Last Minute Japan On my very last afternoon in Japan I was talking with one of the women that worked at the hostel. It was pleasant, and I said that I was going out with Tohko to Karaoke. She asked rather pointedly, "is she your girlfriend?" I told her that she wasn't, "She's just a friend." At that point she said, "Oh good, then you should come to a party with me tomorrow night." The bittersweet irony took no time to settle in: I traveled the globe for a year, and I received the most obvious sort of invite for an [View Full Entry]

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The Rise of Empires Leaving the the LeRouges behind, I made the overnight trek to Tokyo, where I spent the day before heading to Mt. Fuji, but before the day was through a new empire of sorts had begun. Sumo had found itself in new hands. Hakuho beat Asashoryu, the Yokozuna, and had paved the way for his all but inevitable promotion to the position himself. The interesting bit is that neither of them are Japanese; they are both Mongols. So it seems after all of these generations, Kublai Khan has, in a sense, claimed Japan for himself. I have written [View Full Entry]

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The Many Happenings in Masuda Masuda, as it turns out is not exactly set up for tourism. It's not that there's nothing to see here, or that the people are unhelpful. Okay, it's not that the people are unhelpful, but there isn't a great deal to see just here. It is, however, an excellent jumping off point, and a great way to get a feel for "the real Japan" as far as it may exist. As for the tourist industry in Masuda, it appears I am the tourist industry here in Masuda. I don't want to give it a bad wrap [View Full Entry]

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Contest Closed: The winner of the caption contest is my buddy Steve, whose offensive entry made me laugh so hard I could not relay it to Camille and Denise in a comprehensible manner. Good work Steve. Email me your address and you shall recieve a postcard in the next few weeks. Hiroshima Arriving in Hiroshima was no surprise; it was as necessary a stop for me as Tokyo would be for any tourist to enter Japan. It took us only a few hours from Kyoto to arrive, and it was at this point that Denise left us to our own devices, [View Full Entry]

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Contest Details: As some of you may or may not know, random signs have brought me a great deal of pleasure. I have taken great joy in making up what someone, not speaking the language, or familiar locations might come up with as to their meanings. I have provided an example image with interpretation. Your job is to locate the other sign in this blog and interpret it accordingly. (Your prize: the last overseas postcard I will send) Note to Self: Lesson Learned As a trio we have been getting along swimmingly, but there has been some strife, which, without providing [View Full Entry]

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Flying into Japan I found myself on a nearly empty flight - I felt a little bit bad about it to tell the truth, knowing just how many trees I'd have to plant to make up for this global offense, but I was soon over it and excited about the surprise that awaited my good friend Camille at the airport. I managed to watch three movies and did a little bit of reading, but the latter activity was complicated by the fact that the lights were misaligned. Mine actually used most of its luminosity to brighten up the corridor, and the [View Full Entry]

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First of all to beg forgiveness: 1. The keyboard I am using is a bit finicky and so there are many a spelling error in this owing not to carelessness, but to the keyboard and I can't be bothered cleaning it all up with a bunch of extra intenet time. 2. A mild deception stated in a previous blog about our timeline. We were rushed not because of Mel (though she does fly to Perth soon) but to me. I have left to Japan, but I could not give this away as it was a surprise for my Best Friend Camille's [View Full Entry]

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Before leaving Surfers Paradise, we decided that since the sun had finally decided to bless us with its presence it wasn't worth wasting and we headed for the beach, where we went for a dip, showered (which we and our highly chemical composition demanded), and went in search of a few items of importance for Melanie to collect some sand from the beach that Discovery Channel (mistaken though it is) called the best in the world. I suspect that it was the best beach within an hour's drive of a city they wanted to visit. But perhaps I'm splitting hairs, and [View Full Entry]

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Mel and I left Byron Bay a little reluctantly, but found we had little choice given that our time was already under pressure. It helped that it was threatening to rain and made good of that threat little more than 5 minutes after we piled into the G-Force van, sporting on the back: Remove G-String Locate G-Spot Apply G-Force A van after my own heart, and my wallet. I have decided that the van must be a woman ;) Just kidding, that's a little cynical, there are some women out there that aren't out for money, and those that are are [View Full Entry]

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My thirtieth year started off with a bang. Well crash may be more appropriate, but we'll come back to that in a moment. Fortunately it was not of the plane variety. I boarded my plane at just after midnight, my first activity of the day, and I proceeded to fall quickly to sleep. I asked for an upgrade, eager that my birthday would hold some sway, but the pretty girl at the counter replied with a bat of her eyelashes: "I'm sorry, but we're chock-a-block full tonight." That's alright, I had butter on my bread - that may sound nonsequitor, but [View Full Entry]

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