Yes, I am a photo taking genius.
Well, no one told me, but apparently it’s Hiking Season here in Japan.
Their tend to be many opportunities to go out and see nature at various times throughout the year. For instance, you can see the Cherry Blossoms in April, and here in Chunan, the Sun Flowers in June. As Fall approaches Japan goes out to see kouyou, the fall foliage.
So in the past three days I have been hiking twice (turned one down) and have been invited to many more. My first hike was quite exciting.
I was invited to go with the Senior’s Club. So 18 older people and me climbed up a fairly steep mountain to the site of a castle that once existed in the area where we live (Fujime Castle). We sat on top, heard a lecture about the castle, sang town songs (!!??), drank wine and looked at the foliage. I also got to eat rice from chopsticks that I made out of a bamboo tree, and see the lone cherry blossom tree that is atop this mountain. The highlight however was when a balloon was strapped to my arm, I was given a rubber sword and told to beat the hell out of the old people. Apparently we were recreating the battles that were fought in this area. It was complete with coloured smoke bombs and old people.
My next hiking trip (Kiko was tired… boo…) was with a bunch of JET friends. We went to Kotonami, the neighbouring town where Nicole is the leader. She took us on a hike to see red and yellow colours. She built it up to be spectacular, but forgot to mention the hike was crazy long, hard, and all the trees were finished blooming (or whatever they do in fall. Turning?). (I’m just joking Nicole!) It was actually a lot of fun and very pretty. Here, see for yourself:
I should preface this by saying two things.
1) I will be updating the site a lot more (ie. every 2 or 3 days) so if you are bored and need something to look at, come visit. Besides, it’s about david and kiko. We’re super.
2) I just went and saw Howl’s Moving Castle, the latest release by famous anime director Hayao Miyazaki. He has also done: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and a number of other famous movies that have all won various awards. It was fantastic. When it comes out, take a look. Here is a picture below!
I never said I partook I was a big force in the beating-old-people portion of the days festivities though…
oh my god. i am illiterate baloons should read balloons…
why do you have baloons tied to your arm? were there any particularly annoying old people that you enjoyed beating especially hard?
How does one spell illiterate right and balloons wrong? Though i guess it comes from the same family that uses the word illterateness…..
That’s ok Tray… your illterateness is inline with the rest of the site
What the hell were you doing drinking wine??? Do you forget I have the direct line to hell, and might advise them of this!
That IS a fantastic picture.