When we last left our intrepid heroes, they were speeding off in a westward direction across Shikoku, in an effort to make it to Uchiko before sunset. Thanks to some crazy driving on the part of Starbuck's girl, we managed to make it to Uchiko in the blink of an eye - she drove so fast she might even give KC a run for her money.

Uchiko isn't famous for much - nature (a polite way of saying it's in the remote countryside), mikans ("famous" insomuch as they grow them, like the rest of Shikoku), a Bunraku theater, and a little merchant street with old houses, the name of which escapes me at the moment. Ironically, it's the latter item that drew us to Uchiko - as many a foreigner who has visited Japan with a copy of the Lonely Planet in hand knows, interspersed between the black and white text pages are several full colour plates featuring photos of places - famous and off the beaten path - all around Japan. One of the random plates towards the back showed the scene of this very quaint looking shopping street with lots of buildings in Shikoku which caught my eye. As you may have guessed, it was the very same merchant street in Uchiko, so being in Shikoku, I thought it prudent to satisfy my curiosity and stop by to see if it really looked the same as in the picture. It was, I am happy to report, more or less just as advertised.

Anyway, there's not much to say about Uchiko other than it really was quaint, just as in the pictures, and had lots of lovely old houses which people still live in. I really dig places like this in Japan, where people still live in old restored houses (like the "samurai district" in Kanazawa, the thatched roof farm houses in Gokayama, or some of the few remaining "machiya" in Kyoto for example) to this day. It's neat, in the same way that an old colonial-era house still standing in the middle of New York or Boston is. I'm not sure I'd recommend making Uchiko a number one priority for a trip to Shikoku (that honour would definitely go to the Iya Valley) but if you're in the area it's a nice place to kill a few hours.

After fooling around in Uchiko for a bit, we wearily returned to the car, as the morning's strenuous exertions in the Iya Valley and an afternoon of high speed driving and jumping pictures in Uchiko started to catch up with us. This also marked the second day we had slept in the car as opposed to a hotel to save money, and while this was all fine and good in terms of sleeping, it did slowly dawn on us as we pulled away that it was having somewhat of a deleterious effect upon the pleasantness of our body odor - a fact drawn into sharp relief as we found it necessary to roll down the windows to get some fresh air in and around our sweaty icky selves.

Ironically, if there is one country where it's not a problem to camp out in a car for multiple nights in a row, it would be Japan. This of course, not only because it's incredibly safe here (as opposed to America where you'd likely be jacked, raped or murdered in your face), but also because the country is literally dotted with thousands of onsens, sentos and other assorted public baths where anyone can just swing by and bathe their dirty, dirty selves for a few hundred yen (the US equivalent of a few dollars). Even most fancy onsen hotel resort complexes will let you use their baths for a small fee, even if you're not staying at the hotel itself.

I know I haven't updated over a month. That's because I have been having a massive case of writer's block - I actually have been torturously trying to poop out the next entry in the Great Autumn Roadtrip 2008 for like 3 weeks now (Starbucks girl jokes that by the time I finish it, it will be time for our next road trip) and I still can't get it done. Sigh.

I have been a busy panda recently however. About a month ago I had a bit of a life-changing epiphany - one of those "this is the first day of the rest of your life" type of deals. I woke up one morning and decided that it was time to change all these things that had been bothering me for a long time. And so I decided to start eating right, exercise regularly, stop wasting money, study harder, take more pictures and finally, make the most out of my remaining time in Japan.

The results have been pretty dramatic - I've lost nearly 10.8 kilograms (24 pounds!) in just over a month, have managed to save more out of my monthly paycheck than I ever have in the past five years, have made a big dent in my JLPT textbooks and above all, have been having a blast each and every weekend.

To tell the truth, if I had known it was this easy to change my bad habits, I would have done it ages ago :). But all that matters is that it's been more than a month and my new lifestyle shows no signs of slowing down - quite the opposite, each new success (especially the weight loss) brings a renewed sense of progress and encouragement. It's good stuff all around - even the impending hot, humid, rainy season isn't bringing me down like it usually does.

Speaking of taking more pictures, I happened to be out in Shinjuku last Sunday doing that whole "make the most out of my time in Japan" thing when I lucked into some of the most beautiful blue skies I have seen to date. I say "lucked into" because the weather forecast from the previous day said it was supposed to be gloomy and rainy all day - and it was anything but. I pointed my camera upward and just started snapping away at the always imposing Takashimaya and its fantastic concrete and steel skyward projection.

Afterward, I swung over to nearby Takadanobaba and took a few more before the sun started to set, taking those gorgeous skies with it. I really dig Takadanobaba - nothing particularly touristy about it, but as one of my friends put it - "it's like the real Tokyo - people working, studying, walking, just living." I'm not sure if I'd put it so dramatically - plus my camera spent all its time pointed firmly upward as I am for the most part more interested in buildings than people - but it definitely is a welcome change of pace from the hustle and glam of Shinjuku and the other more famous Tokyo neighborhoods.

You can view a few more pictures after the jump, along with my usual plaintive pleas for patience until my next blog entry.