Shan in Japan

First time punter at the Fuji Rock festival this year. It was crowded and plenty of lining up to do, but overall an excellent event. Elle and I had tickets to the first day - 29th. We jumped on the Shinkansen and shot out to Naeba ski resort. The last time I was out here in March I had my skis and it was minus 0! Such a contrast to see the slopes green with grass.

We got there around 11am just when the bands started playing. Being a one dayer, we were rushing from stage to stage to try and see everything. If I come here again, the 3day pass is definitely worth it, where you can just relax and see the bands you want to see over the 3 days.

Beautiful boardwalks through the forest and a cool (icy) river running through. It rained a bit, which was good as it kept things cool.

Prefuse 73 cranked hard out with double drum kits and some turntables. Then made our way over for Coldplay. For a band with such a mellow and sentimental sound, I was surprised how amped they got doing their performance - not a sit down and listen band at all. Chris Martin is a bit of looney!! Jumping around all over the show. Really impressed - great live band to see.

The Pogues were there too. Listening to them just makes you want to swill beer and sing along with your mates. The singer's drunken antics were classic Irish!

The final act was Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl is a well seasoned performer. Can even crack jokes using Japanese to make the mainly Japanese audience laugh, something that nearly all other bands failed at. He was full of surprises from slow love ballads through to hard out 'bang ya head' rock. High energy and walked away feeling amped. btw - moshing with a backpack is not good....

Other notable acts were Cake, The Music, Simple Plan and plenty of other local bands. There was a Ska stage, DJ /electronica tent. Party was going all night long.... Stumbled through tent city and crashed out about 2:30am.

Great introduction to Fuji Rock and if I'm here this time next year and depending on the line up of bands, I'm definitely going to prepare for a 3 dayer!

After getting off the Shinkansen it was straight to Shibuya for some Korean BBQ with friends.

Few pics here

Last weekend was another great Japan Adventures trip.  This time out to Okutama for some whitewater rafting.  We looked like a bunch of teenage mutant ninja turtles cruising down the somewhat mellow river.

Followed by beer and food at the Mitake Mountain hostel.  

Climbed Mt. Fuji last night. Beautiful night climbing under the full-moon. Not too crowded either. Eloise was cursing that I had 'conned' her into climbing it. She thought she would never reach the top, but she did really well and we made it to the top around 4:20am just in time to check out the sunrise.

Considering you can drive half way up, I think it's a fairly easy climb. The only uncomfortable factor was the wind which blasted grit into your eyes. Climbing down in the daylight makes you realise what an ugly barron mountain it is up close. Mt. Fuji is definitely a mountain to be enjoyed from afar.

Just got back from a top weekend out in Nagano - Otaki village. After picking up little sister Eloise from the airport on Friday evening, I dragged the jetlagged girl out of bed at 3am the next day to head out to Nagano.

Swung by Meguro to pick up team mate, Kohei, and proceeded to the Chuo expressway where we gunned the sturdy rental van all the way to Otaki for the 9am start....so we thought.

Arrived at the race site and things were looking very quiet... "The race has already started, they all left about 20 minutes ago", we were told! Crapola!!!  Kohei and I threw our gear together and without a warm-up, hastely headed off to catch the rest of the racers..

Prior to this story, it should be known that we had intended to participate in the 'main' event on Sunday. The main event is an 80km course over 12hours or so. However, due to our teammate Fabien pulling out due to injury, we could not participate. As an alternative, the race organizers said we could do the short 'beginners' race on Saturday, which requires only two race members.

So there we were, peddaling like mad to catch the rest of the pack. After about 20 minutes, we managed to catch a few of the stragglers at the end of the pack. Soon the course narrowed into tight single track, so it was hard to overtake the slower racers. It was really beautiful scenery following the river up through the valley. We dumped the bikes and started the trail run. The sections were really short (entire course was about 30kms) and most of the other racers seemed to be walking, so yes - this really was a 'beginners race'!

Kohei and I were fired to get to the front. After the river run section we were back on the bikes and blasted down the hill. It was when we got to the next check point we realised we were now in 4th place. This was too easy we thought. We overtook the rest of the teams and were about 5 minutes in front by the time we got to the kayak section. A quick little paddle around the lake and we were on the home stretch to the finish line.

1st place and a 30 minute late start!! We were very stoked with that effort. Our bubble was slightly popped when the officials decided that due to our checkpoint cards getting wet (well there was a river section where you get wet!?), one of the checkpoint cards could not be separated (kind of turned to mush) therefore we were given a further 10 minute penalty. This officially put us in 3rd place....

Considering we were supposed to do the main race, we didn't mind (by now the beer was flowing and we were in good 'sportsmanship' spirits) stepping down to 3rd place to take the bronze.

Standing on the podium and receiving a medal, as well as some prizes, is great no matter what place you are. That evening we ate lots of food, drank some (more) beer and were fast asleep by 8:30pm.

Sunday was a much more relaxed pace. After a nice 11 hours sleep, we had breakie and took a drive up to Mt. Ontake. On the way we found some great waterfalls - see photos here

Detoured through Matsumoto to see the Castle on the way home. Eloise was snapping shots and peering through the lens of her new camera at every given moment.

Should be updating this soon with more links and photos of the race. This will be my last race for the season and, in Japan for some time. I'm so happy everything went so well.

After nearly 3 years (2 years and 10months to be precise) with a Tokyo based recruitment firm, July 14th was my last day. I've been planning and thinking about my travel plans for so long that it only dawned on me now that this is it!! I am actually quiting a perfectly good job to go vagabonding. While I might not miss the day to day monotony of work, I know I will miss the good bunch of people I work with. I have learnt alot of things and definitely enjoyed working at this company. I'm also glad I have an understanding boss who offered to keep the door open should I want to come back after travelling.

Today I woke up feeling free! I am officially unemployed! I slept in a little and slowly enjoyed a cup of coffee. My sister Eloise is flying in this evening. So how should I spend my first day of freedom? Ah yes, something I've been wanting to do for a long time - shave my head. So down to the barber and after several 'are you sure?' confirmations, the clippers came out and the wool came off.

I can't stop touching my head now - feels really weird! Light and cool. I should've done this long ago.  I don't think I look as hideous as I imagined (I guess I should leave that for others to decide though!).  In fact, it looks quite respectable.No photos yet though.... This is the way I'll travel I think.  Stop off and get my head shaved once in a while.  If anything, it'll stop me getting nits! 

Arrived at the airport and picked up Eloise.  Flight was a few hours delayed, but nevertheless, she appeared through the exit all grown up looking.  Will be an awesome few weeks coming up I think.   Starting with tomorrow's self discovery race in Otaki.

Up early in the morning, over and out. 

 'I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.' - Susan Sontag

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