Higo Blog

Brood

I found a commune of funnel web spiders in Kikuka this weekend, when exploring a huge rock outcropping in the hills. The spiders reminded me of the ones in the Hobbit, and I imagined hundreds of tiny, hungry eyes watching, evaluating me, patiently waiting.

But these spiders were cool. There were tons of mosquitoes out, and I took satisfaction in knowing that many would be doomed to stumble into the complex of webs, their futile struggles transmitted down the gossamer strands, the vibrations transformed into impulses sparking across synapses of the arachnid, triggering a tiger-like pounce, mandibles of death injecting an acid as corrosive as the blood of a Giger Alien. Haha, game over man! Burn, you miserable mosquito. Burn.

This weekend, while chilling at Joe's I was laying on the tatami when I felt something crawling next to me. I ignored it until it happened again, and was scared shitless when I saw a three inch long centipede on my arm. I flung it off, and Joe proceeded to douse it for a full minute with insecticide spray, as it writhed and whipped and jumped around in agony. I'm just glad I didn't get bitten by the bastard. I like looking at the suckers, but I HATE it when they touch me!

Poop Fiction

I just found a new demographic for Kevin to bestow his enlightenment upon in this article. Dude, your words are brown gold to the next generation:

The content might seem off-colour to some, but potty humour is big in the world of popular children's literature - from the Captain Underpants series to such best-selling titles as Zombie Butts From Uranus! - and some parents and authors believe the genre is attracting otherwise reluctant readers.

"You have to give kids something they want to read," says Glenn Murray, an educator-turned-children's author from Canada.

Murray co-wrote two books featuring Walter The Farting Dog, a flatulent pooch whose problem saves the day time and time again. The author believes his smelly protagonist is an ambassador for literacy.

My favorite book about excrement is one that I read to my nursery school students called "Unchi", or in English, "Poop" (do you notice how no one uses this word anymore. the last time I remember hearing it was when I last watched Billy Madison). Highly recommended!

To anyone who missed it, the tapeworm story is a must read! Pork is starting to sound a lot more appetizing...

Takachiho-kyou

Takachiho, located in Northern Miyazaki-ken, is a beautiful, mountanous area. I have heard that bears can still be found in the surrounding forest, but have yet to see one. Also the aincent Kagura dance, the dance that represents the creation of Nippon (including the part about luring Amaterasu out of hiding in a cave in Aso), is performed in an isolated pocket of country deep in the mountains around here, for more than 24 straight hours by a die hard group of people carrying on the traditions of old (if you are interested in learning about Kagura, the Kagura-en in Namino has a guided tour, performances, and a (very boring) instructional video that you can experience, and you can learn how to make your very own soba with your hands. on a serious note, the soba soft serve is kick ass here- coming from Kumamoto City you can find the Kagura-en off of the 57, just past Takimurozaka). This particular location is Takachiho-kyou, or Takachiho Gorge.

Takachiho Gorge is much different than Kikuchi Gorge. It's smaller, the geology is much different (made of columnar basalt, like the stuff in my former post about the Oita coastline and devil's postpile), and there are tons of salamanders to be found in some of the still ponds. It's so strange to see such an abundance of amphibians (and reptiles for that matter), whether they be frogs, toads, or salamanders. You just don't see too many of them in Southern California these days. If amphibians are truly dependable as indicator species (meaning that you can get an approximate idea of the condition of the environment based on their abundance and health), then Central Kyushu's watersheds are in extraordinary condition, especially in this day and age. As I type, I am listening to the din of the thousands of frogs that inhabit the rice field right next to my home, and am already dreading their sounds being replaced by human noise when I eventually move on from my patch of inaka.

Water is such an awesome subject to photograph. In the gorge, water seeps out of rock where ever it wants to. It weeps out where you would least expect it, such as out of the middle of a sheer cliff of solid basalt, or out of small spigots as if the Gods wanted to create subtle faucets just for the hell of it. By the way, this basalt came from the same eruption that formed Aso. Now that was an eruption of mass proportions! Mount Saint Helens, Pinatubo, and Vesuvius combined wouldn't even compare to the fury bestowed upon Aso by Vulcan (as far as I know Japan doesn't have a deity as specific or as powerful in regards to volcanism as Vulcan, from the Greek pantheon, or Pele, hailing from Hawaii).

Here you can see the columns of frozen basalt, and imagine the rising tubes of lava as they must have puched upwards through the earth, creating a seemingly impervious mass of solid rock. Water, slowly and patiently, wore away on the rock, and percolated into microfissures, slowly rubbing away with little visible effect for a long time, from the perspective of the small animals who were born, lived, and died, as well as their offspring and their offspring's offspring. The friction of water dragging itself, and debris, along the same path over time made a subtle cut into the foundation of the stone, which deepend with time. If you look at this from our own timeline, as opposed to a geological one, then it is indeed hard to see how this could happen. I think that everyone could benefit from applying the geological timescale perspective, that we look at works of nature, to socioeconomical issues, political issues, and environmental issues as well (but that's asking everyone a little too much I feel). Discounting the future is the trend of today, but eventually someone is going to have to pay the costs of the compouding interest rates applied to the credit which we so freely use.

The best views from Takachiho Gorge come from taking a row boat out on the river. 1,500 yen buys you 30 minutes on the water. There is one really challenging bend in the river where everyone piles up, as it channels into a deep, rapid curve that wreaks havoc on the hydrodynamics of the boat. Apart from this, you can easily make it up the river and back down in under 20 minutes if you have a basic knowledge of rowing. My favorite part of the excursion was taking the boat under the waterfalls- my Central Kyushu version of Bigfoot Rapids.

They also have a small koi pond full of... you guessed it... koi. I remember visiting a koi pond at a temple with my family when I was 5. It was then that my older brother Justin taught me something that I would always remember. He hawked a big green loogie, let it bungee down to the waiting mass of carp, and we watched as they started to hoover in the water in anticipation of the morsel even before it smacked into the water. A big fish eagerly sucked it up, and continued sucking the surface, asking for more. "Eeeeeewwww!" was how I displayed my genuine disgust/fascination. Shortly after, we were both trying our hardest to produce loogies for the vicious sucking maws of the ravenous koi until we ran out of phlegm and saliva. Ah, the joys of youth!

This Week's Recipe

I have been enjoying a certain dish lately, so much so that I'm going to post it:

Pork Flavored Garlic Stir Fry

Ingredients:
7 cloves of strong garlic, minced
3 pork chops, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 large onion, cubed
3 bell peppers (preferably red or yellow, but green can be added for color) cubed
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of shoyu
1 tablespoon of mirin
1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce

Spices:
garlic salt
pepper
montreal steak seasoning

Dipping sauce:
Mix 2 parts of Thai sweet chili sauce to 1 part Shiracha

Directions:
Heat up your pan until it is really hot, and then add the oil, and spread it around the pan. Next, keep the heat on high add the vegetables and braise them for about 2 minutes. Add the pork, garlic, and seasonings, and then add the shoyu and mirin. Cook until the pork has a nice seared color. For best results, keep the heat high, and aim to cook the vegetables so that they are still crunchy, but not raw. Serve over rice, and dip morsels into the sauce. I enjoyed the flavor of the dish both with and without sauce, but you can mix the sauce into the dish as well.

The reason I like this dish is because:
1. It is cheap. Beef is more expensive right now over here. Bell peppers are fairly priced as well.
2. It's fast.
3. It has lots of garlic, but maintains a good flavor balance.
4. I have way much more garlic salt and steak seasoning than I could ever use in Ubuyama (one year of use has only resulted in 1/3 use of Costco sized Lawry's seasonings).
5. I love the smell of sesame oil frying in a hot pan.

Reflections On The Caldera

The Last Undokai

The undokai is described as a "sports festival", and that's exactly what it it. I had a hard time accepting this term at face value, because the concept was foreign to me, but that's exactly what it is. The whole community comes together to participate in the festivities, and play wacky Japanese-style group games. Undokai are an important social event that brings everyone together for one whole exhausting day.

This year, I was on the victorious red team. The kids are gettin' their kung-fu poses on, Big Trouble In Little China style.

My students put in hours practicing a really cool dance, but I think that the dude on the right (Chiyuki) blew it, judging from the looks on Tomoyuki's (center) and Masaoki's (right) faces.

I really like my student's paintings this year. The red team's character wielding the wakizashi looks "Sassy" (Sprechen sie sassy?).

Now that's sassy!

Death By Pepto-Bismol

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A Start

I KNEW I wasn't wasting my time, spending so many hours killing goombas, orcs, and terrorists! If only my parents had encouraged me, I could be making the big bucks in Korea (thanks to Chris for the link). Does anyone remember that movie where a kid has to battle the rich kid who uses a Nintendo Power Glove (TM) in a video game tournament? That idea crashed and burned, didn't it. Kind of like the robot and gyroscope that came with the NES. Back then, who would have predicted that the common mouse and keyboard would still be the gamer's choice of equipment four years past 2000? I was hoping for electrodes to read my brainwaves, or something a little more advanced than a glorified typewriter interface...

Moderation is Masturbation?

Reading about a group of people meddling in the lives of other groups of people when they have no good reason to makes me angry and confused as to why they do such things. I mean, even breaching certain topics with people you don't know is much like the act of craning your neck, or being the victim of somone doing so, to get a better view of how big of a dick the guy standing at the next urinal has. I get similar feelings when tampon commercials come on at unexpected times. Too much information exchange. I don't even know that cheerleader jumping on the trampoline, why should I know about her vajina!

I find it strange that many members of the Christian church are so vehement in their condemnation of sex, and especially masturbation. It is interesting to note that "the Latin translation of masturbate, masturbare, which is a combination of two Latin words, manus (hand) and stuprare (defile), thus "to defile with the hand."", is inherently loaded with a negative connotation. This attitude towards sex is unhealthy, both mentally and physiologically, but it is widely accepted by many members of society. Does this sound like practical advice to you?:

"Remain calm and tell yourself, 'You don't own me, masturbation! I'm taking my life back!' (or something of that nature). If that doesn't work, you can pursue alternatives like chewing gum, blasting John Lennon's song 'Cold Turkey,' eating chocolate or whatever helps you best (not masturbation)."

The ministry is based on Matthew 5:27-30, which condemns lust and recommends amputating body parts that cause a believer to sin, "for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." (from Wired).

The poor bastards... Not only are most of them feeling bad when they inevitably "relapse" (and you know that most people do!), but they don't seem to realize that they are promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. They are even encouraged to Bobbitize themselves if they can't kick the habit! Ouch! According to a BBC report, flogging the dolphin acts to clean out the plumbing:

Dr Giles said fewer ejaculations may mean the carcinogens build up.

"It's a prostatic stagnation hypothesis. The more you flush the ducts out, the less there is to hang around and damage the cells that line them."

A similar connection has been found between breast cancer and breastfeeding, where lactating appeared to "flush out" carcinogens, reduce a woman's risk of the disease, New Scientist reports.

Another theory put forward by the researchers is that ejaculation may induce prostate glands to mature fully, making them less susceptible to carcinogens.

But pleasuring one's self can help out both sexes, and also help to develop and strengthen intimate relationships:

...some experts argue that masturbation improves sexual health by increasing an individual's understanding of his or her own body and of what is erotically pleasing, building self-confidence and fostering self-acceptance. (Discovery Health)

I never wondered whether people actually believed that masturbation causes blindness or makes hair grow on palms, but I am starting to. It seems to me that groups like XXXChurch are merely misguided masochists, subscribing to a perverted vision of faith. I mean, wouldn't God reward those who refrained from using their genitalia from all acts except strictly for straight forward copulation? It doesn't seem very benevolent to bless those who walk the straight and narrow path with PROSTATE CANCER or a lesser understanding of one's partner.

On the other hand, here is an article written by a group known as Liberated Christians. You should especially pay attention to the "How Masturbation Got it's Bad Rap" section. I was surprised to learn that Kellogg (the cereal tycoon) tried to use his cornflakes to battle spankage, and "For those masturbators whom snacks could not cure, Kellogg suggested circumcision without anesthesia.".

Red Cow

This is an akaushi (aka means red, and ushi is cow, as opposed to the *shooting from the hip* holstein in Justin's picture) that I stumbled upon while driving the 40 into Ichinomiya. It's interesting to see how people take care of their crops and livestock. It seems to me that the richer the rancher, the less attention each animal gets. The real small scale farmers treat each plant and animal with great importance, I suppose, because losing one cow could mean the only cow that they own.

Ubuyama is now famous for their beef and, to a lesser degree, dairy products. The akaushi is truly a delicious variety, and fat is evenly distributed through out the meat. My village serves a really expensive cut of this beef in an interesting way. They take a huge, prime slab and cut off slices as it grills, reminiscent of kabob but much thicker.

One thing that I don't understand is why no one around here can appreciate a good thick steak, pot roast, or juicy cut of prime rib. They prefer to eat it cut up into small cuts known simply as yakiniku. Since these slices of meat are so thin (usually about 4mm thick), you can't really eat them rare. They cook too fast for that, but yakiniku is certainly delicious. You can treat yourself to a steak in Ubuyama up around Hokubu, however a steak dinner will set you back no less than 3,000 yen. I have only gone once and it was worth it, but I that was a one time deal. The proprietor sent me home with a block of tofu, some tomatoes, and let me take home some tsukemono- they have 27 different types that are available to try!

So what happens when I look upon the face of my dinner as it is still a living, breathing creature of God? My stomach rumbles, and I think "damn, that akaushi looks really delicious". It is interesting to note that I had the opposite reaction looking at, and more importantly smelling, the cattle of Harris ranch in Central California.

The Hunger

Right now I'm searching the net for pictures to make a complete phonics lesson, and while looking for "cheeseburger", I stumbled upon this. Seeing this image has awakened the hunger. It is right before lunch so I will be eating shortly, but this will not satisfy my craving for some fresh grilled meat patties and cheese sandwiched between two crispy, soft buns, iceburg lettuce, grilled onions, and a slice of tomato. Might as well splurge and get a large vanilla shake and french fries.

According to the reciept, the thing in the picture is a 12x12 (a 4x4 + 8 patties and 8 slices of cheese, meaning it has a total of 12 patties and 12 slices of mouth-watering cheddar cheese) and cost a mere $10.15. I have only eaten a 3x3 personally, but many friends from high school as well as Justin and Kohei have downed a 4x4, and I think they were full. I don't think that any one person is capable of eating a 12x12. It's just not physiologically possible.

Actually, I think that a regular cheeseburger has the perfect ratio of every ingredient. I the beef and cheese overpowers everything else if you order anything larger than a double double.

If you haven't eaten at In N Out burger, you are missing out. If you are a hardcore In N Out junkie, then you know the secret menu which includes but is not limited to the following:

4x4- 4 patties, 4 slices of cheese
3x3- 3 patties, 3 slices of cheese
animal style- mustard grilled onto the patty
protein style- lettuce serves as the bun
grilled cheese- self explanatory

These are all I remembered off of the top of my head, but you can find the rest here.

If you are truly down, then you have noticed that there are bible verses written on the packaging. If you are like me, then you have not bothered to look them up, but you can find them on the page hyperlinked above.

Finding Big Buddhas

In my neck of the woods of Japan, finding a statue of buddha is an everyday occourance. They are everywhere, and not all buddhas capture my eye. This one, in Taketa-shi, was remarkable.

It blows my mind that I have been living here for almost two years, and I still haven't found every spectacle within driving distance. I spend a good amount of time trying to find new wonderful places, and I am yet to come up dry. Frankly, I am worried that I won't get to see everything before I leave, so it's time to step up the pace of my expeditions.

Carved into a verticle cliff with two fierce companions at his flank, this Buddha looks ready to bring the pain with his upraised sword. The caves to the right of the carvings hold temples that are under repair. To get here from Kumamoto (it doesn't matter from where, as long as you get to the 57), take the 57 East towards Oita City and follow the signs to the Fukoji Temple Magaibutsu Stone Buddhas.

Oita's Niagara Falls

After visiting the Oka Castle Ruins (in Taketa) I stumbled upon a sign that lead me to "Oita's Niagara Falls".

I guess it is kind of reminiscent of Niagara, but I was disappointed that they built a bridge across the top that acts as a dam, preventing water from cascading down the full width of the falls. It doesn't seem like they even really needed to build it, in this specific spot anyhow. There is a perfectly serviceable bridge within view of this spot.

It's really sad how the Japanese often mold natural spots into things that detract from the over all beauty when they don't really need to. It is as if they need to put the stamp of man on nature, like a rancher brands his heard to make sure everyone knows that it's his. I'm not against putting a bridge over the river, but I just think they could have done it in a more tasteful manner.

The area along the falls protected by the dam allow me to crawl into a pocket carved into the limestone on the edge to get a view of the water streaming over. On a side note, there are tons of fish in the reservoir next to the falls. If I have time, I am coming back with my fishing equipment.

Blue Hentai Anime Tentacle Hermaphrodite

Hahaha, it will be interesting to see if anyone is disapppointed by this post due to the misleading title. I think that these blue worms are a likely source of inspiration for those, uh... creative cartoon monsters, but on to the monster annelids.

It is inevitable that on a nature hike with kids at English camp, the boys come across one of these shockingly blue iradescent nightcrawlers (mimizu in Japanese). They are then obliged to chase girls around with it, to use it as a whip on eachother (hee-yah! whoopshhhh! Oh wait, no, thats what an American kid would say...), and finally to throw it in the face of one of the counselors. No it wasn't me. If it were my face, I would have made the little bastards eat it while teaching the others to sing "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll eat some worms".

These things are just nasty looking and big (about 3/4 of a foot- yes! I thought I forgot all about the standard measurement system after moving to Japan...). They move in an oozing manner, stretching out, and then scrunching their bodies forward among the humus and leaf litter. I have a feeling that they have few natural predators because they taste nasty or are poisonous. A hunk of easy to catch, brightly colored protein doesn't tend to last long in the forest.

They Call Me DJ Bruce

I just rediscovered I Know Where Bruce Lee Lives (AKA The Ultrainteractive Kungfu-Remixer), after not having seen it for six years. The music reminds me of some of the music in Kill Bill (especially "Victory" mode), and the German sound bytes are priceless! Now I know how to say "I'm gonna send you to Hell!" in Doitsu-go. This site goes hand in hand with Giant Robot's Bruce Made Tapes graphic.

Regarding Kevin's thoughts on Kill Bill- although I don't disagree with him, I love the movie just the way it is. I was far too engrossed in it to lend any attention to any thoughts get in the way of me enjoying the experience. Before I watched it, I remember thinking that this movie is Tarantino's Spaghetti Western, and so I just accepted it as it was and didn't try to "count bullets" (like I usually do). I do think it would be interesting to see how the scene would turn out if it was choreographed in a manner authentic to real Japanese swordsmanship (not the Kendo-ized version, but rather the "two hands as one" Musashi interpretation).

The fight against the Crazy 88 really reminded me of the fight scene in the restaraunt in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, (and evoked memories of Hiro Protagonist's showdown in the Black Sun) except for the gallons of blood and countless dismembered body parts in Kill Bill. It's one of those scenes where there is so much gore that you can not help but laugh, and revel in the comic absurness of its over-the-top brutality. I experience the same type of laughter watching the Evil Dead series, especially when Ash smashes the possessed girl over and over with a 4x4 post (smack! smack! smack!) when she refuses to quit her insane laughing fit.

Takana

On the second week of April I was recruited to help process Ubuyama's freshly harvested takana while on my way to the laundromat. I pulled into the parking lot and was surprised to find it being used as a loading dock. I swerved to avoid the scattered pyres of takana and a forklift with a full load (a vegetable that looks like a cross between celery, bok choi, and spinach) and proceeded to unload two heaping baskets full of wet clothes bound for the driers. A farmer approached me and asked for my help. Even though I had only met him a couple of times before, I dropped what I was doing and headed into the warehouse to lend a hand.

Inside I met many more of my students' parents, all relaxing and eating some real country Japanese food. They served me some smoked cod that had so much salt on it, that it was almost painful to taste along with takana musubi and assorted tsukemono. They explained that this fish was a traditional food in Ubuyama. In the old days, before the 57 was built, they could not get fresh seafood, so it had to be heavily salted in order to survive the trip inland. When we finished eating, we got to work.

The okusans are taking an ocha break and shooting the breeze in between frantic shifts.

View from behind the forklift.

One of the trucks that was bringing in load after load of takana.

The crane is busy hoisting palettes of takana up to fill the waiting pits, and the rain hammers down on the corrogulated tin roof, mirroring our manic pace.

You can make takana tsukemono in small batches , but we were using industrial sized pools, about 3 cubic meters in volume . Two people toss down bales of takana to the workers down below who spread out the takana. Layer after layer of takana is first arranged in lines and rows running perpendicularly to the layer below it. The takana is then amply salted (literally bucket fulls of salt are used, about 1 10 kilo bag per 4 layers in my estimation). Next comes the labor intensive part. Everyone jumps in the pit, and stomps on the takana until the bright green leaves of the takana turn dark green. This is important though: you should not crush the stalk of the takana, only the leaves (or else the takana will not have its satisfying crunchy texture). This part of the process is what I imagine it is like to stomp on grapes to make wine. Yes, part of the brine in the takana comes from the sweat of hard work.

It is astounding to see how many layers of takana can fit into one pit. The average was about 45, and one seasoned obachan said that back in the day, she was able to cram 55 layers of the stuff into one of the vessels. It took about 2 hours to completely fill one of the pits full to the brim. Next, the takana is wrapped in plastic, and about 8 huge tsukemono stones (with the help of a crane) are lowered on the bale and allowed to sit for a couple of hours. The immense weight further crushes and compresses the takana, and a green brine rises to the surface and is siphoned off . The takana is either re-wrapped , and allowed to cure for two to three months, or a fresher version is packed immediately the next day.

The warehouse has about 20 of these bales curing, and the profits (not net) will make the farmers about 5,000,000 yen (a little less than 50,000 dollars). To give you an idea of how much takana was used, these are the plastic strips that bound them into smaller bunches .

Touring Central Kyushu

My favorite thing to do in Kyushu is to drive. I love driving in rural Kyushu for the following reasons:
*having the roads all to myself
*cutting around curve after curve after curve
*the rush of adrenaline I get from a well executed pass
*the smell of mountain air rushing in from my fully open side windows
*driving those neglected roads that no one else deems worth their time
*pushing my trusty Civic "Formula" Hatchback to its limits and taking care of it in return
*slingshotting out of a curve, pressing on the gas through the exit
*not having to use the break at all, controlling everything with the gas peddle (I do wish that I had a manual transmission, though)
*finding my way by using my compass and intuition, and occasionnaly my Super Mapple Kyushu Edition
*knowing that the music that I am enjoying at any particular moment is almost *certainly the first time anyone has ever enjoyed that particular piece in that *specific area (and most likely the last).
*discovering places that even the locals don't know about or have forgotten.
*driving behind a skilled driver for a length of time and learning more about *driving by watching and imitating them.
*driving in adverse conditions with full confidence in my abilities and the abilities of my car
*experiencing a sustained runner's high while driving (Although I have never had one when I was running, go figure).
*achieving a meditative state through driving
*learning kanji and new vocabulary from the roadside
*finding good places to sit down and read, hike, or explore
*seeing how many alternative paths there are to any one location
*looking for a good photographic opportunity
*seeing how many kilometers I can put on the odometer
*only losing traction when I specifically intend to
*splashing through a big puddle, shooting up a wave or rooster tail
*driving fast through a long tunnel
*remembering the location of speed traps and making mental notes of where the cops might be waiting in ambush
*narrowly avoiding running over/ smacking into assorted wildlife (tanuki, weasels, foxes, rabbits, wild boars, birds, caterpillars, frogs, snakes, etc...)
*flashing the hazards for courteous, experienced drivers who let me pass

These pictures were taken today, with the exception of the Roman Aqueduct, during a 4 and a half hour long drive around Aso. There are so many roads to explore around here, and just not enough time.

I found this aqueduct last Friday when driving the 8, south of Taketa (Oita-ken). It's strange finding works like these in the middle of nowhere.

This is Shiraito-taki, or in English, "white thread waterfall". In Nishihara, way off the main roads I came across this stunning waterfall. Kyushu is full of beautiful waterfalls, and I often come across them on my wanderings.

This old road is in Ubuyama-mura, and I only just discovered it today! I remember hearing people talk about it, and can only say for certain that 1. it is very old, and 2. this was the road that people used to get from Ubuyama to either/or Kumamoto City and into Oita before the 57 was built. Despite being overgrown with vegetation and covered with humus, you can feel and occasionally see how well built this cobblestone road really is. Time to do some research.

This purple pitcher plant was waiting by the side of the old road. They tend to grow in loosely spread groups, under the shade of the forest.

This X-shaped suspension bridge would really look better painted red, don't you think. It reminds me of Racer X from Speed Racer for some reason (this is in Nishihara too)?

Signs With No Meaning

Back at home, the majority of people are pretty good at giving directions by using street names. You need to be aware of street names, landmarks, and where things are because its an important part of the culture of California. Although driving is also the main way that everyone gets around in these parts, it's not the same in Kumamoto or in Japan from what I have gathered trying to get my bearings for the past year and nine months since I got here. Most people don't know street names, and some don't even recognize the route 3, 11, or the 57 by their names. This would be like not knowing the names of the I-5, 405, or the 101 back home!

One of the reasons why people don't remember the names is because they are stupidly marked. If a friend gave the directions to "take the 204 to Fukuoka, and you will find the place on the side of the road", then you might well pick the wrong 204 and never find the place until you reached Fukuoka and realised that it might have been on the OTHER 204. Idiotic. I mean, you could clarify by saying "take the 204 to the right by the bypass", but why should you have to. How hard is it to change the name of one of the roads?

My favorite road, the Milk Road, is also marked in a confusing manner. From its spawn point at the Yamanami highway (the 11) it heads off West as the 45 for about fifteen kilometers. Then, for no apparent reason it becomes the 12 for about a ten kilometer stretch, and then reverts to the 45 once again, terminating in Kikuchi (on the 387) after passing through the Gorge (a highly recommended drive!). This is why I think people prefer to use landmarks instead of street names to navigate. The only constants that people will most likely know of are the various legs of the Kyushu expressway, the 3, the 11, and the 57.

Landmarks work surprisingly well, but can also be confusing if improperly used in giving directions. If someone tells you to perform an action (such as turn, go past, etc.) at a conbini (convenience store) then you better get supplemental information. There are so many Lawsons, Family Marts, and 7-11s in close proximity to eachother that navigating by these alone is likely to get you lost.

My friend Jason Wians takes giving directions by using these methods to extremes. The first time I was coming to his house he said the following:

"From Aso, go towards the airport (in Mashiki). Pass the airport, and two or three signals after you will see some ostriches on the left. Turn left. When you see the Everyone (conbini) take a left. Keep going straight until you see some vending machines (this is like saying keep going straight until you see a tree) and turn left. Go straight until you see a hoikuen, and take the right just before you pass it. Take a left at the dog and a right after the old man, and my house will be on the left. Alright, good luck. Yeehaw! Texas rules!!! (which is how he ends every conversation that he has)".

Well, I followed the directions and got there with no problems! Go figure. Had he used the street signs I might have gotten lost, as the "left at the ostrich" street and the next street are both called the 235 and run parallel to eachother for a great distance.

View Full of Aso on the 45

Click the image to see a larger version.

This is my most recent attempt at a panoramic collage. I live ten minutes from this beautiful vantage point, perched along the Yamanami Highway in Northern Aso. People say that these mountains look like a sleeping Buddha. The Eastern (in the left of the picture) peaks of Neko-dake are the head, and the feet point to the South.

You can tell by looking around that this is a special place. If you imagine what must have happened on a geological timeframe to create the largest caldera in the world (the towns of Ichinomiya and Aso below in the valley lie in this caldera), and what forces must have erected the proud mountains in the middle it sends shivers down your spine. If you are interested in geology, seismology, or fields related to these I think that you would enjoy visiting Japan, bust especially Aso-gun in Kumamoto-ken.

I really like this picture, so I included a larger version below that I layered differently. A tip on photographing around Aso- the air is much clearer the day after it rains hard, like the day that I took these shots.

Kyushu Hitching Pics

Hitching at night time was difficult. I would not want to pick up someone who looked like this, but surprisingly people almost always stopped for us regardless of the time or the place. If you get stuck out in the country at night, though, you may have to set up camp.

This is my hitching partner, Mr. Jamie Mackay of Georgia. For some unknown reason, I prefer to introduce him as "James" (no one ever calls him that) to Japanese people.

When we saw that the sun was going down in Fukuoka, we knew that it was time to hit the road. Hitching out of big cities isn't easy, but we did it.

This guy picked us up around Hakata, and drove us to Karatsu. Whenever we would bring up a city in Kyushu or southern Honshu that we had visited, he would always say "Oooh, the girls in (name of city) are beautiful." and then name off the price of how much an "oral massage" costs there. He was a nice guy, but he complained of being hard on cash. Of course you're gonna be low on funds if you skip work to play pachinko and go to Soapland every weekend!

This is Mr. Tanaka of Karatsu. He picked us up as we were walking down a road in Saga toward Nagasaki. I was able to have a really deep conversation with him, and he told me to consider him my Japanese father and then told me to tell my real father hello.

On the ferry from Taira-machi (on the southern peninsula of Nagasaki) to Nagasu (about an hour North of Kumamoto City), this girl and her mother started asking if I had a sister at Daiichi High School. I was confused because I thought they were talking about Merin at first, but it turns out that I look like her good friend's brother. It's funny because I teach her classmates through the Virtual High School program (and another one of the students was convinced that I was a member of her favorite Japanese R and B/Hip hop group "Da Pump" until I spoke in English to her).

We got stuck in a random town in Southern Saga late at night on a road with no traffic and so we had to find a low key place to camp. We settled on a small cluster of trees next to some tea fields, and started getting paranoid that we had been spotted when some cars seemed to stop right next to our tent and idle for a length of time.

There And Back

These past 5 days are stretched across my mind like a speedo straining to cover a bulging German tourist. Yes, I'm back safe from hitchhiking, and it was a great experience. However, three full days of rushing around getting picked up by kind strangers were enough for us. I will write more on this later.

Two days ago, we got back to Kumamoto, partied in the city (it was kind of cool because all of the gaijin that we saw were not our familiar locals. being incognito at home is interesting). The next day, we got back late to Aso and headed out to a music festival on the mountain. It was held at a huge clearing in the forest, and it was raining off and on. People had come from all over Japan and had set up a commune of tents, yurts, tee-pees, and other forms of mobile habitation. It was amazing seeing so many gaijin in Aso, along with Japanese hippies and little kids running around amid this strange environment full of the sounds of djembes, dijaradoos, jews harps, reggae music, and a shakuhachi (I only knew what it was thanks to Zachary Braverman's posts on the subject, and I had a feeling the old dude was good because his beautiful songs sounded like a floating/effortless/improvisational jam session).

I had a great time talking with the people at this festival. Everyone was friendly and it was easy to communicate with them in Japanese or English. The bands were pretty good too, and most of the people at the concert played at least one instrument well. This is the group of people that Taro would be partying with, if he were not married right now.

Last night was the second night that we camped over on the mountain. It had been raining the past couple of days (one of the reasons for truncating the hitchhiking trip), but last night a typhoon rolled over us. I was in my tent thinking about how great my tent was, how it had always been an extremely reliable piece of equipment, and that it only cost 2000 yen. Until last night, it performed flawlessly. However, the winds picked up, gusting across the camp ground, laying waste to our shanty town. The hippies got excited and started to pound on their drums, climaxing when the torrents poured down at their most furious. It blew my tent so hard that the support rods were slapping me in the face and feet. At times, the tent wrapped around me and I felt like I was returning to the womb. I compensated by placing my bag next to the rod that was punching me, and was able to fall asleep in the middle of a raging storm. I remember thinking that the sheets of rain that the wind was driving against my tent's rain cover was eerily similar to the turbulance portrayed in the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"- you know- the one with the gremlin tearing apart the airplane wing and William Shatner! I sure do miss the old school episodes of The Twilight Zone). And then I woke up abruptly when the wind finally tore the cover off of my tent, exposing the windscreen (remember, water and wind can pass through a windscreen, but not a windshield) to the blowing downpour. The experience was similar to gunning through the hypothermic chop in a whaler when the hull smashes into a huge wave which is then blown directly into your face. SMACK! "Fuck this! I live close to here, and I want to sleep in a warm futon tonight!" was my immediate resolve. I woke up Jamie (who was still sleeping somehow), and we made a hasty retreat with some other friends back to his place, coming in from the cold. Many others decided to leave the grounds as well, and it was crazy witnessing the devistation amid the campsite. It seemed as if the fog of war had descended upon our hippie commune, and God was punishing the wicked hippies and gaijin. Most tents were clearly not made to cope with such adverse conditions and had collapsed. Only the yurt and teepees stood proudly, taking everything that the storm was throwing at them.

When we were driving back, I could not help but wonder how the other hitchhikers were faring. We were close to home, and so we just headed back to shelter when conditions got insane. Any hitchhikers caught in the middle of nowhere that might have been forced to camp will no doubt be feeling pretty wiped and soaked right about now. Traveling funk is inevitable, tolerable, and not necessarily a bad feeling, but soaked traveling funk does not sound like fun. Anyone picking up a soaked hitchhiker is indeed a kind soul, because that car packed with soggy gear and soggy gaijin is bound to smell like a wet sheep dog.

The Circuit
Day 1
1. Uchinomaki to Mashiki (thanks to the fireman who spoke super-thick Higo-ben
2. Mashiki to Fukuoka (thanks to the computer salesman and his two sons from Fukuoka, on their way back from a soccer game)
3. Tenjin to Karatsu (Walked 20 minutes towards Saga and got picked up by soapland enthusiast in fixed up black Odessey)
Crashed at Luke's house and met Joe. The "Joyfull incident".

Day 2
Started off from 3:00 at onsen near Karatsu.
4. Karatsu to Sasebo (thanks to the old painter)
5. Sasebo to Takeo (thanks to the two college dudes. Jun, maybe we'll make it out to Nagasaki or Fukuoka sometime!)
6. Takeo to Ureshima (thanks to the electrician who fixes security systems. thanks for offering to let us crash in your van for the night)
Set up tent near the expressway in Ureshima

Day 3
7. Ureshima to Omura (thanks to my Japanese dad, Mr. Tanaka, who lives in Karatsu. I dug your old integra- reminded me of my old legend.)
8. Omura to Nagasaki City (thanks to the bus driver driving the bus to pick up rent-a-car customers. Props for dropping us off right in front of the atomic bomb museum)
9. Nagasaki City to Ariake (we walked out of the city towards Unzen for half an hour in the rain, past the expressway entrance. a salesman, one Mr. Hamasaki, who was closing up his used car lot took pity on us, and told us he would take us to somewhere where we would get picked up, but then decided to drive an hour out of his way to get us to the ferry in Ariake. we had a very nice chat, and he was very embarrased to accept a 5 dollar bill as a memento of our ride together. Mr. Hamasaki called up the ferry, and got us to the last one bound for Kumamoto. While en route to Taida, a port 45 minutes North of the city, he called the ferry to make sure that we were all right! Thanks for helping us out with so much- you were by far the most awesome person that we met on the trip.)
Taida to Kumamoto city- train ride. There was no traffic heading towards the city.