Blogs from Aomori, Japan, Asia
May 12th 2011
So I met a rather jet lagged Martin at Niigata station in order to start our trip up the west coast and towards the North of Japan. Our first stop was Mount Haguro and to a temple lodging at the base of the mountain. It was a very bleak journey due to the extremely miserable weather which I am sure made it feel colder than it actually was. We arrived at Haguro centre and with some time to kill before check in we decided to explore the nearby Zuishi-mon temple. On descending the steps we were met with a eerie misty atmosphere and quite substantial snow on the ground, not what we were expecting at the top of the steps where it was just raining. Following the woodland trail we stumbled across a beautiful 600 year ... read more
September 30th 2008
September 30 Today finds us in Aomori, Japan where we were greeted pierside by a local drumming/instrument group. I just love those big drums! We had an early tour so were up at 6:45, had room service and headed off on our tour to Hirosaki. The day started out cloudy but ended up sunny; another beautiful day in Japan! We had about an hour drive to Hirosaki to several temples and "castles". On the drive out we passed many rice farms where the rice was just beginning to be harvested. They harvest the rice and then bundle the grass left over and hang it up to dry. Also, we passed many apple orchards. This area of the country is "apple country". Being late September, there were plenty of apples to see and I was hoping to ... read more
Towadako and....the Grave of Christ?!?
Published: September 24th 2008Asia » Japan » Aomori » Towadako
September 24th 2008
A year ago today I started training in Okayama in preparation for my current life. It's a little surreal to think that I have been here a year, but it also doesn't seem like I've been here that long either. This last weekend was a 3 day weekend for me because Tuesday was the Fall Equinox and a national holiday, so I ended up in Aomori visiting one of my friends who is also teaching in Japan. It's the first time I've seen him in over a year. Even though we live close together our schedules often conflict, so it's pretty hard to get together other then long national holiday weeks. I had to go to the end of the shinkansen line in main land Japan to see him. There are no shinkansen stops after Hachinohe, ... read more
August 10th 2008
That was it then. 2 years. One island. What now? I had finished, what will no doubt prove to be one of the greatest chpters in my life and was pondering what to do next. Having packed for weeks, getting drunk at 8 leaving parties, saying tearful goodbyes to my students, colleagues and fellow island people, I was just about ready to have short controlled heart attack and collapse in the heat and exhaustion of the final prepartations of the ending my 2 years on my island, Words cannot ever describe my experience over here and perhaps many would not care to hear them either, but it was safe to say that however many second thoughts I had been having about whether to leave or not, the final days on my island in preparaing to leave ... read more
February 8th 2008
We did a train ride of Iwate, Akita and Aomori Prefectures, none of them are as beautiful as Yamagata but Aomori was a really nice city and it had very thick snow everywhere that made thin gs interesting. I think I've seen enough snow now, we've had a really nice few days of sightseeing.... read more
August 1st 2007
Sorry for absence of late. But more of that in a later blog! In keeping with the fact that I've moved between two farms since I last wrote I thought I better write two separate blogs so as not to confuse matters. In the latter two weeks of July, I stayed at Towada Horseback riding club in Northern Honshu. Much to my relief, I left behind the torrential typhoon rains. It was so nice not have to dodge people's umbrellas all the time. I guess it's all part of the Japanese experience! Talking of which, there was also a strong earthquake as I was travelling Northwards. You may have heard about it in the news as a nuclear power station at Niigata has had to be shut down due to leakage of radioactive materials. Well I ... read more
December 8th 2006
To save us the agony of spending a whole day in the bullet train from Hokkaido to Tokyo, we had a brief stop in Aomori. Not a wise move though, as the day was short in winter. We could not venture anywhere further than the town. ... read more
