Yamaoka Uchiko-cho

So back in Hojo for only a few days and our dear friend Yoko stops by for tea. Turns out she needs help on her farm, putting socks on the oranges so that the birds don't eat them. So we thought, "sounds like fun!"

The next morning we headed out and met up with Yoko at her farm. It turned out to be a wonderful day. The weather was perfec...

I had to head into Matsuyama one day to try meet with a volunteer translator from MIC ( Matsuyama International Centre ) and work out my visa extension. So I thought I would take the opportunity to get some pictures of Matsuyama, since I haven't put any up yet. It ended up being sort of a little tour of from our house to Matsuyama.

The ...

From Yufuin I took a bus over the mountains to Beppu and a new hostel there. An advantage of hostels is that there is usually someone who speaks English well enough to answer some questions, give info, etc. An exceptionally chatty Norwegian suggested we get some ramen, and we walked into a place straight out of Tampopo (a classic film).
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Luckily for us we were invited by Vicky, one of the head JETs in Matsuyama, to an event that would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life: hiking to the top of Mount Ishizuchi. Ishizuchi is the highest mountain on Shikoku as well as in all of western Japan. It is an impressively jagged horn shapped mountain surrounded by beautiful...

This weekend saw quite an impressive ( though sometimes annoying ) Autumn Festival here in Hojo.

The festival basically consists of many many Hojo residence, getting together and building these strange portable shrines and carrying them around town banging on bells and drums as loud as they can all day and all night, dressed in traditio...

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 back, so that I can regularl...

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...

So we saw our first really cultural "touristy" type thing the other day. We were lucky enough to be placed only 25 minutes from one of the THREE places in Japan that still practices the traditional Cormorant fishing. I just want to make clear that this is NOT fishing for Cormorants, but with them. I'd also like to thank Etta ( one of the advisor...

Have you ever met a monk! New Years 2006 Have you ever met a monk that has a full time job a as computer teacher. A house in the city with a temple in the country. Rides a Harley and likes to sail. While I have and what a glorious host him and his wife make. With not much in mind for new years except maybe... meeting up with some of Hessens frie...

Back in Hiroshima City it was time for some dinner, but while this proposal seemed simple enough on the surface, we ran into language problems every time we picked a restaurant and walked in. After being turned away time and time again for over an hour, we unanimously decided that the next place we entered would be where we ate whether they like...