Horie-no Sho Hamamatsu

... I came across on the middle of this road. I saw one pair of red eyes glint back at me in the darkness reflected by my headlights, glaring at me with pure hatred (as much hatred that is possible in a jackrabbit). "Jackrabbit?" I hear you say. Yes, and how could I tell this? Well, I'm not sure who ran away faster, but I could swear it was the jackrabbit who was on top who ...

Alternating every week is the frequency of visits that I make to Tomiyama, the smallest village in Japan. Before it was merged with Toyone-mura and some of it's surrounding (but virtually invisible) rural farms, this much was true of Tomiyama.
But what is true of Tomiyama is that it is probably one of the most beautiful and quiet villages in Japan. The entire village is built upon rows carved from the face of a mountain, which is obvious when you look at how steep the stairs are ...

... and received my own reasons to respect them. Now, if it's someone I simply don't know well, I try my best not to stare off into the mountains or grow impatient with their honorific and spar-jarring command to "Rei!".
Tangent!
So, after all the ceremonies were done, and I was having fun laughing with the kids and earning their admiration for pulling two, sometimes three heavy weeds at a time, we packed up and headed off to the nearby river for a massive Hikakke feast. My ...

... this time was that I had a much better rod. My vice-principal makes the hooks himself, and the rod was in pristeen condition. All five hooks were there.
So this time, I managed to catch 10 (where only one was a net-caught fish!). With my newly founded bragging-rights, I set off that day on a full stomach of delicious and freshly made Onigiri (surprise-center wrapped with rice and Nori, dried seaweed ...

... but coming back is scary).
What is interesting about this day, and probably one of the main reasons why I got out of the house, was because I woke up earlier that morning, around 5AM, to what I thought was a vibrating bed. Well, the bed was vibrating, but so was everything else. Because I had been lying in bed for about 30 minutes drifting in and out, I was wide awake when the place started shaking. It was a weird kind of shake. Like there was no regularity with which ...

So we got up at some point after our binge drinking the night before. It was a blast, but I paid for it. Derek and I still trying to figure out whether I'm allergic to Tatami or his blankets. I'm scared to found out which.
I left red-eyed, stuffy and with a nice head-splitter with Derek for probably the most beautiful views I've ever seen in my life. I mean, Canada and Japan are very different countries, and both have their own distinctive landscapes, but these views were ...

... boom-sticks. They kicked off the night with some machine-gun fireworks (also Japanese style), followed through with 3 or 4 rounds of Tezutsu, and finished the night off with some impressive Japanese-style fireworks. Watch the video to listen to some of sounds these fireworks made, not to mention the acoustics that having mountain surround your valley creates.
This wasn't even the end of our day. We sped over to the local Ubon festival that took place after, where traditional Odori ...

... of a Smart car except a bit larger) was fogging up something terrible. I had to use a newspaper to wipe the constantly fogging windshield until the rain subsided and I could use natural-air-conditioning to get it back to normal (mine needs freon). For the fam and Niecia: you know what I'm talking about, minus the scraper.
Anyways, I stopped by at like 4 convenience stores (called Combinis, for future reference) to find my way to the station. Had like 3 different ...

... along the coast later in the afternoon, and I bought her mum some flowers to say thanks for letting me stay - jeez I`m a good lad! Her mum seemed to appreciate them, and in return I was treated to a delicious evening meal at a Japanese barbecue restaurant... It was actually Yusuke who had told me about these kinds of restaurants where you are given the raw meat, and then you barbecue it yourself. He also mentioned that a particular favourite was cow tongue, and ...

... who BTW, is the principal, she said that she can drum up some part-time work for me to do in the mean-time. This could be my chance to shine. I can show them my abilities, before they hire me full-time. It's good not to need sponsorship. I think this is fantastic, though the only problem is that I will soon be needing money. I need to buy food, pay for stuff.. etc. I'm glad I have quite a bit saved ...