There was a big earthquake in the north of Japan this morning, but thankfully we didn't feel it in Tokyo. Here's an article: http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/09/25/japan/

It's been a slow couple of days as I have been concentrating on getting sleep, catching up on e-correspondence, and getting my photos organized. I put some of my favorites up at http://www.nosillaklaf.com/gallery/ I will put all my photos there instead of here in my blog from now on, and I'll do my best to keep them current as I am traveling around.

I am still in Tokyo despite plans to leave yesterday because Grenache sent me some information about an event here on Saturday night thrown by his friend Kenji that I am going to attend. It sounded interesting enough and then I noticed that the visuals, a 15-minute video created specifically to go with Kenji's violin performance, was done by Scott Draves, aka spot, who some of you know and love. Jon then mentioned that Kenji used to live in San Francisco and was part of Rhythm Society, the community Jon and spot are both a part of. The synchronicity was too much to ignore, so I'll be there for sure. Some info: http://www.dakinirecords.com/~English/DakiniNights_11.html

Last night Aurelio and I had some bad Indian food at a buffet place called "Ethnic World." I should have known. We washed dinner down with a few drinks at an American bar called Crossroads and then back to my favorite hole in the wall, Oxygen Funk. One odd thing about the bars here is that they often give the illusion of attentive hospitality, e.g. giving you little bowls of snacks when you belly up to the bar, but then they charge you through the nose for what you thought was just a nice gesture. Two beers and a little bowl of crackers cost me $20.

I never made it to the travel agent yesterday, so am going there now. Sayonara!