I'll write the distances so far below as well:

Day 1: 32 km, Fukuoka to the campsite Day 2: 57 km, the campsite to Kitakyushu Day 3: 93 km, Kitakyushu to Yamaguchi Day 4: 54 km, Yamaguchi to Shūnan Day 5: 90 km, Shūnan to Hiroshima Day 6: rest day in Hiroshima Day 7: 73 km, Hiroshima to Mihara Day 8: 72 km, Mihara to Ōshima Day 9: 73 km, Ōshima to Niihama Day 10: 75 km, Niihama to Marugame Day 11: 32 km, Marugame to Takamatsu Day 12: 32 km, Takamatsu to Himeji Day 13: 62 km, Himeji to Kobe Day 14: 28 km, Kobe to Osaka (plus 20 km without luggage) Day 15: 48 km, Osaka to Kyoto Day 16: rest day in Kyoto Day 17: 70 km, Kyoto to Makino (at the top of Lake Biwa) (plus 7 km without luggage) Day 18: 72 km, Makino to Echizen Day 19: 93 km, Echizen to Komatsu Day 20: 17 km, Komatsu to Kanazawa Total: 1,073 km Average: 53.65 km

Where do I start? It's 7pm. I haven't written anything yet. This morning I rode the 17 km from the campsite in Komatsu to Kanazawa. I'm tired, really tired. I'd decided to go sightseeing in Kanazawa today, but I had no energy at all. My luggage is heavy, and I'm fed up! These last two days have really worn me out. I rode 163 km in total. My legs really hurt too, and sometimes my calves and thighs cramp up. I wanted to sightsee, but I had to walk around with heavy bags and it exhausted me. The heat is unbearable as well. It's always around 30 degrees, which is far too hot. As I've written before, my head is fine while I'm riding, but when I arrive in a city my mental state falls apart and my emotions are all over the place. I've been overthinking lately too, so my brain isn't working properly. When I'm sightseeing, I try to conserve as much energy as I can. At the start I climbed the steps at every single shrine, but there's no way I can do that now. My legs feel like they're about to break, so if I don't choose my stairs wisely, I'll die. If my legs aren't as big as Baki's by the time this trip ends, I'm never reading that stupid manga again. A physique like that is impossible, surely.

Today I went to Kanazawa Castle Park. It was really lovely, and I'm glad I went, but it was so hot that it wound me up. I don't know why, but someone laughed at me, and honestly, I could have killed them.

Even so, I calmed myself down, escaped from the park, and had Kanazawa curry. I phoned my mum to settle myself, and it really helped.

Lately I've been using only Japanese as much as I possibly can. I'm making a point of using Japanese even when I'm looking something up or thinking. I might write later about what I do to learn Japanese. I'm not used to it, so it tires my brain out more than I expected. When I was studying in the UK, I watched and read lots of Japanese media as a hobby, but until now I'd never switched over completely. English is more convenient day to day, so of course I hadn't. But ever since I came to Japan, I decided to switch to Japanese for the time being. I'd wanted to do it for a long time, but there were more important things (university, for example), so I didn't want to force my brain into exhaustion. But I love Japanese, so I'm enjoying it now. I am still using a little English, though. For messaging friends, for example, or phoning my parents. Every time I phone my parents I feel at ease, and there's something familiar about it. The reason is that I'm talking to my parents, of course, but English itself feels somehow familiar too. Someday Japanese will feel the same. I'm gradually getting used to it, and lately I've been catching myself thinking in Japanese, so maybe just a little longer 🤏.

Today I also read thirty pages of Haruki Murakami's "First Person Singular" in Starbucks. Yūtarō knows I like Murakami, so it's a book he recommended to me. I like it. Thanks again, Yūtarō. I bet you're grinning right now, like always. There was a passage that matched what I've been thinking about memory and nostalgia lately, so I'll write it below.

[Murakami passage: insert the published English translation here, or keep the Japanese original]

I really love that Murakami always creates quite dark imagery. There's a strange beauty in that darkness. It's because he can convey his own way of seeing things perfectly. Lately I've also been listening to the audiobook of Murakami's "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage". It's always eerie and I want to know what happens next, so it's easy to listen to.

As I was riding through the streets of Kanazawa, one of a group of three guys called out, "whoa, that's cool." I replied, "no, no, not cool at all," and then we walked along together and talked. The three of them live in the countryside near Kanazawa, but today they were out in the city. Their names were Masatomo, Ken'ichi, and Kōki, and they were all cool. Masatomo was really good at giving compliments too. I haven't had many chances to talk to people while I've been in cities lately. People in cities are a bit cold, but I was really happy that they spoke to me.

The process of second language acquisition: will I be able to read one day? Will I one day be able to understand by ear what I can read? Will I one day be able to write what I can understand by ear? Will I one day be able to say what I can write? It's not perfect yet. I need to keep polishing.