Archive for June, 2008

Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo & Vietnam!

Published by Kevin & Cathy on June 29, 2008 in Japan.   123 views 0 Comments

….Oh yea!

In case you hadn’t picked up on the dwindling frequency of our blog updates, we completely forgot to mention our recent trip down to Kyoto, Osaka & Tokyo AS WELL AS our recent Vietnam trip!!

Kevin’s parents, Barb & Harry came to visit us in Takikawa for a few days. We showed them around some of the major attractions of the area, and introduced them to our students, our guarantors and our friends. After Takikawa, we all headed down to Kyoto & Osaka for a few days, exploring the mid-section of Japan- the old culture and tradition of Kyoto and the lights and sounds of Osaka. We took the shinkansen to Tokyo and spent a day there before we all jumped on a plane to Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam.

We spent a week in Vietnam, exploring Ho Chih Minh, Hue and Hoi an and battling the heat and the sun.
In total, we were travelling for 2 weeks: a week in Japan and a week in Vietnam. A much needed end-of-April break.

Photo time!

Sakura
梅
Pokey
Cherry Blossoms @ ueno park
Blossoms
Cathy's #1 fan
gliding through
Tour boats
waiting
Waterscape


Camping at Toya Lake, Hokkaido.

Published by Kevin & Cathy on June 23, 2008 in Japan.   340 views 1 Comment

Have you heard of the g8 summit? Well, this year it’s happening in Hokkaido at Toya lake.
We took a camping trip to Toyako (which is Toya lake in Japanese in case you haven’t figured that out already..) last week. Aside from the super high security highway checks, it was more than beautiful.

We bought a tent from Costco a while back for 6000 Yen (that is 56CDN as of Jun 23 2008). This trip was the first time for us to use the tent. We found a campground which allows open fire. (Our campground - 仲洞爺キャンプ場. Here’s a great website for looking for campgrounds in Hokkaido: camp navi hokkaido). In Japan, it’s not very common for people to camp and have open fire. It is usually not allowed in camp grounds. Moreover, it is also not common for people to camp just at the middle of no where. People usually camp in camp grounds. We had our doubts about it before this trip, but due to high security around the Toyako we decided that it is best to stay out of trouble by staying in a campground.

Our campground is really not what you think it is. It is still the middle of no where, but with running water and toilets. (In our case, it also had a onsen nearby - 来夢人の家) We set camp RIGHT by the lake. We had an open fire going right by the water and we fell asleep listening to the sound of the lake (and rain for the first night.) We were blessed with beautiful fireworks on the lake as part of Toyako’s attraction during summer. It was really quite romantic to be snuggling under big umbrellas, drinking beer, eating bbq steak and watching the fireworks by the lake.

The tent held up to the rain the first night. We had minor leakage but it was very fixable problem with a little help from garbage bags. Kevin went outside with a giant sun umbrella at the middle of the night with gold miner head flashlight to attach garbage bags to the corners of the tent. After that, we stayed dry and comfortable inside. Thankfully for the tent being a 3-person tent, we had plenty of space. Kevin, as a giant, had to sleep diagonally in the tent.

We woke up at 6′o clock in the morning and find ourselves facing a beautiful calm lake with white mists and swans swimming by. (there were so many swans, they even tried to come on shore to attack us and steal our food, in our imaginary scenario that’s what they’d do of course.)

We had delicious Jingisukan (ジンギスカン) and yakiniku (焼き肉) and cheesy japanese pinky sized cocktail weinies and of course, marshmallows. We toured the town of Toya during the day and visited the Sun Palace Hotel onsen and the brand new super-eco toyako visitor center that’s dedicated to greeness. There were fields of solar panels and wind generators around the beautiful new log house. G8 is definitely bringing Toya new life.

Our trip goes on to Hakodate after Toyako. More to come.

We will go through photos and upload them slowly. Will insert photos later.

Biei Marathon

Published by Kevin & Cathy on June 10, 2008 in Japan and Video.   181 views 2 Comments

This Sunday was the annual Healthy Marathon (ヘルシ　マラソン) in the nearby town of Biei. Biei is about 120km away from Takikawa, and is known for its annual marathon as well as its beautiful flower gardens spread over vast rolling hillsides. The Biei marathon attracts thousands of competitors and spectators every year during the June 8th weekend.

Kevin registered online for the 10k quarter-marathon back in early May along with our good friend, Matthew Caesar. Kevin spent a solid month doing a rigorous training routine of 3 day-a-week 6:00am runs down the Sorachi River to prepare for the event. (No, Cathy didn’t go running with.)

On the wednesday before the marathon, we both fell sick with sore throats, and major chest congestion. We ended the week by cancelling a few classes, in hopes that we could rest up and feel better for the weekend, but come marathon day, we were both still very under the weather.

We left Takikawa at 7:00am on Sunday, June 8th with 2 runners - Kevin & Matt and 3 cheerleaders - Cathy, Kaori & David. We headed towards Biei to make the 9:00am registration time. Kevin popped a decongestant, an advil, a tylenol and a general cold pill and started stretching for the race.

Cathy, Kaori and David relaxed in the grass and enjoyed yummy yaki-tori and beer (yes, at 10:00 in the morning) and cheered on Kevin and Matt as the firing gun sounded and the race started.

An hour and twenty minutes later (1hr18min for Matt) Kevin came bouncing down the finish line and had successfully completed his first marathon EVER!

Celebration was in order, so we all headed up the road to Fukiage Onsen to enjoy a traditional Japanese public bath, naked. Gender separated.

It was a huge success.

Here’s a video of Kevin finishing the marathon. A glorious (although painful) moment.