• Long Walk Down a Longer Road

    Long Walk Down a Longer Road

    Peder and I left our pousada in Trancoso and started out for our day’s 30 km walk at around 11am. The plan was to follow the coast all the way to Arraial d’Ajuda, a neighboring […]

  • The Mega Trip Part 9 (The Great Wall)

    The Mega Trip Part 9 (The Great Wall)

    With the land-based portion of my adventure through China nearly over, I realized that I was still missing a significant piece of what I wanted to see before returning to Japan. Kung Fu. So, after […]

  • Dare to Dream

    Dare to Dream

    Somewhere around six months ago, I was sitting in my apartment talking on the phone with my mom. From just outside my window I could hear Buddhist monks chanting at Ninnaji, an enormous wooden temple […]

  • Huashan: The Danger Trail

    Huashan: The Danger Trail

    On December 20th of 2006, I received an e-mail from my dad. It contained this Powerpoint file. The forwarding messages all included such phrases as: “I CANT EVEN LOOK AT THE PICTURES WITHOUT GETTING DIZZY!!” […]

  • A Different World

    A Different World

    Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to announce that this post officially marks the first time in almost two years that I’m actually writing about the country I’m in! Welcome, at long last, to Cambodia 😀

  • Magnificent Petra

    Magnificent Petra

    At long last, I made it to Petra. Petra is a place that’s intrigued me since before I even knew its name – since I first saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a […]

I was last seen 5 months ago in Los Angeles, .

First Day of Koyo

 Japan, Public  5 Responses »
Nov 132005
 
As usual, I took a new and unknown path from my apartment to Arashiyama. On the way I stumbled on a surprisingly large shrine that I never even knew existed. As usual, I took a new and unknown path from my apartment to Arashiyama. On the way I stumbled on a surprisingly large shrine that I never even knew existed.

It’s been a pretty tough week. I’ve had midterms for three different teachers, two of which included 800 word in-class essays all in Japanese. Add that in to the the usual studying, programming, and lifting and you get one tired Justin.

I decided to spend the first half of this beautiful Saturday in Arashiyama relaxing and scouting for Koyo (fall colors).

Nobody’s too cool to enjoy a nice day of koyo-viewing. As long as you’ve got a hot chick on the back of your bike, that is. Nobody’s too cool to enjoy a nice day of koyo-viewing. As long as you’ve got a hot chick on the back of your bike, that is.

I’ve most likely said all of this before, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself. I figure the chances that all of my new visitors actually went back and read every old post is slim to none, so a refresher couldn’t hurt every now and then 🙂

Arashiyama is a gorgeous area on the far Western side of Kyoto, resting right at the base of the surrounding hills. Its large river (Katsuragawa), numerous temples and shrines, traditional buildings, and lush natural backdrop make it a favorite location for both tourists and locals. Every once in awhile when I need some time to myself I take an afternoon stroll through one of its sprawling bamboo forests. Arashiyama is the beauty of Kyoto in a nutshell.

A group of Japanese kids playing leapfrog all the way across the Togetsukyo Bridge A group of Japanese kids playing leapfrog all the way across the Togetsukyo Bridge

It’s not surprising that during the two most popular times to visit – during Koyo (fall) and Sakura (spring) – Arashiyama becomes quite busy. This Saturday was no exception. While in general I really dislike big touristy areas, somehow Arashiyama is different. It’s not full of huge crowds of overweight tourists wearing identical yellow caps following a tourguide with a flag and a megaphone. It’s just couples and families out for a nice stroll by the river, maybe having a little bar-b-que or green tea ice cream cone under some bright red maple leaves.
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The Art of Tea

 Japan, Public  9 Responses »
Nov 082005
 
Cherry blossoms in Arashiyama (Western Kyoto) last spring. Yes, I’m still re-using old pictures…I swear I’ll commit a whole day to roaming around with my new camera anytime now! Cherry blossoms in Arashiyama (Western Kyoto) last spring. Yes, I’m still re-using old pictures…I swear I’ll commit a whole day to roaming around with my new camera anytime now!

It’s finally happened! I finally have the internet in my apartment! Is this really okay? I feel like I’m cheating or something. It’s just too easy…I mean…all I have to do is walk across the room and I can get my e-mail in a second. No bundling up in warm clothes, no frostbitten fingers.

Here I come, productivity!

Last semester’s shamisen instructor giving a demonstration to the class. Somehow we could never make it sound quite as good as he did. Last semester’s shamisen instructor giving a demonstration to the class. Somehow we could never make it sound quite as good as he did.

Those of you who’ve been reading my site for awhile now will recall the two traditional arts courses I took last semester: Shamisen, a traditional three-stringed Japanese instrument, and Wagashi, Japanese Confectionaries.

You might also recall this post on June 23rd, describing an incredible trip into the mountains north of Kyoto during which I experienced my first ever tea ceremony. If you haven’t read that post, I highly recommend it. Even six months later it still remains one of my most memorable days in Japan.

This picture was taken by one of my friends last semester (maybe Kier?) during a tea ceremony that was held by our wagashi instructor. Just a brief taste of what would follow this term. This picture was taken by one of my friends last semester (maybe Kier?) during a tea ceremony that was held by our wagashi instructor. Just a brief taste of what would follow this term.

I enjoyed that day’s ceremony so much that this semester I decided to enroll in an entire class on Tea Ceremony. I know it probably sounds silly to most westerners to be taking a class in something like this; after all, how much could there possibly be to serving tea? Well, let me tell you…
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Paper Making

 Japan, Public  10 Responses »
Nov 042005
 
Sunset over the Kamo River. Sunset over the Kamo River.

Thanks to the web programming skills of Scott Kimler, I’ve at last got my photos zooming exactly how I always wanted. Previously, if you hovered your mouse over an image it would push aside all of the other page elements as it expanded. Now the images zoom over the rest of the web page, leaving everything else unaffected. Provided there aren’t any problems with this new method (please let me know if you have any problems!) I’ll be preparing my posts this way from now on.

Update 2016: This method has been replaced by a more mobile-friendly lightbox; you must now click the images, rather than hover.

A glance to my left. I love Kyoto. A glance to my left. I love Kyoto.

The verdict is in. The official best thing since sliced bread is Apple’s new Video iPod. I just got mine yesterday and let me say that it’s the coolest thing ever. 60 gigs, thinner than my original 20 gig and with a gorgeous color screen capable of playing movies in such detail that I can read Japanese characters as subtitles. These past four months without any form of portable audio in the gym have been quite a challenge. It’s time to spoil myself 🙂
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Chillin with the Korean Homies

 Japan, Public  8 Responses »
Oct 312005
 
Remember how I don’t have internet in my apartment? Remember how I’ve been sitting on the roof of my building and using the neighbor’s (foolishly unencrypted) wireless connection? Well, here you go: the fabulous view that I get when I look up from my screen while producing these very blog entries. I sit right under that big TV antenna. Is that healthy? Remember how I don’t have internet in my apartment? Remember how I’ve been sitting on the roof of my building and using the neighbor’s (foolishly unencrypted) wireless connection? Well, here you go: the fabulous view that I get when I look up from my screen while producing these very blog entries. I sit right under that big TV antenna. Is that healthy?

A good buddy of mine, Andy, has just recently begun his very own adventure living in Asia. All of you travel fanatics out there might find his blog about life in China interesting. I’m sure you’ll be reading more about him on here at some point too; he plans to come and visit sometime before I leave Kyoto in February.

Speaking of leaving in February, after far more iterations than you can imagine I finally have a “finished” version of one of the two resumes I’ll be using for my rapidly approaching job hunt. This version places a strong emphasis on game development; I’ll use the other apply to more general high-tech jobs both in the US and Japan. Not that a resume is particularly interesting, I just thought I’d mention it 🙂 I replaced the old version with the updated one here. Tips and pointers are always appreciated.

Here I am looking quite sleep deprived after over 24 straight hours awake, half of which were spent getting to my current position: the summit of Mt. Fuji. Those things that look like clouds way below me…yeah, those are clouds. Here I am looking quite sleep deprived after over 24 straight hours awake, half of which were spent getting to my current position: the summit of Mt. Fuji. Those things that look like clouds way below me…yeah, those are clouds.

Some time ago I mentioned that I’d made a decision to start hanging out with more friends who can’t speak English. After this Thursday’s class, I for the first time made good on that self-promise. Not that I haven’t wanted to before, it’s just that usually by the time I’ve looked up the hundred or so words I need to read an assigned newspaper article or write an essay on this country’s educational system the Japanese part of my brain tends to fizzle out. I therefore either just sleep, or go hang out with other English-speakers. But not this week!
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Fire! Fire!

 Japan, Public  2 Responses »
Oct 292005
 
You know why this picture is funny? Because it’s a horse’s ass sticking halfway out of a building, that’s why! I guess Tokyo does have its finer points. You know why this picture is funny? Because it’s a horse’s ass sticking halfway out of a building, that’s why! I guess Tokyo does have its finer points.

It’s finally happened! I’ve finally gone and blown my allotted monthly bandwidth out of the water. So (sorry to be a nuisance) I’d like to quickly ask everyone once again that whenever you come to check for updates, please take a second and also check out my Google ads (to the left or at the bottom of the page). It really helps me pay for the (now more costly) hosting, and so far this month out of the 8,000 people who’ve stopped by only eleven have actually clicked an ad. Click, clickity click-click!

Speaking of asses, let us move on to the Kurama Fire Festival. Speaking of asses, let us move on to the Kurama Fire Festival.

So, as I mentioned in my last post there are pretty much two kinds of festivals in Japan: the beauty kind and the rowdy kind. Saturday afternoon’s Jidai Matsuri was without a doubt the beauty kind. Saturday evening’s Kurama Fire Festival was the rowdy kind. Just try to imagine a tiny mountain town with only one thin road dividing its two rows of traditional wooden houses. Now imagine that same town filled with the population of mainland China as well as a large number of torches weighing well over 100kgs each. Welcome to the Kurama Himatsuri.
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