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June 4 — Trips from the Road
Despite rainy weather, we decided to make a day trip for abalone. The swell wasn’t the predicted 2 feet that we hoped for, but it wasn’t too bad. The water could best be described as “sharky”, due to a combination of runoff from the cow pastures, tiny bubbles mixed into the dark silty water and … Continue reading
Reminiscing of Ryukyu
Watching this conjures up memories of awamori, umibudo, goya champuru, taco rice, and stewed pig’s feet while listening to the laid back twangs and beats of the shinsen and taiko, accompanied by hauntingly beautiful vocals of a dialect that I love to listen to, yet do not understand.
Civic
My car has served me well during our last two years together. Without my Civic, I would have gone insane. It performed well in hot weather (albeit without air conditioning in the Kyushu heat), the pouring rain, and on snow-covered, icy roads. We have travelled the Milk Road countless times, and have discovered places that … Continue reading
Kumamoto Hash House Harriers Tribute
For the past three years, many people came out on a free day, no matter what the weather was like, in order to run the hash in Kumamoto Prefecture. It became a ritual and was something that many of us looked forward to doing each month. Running through all sorts of dangerous environments, stalking the … Continue reading
Late Snow Hike
As you can probably tell, I have a lot of stuff that I want to post, and not much time to do it. That’s why I’m finally getting around to this hike, which I did on Sunday, April 4th- two days after my birthday and one after our fire drills. I woke up at 6:00 … Continue reading
Jump Picture Start
A jump in front of Kaimon-dake, Kagoshima. Props to Kaori Tanaka, the photographer. Taking good jump pictures requires a few things including but not limited to a steady hand, good timing, interesting locations, and a willing partner or group. The jumper must be willing to jump off of whatever will make the picture look its … Continue reading
Valentines In Hiroshima
Japanese busses are made for Japanese people. Even beer doesn’t help much in these situations. These situations call for Night Formula Contac and a Jack chaser (or four)… Here’s the whole crew (from left to right): Pyon-pyon, Peek-a-boo, Ralph(read caption #１ again), demon-bunny snowman, Faceplant, Lippy, and The Menace. The Menace wins the best jump … Continue reading
Ubuyama Snowboarding Safari
My snowboard planted in a foot of powder in front of Yamaga Shogakko in Ubuyama. Arguably, this is the best place for snowboarding in my village. Today I woke up late (10:00AM- I MUST be gettin old), and was shocked to see that 61 centimeters of snow (according to the news) had fallen over night, … Continue reading
Another One Bites The Dust
Yes, I have sent yet another cherished watch to the junk pile… The Wenger was with me for many adventures and accompanied me on my various travels. It has been diving in Catalina, helped me to teach sailing in Newport, plummetted off of the Circus Circus bungee platform, and has kept me on track for … Continue reading
Ride On!
I have tried to ride many different things down many different steep areas around Japan. Snowboarding in the local hills, mountain boarding on Mount Aso and the Ubuyama Bokujo, cardboard down Kikka-machi’s huge steep astroturf hill, homebase down the long roller-slide in Kyokushi, Taro’s longboard down a jinja, et cetera. But this was the most … Continue reading