It's that time again

Yes indeed. Were I not reminded by Craig and Jacob a few weeks ago I would likely have forgotten completely about the fact that I have a blog! Given the opportunity I would clearly rather be doing awesome stuff than blogging about doing awesome stuff, but such is life. You have to find the proper balance of self-aggrandizing propaganda and fodder for said boasting in order to have a really sweet blog. Sometimes you just can't manage to balance this equation, and personally I would rather overdo the  awesome stuff as opposed to overdoing the exaggeration and story telling, so even though my blog has been bare for many moons, I am fairly happy with the state of affairs here. Life in Japan is good.

Lots of crazy things have happened since I last posted. There was an crushing disaster, and earthquake, followed by a tsunami, followed by a tenuous situation at a nuclear reactor. The news has covered this thoroughly so I will not go into a long expose here, but in the future we will probably talk about this together.

In other, less serious news, recess is pretty sweet in Japan. My kids were all tons of fun, and I will really miss them. 

I joined a band with one of my principles from school, and we rocked out. I was the bongo player. Yes it was as much fun as it looks like.

I put my white belt back on, and began training in a new martial art. That felt really good. My teacher back home gave me some good advice, and I tried to follow it, and I wound up learning a thing or two about Ashihara Karate because of it. I was also taught a bit about the spirit of Japanese Budo, how to be a kouhai was reinforced, and I picked up a few tricks. Another thing that was reinforced was that, as always, my raggedy ass has a long way to go. For me it was very liberating to put the white belt on again, and training in the Karate was one of the things I found most rewarding while living in Okayama-ken.

Lest we forget, I ate tons of delicious food. Japan is a country of and for foodies, and amazing food experiences abound if the cuisine here suits your palette.

Along with a mysterious figure known only as "The Manticore" I went to the birthplace, hometown, dojo, and archive of Miyamoto Musashi.

The elusive "Manticore"

If you were following my blog back when I actually wrote in it, you are well aware that Miyamoto Musashi is one of the baddest motherfuckers in the history of Japan. This was quite an experience, as I got to see some of his swords, his original artwork, bathe in a onsen filled with green tea (Yes, the onsen was filled with green tea. No joke.) next to the Miyamoto Musashi Budokan, visit his gravesite, his shrine, and walk around in the bamboo groves where 6 year old Musashi would go to play hide and seek and pick his nose when he thought no one was looking. This trip will require a separate entry, as promised in the original Musashi post, but it should be clear I was very happy to have the chance to go there.

Sitting at the feet of an 8 foot bronze likeness of the legend.

This is my favorite of his paintings, I included it in the previous post, and it was awesome to get to go see it myself.

I also realized that since I came to Japan the fro is making a strong comeback. By the time I return from India it should have enough mass to implode into a singularity and create a black hole.

There is simply way too much for me to include in this blog post. Thats the price I may for not updating this thing. Now its practically impossible to summarize the events of past months. Suffice it to say I did a bunch more stuff, and it was all rewarding, awesome, fun, full of surprises, comedy, unexpected plot twists,and good memories. Also, I am all nostalgic about leaving this amazing country. Yes, I am coming back in June, but after that I am not sure when my next return trip is. It won't be that long, and wherever I go life will present me with beautiful opportunities, but this is about the only kind of thing that could tinge going to India with that bittersweet flavor.

I met a lot of amazing people here. People I absolutely would love to cross paths with again, see again, travel with again, and continue stay in touch with. Fascinating people with diverse  and complex life paths, and unpredictable people that are sure to do something unexpected and gutsy. You know who you are. Yes, I'm talking about you Chia and Mrs. Lee, Doug, Joaquin, Sam, Number 3, Brian and Don in Niimi, the Hawaiins, Erin and John, Alia, the man the myth the legend Tonichiwa, Duncan, Matt from Okayama, Paul, Amy, Carolyn, Masae, Ai, Saori, Mihochan, Fukusui, Hosono, Nathan (空手で頑張ってよ）Ikemoto, Iga-sensei, Okitsu-sensei, Miyanaga-sensei, that old guy who was always doing contruction in my hood, the security guards at the Saijo sake festival, Mr. Mimura from the vegetable shop, Mizuho from the Udon shop, the drunk Ojisans of Takahashi, even the rude bro that didn't want me talking to the ladies at Hakubi, the Takahashi cops that got me my 90 bones back, Nakada-sensei for hooking me up with the medicines, all the students and teachers in Nariwa, Ochiai, and Shirochi, Atsuko, Naoto, Otsuki, and last but certainly not least Mr. Ashley Sheik himself; You guys are all badasses and contributed a great deal to my life and times in Japan, and for that I thank you. Half of you guys will never read this, and the other half can't speak English, but I had to say it anyhow. (if you deserve to be in the list in the company of these honored and esteemed badasses leave me a comment. If you know me better than the old guy doing construction in my hood, you deserve to be here, so thats pretty much everyone.)

The hungriest and thirstiest bros in Okayama.

The Karate bros.

The Takahashi bros.

The "How much fun can we have on Halloween" bros.

Since I am going to India tomorrow I tried to succinctly summarize lots of things, but there is simply no way for me to condense my experiences here in Japan into blog form. I would like to update this at least once in a while in India, but due to the nature of life there, I imagine once again I will be spending all my time doing awesome stuff rather than blogging about it. I have fashioned for myself a magical mystery tour for the next 3 months, a grand adventure of ludicrous proportions,  and a whole series of wonderful opportunities are laid out before me. I get to study Yoga at an ashram in Rishikesh.

A picture of the city and the valley.

It is apparently a beautiful city tucked along a river in the Indian state to Uttarakhand. It is in the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is vegetarian by law, and is one of the best places to practice yoga in the world. I am very fortunate to be able to go there.

The Ashram where I will be staying.

I get to go on towards Dehradun, to stay at Bija Vidyapeeth after that. Many thanks to Professor Mark Williams in the UK Sustainable Ag. program for putting this idea into my head!

It turns out one of my oldest friends in the world, Ayesha, will be in India at the same time. Serendipitously, we will have the chance to run around India raising hell together. I will get to visit her family, and we're gonna trek up to Dharamasala.

Also, I would be a fool not to go to the Taj Mahal. I've wanted to go there ever since I was little so you better believe I won't miss the opportunity

After all that I'll be back in Tokyo, visiting Noda city to train, and planning a North American invasion. Good times all around. I still have a few things to do to get ready to leave tomorrow, so I feel like a guy with lots of stories to tell and no time to tell them right now. Thank you for reading this far if you decided to check this out.

All in all, even after abandoning it for several months, I still feel like this blog could be pretty cool. Its just like everything else in life, you only get out what you put into it.

Couchsurfing in Okayama

Hello to everyone out there.

As you can probably tell from the frequency of my posts, I am the kind of guy who is more inclined to run around having as much fun as possible rather than sitting around all day blogging about it. That being said, I would have even more fodder for fantastic blogs were I to be visited by itinerant vagabond couch surfers. Couchsurfing.org is essentially a hospitality network. People extend certain courtesies to travelers, in exchange they get the opportunity to hang out, share travel stories, and show someone around their neck of the woods. It is a completely awesome concept, and works out better than you could hope by facilitating the itinerant vagabonding by linking like-minded folks together. You can use it to find impromptu tour guides that will give you some real local flavor, not just find couches to crash on, so in that way it is a wonderful travel tool. Yes, you could be that guy on the couch!

Only problem is I have no street cred with the couch surfing community. My part of Okayama-ken might not get that many visitors, but surely some folks are passing through here. If I have ever crashed on your couch, or you have ever crashed on mine, or we have ever traveled anywhere with calamity and hilarity ensuing go on my couch surfing profile and give me the props I so richly deserve.

Just don't be disappointed if its a futon instead of a couch.

Baddest Motherfuckers in the History of Japan Vol. II - Mas Oyama

Back due to popular acclaim, here is another installment in the Baddest Motherfucker series. If Mas Oyama was still around and knew I hadn't started with him he could break me in half like you do your two chopsticks before digging into a plate of gyoza. Of course he's enough of a badass he wouldn't care either way, would  continue training hard,  and go about his business of emasculating live bulls of their horns. More on that later.

His full name is 大山倍達 (Ooyama Masutatsu)  which could mean many things, but I like to translate it as Great Mountain Two-fold Master. Thats one hell of a name, and very fitting for this man who did a great deal of training up in the mountains. He was born in 1923 in Korea with a Korean name I can't hope to translate, and later chose to live in Japan, becoming a citizen in 1964. He trained in Karate in Japan under Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate, as well and Judo and boxing, but it was Karate that he devoted his training to.


As with any badass, the tales of his exploits have grown with time, and its tough to tell legend from truth, mystique and myth from historical fact. Either way it is not doubted that he trained himself to a brutally high level of skill in the martial arts. He did it in the old school Japanese fashion; He went up into the mountains and trained in nature. He went to Mt. Minobu, a site famed for being the location where our previous badass, Miyamoto Musashi, developed his style of two sword fighting. What do you do when you live on a mountain and train Karate all day? You meditate, punch and kick the crap out of rocks and trees, get all hardcore under flowing waterfalls, and work on your conditioning. He decided to do this for 3 years, and become the most powerful Karateka in Japan.

He wound up coming down from the mountain top after 12 months. He wasn't pleased with this, but his training sponsor wasn't able to support him any longer. He came down from the mountain and proceeded to win the Karate tournament in the Japanese National Martial Arts Championship competition because he was an unstoppable beast. After this he returned to the mountaintops for 18 more months of hardcore badassery, in order to make good on his original plan to train in nature for 3 years. More conditioning, more zazen, and more technical practice on the mountain top.


His skill as so great he eventually earned the nickname "Godhand" because of the sheer brutality of his striking. After he returned to society he started demonstrating his Karate in 1950, eventually opening his own dojo in 1953. In 1952 he traveled all across the U.S. for a year accepting all challengers, and beating the tar out of 270 dudes that thought they could take him. He also demonstrated his skill by wrasslin bulls. By wrasslin I mean punching the crap out of them. His shuto is known to have shorn off many a bulls horn, and he is even said to have punched 3 bulls in the head so hard they died outright from the impact. Feats of this sort earned him the nickname Godhand.

At the Oyama dojo Kyukishin ryu evolved through a process of ji-sen kumite. Basically, full contact fighting. People from many styles came to train there because of the nature of the sparring, and it is said they would incorporate any techniques that they saw value in for real situations. They trained hard, and they were hardasses because of it. Kyokushin is one of the largest karate organizations in the world, and they carry on Oyama's tradition of full contact sparring, though they have rules in place for safety these days. He did a great deal for spreading Karate around the world, and demonstrated the vast potential of a human being with great discipline.


The man earned the name Godhand, and that is why he is one of the baddest motherfuckers in the history of Japan.

Bamboo Groves Abound

In the bamboo groves there is a unique quality of light, and a different sound to the wind. A stand of bamboo that has been growing for a long time is a special place to be. It grows densely, tall and straight. The density belies a spacious and open quality to the grove that is quite welcoming; there is room for the breeze to blow through yet there is still shade to cool the air.

For centuries in Japan artisans and crafts people have used this resource to its fullest potential. It is elegantly used in traditional architecture, though now it is used more in a decorative design fashion. Traditional musical instruments like the Shakuhachi, tea ceremony regalia, baskets, fencing were made from bamboo, and it is frequently used as a barrier in landscape design and gardening. It is the crucial component of Kendo swords, and is a frequent motif in traditional Japanese brush painting.

In Japanese martial culture the bamboo is a potent metaphor for the human spirit. It embodies, and possesses the characteristics, of a certain type of strength of character. When the Taifun comes, the great winds, houses are destroyed, trees are uprooted, but the bamboo only bends and does not break. It can appear delicate, but in its flexibility lies its strength and ability to endure and persist. A strong man is the same way. Through tough times and through hardship a man may have to adapt and flex, but he must never break, and always remain rooted in his essence and sense of self.

Walk this path in the Okayama mountains if you want a sublime journey.

It is advisable in your meditation practice to create an environment that is favorable to mindfulness. In the Japanese martial arts your kamae are some of the first and most basic things you learn. At first they are physical positions, but as you familiarize yourself with the kamae and their uses the concept comes to include your mental posture, your spirit, and attitude. Being mindful of these aspects integrating with the physicality of the kamae is the difference between standing in kamae and being in kamae. I find the bamboo groves conducive to mindfulness. You should practice when you feel inspired, and in a place that feels uplifting and sacred. Use the qualities of the space to demonstrate the qualities of character you are cultivating. Be spacious and open, be cool in the shade, and let your thoughts pass through you like the breeze through the grove. Feeling these qualities is the difference between sitting in the bamboo grove, and being amongst the bamboo.

If you find the right piece of bamboo, you have the world's greatest walking stick. The dragonflies will congregate to congratulate you on your luck.

What does it take to become a Renaissance Man these days?

This is a question I wind up asking myself quite frequently. Its clearly a process, and one with no end in sight. It shuns specialization for diversity of knowledge. The broader your knowledge base becomes, the more multifarious and divergent your future paths of inquiry can be. Specializing means your growth and knowledge are continuing down a certain route, to a fixed point. A mental model for this could be a pyramid, the more it grows, the more finite the space it occupies. For a Renaissance Man knowledge grows, terracing up and out, shooting new roots down and repeating the process until your capacity takes a form resembling the Banyan Tree.

The Bohdi Tree, under which Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment, was a Banyan tree.

As it grows more space in enveloped in its shade, its relationships with its surroundings become more multitudinous, and the sundry possibilities are many. Generalizing in terms of mental models of personal growth only has value in the context of a discussion, and everyone is going to do what they think is best at any given moment. It is, however, worth thinking about. Robert Heinlein, a science fiction writer and commentator on social themes, put it better than I ever could.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
-Robert A. Heinlein


Theres truth in those words, if ever I heard it it uttered. We should all follow the advice of Wu-tang Financial, and diversify our bonds! Keep some projects and curiosities cooking on the back burner while you concentrate on what is right in front of you. Develop yourself physically, socially, artistically, spiritually. Decide for yourself what knowledge is most important, and most worthwhile, and pursue it. Follow the tangents, enjoy your hobbies, and consult the expertise of those that have gone before you. Satisfy your curiosities.


Thats what I've been trying so far. We'll see how it all shapes up. What do you all think? What does it take to become a Renaissance Man these days?

Climbing Hard in Okayama - Yosedake, Kawakami-cho

For those of you who didn't know, I like climbing. There is nothing better for pure enjoyment and challenge, and its very worthwhile way to spend a beautiful late summer afternoon. It appears to be a global truism that the folks you meet climbing are some of the most interesting, capable, good-hearted people you will meet anywhere. They tend to have a healthy amount of guts, an appreciation of nature, and a sense of adventure. Thusly did I meet a couple badass guys who love to climb, Tetsuya-san and Shuji-san, who are both familiar with the lay of the land. They helped me to realize that my neck of the woods here in Takahashi is primetime for quality crag.

So we tore up some routes with the simple names like Overhang Easement, Easy Face, and the Dongo. These pictures are from the 5.10 Easy Face, which we dubbed the Ironic Face because we found it to have a good bit of challenge. I intend to take the liberty of giving these routes English names, because in America the route names tend to be a bit more creative. The Kawakami-cho area of Takahashi, and this is practically my backyard,  is replete with some of the best single pitch climbing I've encountered and according to this website and map there is plenty more all over the place. As you can see I have quite a bit of exploration to do. Allow me to explain why climbing is so much fun.

For one thing, its risky. Anytime you go out to the crag you are potentially risking your health, even your life. Safety is paramount when you climb and you take the precautions you can. Even so, gear can break, belay accidents can occur, climbers fall, wind or lightning can come from no where, and the rock itself can break and sabotage your climb. If you pay attention and take the necessary precautions you are generally alright, but a certain risk in inherent. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. Since you decide to venture, you stand to gain.

You use your hands, your feet, your wits, and your willpower to vertically navigate some of nature's most beautiful handiwork. It takes equal measures of technical skill, nerve, and guts. You invariably face the natural human fears of falling, or heights, and overcome them. You defy gravity, and affirm your physical and mental health. There is always more, and you can always push yourself further, and climb something harder. Your only limits are those you place on yourself.

Climbing has innate value in and of itself as a recreational, enjoyable activity. Additionally, it has value as a life metaphor and can teach you more broadly applicable lessons as well. You know your goal. When you scope a route you know where you want to go, but its not clear exactly how you get there. You formulate a basic plan from the ground, deciding how to ascend, what might be a good area to take a short rest and a chalk up, and how to navigate your way up the rock face. As you get closer to your goal there are nuances of the the vertical landscape that make themselves apparent. Things you could not possibly notice until you were right on top of them. Plans change when you get better information. Things you counted on, literally, turn to dust in the palm of your hand. You continue your flow, adapt, keep moving forward, and always have to do what seems best at the time. There is a time for patience, and a time for decisive, explosive action. You need to be able to do both, and have the sensitivity to know when the time is right for either.

I like metaphors just as much as I like climbing

Before long you get where your going. You look back, and see that you have come a long way, and you are able to view things from a new, elevated perspective. If you ever decide to take that route again you have valuable foreknowledge. You can advise others on what they might encounter at certain points in their ascent. You've developed by going through with the process.

All the philosophical metaphors be damned, climbing is just plain fun.

Baddest Motherfuckers in the History of Japan Vol. I - Miyamoto Musashi

This is the first installment in what will become a series of posts chronicling the baddest motherfuckers in the history of Japan. It may be a little cliche to start with Musashi, but if you don't know about this man you should.

Miyamoto Musashi is arguably one of the baddest, sword swinginest motherfuckers in the history of time.

Art by Phuong Possible

He was born and raised in an area of Okayama-ken not far from where I am living, in the Mimasaka area. Expect an update to this post after I travel to the Musashi museum in the village of Ohara. He was trained by his father, Shinmen Munisai, in the art of the sword and jutte from a young age. It is said that at that time the jutte was effectively used in concert with the katana; the jutte could be used to neutralize an opponents weapon while the katana would strike the killing blow. No doubt this way of combat informed the fighting style of his school Ni Ten Ichi Ryu which is still practiced today, and is characterized by the two sword fighting style Musashi mastered and passed on.

He fought, and won, his first duel at the age of 13 and after that it was on. No one could stop him. He talks about his first duel in his treatise on martial, the Go Rin No Sho, or Book of Five Rings. (I recommend the translation by William Scott Wilson) Arima Kihei, an exponent of Shinto-ryu kenjutsu, was travelling and fighting to hone his skill, and posted a public challenge. When the duel was scheduled Musashi showed up with a bo staff, knocked him down, and beat his ass with great severity.

Musashi left his home 3 years later and proceeded to continue dueling, as well as fighting in major battlefield engagements. He fought on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, a turning point in the campaign that would establish the Tokugawa Shogunate. After surviving the battle he sets off on a vagabond style quest to develop his swordmanship with no teacher and no master. He did enjoy the patronage of daimyo later in his life after he was well established as a travelling itinerant badass, and this patronage afforded him the opportunity to learn the ways of other art forms. Hagakure nut-huggers should take note that the baddest samurai  forgoes conventionality in every way. (the Hagakure bandwagon will be the subject of a future, derisive post)


"Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom."  - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

I haven't mentioned that many of his over 60 documented duels were won with wooden bokken against opponents with live blade, kusari-gama, yari, and rokushakubo.

He proceeds to Kyoto, and singlehandedly decimates the Yoshioka school of fencing. A common theme in his martial art is finding a way to imbalance his opponent mentally, surprising them, and doing something highly unexpected. He arrives late to his first three duels with the top swordsmen of the Yoskioka school. They are seriously pissed, feel dishonored, and this means their technique is not on point. Musashi beats them all using his bokken. By the time the fourth brother gets a crack at Musashi the Yoshioka's have planned an ambush. However this time Musashi shows up early, hides in some bushes, and ambushes their sorry asses while they are all standing around waiting for him to show up late. That's how its done.

"Under the sword lifted high, There is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, And you have the land of bliss." - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Daruma painting by Musashi

剣聖 - Kensei

Musashi epitomizes the term Kensei, which means "sword saint". A Kensei surpasses the skill of their contemporaries and the word has connotations that go beyond technical skill to the realm of artistry. Musashi said that to truly know the nature of one Way is to know them all. His lasting fame into modern times has a great deal to do with his exploits with the sword, but can be credited in equal measure to his acumen as a strategic thinker, his painting, calligraphy, and sculpture. The Book of Five Rings is regarded as a strategic masterpiece read by politicians and businessmen as well as martial artists, and his art work is exhibited in the finest museums. His Way took him down the path of the swordsman, but his artistry was so great that he transcended his art form. That is why Miyamoto Musashi is one of the baddest motherfuckers in the history of Japan.

"The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things." - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings