Falling for fall in the Wine Country.

Huzzah!

I am (or at least will shortly be) gainfully employed once more. I was offered a customer service position with EF Educational Tours. I'll be fielding calls from concerned parents dealing with the company's study abroad trips. The position is certainly entry level in pay, but there are some pretty nice perks, including discounted airline tickets and three weeks paid vacation. I'm pretty excited about the job, and looking forward to earning money once again!

By the way, a big thank you to Alexis for forwarding me the job posting, without her I'd still be scanning Craigslist!

Westward Bound

This past weekend I ventured out to the wilds of Northern California to visit with most of the members of my fathers side of the family. Being that I've been gone for two years, it had been a long time since I had seen any of the California Contingent. I was looking forward to visiting with a lot of good people, and sampling the glorious views and weather of fall in the Wine Country.



Plenty of time was set aside to help my grandfather around the house, and the ranch. With all four of his sons visiting for the weekend, you can imagine that plenty got accomplished, and plenty of beer got consumed!



A very high priority for the boys was this pile of wood the was in need of splitting. A major source of heat for the living room of the ranch is a wood burning stove, and my grandparents will need plenty of wood by the time the winter is over! Luckily, they now have LOTS of wood ready to go. I should know, as I stacked most of it, though certainly that was far from the most difficult job on offer. That would be felling the actual trees...

Love Letter

Kanazawa City
Ishikawa Prefecture
Japan

Dear Kanazawa,

I miss you.

I'll admit, when I first met you, I didn't like you very much. You were cold, and covered in wet, slushy snow. I didn't really know you though, and as the seasons changed and I grew to know your back ways and small bars and restaurants, I grew to love you more and more. Over the twenty months that I lived with you, you really got under my skin. Even now, sometimes I just wander your streets with google earth. Its not that Denver isn't a great city, but she lacks your intimacy and exoticism. I just wanted to write, and let you know that I'll never forget you, and that I'll be back for a visit as soon as I can.

Love,

Grant

金沢市
石川県
日本

拝啓　金沢、

さみし　です。

きみ　は　さむい　いつ　ぼく　は　来ました。でも　雪　の　あとで　きみ　は　きれい　でした。きみ　の　居酒屋　や　お好み焼き屋　や　バー　や　こんびに　すごい　おいしおいしかった　です。　ぼく　は　すぐ　帰ります。ことばじち。

大好き

グラント

Privacy: Part of the Past?

The other day I read an article in the Rocky Mountain News that discussed a new program for frequent travelers. Rather than get in the same two hour + security line that everybody else has to slog through, you have the option to pay $100 a year and submit your biometric data as part of a government background check. In this case, biometric data includes your fingerprints AND retinal prints.

Retinal prints? Did I just walk into a bad James Bond rip-off? I'm sorry, but we shouldn't have to pay extra money and submit to intrusive government checks just so flying is convenient. The horrors that have been visited upon travelers by the TSA should be fixed, rather than have yet another layer of cost and intrusion forced upon us.

Also in the news is Japan's move to fingerprint and photograph EVERY foreign traveler and worker as they enter the country. When my friends in Ishikawa leave and re-enter the country over the New Years holidays, they get printed and photographed, their only crime is being foreigners. Of course, the United States already does the same thing, so I suppose I should keep plenty of my ire reserved for my own government.

When did protecting travelers begin to be about treating everybody like a criminal, and making us subject to very intrustive, expensive, and time wasting procedures? It's a wonder anybody goes on vacation anymore.

Criminal Me

In my search for gainful employment, one of the many companies I have applied to is an in home tutoring provider. The pay is great but the hours are almost non-existent. The position is a way to make a bit of extra cash, but certainly isn't a good way to earn a living. But I do enjoy teaching kids, especially one and one and in small groups as I did in Kanazawa, so I figured I'd fill out all the paperwork anyway.

Wow. I have never seen a more imposing stack of paperwork and procedures. I can understand the impetus, after all, who wants there child being tutored by some freak of nature, let alone allow said freak into their home. On the other hand, making me feel like a criminal before I've even had a job interview is ridiculous!

The first thing I had to do was get fingerprinted, which was a rather intimidating process. The second thing I had to do was fill out a stack of background check papers, each requiring my full name and social in multiple places. I'm sorry, but these days I'm feeling a bit weird about giving out my social to too many people, all those identity theft horror stories have finally hit home. To add insult to insult, I have to fill out a Dept. of Homeland Security form to verify that I am eligible to work in the US. I have to show my passport to my employer, who then has to fill out their half of the form and send it in!

All of this for a job that might make me an extra 100 bucks a week. MIGHT I am honestly wondering if it is all worth it. When it was easier to work in a country where every official document is covered in oodles of Kanji than it is in the land of my birth, something is wrong.

Roxborough State Park

If there was one 'thing' besides enchiladas that I missed while living in Kanazawa, it was the Rocky Mountains. While the views of the Southern Japan Alps were very pretty, they just weren't quite as impressive as the glorious peaks that form the backbone of North America. While I haven't had a chance to take off and enjoy the really high peaks yet, since snow has already dusted them, Matt and I did have an opportunity to go to one of my favorite nearby areas.



Roxborough State Park is a beautiful collection of trails winding around and through fantastic examples of the red sandstone rocks of the Fountain Formation. This group of rocks was formed by the erosion of an ancient mountain range called "The Ancestral Rocky Mountains." The uplift of the current peaks broke and tilted the rocks into the fantastic shapes that form Roxbourough, as well as the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Red Rocks Amphitheater in nearby Morrison Colorado.



I myself have a pretty long history with the park. One of my grade school birthday parties was held there. We froze our water bottles to keep them cool in the hot July sun, but while it was VERY hot and sunny, it wasn't hot and sunny enough to melt the several quarts of ice we brought along. Luckily we didn't hike very far, but man were we a thirsty group when we got back to the visitors center. I also did my Eagle Scout project at Roxborough, cleaning up a field that had been used as a convenient garbage dump for the locals.



While it may lack that rugged and epic vistas of a high peak along the continental divide, Roxborough will always be one of my favorite areas in Colorado, and I suppose it is pretty fitting that it was one of the first things I did when I got back in the States.

Reverse Culture Shock Lives

After living in Japan for a while, you get used to answering the same few questions every time you meet somebody new. "How long have you been in Japan?" "Why did you come to Japan?" "Can you use chopsticks?"...

The list goes on and on, but today we are discussing a new question, "What is it like, being home?"

WEIRD.

There, I said it. I find America to be a strange and unusual place. Given that I just returned from a country that considers raw octopus to be delicious bar food, one might wonder where I get the guts to call the "land of the free" weird. I think it's less that America is weird, though at times it certainly is, its that I did change in unanticipated ways. Besides, America and Japan are about as different as can be, so again I have to adjust to everything being different. For one thing, the size differential between Japanese and American portions keeps causing me pain, as their large (L Saizu) is about the same size as an American medium (M Saizu). I suppose that might help explain the size difference between people too. I went from being taller (and a bit wider) than average to being distinctly smallish.

It didn't help that I caught a horrific cold on the flight home. Cold + Jet lag + Reverse Culture Shock = one really tough first week back. After that though, things have been getting better and better. Getting reconnected with all my Denver friends has be a real treat, and of course seeing the family. I've even been dating a nice girl! After three weeks home, despite dismal job prospects, I have to say that things are looking up, bit by bit. It's been a rough couple of months, don't get me wrong, but life is looking a lot brighter than it has in a while. Now if I could just find the perfect job...

Goodbye Kanzawa...

My last two weeks in Kanazawa were a blur. I busily packed all the two years of accumulated junk, tried hard to plan for the future, and still tried to make time to see all my friends before I skedaddled out of the country. Added to my list of duties was the orientation of my incoming replacement, one Fiona from Canada. (Interestingly enough, that makes the third Fiona to move to Kanazawa in three years. I don't think I ever knew anybody named Fiona before I moved to Japan.)



Speaking of my replacement, it was lucky that she was really cool, because it felt really weird handing her my job, apartment, bike, and friends. "Hi, nice to meet you, here is my life. I've enjoyed it, so I hope you do too!" Add in that to all my other issues at the time, leaving, relationship pain etc, and you can imagine it was a pretty weird week for me. Though, I'll admit that going out EVERY NIGHT for two weeks was kinda cool too. I got to see a lot of people.



Indeed, my good friend Marie swooped down from Wajima (two hours away, up at the tip of the Noto Peninsula) exclusively for my farewell party that weekend. She was pretty broke, but made the trip anyway, which meant a lot to me. All in all, we had 16 people at my party, which included all the closest friends that were still in Ishikawa. I would say I was touched, but honestly after two hours of all you can drink Asahi, I don't think the finer emotions in life were forefront in my mind. ;-)



The very last night I spent in Kanazawa we went out to one of my favorite restaurants, the best Yakitori in town. 1 Liter draft Asahi + Chicken on a stick = A good time. It was nice to spend my last night with some of my favorite students, and at the same time introduce Fiona to the glory of food on a stick.



And then, just like that... it was over. I remember, back when I worked at the library, I mentioned to my boss, who had done two years as a JET up in Niigata prefecture, that someday there would be a time when living in Japan was the past, but in the flush of anticipation of my great adventure I couldn't even imagine what that would be like. Well, here it is, and now Japan is the past. A glorious past, but the past nonetheless, and it is time to look to the future, though who really knows what that holds? Never fear though, as I will keep updating my blog, though under a new title. Perhaps I'll just change it to Denver Tales!... Stay tuned...

Nara and Kyoto, again

I decided for my last weekend, I wanted a good mix of seeing old friends, new sights, and reconnecting with some of my favorite spots in Japan. Since I was in Kansai visiting Zach, I decided to swing back to Nara and Kyoto for a quick return look at the worlds largest wooden building. Another motivation to get out of bed was that I got to see my good friend Liz again. Being that she lives in Okazaki, we don't get the chance to get caught up all that often, and it was good to see her before I left.



Our first stop was Todai-ji, the massive temple complex that houses the famous Nara Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha. The casting of the statue in the 700's used the entire bronze production of Japan for several years. While it almost bankrupted the country, the resulting work of art is amazing to behold. This building, more than any other I've seen in Japan, is probably the closest thing to a Gothic Cathedral, in height and width and general grandeur. Of course, the function, design, and material construction are all totally different, but when considering the time to build and the vast resources required, the comparison is valid.



After dodging the pushy sacred deer, we managed to get up to a glorious overlook, and see the vastness of Nara spread out below. Unfortunately, the day was getting increasingly overcast, so the panorama didn't produce any photos of note.



My next goal was to revisit my "favorite place in Japan." Yes loyal readers, I went back to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. The hundreds of bright red gates just draws me in every time. Sadly, we arrived just after dark, so we missed the sunset, which looked glorious from the train, and the light just wasn't bright enough for pictures without a tripod. I did get one good one of the cityscape though. As we were leaving, the upper part of the temple complex was wreathed in an ethereal mist that made an already magical place even more so. The lack of a tripod stymied my photography attempts again. One of these days I'll learn...

Guest Post: To Grant, From Zach

The truth of the content of this post may be subject to opinion or solar activity.

So Grant is gone from Japan (see disclaimer above) and back in America (If you believe everything you read on the internet).

How did it get to this point you might ask? Well it all goes back to a rainy night last August when Grant was bitten by an Ukai cormorant ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant_Fishing_on_the_Nagara_River) that thought Grant's chubby thumb was a delicious river fish to be captured for it's master. Grant contracted avian cormorant rabies which can easily be cleared up with antibiotics. An easy enough fix, however, since the recent resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, all antibiotics have been made unavailable to non-native residents until a new Prime Minister can pull Oda Nobunaga's katana from the stone.

Well, rather than face a slow painful loss of digits to the avian cormorant rabies (the silent killer) Grant decided to go back to America where antibiotics are available to anyone with a concealed firearms license.

(end disclaimer- these statements following previous introduction are not all made up crazy talk and actually did happen)

But before Grant left his Asian "home away from homeland" he wanted to spend one last weekend in the big Osaka, living it up in Japan's most exciting city.

I met Grant at Osaka station where he was having a little trouble with the transition of things in his life. By this I mean, actually all the things in Grants life that he owns were stuffed into three suitcases and two bags and he was having serious issues with the transition between the ticket gates at the train station. With an extra hand (my right one) moving Grant's things became a much simpler challenge and we carried his luggage halfway across Osaka to a prison restaurant where the guards were nice enough to stash his bags in the prison-kitchen.

My friend Gothic-Lolita Kate and her acquaintance from Tokyo had already arrived ahead of us and had been escorted to our cell-table in handcuffs by a lovely young Japanese waitress in a blue latex police uniform. Since Grant and I were late we didn't get the handcuff treatment and were shown to our table, un-manacled. We ate deep fried cheese balls and avocado fondue while sipping cocktails from beakers and eyedroppers.

After about an hour the lights dropped and all the waiters ran around in monster masks screaming, smashing walls and kissing Kate's head while alarms rang and latex lady-cops fired their cap guns for our own protection.

A lot of other things happened for Grant that weekend and since this is his blog, I shall leave the rest of those tellings to him. Please don't make fun of his lumpy discolored thumb.

Locked up in Jurassic Park

Being that it's pretty much Zach's fault that I was in Japan in the first place, and that I hadn't been down to Osaka to visit him in a while, I figured it would be a good idea to swing by his tiny bachelor pad for a few days and hang out with one of my oldest pals.



The weekend kicked off with a trip to Lockup, a prison themed restaurant that involved sexy police women, prison cells, escaped monsters, and mad scientist style drinks. The highlight of the night wasn't the sexy police women, it was the gloriously delicious fried potato-cheese creations that we ordered three times!



The next day, while Zach peddled gamely through downtown Osaka to his Japanese lesson, I met up with Travis and our friend Lynnsie at Universal Studios Japan. USJ is an almost exact carbon copy of the original park in LA, only everything is in Japanese and the lines are a LOT shorter. Maybe it was just the heat of late summer in Kansai, but the park was certainly on the empty side, which made waiting in line a lot more convenient that it could have been. We rode every ride we had on our "To Do List," and even rode the excellent log-flume style Jurassic Park ride twice!




Why I wanted to plummet straight down almost 10 stories twice, I'm not quite sure. But it was great fun, and the adrenaline rush helped clear my mind of the fact that in three days, I was leaving Japan.

2 AM Takoyaki

Yesterday afternoon, approximately 14 hours after departing Kansai International Airport, I landed in back in Denver. It felt weird. For one thing, I've gone from higher and wider than average right back to short, and if not slim than certainly not large!

My reunion with my family, and the dog, was as joyous as would be expected being that its been over nine months since we last saw each other. A delicious homecooked meal was just what the docter ordered, and then it was time to sleep. For all of four hours.

I woke up around 2 AM, after dreaming of takoyaki (octopus balls) and going out to an izakaya. I never really liked takoyaki as I've never really liked octopus, so I find it strange that I'm dreaming fondly of them.

Note: I have several exciting posts from my last weekend in Osaka just waiting to go up, so don't worry loyal readers, this blog isn't over yet.

Frodo Baggins?

Leaving is going to be more difficult that I could possibly have imagined.

They say that "You can't go home again." I wonder just how true that might be. If home is where the heart is, then what happens to home when the heart changes? I'm certainly not saying I don't hold a passionate attachment to many things back in Denver. I eagerly anticipate going hiking, eating Chipotle, and of course spending lots of quality time with my family and friends.

But what about everything else? I'm not who I was two years ago. To take up the reigns of my old life not only doesn't interest me, it terrifies me. Of course, expectations can change and morph, I've proved that by the very fact that I've changed over the course of the past two years. Things that scare us one day can be the very things we cling to the next.

I suppose a large part of it is simply expectations. Not only is Japan "normal" to me now, but it is the United States that is unknown. We all make plans in life, and I had made my plans, encompassing a move to Tokyo, trips to Fuji and Hakone, Tokyo Disneyland, the mountain paradise of Nikko. Teaching lots more English. Eating lots more okonomiyaki. Its hard to change your expectations, and its only been a bit over two weeks since that future evaporated. I've done wonders in retooling my expectations, but its hard to change so much so quickly. My future is Denver is completely unknown, I have no expectations. I don't know who I will meet, what I will do, where I will go. That sort of limitless "freedom" is both inspiring, and terrifying. Humans like to be limited, to an extent. It gives us security and comfort.

In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins saved the world he loved, but at the cost of his ability to be at peace there. While my journey has certainly been far less traumatic than his (I still have all my fingers), I still wonder if I will be able to be at peace in Denver. Having tasted the outside world in all of its glory and heartbreak, can driving up to Best Buy on a Saturday afternoon really interest me? I suppose the answers to these and all related questions will be revealed in less than two weeks. Far sooner than later, and that in itself is rather frightening. For better or worse, this is my last weekend in Ishikawa.

Next Stop: The wild blue yonder.

and Roxborough State Park. ;-)

Two year Japanniversary

It is hard to believe that two years ago today I stepped off of my flight from the United States and into the muggy Aichi heat. It has been a long, strange, wonderful trip. The things I've done, the people I've met, the places I've seen, the food I've eaten, it really has been a fantastic two years.

Now, I've reduced those two years of intense experiences into an 8 minute video, roughly in chronological order. Of course, I wouldn't blame anybody if they can't sit through all 8 minutes of tinny rock music and slightly pixelated pictures. After all, I am the one with an emotional attachment to all these images. Though, I imagine that a few of my blog readers can find themselves buried in the avalanche of Grant's memories. Enjoy.

Goodbye Grant

I've been to so many farewell parties over the past two years, but it was pretty surreal to be at my own farewell party. We had a fantastic time, with all you can eat Okonomiyaki, plenty of beer, and lots of good cheer. It was pretty emotional for me, and its only getting worse as I say final goodbyes to my students, day by day. It's hard to believe that two weeks from now, I'll be getting on an airplane and flying home.

Profusion of Confusion

I just can't keep changing my mind!

Last Monday I was all set to leave. Then On Wednesday I decided to try and stay. On Friday I talked to my Mom and Sister, and realized just how much I truly missed them, and now I've been horribly homesick, and determined to head home at the earliest opportunity.

Hah!

Life: Subject to Change Without Notice

Well, I can honestly say that this stay in Japan/ leave Japan debate has been one of the most difficult choices of my life. Add in my still rather fragile emotional status, and the incredible time pressure, and it hasn't been an easy week.

I had made the decision to leave, and even booked a flight, but I think I'm going to cancel that flight today. For some reason, inexplicable even to myself, I just don't feel good about leaving right now. When I think of seeing family and friends, I feel great, but the thought of leaving Kanazawa just makes me sick to my stomach. While I think I must leave, and should leave, I've come to the realization that I just don't want to leave.

There should be an ALT position or two opening up in early October, and if I get that job it would come with an apartment and be good till March, so that would really help me iron some things out in my mind and my life, without a full years commitment.

As always, thank you everybody for your support and love in this time of trial. I've been hurt before, but those were preludes to the main event. I guess nobody can make it through life without at least one major heart break. I just hope I can keep the number of times something like this happens to a bare minimum. Once is far too many times to feel this kind of pain.

The Final Decision

Obviously, this blog had been destined to be renamed Tokyo Tales, and would have chronicled my adventures in a new and exciting city.

Events have changed that plan, as they have so many other plans.

The past few days have seen a LOT of soul searching, but in the end I have decided to leave Japan, and travel to Europe for a little while. This was not an easy decision to make, but I had to look at my reasons for staying. While I love Japan, and Kanazawa, I had to look towards my future. As long as I was making a good investment in my future, for example courting a beautiful woman with a strong wedding bell possibility, I could stay and enjoy myself. With that option gone, I had to think about whats next. Staying here would be staying in the past, and I think half the reason I want/ed to stay was so if she had a change of heart, I'd be available.

This is obviously a VERY bad reason for staying. I have rather painfully, but successfully so far, put the past behind me. While a planned happy future is gone, I have made it my goal to plan an even happier and better future for myself. To this end, I think I have learned what I needed to learn here, and that further time in Japan, while very enjoyable, wouldn't really be putting me on the path that I need to be on.

So, I have three weekends left, two in Kanazawa, one in Osaka. Then I will fly to Hong Kong for five days, and then I will bid the Orient adieu (for now) and jet off towards the Occident and a family rendezvous in Paris! I'm certainly going to keep my blog going, and update from my new European adventures as much as possible. To that end though, I'm going to need a new title. Any ideas, loyal readers?

Kurobe Gorge

Last Saturday I went on a great day trip with two of my students and two delightful children. Our destination was Kurobe, a city, gorge, and river located next door in Toyama prefecture. Both students have a link with Kurobe city, one will move there this spring to be a doctor, and one grew up there. Kurobe Gorge is one of the premier autumn colors spots in Japan, and even in summer is very picturesque.



As Japan has very little in the way of coal supplies, most of the electrical power that fuels the industry and the bright lights of the night spots comes from nuclear and hydroelectric power. Huge dams are dotted all over the mountains, and the steep fast grade of the Kurobe river make it an ideal spot for multiple generating stations.



The cute mini-railway that was built to construct and maintain the series of damns was then put to another use, as a tourist trap! Luckily, the area is still increadibly beautiful, despite the rather high incidence of concrete!



There are stacks and stacks of river side open air onsen, but we didn't have any towels or other onsen gear so we had to be content with the foot bath, which was still pretty relaxing, if not quite as relaxing as the whole onsen experience. Of course in some ways its better, as it features 100% less rampant public nudity.



Sadly, for me, with the kids in tow there was no way we could hike up further up into the mountains, but even without that we had a really fantastic Saturday, capped off with a delicious stop at MOS Burger.



僕は　ともだち　と　先土曜日　に　黒部　に　行きました。黒部　は　どんな　ところ　ですか？　きれい　な　ところ　です。秋　すごい　あざやか　な　葉　です。　黒部　の　日本　の　一番　大きい　ダム。たのしい　週末　でした。ありがとう　れい　と　のぼる！　　

A few days later.

I guess that I am starting to feel better about myself, my life, and the drastic change in my future fortunes that has occurred.

I may have lost a girl I loved, but I still have my health, my family, and friends all over the world. I have to say, the outpouring of sympathy and generally friendly love from all over the world has really helped me get through all this. Of course, it's still hard, but it's always hard.

The worst day in a long while.

This morning my delightful girlfriend of four months has dumped me mere weeks before I was to move to Tokyo to be with her. To say I am shocked and devastated would be to massively understate the matter.

I do not know what to do, I am in total shock. This was as out of left field as it could possibly be. Just Friday night she swore she loved me, and then a mere few days later she said she doesn't love me, that she loves somebody else more, and that she lied to me on Friday. Wow, Ouch.

Obviously, I am not going to move to Tokyo, thats out. I may try and stay in Ishikawa, I may try and move to Osaka, or I may go to Europe for a while and just travel. I am not really in a place to make decisions right now, but unfortunately I have only three weeks before i have to move out of my apartment, so I don't have a lot of time to decide what to do.

Life goes on, even if it doesn't feel like it.

Obon Sachiko

Obon is a major religious holiday season in Japan that most people have off. Set in the middle of the summer holidays in August, it is a time for people to return home, visit their family and honor their ancestors. While I didn't have any extra time off, luckily for me Sachiko did have some time off. Rather than swing by to visit her family all week, she came to Kanazawa instead.

I took her down the local commuter line train to the outlying suburb of Tsurugi. Not only is the town almost in the beautiful mountains, but it is also home to an excellent wood fired pizza restaurant. The trip out was nice, but the stroll up to the restaurant was marred by the ungodly mid-August heat. We still had a great time, though unfortunately our troubles were just beginning...



The last stop on the Hokutetsu Nomachi station line sees service once an hour on Saturday. We ran, in the heat, from the restaurant to the station only to see the train pull away just as we got there. Oops. We just plopped down in the station with some water and dozed until the next train arrived. Having lost an hour, we went straight home, and grabbed swim trunks and towels for a trip to a big party at Uchinada Beach. We jumped on the bus, ready for a quick 10 minute ride to the train station, where we could catch the 5:00 train to Uchinada. Perfect.

Only, did I mention that in addition to family reunions and grave visiting, Obon also involves dancing festivals? Dancing festivals that block off main street for over a kilometer? Dancing festivals that take normal traffic patterns and send them spiraling into oblivion? Well I didn't know this when we got on the bus, but 50 mintues later when we got off I sure did! The entire main street, from near my house almost all the way to the station, was blocked off. The bus was rerouted way out of the way, which didn't help, and the stop, stop, and go really slowly traffic put the final bit of pain on us.

At least we caught the 6:12 train to Uchinada ok.




The beach was fantastic, but sadly we didn't have time to swim as the sun was setting as we arrived. Still, we got to see a gorgeous sunset, so all was not wasted, not by a long shot!

In other news, I'm sorry about the updated schedule of late. Things have been pretty crazy, with job hunting, and preparing for my move to Tokyo. Time has not been a something I have all that much of in recent weeks.

In other other news, I'm going to copy Zach, and post a little bit in Japanese too. This is not to be pretentious, but mostly for practice, and also because I DO have some students who read my blog, and sometimes my writing can be a bit difficult to understand. So this way, they can (hopefully) get the gist of what I'm talking about.　Notice, it is NOT a direct translation, or even anywhere near a direct translation!



幸子は　八月に　金沢に　来ました。土曜日　に　鶴来　に　行きました。　鶴来　に　すごい　おいしい　ピザ　の　レストランが　あります。僕　は　幸子　と　ひるごはん　を　ピザ　を　食べました。ほくてつ　野町線　で　電車　は　一時間　に　一度　に　動かす。電車　に　のり　おくれた。

内灘の浜に　ばんごはん　を　食べました。たくさん　きれいな　日没　見ました。

Phew, that was hard. A big thanks to Kanazawa Zach for some important help. I have a headache now!

Sturm und Drang, signifying everything.

Monday morning saw the arrival of our first rain in weeks. The weather has been glorious, so mother nature decided the area needed a major storm to shake things up.



Rather than just drop some light rain on the city, the weather decided to summon a thunderstorm the likes of which few are privileged enough to encounter. Being the photographer I am, I dusted off my tripod and headed out to get some lighting shots. These are difficult to get, for the obvious reason that you just never know where those jagged little guys will strike.



Luckily, the storm was of such violence and intensity, that I got a few pretty good shots before I headed back inside. As the evening turned into the morning, the storm grew closer to Kanazawa proper, and started hitting us pretty hard, heavy rain and tons of very, very close lightning and thunder. The moron in me decided this was a good time to go out and get some more pictures from my open to the elements front porch...



This one was pretty close.



A much more comfortable distance!



OH MY GOD.

This last one was so close, and so loud, that I picked up my tripod and made great haste for the 'safety' of my apartment. Once I got inside I remembered to breathe, and found myself shaking and on the verge of tears. I've had close encounters with lightning before, one would think I had learned my lesson. I think this one may have actually struck the building, or indeed very close by, as something knocked out my internet for the next two days, which explains why I'm late in posting these photots!

Shinjuku Station in HDR

Shinjuku Station (新宿駅）is the primary transportation hub for Western Tokyo and is the busiest train station in the world. Combining three different rail companies and two different subway companies, the station complex is the second largest in the world (after Nagoya Station) and sees an average of 3.1 million users a day. Standing on a foot bridge over the tracks, it seems like the rails cut a huge canyon through the surrounding cityscape. Some of the trains are so long that the front of the train is arriving at Shinjuku while the back of the train is still leaving Yoyogi, the next station down the line! To battle your way onto a commuter train here at rush hour is a task not to be undertaken lightly!