… sounds a little more dramatic than, “removed some very dry and hardened pieces of skin that were causing massive blisters, swelling, and pain,” but I swear, it felt like the latter. I have gauze on my foot. It was just this morning. I’m a little afraid to look.
The worst thing to be told, while traveling, is “try not to walk too much.” So today is a lazy day, and I’ll just take it easy… lots of breaks and so on. I picked up a few Japanese jazz CDs at an HMV and my goodness one of them is downright amazing. Some young woman (Chihiro Yamanaka) banging the hell out of a piano.
Now I’m copying photos to my little porta-hard-drive from my (horribly full) memory cards for my camera. In this little cafe, you sit on the (padded) floor with shoes off. Someone a couple of booths over is playing a huge and good selection of jazz music. It was Monk a few minutes ago, and right it’s early Miles Davis (though not with Monk). And if my glance was correct, they’re high school kids who are listening to this stuff.
But half the day is gone, and I suppose I should get going. I would like to see Ginza, and I have a few other plans I’ll try to follow through on before the end of the day. Injured or not, how often am I in Tokyo? Exactly.
Ow.
Foot pain does suck on one’s travels–but I hope you encounter some sights and experiences that make you forget it for sure! Have you seen the Harajuku girls…? I love the Ginza district, if just for the people watching (and the nice air conditioned department stores). I LOVE Tokyo!
The only way I made it through the New Orleans trip in 2000 was to soak my feet with bath salts every night in the hotel room. (Had to find a place to BUY bath salts!)
Yeah, the big theme onsens in Japan have really nice salt saunas that will melt the dead skin and calluses off your feet.
Jade,
Yeah, I still think it’s been worth it. The Harajuku girls were amusing, but really, I see their costumes as an extension of the customery of Japanese society in general, and especially women in Japan. Half the women you pass on the street are effectively in a kind of costume, as far as I can tell — often just a screaming, exaggerated, “femininity” costume.
Julia and Mark,
Unfortunately, with open cuts on my feet, I’m not sticking them in any onsens or any water for an extended period of time. I’ll check the onsens out next time, though, and bear the bath salts in mind for any other trip.