Hotel Niihama Hills

... chains drapped over the edge of the mountain, which are the traditional way to climb the last 166m of the mountain. There is also a separate set of chains starting just before Yoakashi Pass and taking you 74m up to probably the most spectacular views of the whole hike. These chains are exactly what they sound like, just big chains. They hang down over the edge of cliffs and you hang on to them to scale sections of the hike. There is usually two sets of chains for ...

... a amazing to see all the shrines all lit up at night and clambering out a cacophony of bells and drums all playing different notes at different times. Jess has really become somewhat of a celebrity amongst the young children in Hojo, everywhere we went little kids taking part in the festival were yelling "Jeshka sensei! Jeshka sensei!" It was really cute.

This was all quite exciting until later on that night when the drumming and bell ...

So many things to tell, and so little time!

My first week of teaching in Hojo has been very very busy, and very interesting. I have come home everyday too tired to even check email (so sorry for lack of communication, guys!). That being said, I am hoping to become used to the teaching routine and get my energy ...

When leaving Edmonton, I decided it was finally time to retire my 15 year old norco bush pilot. I left it unlocked in the bike rack at my apartment the day I moved out and hopefully by now someone is getting deteriorated black rubber handle grip all over their hands and cursing at the stuck pedal. Or maybe they have already gotten sick of it and thrown it in the river valley.

Anyway, in Japan everyone rides bikes. Go to any train ...

Ok, so I have a bit more time, I am going to write a bit more detail about my Voyage. I don't have a USB cable with me so I will have to wait to upload pictures.

So after my last Edmonton post, Jess left for Japan, I packed, tried to catch up with friend and moved in with Jess's sister Emily. Em and I had a lot of fun living together for my last couple weeks in Edmonton. I managed to get a lot done, but still felt like there was more to do. Isn't there always ...

I arrived in Japan last night! Yay! I am finally here...actually is snuck up pretty quickly.

So I would like to start by apologizing to all the people I lied to about my flight date. I just couldn't risk Jessica finding out, I wanted it to be a surprise.

I had a really nice couple days with my family and visiting old friends ( and by friends I mean friend )

Then it was off to Vancouver to catch my plane to Tokyo. The trip from ...

July 12: After hiroshima we decided to uplift ourselves with.... Today we have witnessed an incredible beautiful part of Japan, a part that I had no idea existed and will go out on a limb to say that today has been the best car/bus/train ride I've ever taken in my life. This is not a deliberate tour with a nice bus or anything. We just literally hopped onto a commuter bus, fortunately we were one of only 5 passengers which was awesome because we had the ...

... which, with two meals, is pretty good for Japan, but back to camping for us! In contrast, the next camp site is utter hell, next to a busy road, in light rain, but all we could find, especially since we wanted a roof for the forecast of rain. Japan is very green, very lush, and there is a very good reason for that. Despite being at the latitude of LA, the climate this time of year is much more like Seattle; many days don't break 65F, cloudy, living in Tupperware sort ...

Should I stay or should I go? That`s the debate that`s been occupying my mind for the past couple of weeks. I would categorically decide to go home as planned, only for a girl to walk past in a delightfully short miniskirt, as if tempting me to stay. Conversely, I would decide to stay and look for a job, only for a cyclist to nearly clatter into the side of me whilst I was legitimately walking on the pavement. Yet sometimes the cyclist in question would be wearing a ...

... Olympics "because you do not know what Americans will look like." "Maybe we are Asian people, maybe we are black or brown or white." "America is everybody, we come from all the world." We drank big Asahi cans & took group photos - perhaps a perfect moment. A little choking, I tried to thank them and tell them how much it meant, that this was first time I was in a Japanese home, and that people matter the most. Next day said sayonara to dear ...