very sad

I found out only today that on 5 July, Canadian mountaineering legend Hans Gmoser was killed in a cycling accident on Highway 1A near Vermillion Lakes.

http://www.wheretogonext.com/2006release.php?releaseID=107433

According to witnesses, the active 73-year old was cycling along this route when a car overtook him, then promptly slammed on its brakes. As he tried to get round on the driver's side, the driver's door swung open suddenly. He broke his neck in the accident.

What on earth was this driver thinking?

He had stopped to see an elk.

irony at its finest

Stop Being Lazy - www.YourBadHabits.com - Learn How To Quickly And Easily Stop Being Lazy (an actual ad) Wow. I bet I don't even have to do anything!! And I bet I can do it in 10 minutes!!

9/19! Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tWgxuc45YCY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tWgxuc45YCY

swallowtail butterfly

One of my favourite songs has awesome lyrics.

アゲハ蝶
作詞：ハルイチ　作曲・編曲：ak.homma

ヒラリヒラリと舞い遊ぶように
姿見せたアゲハ蝶
夏の夜の真ん中　月の下
喜びとしてのイエロー　憂いを帯びたブルーに
世の果てに似ている漆黒の羽

旅人に尋ねてみた　どこまで行くのかと　いつになれば終えるのかと
旅人は答えた　終わりなどないさ　終わらせることはできるけど

そう…じゃぁ　お気をつけてと見送ったのはずっと前で
ここに未だ還らない
彼が僕自身だと気付いたのは
今更になってだった

あなたに逢えた　それだけでよかった
世界に光が満ちた
夢で逢えるだけでよかったのに
愛されたいと願ってしまった
世界が表情を変えた
世の果てでは空と海が交じる

詩人がたったひとひらの言の葉に込めた　意味をついに知ることはない
そう　それは友に　できるならあなたに届けばいいと思う

もしこれが戯曲なら　なんてひどいストーリーだろう
進むことも戻ることもできずに
ただひとり舞台に立っているだけなのだから

あなたが望むのなら　この身など
いつでも差し出していい
降り注ぐ火の粉の盾になろう
ただそこに一握り残った僕の想いを
すくい上げて心の隅において

あなたに逢えた　それだけでよかった
世界に光が満ちた
夢で逢えるだけでよかったのに
愛されたいと願ってしまった
世界が表情を変えた
世の果てでは空と海が交じる

荒野に咲いたアゲハ蝶
揺らぐその景色の向こう
近づくことはできないオアシス
冷たい水をください
できれば愛してください
僕の肩で羽を休めておくれ

Of course, I realize some of you can't read all of that :P

Fluttering a playful dance,
The swallowtail showed herself.
In the middle of a summer's night, under the moon.
With joyous yellows and solemn encircling blues,
Her pitch-black wings resemble the edge of the world.

I asked a traveler, "How far are you traveling? And when will your journey end?"
The traveler answered, "There is no end to my journey, but I can end it."

"Oh… Bye, then. Take care," I said as I sent him off long ago.
Returning here is no longer possible.
It wasn't until now that I finally realized the traveler was really me all along.

I met you, and that should have been enough.
Light filled my world.
I should have been happy just to see you in my dreams.
But then I wished for your love.
The world changed its face.
At the edge of the world, the sky and sea meld together.

It is impossible to know the meaning of a poem by reading just one word.
But if you can do this, then I would like to send it to you.

If this were a play, what a horrible story it would be.
That is because I am unable to proceed or retreat,
It is merely a play with one character standing still.

If you wish, you can have my body.
I will always offer it to you.
I will become the shoulder for the flying sparks of fire.
There is just one last fist-full of my feelings left.
Please rescue it and lay it inside my heart.

I met you, and that should have been enough.
Light filled my world.
I should have been happy just to see you in my dreams.
But then I wished for your love.
The world changed its face.
At the edge of the world, the sky and sea meld together.

A swallowtail bloomed in the wilderness.
Beyond the flickering scenery,
There is an oasis which I cannot approach.
Please give me a drink of water.
And if you can, please love me.
Please rest your wings on my shoulder

watch it

I was warned about a new phone scam yesterday. Apparantly these con artists 'verify the identity' of the victim by reading their credit card numbers and contact information, then ask for the three digit code on the back of the card.

The only reason why any scam works is because people fall for it. If you get a call from your 'bank' or 'credit card company' asking for any sort of personal information, say you're busy and call back. Then verify that it was real. But most importantly, keep in mind that the bank/company will have this information already and would not need to ask for it.

telus = highway robbery

So the charger for my cellphone here in Canada was misplaced sometime when I was gone, so I went to get a new one. It was $50.

$50. No less than highway robbery.

I hate you Telus.

a cool quote

'Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”'

back in canada

September 5 I guess counts as 2 days since we left Japan at 3pm and arrived in Calgary at 1pm on the same day. Kinda wierd how that works.

It was so great to see my parents and my future parents-in-law again.

It's good to be back.

osaka

We went over to Osaka Castle, a reconstruction of the original. I had gone there last year with my buddy Masahiro but I wanted James to see it, so we went again. The inside of the castle is marble and glass with a full gift shop and elevators. But at least the outside looks nice. They have these dragon/tiger/fish things adoring the roof, which were supposed to be protection against fire. The view from the top is incredible.

Inside they dressed us up in samurai gear. Yes, I'm aware that I look like a peacock and James looks like a Viking.

We then went to Dotonbori, the entertainment district. By day it's not at its best, but by night they have tons of neon lights. There is still some wierd and random sights to see. This is just outside of a hotel.

We then went to Dohgusuji, a shopping arcade specializing in cooking and restaurant equipment. I bought some yakitori skewers and a set of okonomiyaki spatulas. We had fun seeing the industrial-size cooking equipment.

We then went to go visit the Osaka University Human Interactions Lab crew! My supervisor at U of C used to be a researcher at this lab so I was able to visit them last year, and they have sent some of their members to our lab. We met them at the train station (after some confusion), then went to the lab to see them, and then off we went to the most amazing Yakitori (chicken on sticks) restaurant ever! We had a great time, even had a few pieces of chicken sashimi (that is, raw).

himeji and nara

We went to 姫路城 Himeji Castle, which is one of the only castles in Japan that is the original. It has been restored of course, but the inside looks like a castle (as opposed to Osaka Castle, which is marble and wood and glass with a gift shop and giant elevator in the middle). The walls are covered in white and have small triangular and square arrow-holes in them. The view from the top is also very impressive. You can see the city and the sea coast as well.

The inside, being the original, of course meant that James had a tough time dealing with the short doorways and stairwells :P This went on for all 5 stories.

After leaving Himeji, we went over to 奈良 Nara, the first permanent capital of Japan. At first it looked like any other Japanese city - lots of grey, concrete and pachinko parlours - but as soon as we got to the park, it was amazing how much the city changed. There are sacred deer everywhere　(in the pre－Buddhism era they were thought to be messengers of the gods), looking for handouts from tourists (and chasing small children with ice creams). They are quite bold, really, probably used to seeing people and being petted and given treats. You can even buy 鹿せんべい deer biscuits from vendors to feed them. One of them tried to eat James' fan.

We saw the largest wooden builing in the world, 東寺 Tohji, which houses the 大仏 Big Buddha of Nara. It really is huge, flanked by two other smaller (but still very large) statues, one on each side.

There is also a pillar with a hole at the bottom, supposedly the size of one of the Buddha's nostrils, and if you can fit through you will be saved. A few kids got through with no problems, and one skinny Japanese guy did, too.

We walked up to the top of Wakakusa-yama, where they have a gorgeous temple that overlooks Nara and we got a fine view of the city.

We then went up to a Shinto Shrine that had beautiful stone lanterns lining the paths up to it and hundreds inside the shrine as well. We then made our way back down to the station and went back to Osaka. We met my buddy Masahiro (of drum-sending fame), Hiromi and Yukari, and we went for rotating sushi. And then, crazy karaoke.

kyoto!

Today was our day in Kyoto. It's a shame we only had a day here because we did so much, but only scratched the surface of this incredible city.

We went to the train station pretty early and made our way to the station. There was a train almost ready to leave for Kyoto, but James didn't get on in time, and the doors shut in his face. We found each other in Kyoto Station OK, so that was a relief. After all, I have the train passes and passports; James has the money. So getting separated is not a good thing. ;)

First, we went to 二条城 Nijoh Castle, the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa 将軍 shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The 'nightengale floors' squeak to alert the guards (in concealed secret chambers on watch) of intruders. It was very big, with gorgeous gold-leaf paintings on the sliding doors. They were just incredible, but unfortunately, there were no photos allowed inside. Fair enough I guess.

Near Nijoh Castle is the 二条陣屋 Nijoh-Jinya, a merchant's home from the 1600s. Because visiting lords and daimyo often visited, the house is designed with their protection in mind. It's a rabbit-warren of rooms, secret passages, and anti-espionage devices. Although we didn't have a reservation, we were allowed in, but only because I could understand Japanese (Take that, language barrier!). The walls were fire-resistent, the 障子 shoji screens were double-layered to reveal shadows of eavesdroppers, there were secret stairways and hidey-holes, and a skylight from which a guard jump down and confront intruders on the main floor. James really enjoyed that place.

After lunch, we took the JR line to 伏見稲荷大社 Inari Shrine, which is the site of the 千鳥居 thousand Torii gates. A bit of a misnomer, because there's probably ten thousand of them. They're all painted red (some have faded to pink) and they line the path up to the top of the mountain. They make a kind of tunnel, leading shrine visitors to the inner shrines, dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. There were also wishes and prayers written on miniature Torii gates, and placed about the different shrines. There are also many statues of foxes. (as a side note: not sure if this is related or not, but it might be that 稲荷寿司 Inari-sushi, sweetened rice in a pocket of sweetened deep-fried tofu, has a connection with the fact that sweetened deep-fried tofu is the mythological nine-tailed fox's favourite food). The foxes often carry keys in their mouths, for the rice granary, or so I hear. I bought a necklace with that design.

We then took the bus from Kyoto Station to 三十三間堂 Sanjuusan-gendoh, which houses 1001 gold-leaf covered images of 観音 Kannon, Buddhist goddess of mercy. She has 1000 arms, each of which saves a world, but due to Buddhist mathematics, each arm saves 25 worlds, so each of them have 40 arms. But it's still a lot of arms. The faces of the statues are also slightly different. There is a giant Kannon in the middle flanked by 500 on each side. The statues are about 5 feet tall each, and the large one is 15. It was an incredible hall, full of these statues, and with cultural artefacts (statues of Buddhist gods and goddesses) in front of the Kannon statues. No photos allowed, but I bought a post card and I'll scan it when I get back.

Near Sanjuusan-gendoh, we went to 知恩院 Chion-in, which is a really big temple complex. The entrance gate is the largest in Japan. It's very, very big. Inside the complex is a great variety of buildings with monks chanting, incense and great photograph opportunities. There was some kind of service going on, but I couldn't tell what it was. The inside of the main hall was just gorgeous. Apprantly there is a giant bell that takes the combined strength of 17 monks to ring in the new year. We couldn't find this bell. Oh well, maybe next time, haha.

After all those statues, we took a cab (our feet were starting to ache!) up the hill to the 清水寺 Kiyomizu-dera (lit Clearwater Temple) which had an amazing view of the Kyoto skyline, and a view of a cute little pagoda tucked into the forest below.

The　sun was setting, so we walked back west through Gion to check out some of the old tea houses. We caught a glimpse of four geisha on their way to appointments. I caught a picture of one of them as they got into the cab. And as touristy as it sounds, it was really cool to see an actual geisha.

beppu

This morning we went back to that little Buddhist temple-turned-hot-spring for a sand bath! You lie down on a bed of sand and they shovel warm shovelfuls of sand on top of you (everything but your head) and leave you for 15 minutes. It was so relaxing. The old ladies doing the shovelling would come by a couple of times to make sure you were still alive and to wipe the sweat from your brow.

On the way back to the guest house, we saw a giant 天狗 Tengu head in the shopping arcade. I guess he's the mascot of the area. In any case, his nose was bigger than I was.

We then caught a bus and went all the way up to the 地獄 Hells, which are a series of volcanic pools. They are naturally cool-looking, but some of them are quite touristy. First we saw the 白池地獄 White Pond Hell, with the milky-white boiling water.　There was steam billowing from beneath the water and a strong sulfuric smell.

We then went up the hill to the 海地獄 Sea Hell, with its boiling (naturally) blue water steaming and hissing next to a lovely garden pond with lilly pads. There were 'onsen eggs' being boiled in the Sea Hell to be sold in the souvenir shop!

After that it was the 鬼石坊主地獄 Oni-Stone Monk's Hell, which is so-called because it had a bed of 120 degree stones.

Next to the stones were boiling pools of mud. The bubbles look like a monk's shaved head, hence the name Monk's Hell. It was so cool to see it bubbling away on its own.

The final hell we visited was a pool of red water, called the 血の池地獄 Blood Pond Hell. The water was deep red and they had left it pretty much alone (ie. they hadn't put any cheezy statues or silly gimmicks anywhere near). Unfortunately, we couldn't catch the geyser which went off ever 15 minutes, because of time constraints. But overall, a very interesting, sulfuric-smelling experience.

We hurried back to our hostel, grabbed our luggage, and made our way to the station to catch the 新幹線 Bullet Train to ... 大阪 OSAKA! We met my buddy Masahiro at 新大阪駅 Shin-Osaka Station, had some お好み焼き Okonomiyaki (well, I had オムそば yakisoba wrapped in an omelette, and went out for drinks. Exhausted, we made our way back to the hotel for a welcome rest.