Hotel Room Blues

Yes - the above is a photo of tonight's plan! A can of dark Yebisu (pronounces e-beece) beer, and catching up on some Japanese study. If I want to have even the whisper of a chance at passing the level 2 Japanese Level Proficiency Test, then I'd better stay motivated!

Staying in a cheap business hotel in Japan is very comfortable. The rooms are very small and simple, but clean and comfortable. There are always vending machines somewhere in the hotel where you can buy cigarettes, beer and soft drinks, and even a machine that dispences Cup Noodle.

The Hamakita Plaza Hotel, where I am staying this week, is great - there is an izakaya in the basement (below gound floor). I am planning to go there for dinner (again) tonight.

I'd love to post more pics, but the dial-up type of connection I am using is making it tough to upload large files! I will definitely make up for that when I am back at my home base with high-speed access.

A walk in the park (Hamakita City)

The week is going by quickly! As I realize it is already the end of March, I know how true it is that Time is, indeed, a Winged Chariot that cannot be outrun.

It can't even be out-walked or outridden, I suppose.

Knowing that speed will not succeed in overcoming Time, and that perhaps a leisurely pace may be more conducive to appreciation of Time and all it has to offer, perhaps I should not feel so bereft this week as I find myself bike-less. It is an interesting situation, not being able to ride. On the other hand, I am relearning the pleasure of a slow walk in the mornings. There is a lovely park next to the hotel where I am staying, and already the morning walkers are beginning to recognize me. I took a few photos in the park this morning.


A Flowering Tree (Japanese house and blazing sunshine in the background).



Another interesting tree, with a line of trees in the background.

A flowering tree in bloom with a blurred morning sun in the background

Air H

No post yesterday; we had to work out of town, and I still am working out of town. I am now watching the morning news (in Japanese) in my hotel room. And it is, again, the magic of technology that is letting me post. I am hooked up to the internet via an Air H card - a device that fits into the PCMCIA adapter in my laptop and lets me dial up to the internet using PHS technology, similar to cell phones. It's a great tool when you are on the road (as I will be all this week).

I am teaching in a very beautiful rural city this week, and I hope to be able to take some good pictures to post.

Scenery in Susono

As the sun rises earlier, we can get out for earlier morning rides. Spring is a great season; though it has been rather brisk these days. Our morning ride left us with cold fingers and toes, but the bright blue sky and fierce sunshine afforded some beautiful views along one of our usual morning routes.

The photos below were all taken at about 6:30 a.m., just around the corner, really, from where we live. Seriously - not one traffic light between us and the places where these photos were taken.



Frosted Field - the overnight low must have dipped below zero (Celsius), as this field was decorated with frost.




Tea fields can be found throughout Shizuoka Prefecture, which is famous for it's green tea. We pass a few little tea fields on our morning ride.




I just thought this was a lovely place to take a short break.





On the way back home, coming down hill, we get this panoramic view of Susono city, Numazu City, Izu Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean (the long arm-like piece of land on the left is Izu).

Spring Cherry Blossoms

Spring is here - well and truly here. Gone are the days of the 7:20 a.m. sunrise! Today, sunrise is at 5:39 a.m.; and I am waiting for it. The sky was light this morning by 5:15. That is a refreshing change from the dark days of winter.

A spring custom in Japan is to do hanami - literally, flower viewing. The sakura (cherry blossoms) are the prime symbol of spring, and, like so much else in life, their beauty is fleeting.

With a keen sense of the transience of life, the Japanese usually gather under cherry trees in a scenic area (a park, along a river, etc...) with their friends or family, and simply enjoy looking at the cherry blossoms. Just one or two more weeks and the sakura should be blooming here in little Susono, and perhaps we can do our own hanami.

Here is a photo of an early blooming cherry tree in Izu:

Road vs. Mountain

I was away on a business trip yesterday and today, which meant no riding for two days. I did, however, have a chance to brush up on my Japanese by watching some Japanese TV in the hotel, and, of course, chatting with the taxi drivers, hotel attendants, waiters and waitresses, etc... I love having a real chance to practice my (as yet very weak) language skills.

Brian, however, did get out for a ride. He picked up an old, old, old, bicycle, which he stripped and rebuild into a sort of vintage road/ cross bike. He loved the feel of it, he said. The smoothness of the tires, the fluidity of the ride as he cruised along the early morning streets. Unfortunately, the bike frame is a little too small for Brian; but (and more unfortunately still) it has given him a taste for the road. He is now browsing the Yahoo Japan auction looking at road bikes in his size.

Having been a roadie, I do understand the draw. I myself am afraid of sampling a road bike again, for fear that I will immediately buy another road bike.

Riding mountain and riding road are both intoxicating - but in different ways. When I used to be a roadie and would cover 100 to 120 km in a single ride, the distance and the speed were where the high came from. Riding mountain, neither distance nor speed are so important; rather, it is endurance and technical skill that come into play. In both, road and mountain, strength is a crucial part of success.

Friends and Foes

I said that today was to be a day of rest; and it was, sort of. Awake at 5 a.m., I knew it would be one of those rare days with nothing but sunshine. And, it is a national holiday, so...we had to ride. We did take it easy, though. We rode for about 30 minutes, and only did 7km.

We had one errand to run today which took us way across the prefecture, but just a stone's throw from one of our favorite bikeshops. We bought a few small parts, then talked shop with the owner. He is a Foes fan, and was proud to show off some of their newer frames. We engaged in a little bike talk (riders everywhere speak a common language, wherever they are from), and I mentioned my old Foes that I haven't been riding since the derailleur hanger broke. Our bike shop guy excitedly showed us the derailleur hangers that he had in stock.

My Foes never fit me quite right, so last year, when the part broke, and I heard of another frame for sale (the Bulitt), I decided to just retire the Foes. But a bike as perfect as that deserves better than to sit, unloved, on my back balcony. I will do the minor repair, and give it to someone who will treat it better than I did.

Recharge Your Batteries

This little bit of advice I offer, both literally and figuratively.

Brian and I went for a hell of a long ride today. We reached the top of the mountain, looked at what we had done, and saw that it was Good.

But the fun was yet to come - all hard work deserves a reward, and our off-road downhill track that cuts through the mountain, back down to where we live, was the sweetest reward of all. It is steep, rocky, rooty, and quite technical in places.

We picked up great speed on one of the less technical sections, rode across a small, rocky stream, spun a corner, and surprised a group of dirt bikers (off-road motorcyclists). They must have been stopped for a rest, and were just getting ready to hit the trail again themselves. Kindred spirits, I think. They smiled and greeted us as we rode past them; I think they knew how we felt, and saw that it was Good.

But there are no pictures today. We discovered while stopped at a particularly picture worthy place that not only had our camera battery died, but so had the spare battery we always pack (obviously, not recharged).

And now I am exhausted to the core of my being, and I understand that, though today was Good, a day of rest is necessary to recovery; and so, tomorrow there will be no ride.

The advice I have to give is:

Always Recharge Your Batteries.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Brian finds great pleasure in working on projects. By projects, I am referring to physical "building"-type projects, much like repairing or even building bicycles. I think he finds a peace, or serenity, in it that he doesn't find elsewhere.

I have begun to understand, and even appreciate, this myself. It is much like cooking - you have something concrete to foucs on; a rational process that requires your full attention, and drives out all of the little daily pressures that can build up. And at the end of the project, there is a visible reward, a solid, tangible product.

I don't know whether I have ever thought so much about it before, but now that I have started to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (highly recommended to me by Brian), I am beginning to see how projects are important to the self.

Brian and I built my red Bullit together last autumn; it was the first time that I had built a bike from the ground up, and I find my Bullit more satisfying for having put it together myself.

Our next mutual project is to completely re-invent an old mountain bike that I have been using just to get to the corner shops, etc...It will have to be completely cleaned, stripped of most (if not all) of its parts, and have those same parts replaced. I am, of course, planning to build it into a single speed.

Homepage design - suggestions??

As I struggle with css (blog code) and try to create a personalized template for this here blog of ours, I realize how helpful our readership has been in giving hints about designs that work, and those that don't.

I would like to impose once again, and ask for your input on the design of the Japan Rider Homepage (mainly used for hosting photo albums). Both Brian and I have been thinking about colors and layout, etc... and are coming up fairly dry, I'm afraid.

Let us know whether the color scheme works, what would make it better, and, sure, let us know what would make it worse, too!

Yaki-niku

Yaki-Niku literally means grilled meat, and it is so delicious!

I went to a yaki-niku party last night, ate too much meat, and got to try some food that I had never eaten before. For example, I ate some lovely raw beef mixed with raw egg; that was followed by raw liver dipped in soy sauce. It actually tastes much better than it sounds; but if I don't post tomorrow, you can figure that I am suffering from e-coli or something!

Yaki-Niku at our table - everyone puts meat on the grill, and eats it as it becomes done.



Uke - raw beef mixed with raw egg (left), and rebasashi - raw liver (right).

Cedar and Bamboo

It is cloudy this morning; the weather forecast is calling for rain later. At least we got in a morning ride, though.

This is one of our favorite trails to ride in the morning before work. It is fairly short, but is a great ride off-road, winding through a cedar and bamboo forest.

A day without a ride...

Is like a fish without a bike.

Haha - does anyone remember that great Guinness beer commercial from about ten years ago?

There were no rides today; duty was calling. We worked very late out of town last night, and decided to crash in a business hotel. We fell into bed after midnight, and got up at 5:30 for the drive home, and a quick change of clothes (showerless!!) before getting back to work.

Sometimes, there is no room for riding.

Riding Solo

This morning I am up early. Brian is sleeping so peacefully, I decide to ride alone. At 6 a.m., with the sun just up over the mountains, and most normal people still in bed or sipping coffee, there is an ethereal atmosphere over the town. The only people I see are dog walkers and joggers, and even they are silent. And then, into the hills, not another person. The only sound is that of my own heart beating, air forcing itself through my lungs. There is no conversation, no "small talk", no trying to keep up with the guy in front, no waiting for the guy behind, and no guilt getting off the bike and pushing it up the hill.

Destination: Beer Hall

Working people cannot ask for much more than to wake up early on a Sunday morning to rays of warm sunshine streaming through the windows. We recognize that spring is finally here, and our thoughts immediately turn to today's ride. Where will we ride? Should we ride near here? Or do a "drive and cycle" to somewhere more exotic?

We finally decided to stay near home, and to ride a trail we hadn't been on in more than a year. It is a trail that involves 8.5 kilometres of riding on quiet, scenic backroads (uphill, of course), and then about 3 kilometres of off-road trail riding.

Here is Brian and his 29" single-speed, resting in the cedar forest after a hard ride to the top of the hill:



Tracy's Cannondale was equally exhausted!




Making the ride even more rewarding, at the bottom of the off-road trail there is a huge (and hugely popular) German beer hall. The beer hall also has a "beer park", and you can buy Dunkel, Weisen, Weisenbock, and Pils from an outside vendor. Nothing like a cold beer after a hard ride at 11 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

German Beer Hall - the perfect conclusion


Unfortunately, the wind had picked up a lot, the sun had disappeared behind some clouds, and the temperature was dropping. As you can see in the first picture above, we were not dressed for sudden winter weather, and we were too cold to enjoy more than one beer while sitting in the beer garden. The ride home was all downhill, which is usually a good thing, but by the time we got home from this ride, we were freezing. Brian's ears were like ice, and my left index finger was too cold to even work the brake levers!

It was, of course, an amazing day.

Template thanks

Thanks to my commenters - you have been very helpful. I have decided to invest some time in designing my own template, with my own background, etc... (it will take time, of course!)

Until then, Brian (the co-contributor here) suggested Scribe (though Sandollar was a nice template).

Meanwhile - Blogger has been a bit buggy these last few days; posting, editing, etc... has been difficult. So, bear with us please.

Kanaya Ryokan

It is already Sunday morning, again.

This weekend was good, but busy so far. On Friday, my company had a large, overnight staff meeting. Overnight meetings are very common in Japan, though not so common for English teachers. Our company president,however, wants his foreign employees to experience Japanese culture, and hopefully to appreciate it. To that end, it was arranged that the meeting should be held at the Kanaya Ryokan (a ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn).



Kanaya Ryoukan in Shimoda (Izu)


We drank beer, took hot onsen baths, slept on tatami mats, and enjoyed a traditional Japanese breakfast of fish, soup and rice.


Traditional Japanese Breakfast



Brian and I drove back home, and stopped to take some photos along the Izu coast line.


Brian with an Ocean View on the east coast of Izu


And now, perhaps, we can go for a little bike ride??

Ridin' in the the Rain

I'm ridin' in the rain
Just ridin' in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
...
I ride down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just ridin',
Ridin' in the rain

Singin' in the Rain is another of my favorite movies. Did you know that Gene Kelly did not, initially, want Debbie Reynolds for the part of Kathy, because Reynolds, apparently, had no dancing experience. And, for the record, I happen to have loved Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Well, I cannot sing, but I do love to ride in the rain, especially the warm, spring rain that is falling today. The peacefulness that falls over the town with the rain is profound, and to ride alone in the rain does inspire in one that happy refrain, just ridin' in the rain.

Template Foolishness

If every time you visit this site, the layout is different - then I apologise. We have been trying to find a template/ background that we like best, and have to allow a few visits for it to grow on us.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Pedalling for Pleasure

I suppose apologies are in order for not having any good pictures to offer tonight. But...

• Our friend, riding buddy and neighbor, Chris, built up his single-speed, and it is gorgeous!
• Brian ordered bike parts from Alred E. Bike, and is waiting for them to be delivered

and

• I think spring may have actually arrived here in eastern Honshu.

This last item is especially important. You see, it is so difficult to get out from under the covers in the morning when the air surrounding you is so cold; it is even more difficult, once out from under the covers, to get out of one's warm pajamas; and after that, it is more difficult still to get out into the bracing cold air for a bike ride!

(A brief aside here - I feel guilty complaining about the cold weather in Susono; where I and Brian are from (Montreal and Detroit), winter is severely cold; and yet, my friend Denis still trains, no complaints.)

This morning was so warmly wonderful, I can't explain it. I woke up at 5 a.m., lie awake until 6 a.m., when I then shook Brian and said, "We have to go for a ride!". And ride we did. The sun came up - a large, orange globe - and as we rode, we could see the tea fields glowing, like fields of gold. This morning, we rode for pleasure, and I realized, This is the way it should be.

Steel Single-speed

"I have some big news!", said Chris over the telephone. "I have a new, steel, pink, disk-brake single-speed frame!!"

The excitement in his voice was palpable, and infectious. While the ESL teacher in me subconsciously registered the fact that all the adjectives appeared in the right order, the biker in me had to know more, had to get at least a mental picture of the pure beauty of this steel frame.

Chris had bought it from a friend, who had in turn bought it on the Yahoo Japan auction, just for the parts. Chris had not at first planned to keep the frame for himself, as he has a veritable stable of bikes; however, when he saw that it was steel, he couldn't part with it, and said he was going to build it up that very night. There are not so many steel frames being made anymore - most bike manufacturers have made a move in favor of aluminum, which is lighter and does not rust. However, aluminum frames can wear out after time, and they are not springy, or flexy, like a good steel frame is.

Upon going outside for our pre-work morning ride, Brian and I both noticed that Chris' street single-speed Wheeler was no longer parked in the communal bike parking lot. Aha! We figured he had brought it in to strip it and to build up his new frame.

The Godfather

Well, after our tough ride yesterday, Brian and I stayed home and watched The Godfather last night.

That movie has always been one of my favorites, and I remember many times sitting up with my father to watch it, once again, on late night TV. It is, in my opinion, one of the best movies ever made. It excels on multiple levels: the acting is superb, the story line is tight, the characters are well developed. The subtleties of the plot weave themselves in so gradually, unobtrusively, that you suddenly find yourself liking Don Corleone, but not necessarily knowing why. Clues that he has old-fasioned values, he has a sense of honor, and he loves his family (and says at one point, "A real man always puts family first") are slipped into the script very carefully, and these are the values that, perhaps, redeem him.

His daughter, Connie, however, is not so sympathetic a character. Being a female, of course, she is not empowered, and has little presence. She is abused by her low-life, cowardly husband. And yet, one does not feel sympathy for her; why? it could be because she is a pathetic little phsycotic thing, who does not seem to have any personality or desire to have one. Hardly her fault, however, in the patriarchal world of the Mafia.

The Godfather, instead of fitting into a genre, defined the genre.

The most amazing thing, really, is that, despite our enjoyment of The Sopranos, and mafia movies in general, Brian had never seen The Godfather. I felt that he could not gain the full impact of the movies that followed, so I went and rented all three-hours of it yesterday, thinking that it would befit a chilly Saturday night at home. Needless to say, Brian loved the movie.

Blog Tools

As I was updating my photo albums, website and blog this morning, I realized how many useful tools there are out there for web maintenance and blogging. So this little blog is just to give the low-down on some of the most basic and easy to use (and mostly free) tools out there.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money - actually, if you don't want to spend any money - you can get your blog going in no time flat. Here's the free stuff I use:

• Blogger- go there and just set up a free blogging account.
• Picasa2 - go there and download the free photo managing/ editing software. This software helps organize your photos for you, makes them easy to find, and has all the basic editing tools, such as Crop, Auto Contrast, and - my favorite - I'm Feeling Lucky. And, most importantly for anyone using email or the web to send photos, it has resizing built in - just click the little "email" icon, or the "web" icon. Sweeeet.
• Hello - this is the software that lets you share your photos with family and friends. However, I just use it to send photos to my blog. It also automatically resizes your photos for sending.

However, for my webite, and my own pleasure, I use other tools, too.

• Microsoft Frontpage 2003. Excellent tool for amateur web designers; it comes with several built-in photo albums, and a lot of other nice goodies. Experienced designers will poo-poo this Web Page creator, but it suits my needs very well.
• Photoshop 7.0 - very expensive software, but well worth the money (and the time invested getting to learn how to use the damn thing). Lets you take an imperfect photo and fix/ erase anything you don't like about it. My favorite tools in Photoshop are the Clone Stamp and the Healing Brush.


I used the clone stamp and healing brush to remove an ugly red fire extinguisher from this picture. As you can see, I have to hone my Photoshop skills, but still...
No Fire




• With Office 2003, I got the Microsoft Photo Manager - also allows basic fixes, such as Autocorrect, and has "Resizing for Dummies" (actually, I just made that up - but very easy resizing options).

What I do not use now, but used to use, back when I enjoyed raw HTML, is a very affordable little program called Coffee Cup. Excellent for beginners and experienced designers alike. My friend Denis got me started designing webpages about a decade ago, and while I gave it up after moving to Japan, he built a career out of it.

So, those are the tools I use.

Single-Speed Saturday

I am exhausted, and I am woman enough to admit it.

Brian and I got out for a good ride today - we woke up, and for the first time in weeks, it was a sunny Saturday. We did a full apartment-cleaning, then headed off for the hills.

Here is Brian and his Rig, posing in a field that is fairly high up in the mountains:


We pushed on and on, uphill and off-road - it was taxing and yet thrilling. Our luck has not changed, of course - as we neared the top of the hill, edging ever higher, it began to snow. The same thing happened last weekend, too! It is exciting to think that we had climbed high enough to have snow, when it was probably just raining back at our aparment.

Coming downhill was exhilarating - rocky, rooty, slippy, and steep. Everything technical that keeps your mind focused and your body loose.

And now, I am looking forward to our quiet night at home, watching one of my all-time favorite movies - The Godfather.

Tracy's Cannondale at Rest in a Tea Field

Sakura Mochi

Sakura Mochi






Well, Girls' Day is over, but luckily the local 7/11 still had some Sakura Mochi. Mochi is generally translated as "rice ball". Rice is pounded and sweetened to make a sweet called mochi. Most mochi (including the ones pictured above) contain anko, or, sweet red bean paste. Sakura Mochi (the pink mochi with the green cherry-tree leaf) is a special sweet eaten only on (or around) Girls' Day.

I love sakura mochi, and thought I'd lost my chance for this year, as Girls' Day has come and gone already!

Hina Matsuri

Hina-Matsuri Doll Display


Today, March 3rd, is Girls' Day here in Japan. This is a day when parents have a little celebration to wish their daughters success in life (traditionally, marriage).

Families with daughters have a Hina-Ningyo (doll) display, similar to the one in the photo above. In the photo, there are only two tiers - one for the Emperor and Empress, and one for the small furniture and meal dishes. Many families have a display much like this one; other families, those with more storage space, and those who have passed the Hina-Ningyo down through generations, have a five or even a seven tiered version.

A full display looks a lot like a pyramid. At the top are always the Emperor and Empress dolls; one level down, there are three court ladies; the level below contains five flute and drum players; then there are two ministers, and finally three servants. The final tier contains the miniature furniture and food.

It is customary to take down and put away the doll display soon after March 3rd, as the later it stays up, the later the daughter will get married.

Sorry there was no bike-talk today; the weather has been...inclement. But, to make up for it, I am going to convince Brian to contribute a weekly "Maintenance" post!

My Partner, My Thinker - Let's play a game!

You may, or may not, have noticed, that this is a team blog. That means that it has several (in this case, two) contributors. Sometimes (as in this case) the contributors are also co-administrators (they have ultimate control). And you may, or may not, have noticed that my partner and co-contributor has actually not been creating any posts.

I am happy with that - no worries here. But, I just got curious (and a little devilish) - does my co-contributor even read our blog??

So, here is a picture of My Partner, My Thinker.

If this picture suddenly disappears, we know that he does read our blog! If it stays for a while, well, then....




The Thinker??
T

Mt. Fuji, Ashitaka and ...an incinerator

おはようございます。

We had yet another small snowfall last night - quite unusual for our area.

I would really like to write about our morning ride in the snow today. However - there was no morning ride. Just one of those days when we couldn't quite get out of bed. Houses in Japan, especially the milder areas, do not have any heat. Well, we do run a small kerosene heater during the evening, but of course we cannot sleep with it on. So, when we wake up, it is so hard to get out from under the warm blankets! No, that's no excuse, I know. And by the time we do get up and active, we both regret the lost opportunity.

But at least I can share some photos of where we frequently ride in the mornings before work. Here is a picture taken a few minutes ago from our balcony - you can see Mt. Fuji, and beside it, the Ashitaka mountain range. While riding up Mt. Fuji is a bit too ambitious, we often explore Ashitaka.

Panorama - Mt. Fuji and Ashitaka mountain range, taken from our front balcony.


While it is rather snow-covered today, and camouflaged in the picture above, there is an incinerator not far from here in the mountains. While a garbage incinerator is not a beautiful sight, the route up to it is amazing. It is a narrow, windy, tree-shrouded road, free of motor traffic. An excellent ride during rush-hour!

My zoom let me focus on the incinerator - a regular destination on our morning rides.


Alas - that is all the blog I have for today!

Painful Weekend

No pics today; we haven't done very much since riding on the weekend. And that was some very good riding! Yes - uphill is quite a bit harder when you have just one gear, but it is worth the pain. Agony, even - Brian still has not quite recovered from his Sunday ride. I think the longer recovery is just part of getting older.

The weekend, other than a little singlespeeding, invovled not much more than cooking dinner and lying around.

It was really the first weekend since January that we both had the full two days off; it was very nice indeed. Especially as this week I will be on the road a bit, and then next week I will be out of town for the whole week.