I’ve added some real depth to my micro man cave this past year. Two massive Nanoblock projects in particular really tied the shelf together: the T-Rex and Human Body skeletons! I’ve pretty much taken over all my wife’s space on this shelf, so my micro-man cave has kind of hit maximum threshold. Thank goodness Sapporo […]
This might hit some of you pretty hard, but it’s time I give some of you the lowdown on living in Japan as an English language teacher and how that relates to maintaining financial security. These words might hold true for most types of expats in Japan, but especially for those navigating the unlucrative ESL […]
When I need a creative jump start I always turn my trusty friend Nanoblock. Even though it isn’t creative in an end of itself, the act of “doing” brings other creative endevours to the surface. And Nanoblocks, with their hundreds of tiny frustrating pieces, all seperated haphazardly into small plastic bags, makes for the perfect […]
Each evening I walk the dog around 9 o’clock. It’s a bitterly cold walk in the winter. There are few interesting sites to see along the way. But recently this phone booth caught my eye. I love how the snow cocoons itself around the glass. Sometimes, if the snow has recently fallen, the door is […]
It’s that time of year here in Sapporo, where the snow just keeps on coming, homes are cleaned, and KFC pre-orders are made (oh, we’ll get to that). But for my mother and father-in-law it means mahjong. More accurately, 3 days of Japanese riichi mahjong that suck every brain cell from my head and leaves […]
When one of the most intense snowstorms in the last 50 years finally cleared out, I was itching to get back on trail. But I worried that 80+ centimeters of the unpacked goodstuff might make the going a bit rough. Just getting up onto the traihead to Asahiyama was gonna be a chore, but with […]
I love Hokkaido’s winter. When I strap on my Tubbs Wilderness snowshoes I feel a true sense of relief, like their 180 degree rotation bindings should be part of my natural gait. In fact, when I am not wearing them I feel downright naked, and slightly depressed. So I try to hit the snowshoeing trail […]
When 48 hours of near continuous snowfall dumped on Sapporo this past weekend, I had one thought on my mind – laying the first tracks in the 3-4 feet of unpacked powder. Even as I shoveled snow for nearly 5 total hours, I mentally planned my routes for the snowshoeing season that was suddenly upon […]
Halloween takes on a rather morphed representation here in Japan. It seems to be generally restricted to kindergarten parties and early 20’s costume clubbing. Aside from completely missing the elementary school-aged demographic, Japan’s patisseries often sell a variety of halloween themed cakes for the enjoyment of the random Halloween loving customer. Candy and chocolate isn’t […]
Every year around this time I go Animal House crazy and order a single beer at the Sapporo Beer Garden in Odori Park. And for the third year in a row that beer has been the Kirin Ichiban Shibori “Frozen” draft. This year I opted for the stout version. I am not privy to the […]