First day - April 9

 I did not sleep much in the airplane and I hoped I could fall sleep easily at the first night. However, I couldn't. I did not bring any sleeping pills and the usual lullaby (those Japanese instructional videos in YouTube) did not work. I tossed and turned a lot, and eventually at 6 am, I got up and decided to go for a bike ride. A city bike was provided for me. It is quite small, but I could still ride comfortably. 

The weather was nice. Even though it was early in the morning, it was just about 50 degree. I did not know where to ride, so I just followed the road along the river. There is a very nice prefectural highway, but I was not sure whether I could ride on the highway, so I was riding along the road beside the highway. Anyway, even though it is allowed, it won't be a good idea to ride on the highway with a city bike. It would be nice if there is a dedicated bike path along the river.

Even though it was early, there were some people running, biking, and playing soccer and baseball along the river. When I came back, it was still early, so I went out for a run.

Running along the river is always fun, especially early in the morning. It was mid 50s, so it was perfect. I saw a few people running, and they were all fast runners. I could not quite keep up with them.

Susan is a professor at Shikoku University. She is from Australia and recently retired. She still teaches as an adjunct. She has a friend visiting from Australia. It was very nice of her to invite me over a breakfast at a rural restaurant. The food was delicious and looked good too.

Tokushima is a small city. This restaurant did not have an English menu. I wonder when I can read this kind of menu.

After breakfast, we stopped by at a local bakery. It is called bakery square (パン広場). Many pastries look similar to those I can find in Korean bakery. The price was quite cheap. It is definitely cheaper than in US, and about the same or a bit cheaper than in Korea. 

I had lunch with Dr. Luxton with his wife Naomi. They were quite nice. We went to a Japanese restaurant and had kara age, sushi, fried potato, chicken, ... They all taste good.

After coming back to my apartment at around 1:30 pm, I just fell sleep till night. Could not quite get over the jet leg yet.