Typhoon Aftermath

We went for a ride on Sunday, a few days after the typhoon. We went in a different direction than usual, heading up the back side of Ashitaka as far as we could manage to get, and didn't see too much damage. However, our riding buddy also went for a ride that day, and he went up one of our more frequent routes to the Fireroad - only to have to turn back because the road was out in two places. He was able to get past the first damaged area, where part of the road had crumbled into the river below, but the second section, he said, was impassable. So this morning, Brian and I headed out on our single speeds up our favourite hilly route to check out the damage for ourselves. The road was still cordoned off in one area, with a narrow path for walkers (and bikers) to get past; and the city must have cleared the debris from the landslide further up - but the damage was still significant, as you can see by the photos that Brian took at our favourite resting spot, "the swimming hole":

Brian Clockwork 29er, resting against some fallen trees, where we used to stop to rest.


The cedar forest used to be a beautiful backdrop to our swimming hole:


The pavement itself did not escape unscathed:

Turkey Photos

Well, two months late, but finally put up a web album at the Japan Rider site - you can find the album here - http://www.japanrider.com/galleries/Turkey_Gallery/ .

I have to admit that we were procrastinating - an unhealthy and unproductive habit that creeps up on us occasionally. In our defense, I say that we had to sort through more than a thousand photos, throwing away the poor ones and keeping the ones we liked. We then selected the Creme de la Creme for posting - but of course we had to then make minor (or significant) adjustments in Photoshop Elements (5.0).

Please let me know if the album page loads too slowly - I'm still trying to find the right (best) style of photo album.

Rain and cloud

The weekend turned out to be satisfactory, if not exactly sunny. We spent Saturday chilling out and enjoying the fact that we really didn't have to do anything; Sunday we went for a great bike ride up a trail we haven't tried in over a year. The trail goes past the Susono Fishing pond (very, very lame), and up the back of Ashitaka mountain. Unfortunately it doesn't go all the way to the top, much to our disappointment.

Today is a perfect Monday - dark, gloomy and pouring rain. Just like a Monday should be, I suppose.

Typhoon Fitow

We got completely slammed by Typhoon Fitow last night - fierce winds and driving rain kept all but the bravest confined to the comfort of their homes! While the rain is probably done now and there will be sunny skies tomorrow, this morning saw a disastrous disruption to the transportation system; our local train line is still not running, and the closure of the Tomei expressway has resulted in bumper-to-bumper traffic on our local roads. We managed to help most of our people get to work, and the trains should be running again by noon, but what a way to start a Friday!

Sherlock Holmes and the Midnight Sushi

The strangest thing happened today. We'd bought some sushi yesterday and were going to have it for lunch today. It was a nice mix of sushi – three pieces of salmon, three natto, three ume, three tuna, etc...Brian gets the sushi out of the fridge, and says - “Hey, we're missing three pieces”. I'm as baffled as he is – we KNOW that the package was a) full, and b) sealed when we bought the sushi. Strangely, the three missing pieces happened to be my favorite kind of sushi...this cannot be a coincidence. So, though I cannot prove it, I've drawn the conclusion that I must have eaten them in the middle of the night, though I have no memory of this.

This incident, if it's not the first of its kind, may also be a clue to the extra kilos I've put on...

Friday

Have you ever noticed that time seems to shift gears? For example, this week was a painfully long one – it seemed to take forever for Friday to roll around, and I know I'm not the only one who felt it. But it's finally Friday – my evening to open a bottle of red wine and order a large pepperoni pizza!

Drinking Culture

Though everything changes, that Japan is a drinking culture still holds true. Nomikais (drinking parties) are just a part of the business and social culture here – where daily lives are conservative, at times even restrictive, the nomikais allow people to break down some communication barriers and “cut loose” a little bit. Though not Japanese, we and our co-workers tend to embrace this side of Japan! Sunday afternoon there was a party/BBQ at our neighbor's place – Larry brought his blender, along with lots of ice and tequila. Needless to say, a good time was had by all!

Today's Word: Bacn

No, I didn't have bacn for breakfast this morning - but I still have plenty of it in my inbox. That's right - bacn is the new buzzword created just over a week ago at a web conference in Phillidelphia, and has been popping up all over the net ever since. So what is bacn? I'll give you a hint - it's not exactly spam. Bacn is that kind of email that you sort of requested (like newsletters), and that you may want to read later (like the Amazon updates). It's not spam. But it's not personal email either. So, now we can just call that kind of email bacn.

How much bacn do you get? I get tons - Amazon updates, Facebook notifications, Software update notifications, and newsletters (from various sources). Like many others, I currently use Gmail which has great capabilities when it comes to organizing your mail - so I've just created a new tag in my Gmail called "Bacn", and over time I will train Gmail to recognize my bacn and archive that mail for later reading!

For more info on this new term, check out this article from the Chicago Tribune.

Our Recent Evenings

So, from the infrequency of our blogging you can probably tell that we're back at work and well in the midst of things.

This week has been rather dull but nice just the same.

Our friend, Larry, loaned us the first season of the TV show Monk on DVD. I'd heard of it before but never had the chance to watch it, and I have to say that I am hooked. Tony Shaloub does a great job playing Monk, a former detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder and who also just happens to be a genius. It's such a quirky show, and rather clever so I've been enjoying my evenings with some red wine in front of the boob-tube with Mr. Monk.

In past news, we've been meaning to mention that Brian and I are now reduced to one bicycle each; Brian sold his GT Dhi on the Yahoo Japan Auction about two weeks ago (you can view the expired auction here). The selling of our final downhill bike truly marks the end of an era now – no more weekends at Fujimi Panorama, no more getting geared up to tackle the challenges of the B-Course...But we're definitely plenty happy with our 29ers, and neither of us much like having gears anymore, so we were not too sorry to see the bike go.

Susono Awa Odori, 2007

Well, it has come and gone again - our vacation, yes, but also the Awa Odori street festival that graces our small city each year.

The signature hats of the Awa Odori.


What can be translated as "the Dance of Fools", the Awa Odori is originally from Tokushima; a smaller version of the dance/festival was introduced to Koenji (in Tokyo) in 1956; and the smallest version of all was brought to little Susono in 1983. Though Shizuoka is traditionally a very conservative prefecture, I think a certain wildness (fool-ness) conveyed itself through the deep, throbbing beats of the drums and the gleeful incitements of the dancers.



Elegant Obi: there were many people in lovely traditional dress.




There were many yatai (food stalls) serving a wide variety of festival food - takoyaki (grilled battered balls of octopus), kawaebi (whole fried and salted baby shrimp), various renditions of ika (squid - battered, fried, raw, on a stick, you name it!), and yakitori (grilled chicken kebabs). Not that we lack any sense of adventure, but we veered away from the squid, and had a dinner of yakitori and kawaebi. As usual, we had a great time, drank some cold beer with our dinner while walking around and enjoyed the evening.

The yatai where we bought our yakitori.