The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?

Today felt a lot different than yesterday did.  I awoke this morning and felt lighter, alive, and full of purpose.  Clouds that had been hanging over my head for over a year had finally dissipated to reveal a bright blue sky (or rather gray but with a nice warm breeze).  What could have happened to [...]

Bringing it to a new level...

My legs stretched out in front of me, at least as far as they could in the cramped space of a JR train.  A long day of wandering around Wakayama city had had left me pretty tuckered out and in order to balance the scales I had treated myself to a nice long soak in [...]

Blessed silence: a story of no tourists

‘Amanokuchi-whatsa,’ the word stumbled out of my mouth like a handful of scrabble letters. ‘What the heck is that?’ ‘Kochidaniamadaji. It’s a temple up in the mountains past Sanzenin. Trust me Mike, you gotta go there,’ Joe assured me. I looked at him a bit incredulously, ‘Go there? How [...]

Fire and water

‘What kind of camera do you have again?’ Tom asked giving me a hand up.  ‘A digital Rebel XT, why?’  ‘Well, the body isn’t water sealed but you should be okay, probably.  Just give it a few days to dry out.’  Everyone around was staring and those closest to us were asking, daijoubu (are you [...]