Snowfall in Nakatsugawa town

This last week, right before Russell left, we had quite a snowfall in Nakatsugawa. Unfortunately, we missed the actual falling of snow, but the stuff was everywhere when we got back! I'm not used to having to pry my car doors open in the morning. It kinda sucks, I'm not gonna lie.

But the snow was still quite beautiful. It's kind of exciting to have snow right outside the windows and around the car. It adds an element of inclement to the environment that I'm not used to. Snow is certainly a lot nicer to look at than to walk around in with running shoes and to scrape off your car. Luckily, I have upgraded to an actual ice scraper (direct from Wisconsin, no less!) from my airline frequent flier card, which I had put to some use before.

When I sit here huddled up in my apartment with my little kerosene heater for warmth, I can't believe there's big hulking pieces of snow outside my window. It freaks me out! I can't believe that if I don't fill that thing up with kerosene and light it on fire, then I will freeze. What a feeling. I miss central heating.

When I arrived at school, there was a flurry of happy activity as teachers and students swept snow and played around in the new fall. It was a nice sight to see. Here is the fountain at the high school. The kids were making snowballs and trying to ricochet them off the frozen top of the fountain. Damn good idea, actually!






Luckily, it hasn't snowed again since then, so now there are just lonely-looking piles of snow sitting around looking forlorn. It has been nice and sunny, just the way I like it. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm gonna enjoy it while it does.

For those freezing their arses off in California, I symphathize. It's almost colder there than here at the moment, come to think of it. Be strong.

Journey Photos

Hello, dear readers! I spent this weekend doing very little at all, and after all that traveling, man it was good. I hope everyone else is similarly relaxed. Too dang cold outside to do much else. About my only achievement of the weekend, besides getting a cheap haircut, was tagging and uploading photos from Russell's and my recent trip around Japan. They are now posted at my Webshots page for your express enjoyment. The link is to the right, and the album title is Boyz in da Hood. I hope you enjoy the shots, but if they suck, do not hesitate to send hate mail.

Jayman

Strangers in a Strange Land, Part 1

This is Himeji Castle, the finest in Japan, and most noteworthy (to me) as the place where James Bondo-san landed in a goofy helicopter while filming "You Only Die Twice" or something or other in the '60s.

Well, Rusty's time in Japan has nearly drawn to a close, and after a marathon 3-day travel fest encompassing 4 cities, 4 bullet train rides, and thousands of years of history, we have spent all of Monday in a 10x10 foot area in Hong's apartment doing approximately nothing. The major accomplishment of the day was eating breakfast, which was American style. Mission accomplished.

Well, it's been a wild and crazy adventure here with my brother in Japan. I have to admit, the Boy did admirably, not complaining too much and generally eating things that were put in front of him. I made a small mistake on the last day by booking a $43 guided bus tour of some of Japan's oldest and most prestigious temples. Let's just say he might have preferred to spend the money on apple pies from McDonalds. 43 of them, to be exact.

Last week, we went up to Hakuba, high in the Japan Alps, and took in a truly fine day of skiing. We were booked for 2 nights in a very ragtag backpacker hostel, but after our day of skiing, we just hightailed it out of there to save a bit of money and avoid talking to any more backpackers from England. It was a wise choice.

Hakuba was truly beautiful, and truly freezing, and everything was covered in snow. In comparison, Nakatsugawa seemed almost balmy. We spent 2 days in my town, doing little and attempting to save money. I will post some photos from Rusty's day at my high school later.

Last Friday, we awoke very early in the morning (4:15 am), so Rusty could enroll in his classes at SDSU. Unfortunately, the California budget crisis seems to have hit too close to home or something: the computers got too overloaded and he wasn't able to enroll. We grabbed 2 more hours of crappy sleep then took off for the train station for our high-speed Bullet Train ride to Himeji, to see Himeji castle (the best in Japan, allegedly).

The train was fast and luxurious, and we lucked out and got a flawless English tour of the castle from a local volunteer. She only does 1 tour per week, and we were it. Kinda lazy, if you ask me. I have been to other Japanese castles before, and they were generally pretty crappy, boring reconstructions, but this one was original, beautiful, and fascinating. The 2 hours I had budgeted for it was hardly sufficient, and our poor guide wasted not a minute getting us to see the highlights. I felt bad for her, running quickly to escort these silly foreigners around the castle in 1 hour. I'm sure she thought we were sort of irreverant dumbasses, but she had a great smile and hid it well if she did!

After Himeji Castle, we hopped back on the Bullet Train for our 1-hour trip to Hiroshima. We were really starting to like riding this thing. It was so great, you just find your car, sit down and relax in the spacious awesomeness while Japan flies by your window at a million miles an hour. It sure beats the oh-so-slow local economy trains I always travel by and Rusty hates. I won't be able to justify this extravagance again for a while: my ticket from Gifu to Hiroshima was well above $100. It hurt to pay that much, let me tell you.

In Hiroshima, we went to see the bombing-related sites, which were quite sobering. In spite of the tragedy that this town has suffered, though, I think it is one of my favorite in Japan. It seems determined to be a great place. The streets have a lot of liveliness and the restaurants all look clean and polished and brand-new. The Boy and I had a good night on the town, first eating some crappy curry, and then Rusty found a weird little path lit by a few lanterns and thought it looked cool. It turned out to be a way-swanky restaurant, and so we sat down and I ordered the boy some Japanese sake. He thought it tasted remarkably like the swill they purchase at the frat for their "sake nights." Oh well, I tried.

The next day, we caught the early Bullet Train to Kyoto. We were off to see some of the great sites of ancient Japan. More on that later, as the Adventure continues.