff puts out at night. It is built into a modern building; there is a mostly Western bathroom. It was okay to try once, but I cannot sit for long at the low tables for eating or using a computer.

Apple Maps says this is the way.

There are lots of narrow streets with little room for pedestrians. But it works. Drivers drive at an appropriate speed, and people pass each other.

I think it was a (human) daycare business.

The place I had planned for dinner was closed for vacation.

Just beyond an unassuming doorway can be a restaurant with a garden and multiple large rooms or a tiny little place.

¥1800, $12.24.