along the path of philosophy, in a cafe

japan is a cold country. strike that; kyoto is a cold city. it may be 5 celsius out, but I am chilled to the bone. also: the use of central heating seems to be unheard of in some places. my quaint little hotel only heats individual rooms as needed. this may be more efficient on the whole, but the bathroom is f-ing freezing. now I understand the purpose of the heated toilet seats.

second observation: there are public bathrooms everywhere. this is a good and welcome thing, especially considering the mass quantities of tea I've been drinking, due in no small part to the aforementioned muscleaching cold. It has been a good trip, but each day I find I have less and less energy for touristy activities. I just want to sit inside slurping hot udon noodle soup and eating little gummy rice pastries. perhaps it's finally time to sample the public baths, if only to relieve this everpresent chill I feel.