OK I made it to Japan. It was an extremely pleasant flight thanks to the machinations of my extremely awesome future in-laws. When you get married, always make sure you;re marrying into a rising Asian-American dynasty. Anyway, I flew 1st class next to a really cool artist lady from Palm Springs. Watched Interstellar and Foxcatcher, both were great. In any case, the real fun, as usual, began on the ground. Went by train down to the sleepy hamlet of Wakayama, where I caught the 7:15pm ferry to Shikoku. Traveling by ferry is my favorite way to travel in Japan, and I never pass up the opportunity. Every boat has a massive living room set up where you can take your shoes off and lay down and relax. Thanks to the usually low cost of the ferry, you get to see more regular shmoe Japanese people who are off the clock and acting like normal people, as opposed to their corporate culture enforced hyper politeness routine. Japanese people yell at their kids and zone out and act like idiots too, Thank God!!! I always wish my ferry rides could last for ever. I even talked briefly with a little girl who was speaking in full-on Osaka-ben dialect, which is the equivalent of a New York accent. God I love accents. Anyway,I got to Tokushima without incident, booked a dive hotel, and am now chomping at the bit to get this pilgrimage started in earnest. Will attempt to upload pictures next time. See ya