Sick in Japan

I have been terribly ill the last few days. Okay, maybe not that bad. But I haven't been feeling well. I had a fever a couple days ago, along with a nasty cough and congestion. It was the fever I was most worried about. So, needless to say, I have confined myself to the interior of my house. Lots of water and sleep. And today I felt much better, so I thought I'd venture out. It is a holiday, after all.

I heard that there was a flea market happening in Tatsuno, so I thought I would check it out. Tatsuno is only a few stops away on the good ole' JR line. I hopped on the train and arrived in no time. I failed to realize previously, however, that I had no idea where the flea market would be. So I looked around. For a while. And I did not find it. But I did take a very pleasing stroll by the river.





It was nice. There was a cool breeze and almost no clouds. Eventually, though, I gave up on the flea market and decided to head back to the station. On the way I hit up a Lawson's. There, I grabbed a Pocari Sweat and a Wiener Katsu. Now, eating a Wiener Katsu was a brand new experience for me. For those of you who know what tonkatsu is, you may already get what this is. For those that don't, allow me to explain. Katsu means fried, but there's a bit more to it than that. You take your meat (or whatever) of choice, and dip it in salt and pepper, then in flour, then in egg, and finally in panko bread crumbs. Then you fry it for a few minutes on a side, and eat it. So, yes, a Wiener Katsu is basically a breaded and fried hot dog in a bun. It was delicious. I'll try to capture it's essence in photographic form on the next occasion.

It was still a little early, and I didn't really want to head home yet. So I went to Himeji. It's close. I think part of me just wanted to play a couple of arcade games. Anyway, I made my way up to the castle to see if maybe there was a flea market going on there, too. No flea market. But a farmer's market, yes. And a Doraemon Stage Show!



At this point, I just wanted to sit down. I headed behind the stage and found an interesting thing happening. A trio of dudes practicing their flatland BMX skills.



After all of my running around, I decided I'd had enough of the outside world for the day. So I went home. And walking home from the station, this:



A good day out after two days quarantine, I reckon. Back to school tomorrow, then more vacation. Golden Week! I'll explain that tomorrow.