I saw this world map board game from 1951 today a year ago, in the historic Kaichi school in Matsumoto. (Click on it to see more detail.) It shows clearly that going from Australia to California via Japan makes perfect sense! Since that's what I'm about to do - departure is Tuesday morning - this is reassuring. It's also, I dare say, a worthy addition to the assembling of unusual maps with which this blog began.
This rather pinched used book store, which I saw the same day with my friend O (that's him in the picture), also seems an appropriate emblem for my embarrassingly super-quick Japan stopovers. My stays in Japan - I have to stop over in both directions - are one and three days, respectively, adding up to a hardly respectable four in all!For the time being, though, I'm still in Melbourne, frantically trying to crank out a draft, no matter how shaggy, of "the book" before departing. I'm a bit behind but should just squeak through, if very shaggily. Wish me luck!
