Hotel No1 Matsuyama

... to a Meiji Era tea house overlooking the Hijikawa River. I stayed a hostel just below the castle for about $35 which might have seemed expensive for what could have been a huge dorm with futons spread out over the open space, except the I had the spacious second floor to myself with full windows facing the river on one side and the castle (lit at night) on the other. It was wonderful.

On to the big city of Matsuyama, capital of Shikoku.........

... clouds. But even more hair-raising was looking ahead to the actual peak of Ishizuchi, still towering far over head and far off in the distance.

Down the other side of the peak was another set of chains back to the main path and we continued what would prove to be an increasingly steep and difficult climb to the top.

There was one easy section not long after the first set of chains, where the forest opened up to open fields of low-lying bamboo. It was ...

... other smaller portable shrines down a very high set of stairs, followed by a brawl to collect the pieces.

I am not really sure of the significance of all this, but it was definitely interesting to watch! I will try to find out more about the meaning behind this festival and make another post about it at a later time.

For the first night of the festival Jess and I walked down to the water to watch them parade around. It was really ...

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 ...

... we were a group of twelve we got our own boat!

We all met up in the afternoon at the Matsuyama JR ( JR stands for Japan Railways if you hadn't guessed ) Station and caught a train to Ozu, a really old city with many many historic buildings. We plan to return in the day sometime and explore the city a little better.

Once in Ozu, we had to walk, quite a long ways to the meeting place and then again to river where our boat was. We hopped on the boat and we were ...

... même pas dire si c'est du poisson, des légumes, de la viande. Dans cette ville, il y a un resto spécialisé en 'tori sashimi', en fait du poulet cru. Avec ma chance, si je le tente, je choppe la grippe aviaire. Elle est arrivée jusqu'au Japon? Au resto, à part le riz, j'ai aucune idée de ce qu'il y a dans mon assiette. Oui, il n'y a pas que des sushis ici, il y a plein de soupe étrange, tout ...

... things the same way twice. I'm always looking for other ways to do the same thing, because I tend to get bored if something is too easy. I think that's one of the best parts of my current job. I do new things all the time, and I don't have a problem with making it better the next time that I do it. I have to make new ways to teach different things to different people, and that has made my work interesting. Will ...

... this country that are just done because they've been done that way as long as anyone can remember. + Cleaning and drying the bathroom daily, + taking medication in a powder form, + sleeping on futons, + wearing specific slippers to use the bathroom + lack of more creative forms of sushi (even California rolls are hard to find), + saying "blue" traffic lights (even though the color is obviously green). I don't understand this, but apparently it's the ...

Well, got some bad news. I guess I lost the job at the English Academy. They sent me an email letting me know that the teacher that they'd said i would be replacing has decided to stay a little longer. How long, they don't know, but they said that they would keep me informed. I've started looking for a new job, but I can't really tell them when i'll be available since I don't know when this job ends. So, I'm a bit stuck. I've posted my info ...