August 12, 2006 - I'm attempting to load up a slide show I made of my trip to Japan. It about 20 minutes long and a pretty big file so I don't recommend saving it and it'll take about 5-10 minutes to open. It's mostly previous pictures and some music but it shows what an amazing time I had in Japan. I am truly grateful for having the chance to see so many places and meet so many wonderful people. When you open the file I would only maximize the screen, from my QC'ing it messes up if you try to do anything else.

P.S. I hope to add captions soon. This is just to get it on the site.

May 22, 2006 - It's been an experience. My time in this amazing place is coming to an end. I fell in love with the city and everyone here but I love someone a lot more and I'm heading back to make it work. It's funny how life finds ways to show you the important things. I can't even begin to describe the impact Yonezawa and my friends here had on me. I will remember everything and everyone for the rest of my life.

Update...I'll be leaving Yonezawa 6/4 and then Japan 6/13. Between those two dates I'll be trying to see as much of Japan as possible. I'll head to Tokyo, meet up with a friend or two, then head to Shikoku and check out some castles, mountains, Hiroshima, some vine bridges that cross these gorges, some amazing onsens and a huge whirlpool that forms in the Inland Sea! Oh, and my brother. When I get back to the U.S., I'll be at home for a few weeks then it's a 2 week trip across the country with Stacy. After that it's back to Southern California. I'll be looking for a job and starting a life again.

So, I put some more pictures up. These pictures span from February to yesterday. There's a snow festival where there are thousands of lantern made out of snow and all lit up. There're cherry blossom pictures. The red bridge is a pretty popular photo so I joined in as you'll see. An onsen trip with beautiful weather. Then there's the samurai festival. My brother and a few friends came up. It was a great time and I have a few action shots as well. I'll hopefully have more pictures to put up but it'll be a while since I'll be in transition for the next 2 months!

December 1, 2005 - I guess the holidays are in full swing everywhere by now. I had as nice Thanksgiving holiday over here. Stacy came and we had our feast at the local KFC. They didn't have any turkey so we settled for a 6 piece bucket, cole slaw and corn. We washed it down with some Coke and Ginger-ale. Before Stacy came, I went around the area and tried to get some Fall photos. As you'll see, I didn't get to many great pictures of the colors since once the leaves started changing the sun vanished and the cold rain started. For the last 3 weeks I've seen the sun 3 days. Once it gets cold enough, probably next week, the rain will be snow and the fun will begin. Take a look at the pictures.

My Christmas and birthday are looking to be nice and busy. Stacy will be heading over here for a little and we'll be spending Christmas in Tokyo. We'll start in Tokyo Disney then venture off to Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku and we'll try to make it to Yokohama as well. Then it's back to Yonezawa for a week to get in as much skiing and as many onsens as possible. The last few years Cheryl and I have been celebrating our b-days together and this year doesn't look like it will be different. I'll let you know next month how it turns out in Tokyo. Have a very Merry Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Last I heard: Doug (Fresh) got engaged, Jerry will be a proud father soon, Gordon's settling down in San Fran, Gage is traveling, Canez is engaged, Gilligan is too. If you have any other news let me know!

October 31, 2005 - The weather's gotten cold and the leaves are changing colors. The snow's going to be starting in about a month so we've been making as many trip as possible to the mountains, lakes and onsens. I added some new photos so take a look and check out the difficult life I've been living. There are actually pictures from 3 trips to the onsens. Goshiki is about half way up a mountain and looks out to more mountains. It was a cloudy day but it started to clear towards the end. Then there were 2 trips to the same onsen, Ubayu. The first time was foggy and the second time was clear and cold, snow cold...

The drive to the onsens goes through the mountains and is amazing. It a winding road that is basically one way with turnouts every so often. There's a picture of what happens if you try to squeeze by. The car had to have just fallen when we arrived. There was no one inside but feet print on it.

As for me, I'm enjoying the last of the time before the snow. I just bought some skis and boots because I'm hoping to get out as much as possible.

P.S. Nabe (pronounced Nah-bay) is a soup that is cabbage, meat, Japanese Onions and Tofu...maybe some other stuff too.

September 19, 2005 - I've finally had enough interesting pictures to warrant a new update. Well, I have some pictures from Tokyo, the football game at the Tokyo Dome, and a nearby Yonezawa waterfall. I'm hoping to do some more fun things soon but I've been really focusing on studying the language and pictures of me studying, although extremely fascinating, just didn't make the cut. Anyway, if anyone's ever in the neighborhood, give me a call.

As for my future, after 8 months of Japan, I'm leaning towards staying for another year. There's still a chance I'll be heading back but if things go as planned you can start planning a trip to see what the other side of the world is like. Okay, I have nothing else evenly remotely interesting to say, I've been struggling since the first sentence. Maybe Doug has something interesting to say on his website...www.dkingham.com. Also, if it's okay with Gordon and KP, I might put a couple of pictures from their Alaska trip up...check back for that.

July 17, 2005 - The rainy season just ended and the heat will start soon. I'm not sure what to expect but the fan works and hopefully so does the AC at work. Two weeks ago a bunch of us went to an area called Urabandai. I'm not sure of the translation but we crossed through the mountains into a basin of a volcano that erupted a long time ago. It was the same type of eruption as Mt. St. Helens and one whole side collapsed and created some big lakes and many more small ones. Anyway, the point is that these lakes are amazing! Most are some shade of blue and luckily we went on a sunny day. The colors were spectacular. We walked along a trail that followed the flow of water from one lake to the next and ended at the largest lake. Stace and I took a boat out and got an interesting picture of the old volcano, Mt. Bandai.

Last week I said good-bye to Stace. She spent some time here and it was amazing. We had a going away party with some of her friends and it turned in to an all night karaoke happening lasting until 6 the next morning, bars don't close until 5 and then there's a nice park to sit in. Okay, enough of the typing, take a look at the pictures...

June 29, 2005 - We went on a little tour of Northern Honshu before Stace started thinking about returning home. We spent 2 days, 12 hours of which in a bus, heading north to Iwate Prefecture. We went through Sendai, Morioka, Ryusendo Cave, Omoto, Miyako, and Jodogahama. Sendai was Sendai, Morioka was a big city for the area but we used it mainly for a quick bite to eat and a transfer point. We then ventured out for some natural sites of Japan. To the east of Morioka is nothing but forests, rice fields, lakes, mountains and finally the Pacific. We stopped at Japan's third largest cave and its largest under ground lake, Ryusendo. But before the adventure began at the cave, I put our return tickets into the bus fare collector...the amazing thing about Japan is that the bus driver stopped us, waited until I called my friend to translate and then informed us that he couldn't retrieve them now but they would be waiting for us back at the bus station. The people here are amazing. Anyway, the cave was cool, we saw some bats and amazing sites but most of the pictures didn't turn out. Then we hopped on a private train line in the middle of no where and took a ride to a coastal town to spend the night in a Japanese style inn/hostel that provided some futons and some paper thin doors just like the Samurai back in the day may have used. The next morning we woke up to a down pour of rain but the beach, Jodogahama, was still worth it. The cliffs and rocks sticking out into the sea made some beautiful landscape and natural inlets. I would have loved to hiked along the coast because we saw some pictures of the national park that were incredible. As it turns out we were able to get an early start home and ate some Reimen, cold kimchi noodle soup that sounds terrible but was pretty good. Then stopped over in Sendai for some window shopping and then finally getting back to Yonezawa in time for work.

The night before the trip, my school students and some friends had a Yukata party. The yukata's are summer kimono's. We ate and drank and had a good time. I also put some pictures up of another street fair held in Yonezawa a few weeks ago.

Hope everyone is well...

P.S. Doug, Seth and I are on Skype these days...check it out, all you need is a microphone and it's free phone calls to other members. It's great...let me know when you get signed on.

Check out my pics...

June 19, 2005 - We've been back in Yonezawa for a few weeks and it's hard to believe the last month I've had. Besides everything that happened before May 23, I've just spent 3 days in Hong Kong and loved every second of the trip. Stacy, her 3 friends and I spent the 3 days taking in the sites of Hong Kong. Our hotel was in Kowloon and we went to Ladies Market, Lamma Island, Hong Kong Island, Victoria Peak, Lan Kwai Fong, Stanley Market and a few other places in between. I'm not much of a shopper but Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise because everything is cheap and what isn't can be bargained down...I wasn't the best at it but the girls could handle themselves. Stacy and I wish we had some more time there but I guess it's an excuse to head back...enjoy the pictures!

Check out Stacy's pictures from her time in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

May 23, 2005 - I'm not sure how to describe the last 3 weeks. It’s been amazing, unbelievable and add a little omoshiroi (interesting), really I haven't experienced anything like it in my life. I'm typing this on a bus that is heading to Sendai. Sendai is the largest city in northern mainland Japan (Tohoku). I'm going to spend a day walking around and taking care of some business for my next trip, Hong Kong. Stacy and I leave in one week and it seems like it'll never come, but back to my last three weeks.

The cherry blossoms finally came to Yonezawa. We had an excellent display and the hype of cherry blossoms in Japan isn't exaggerated at all. Stacy and I went to the shrine to enjoy a midnight viewing of the blossoms and have a little sake. I wish I had a picture to show how beautiful it was. It was a great way to kick off Golden Week. The next day we toured the city looking at the blossoms and went to the Samurai call to arms in the evening, the preparation for the next day’s battle re-enactment. The re-enactment on May 3rd was a memorable experience. Stacy and I joined the battle and were put into the division that would be crossing the river to support the "enemy" troops. We were the bad guys, my first performance in front of 4,000 people! Two days later, my friends Tepee (Teh-pay) and Miho took Stacy and I to Haguro-san. Hagurosan is one of three mountain peaks that are very important according to Japanese Buddhism. There is a path from the bottom of the mountain to the top and more steps then I'd ever like to see. We struggled up the mountain and when we reached the top we decided the bus would be a nice trip down. Then we moved on to a river boat tour of Monamigawa (gawa = river). We had some nice views of waterfalls and listened to a guy speak Japanese. The ride back was through rice fields, mountains and small towns. Stacy and I had to wake up early to catch our flight to Sapporo, Hokkaido, the next day. The pictures will explain most of the trip but having Stacy with me made the trip worth it. Sapporo is the third largest city in Japan. We ate some great food and had an amazing time. The sushi in Otaru was amazing and the hot springs were almost scalding but very relaxing. Now, Stacy is off touring Tokyo, Fujisan, Osaka, and Kyoto. I'm a little jealous but I know I'll get down there sooner or later.

As I mentioned before, I've joined a baseball team. I have a great time with the guys and the treat me well. Two or three members can speak a little English but for the most part it's all Japanese. We play on the weekends. The Saturday games are before work so it's a long day. I had my picture in the local newspaper here since I was the first foreigner in the 60 year history of the league to play.

Okay, I'll stop talking now. I hope everyone is doing well and I will put my Hong Kong pictures up as soon as possible...

April 30, 2005 - Two months later...my computer is fixed and I've had a great time. I've visited Yamadera, Matsushima and Hanamiyama. I've joined a baseball team, great guys that have a lot of fun, and Stacy and I are preparing to participate in the re-enactment of a battle as Samurai during Golden Week. The cherry blossoms have been wonderful, see the new photos, and the parties are just starting. Stacy and I will visit Hokkaido May 6th through the 9th and also a few more mountain temples.

March 6, 2005 - This month has been almost perfect. I'm having some computer problems as you will see in the new batch of photos. Other than that mishap, I've been having an unbelievable experience. Classes continue to go well and the students are still surprising me with how much they are accepting me into their lives. The sake brewery was interesting. They still produce it by hand and the building is older than the United States. The owner/CEO took me and my student on a private tour and opened up a few bottles for a little taste testing. The testing turned into about 45 minutes of drinking. My student and I were then sent on our way to wait for his wife to pick us up. Prior to the brewery tour, I was treated to one the most delicious/interesting meals I've ever had. The Yonezawa beef was amazing. It melted in my mouth and the taste was unreal. Then I ate tongue, liver, diaphram, and heart. To date other parts of animals I've eaten are...raw liver, stomach, intestine and uterus.

I've also been skiing on Mt. Zao (Zao-san). The snow monsters were in effect but the weather on top of the mountain was terrible. The wind was blowing full speed and the snow and clouds made visibility about 10 meters. I was able to get a few good pictures. After skiing on Sunday, I was lucky enough to relax at a local Onsen (hot spring) for an hour or two.

I've had some great times with my students. We go drinking, to dinner and have a party or two. I'm having a great time!

P.S. If there are spelling errors and grammar errors above, I'm sorry. The computer problem limits my ability to maneuver on the screen.

February 9, 2005 - Well, just finished my first month and I'd have to say I've made a good decision. A friend, Matt, had a party last weekend and I met some very fun and interesting people. I've met people from all different walks of life; each day is a new chance to meet someone completely different.

I know I need to get the internet up to date sooner but right now I'm just getting things figured out. Also, once the snow starts to melt, there's about 5 feet, I'll get out and see more of Japan. Right now, I'm content to just absorb the sites of this small, but fun, city.

I've started studying the language a little bit more. I have to admit, I've slacked off but I hope to pick it up. Scroll through some of the pictures. I haven't made it out too far from Yonezawa yet but I hope to go skiing at Zao-san three weeks from now. They have this natural phenomenon called "Ju Hiyo", snow monsters. What happens is the humid air collides with the cold air/wind at the top of the mountain and sticks to the trees. Because the wind blows so hard the snow accumulates to create these wind blown, snow covered trees. A student is also taking me to a Sake Brewery to taste some freshly made sake (pronounced "sa-kay"). I've also found this good Ramon and Gyoza shop. The owners of the shop enjoy having me stop by.

Classes are going great. I'm really enjoying my students. My co-worker, Ayako, is taking good care of me. She helps me with everything and I enjoy spending the days with her at school. She's in a picture somewhere.

Alright everyone, to bad about the Eagles, we're getting a tape sent over to us so we can watch it.

January 20, 2005 - Yonezawa-shi, Yamagata-ken, Nippon - Yonezawa City, is a small city in Tohoku (Northern Honshu). I stepped off the Shinkansen and knew this was going to be an interesting decision. The students so far have been amazing, good people and very friendly.

To date, it has snowed 95% of the days and from what the students tell me, it will be like this until March and should expect snow measured in meters. Right now, if I could, I would step into an open field of snow I would sink up to the middle of my chest. They sell boots, which I've purchased, that come up almost to your knees.

Since I started teaching my classes and met the people, it's quickly looking better. My Nihongo (Japanese language) is quickly progressing; I've managed to learn quite a bit already.

Yonezawa has about 10 - 12 gaijin (foreigners), I've pretty much met all of them. Things are starting to pick up for me. I'm walking around the city and trying to absorb as much as possible. I had tea with a gentleman named Kuichi today, he wanted to practice English. Turns out he is the master at a really nice Sushi place. He told me to come by any time. I did and have to say I will be spoiled over here, the sushi was unbelievable.

That brings us up to speed; I'm going to head out and find some food somewhere. As they say in Japan, "See you later."