I'm in Japan

I had one of those moments this morning where I stop and realize that I'm in Japan. Pretty cool, huh?

This morning I was woken at 4am by the newspaper, in its plastic wrapping, being slid under my door. My first thought in my half-sleep was that some kitties were getting into something, but then I realized what was up and I couldn't sleep anymore. So up I got and headed out an hour later for a run around the Imperial Palace Gardens. Well, I didn't quite make it all the way, but if I'd cut in where I was supposed to instead of staying on the outside, I could have made it. If I were staying longer, I know I could do it on a second run. Thing is, at 5:30am it was already friggin' hot and humid. No respite, I tell you. But at least I got to come back to this air-conditioned hotel room. I stopped to stretch by a treed area, under which many homeless and other folk were snoozing. No respite for them.

My summary of Tokyo, before I give yesterday's play-by-play, is that it's a pretty awesome city. I thought of that coming over the bridge over the outer moat after my run. Looking down the moat at the combination of modern architecture and immaculate traditional parks. It's so huge, so busy, so colorful. There's so much to see and do. However, I'm not sure I'd still be as excited about it after a few months of living here. On my third trip it's already getting old, but maybe that's the heat and tiredness talking. I am looking forward to getting back to my little mountain city, where it will hopefully not be as hot. In theory.