Ideas for hikes, walks, or bike rides usually start to take shape around Thursday of any given week. An idea is picked out of the void, worked with, tweaked, and then usually put into action over the weekend.

Not this time. I was tired.

Saturday became down time and I woke up Sunday morning with no idea what to do for the day. The sun was yet to rise and out of nowhere the plan arrived – walk one kilometre from my house, and then do a loop, preferably on unknown roads, keeping my house one kilometre away at all times. That would result in a 6km walk before breakfast (although it ended up being just over 8kms). A mini micro-adventure and an exercise in paying attention to the mundane.

I took the camera, listened to this superb podcast, and went out to explore. My neighbourhood just outside Nagoya is as bland as it could possibly be. A bed-town with no highlights or attractions it has blandness running through every street. But despite this – or because of this – I tried to remind myself that Japan is still a foreign country to me even after making it my home.

Last weekend it was Kyōto, this weekend as close to home as I could get. I didn’t see anything new but that wasn’t the point.