My time left on Shikoku was beginning to grow a bit short so I thought it was about time I saw everything of interest in my area before I moved on. Friday and Saturday were days off so Simon and I decided to visit Yashima a town with an intriguing heritage village called Shikoku Mura and Naoshima an art island. --- March 20th --- Yashima (屋島) ~ Don’t be fooled by the kanji, Yashima may have the character for island, but it’s not an island. It’s on mainland Shikoku a short kotoden train ride away from Takamatsu. The Shikoku Mura is [View Full Entry]

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Every year on the 3rd Saturday in February, one of the coldest night of the year, a crowd of 100s gathers around Saidaiji Temple in Okayama city at midnight. Pushing, crushing each other they vie for space and wait for the chance to receive a blessing, good luck for a year. When the stroke of midnight finally occurs the lights are shut off and the head priest throws three shingi (sacred sticks) into the masses for the participants to grapple for. Of course what I’m leaving out here is that the crowd is entirely composed of nearly naked men clad only [View Full Entry]

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Who doesn’t love festivals? Seriously, you’d have to be quite a grinch not to. I love festivals. The fun, food, events and (in this case) giant snow sculptures the size of buildings. Yuki Matsuri or better known in the western world as the Sapporo Snow Festival is an event of international caliber. Over 2 million tourists flock to this frozen northern Japanese city from February 5 through 11 every year. When I moved to Japan I decided at one point I would be one of those 2 million + tourists. We all flew to Sapporo on Sunday, Alexa, Lauren, Katie, Simon [View Full Entry]

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~January 1st and 11th~ In Japan New Years (正月 shōgatsu) is a major holiday full of traditions. “Firsts” of the year are very important. Watching the first sun rise (Hatsuhinode 初日の出), the first temple visit of the year (Hatsumoude 初詣), first tea ceremony, work day, shopping day, etc, etc. Food is also, of course, very important during New Years. People eat specific dishes that vary by region called osechi-ryouri (お節料理) to bring in the New Year. Also it is customary for everyone to send friend [View Full Entry]

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For the Christmas holidays Simon and I decided to temporarily abandon the countryside for the hustle and bustle of city life. Tokyo, an impressive mass of concrete containing of over 8 million people, was our destination of choice. This busy bee hive has plenty of entertainment and anything you could want to buy or eat. We arrived in Tokyo around 7:30 in the morning via the night bus. When we arrived it was too early for anything to be open so we window shopped around Ginza until the kabuki-za opened and we could get tickets for the first show of the [View Full Entry]

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Night had already fallen when our train neared Nikko, our destination for two nights and one full day. As we pulled into the station I was ecstatic to see that snow covered the ground and was gently falling from the sky. Nikko is about a two hour journey outside of Tokyo by express, but the temperature difference between the two places was startling. I had my face pressed to the window on the taxi ride to the warm friendly Turtle Inn watching the soft white crystals float to the ground. The first impression we received of Nikko was exciting. It seemed [View Full Entry]

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One of Japan’s greatest attractions and blessings is its four seasons, especially spring and autumn. Both seasons stunned me with their beauty. I understand now why most of the Japanese haikus seem to be about these two times of the year. In Texas we can only boast two distinct seasons, a hot, humid summer and a cool winter. Spring and autumn, if they do exist in my home State, are just blinks of an eye. Koyo (autumn leaf viewing) doesn’t have the same fanfare as hanami (flower viewing), but I think that it is equally as enjoyable and visually prepossessing. Trees [View Full Entry]

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How does one fish for an octopus? Well you catch a ride on a boat onto the Inland Sea during the appropriate season and bob a golf ball sized fish hook shaped like an octopus on the sea floor until one gets tangled on the hook. Then you reel it in carefully, pull in on the deck, grab it and throw it into the tank. While handling the octopus you should be careful not to get sprayed with ink. Wearing a plastic raincoat is advised. After you have them you can eat them. Cooked or raw. If you prefer raw then [View Full Entry]

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This was never on my list of things to do in Japan. A friend of mine in Kochi, Rebecca, asked me if I was interested in taking a few days off and heading there. Impulsively I agreed and it was one of the best spur of the moment decisions I’ve ever made. We booked tickets and hotel a month in advance. Got a vague idea of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. Grabbed our gear and headed south. Okinawa is warmer than the main Japanese islands and has a distinct tropical feeling. The air felt cozy [View Full Entry]

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This month flew by like it had wings. I blinked and it disappeared. August was my month of fireworks and dance festivals and September has been my month of bridges. Sounds strange, but it is true. ~Sakaide~ August 31st ~ The last day of August we went to the beach in Sakaide near the Seto Ohashi Bridge. It really is something living next to the sea. Sometimes I don’t notice, but it is always there outside my windows, on my bike ride to work. The Seto Ohashi is the worlds longest two tiered bridge system and connects Shikoku to Honshu with [View Full Entry]

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