Richard Masoner 🚶 🚲 🚌 🚃 🌲 🏖️

GOP: Gaslight, Obstruct, Project.

I forgot to include alt-text. Photo shows the drivers (left) side of a parked "Cresson Journey" RV camper rig in Japan. The back looks like a miniature version of an RV conversion you might see in America, built on a JDM-only Toyota Toyoace medium truck.

Maybe of interest to @supcat.bsky.social, who likes funky vehicles. This RV near Towada National Park is built on the back of a Toyota Toyoace cabover truck. The 4.99 meter length feels like a regulatory thing. I wish I had a banana for scale because this thing is so tiny compared to American RVs.

Saw it with my grandmother, and now the beginnings of it with my dad. It's pretty rough to watch it happen. Sorry it's happening to your family.

Some people like to explain the smaller wheels = faster acceleration when riding in stop-and-go urban environments, but the real reason is because they look kind of funky and cute. Smaller wheels do shorten the bike by a few inches so maybe the space savings is important for some people too.

Photo shot from a brick sidewalk of a bicycle leaned up against a railing and locked to it. The bicycle is a Giant-brand minivelo road bike. It's parked immediately next to a banner with a "no bicycles" graphic, and the text in English "DO NOT LEAFVE YOUR BICYCLE HERE" in large red text, similar text in the same color in Japanese says the same thing. Smaller black text in Japanese explains that locking bikes against the railing impedes pedestrian safety, so please refrain from doing that. Beyond the railing we see vans and trucks zipping by on a four lane road. The railing is in place to prevent pedestrians from attempting to cross mid-block.

"DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BICYCLE HERE."

A sky blue step through frame bicycle with a large metal front basket, kickstand, fenders, wheel lock *and* cable lock, a bell. The brand -- Louis Garneau -- is on the down tube.

A Louis Garneau bicycle in Tokyo. The bike shop sticker on the chainstay says Le Cyc. I met a French man at the Family Mart on another Garneau bike; his is a newer electric bicycle. We're about a block away from the French embassy here

A Giant brand road bicycle, lugged frame, small (24 inch?) wheels, locked to a rail on the sidewalk.

A Michikusa brand small wheeled bicycle locked to a rail on the sidewalk. https://cyclemarket.jp/product/detail/391

I think minivelo bikes are more of a Taiwanese thing, but I've seen a couple of them in Tokyo. The Giant with the T Mobile sticker is kind of a perfect example, but that other small wheeled Michikusa bicycle kind of fits the bill too.

A storefront in Tokyo for Blue Bottle Coffee. The blue bottle logo is visible on the window and door. A brightly lit interior with light colored wood accents is visible through the window and glass door. A sign posted on the red brick wall adjacent advertises a restaurant

Blue Bottle coffee in Hirō.

This kitsune udon and a rice bowl with the best maguro I've had in my life was 1400 yen (about US$10) in Hachinohe.

Ah, you're familiar with the brand. This was used recreationally among some of my peers when we were teens.

An 84-count glass bottle of BRON, a Japanese cold remedy.

Sudafed is illegal in Japan but you can still buy codeine pills over the counter. This formulation also includes methylephedrine, 90 mg of caffeine, and chlorpheniramine, so it'll knock you out and make you wired at the same time.

A shinto shrine with komaino guard dogs, red torii gate, a red roofed shrine in a grassy park like area and trees

Visiting the family shrine.

YouTube video by Richard Masoner Bike Counts 8:30 AM Monday May 6 2019: Homestead @ Lawrence

Before they removed the API access, I used to save video from these county expressway cameras to count bikes, e.g.

youtu.be/y0MTyQhp_Wk?...

I kinda wish I had stickers.

A yellow reflective sticker on a sign post has a graphic of a bicycle followed by Japanese text editing exhorting cyclists to follow the law.

This sticker on a stop sign post says "Yo, cyclists, this stop sign applies to you as well!"

A sign posted to a post says "No Skateboarding" in English, with the same message underneath in Japanese. An illustration of a stick figure riding a skateboard with the universal "NO" symbol (circle with a diagonal line across) inscribed over the skater is in the middle of the sign.

Skateboarding is a crime in Japan.

My Ekiben: pork tonkatsu, rice with a pickled plum, and random other pickled things.

The view from my seat on the Hayabusa Shinkansen E5 train. On the tray table in front of my seat I have an ebiben box lunch and a bottled water. Farmland is visible through the window on my right.

A phone app screenshot shows I'm traveling 193 mph

I'm traveling 300 miles in 3 hours in comfort and why do people fight this in California?

Close up of the year of a Luup brand electric kick scooter in it's designated parking area outlined with blue tape on the paved sidewalk. The back of the scooter has a small registration plate, similar to car license plates

Luup scooter share parking area, with a sign with a QR code

The rental scooters in Tokyo have little licence plates.

A latte with good latte art in the foam. A card on the saucer describes this as Seabright blend, with tasting notes, origins, and cup characteristics in English and Japanese.

A barista in a Tokyo Verve coffee shop prepares multiple drip brewed coffees on the counter.

Verve Coffee has 11 locations in California, and seven in Tokyo.

(Photo taken with barista's permission)

*That* makes sense now. Thank you.

"only" ha ha. It's pretty incredible, right?

Besides English and some western European languages, I hear quite a bit of Mandarin.

A lot of stores have signs in Cyrillic but I've met a total of two Russian speakers.

You've undoubtedly heard of the backlash to the recent heavy tourism.

Those dumb gaijin, I'm telling ya ...

Station names are in Kanji, Hiragana, Romaji, Hangul, and I think maybe Hanzi? (I don't know enough Kanji to differentiate between Japanese and Chinese versions)

I can't describe how unbelievably well wayfinding works on the Tokyo Metro subway stations. Digital signage inside the train tells you where you're at in the train relative to the rest of the station as you arrive.

Hime hime daisuki hime!