Connecting my mind to the lines

How many times have I failed to finish Kanji in Context? What point would it be to finish it?

Regardless of whether it is worthwhile or not, I have been fighting an going battle with this lovely book and its vocabulary for the better part of 7 years perhaps. I start, I stop. I give up and begin anew. It's one of those lasting goals that just never pans out. Life always gets in the way or my laziness.

I miss the spring in Japan. It makes me sad that I can't hop in my Honda Fit and careen through the narrow mountain roads to spots that feel mystical and beautifully forlorn. There are so many places I would go if I could. It's been two years since I left and it gets easier with time but I will forever contemplate my situation if I had stayed this past two years. Wherever that would take me is not where I am now however.

But I have to connect some way. The only way I know how. I'll pick up this book again. I'll drill the vocab. I'll read the sentences. I'll write the compounds. It brings some strange solace and peace. Live through these words I say. I'll find may way back down those mountain roads, along the rice paddies, the fortress of sugi, and the flowing streams.

Only I really care.

November 17th, 2014

I wish I would have had more time to take pictures of the churches but my time was cut short in Macau. Two days later I had to leave Macau and I haven't been back since. Apparently, I could maybe go back but it isn't worth it to test the ban on entering...

Crab Walls

 It's been a bit cool and rainy these days. By chance I came upon these scans from my Olympus Pen. Well, I should say I found the camera and then discovered this folder sitting in plain sight on my computer.



I should really take it out for a spin and use it more. I have some very subtle but interesting images from it.

I also need to post once a week but my soul is a bit dead. No rhyme or reason.

Someday I'll Return to the Trails of Fushimi

林の中を吹きぬけてくる風は冷たくて気持ちがいい。

The blast of cool air from the forest depths feels great.

Macau scooters

The amount of scooters in Macau is crazy. I'm sure it doesn't come close to Vietnam or other places though. Still, its a noisy ruckus all day long and most of all I am amazed I don't see more accidents. People weave in and out of traffic full of other cars and buses.



But in a city where parking spots go for a premium price, it makes economical sense to get something you can park without breaking the bank.

Macau - Rua Do Lilau

I first visited this little street back in 2008 after I finished studying in Japan and took a trip to Hong Kong and Macau. At the time it didn't mean much but it was a nice area with some older Portuguese buildings. In 2011 I realized that Christy actually grew up and lived along this street. I loved it even more after that.



It is much quieter and peaceful around this area. The street nearby is one way and has vehicles thundering down it all day long but it isn't so bad compared to where I lived. My house was right next to a major thoroughfare in the northern part of Macau.



These houses have sat for years untouched. There is nothing but decay inside. How do I know? Christy and I went inside one day to explore and it was rather interesting. That will be in a follow up post. It's curious some developer hasn't bought them and built something new. I suppose they are some sort of heritage property and people would get angry if they were demolished. The inside would take thousands of dollars to restore so that's out of the question too.

I can look back fondly on these places. I just wish it hadn't been cut so short.

Ma On Shan - November 24, 2014

I had to leave Macau on November 19th but that whole ordeal is a story in itself which I will tell later. So with no immediate plan I took advantage of my time in Hong Kong to do some hiking.



Ma On Shan Country Park is in northeast Hong Kong. People continually forget Hong Kong has lots of beautiful nature and hiking trails. The city overshadows most of that unfortunately but if you get out, you will be highly rewarded.





You can take a bus/taxi up to the trail head but being the 節約 man I am, I walked. It was more like a hike in itself than a walk though. I'm not too interested in writing a detailed report of the trail but more interested in sharing the sights along the way.



That is the peak of Ma On in the distance after coming up what are known as the hunchbacks (I almost died from being out of shape and the heat even though it was November). They are lumpy peaks that slowly rise and fall for a decent stretch. You can see this later.





Those are the hunchbacks.





A friendly hiker hooked me up with a candid photo looking east toward Sai Kung. I ended up walking most of the way down to the city and catching a bus back to Kowloon.











If you look closely you can see a few hikers in the middle of the trail. It's always so great to come off a peak and look back at what you accomplished. I also feel for the poor suckers dying on their way up.







After I winded my way down, I did what any person in Hong Kong would. I ate Subway along the harbor and watched fish mongers sell their product. Nah, that doesn't really sound typical at all. I was just in the mood for Subway. What can I say? This hike lifted my spirits a bit after leaving Macau but I wished that I had shared it with Christy.

Just Happy I'm Here

Ever since I left Japan I felt so lost. Nothing seemed like it was working out. Nothing seemed worthwhile. I didn't know what I was doing. I felt like something in me had died and I wouldn't ever get it back. Last year was confusing and ripe with disappointments and joys. I got into Macau only to be kicked out and applying for graduate school was an emotional drain. I thought I wasn't going anywhere again and I was looking at a repeat of the same past year in a whole new gleam of negativity. It's like this dark image of sakura. Pretty, depressing.



I can thankfully say that things turned a corner in the past week. I'm going to graduate school in student affairs at a school in Michigan. This is the best news I've heard in quite some time. I hope to work in international student services at a university in the future and it feels like the right step in order to make that a reality.

I feel the blog calling me back. I can't split myself from the path this blog has put me on. It's then and me now. The spring brings some joy back to my mind. So much is waiting. I'll go find it again.

Journey to Yamanashi (August 14th)

I dragged my heavy neck out of bed at 4:30AM while the sun was still inching its way up. My days seem to have become earlier and earlier despite the end of work July 26th. I watched the rice fields and low hills as the train rumbled along the track from Nara to Osaka. Even in the early hours my back was hot and sweaty from the short walk. My shirt and the train seat created a climate of their own in the space between. So much for trying to stay mildly cool. I stumbled around Tennoji station trying to stay in shade and find the bus to Yamanashi. It was nothing more than a curb, a sign, and a shelter that looked sweltering.

It was an eternity before the bus made it to the highway. It winded around Osaka and Kyoto like a half inebriated snake. No wonder this bus was slated to take 9 hours. There were few people on the bus from the first stop but by the time we pulled onto the highway it was full. For some reason I was hoping deep inside it wouldn't be full so I could ride in comfort. No such luxury this time around. Even the air conditioned bus had trouble keeping me cool. Nobody else seemed to mind. My heavy neck didn't find much relief in the stiff bus seat. I kept nodding off only to receive a stiff reminder of my discomfort. How many more hours could I stand of this? The short breaks highway buses make are sort of relief. Yet, I always want to get on the way. Japanese people seem to love stopping for breaks. Perhaps Americans are simply hell bent on getting somewhere.

The hours painfully went by one by one. The only enjoyable part was the looming mountains and peaks rising around the road. Around late afternoon the bus finally arrived in Kofu city, the capital of Yamanashi prefecture. I got off as quickly as possible and went to my hotel. I dumped my bag and went back out to find cheap food. I appreciate the luxury of being in a city because I can choose to eat things I normally don't. Nothing like a hot beef bowl of rice, the fast food of Japan, to take mind off the bus ride. Luxury? To me it is. I didn't spare much time doing anything else except stocking up on some rice balls and candy bars for my lunch the following day. I went back to the hotel to enjoy a refreshing shower that would be my last for 4 or 5 days.

I can't go to bed early but I had no choice. A 4:20AM departure for Kitadake and subsequent hike up would require the best of my rested body. I watched some soupy television programming that lulled me into a dreary state. I went to bed with dreams of my body soaked with sweat and mountain peaks filling my eyes.

Hachiken Revisited

The first time was late March or April of last year. I took a different route that time. I thought for sure the road that took me over a mountain range into a forestry monoculture was going to dead end. A few times the dead foliage of the sugi made me think the road had vanished completely. Such fond memories of that day. That day led me to Hachiken.



Last month the route was shorter and easier. Which in the countryside still translates to long and time consuming. But the rains had graciously let up and gave me a much needed reprieve. Along the way is the fall pictured above and below.



You can go anywhere in Shikoku, maybe Japan for that matter, and find waterfalls. It was always a pleasure of mine to find small falls in the backwoods of southern Illinois. Those falls were meager streams spilling lazily over rocks not usually more than a few meters tall. But Bork's Fall was a great introduction to ones that were much better.



That was also the first waterfall pool I swam in. From that point, probably even before that, I wanted to see more falls. Water is an interesting thing. I loved playing in it and with it as a small child. Watching it run between a coarse groove in the sand box. Seeing it get sucked into the dry cracked dirt. Freeing a dam of debris to help a gutter drain. To see water working in the most natural ways always had a strong impact on my feelings. That is why a waterfall invigorates my mind. It's everything I could never make. Just waiting to be found.



I'm sure no one would disagree that waterfalls are beautiful but my level of appreciation is fundamentally different as you can see. I often hear things such as, "Oh you went to a waterfall again?" and "You are such a maniac for waterfalls."  The reason is not just because I like the waterfall but going to those places awakens many parts of my mind that I love to have come alive, a sense of imagination, exploration, and discovery. All which are connected to my sum of experiences and thoughts.



My first glimpse of Hachiken on the internet set my imagination in action. However, finding the way there the first time was a small adventure of its own. The internet had told me to follow the water channel and that required finding an unmarked path behind the hydroelectric site. Seeing this pipe was the only clue I had to go on. So I followed along the pipe, winding slowly to the top.



There was the water channel and my exploration continued to unfold. I loved the feeling of unmarked paths and places people didn't usually go. It was a perfect moment for me. The final discovery of Hachiken itself was powerful.






It's not a matter of being a maniac or foolishly obsessed. It's simply imagine, explore, and discover.

Ikegawa Never Stops Giving

Every once in a while you find little areas of houses that have long been abandoned. But in similar areas you find thriving little neighborhoods in the middle of nowhere as well. I'm always quite delighted to find the former. Anything open is fair game for exploration. I had fully intended to explore on this day. Nobody appeared to be around. After a short stroll amongst a few dilapidated houses and being sucked of my blood by bush mosquitoes I had suffered enough. It just wasn't in me to explore through junky yards and overgrown paths.



I took this path to see if there were was anything else interesting along the way.



I'm fascinated by the giant spiders and their webs around here. I don't usually find many opportunities to take worthwhile pictures of them though. This happened to have something good going for it.



A few more rotting homes were found. I dare not enter most of these. One time through a floor was enough to teach me a lesson.



After backtracking along the rusty walk way once more I was startled. Just at the start of the path there was a snake coiled up against the rusty edge of the sheet metal. I'm sure it was venomous too. So far I've never stepped on a mamushi but I've been close at least twice.



And really, it was too hot to be roaming around much longer. I wanted to go swimming.





It has only been this year that I started playing in the river a lot. I kind of regret not doing it more. Better late than never. I will always live by that.





There are hundreds of intimate moments that will never happen again. It's best to remember them for all they are worth.



Nobody will quite understand the way I love Kochi but I hope the pictures give them a start.

Ashizurimisaki

In the middle of June I finally made it to southern cape of Kochi. The cloudy skies and threat of rain put a damper on the day. I wasn't driving, though, so I could enjoy the scenery mindlessly. There is a foot bath overlooking the Pacific near the cape. While it was nice the humid day didn't allow me to enjoy it much. A cold foot bath would have been better. It's like the idea of visiting an onsen in summer. If I need a bath I would go but I don't want to be steamed to death.







It's a good thing I respect the aimless offering of money. I can't say how long the 50 and 100 yen coins would last in America. Too much temptation to pay for the next canned beverage.





After a short walk you can see the rock that was just outside the footbath. This is somewhere by the lighthouse I think. There is no picture of the lighthouse close up because it blended in with the sky that day.





I was more interested in the cliff than the lighthouse. I really like cliffs and rocky ledges.





I suggested continuing our walk to the point seen in the picture below. My companions were skeptical to the feasibility. I had to reassure them it was much closer than it appeared.





The diverse environments of Japan are interesting. I like coming out of the mountains to experience the shoreline vegetation and plants. But I always like returning to the ferns and thick jungle like forest in the mountains.








On the way back home we drove along the Shimanto river which is the only river not dammed in Japan. So it's naturally beautiful because of that.





The submersible bridges are very popular and I have to say I they make for delightful pictures.





Then the day turned sour when my friend hit her sister with a rock in the head. I just sat quietly in the car the rest of the time while I tried to hide from the somber mood. After eating some interesting nabeyaki ramen we walked their older sister's dog and then headed home. We were rewarded with a bit of treasure to save the day.