School Lunch

...Today's lunch is...

...Rice, soup, fish, pickled vegetables, and milk.

Who's the biggest turkey??? Please VOTE

	Who was the biggest turkey at this year's Thanksgiving feast???
Select up to 2 of the following: The baby Maichan The turkey Matt
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How to cook a turkey and stuffing

For the last three years I have helped cook the turkey and this year I found a great recipe online. The turkey and the stuffing were both delicious and I have found that it's not nearly as difficult as it may seem. It does take a lot of time however. Here is the link to the turkey recipe:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000037moms_roast_turkey.php
and the stuffing recipe
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000036moms_turkey_stuffing.php

So, though I may have led you all to believe the delicious flavor palussa you experienced was my own concoction, It wasn't. However, it still took eight hours to make and I got sick again because of it. Stupid turkey...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving may be the "turkey" among holidays here in Japan but we've done a pretty good job of "stuffing" it into our schedules. Since most people cannot afford to go home for Thanksgiving (Canucks and Yanks), we are forced to celebrate one of our most endeared holidays in Japan. However, it has proven to be quite fun in the past two years and this year was no different.

We do not only invite Canadians and Americans though. Plenty of Japanese and Limeys have turned up as well and, being a potluck, the food has lacked interestingness. However, we have still managed to retain the staples; turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and a few others.

With forty people, the location can be very important so with the help of fellow Japanese, we have been able to use a mountainside cabin for two years now. It has an indoor bath, a lake, a park, and bears.

Here's a video from us Nyuzen folk at the 3rd annual Thanksgiving celebration in our town. It was enjoyed.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=566908626765349016&pr=goog-sl Happy

Here are some photos of the day in retrospect.

Thank you to Sumiyoshisan for reserving the house for us two years in a row. Thank you Josh for organizing the event. Thank you Matt for not bringing crackers. No thank you to everyone who took all the pie home and didn't leave any for me. Just for that, I won't be cooking the turkey next year;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Chuo Alps

In one of my previous posts, I (emphatically) described my backpacking journey through the mountains in Nagano. The same mountain range is clearly visible from my town, the bases climbing straight up, constrasting strongly with the very flat plane of fields from which they emerge. As the season progresses, a white blanket has begun to fall over these peaks, slowly flowing down, in time meeting the ocean. For us Toyama gaikokujin (foreigners), it is impossible to imagine snow in our area during the uncomfortable humidity of the summer, where a small errand such as going to the store could require a shower and a change of clothes. Each season carries a distinct presence in Toyama though, and winter brings with it new pleasantries such as snowboarding, burrying little kids in snow, and two sphered snowmen.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful tree, snow (and bear) covered mountains from the last week. Enjoy

The guy who couldn't play an instrument...but knew how to splice video!

Unbelievable video splicing made into a song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo&eurl=

More Halloween Pics

Pneumonia

I've been sick for the last month, directly after hiking Hakuba with my friend Tim. It began with losing my voice but progressed into chronic coughing, so much that I often couldn't sleep. I went to the doctor three times, each time with a different person who either sacrificed their free time or work time to help me. Others brought me food, medicine or tea. Thank you to all who helped me recover!

The second time I was at the doctor, they took a chest xray and found a white shadow, indicating I might have pneumonia. They then sent me to have a CT-scan (cat scan) and were able to identify it for sure. It was frightening to think that without medicine I might not get better. Thankfully, they said it was not a serious case and if I rested and took the medication, I would recover quickly.

Last year I was sick again and went to the doctor to have a check-up. He did a test on me known as the Bi-digital O-ring test. It's too weird to describe in detail so I'll direct you to an informative website, http://www.bpmlegal.com/wfinger.html. They told me I had pneumonia then too but I am pretty sure I didn't after having gone through this.

Two sick days and three weeks, many meds, and two boxes of tissues later, I stopped coughing and regained my ability to smell. I realized how badly I needed to take out the trash in my apartment...

Halloween in Japan!

Many of us lost interest in the American holiday Halloween long ago (Or were never interested at all, as the case may be) but Halloween has proven to be quite different for some of the students here in Nyuzen. We have taught them the meaning of "trick or treat," shown them how to carve a pumpkin, and even given them candy corn. Some of them said the candy was too sweet but they're wrong.

The festivities began in September when our town held a giant pumpkin festival (どで南瓜 大会) where we had seed spitting contests, pumpkin carving, and a pumpkin dance. In past festivals the opening ceremony included speeches from officials such as the town mayor. In other words, thte festival is taken (somewhat) seriously.

In one of my elementary schools (小学生), the first grade students (一年生） made pumpkin masks and practiced trick or treating to win candy. I also made a box with things inside that felt like eyeballs, brains, and toe nails. They weren't real but the kids were often too scared to smell or taste what they had touched so the illusion prevailed.

I came into the fifth grade class today and found the students dressed in elaborate costumes. One student had constructed a witch's hat, another had borrowed her elder sister's junior high uniform and one boy went so far as to grease his hair, wear a cape, a white shirt and fangs for Dracula. The one student who forgot a costume colored a big red spot on paper, laid down on the ground and told us he was road kill. Such creativity!

Many Japanese have never seen a real Jack-O-Lantern so I carved a pumpkin for our three-year school festival at my junior high. It's ちょっと difficult to find small saws around here so it took me about three hours to complete. I also carved a pumpkin for one of my elementary schools which was much more plain but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

In my eighth grade elective English class I taught the kids how to trick or treat and they had to draw a costume for themselves. At the end I had them make teams and then turn one of their teammates into a mummy using toilet paper. The students really enjoyed dressing their classmates in tissue and even found creative ways to incorporate the brown tube.

Yup, I'd say Halloween hasn't been laid in the coffin yet. It's still alive and well among batty kids here in Japan, even if it is just a skeleton form. gwa haha

Yeah, you were at English Camp!

So there

PS: Delicious cookies by the way

Yesterday

Yesterday I went to Pizza Jamboree with Kirsten, Matt, and Cheeks. We ate real American style pizza, club sandwiches, and drank Coca-Cola and an over-priced rootbeer. It was...wow.

Ocean to Summit-From 白鳥山 to 白馬岳

My apologies, this is a very long post but I wanted to include most of the details for others interested in the same hike.
Day 1
We began at 1:40pm on a Friday afternoon. Tim's wife, Michino, dropped us off at our starting point and we began our ascent. The trail, though well-cut, happened to be mostly steep stairs and ropes for the first couple hours and we were drenched in our own sweat before long. The vegetation was dense like most Japanese mountain sides, along with a thin blanket of fog, creating an eerie sense of seclusion. However, after a while, we approached the first hut on 白鳥山(Shirotoriyama, Mt. White Bird) around 3:20pm. This was not our final destination though and we still had a few hours left of daylight.

The remainder of the day was spent rushing to the next rest house before dark. We had set a reasonable pace but Tim was decided on pushing himself harder than I could keep up with and was soon far ahead. When we met again, the poor guy was exhausted and I had to lead! We came to a standstill around 6:30 when dusk had left and darkness surrounded us. We were worried about traveling while being exhausted and in the dark so we sat down, rested, and had a Snickers Bar. It was slower in the dark but there was a bright moon illuminating our path, so much that only I needed my headlamp and Tim followed behind.

We arrived at 犬ヶ岳小屋(Inugadake, Mt. Dog? cabin) around 7:05 where four other people were already bedded for the night. We set up a small cooking area outside and had canned chili, sandwiches Michino had made, and some other things. It was beautiful around us. You could see for miles/kilometers where the moonlight fell on the crests of the hills and mountains. After a couple hours of resting and talking, we went to bed. However, not before running into one more problem that night: mice.

I have never had a problem with mice but they proved quite formidable in a few moments on this particular occasion. I had set my pack inside the cabin and had gone outside to cook. Ten minutes later I returned to hear scuttling and found a hole eaten though my bag's side pocket, two plastic ziplock bags, and half a cookie (The stories about mice asking for cookies is bull! They'd have eaten the whole bag if I hadn't caught the little thieves!). That night we stored the remainder of the food under a metal trash can.
Day 2
We awoke around 6AM and were moving by 7:40AM. According to Tim, the mice had been running around our heads at night but I was sound asleep and missed the fiasco. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining brightly and apart from small groups of clouds forming in the Northwest, it was a clear day. Looking far off into the distance was 朝日岳(Asahidake,Mt. Morning Sun), the second to last mountain we would climb that day. This seemed an impossible distance but we would do that and more.

The path too was gorgeous, following the tops of the hills that lead to the next mountain. All were covered with small scraggly trees, grasses and flowers.
We had overcome most of the steep climbs in the beginning so our journey was mostly a relatively easy ascent above the trees and through the many small plateau-like hills dotted with quaint lakes. We summitted three mountains by 12:45pm and stopped for lunch. I had a PB&J (peanut butter and Jelly) sandwich and Tim made ramen. The terrain had changed a little but the small trees and brush still defined our terrain.

We summitted 朝日岳 by 2:20pm. We were now above the clouds which were much thicker by now. We proceeded on to the next mountain, 雪倉岳(Yukikuradake, Mt. Snow Storehouse?) which is notable for it's view and lightning strikes apparently. Around this time we met two other travelers, Tetsu and Shinya, who were from 石川県(Ishikawaken). They were coming from Regge温泉 (Onsen, hot spring) and had traveled almost the same distance as us in half a day. We decided to travel together since we were all going to the same place that night.

Tim and Testu were quite fast but Shinya and I were lagging quite badly and when we finally reached the base of 雪倉岳 we were all quite tired but knew we had to keep going if we were going to reach camp before night fall. Shinya was exhausted by this point and was taking rests every 100 feet or so. I had thought to bring a ski pole and was leaning on it heavily with every step. Without that pole, I would not have finished until much later. It was about 5:00pm by then.

雪倉岳 was alike no other mountain experience I have had in Japan. It was intimidating to look at for it's face was a sheer vertical climb but the path led along the hill next to it which was still quite difficult. Our hope rested on the idea that the top of that mountain would be the summit. When we reached the top of that face however, there was another smaller mountain leading to our left and the sun could be seen clearly, setting in the East. We were all depressed and tired and knew we couldn't stay there because it was too cold and the next cabin was supposedly not too far away. I ate my last Snickers Bar and plodded behind the other three guys.

We summitted 雪倉岳 at 6:30pm. The moon was bright and I was able to descend to the cabin with no headlamp. Again, it was a perfectly clear night and we could easily see our final destination, 白馬岳(Hakubadake, Mt. White Horse). Shinya was in a state of craze by then for he and the others were descending quite quickly with the cabin in view. I took my time, enjoying the night scenery and singing as I clamored down. We reached the cabin by 7:10pm.

That night Tim and I ate spaghetti and Tetsu ate soup and freeze dried rice. Shinya didn't eat but became sick and went to bed. We took our time in setting up our beds and enjoying the company of our new friends. I did some night photography too but am not sure they turned out. The sky, on this rare occasion, was clear enough so we could see the milky way and billions of stars! It reminded me of the nights at Tadmor summer camp in Oregon.
Day 3
The next morning we were moving by 7am. Shinya decided to descend by himself instead of summitting 白馬岳 so there were three of us. Actually, the final ascent was easy because were able to leave our bags at a cross-road we would have to return to. We reached the top of 白馬岳 by 9am. It provided a spectacular view on both sides of the mountain. One side overlooked 富山県(Toyama ken) and the other 長野県(Nagano ken). On Toyama's side, one could see clearly the valley in which I live. On the Nagano side, a sea of clouds covered all but the tallest peaks (known as 雲海, unkai. This is not to be mistaken with unko, which is poop).

Soon we were headed back down the mountain. We reached 小Regge山 at 10:45am. We climbed down a little farther and had lunch around 12:20 at large red shelter nestled in a small peak with a lake. It was picturesque and made even more enjoyable by the warm, delicious ramen we consumed.

The remainder of our descent was through beautiful forest, whose leaves were beginning to turn their famous autumn red. We could see the mountains we had climbed the day before on our left, whose appearance was very stunning but also frightening for they appeared much larger from a distance. We reached Regge 温泉 at 3:30pm and slightly after it began to rain. We took a much needed bath in the outdoor onsen and then Shinya, who had made it down with no problem, graciously drove us back to Tim's house in Niigata. That evening Michino made a large yakisoba meal. It was the perfect way to end the perfect hike! Thanks Michino!

A side note, a week later, some older people who were climbing the Hakubadake were caught in a snowstorm and died. Shinya, who was on the mountain again at the same time, was able to get his tent and sleeping bag out and was able to descend safely. Whew!

From Ocean to Summit

This is one of the hiking moments I've been awaiting since arriving in Nyuzen, Japan. The hike from the ocean in Asahi to the world famous ski area in Nagano, Hakuba. Once traversed by monks, this trail has become a favorite hiking area for amateur and seasoned mountaineers alike.

As I pack, I sift through the items for any excess ounce that I can do without. At first it's easy; food packaging, ramen containers, and extra clothes. After the obvious choices it becomes more difficult however. Opting out on heavier foods, Not bringing your 50+ gadget leatherman, and having only one pair of underwear (Sorry Tim). Thus the scrutenous code of ultra-light backpacking, where packing becomes an art. My finished work: a thirteen-pound pack.

My friend Tim, an ALT from Omi-machi, and I will be making the ascent to the White Horse Mountain at 1pm tomorrow. Our hike will be arduous, stretching over nearly six mountains, and hasty, carried out in the period of two and a half days. Canned chili, ramen, spaghetti, granola, sandwiches, and assorted snacks: our only consolation. Our mission: Don't die.

create your own visited countries map

Hiking Sougadake

Today I climbed the small mountain of Sougadake in Kurobe with my friends Chika and Kylie. We began at 8:30am but I had to get breakfast from a "konbini" (minimart) because I was in such a hurry to go I forgot to eat my oatmeal. The rest of the day I was worried I had left the burner on (I didn't)! Silly Johnny

We started at the tiny Unazuki ski town in the gorge and drove past the giant Japanese Statue. I was driving the old trusty Suzuki Alto. Soon we were above the clouds and were able to catch glimpses of the valley below. There were rocks scattered around the windy mountain roads, warning me to keep one eye on the mountain and the other...somewhere else.

We reached the top after a short while and entered the trail. Kylie, a girl from Arizona who is here on an artist's Visa, immediately noticed many types of clay which any hoyploy would have mistaken for dirt and would have quickly trampled underfoot. I however, being so cultured, noticed it as slightly miscolored dirt.

We were mostly alone while hiking, probably because the official "hiking season" is over. Does that apply to humans and animals alike because I didn't see very many of either.

At one point Kylie fell off the trail and could have carreened to a bad injury but was quick enough to grab onto a tree as she was falling. It gave us a good startle so we took a break and ate some cookies. She only received some minor cuts and scrapes.

An hour and a half later we summitted and were covered in the mist of the clouds, reminding me of the previous week's adventure, Mt. Hakusan. We took a lunch break, an event I had been talking about since that morning because I had made a Marionberry jam and natural peanut butter sandwich (in Japan they usually sell processed jam and peanut creme...), a bag of sea salt and vinegar Kettle Chips, and a grapefruit. It was arguably the best part of my day apart from going to bed which could be better (I'll let you know).

After our descent we drove back into Nyuzen and went straight to our favorite sweets shop, Amataro. This little Mom&Pop desserts shop serves everything from "American" sundays to the best shaved ice this side of the rice fields. The restraunt owners, a nice older couple, asked me to bring them some lemon-flavored candy from the U.S. so I presented them with America's finest, lemonheads. They were so happy they gave us free rice cakes, tea and nori (seaweed). It was awesome.

After, I went for an onsen or natural spa and then came home. The end

The beginning

Since arriving in Japan I've written one mass email detailing events in my life. I quickly realized writing to many different people has its drawbacks. Mainly, it's difficult. I stopped altogether.

Many of my friends use blogs to keep distant people up-to-date with their lives as well as humoring those close to them. I hope at least it will serve to share my travels and adventures in this far away land.