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.