Lasting Hotel Kushiro

... never bother if there's a woman in the car and I didn't that time either. About 2 minutes later, this same car comes back the other way and stops to turn around in a driveway across from me. I couldn't imagine that they would be coming to give me a lift (especially unsolicited) but sure enough, they were. They pulled up and told me to jump in...They were a pretty cool couple, the Saito's. The guy was a temple master and he was taking his wife down to the other end of ...

The Rundown: -Days: 14 -Kilometers Driven: approx. 1,700 -Money Spent: approx. 120,000 Yen -Places Visited: 3 (Rishiri/Rebun, Sapporo, Niseko) -Number of Rainy Days: 9 or more -New Friends Made: 1 -Broken Equipment: sleeping pad, daypack zipper, H2O bladder bag -Number of Times I ****** On My Shoes: 1 I had been waiting an entire year for these two weeks. I had ...

... packed with people sitting on cushions, presumably the family and relatives, possibly some close friends. I had no idea what the hell was going on so I just kept following my friends and that lead us up to the altar. It was a huge thing that went from floor to ceiling and was crammed to the gills with large, ostentatious flower arrangements. In the center of it all was a picture of Ruise-san's father. As is typical with so many pictures the Japanese take ...

After about four days without a shower I was ready to soak my sore knees and dirty body in an onsen. For me, the onsens are one of the high-points of my stay in Japan and no vigorous day of exercise could really be called complete unless it finishes with one of them. Once I had made it back to my car at the Ashahi-dake parking lot, I headed south towards the town of Furano. Located in a beautiful mountain valley, between Taisetsuzan and another small mountain range to the ...

... can do fairly well (especially thin crust pizza). Normally, if you have Mexican, or something else, it's never quite the same as having the real thing. There's always some strange way that they prepare that lets you know that Jorge wasn't in the back making the tortillas. But I guess Italian is pretty straightforward so there's usually not so many suprises when you order a plate of pasta; and I can find vegetarian food. The place was really small and crowded when we got there. When ...

... only mandates that elementary school students have exposure to the English language. It does not lay out an order in which subjects should be taught, the number of lessons a year, or what those subjects could be. As a consequence, each school I go to is a grab bag of activities and techniques and is subject to the whims of the teacher I am working with. Some are quite good and interested in their students learning English, others just see it as a lesson they don't ...

... her and a bunch of people that I didn't know. Navigating and trying to meet someone in a city that you don't know very well without a cell phone is a little taxing but we managed to pull it off. It did make me think twice though about my recent ban on having a cell (keitai). Aside from the times when I am at conferences and such it really wouldn't get used very often, so right now the cost just isn't worth it. While the city was fun and exciting, as cities generally are, I was happy ...

... was a lot more skittish than the fox though and pretty much hightailed it out of there as soon as I tried to get close. The deer (shika) that I had seen previously paled in comparison to this guy's size. You can't really tell from the photo though. The actual summit of Mashu-dake is really just the highpoint of a rocky ridge left over from when the volcano erupted many thousands of years ago. The lake itself wraps around this whole northern side of the crater, sort of in a bamboo ...

Last week marked the first time I have had a birthday in a foreign country since I was about 6 years old. A long time indeed but I have a feeling there will be more of them to come... Unfortunately, the weekend's festivities were dampened somewhat by this cold that I picked up and couldn't manage to shake. For over a month now I have been the sneezing/allergy champion of Shibecha (followed closely by my supervisor Satoshi). There must have been a huge influx of pollen this fall because ...

... s something that I do normally and never gave it any thought until I came here and kept hearing these "ooohs" all the time because they saw me doing it. Even Japanese people tell me it is difficult for them to do. The beers were there before you could even open your mouth to ask for one. Slowly the food started to appear. First, some edamame and potatoes, then something new every couple minutes. Everyone at work is well aware of my gastronomic proclivities so ...