One of the things I discovered on my recent trip was that there were ten OVA episodes for Stratos 4, continuing the story. They were subbed by SS-Eclipse, whose torrent is still seeded, but since I discovered this by finding the DVD box set at a decent price, I only needed the softsubs, which were also floating around out there.

I’ve been trying to space out the insane-fall-colors pictures, because it’s so easy to overdose. And this was on a cloudy day.

I think if you set your camera to “vivid”, you’d crack the lens after a while.

As always, the boatmen on the Hozugawa Kudari river-boat ride are cheerful and funny. I just wish I could keep up with their jokes.

Just in case the kids don’t have the patience for a lengthy visit to the Kyoto Botanical Garden.

One of my goals for this trip was to revisit places without the time pressure of a tour group. The tours are worth doing once, especially if you’re short on time, but you miss more than you see.

I took this picture for two reasons. Because “BuilDing” struck me as an unusual romanization choice, and because I was curious what the place actually was. Turns out it rents 460-square-foot apartments for $840/month. So, not an expansive vision of Space.

Still no idea what it’s supposed to stand for, though, unlike the one in Osaka.