You haven't heard of cowboy hipsters? I guess they're too underground

   Have you ever taken a shower and then left the room without turning the vent on? You come back half an hour later to be met with a lukewarm sauna in your bathrooom. That's what it feels like all over Japan right now. It's currently at 97% humidity, and it's broken 90 degrees for the past four days.

    Today I bought a fan.
  

   I went to a town across the river that's a bit touristy because there's a famous castle there. I didn't visit the castle, though. Intsead, I wandered around. In my town, the mountains are too steep to build on, so people live on the flat stretches of land between them. But this town is built on rolling hills. It's really pretty.

   I was looking for a place to eat breakfast, but since it's touristy, most places looked expensive and non-descript. I wandered around for a while, exploring some side streets, until I finally came across a cafe that looked pretty legitimate in terms of coffee.When I walked in, I noticed that they were playing Sting, so right away I was sold. The curry they gave me was delicious and even had a hint of spiciness, unlike most Japanese curry. Best of all, the coffee was great.

   I noticed that they had 2-lb glass jars full of coffee beans near the register, so I asked if I could buy some. It turns out, they roast it themselves! When the guy told me, I said, "そうか、だからおいしかったですね！" (Oh, that's why it tastes so good!) and with typical Japanese demureness, he just said, "Well, please give it a try."

   I bought 100 grams of Kenya AA, and I'll be trying it out tomorrow.

   As I was leaving the cafe, a group of seven or eight of the coolest cats I've seen in the Japanese countryside sauntered in. They looked like a cowboy hipster motorcycle gang. But I don't have any proof of the motorcycles. They were wearing boots and jeans, some of them had leather accessories, most of them had piercings, and one of them had a visible tatoo on his arm (shocking!). They also pulled the typical American gimmick of asking the waitress what she would order if she was them. I really wanted to ask them who they were and how they came to have so much Personality. 

   The town felt really old-timey, with a few modern buildings thrown in. This clothing shop looked like it could have been straight out of the 60's, or Upstate New York.

   That white building housed a hair salon on the bottom floor. It also looked like a blast from the past.

   Apparently you can take a boat like this one down the river, but it's only a one way trip. I guess this guy was heading back after giving some tourists a ride.