Kakegawa Station Hotel 2

... the best for the posting.

Life has been busy lately. Too busy. I think over the past weekend I had about a total of 10 hours of sleep. I blame it on Kevin.

Kevin arrived on Friday. He's from Ottawa, and went to school with me at St. Paul's High School. Sharing similar interests, and being the saint who introduced me to Muse, how could I say "no"? That, and having a little taste of home come visit (minus the tasting part) was something that surprised me. I have wondered ...

... Katou-san, and we chatted about adjusting to other cultures, and studying foreign languages, and the such. He asked me what i did for exercise, to "strain my body", and I complained of lack of time, lack of a gym, and lack of motivation. But I was optimistic about finishing at 21, maybe 20 minutes.

I did my trial run, and was confused at the end about the finish line (I scared a bunch of guys in sutis as I sprinted towards their tent at the end of the pavement, while my ...

... t have the heart...) tell him he stunk. He figured it was a Gaijin-related joke. When he got home, he realized that he had kamemushi crawling all inside his shirt. Them being about the size of your thumbnail with meat attached to it, I don't know how he could have missed them, unless they're ninja-kamemushi. I guess they're that good at being awful.

Enough tangent. Anyways, it doesn't smell anymore. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

So, the last ...

So I managed (scold-free) to pay my second visit in an Onsen.
Now the reason why I did not post up my first visit (at least I think I didn't...) was due do a growing fear of being discovered for all my gaijin tendencies, which includes some body art.

For those who are not informed about Japan's general policies on tattoos, let me fill you in. Now I'm no Japan-encyclopedia here, but I'll do my best. Traditionally, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) were the ...

Death to anyone who actually calls this a "sport". Where's the 'sport', or fun, in running long distances, causing pain, exhaustion, thirst, and minimal benefits to ones physical condition? What about one's mental condition?

I remember crossing that finish line, muttering "thanks" in about three languages, I was so delirious. Sure, it was an awesome experience, taking in the beautiful scenery on a perfect Autumn day in ...

... It was scary. I had these Karate fathers CARRY their kids in one hand, and drop-fly-kick anything that moved around them. I had bruises! But I didn't pop my balloon.

There were other races, of course. Relay races, 100m dashes for the kids, a massive 60+ tug of war, and many, many others competitions. I was exhausted by the end of the day, having spent the night before drinking in Toei with some of my buddies at the local bar (that's another story, oh boy ...

... or talked me into confusion--joining their local team), and on my way back home on the winding road, when I spotted something moving on the road. Now in this area, this is a common occurrence. Wild boards (Unoshishi), deer (Shika), and all other forms of life find their way onto the half-wild half-tamed highway that runs through these parts.

"Wild" would describe the ...

Taguchi Festival. October 10th.

You know, we had a hard time deciding which Festival we were going to check out, and it's a very long and somewhat unfortunate story as to how we ended up in Taguchi, but boy was I glad we went.

Every town will have its own flavor, its own specialty, that it will boast freely about and advertise. This can be partly attributed to a governmental push in (no idea what year, but possible in the early 20th century) to promote, advertise and ...

... It was a GREAT haircut. I sat to admire the view outside his place awhile, and returned home to prepare for that evening's dinner party at Ito-san's place.

Ito-san is a lovely woman. She's been studying English for almost 10 years now, and could be anywhere between 45 and 70 years old (I only say 70 because I think Derek once told me that she was beyond retirement age). Either way, she's energetic, extremely friendly, and has enough interest in the world and foreign ...

... meter deep cave but only 400 meters is open to the public. There were lots of neat things to look at in the cave. A small turtle waterfall, a rock formation that looked like an alligator, a mirror pond and a 30 meter waterfall were just a few of the things to look at! There was also a coooooold spring that you could put your feet in to relax them. I would have but I wore sneakers that day and didn't bring anything to dry my feet with.

After the cave we ...