Yellow Head

All of a sudden the road opened out in front of me. I was no longer confined by the 5 kilometer loop that slowly mapped its way around the island. Instead, the road now stretched out into unimaginable distances, diverging into innumerable highways, interstates, streets and dusty dirt roads. I felt free, relieved and slightly intimidated. America is a massive place. Its size is almost so great that it is unimaginable. And the idea of crossing its breath from shore to shore is no task to be taken lightheartedly. It’s a job and commitment that takes a lot of energy and concentration. But the lucky few who decide to shun the ease of airlines to pack their car and undertake the journey with a special someone, will be rightly awarded. The classic American road trip is ... read more

Colorful streamers filled the air as they slowly unraveled from the hands of their holders and into the firm grip of mine. They fluttered through the air and led my eyes into those of the waving crowd of friends, co-workers, students, neighbors and acquaintances that filled the meager Uoshima dock and walkway. Everyone that had been a part of my life for those two amazing years was there, including old teachers who had transferred to city schools and had made the long journey back to the island once more to say goodbye. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced or seen before and it moved me to a point beyond words. Sarah and my good friend Mr. Kuroda were at my side consoling me and recording the entirety of the teary spectacle at the hands ... read more

One more month, one more month. That’s all I can think about right now. In a little over a month I will be done with this job, I will be leaving Japan and I will be making my way out west to start up a new life on America’s golden coast. It's strange. It means that my two years here have finally passed. Two years… how did the time pass so quickly? When I first started this job I felt like that time lay infinitely in front of me. I went about things like I had all the time in the world. Now that my time here is coming to an end I find myself wondering where all of it has gone and rushing around to sort out lose ends. It really has passed by in ... read more

There are two distinctive types of hikers to be found in Japan; the ridiculous and the absurd. The first type of hiker is the gear buff. They aren’t hard to spot. They are outfitted from head to toe in the latest European and American outdoor gear, their hiking boots are so fresh that they may as well have just been pumped out from the factory mold, their hats are securely attached to the collars of their high performance sports shirts, their breathable hiking pants are stowed into their super fashionable gators, and ultra small carbon-kevlar kaleidoscopic poles are firmly attached to lightweight daypacks. They are only then ready to descend from the air-conditioned interiors of their tour buses and be whisked more than halfway up the mountain on music filled gondolas before making the final push ... read more

Sometimes you have to stop and look at the current state of things in the west, especially in regards to America, and wonder why such a large percent of our population are obscenely rotund. There are thousands of reasons that people point to but one of the easiest ways to fix the problem remains unchanged. When you compare the average Japanese student to that of their American counterpart the difference is astounding. I can hear people back home muttering, “ohhh, it’s because they just eat rice, raw fish, and all of that”. And, yes, I’m sure this does help. However, most of the students I know here eat bread for breakfast, they drink milk at least once a day and they like pasta and pizza next to the rest of us. And a lot of their ... read more