Ise

Fancy place it turns out, Ise. Got the vibe it was a Japanese tourism hotspot, lots of boutique shops and gourmet shops and restaurants. There's also an absolutely giant park with shrines, lakes, and my new favourite thing, misting jets, in it.

Japanese chicano culture is an interesting thing and apparently strongest in Osaka and Nagoya but alive in Ise. Outside a custom shop with an enormous low rider out front, a group of cholo looking guys talking to an old man with a sleepy dog struck up a super friendly conversation with us, that mostly involved miming how high the car could bounce. James asked to take a photo of the car - possibly to flatter them possibly because he was genuinely interested, who knows. I'm glad the dog made it into the shot.

We saw the old man again later that night when we were getting turned away from every fully booked restaurant, and he excitedly recognised us. We managed to snag some udon and then tottered back to a bed with no gaps in it, hurrah.Læs mere