Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the Suicide cliffs of Okinawa. At the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. They jumped off the cliffs at the souther end of the main island. If you have seen theoriginal color footage taken at the time. I am sure you were moved with mothers holding their babies jumping to th...
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I am back from another European trip. Meetings in Sweden, France and Belgium. Generally, a different hotel every night for a week, and 8 airline segments in 7 days-- pretty typical.

I see labels like this "SKUM" on the fire extinguisher all the time. No shortage of irony between western language variants for sure. There was a lot of snow and cold in Northern Sweden in the city of Umea. It was getting light about 8:00 in the morning and getting dark at 3:00 in the afternoon. It is the beginning of February after all. A menu in France I experienced and some food and views in Belgium.

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