Bamboo Shoots

Watching TV while lazily enjoying a cup of tea in bed this morning, I saw a show?called, "Yasai Tsushin" (?????), or "Vegetable News". This morning's episode was about takenoko (???), which is baby bamboo, or bamboo shoots.

Around here, we have the pleasure of many bamboo forests, and some of our favourite rides are through the tall, green trees. Right now, the shoots are still just under the ground, but if we were to stop and dig just a little, we could pick some of the baby bamboo to take home, boil up and eat fresh. Well, actually, most of the forests are claimed by somebody, and there are hand-printed signs around that state, clearly, "Don't Pick My Bamboo!". So, of course, we don't. In a week or two, we should start to see the un-picked bamboo breaking through the surface of the ground.

This shot was taken by Brian a couple of seasons ago:

Fast Paced in Susono

We've been very busy recently, and have only been out running a couple of times, and no rides:-(

We're hoping to do a good run this weekend... oh, and I still have to find and reserve a minshuku in Yamanakako for the race weekend. Hm. Um yeah - that might take some luck and fancy phone-callin'!

Can U See Me?

Hi readers -

I think I've successfully transferred the Japanrider feed (rss), so followers should still be able to see me.

Also, I'm still checking/working out bugs after the transfer. Please let me know if you if you can't see this blog.

Or rather, please leave a comment if you got here okay!

Comments Now Working

As expected, I had overlooked something when moving the blog to this new domain- restricted comments.

If anyone has tried to leave a comment in the last day or so, my apologies. The issue has been fixed and anyone may comment. So - it is my sincere hope that you do!

If there anyone finds any other glitches, please let me know!

Moving the Blog

As you can see, we've moved/ are in the process of moving, the Japan Rider blog. We figured that, since we weren't actually updating or maintaining the main Japanrider.com domain, it would be better to host our blog here. Also, I'm really liking Wordpress!

At some point, I'll post how I moved everything over for a seamless transition, but for now, as I work the bugs out of our new setup, I'd like to hear any comments/input regarding the whole new system:-)

I'll be working on setting up an image gallery shortly, and also hope to great static pages with our most-often biked and enjoyed routes.

Our Blog is Moving

I'm transferring us over to self-hosted Wordpress blog!

If you are not automatically re-directed, click here to get to http://www.japanrider.com

Kunozan Toshogu Shrine

Even long weekends are too short - it's already Sunday! But we did make the most of the time off with a couple of long runs, some relaxing, and even a day trip to the Kunozan Toshogu shrine in Shizuoka city with a colleague and her visiting dad.

Kunozan Toshogu, though less famous than the Nikko Toshogu shrine, was built in 1617 (nearly two decades before the Nikko shrine) by Tokugawa Hidetada as per Tokugawa Ieyasu's wishes, and was the first burial place of the great shogun. Ieyasu's remains were later removed and transported to Nikko Toshogu, but the remains of his revered horse are still housed at Kunozan.

Like other Toshogu shrines, Kunozan is more colourful and elaborate than typical shrines of that period and combines styles of Budhist temples with shintoism. I would have loved to show awesome photos of an impressive place, but as often happens, the day did not lend itself to great shots, and other shots were just terrible. Others were not too bad:

About to walk up the 1159 steps:


Me, our colleague and her dad reading the ema wishes hung by other visitors to the shrine:


The koma-inu guarding the gate to the shrine

Kunozan Toshogu Shrine

Even long weekends are too short - it's already Sunday! But we did make the most of the time off with a couple of long rongs, some relaxing, and even a day trip to the Kunozan Toshogu shrine in Shizuoka city with a colleague and her visiting dad.

Kunozan Toshogu, though less famous than the Nikko Toshogu shrine, was built in 1617 (nearly two decades before the Nikko shrine) by Tokugawa Hidetada as per Tokugawa Ieyasu's wishes, and was the first burial place of the great shogun. Ieyasu's remains were later removed and transported to Nikko Toshogu, but the remains of his revered horse are still housed at Kunozan.

Like other Toshogu shrines, Kunozan is more colourful and elaborate than typical shrines of that period and combines styles of Budhist temples with shintoism. I would have loved to show awesome photos of an impressive place, but as often happens, the day did not lend itself to great shots, and other shots were just terrible. Others were not too bad:

About to walk up the 1159 steps:


Me, our colleague and her dad reading the ema wishes hung by other visitors to the shrine:


The koma-inu gaurding the gate to the shrine

Long Run

Today, Friday, March 20th, is a national holiday called "shunbun no hi" - vernal equinox day. I think the equinox is an important occasion for sure, and am delighted that the Japanese value it enough to make it a national holiday. Better yet, I'm thrilled that we get another long weekend out of it.

We woke up to wind and rain this morning, and I was happy to stay in bed for a while, especially after last night's party! But we finally decided to get up, and, I admit, I drove to our local Micky D's to bring home a couple of sausage egg McMuffins - perfect post-drinking-night food!

Finally, the rain slowed, then stopped, and we were able to pursue our original plan of a longish trail run in Gotemba.

We drove up to the 'trail head' and ran mostly uphill for thirty minutes, then turned back, and ran mostly downhill for twenty five minutes. Though this involved less than an hour of running, it was still more than Brian has ever run, and more than I typically do. And we feel GOOD. Our legs are a bit achy, but all in all, our spirits are high and our minds at rest.

Oh, and on the way home, we made a few pit-stops, and I got a few photos, but like this one best. Taken with the Nikon D90, Sigma 30mm lens:




Another photo taken with the same camera/lens combo. I'm just pleased with the sharpness and low noise. (Taken last night from the 'party apartment')

Long Run

Today, Friday, March 20th, is a national holiday called "shunbun no hi" - vernal equinox day. I think the equinox is an important occasion for sure, and am delighted that the Japanese value it enough to make it a national holiday. Better yet, I'm thrilled that we get another long weekend out of it.

We woke up to wind and rain this morning, and I was happy to stay in bed for a while, especially after last night's party! But we finally decided to get up, and, I admit, I drove to our local Micky D's to bring home a couple of sausage egg McMuffins - perfect post-drinking-night food!

Finally, the rain slowed, then stopped, and we were able to pursue our original plan of a longish trail run in Gotemba.

We drove up to the 'trail head' and ran mostly uphill for thirty minutes, then turned back, and ran mostly downhill for twenty five minutes. Though this involved less than an hour of running, it was still more than Brian has ever run, and more than I typically do. And we feel GOOD. Our legs are a bit achy, but all in all, our spirits are high and our minds at rest.

Oh, and on the way home, we made a few pit-stops, and I got a few photos, but like this one best. Taken with the Nikon D90, Sigma 30mm lens:




Another photo taken with the same camera/lens combo. I'm just pleased with the sharpness and low noise. (Taken last night from the 'party apartment')

The Beauty of the Solo Ride

As surely you all know, we both ride single-speed mountain bikes, and have been for several years now. Even in this mountainous terrain, I have not yearned for gears (well, okay, perhaps in my weakest moments while slogging up a 15% hill...).

The single-speed is simple and pure. There are no complications, no noise of a dérailleur rattling, no jumping chain. And the look, too, is pure and purely beautiful - no excess cables, no mess of wires. I even had Joel (from Clockwork Bikes) provide internal routing on my custom frame...

Check-out the internal routing:


The only thing more beautiful and pure than riding a single-speed is riding it alone. Two mornings in a row I got out for a solo ride, up into the mountains around Susono*.

On both rides, I realized that I may have lost my 'riding legs', since getting up a once-easy hill was agony. I also remembered what it was to be alone with the bike.

• You can get off and push the bike whenever you want to


• You don't have to stop for a break if you don't want to


• You hear the wind in the trees and your own heavy breathing, not that of your riding partner


• At the top of the hill, you are free to enjoy the victory, a solo victory, in peace and contentment


• Best of all, you just get to be. Just Be.

*Note: The kanji for Susono - ??- actually translates to "skirt" or "foothill" of the mountain. We are the foothill of Mt. Fuji.

The Beauty of the Solo Ride

As surely you all know, we both ride single-speed mountain bikes, and have been for several years now. Even in this mountainous terrain, I have not yearned for gears (well, okay, perhaps in my weakest moments while slogging up a 15% hill...).

The single-speed is simple and pure. There are no complications, no noise of a dérailleur rattling, no jumping chain. And the look, too, is pure and purely beautiful - no excess cables, no mess of wires. I even had Joel (from Clockwork Bikes) provide internal routing on my custom frame...

Check-out the internal routing:


The only thing more beautiful and pure than riding a single-speed is riding it alone. Two mornings in a row I got out for a solo ride, up into the mountains around Susono*.

On both rides, I realized that I may have lost my 'riding legs', since getting up a once-easy hill was agony. I also remembered what it was to be alone with the bike.

• You can get off and push the bike whenever you want to
• You don't have to stop for a break if you don't want to
• You hear the wind in the trees and your own heavy breathing, not that of your riding partner
• At the top of the hill, you are free to enjoy the victory, a solo victory, in peace and contentment
• Best of all, you just get to be. Just Be.

*Note: The kanji for Susono - 裾野- actually translates to "skirt" or "foothill" of the mountain. We are the foothill of Mt. Fuji.

Why Blog - some fun biking links

Our blog is not famous or well-known, but it keeps us in touch with family and a few friends. I love that Brian's mom and sister follow us, and that bernicky always keeps in touch. This blog has also allowed us to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones, too. I love getting comments and meeting random people who share similar interests (like Tornadoes28). About a year ago, a local Susono-ite stopped us on the street and asked, "Don't you guys have a blog?"; and just this weekend, an old friend of ours who left Japan about five years ago, happened to stumble across our blog and sent me an email.

It was great to hear from Steve, who doesn't have a blog yet but who is also an avid bike rider. He even provided me with a whole new set of web links to browse in order to help my short attention span keep itself occupied. Happily for the bikers out there, this included a list of good biking links.

Here they are, directly from Steve (hope he doesn't mind me giving him credit):
http://www.bikejournal.com/ - I [Steve] keep track of my cycling stats here. So far, I've done 2,089 km this year, all of it indoors. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some outside time tomorrow.

http://www.chainlove.com/ - some amazing deals on bike parts, typically 50% off regular cost, but the item is only offered for sale for a few hours. [International shipping is between 39 and 45 usd, but some of these deals look awesome and may be worth it...]

http://bluecollarmtb.com/ - I think you and Brian might like this one, lots of good MTB tips and so on.

http://www.thefredcast.com/ - cycling podcast, updated about weekly, sort of a bike magazine you can listen to and it's free to listen to online or download the MP3.

Why Blog - some fun biking links

Our blog is not famous or well-known, but it keeps us in touch with family and a few friends. I love that Brian's mom and sister follow us, and that bernicky always keeps in touch. This blog has also allowed us to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones, too. I love getting comments and meeting random people who share similar interests (like Tornadoes28). About a year ago, a local Susono-ite stopped us on the street and asked, "Don't you guys have a blog?"; and just this weekend, an old friend of ours who left Japan about five years ago, happened to stumble across our blog and sent me an email.

It was great to hear from Steve, who doesn't have a blog yet but who is also an avid bike rider. He even provided me with a whole new set of web links to browse in order to help my short attention span keep itself occupied. Happily for the bikers out there, this included a list of good biking links.

Here they are, directly from Steve (hope he doesn't mind me giving him credit):
http://www.bikejournal.com/ - I [Steve] keep track of my cycling stats here. So far, I've done 2,089 km this year, all of it indoors. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some outside time tomorrow.

http://www.chainlove.com/ - some amazing deals on bike parts, typically 50% off regular cost, but the item is only offered for sale for a few hours. [International shipping is between 39 and 45 usd, but some of these deals look awesome and may be worth it...]

http://bluecollarmtb.com/ - I think you and Brian might like this one, lots of good MTB tips and so on.

http://www.thefredcast.com/ - cycling podcast, updated about weekly, sort of a bike magazine you can listen to and it's free to listen to online or download the MP3.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

St. Patrick's Day is not really celebrated at all here in Japan, with the exception of a few foreigners (in Tokyo), and a parade or two (in Tokyo, and a few other very big cities). People also don't pile into bars and pubs on the weekday, drinking green beer, staying up all night, then going out for breakfast. Which is probably a good thing, because I don't think I could do that anymore!

Either way, I hope my Montreal friends are out and doing me proud!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

St. Patrick's Day is not really celebrated at all here in Japan, with the exception of a few foreigners (in Tokyo), and a parade or two (in Tokyo, and a few other very big cities). People also don't pile into bars and pubs on the weekday, drinking green beer, staying up all night, then going out for breakfast. Which is probably a good thing, because I don't think I could do that anymore!

Either way, I hope my Montreal friends are out and doing me proud!

Another Weekend Done...

Yesterday was bleak and rainy, so we didn't do much. I managed to get to Curves for a little workout, then order a pizza for dinner before watching a movie. Or most of it before falling asleep. Very exciting.

Today, however, was absolutely beautiful, so we both got out to enjoy the blue sky and sunshine. We did a bit of a hill run, which left us both exhausted, but not so much so that we couldn't drive up to the Hakone Skyline to enjoy some clear views of Mt. Fuji.

Our post-run hydration drink, in Brian's truck:



The Scene:



The Photographer:

Another Weekend Done...

Yesterday was bleak and rainy, so we didn't do much. I managed to get to Curves for a little workout, then order a pizza for dinner before watching a movie. Or most of it before falling asleep. Very exciting.

Today, however, was absolutely beautiful, so we both got out to enjoy the blue sky and sunshine. We did a bit of a hill run, which left us both exhausted, but not so much so that we couldn't drive up to the Hakone Skyline to enjoy some clear views of Mt. Fuji.

Our post-run hydration drink, in Brian's truck:



The Scene:



The Photographer:

Killing Time

Dagny Taggart, in Rand's Atlas Shrugged, detests the expression, "to kill time". As all of Rand's protagonists, Dagny is intelligent, hard working and productive. She also believes that time is not there to be "killed" but to be used productively.

Ah, well. Though I love the book, I have to admit that I have found numerous ways to kill time; or, rather, to procrastinate!

• Digg - I surf the top stories, then read the comments, which either entertain or annoy me. I occasionally post a comment or two, as well.
• List Universe - I try to save this up for a few days, then spend an hour reading the lists, and then researching whatever gruesome detail gets my attention. Today I learned that there are twenty-eight families who suffer from Fatal Familial Insomnia. As the name of the disease suggests, it's always fatal.
• Stumble Upon - I've of course installed the tool bar in my Firefox browser, and when at a loss for other things to do, I simply hit the "Stumble" button, which brings up a random page of something.
• Wikipedia - I just click "Random Article" (in the left-hand widget), reading the things that interest me, and often looking up other related items.

Just a few things I like to surf...

Killing Time

Dagny Taggart, in Rand's Atlas Shrugged, detests the expression, "to kill time". As all of Rand's protagonists, Dagny is intelligent, hard working and productive. She also believes that time is not there to be "killed" but to be used productively.

Ah, well. Though I love the book, I have to admit that I have found numerous ways to kill time; or, rather, to procrastinate!

• Digg - I surf the top stories, then read the comments, which either entertain or annoy me. I occasionally post a comment or two, as well.
• List Universe - I try to save this up for a few days, then spend an hour reading the lists, and then researching whatever gruesome detail gets my attention. Today I learned that there are twenty-eight families who suffer from Fatal Familial Insomnia. As the name of the disease suggests, it's always fatal.
• Stumble Upon - I've of course installed the tool bar in my Firefox browser, and when at a loss for other things to do, I simply hit the "Stumble" button, which brings up a random page of something.
• Wikipedia - I just click "Random Article" (in the left-hand widget), reading the things that interest me, and often looking up other related items.

Just a few things I like to surf...

Another Yamanaka-ko Road race...

Though I feel lame that we haven't been biking (or blogging about biking) much, we have, at least, been running. Nothing much, mind you, only five to seven kilometres or so (but in hills!!). But we have both signed up for the 13.9 km Yamanaka-ko race on May 31st. I've run this beautiful race around the lake two years in a row, but this year I feel dreadfully out of shape, so I'm hoping that having the race to train for will motivate both of us to get out and run at least ten kilometres several times a week.

Here is the lake we'll be running around - if the weather is good, we'll be enticed by views of Mt. Fuji:

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&s=AARTsJpnOA3ioEtcI9rx_v7gyZqlolGTYw&ll=35.417873,138.876801&spn=0.048963,0.072956&z=13&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

Another Yamanaka-ko Road race...

Though I feel lame that we haven't been biking (or blogging about biking) much, we have, at least, been running. Nothing much, mind you, only five to seven kilometres or so (but in hills!!). But we have both signed up for the 13.9 km Yamanaka-ko race on May 31st. I've run this beautiful race around the lake two years in a row, but this year I feel dreadfully out of shape, so I'm hoping that having the race to train for will motivate both of us to get out and run at least ten kilometres several times a week.

Here is the lake we'll be running around - if the weather is good, we'll be enticed by views of Mt. Fuji:


View Larger Map

Weekends

Though we haven't been riding as much as usual, we are still loving our custom Clockwork 29ers, and we made sure to get out for at least one good ride this weekend. We did one of my favourite rides which goes up to the un-beautiful incinerator (which is ironically called the bika (beautification) centre!), and then down off-road really fast and fun.


This is a map of our route:
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101003675346243075475.00043dd101f4d038ac22d&ll=35.186234,138.890952&spn=0.011838,0.040276&output=embed&s=AARTsJojfV-lg4pLk0S-1Qn2_sTqUmMr8Q&w=425&h=350]

After such a ride, not long but quite vigorous, we chilled out for the day, and I invited my friend Van over so I could practice taking people/portrait shots with my new D90 camera. Here's one of my favourite shots, post-processed in Lightroom:

Weekends

Though we haven't been riding as much as usual, we are still loving our custom Clockwork 29ers, and we made sure to get out for at least one good ride this weekend. We did one of my favourite rides which goes up to the un-beautiful incinerator (which is ironically called the bika (beautification) centre!), and then down off-road really fast and fun.


This is a map of our route:

View Larger Map

After such a ride, not long but quite vigorous, we chilled out for the day, and I invited my friend Van over so I could practice taking people/portrait shots with my new D90 camera. Here's one of my favourite shots, post-processed in Lightroom:

Ethno-centric Internet RANT

The Pirate Bay, a bit-torrent site, is currently under fire; more than that, they're under prosecution, persecution.

There are, as yet, no global Internet regulations (for which I'm thankful). The RIAA etc... are desperate to stop peer-to-peer file sharing. Why should this bother the average music/movie aficionado? After all, there are plenty of great, legal sources on the net for movies and TV shows. But wait - many video sites, like Hulu, are not available outside of the U.S. However,I don't find this out until after being made to watch six minutes of commercials. This is a waste of valuable time, showing me adverts that are useless to me since, of course, I'm not able to purchase the products?.

That's my rant for today.

Ethno-centric Internet RANT

The Pirate Bay, a bit-torrent site, is currently under fire; more than that, they're under prosecution, persecution.

There are, as yet, no global Internet regulations (for which I'm thankful). The RIAA etc... are desperate to stop peer-to-peer file sharing. Why should this bother the average music/movie aficionado? After all, there are plenty of great, legal sources on the net for movies and TV shows. But wait - many video sites, like Hulu, are not available outside of the U.S. However,I don't find this out until after being made to watch six minutes of commercials. This is a waste of valuable time, showing me adverts that are useless to me since, of course, I'm not able to purchase the products?.

That's my rant for today.

Lost photo found!

As the last two weeks' rain have prevented actually getting out for a ride, I have had more time to play with my pc inside. My main pc has XP, Vista and Win7 beta in a triple-boot format, so keeping up with things has been tricky (or even tedious). I decided finally to load all my photo software / projects on the Vista side, as it seems to run faster and smoother than XP. While I was migrating everything I found this snap of my Clockwork:



























This weekend promises sunshine, and I'm looking forward to tackling the hills to appraise the early cherry blossoms. Hopefully more pics to come, too...

Lost photo found!

As the last two weeks' rain have prevented actually getting out for a ride, I have had more time to play with my pc inside. My main pc has XP, Vista and Win7 beta in a triple-boot format, so keeping up with things has been tricky (or even tedious). I decided finally to load all my photo software / projects on the Vista side, as it seems to run faster and smoother than XP. While I was migrating everything I found this snap of my Clockwork:



























This weekend promises sunshine, and I'm looking forward to tackling the hills to appraise the early cherry blossoms. Hopefully more pics to come, too...

Japan Historical Mysteries

I've been (planning to be) studying for the Level 2 JLPT which is scheduled for early July. All I've succeeded in doing is reminding myself that my grammar is not nearly up to snuff, and I think I've forgotten more than I've learned! I've set up a bit of a game plan - I will review grammar for at least the next month, then concentrate on Level two specific things.

Of course, I absolutely must read, even if I should be studying. So I figured, in addition to re-reading my favourite (translated) books by Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami, I could also indulge in a few mystery novels, as long as I could keep my mind Japan focused.

To that end, I got my hands on a couple of historical fiction mystery novels set in Japan. One is from a series by Laura Joh Rowland, which is set in the Edo period and follows the adventures of samurai detective Sano Ichiro. I've just started reading Shinju, the first book in the series, and it seems entertaining enough.

Another series I discovered (but haven't begun to read yet) follows I.J. Parker's detective, Sugawara Akitada, as he solves crime in eleventh century Japan. This, too, could prove entertaining.

Both seem light but interesting and are, of course, just another excuse to avoid really studying!

Japan Historical Mysteries

I've been (planning to be) studying for the Level 2 JLPT which is scheduled for early July. All I've succeeded in doing is reminding myself that my grammar is not nearly up to snuff, and I think I've forgotten more than I've learned! I've set up a bit of a game plan - I will review grammar for at least the next month, then concentrate on Level two specific things.

Of course, I absolutely must read, even if I should be studying. So I figured, in addition to re-reading my favourite (translated) books by Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami, I could also indulge in a few mystery novels, as long as I could keep my mind Japan focused.

To that end, I got my hands on a couple of historical fiction mystery novels set in Japan. One is from a series by Laura Joh Rowland, which is set in the Edo period and follows the adventures of samurai detective Sano Ichiro. I've just started reading Shinju, the first book in the series, and it seems entertaining enough.

Another series I discovered (but haven't begun to read yet) follows I.J. Parker's detective, Sugawara Akitada, as he solves crime in eleventh century Japan. This, too, could prove entertaining.

Both seem light but interesting and are, of course, just another excuse to avoid really studying!

Coin Operated

Since I am in the middle of so many projects that have lost my attention (due to my microscopic attention span), I started a new project (smart, huh?). About a week or two ago, seeking inspiration to take photos, I took some advice and joined a "365 Photos in 2009" project. Though I'm several months late getting started, I set up a new blog and have been trying to catch up.

Since I love having beer and other alcohol so readily available, I posted this photo of a vending machine:

Coin Operated

Since I am in the middle of so many projects that have lost my attention (due to my microscopic attention span), I started a new project (smart, huh?). About a week or two ago, seeking inspiration to take photos, I took some advice and joined a "365 Photos in 2009" project. Though I'm several months late getting started, I set up a new blog and have been trying to catch up.

Since I love having beer and other alcohol so readily available, I posted this photo of a vending machine:

Snow

We had a small bit of snow yesterday, which was rather exciting since it really never snows here in Susono. Since it was cold and blustery, we avoided going out for either a ride or a run, and instead, in honour of the event, we stayed home in the evening, ordered a pizza and watched a movie. Fairly nice (and uncommon) for a Tuesday. The only drawback was that I then thought it was Friday and was disappointed to remember that I still had three days of work to go!

Snow

We had a small bit of snow yesterday, which was rather exciting since it really never snows here in Susono. Since it was cold and blustery, we avoided going out for either a ride or a run, and instead, in honour of the event, we stayed home in the evening, ordered a pizza and watched a movie. Fairly nice (and uncommon) for a Tuesday. The only drawback was that I then thought it was Friday and was disappointed to remember that I still had three days of work to go!