now this is motivating

Many of you may know that I like hitting the slopes whenever a time permits. Utah has the greatest sow on earth and i love being able to get to 7 good resorts within an hour of my home.  And it is always best with friends.

 Since I am here in Japan, I thought it would be need to be able to snowboard at least once here just so I have something to compare the sweet conditions in Utah.

 My prayers for snow have been answered as snow has topped the Oou mountain range, including the back side of Mt Bandai–which is where we are heading in T-minus 19 hours.

First runs of the season, all on Japanese snow…….with thoughts of Brighton and snowbird permanently engraned in my mind, I am trying to imagine how fun it will be…..especially with this pic that a co-worker sent me:

Denny’s Delights Eyes, Fails Fulfillment of Stomach

Forgot to tell you all. Went to a Denny’s the other night for dinner with my friend Angela and a newly aquired friend named Nagi who happens to be a boxer.

American Denny’s (just know that i am using the Denny’s in Provo, Orem, and Salt Lake as examples):

• Have breakfast 24/7
• have tall glasses of OJ, well tall glasses of anything really
• have employees with messed up piercings and wild interpretations of the restaurant dress code.
• have menus that are necessary to order from, but may contain more than one STD.
• have sticky chairs and benches
• have meals that fill you up, not necessarily there to be appetizing
• Run you about $10 at the most
• moons over my hammy, need I say anymore?

The Japanese Denny’s:

• is cleaner than the toilet at the temple (not meant to be blasphemous)
• has a lot really pretty dishes
• has a strict dress code for its employees who always appear pleasent and can not stop talking in the most polite-helium-voice-language possible
• has no satisfaction in terms of the size of the meal ordered
• has really delicious, pretty, and small food.
• left me empty, feeling like I was used by an ex-girlfriend
• made me go home and eat some man food.

Totally different companies. Dennys in japan is owned by a company called 7 and i holdings which is a conglomerate of 7-eleven, Denny’s, Yoku benimaru, and Ito Yokado. I know that there are more than that, but ya……crazy company.

 I look forward to getting a disease when i go to eat some moons over my hammy at 1 am in provo one of these nighs in January…..You know i thought of a lot of great things to say in a random blog like this, but now I got nothin. Sorry for the boredom there folks.

One of those days…..

You ever have one of those days……….where you eat a delicious meal in the morning with a couple friends oe of which you haven’t seen in years, then you get on a train and travel to another part of the country to see more friends you haven’t seen in years, and then they give you food and candy cause they love seeing you, and then they take you to the station so you can get the right train back to where you live, and at the transfer station you figure that since you are traveling and since you are hungry it is ok to stop at Mcdonalds for a couple cheeseburgers and you eat them (plain, meat and cheese), and then you decide that you should get some fruit in your system so you buy some mikans (tangerines) and eat those too but what is a good meal without having some desert so you buy a kit kat on the platform for the bullet train, and then you also remember that you ate some Melon-pan (elon flavored bread) about two hours previously but you don’t really care cause you are hungry so you continue to eat what you bought including a bottle of Vitamin Water which is basically a pathetic form of gatorade packed full of enzymes, and then you get on the train and it all just digests inside of you and you arrive at the station an hour or so later, and then you have to wait about 30 minutes for the local train to get to you and while you are waiting there on the platform–knowing that the closest western style toilet is in the department store outside of the station–you realize that you are about to be overcome by EVERY SINGLE TERRIBLE PIECE OF FOOD YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY THAT DAY, and you are stricken with a vicious TURTLE HEAD, GOPHER, or PRARIE DOG (whichever you prefer) , and you have no choice but to RUN to the end of the train platform where you throw your bag down and since your brain can see the toilet it allows your SPHINCTER to RELAX and your prarie dog is now like a Rabid Wolverine on CRACK trying to get out of a christmas sweater knitted by your favorite Aunt, and you know that you have bad luck with Japanese style toilets and always get something on you so you avoid them at all costs, and plus its cold–, and so you take off your shoes, tear your pants and underlings off and as you are there in your SOCKS and your SHIRT and COAT and NOTHING ELSE, you let the Wolverine out and feel like the WORRIES of the WORLD ARE COMPLETELY GONE…….?

 You ever had one of those days?

Just curious.

Again, not that I am counting

Today is Tuesday the 4th of December. I am getting on a plane bound for San Fransisco on Jan 3rd.  Reminds me of that lame missionary joke that Senior companions would use on their Juniors. “Elder, you see that plane there? How far away do you think that is?” “Oh, I would say about 5,000 feet or so…” “Actually, it is about 2 weeks for me, and 9 months for you! Ha ha” and the senior companion laughs himself into the sunset…… Another version I heard was ……….The Junior companion who is already homesick beats the tar out of the senior for saying the same lame joke every day all while screamin ‘Look who`s plane is closer now!’ Anyway. Without listing any people (family and friends), I am going to compile a list of things that I am looking forward to in getting back to the states.

1. Pepperoni pizza from the Pie up in SL.
2. Utah Clean Air Act (not that i have anything against those who want to smoke, I just want to enjoy my pepperoni pizza at the pie without going home smelling like a bar)
3. My moms pumpkin soup and clam chowder.
4.  Drum Corps DVDs.
5. A  challenging job.
6. A  car (though i dont look forward to the fuel price)
7. Church in English (though i hesitate to attend testimony meeting in a singles ward again).
8. A nutritious lunch without wondering if I am eating Ostrich Snot or something.
9. My mountain bike
10. My snowboard
11. My Brighton Resort
12. My overuse of the word ‘my’
13. My life continued, just with a little more experiece this time.
14. Sure i said no people, but i think i am looking forward to seeing Kira and hangin more with she and her awesome husband Paul. Who I only know is awesome because he wore funny clothes to a Christmas party we attended.

This list will be updated as I think of anything else.

Snow=Sh!$

Woke up aroud 7 am after having one of the greatest nights of sleep in months.  I guess I am finally used to the hard wood bed with the one futon on top of it to ease my mind and body to rest(BTW Futon is pronounced Fu-Tone, and not like the American couch that turns into a bed called a FOOTAWN) .

Anyway, Shy-san is my coworker/Malaysian neighbor/Japanese teacher/girl i can say funny things to/walking to work friend/translate this document for me friend/great friend here in Japan.  We are like brother and sister out here and go to and come from work together each day–cause we live next to each other.

 It was snowing today, and about one minute into our 6.5 minute journey to our office, she blurts out:

“SHIT!”

“WHAT?!?!?!”

She says it again….

“What was that for?”

“It is so cold today!”

Just so we have it all clear, I did not teach her that word. She learned it from an Aussie fella that she knew while in university. I have noticed her saying a few things that i know did not come from anyone but the paynetrain:

“Shut up or else I am going to kick you in the nuts”

“Who cut the cheese?”

“Cameron, are your balls going to freeze off today?”

Coming from Malaysia, sure it should be cold to her. But she went to university in Obihiro for 6 years. Which is in Hokkaido. Which is already under  who knows how many feet of snow right now and stays that way for probably 11 months out of the year (that may be an exageration).

and she is complaining about a little bit of snow and a little bit of cold…..

I guess I shouldn’t tell her that i have been praying for it to snow like crazy in the next two weeks so i can go snowboarding on the 15th…….

Aizu, how about you?

So about a month ago, I had some plans to go with a few friends to a place west of here called Aizu (pronounced I-zoo).  Unfortunately, 2 weeks before it happened, I received a message from the US director of this intern program that he and 3 others from my lovely Utah Valley State College will be coming on none other than that very day that I made plans with friends. Lonf story short, had to cancel the trip to Aizu.

 The person who kindly took the time to plan it not only was not happy with me for cancel, but she canceled the whole thing for everyone! kinda nice to know that i can ruin a party without even showing up…..

She was kinda steamed, and i felt bad.

She rescheduled for this last weekend and I am really glad that she did.  Here are a few pics of what happened out there.

Lets start with Iimoriyama, since those are the pics that i have right now.

 

These are a couple statues of the Byakkotai. I am going to write their story here the best I can from how I understood it from those who explained it to me. Aizu was one of the last Samurai strongholds in Japan–people related the story of Aizu to the movie The Last Samurai where the newly revoluionized government tries to rid the country of strong Samurai powers (though let me take the chance to throw out there that Tom Cruise really isn’t that great of an actor–he is just good at conused facial expressions).

Anyway, there were all sorts of wars going on back in the day, and in one of these wars in particular, there was a group of warriors called the Byakkotai that had the duty of defending Aizu and it s Lord  from invaders. This group of warriors was made up of the sons of Samurai and one of them was a doctor. The oldest of them was 17, and there were two 14 year olds as well. They were fighting off another tribe in the mountains of Niigata ken, and on their return trip, they noticed that their town was on fire. The castle, which they were  charged with defending as well, appeared to be on fire as well. They viewed this all from Iimoriyama where the view looks somewhat like this:

You can see a little line of trees way in the back of the photo–that is where the castle is. The castle looks something like this (with yours truly pulling the gayest pose possible).

So they see what looks like the castle is burning, which essentially means that the Lord of the Castle is dead and the town is going to be ruled by the conquering invaders. So what does any right minded faithful Samurai to be warrior do after he realizes that he has failed his lifes duty to protect and secure the Lord and the villiage?

Kill yourself by stabbing yourself in the stomach and bleeding to death on the ground.

Sounds logical, does it not?

31 of them died in the battle with the other army.

 17 of them returned to see that their place was a blaze and killed themselves up on the mountain.

16 of the 17 died by honorable suicide though one of them was saved by a villagier who saw them in passing and saved him. Why was this villiager not fighting the great battle with the others near the castle?

Probably because there was no battle.

The fire was apprarently just for farming and what not. The castle was not on fire, only fields. It just looked like it was on fire.

For this, I had to think–it is a shame that they were teenagers and didn’t take the time to go and check things out to make sure that the castles really wasn’t buring.

But on the other hand, standing here near their graves/memorials you can really tell that these weren’t just boys that aimlessly killed themselves. They really had the ’Samurai spirit’ in them and they fought valiantly. There was something special there at their memorials that made you think–wow. Those dudes had some big ole balls.

But then again, it is really sad that they didn’t go and check it out again.

Of all the Temples and Shrines and graves and whatever that I have been to in Japan, this is the first place that i have been to that i actually thought—‘wow, there is something really special about this place’.

Condoning suicide? nope.

 Maybe it is the fact that the story inspires so many. I don’t know how. But it was just very intereting to learn about.

memorial for the 31 that died in the war.

Memorial for the 16 that died on top of the hill.

I really don’t think this story will inspire you at all. But you should be inspired by the ability of Cameron to resort to his cell phone camera when the battery in my digi cam ran out.

This is a building that you walk up to the top and walk right back down…..costs 300 yen to get in. Kinda boring, but the architecture was kinda neat. You don’t walk on the same pathway more than once. go figure.

This is a hole in the rock. There is water coming out of the hole in the rock. The water coming fom the hole in the rock is from a lake on the other side of the mountains. This hole was dug by humans. 400 years ago.  A big ole long tunnel that flows like a roller coaster in order to get water from Lake Inawashiroko to Aizu. no pump station. Just natural flow.

I have even bored myself typing all this and posting cell phone pics….sorry about that everyone.

If it helps any, here is a pic my primary kids took of me (4 year olds knowing how to use a cell phone camera–insane)

 They took this pic and said ペイン兄弟おかしい！！

a recent phone call to the states

“hello?” 

“Hi! I had like 10 minutes and so I decided to call the most important person in America “

 ”Oh that is sweet of you!”

“Ya, George Bush and J.K. Rowling (who is on an American tour somewhere I am sure) were busy so i decided to give you a call real quick instead”

 ”Boy, Cameron, You really know how to impress someone.”