This past year I explored the trails and waters around Heiwa Waterfall quite a lot. I took the trail up the backside of Mt. Teine in early summer and caught iwana (Arctic Char) above the waterfall on both bait (salmon eggs) and hand tied tenkara flies. I even did some low-level stream climbing (sawanobori) to […]
Every day on my morning walk I pass the Nakamura General Store (中村商店), or shouten as they say in the common parlance. It primarily sells Japanese sake and other alcohol. Somehow they are hanging in there, even with a massive Sapporo Drug Store right on its doorstep across the street. Less and less of these […]
Christmas and the New Year often bring with it an assortment of paper/wood models that I can’t wait to get started on. Japan has been really upping its game in this field in the last decade so I am always excited when a different brand I haven’t heard of before catches my eye. Ki-Gu-Mi has […]
Some decent snowfall overnight brought levels up for some decent snowshoeing in and around the city. We took a drive out to Nopporo Forest Park, near Ebetsu, to explore its trails. Although most of the trails are groomed, there are a lot of open spaces for some great snowshoeing. We started at the visitor/nature center […]
Japan’s postal system really does a crack up job. Some of that comes down to geography, some of it comes down to history. Japan closed itself off for several hundred years prior to the 20th century. It had a lot of “me” time to focus on its overland highway system, getting messages from one village […]
No major snowfall yet here in Sapporo. It’s that time of the year when we all just wait. I’m expecting a big snow dump this year. We’ve had some relatively mild winters the last few years, and one would think that we are due. Get ready for longer walks to work. Hours of shoveling at […]
I quit the news. It’s been a struggle, but for the last month leading up to the U.S. election I managed to pretty much eliminate it from my life. Of course it seeps in at times. I stamp it out like a grease fire in the kitchen. It tries so hard to tell me things. […]
How to cope with a robot co-worker? Each day I come to work and have to deal with a man who refuses to speak like a human. I just want normal. A normal, simple, English speaker. Not a simple person. I don’t want anyone to be simple. I am just asking for clarity. For example. […]
We still managed to get out there and do some camping this summer, despite COVID running roughshod over many cities on Honshu. Not gonna lie, it is worrying. But up here in Hokkaido life goes on, and so do our yearly trips south of Obihiro to Snow Peak’s Tokachi Poroshiri campground. This year’s trip did […]
Sometimes you just have to go there… It’s been a hit and miss year for my zentangle skills. Been kind been caught in a pattern loop. Sometimes interesting things emerge, like this one.