The latest Journal Entries from kimry at Footstops.com en-us Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:03:02 -0800 Copyright 2012, Bryan Rite @ Footstops.com Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:03:02 -0800 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 240 http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/ <p>The Kiso mountains, in Japan's Central Alps region, stretch across Gifu and Nagano prefectures. I came to do a walk along the old post road, in an area very different to the craggy peaks I had headed for in the ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9169/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9169/ Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:51:09 -0800 <p> I first heard about the Hamamatsu festival my first year in Japan. I was on the way back from a Golden Week trip, and a young woman sitting next to me on the Shinakansen (bullet train) started chatting with me. She told me she was on t... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9164/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9164/ Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:39:12 -0700 <p>The town of Atami is basically next door to where I live, and right There's a small but very nice park there with plum blossoms that come into season around January and February. It's not terribly impressive in the photos, but it i... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9168/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/9168/ Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:47:50 -0700 Ok, here's me trying to catch up again on these postings. First, here are some lovely pictures of sakura (cherry blossoms) from April. They are all taken around Tokyo. Enjoy!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8976/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8976/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:59:30 -0700 <p>The last stop of the Shimanami Kaido was Onomichi. I didn't spend a lot of time there after finishing the bike trip, but I had stopped there a few days before on my way to Miyajima. So,the day I walked around Onomichi was the... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8748/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8748/ Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:54:20 -0700 <p>After New Year's I went on to Imabari, one of the end points of the Shimanami Kaido ("sea road"). The road stretches across a section of the Inland Sea, from Imabari (Shikoku) at one end to Onomichi (Honshu)... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8740/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8740/ Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:34:53 -0800 <p>I've already visited Miyajima (near Hiroshima), two years ago. I went on a rainy, grey morning, but it was still good. Miyajima is famous in Japan as a scenic spot because of the "floating" tori shrine gates, which si... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8720/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8720/ Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:43:18 -0800   <p>Winter break – heading to Japan's Inland Sea. Most of the islands here are considered summer vacation destinations, but I was happy to go in winter (it's not too cold here) and see in it the uncrowded off-season. &... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8695/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8695/ Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:08:04 -0800 <p><span><span>Kamikochi is one of the best-known spots in the Japanese Alps, so when I headed there for a hiking trip during the newly-created (yes!) Silver Week holidays, I was expecting it to be crowded. The town was typical (and... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8517/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8517/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:23:27 -0800 <p><span>From the top of the main island Honshu, we started driving back down in the rough direction of home, but pursuing a different route, of course. First we head towards Tazawa-ko (Lake Tazawa), another deep mythic lake, with a leg... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8450/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8450/ Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:10:10 -0700 <p><span>When we arrived at Osore-zan, it was drizzly and dark, late into the afternoon. Which seemed like the right weather to visit the gateway to the otherworld. The place was full of greys; within the grounds, the earth was pat... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8369/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8369/ Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:46:05 -0700 <p><span>Second post on May's trip during Golden week! After Nikko, we spent about two days driving and checking out the scenery. Our primary goal for the trip was to reach the northernmost tip of Honshu, in Aomori prefectur... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8346/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8346/ Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:32:38 -0700 <p>Long time no see! I have not been keeping up with this lately. But here's the first catch-up blog, from May. Kelly and I took a trip over Golden week through the northern part of the main island (Honshu). First stop was just a little no... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8321/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/8321/ Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:09:00 -0700 <p><span>We spent the last couple days in the north of China, in Harbin. It was a little bit like going home; the weather was pretty similar to my hometown in winter. Harbin is relatively close to Russia, so one of the interesting ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7143/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7143/ Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:04:33 -0700 <p><span>After Beijing, we travelled south to Xi'an. This was what I was looking forward to the most – the terracotta warriors of Xi'an. Discovered in 1974, the warriors are thousands of clay figures buried with... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7142/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7142/ Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:00:01 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7141/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/7141/ Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:44 -0700 <p>Sado Shima (Island) is on the northern side of the bow of the main island of Honshu, facing the Asian mainland. Sado is famous as an island of exile - in previous times, people who fell befoul of the Emperor (or shogun) were sometimes se... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6957/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6957/ Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:38:46 -0800 <p>More from Hokkaido:</p> <p>After Akan-ko, we headed toward the lower central area of Japan. The first day was a driving day, which was good because not only was it cloudy, it rained hard a few times. We spent a day dri... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6885/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6885/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:18:14 -0800 It's almost a beautiful day here. Well, I mean the sun pops out for a few minutes every once in a while and it feels like a great day, but then it goes back and it's kinda dark and cloudy. But, I couldn't feel more satisfied at the ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6882/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/6882/ Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:21:14 -0800 I'll have some photos ready from the trip to Hokkaido soon, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from a couple days ago. Mt. Fuji.   Fuji is 3776m high, the highest poi... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5911/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5911/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:46:48 -0700 Took a great hike last weekend, on the east coast of the Izu peninsula where I live. The coast line is jagged, mostly cliffs and outcrops along the ocean. The place is famous for wild hydrangea; by now they are definitely past their prime, but the... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5578/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5578/ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:39:53 -0700 A couple of weeks ago, I met up with some friends, and their new baby, in Kamakura, a sea-side town part-way from here to Tokyo. Kamaura's famous for a large bronze Buddha statue, similar to the one in Nara, but smaller. This one was once hou... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5416/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5416/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:54:17 -0700 So...I've been really behind on these, haven't I? Last part of the Golden Week trip. Shirakawa-go is one of a few traditional mountain villages preserved as a World Heritage site. The big attraction here are the traditional, A-frame that... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5303/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5303/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:23:42 -0700 So, Nara is a lovely, not-too-big city fairly close to Kyoto. Nara was the capital of Japan for hundreds of years before Kyoto. So, it houses some lovely historical and cultural sites. The best part was that pretty much of all the major tem... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5083/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/5083/ Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:04:28 -0700 After Koya-san, I made a brief stop in Sakurai, a small city. I had read about a 13-story pagoda at Tanzan Shrine here, and even though I didn't know anything about it, I decided it might be worth seeing. It turned out to be ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4895/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4895/ Tue, 27 May 2008 19:02:22 -0700 I had a week's holiday in the beginning of May, and did some travelling again. But I've been sick almost ever since I got back so it's taken a while to get the photos up. Here's the first post. The first st... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4890/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4890/ Sat, 24 May 2008 15:14:49 -0700 I don't know if I've ever experienced a spring as lovely as spring in Japan. It feels like the perfect season for this place. Over the past month or two trees have begun showing off their flowers - first plum, then in March, the cherry ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4353/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/4353/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:22:52 -0700 So, it's February, the coldest time of the year around here. There’s a bit of snow on the tops of the highest hills around Kannami, and most of Mt. Fuji has been covered in a solid coat of white for the last month. It is cold at night, but if th... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3706/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3706/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:15:11 -0800 The last stop on the way home from Kyushu is Himeji. There was really one purpose to my stop here, and that was to see the Shirasagijō, or "White Heron Castle", a magnificent feudal castle ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3479/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3479/ Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:16:27 -0800 Part 3 now - forgive the long post, but this was the longest stop on my trip, and I couldn't resist added in a little bit of the history I've picked up. But you can always just skip ahead to the photos if you want! I hadn't actually planne... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3415/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3415/ Sat, 19 Jan 2008 07:09:07 -0800 From Hiroshima, I travelled to the second smallest of the four main islands of Japan - Kyushu. And what drew me there was volcanos. All of Japan sits on some pretty active earth, but there are a lot of active volcanos in Kyushu. The most famous is... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3339/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3339/ Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:14:54 -0800 So, over the Christmas holidays I covered a lot of ground here in Japan, mostly in the south/west part of the country. I spent a lot of time on the trains, especially the Shinkansen - the "bullet trains" that go 200-300 km/hr. By the way, this ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3247/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/3247/ Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:46:04 -0800 So, the week before last I headed out of town and took the Shinkansen (the bullet train, which is great) to Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the places that visitors to Japan really should see, regardless of your tastes in travel destinations. It was the im... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2718/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2718/ Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:03:01 -0800 Today was a picture-pefect day in my eyes, a sweet warm autumn day. Unfortunately, I can't enjoy it too much, since I have to go to work, and I also had my Japanese lesson this morning. But, I'm sure there will be other days. I went for a short bi... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2426/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2426/ Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:01:54 -0700 So, last night I was woken from sleep - I had only gone to bed less than an hour before - by an earthquake. The epicentre was in Kanagawa, not close enough to get the worst effects, but close enough to feel it; it hit about 2:20am Oct 1. It was ab... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2203/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2203/ Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:53:51 -0700 <p>So, I know some of you have asked about where I live, and I thought it was about time I got some pictures of my place up for you. I live in a little apartment on the second (and top) floor of a small apartment block. It did feel small at fir... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2118/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/2118/ Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:10:40 -0700 Well, we did get to the beach, so...   August 13-18 was a major holiday in Japan, which almost everyone takes off. It's called O-bon, and traditionally it's a time to return to your hometown to pay respect to your anc... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/1838/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/1838/ Sat, 25 Aug 2007 05:51:40 -0700 First post – Or “Ah, procrastination…”   I have no excuse, really, I’m very, very sorry I have been a bad blogger. Well, I ha... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/1694/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/1694/ Sun, 12 Aug 2007 04:29:53 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/968/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/968/ Sun, 27 May 2007 08:21:34 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/969/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/969/ Sat, 26 May 2007 08:09:22 -0700 Most of these photos are from when I was working as a tour guide. I know it's hard to believe, but yes, they let me take people up into the mountains to go hiking and out canoeing on the Athabasca. Not backcountry or serious mountaineering stuff. I w... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/970/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/970/ Fri, 25 May 2007 08:20:38 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/909/ http://www.footstops.com/khimyra/blog/909/ Tue, 29 May 2007 08:22:32 -0700