All right! Now that my website is back in working order, I can finally share my trip with you!! We had an awesome trip- we practiced a lot of flexibilty but now that we're back on the ground, I don't think either of us regret it. Day 1: We arrived at the Kamikochi Bus Terminal after an overnight trip from Shinjuku around 6:00 am. After pit stops to brush teeth, pee, and generally wake up, we searched for water, applied sunscreen, checked the map and headed for the trail. Both the beauty and the evil of the trail for Yarigatake (our first peak of trip as planned) is that for about 3/4 of the day you don't go up at all. It was quite unnerving to hit the first lodge after three hours of hiking and not have made any gains in elevation. The sky was blue and we were "enjoying" (while rolling our eyes) hiking with enough other hikers to make us feel like we were in a regular road race. The mob hike required a steady pace and the ability to pass on the right while remaining in control of a wide load (i.e. backpack filled with enough food & equipment for three days). My pack was heavier than I was used to, and when we hit lunch I was a hurting puppy. The bad news is that we still hadn't started going up! We feasted on tuna sandwiches at the Yarisawa Lodge, shifted weight around, and refreshed our water supply. As we headed out, we got a peak at the top of Yari through a telescope set up near the Lodge... that's how far it still was (...we'd already been hiking for 6 hours remember).

A bit further up the trail we paused our pace for a breather and then we really had to dig in and start heading UP. This section required a lot more breaks and a lot more trail mix. We ran into a threesome of JETs from Wakayama (2 Americans and a Canadian) and continued to play tag up the mountian. After another couple of hours we finally round the corner and saw the peak. It was WAY above our heads still, but just being able to see it was a relief. Now there was a goal, at least. There was also a bit less oxygen... and we'd been hiking for 9 hours with heavy, heavy packs. I started to seriously doubt my interest in continuing on the rest of our trip. After another 30 minutes I seriously doubted whether I could make it to the top. Another 10 slogging steps and a breather. I told Tom that this was The Worst Thing I'd Ever Done. I didn't have the energy to explain that I meant worst physically.. not worst EVER. But it was B-A-D. I started getting a lump in my throat trying not to cry. I was out of water, too tired to stop for food, and getting increasingly more annoyed by the spray painted numbers showing the remaining meters left to the lodge. I'm sure they were intended as encouraging, but everytime I thought I'd made progress I'd see another painted rock "500 more $#@$ing meters!". URGH.

We reached the lodge at 4:30 PM and as quickly as we could get our aching bodies inside, paid for the tentsite. We followed the trail along the ridge and over some outcroppings to the tent area- more spray painted rocks indicating the tiny spaces for each tent. When we found ours, we stared in disbelief. It was smaller than my bathroom and more triangle then square. I did an about face and headed back to the lodge while Tom dumped our stuff in a larger square. The tent man was nice enough to upgrade us to a larger site, though Tom had already set up so we had to chance picking up the tent to move it.. risking it being sucked up into the strong mountain winds. Safely set up with rocks on the corners and packs inside to keep the tent from blowing, we headed back up past the lodge to the peak. Yeah... we weren't done yet. Somewhat encouraged by the lighter load (I took nothing but my hat, gloves, and jacket... Tom had a camera, those shots later), we hurried to the peak. The top of Yarigatake is famously steep, sometimes refered to as Japan's Materhorn. I'd worried a bit about this final section of the "trail", but after all the straight, hard slogging of the day the scramble up the chains, boulders and ladders of the peak was quite fun. And then there we were: at The Top. It was sunset and there was a small group of Brits enjoying the top with us, but the only thing I really noticed was that we were Finally Done. I smiled pretty for the camera, shared some jokes with the others and then headed for the ladders... to go down!! Back in the lodge, Tom and I shared a very well deserved $10 mug of draft beer (delivered to the top via helicopter no doubt). Exhaustion set in and we both inched closer and closer to giving up the next day's trek. And then... there it was. We both wanted to go back down. Sigh. Relief. The facts on the table included: we were tired and hurting after 10 hours plus of hiking, the hut had no drinking water except in $2 500 ml bottles that we'd then have to carry, there was a typhoon heading towards Japan, the next two days of hiking would be as tough or tougher than what we'd just done. Screw it, we said, and headed to the tent for curry dinner. I was out cold before Tom finished getting in his sleeping bag.


Day 2: We slept in (well, 7:00 anyhow) and woke up to crystal clear skies and amazing, thanksgiving inspiring views. So much for the typhoon! We took our time with breakfast and packing. The Tom decided to climb the peak again. (expand the peak pic. and look for the little man in yellow) I happily volunteered to be photographer, tea drinker, and sit-on-my-ass-while-you go-right-ahead-er. And was just fine with that.

Then we headed down. And down, and down, and down. Even though we knew distinctly how long the trip up had been, we were shocked again at how long it took us to get down. The trail back to Kamikochi was a full 17k (or 22k depending on which sign you looked at). We were headed for Yoko sanso again, and it took most of the day to get there; 9:30am to 4:30pm. We'd given ourselves a relaxing morning but were still somewhat taken aback by the hikers arriving at the peak by 9:00am, already finished hiking for the day. There's definitely a different time schedule up there in the mountains. One guy was already pulling up his beer! The hike down, though long, was uneventful. Before we stopped for lunch, the clouds rolled in and we bid the peak farewell. We set up our tent back down along the river near Yoko sanso (where we'd stopped first the day before) and got in just as it started to mist. After chilling our tender feet in the frigid river, we celebrated the hike with mac & cheese (thanks Grandma & Grandpa!) and some fig wine that Tom had lugged from Germany (and up the mountain!). Then by 8:00pm we were out cold again.

Day 3: The next day we only had to get back to Kamikochi so we had another slow morning relaxing over 10grain cereal and drinking our hot cocoa in the sun. Yes! Sun, again! With the exception of the previous nights misty rain, we had simply amazing weather. The bright, clear morning refreshed and energized us for the trip back to Kamikochi. We made it in about 2 and a half hours. With our extra time we headed to the bath and made it just before it closed. I've never been so thankful for hot water! My legs were just shot though, it was all I could do to shuffle over to the bus terminal and sit down and wait with my cold beer. It was a great trip though, and Tom and I are already back into the magazines looking for our next mission. Cheers to fall hiking in Japan!! P.S. The rest of my pictures are here (labeled and everything). More to come when I get Tom's.

6:00 am sky in Kamikochi, Japan. Fresh off the bus from Tokyo and we're ready to climb!! (for the next 10 hours... woo-hoo!). More when the website starts working, I promise.

I have so many pictures to share from this weekend... it was sunny and clear and there were 360 degree awe-inspiring views. However, I can't get my blogger picture uploading tool-y to work right. So you're just going to have to hold on for a bit longer... To make sure you stay tuned, here's our power twins shot... taken at the point from which the trail started going up. For about 5 hours. Yeah... that's while we're still smiling in this one.

Life is good. I was just thinking that on my way home. Walking down my well-worn, well-loved dirt path alongside MY river (the one with the cherry blossoms last April), in my favorite almost worn-through butterfly flip-flops, with my huge pack on my back I almost sung aloud and I most certainly smiled at No one in Particular. My calves ache from a three day hike to the top of the fifth highest mountain in Japan* and I'm due back at school tomorrow morning with my genki-high energy self in top form, but those two things don't seem too terribly out of sync-a-bility. I'm thankful for the fact that I won't be in front of a computer screen and inside a cubicle. I'm thankful I spent the weekend with the guy who loves me under the open skies with elderly Japanese people and random German tourists, that though we didn't hike the path we planned, we surivived and enjoyed the path we took, and that it has cooled off here in Tokyo where you can see the stars for the first time in many, many moons.
(*more on that with pictures... after a sleep or two).

This is one of those weeks when I prove to myself how far I can push myself, physically. Today is a national holiday (Respect for the Aged Day), as is this coming Friday (Autumnal Equinox), so we have only 3 days of work sandwiched between two 3-day weekends (ah, could it always be this way..). As I sit typing, I am the lull between my two action packed weekends. This past weekend Tom and I headed out to the Izu Penninsula, training and busing out to Shimoda, the city on the very tip of the the penninsula where Commodore Perry first set foot in Japan after crossing the ocean in his great black ships.

Shimoda looks nothing like it did then. I wasn't there but I can assure you it looks like any other Japanese town today; the first thing I saw when I exited the station was McDonalds. The second was probably the Baskin Robbins. The coast is beautiful though, and that's where we spent the weekend. We were there with about 20 other runners from our hash group (the folks I run through Tokyo with every week). The weekend started off with a satisfying and impressive bowl of ramen topped with the largest shrimp I've ever seen (lobster sized without the pinchers). Then we all got changed and started Run #1. Almost 4 hours later, we finished. And I wish I were kidding...honestly. We ran past beautiful coastline, over boulders and crabs, through both man-made and ocean formed tunnels, up several bamboo forested mountain-hills and under more than enough branches, cobwebs and fences. It was by far the most scenic run I've done and considering my regular runs have been done around Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace lately, that's kind of saying a lot! The trail leaders allowed us a water/beer stop about an hour into the run. I would have been very happy had this been the end of our trek, but I knew we'd been following the coast straight out of town (well, not so straight) so we were nowhere near "home". At about the 3 hour point Tom and I ended up walking for about a half hour... It was obvious our fearless leaders had made some critical navigational errors. With no choice but to continue on, we slugged on ahead up and down the lonely forest roads until we very slowly returned to town. I was thrilled to see that the run ended up at the beach and ran right into the fairly frigid waves. Ahhhhhhhhh. Turns out we "ran" about 18k. That's almost my half-marathon right there!

And as if that wasn't enough, we ran the next day too!! The Sunday trail leader promised a "short" run... which really turned out to be 10k (6 miles... not so short) and I was pretty happy to finish that one still running. Unfortunately the two runs completely tore up the skin on the insides of my thighs (chafage!!) so I (oh so sadly) sat out today's run... the third in three days. This one actually was short (under an hour!) but I just couldn't do it. Amazingly there were only 3 other people that sat out. This group is hard core, let me tell you. It was a really fun trip but I am just pooped! I cannot wait to climb into bed tonight.

And of course, I must rest up and heal quickly because Thursday night we will be boarding the night bus from Shinjuku (downtown Tokyo) out to Kamikochi for our 3 day mountain hike. I am still quite anxious about my own preparedness for this trip... but I am also very much looking forward to it. I just need to continue praying for clear weather. The weather this weekend was incredible and it seems somewhat overly optimistic to hope for a repeat... but watch me try!

How would you spend the last days with someone you love? Though we know that life is unpredicatable and any of us could be on our last moments... what do you do when you are faced with a more predictable finish? When the hypothetical "end" becomes "five days"... can you possibly "make the most" of them? Is it okay to admit they are the Last Days or are you supposed to remain optimistic until its over? When days become officially numbered, when survival is defined in a percentage... how do you react? What do you do when you don't have enough time left to do it all but must make a list with a definite end? When and how do you say goodbye? Is it a blessing to know before hand or is it easier when death is unexpected? How do you go back to living when someone else is dying? How do you go on with real life when friends are mourning? What can you possibly offer when there's nothing to be done?

My thoughts and prayers are focused on my dear friends Nathan and Julie and their respective families.

My week so far has been very positive and rewarding. Our new work team is cohesing very successfully. Though I am still leading more activities than Erik (and loosing my voice as a result), he has been very willing to try picking up new stuff (and has been very good at it). Not only is it taking the pressure off me as the "experienced one" but has also popped the month-old balloon of anxiety that the three of us were bouncing around in anticipation of the transition. Like I said, the team is coming together and I think the next few months should be really fun (and a ton easier on everyone) as a result. To celebrate, we're all going out for drinks tomorrow night after work. TGIF!!

Today was a whopper. We took the preschool kids to the park for the first time since May due to the heat and rain of the summer. As Murphy's Law would have it, today was over 30 degrees Celsius and pretty muggy. Not as bad as it has been, but still really sticky for running around chasing a ball in the sun with 13 toddlers! The air conditioner felt awesome when we got back at lunchtime.

As part of our afternoon session with the kindergarteners (and 1st/2nd graders), we split up into 4 groups- each led by one of us teachers. Its one of the hardest parts of the day because we are each accountable to hold the attention of up to 4 kids (4 to 8 year olds) for 30 minutes. Then the kids rotate to a new group and we do it over with different students (so I teach the same session two times in an hour to two different groups of kids). Anyhow... its always really tough because not only do you have to lead the activity while also running discipline & run-a-way interception but also be ready with a back up plan to respond to age issues (the game is too tough/easy) or skill issues (one kid knows the alphabet the other doesn't/two can use scissors one can't, etc...). We switch activities every 2 weeks (each student does 2 activities so in 2 weeks they should hit all 4) and the students get a stamp on their passport when they finish the session (so 2 stamps in one afternoon.

The success of the hour can range from being a blast to being a complete disaster and is often fairly unpredictable (though with some kids on the schedule you just KNOW....). I'm enjoying my session this week- the topic is feelings and I'm doing part 1 in a 2 part project to help each student make their own "My Feelings Book". This week and next, we start out reviewing 6 feelings (happy, sad, angry, surprised, sick, and sleepy) by looking at a picture of either Tomoko or myself making the appropriate facial expresion. Then we play a game with a spinner (imagine the cardboard spinner used to play the game Twister)- the kids run to the "happy" photo when the spinner lands on "happy", etc. After that, the kids each get a mirror and we practice making the "faces". Then I take pictures of them making all 6 "faces" which I will use next session (Part 2) to make the book. After we finish the pictures, we play a card game (depending on time remaining and age/skill/attention span of the kids) of karuta (I say "happy", kids have to grab the "happy" face card) or memory/concentration (we take turns turning over a blue card and an orange card trying to make a set of "happy" cards). And then its time to switch groups!

It's been both a challenge and a real laugh to get the kids to make their "faces"-- I always laugh at their "Surprised" faces. Imagine a Japanese Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone" and you've got the idea. Hopefully, they've gotten the general theme and vocabulary by the end of the time.

Update: Training goals are on track- Tom and I did 2 full circles around the Imperial Palace last night which is at least 10k/6 miles- my longest non stop run in a year (hashes are that long but we get lots of breaks). I also did yoga/pilates for the first time in a while tonight. I'm a bit tired and stiff but feeling pretty good. I also just finished my second to last Econ chapter (at Starbucks before yoga!), which leaves me with one chapter, a paper, and my final in order to complete the course. Very overdue, but I'm back to making steady progress.

Tom's heading to Manila for work this weekend through early next week. Hopefully I can make more Econ progress but also rest up from a very busy couple of weeks!

CNN.com - 4 dead as typhoon slams Japan - Sep 6, 2005

Thankfully it isn't as horrible as Katrina, but Typhoon 14 has been busy down south of here. It's a huge, slow storm and is wreaking havok everywhere. Looks like we're just on the outer edge (its now heading through the Sea of Japan between Japan and Korea), but the wind has picked up this morning and I am double-guessing my oringinal plan to bike to work (its still sunny!). Hang on to your hats!

On top of Mt. Jonen with Mt. Yari behind me. 

These are two old photos from my hike up Mt. Jonen with my students in 2003. The mountains in the background are my goal for a big Kamikochi hike later this month. The pointy one is Japan's Materhorn... Yarigatake. Then I'll hike along the ridge, through the big dip and over and down the other side of the mountains to the left of that point. Anyone want to join me? (don't worry, Tom's coming too!) 

My neighborhood is very homey. Sometimes a bit too much. On my bike to work Thursday morning (we're talking 9 am...not crazy early or late at night) I passed a little old man taking a wizz on the wall of the building next door. He wasn't in a corner, an alley, or even a bush. Just standing out in the open on my street, dressed normally (not a bum) and had to pee. Fabulous start to the day, I say. Then, on my way home from work that same night I had to pass a very portly 60ish year old stooge standing in front of the doorway of the sento (public bath) but very much outside and in the street in nothing but sandals and his tighty-whities. Come on!!! Ewwwwww. Granted, it was late and still hot, but he wasn't even in boxers which I could maybe ignore. Briefs!! yuck. Oh well. As Tom says, they let the foreigners in and the place went to hell.

It is still actually quite nice to be here besides the few folks who are obviously a little too at home. I have tons of green space nearby, which though currently full of the electric hum of the cicadas, keeps me insulated from feeling like I live in such a huge city (though I do). The weather is still rather muggy, but I think there was less of a sauna feel to it this week. It is still HOT, but should cool off in another couple of weeks, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This week was very busy at work since we were transistioning between an outgoing and incoming teacher. Since there are only 4 of us total, it left the three of us who were staying with a lot of extra work. Erik, my new colleague, is a huge and wonderful improvement on the previous teacher... but he isn't quite up to speed so we were all exhausted by the end of yesterday. I think we're all quite happy about our new team though, and things should go back to balanced pretty quickly.

I also ran two fun hash runs this week- one which started in the neighborhood I used to work and proceeded past Tokyo Tower and Tom's neighborhood, the other running over about 75% of downtown Tokyo (I swear) and included the beautiful Nihonbashi (a fabulous old bridge that now has a highway running about 15 feet above it) and the circle sidewalk around the Imperial Palace. I'm feeling pretty strong recently, which is good news since I've decided to do my first half marathon in 3 years. I'm registering for the Koto City Seaside Marathon which is in my neighborhood on Nov. 27. My other major goal for this fall is a 3 day hiking/camping trip we've planned for a 3 day weekend at the end of this month. Depending on the weather (though we have non-refundable bus tickets), we're hoping to hike out from Kamikochi (a valley in the middle of some awesome scenery in Nagano) and summit both Yarigatake, Oku and Mae Hotakadake. They are the 5th and 3rd highest mountains in the country, respectively (Mt. Fuji is the first, I don't know what the 2nd is). The second day of hiking between the two peaks is supposedly really tough with a huge down and then back up again all on a very narrow ridge line. Above are two pictures of the ridge from Yari (the pointy one) through the Daikiretto (Big Hole) and then Hotaka on the left of the Daikiretto. I took it from Mt. Jonen which was the closest of the Kita (Northern) Alps to my old Misato home. Both the hike and the run will be huge challenges; I'm psyched and in training!!