Came back about two weeks ago, have taken a while to get this post up, sorry. Here's what a remember (nostalgically):

The flight back was extra-long, since I flew to Japan out fo San Francisco instead of Chicago, so there was more lateral distance across the earth. Sat next to a middle-aged Thai lady who was visiting her homeland (her husband teaches at Berkeley [sp?]). She asked me why I was teaching in Japan, and not Thailand. "Thai people are so relaxed" she said, "All we do is hang out and read and sit in the sun."

Why not Thailand indeed?

Kidding. Snow trumps sun in my book.

So I spent two days wandering aroudn Tokyo, crashing at the apartment of this guy who I met during training. Here is a cool picture of the Ueno section of tokyo



Here is a picture of me in aforementioned section:



Brief side note: while walking through this area the next day, headed towards the museums in Ueno Park, a Japanese fellow spotted me in a crowd and called out "Hey, are you Canadian?" He turned out to be a transient author witha bit of a crazy streak, and dragged me into an hour-long conversation ranging from American poltics, Nietzche, and the deviousness of Japanese women, all the while accosting me with a copy of Don Quixote. Definetly worth the time.

The art museums were interesting, too. Somewhat weird and commenting on a culture I don't understand too well myself, but cool nonetheless.

Here are some pictures I took from the bullet train on the way up. They really show how the population is squeezed in along the coast, right up to the mountain ranges that dominate the geography of Japan.




I finally managed to take a picture of the little trolley that services the Shimokita peninsula. I ride this thing for about an hour and half the get up to where I am. It is here pictured at Noheji station, a fairly decent-sized city at the southern end of Shimokita.


You might also notice that while it is not snowing in the pictures above, it sure as heck is in Shimokita.


Went to Hakoda last weekend, my first experience with snowboarding in Japan. A little rough at first, as I'm not used to the amount fo snow they had and I'm pretty out fo shape for aerobic activity. Needless to say, I'm still sore, but I had an awesome time there. Will hopefully eb back next weekend for more.

I'll tkae pictures up there, too. It's pretty cool looking. The snow is deeeeeeeeeeep, Allen-Ginsburg deep.