The Big One

This morning we had a 7.0 (6.9 according to some sources) earthquake here in northern Japan. It was pretty intense shaking. Some things fell. Some of my friends have a few broken dishes. There were aftershocks for quite a while afterwards that got annoying after a while (in fact there's one as I'm typing this).

Just wanted to let everyone know (if they happen to hear about the earthquake by other means) that I'm okay.

Hiking Nanatsumori

Apologies for being a slacker about updating the blog.

You may recall the 7 small peaks located in my town and the legend I heard climbing about them and praying to the spirits that live on each peak. Last weekend my friends, Liz and Colin, and I set out to achieve the eternal good fortune (or happiness or luck—I don’t quite remember).

Although it was raining on Saturday morning (it’s the rainy season this month), we decided to set out anyway. With rain coats and hiking boots started on what would be a very wet, muddy, slippery, but fun hike. On Saturday we hiked up and down six peaks, taking pictures on each summit.

The seventh and tallest mountain is separated from the others and is a short drive away. After completing a big loop (with combined ups and downs of about 1500m) and with not much more daylight left, we decided to tackle Sasakurayama on Sunday.

We returned to my house soaking wet, cold, and tired. After recouping with hot showers, hot tea, and then bibimbop at a nearby restaurant, we headed out for two fantastic hours of karaoke.

Sunday morning turned out to be sunny and warm. Unfortunately our boots were still disgustingly wet. With such nice weather, there were several other hikers on the mountain. Well rested, we walked up the mountain in about 40 minutes and spent about the same amount of time at the top attempting to take fun pictures with camera timers.

Now we ought to be blessed, but even if we don’t get eternal good fortune, the weekend was still a blast.

Onikobe

I couple weekends ago, I was in Onikoube, an area near Naruko.

A large group of JETs spent Saturday learning to paraglide. Because it was our first time, the instructors didn’t give us much opportunity to get off the ground. There were other people around who were flying quite long and high. Paragliding involves wearing a very large and awkward harness and running in a rather odd manner. Needless to say, the whole day was fairly amusing.

That night, we went camping nearby. Other friends joined us for camping. Although it rained (have I mentioned it’s the rainy season) that night, we had a shelter where we cooked. Barbeque, s’mores, people with guitars, campfire, all added up to a very good night.

In the morning, some of us set off on an attempt to find a nearby onsen that has a waterfall. What we originally thought was the path to the onsen turned out to be a very nice short nature walk with several geysers and a stream. I’d never seen a geyser before. Eventually we hopped back in our cars and found the place. There was an outdoor pool, and indeed another natural pool underneath a waterfall. We were warned that there was no point in going in the waterfall due to the heavy rain the night before. Of course we went anyway. The water was pretty cold but invigorating.