Shopping for bulk goods at Costco in Tokyo

Karaoke

One thing I will certainly miss about Japan is singing karaoke with all my cute schoolmates from Japan, China, the Phillipines, and Brazil!!!

My Little Smurfs

This past weekend Mizue, Dominikus (from Kansai IOC), and I lead a winter sports trip to Ontake-san. Saturday's weather was snowy and cold, and half of our big group went snowshoeing and backcountry skiing to see the frozen waterfalls KiyoTaki and ShinTaki. I lead the group, and they followed in file in the tracks of my skiis, reminding me of the way the Smurfs would follow Papa Smurf in file on their long treks through the forest, often touting "Are we there yet Papa Smurf?"!
Upon arriving Kisofukushima station before our snowy adventures, we were greeted by a bunch of snow sculptures, as this was the season of the town's snow festival. On the left is a sculpture of the express train Shinano, which stops at this small valley town hourly and connects it with the rest of the country.
The frozen Shio-Taki (fall of nice clean water), above, provided the backdrop for a popular shrine of dedicated to the mountain's diety.


Shin-Taki (New Waterfall), froze in front of a cave. The cave behind had an ice floor, where the pond at the base froze, and was decorated by classical pillars of ice, formed by water which had seeped through the rock and then froze.

Early spring in Odawara

Yesterday Ikuko's folks took me on a nice walk over Mikan-yama, the mountain that separates Odawara from Ninomiya, and which is blanketed with Mikan farms and Plum tree groves. The view from the mountain was great, looking over sleepy Odawara with snowy Fuji-san hovering above. A scene like this, with nature and city all mixed together, is representative of Japan.


Surprisingly, the plum and cherry trees had already started blooming, even though it's still only January! This bloom doesn't usually begin until February or March, but this year it's extremely early. Ikuko's Dad thinks it's due to global warming. Of course it's hard to attribute such an annual and local trend to a long-term process like global warming, as other physics like El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the long-term meandering of the Kuroshio have as much or more effect on local weather than does global warming. But he may be right. It's interesting how most Japanese, even the older and more conservative ones, attribute much change to human-induced global warming, because they trust what their scientists and educated elite tell them, whereas most Americans, especially the less-educated, think that global-warming is a conspiracy constructed by the not-to-be-trusted educated elite (for what purpose though has not been explained to me).

Endless snow

On saturday morning I boarded a train bound for the northern province of Niigata, about 200 km away, but only 1 hour at the speed these bullet trains travel. The trip began in Tokyo, which in winter sees clear skies and relatively warm weather, with no snow anywhere to be seen. After reaching the northern edge of the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo lies, the train passed through a long tunnel, bored through the mountains that separate the Kanto Plain from the northern region known as Joetsu, which borders the Japan Sea. After the 5 minute trip through the tunnel, the scene changed drastically from bright sun to snowy blizzard! We had reached the Japan Sea side of the moutnains, a land upon which falls endless snow from the storms which start in Siberia, pass over the Japan Sea to gather heat and moisture, and then dump this moisture here for the enjoyment of Japan's winter sports enthusiasts.

My attempt at Kung Fu Panda

At the Junko/Josh/Mayumi/Will wedding nijikai on Halloween in Kyoto, I attempted Kung Fu Panda with my old karate dougi, a pillow stuffed inside for fatness, and a mask from Tokyu Hands.

Intense maple colors back in November...

Back in November, I spent two days on Kumotori-yama, in Oku-tama on the far western border of Tokyo. The autumn colors were waning, but still spectacular in the valleys. Hiking with me were Kota, Sohbi, Yumiko, and Mikako, a fun group.

Upon the mountain, however, trees were already iced, and snow was beginning to fall.