Satoshi and I went out Saturday night, we went to a basketball game. The Japanese Basketball League has only been in operation for a few years, but the Oita Heat Devils have so far managed to finish both seasons ranked in the Top 5. Did I mention there were only 6 teams?
Tag Archives: Beppu
Drew in the Press
Time to clean some house around here. I’ve got snippets of this and tidbits of that that I need to get rid of, so without further ado, I present: Drew in the Press!
We’re gonna run through these chronologically, with pictures linked at the end of each section. The pictures today are all scans, so if they’re slightly crooked it’s because I scanned them poorly, not because I have no sense of balance…
Heaths Come to Japan – Day 6 – Shamisen Surprise, Overnight Ferry
Friday, Day 6 began bright and early as we caught a morning train back to Beppu to give us time to take a breather before we boarded the overnight ferry for Osaka that evening. I took advantage of the low number of passengers to grab another hour or so of sleep as we quietly zoomed through the beautiful Kyushu countryside.
The weather remained unchanged with it’s slight drizzle and low-hanging clouds, but I’ve always felt that sort of stuff lends an extra bit of beauty to a lush countryside panorama.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 6 – Shamisen Surprise, Overnight Ferry
Heaths Come to Japan – Day 3 – Marine Life and Monkey Sex
Tuesday the 12th was a sort of “off day” after the action packed introduction to Beppu that was Monday. I didn’t have any concrete plans for my parents, although some sort of scheme with Choki-san was penciled into the afternoon timeslot. In short, my parents got to enjoy the charming luxuries of their ryokan while I slept in.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I had set them up in one kickass little place – check out this spanking awesome breakfast promptly laid out at 7:30am for my mother in the adjoining room.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 3 – Marine Life and Monkey Sex
Heaths Come to Japan – Day 2 – Oita at Last, the Blitzkrieg Begins
Their unplanned night in Tokyo having drawn to a close, my parents boarded their morning flight out to Nowhere, Japan – aka – Oita. Originally they had been due to arrive in Oita around 8pm Sunday night and with this in mind I had crafted a whirlwind itinerary that kicked off from the following Monday morning. With my parents instead arriving in Oita a day late they had the pleasure of beginning their activity-packed adventure right from the get-go.
My girlfriend and I arrived at the airport about 10 minutes early and began the wait for the two giant Americanos to emerge from the arrival gate… mom made a suitably grand entrance.
We had some coffee and introduced the parents to my darling girlfriend, then caught the bus back towards Beppu.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 2 – Oita at Last, the Blitzkrieg Begins
Shake Me Like A Polaroid Picture
There I was just minding my own business on my laptop in my room when some clown decides to shake the whole damn building…
Nevermind, that was definitely an earthquake!
The yellow ring on the last map is my approximate location, I can actually see the epicenter from my dorm window. We got a nice 3 or 4 second shake, not enough to worry anybody but more than enough to get your attention.
Counter-attack
Kazu and I are competing in a bass fishing tournament on our favorite lake on June 18th. As such, we now of course must practice as much as possible, heh heh. So under the guise of disciplined and diligent tournament preparations we blew off work and headed back to the lake on Wednesday.
Guo Choki Paa
Saturday rolled around and it was time to blow off some steam, so the usual suspects were rounded up and plans were drawn. It was going to be a typical sushi & karaoke outing, but with a twist – we were going to visit a brand-new SCBR that had opened a few kilometers west on the same road as the one we usually patronize… bit of foreshadowing here for you: we were not going to be disappointed.
4AM Fishing
So I ran into Kazu in the halls of AP House Thursday night around 11pm or so… and to make a long story short he breathlessly invited me to go fishing the following morning at an absurd 4am.
What sort of advantages Kazu seeks to earn by departing at such unearthly hours are unbeknownst to me. Perhaps he thinks, in that twisted mind of his, that if we arrive early enough we’d actually be able to simply pick the bass up out of the water, such would be the depth of their slumber.
Who knows… In any case, never one to pass up an opportunity to abandon work and embrace the nirvana of watery pursuits, I accepted.
Semester Overview
Well that bit about having lots of time to post hasn’t quite proved true this past week, but I’ve finally gotten most of the errands I had to do upon return out of the way and am settling into a somewhat regular schedule.
Today is a briefing, if you will, on what is in store for me this coming semester. Class is a good place to start – this semester I’m enrolled in:
- Fundamentals of Environmental Science
- Sustainable Use & Management of Tropical Forests
- Development & Conservation
- Environmental Economics
- Research Seminar