Tag: winter hiking

Bluetooth Hat

Here in Japan, a good headphone system is a must in order to deflect yourself from xenophobic adolescents who like to interrupt your walk with shouts of “Hello!”, sometimes from across the street. These are not necessarily friendly attempts at communication. Most of the time they are trying to illicit a reaction so their friends […]

Crampon Winter Hiking

For the past three winters I’ve felt that the mountains of Hokkaido were a no-go. Snow and ice made impassible trails that were downright dangerous to even attempt. My wife was even under the misguided belief that the mountain trails were “closed”, i.e.  it was illegal to even go there. As preposterous as that sounds, […]