Rafting in Gifu

Sunday I went rafting in Gifu Prefecture on the Nagara River with a group of friends from Tokyo and Tahara. I knew it would be an exciting day on the river, but I had no idea how truly memorable it would turn out.

My good friend from Tokyo Mark Hallberg and his two twelve year old twin sons Ethan and Kai came to visit me in Heiwa-cho Saturday night. We stayed up late playing Yahtzee, watching School of Rock, and eating enough potato chips to totally disregard diner.


Mark with sons Kai and Ethan

We woke up early to an overcast but bright morning and drove about two hours north into Gifu Prefecture to meet our friends Jason and Haruka from Tahara at a rest area off the highway. They were traveling with friends Yama-chan and Naomi, a couple from Tokyo.


Jason gearing up

At the rest area we also met up with our rafting guide Christian Neesham. Christian and I work for the same English teaching company, and he recently started his own outdoors business called Adventure Spirit to supplement his income and have lots of fun on weekends.


Christian getting organized

I usually give Christian a hard time. He claims to be from Melbourne, Australia, but I think he's really a space invader from Planet Macheesemo. He wears a diamond studded earring, a magical crystal necklace, and always talks about things that sound ridiculous to me; like claiming to be the undisputed King of Playboys in Japan. Basically, I don't understand him, but his efforts on Sunday deserve credit, gratitude, and newfound respect.

Not only did he successfully guide us straight through the guts of every rapid on our 20km trip (occasionally showing off with 360 degree spins and once we even popped a wheelie with the raft!), but also most importantly he headed up an emergency river rescue effort.

As we came through the last and roughest rapids of the day, we spotted a young Japanese guy named Hide (his name was taped across his helmet) clinging to a mid-sized rock in the middle of the rushing river. Christian masterfully maneuvered our raft in behind Hide and jumped out to discover the problem.

Hide was on a professionally guided tour, but he'd been tossed from his raft and suffered a compound fracture just above his right ankle. His foot was flapping in the strong current as he yelled in pain and hung onto the rock for dear life.

Christian and Jason tried to comfort him as the rest of our crew searched through Christian's first aid kit for an inflatable air cast. Once the air cast was in place Hide calmed down a little.

Yama-chan and I were able to pull our raft into the rushing current using bow and stern lines around the rock and stabilize it. Then, Christian and I lifted Hide onto our shoulders and into the boat while Jason braced the air cast as best he could.

We paddled down stream a bit where an entourage of waiting paramedics, police, and Hide's previous rafting guides met us. He was immediately placed on a stretcher, carried up the sandy riverbank to an ambulance, and taken to the nearest hospital, I presume.


Rescue Rafting Crew

Our crew was pretty shaken up after all that, so we went to a nearby onsen (hot spring) to relax in a hot bath and reflect on our fine teamwork and the possible outcomes had we not been there to help Hide.

What a day!

Online Again

My Internet connection got reestablished yesterday afternoon. Finally.

Yahoo BroadBand's customer service is notoriously difficult, so I enlisted the aid of my sweet Japanese Grandmother to help me uncover the problem. She speaks absolutely no English and probably doesn't know anything about the Internet, but she very kindly jotted down a few notes from my broken Japanese and immediately got on the phone to Yahoo.

It took about a week and a half, multiple calls to several different numbers, and God only knows how many frustrating minutes wasted sitting on hold, but it turned out I was cut off for not paying my bill.

This is funny because after about a year and a half of using Yahoo BB I've never even received a bill! I just never contacted them about the lack of payment because I hoped it could go unnoticed, but somehow they found me.

Last Wednesday Yahoo issued my first bill for a grand total of about 150 dollars which I promptly paid at a nearby convenience store. They only billed me for the past five months, so I didn't argue.

Anyway, things are good again. For now.

Technical Difficulties

Wednesday night Yahoo BB, my Internet Service Provider, decided to terminate my service for reasons unknown to me and without proper notification, so I'm typing this post at one of my elementary schools.

I'm desperately trying to get my internet service reestablished, but I have no idea how long it will take. Hopefully not too long, but situations like this in Japan tend to take longer than expected.

This weekend I'm going to Tahara-shi, located about 75mins SE of Nagoya on the Pacific Ocean, to try my hand at surfing and to visit my friend Jason Oatis and his wife Haruka.

Sunday morning the three of us will drive to Shizuoka Prefecture to attend the World Peace and Prayer Day being hosted by a group of Native American Indians. It should be an interesting gathering with onsite camping at the base of Mt. Fuji.

We will return home late Tuesday afternoon, so hopefully I can get the ball rolling on my internet service today before I leave and come home to post some pictures from the event.

Thank God it's Friday!!

FaithfulAmerica.org - Torture in Iraq - Let's Put an Ad on Arab Television

FaithfulAmerica.org - Torture in Iraq - Let's Put an Ad on Arab Television

This is an advertisement to let the people of the world know Americans are truly sorry for our 'abhorrent' behavior in Iraqi prisons.

If you want to apologize and try to mend the growing animosity towards Americans in the Middle East and the rest of the world, this is a good opportunity.

Please endorse this ad.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush foreign policy under attack

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush foreign policy under attack

Yokaichi Summer Music Festival

Sunday was an absolute post card perfect sunny day, so I drove back down to Yokaichi to help some friends with preparations for the Yokaichi Summer Music Festival which kicks off August 13th.

I arrived in Yokaichi about 2pm and met Richard Jordan, one of the festival's main promoters and an avowed British hooligan, at a McDonald's near the highway. He was treating his two young children to French fries and hamburgers, so it was an easy place to meet.


Richard Jordan- British hooligan, music promoter, father

After lunch, I followed Richard's dust trail down narrow side streets and a dirt road to the festival site. It's located on a nice, grassy campground with a few scattered shacks and sheds covered in stylish graffiti and surrounded by a considerable amount of tress, but there was a nearby noisy highway that was a little obtrusive.

I spent most of the afternoon talking with Richard about my Japanese music website idea, drinking beer, throwing a frisbee, and providing moral support to all the hard working helpers building the foundation to the stage. I did offer a hand occasionally.


HeyHey's Helping Hand

Richard was not much better, but he had a good excuse. He was babysitting his children, and his adorable son Kai needed a lot of attention. Kai's about two years old, so anytime someone picked up a hammer or cranked up a noisy scooter to go four wheeling around the campground, Kai would cower to daddy for safety.


Kai striking a pose.

By about 5pm, the foundation of the stage finally started to take shape. There were a few mishaps along the way with the number of supports needed and getting everything spaced properly because no one knew exactly what they were doing. It was a group of various craftsmen including painters, plumbers, and construction workers, but stage design was new to everyone. Eventually we got it all sorted and leveled.


Yamagato testing his balance and checking if it's really level.

The balancing act looked so much fun we all decided to give it a try. It's much harder than it looks if you've been drinking beer, so I accidentally discovered it's more fun to trot from beam to beam in an improvisational way to avoid falling.


Everybody joining the fun.

The Yokaichi crew will continue working on the stage and other preparations every Sunday until the second week of August. Unfortunately I will not be in Japan to attend the festival and reap the fruits of their labor (or lack there of), but hopefully I will make back down at least one more time to goof off.

BBQ Party in Inuyama

Me and Bradley Rowlinson.

Bradley's an Ozzie mate from the Gold Coast that came to Japan to work for CBS as a translator during the '98 Nagano Winter Olympics. He often tells an entertaining story about being selected to drive a Martha Stewart around Nagano for a night. Being an Australian, he had no idea who she was, so he just started chatting to her about life in general. That's Bradley in a nutshell.

Saturday late afternoon Bradley, a Hawaiian friend named Jorma, and I had a BBQ in a luscious green park by the Kiso River in Gifu Prefecture near Inuyama Castle. Jorma is our self proclaimed BBQ King because he knows where all the discount meat shops are and to be quite honest the guy can cook and eat more than anyone I've ever seen.


Jorma and his wife Yuko

We sat around drinking beer with music pumping out of the back of Jorma's nearby parked hatchback eating steak, sausages, and cow tongue (a Japanese delicacy) until well into the night. Jorma manned the grill so there was a constant flow of food for at least four hours with occasional short breaks to admire lightning bugs or go throw a flimsy glow in the dark frisbee.

The weather cooperated by slowly clearing up as the day went on, and finally we were graced with a beautiful multicolored sunset through the mountains. It was a pretty nice and very filling day.


Sunset in Inuyama

Ken's Goodbye Party

This past week was a rough one. We lost Ronald Reagan and Ray Charles; Donald Duck turned 70 and he's still not wearing any pants; and Ken, another American, decided to move back home to Chicago.

Ken lived in Mie Prefecture in the city of Yokaichi. Its located SW of Nagoya about 45mins by car. He was a public school English teacher by day and played bass in a Japanese funk band by night, but after four years here he decided to pack it in.

His band played a goodbye party for him Friday night in Yokaichi at a live house called 'Rock On'. It was a strange venue that seemed slightly out of place. It was located back up off a country road at the end of a very narrow parking lot that also served a Ramen shop and a Yakitori restaurant.

Inside the place looked like a converted ice cream parlor. It was more suited for tables and chairs rather than a live band, but there was ragtag, gray carpet tacked up on all the walls to muffle the sound. Also, there was a waist high barrier that cut diagonal across the room with pillars that blocked most people's view of the band.

However, none of this seemed to bother the band from having a good time. The lead singer was a very spastic and obnoxious Japanese guy that reminded me of Cheech from the final scene of "Up in Smoke." He performed every stage antic imaginable, but went just shy of wearing a pink tutu and diving into the drum set. His redeeming factor was inviting girls from the audience on stage to dance and shake tambourines to give Ken a good send off.

I did not know Ken very well, but I wish him the best of luck.

He will be missed.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Lasting influence of legend Charles

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Lasting influence of legend Charles

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | R&B music legend Ray Charles dies

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | R&B music legend Ray Charles dies

Acid Mothers Temple in America!

The Acid Mothers Temple is a local Nagoya group. They are currently on tour in America and heading to the South East.

If you have an open mind and some spare time, please check these guys out. They are the real deal.

No words can describe the psychedelic sonic explosion they unleash. It just needs to be experienced.

I dare you!

Japanese Music Archive Idea

This weblog is my first attempt at any kind of HTML, but it has sparked some creativity with me, and today for the first time in a long time I had the beginnings of an idea form somewhere in the confines of my convoluted brain. I'm not sure this idea will hold water, so I'd really appreciate some feedback from people on this.

Since coming to Japan, I've been very fortunate to meet a wide range of people all over the country. Some of my best friends here are musicians, and I've often wanted to share some of their music as well as other music I've been introduced to here with the rest of the world.

For years now I've been downloading music from various sites on the internet. I've used FTP software, bit torrent, FLAC, mp3, and SHN. I'm no pro with any of this stuff, but I feel comfortable using it, and I have a good idea about what's user friendly.

Now hypothetically speaking, what if there were a Japanese Music Archive where anyone could access and download music from Japan. Maybe it'd be local Japanese rock bands, avant-garde noise, DJs spinning, or maybe it'd be foreign bands playing small clubs here.

Would you find this interesting? Would you download something you're not familiar with and check it out?

Right now this is just a daydream. I have no idea what it would take to host such a sight, the costs, or even the equipment needed, but it's something I want to explore because I see the potential for something really cool and useful for all my friends.

Here's to dreaming.

Rest in peace Ronnie...

Jelly Belly portrait of Ronald Reagan

"You can tell a lot about a fellow by his way of eating jelly beans." -- Ronald Reagan

Happy HumpDay

I had to try this out.

Twins

Not much happening this week around here, so I figured I'd post an old photo for the fun of it.

This is me and Will Green, another ATLien, last October out front of our favorite bar, properly titled Heaven's Door.

We spotted the Sumo wrestlers walking down the street, and the opportunity for a photo was too overwhelming. Afterwards, Will convinced them to come have a beer with us.

What kills me about this photo is that my gut rivals the guy next to me. It looks like I could give him a go in the ring.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | G8 leaders gather for US summit

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | G8 leaders gather for US summit
Leaders from Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations are gathering in the US for their annual summit.

Kady Alexandra Herold... Complete stats are in..

Cousin TayTay with baby Cousin Kady

Kady Alexandra Herold was born Friday June 4th at 1:04pm.

She weighed in at 8lbs 12 oz and 22 inches long.

She looks just like Seth.

Her big sister loves her very much, but wishes she could teach her how to sit up and play.

CNN.com - The triumph and tragedy of Marvin Gaye - Jun 8, 2004

CNN.com - The triumph and tragedy of Marvin Gaye - Jun 8, 2004
New biography explores singer's 'Art, Loves & Demons'

Melbourne may name road after AC/DC (June 8, 2004)

NEWS.com.au | City may name road after AC/DC (June 8, 2004)

Highway to Hell?

Goma da Didgeridoo

photo courtesy of daniel bowman simon

Sunday night I went to see Goma da Didgeridoo play a small club called Club Daughter in downtown Nagoya with my friend Miki.

I had seen Goma play solo/acoustic twice before, but this time he was augmented by a djambe, a full drum kit, and some dj computer effects, so it was incomparable.

The club was very small, low ceilings, narrow, no raised stage for the band, giant speaker stacks in all four corners jutting out obscuring walkways, and the place was absolutely overflowing with the most dreadlocks I've ever seen in Japan.

I'm talkin' loooong locks. One lanky, Indian looking guy, I swear to God, had locks down below his knees. It's not the kind of thing you see everyday living in timid Japan. Where these people come from and where they go is a mystery to me, but they come out of the woodwork for raves and concerts. The whole scene was incommodious.

Because there was no backstage area, the band had to navigate, equipment in hand, through the abominable crowd. Originating from the far back of the narrow club, they parted people like an entrance to a prizefight. A full entourage with Goma, a small pocket-sized Japanese guy with an enormous afro, bringing up the rear.

Once the jungle rhythm of the drums started, and Goma began blowing his didge, the entire atmosphere of the club altered. Everyone became transfixed on only the music because it was impossible to see the musicians.

The music was completely blustering and earth shaking. The reverberating didgeridoo was pumped at full volume through all four speaker stacks creating a three dimensional sound sphere that sent minds in distorted directions, while the bottomless bass of the drums and djambe shook the walls of the club and the riffraff's asses.

The band played for just under an hour, which was plenty. Heat and humidity set in after the first fifteen minutes turning the place into an honest to god concrete jungle.

My friend Miki and I went outside to escape the mugginess. With our minds and bodies rattled to the core, we decided it was time to go home. Back to Heiwa-cho for some peace and quiet.

Pot Belly Diner

Friday night I went to the Pot Belly Diner to meet some friends for a drink. This is a cozy little cafe/restaurant tucked away in a back ally of the Shin-sakae district in Nagoya.

It's run by a Japanese couple that define the word 'hippy'. Chan-san (pictured above talking on the phone) and Keiko-san (the lady standing in front of me) are two of the most genuinely kind people I've ever met, and the cafe is an extension of their altruism. It's dimly lit and decked out with antique tables and chairs, an entire wall is covered with framed Rockwell-esque pictures and Grateful Dead tour posters, and there's usually some Jerry Garcia Band bootleg playing softly on the stereo that makes time seem nonexistent. Not to mention they have two floppy eared, Bassett hounds that lounge around the foot of an actual pot belly stove during the winter, or sit next to you waiting for some love, attention, or food scraps.

The gathering Friday night was a kind of welcome home party for our friend Mina Ando. She's originally from Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture, but she's been living in New York for the past couple years with her boyfriend Mitch "Moose" Stein, the rhythm guitar player for the Steve Kimock Band.

Kimock and crew did a short Japanese tour the end of last month, so Mina and Mitch were sight seeing around Japan catching up with friends like us.

The funny thing about this picture is that Mina and Mitch, the guests of honor, are sitting down in the back with only the tops of their heads showing.

Kady Alexandra Herold... followup

Kady Alexandra Herold joined our family Friday June 4 around 1pm EST. My sources report she's a "load" weighing in at 8lbs 12oz.

My cousin, Mother Meigan, is said to be doing well, while Daddy Seth appears concerned over having too many girls in the house. 3 to 1 can be a tad intimidating.

We wish him the best of luck.

Comments: FAQ

It's come to my attention that some people want to post comments, but think they have to sign up for a blogger account. This is not the case.

You do not need a blogger account to post comments.

After clicking the "Comment" button, it will jump to another page so you can read the comment(s). Just click "Post a Comment".

It will take you to a sign up page. You don't have to sign up. Just click the small "Post Anonymous" link, type your message, and click "Publish Your Comment".

Any and all comments are appreciated, so I hope this helps.

Homer and Marge voted greatest fictional couple of all time

ThisisLondon

Homer and Marge beat out Romeo and Juliet as the greatest fictional couple of all time.

Exxxcellent...

News Flash...

I just got word my cousin Meigan delivered a baby girl Friday around 1pm EST.

Our family grows by one.

Story developing...

Party at Hey's House

This was Thanksgiving Dinner for many English teachers in this area. We are all estranged from our family and homes, so this was very gratifying.

The bald Japanese guy shooting a bird is my friend Fumio. He and his wife Toshiko are my guardian angels. Their hobby is helping all the foreigners in this area with the day to day problems one encounters living in Japan. I owe them more thanks and praise than I can possibly bestow.

The others in this motley crew come from all over the globe. We had representatives from Australia, Canada, America, UK, and Mexico. Not a bad turnout, eh.

MoveOn.org: Voter-Verified Paper Ballots

MoveOn.org: Voter-Verified Paper Ballots
Whether you agree or disagree with MoveOn's political agenda, I believe this petition is very important.

This is not about Democrats or Republicans. It's about ensuring our democracy which was founded on the basis of checks and balances.

Please sign this petition.

This is my house.

I moved here April of last year. It's a 90 year old house on stilts, so I pray for no earthquakes. So far, so good.

There's been a lot of rain recently and I've been a little sick, so the yard has become a bit over grown. You can't make out the flowers beds anymore, but you can see some veggies growing on the left.

I'm very lucky because most people in Japan, especially foreigners, live in cramped little one or two room apartments with paper thin walls. This house has two living rooms, a bedroom, a large kitchen, a laundry room, and I really do have some paper walls!

Over the past year, it's become a great place for my friends to come hang out. I've hosted a couple dinner parties, a few BBQ parties, and countless nights of nothing but beer, loud music, and movies.

I call it home.

And we will teach rock n' roll...

School Of Rock

This is the hands down funniest movie I've seen recently. Maybe it's because I try to act like a teacher, or maybe it's because Jack Black is absolutely hilarious, but if you haven't seen this movie yet you're really missing out. It's a gem.

World Peace & Prayer Day 2004 Japan - 6.21.2004 at Mt. Fuji

World Peace & Prayer Day 2004 Japan - 6.21.2004 at Mt. Fuji

This is an event I plan to attend in a few weeks. I really don't know very much about the event itself, but everyone I talk to about it seems very excited and tells me it's gonna be interesting.

We can all use a little Peace & Prayer these days.

Backtrack

So far I've just been playing with all the different features and trying to figure out how to use this blog. Most of the pictures I've posted are rather old and I'm tired of looking through all my old albums.

From now on, I wanna use this to create a kind of timeline for my life in Japan. Posting new pictures and short journal entries to track my whereabouts, feelings, and thoughts over the next few months.

Time will tell how this thing turns out.

These are some of my 2nd grade nose picking charges from Jyushiyama Seibu Elementary School.

This is one of my private classes. I've been teaching these kids every Thursday for the past couple years, so we decided to go to the zoo during spring break. The little girl on my shoulder is Reika. From right to left is Shun, Kanato, Tomohiro, and Yuya.

this is my friend Toku's parking place. looks normal, but it ain't. check this out.

cool, eh?

looks like a double decker, right?

this is japanese technology. that's my friend's car on the bottom.

picasa

i've been struggling with this picasa software all day. it keeps freezing my computer, but i just ran a full scan and defraged everything, so hopefully this will work out ok.

got my fingers crossed

Do you realize?

This is what the Flaming Lip's new Yoshimi 5.1 DVD does to my TV.

If you have a home theater setup, I highly reccomend this DVD. I believe it marks a new step forward in audio enjoyment.