John W. <worthj1970@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 1, 9:08?pm, mtfes...@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:

> > Not a bad trip. As usual, I really miss good, simple Japanese food. Dunno
> > why they don't even try to make here in the States. It's not like the
> > ingredients are hard to come by. Oh well.
> >
> I find that I also miss the food, particularly the stuff you can get
> in restaurants that you just can't get in the US. A "Japanese"

Yep; I particularly miss yakitori. 

> restaurant in the US typically is a sushi place, especially outside of
> the major cities. We have a place or two here in Nashville that

Yeah; the sushi was actually better before it got so popular.
 
> profess to serve other things, but that usually is "tonkatsu" and miso
> soup. I also realized just how safety-conscious we are in the US. For
> example, we went to this place on Mt. Rokko that was essentially an
> open ropes course where people (mainly kids) did 40 or so climbing/
> swinging/balancing obstacles. No safety lines, and I felt out of place
> when I gave the kids a spot. Then my son fell astradle a balancing
> pole and I didn't care after that. But despite that, it was refreshing
> in a way to not have to constantly worry so much about always being
> safe, or doing something that might wind up in a lawsuit. The final

Well, a couple years ago, one of the teachers at the Japanese Saturday
school program slipped and fell on the long climb up the backside of
Half Dome. Stopped his slide about half a mile down hill; pretty well sanded
down by that time.

> note I have is that the roads we traveled (mostly around Himeji; we
> also drove to Kobe and Matsue) were, for the most part, empty. When we
> went to Kobe (and when we went to Itami on our way home) there was
> considerable traffic in the other direction, but we cruised at highway
> speeds (or greater) the entire time. Not sure if it was just my
> perception or if there were, in fact, fewer cars on the roads; maybe
> we just got lucky. I like the countless quirky things in Japan that
> are worth driving to (more or less), even if they are pricey and
> silly.

Well, "freeway speed" in Japan isn't quite freeway speed here in California,
but yeah, traffic wasn't bad on Shikoku, even given the 2 land "highways".
Still can't believe more people don't visit there. Oh, well.

Mike