Japan

I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages, but I've been traveling some more and working my tail off!

Anyhoo, Tokyo was incredible of course. Tanya and I decided to go there to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Tokyo Dome, which is emaculate!! But what really struck me was how clean, orderly and organized the city and the people are. My image of Tokyo was totally different to what I experienced. For example, on the escalators in the crowded subways, those who want to stand make a line on the left side and those who are in a hurry run up the right side of the escalator. And when getting on the subway, everyone makes perfect lines along the sides of the doors and don't even dare to get on until all those who want to get off have. It's just so impressive how polite Tokyo people are, yet there are more people crammed in Tokyo than any other city in the world.

I always felt safe, too. Sure, there were some quackos running around, singing and stuff, but they really just keep to themselves and pay no mind to other people. When I went to New York, the crazies bothered everyone and asked for money, but in Tokyo, they just mind their own crazy business. It's really quality entertainment! And several times people stopped to ask us if we needed help finding something. It's just quite an exceptional large city.

We stayed on ODaiba, which is actually not a real island, it's reclaimed land created on top of tons of blocks of garbage and waste material. Sounds pretty dodgy, but you would never know the difference and it was really nice and spaced out. The view from our room was spectacular.

We also visited Shibuya, Roppongi, Shinjuku and Hakone to see Mount Fuji. I had climbed it a couple of years ago, but it's always so cloudy I never actually got to see it, just the view from it. So, I was really disappointed when we arrived because we were surrounded by thick clouds all the way. You can even see from the photos how cloudy it was. Inside the ropeway car it looked like a sauna. But, we rode the ropeway with some Russians and that made it more interesting!

Other than that we took part in such luxuries and Subway, Red Lobster and any non-Japanese food we could find!

I just spent a few days in Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. It's warm and sunny, unlike Shimane, and the people are so kind and friendly. I started out in Fukuoka, the largest city in Kyushu, and then took a train to Nagasaki, which has a gorgeous port and one of the oldest China towns in the world. After that I took a train across the Shimabara penninsula and then a ferry across the Ariakekai inland sea, which ends up in Kumamoto. There, I saw an old and very large castle and this city really looked like a big Matsue. I actually avoided the raw horsemeat, or Filet-o-Flicka, which is Kumamoto's most famous food. From there I took another train to Aso San, one of, if not the most active volcano in the world. I took a ropeway up to the rim of the crater and could look down into it from there. It was so amazing because I expected to see red lava, but it actually produces an incredible aqua color pool with steam floating from it. After Aso San, I went by bus to Beppu, the hot springs capital of Japan. I took an outside natural bath on top of a mountain, which overlooks all of Beppu and the ocean. The bathwater is a natural milky blue color that makes your skin unbelievably soft and silky because of the high content of minerals. Absolutely gorgeous. Of course, not me, the bath. In Beppu, I saw hells. Well, that's the name of the strangely colored pools which are formed by volcanic activity. I went to Umijigoku, or "Ocean Hell" and its color is similar to that of the pool inside Aso San volcano. I also saw Chi no ike, or "Blood Hell" which is a bright red color of course. Around there I ate an "onsen egg." It's an egg cooked in the onsen or hot spring water at volcanic tempurature. It has a somewhat strange, smokey flavor if you can imagine. Here are a few pics of my trip.

One of my favorite students, Mariko, graduated from university today and I went to see her. In Japan, no one is allowed into the actual ceremony, so we must wait outside until it's finished. All the girls were beautiful hakamas, a type of kimono, and the boys wear suits or a male kimono. I was just surrounded by beautiful people.

I just had my first sushi-making lesson. It's really hard but after a couple of tries I think I can get the hang of it. This is Akiko, my cooking sensei's recipe for California rolls. Oishiiiiii!!!

Of course living in a foreign country is full of fun, excitement and adventure, but it's also pretty tough at times. But whose life doesn't include some negatives here and there. The best way I could think of at the moment to supress some negatives would be to focus on some beautiful moments like this one I had early the other morning.

No matter what happened in just your day or in your whole life, the sun does always rise again the next morning. And maybe, if you're paying attention and keep your eyes open, you can catch something wonderful like this when you least expect it.