waking up at 5 on a dark saturday morning is usually a terrible idea. please let this be one of the few exceptions. i put on some clothes, strap on a backpack, and catch the first train out of town. koyasan (高野山), the capital of japanese buddhism, here i come!
after an hour and a half train ride i meet up with friends with a car, and we begin our epic road trip. unfortunately, as we near the top of the mountain, we suddenly find ourselves in a very dangerous situation. snow begins to line the winding road. before long, the pavement gives way to ice. when our small car begins to slide on a particularly slippery patch, we make the smart decision to immediately turn around and go back. road trip fail :(

we drive back down the mountain and head for the nearest train station. three trains, a cable car, a bus, and about four hours later, we finally arrive at the top of koyasan.
our long and dangerous journey ends as we start walking through a snowy picturesque landscape. we slowly make our way through the beautiful snow to the buddhist temple where we'll be staying for the night.
a very nice monk hands us slippers and takes us to our room. after we make ourselves some green tea to warm up and unwind, we head back downstairs for some legendary 精進料理 ("shojin ryori", buddhist cuisine). this delicious and 100% vegetarian meal might just be the best part of the whole trip. while i eat, i contemplate when i can afford to come here again because the food is just THAT good.
we all hop in the 露天風呂 ("rotenburo", outdoor public bath) to relax after dinner. sitting in a hot onsen (温泉) on a cold snowy night is one of the best feelings one can experience, period.

the next morning we wake up early again (5:30am!!) and head downstairs to observe the monks' morning rituals of chanting sutras, burning incense, bowing, and many other buddhisty things. we eat another shojin ryori for breakfast, and then leave our temple to explore the town. we spend hours walking in a gentle snow storm through okono-in (奥の院), a famous buddhist cemetery, and the garan (伽藍), a complex of pagodas, temples, and statues.
we have to leave the mountain fairly early due to the 10 hour commute some of us have to sit through before we can be back "home". personally, i cant wait until i have the time, money, and friends to do this exact trip again.

living in the "deep south" of the kii peninsula (紀伊半島) in japan has opened my mind to foreign concepts such as genuine hospitality and neighborly kindness. maybe its the japanese culture; maybe its the small town life; or maybe it means ive only lived in mean american cities. whatever the reason may be, i am thankful to experience just how nice people can be to random strangers here in the dirty south.

to the lady working at the car repair shop just outside of town:
i promise i didnt mean to get off at the wrong bus stop in the middle of nowhere. in my defense, it was my first time riding that bus and i was busy thinking about how i should introduce myself in front of an elementary school full of curious kids. i would have told you all of this if i knew any japanese or if you understood english. but despite our complete lack of communication, you somehow knew that a gaijin (外人, "foreigner") with a guitar in one hand and a bag of teaching materials in the other was hopelessly lost and desperately needed some help. thanks for taking time off of work to give me a ride to school.

to the nice japanese family who makes amazing meals for me:
when you invited me over to your house the other night for dinner, i didnt know what to expect. i was delighted to discover your hospitality knows no bounds! thanks for (possibly catching and) preparing fresh tuna sashimi (まぐろさしみ), giant shrimp tempura (天ぷらのえび), and teriyaki fish (照り焼き魚) - not to mention all the other things i dont know the names of, like that soft omelet in a cup thing and those fried vegetable cakes. i also want to thank you for the limitless amount of yebisu (ヱビス) - the only japanese beer that doesnt suck. and to top it all off, you sent me home with a warm loaf of homemade bread. you guys may be old, but youre rad as hell to me!

to the teachers who constantly bring me apples and mikans (cause thats all you think i eat):
i feel like i should remind you all sometime soon that i do in fact eat non-fruit related meals occasionally. but until then.. thanks for all the free produce.

to the nice business man in the ridiculous looking sports car:
i really did check the weather online before i left my house that morning, and it didnt say anything about rain. nevertheless, thank you for pulling over and picking up this soaked foreigner who didnt have an umbrella to protect him from the sudden torrential downpour. and thanks for going out of your way to drop me off right outside my house. i hope your overpriced sports car didnt smell like wet gaijin for too long.

to the lady who owns the liquor store:
thanks for letting me borrow your ママチャリ ("mamachari"; an old woman's bike, usually with a basket in the front) for the entire year. i can assure you its helped me maintain at least some level of sanity so far. oh and thanks for giving me a bottle of your homemade plum wine (梅酒) - it was delicious!

i am not the least bit worried about my safety here in japan. despite what the foreign media is constantly shoving in everyones faces, the tragedy HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. please note the tense of that last sentence. the earthquake already occurred. the tsunami already struck. the nuclear power plants already failed. and even if the nuclear situation deteriorated further to the absolute worst-case scenario (which seems highly unlikely), i live so far away from the plants that the meltdown would not effect my safety in the slightest.

please dont succumb to the foreign medias over-hyped exaggerated sensationalism. tragic events occurred; many innocent people lost their lives; we are all terribly saddened by what happened. but most of what the media is currently showing is over-dramatized to keep people watching and to increase ad revenue. please, for your sanity, dont buy in to it.

seriously, i appreciate the concern. its a great feeling to be reminded that there are people who care about me. with that being said, however, it pains me to know that people are needlessly worrying about me. the last thing i want to be is a burden on your conscience.

for people who like summaries (tl;dr):
the tragedies already occurred. i live far away from them. the chances of full-scale nuclear meltdowns are extremely low. but even if one were to occur, my town is far enough away to not be effected in the slightest. thus, i am not worried about my safety - and neither should you.

for people who like visuals:
this google map shows my town of kihoku (K), the center of the earthquake (E), the city of sendai which was devastated by the tsunami (S), and the town of fukushima which is where the nuclear power plants are located (F).

K = kihoku (my town), E = earthquake, S = sendai, F = fukushima

for people who like numbers:

• • distance from my town (kihoku) to the earthquake: 449.189 miles (722.9km)
• • distance from my town (kihoku) to sendai: 387.090 miles (623.0km)
• • distance from my town (kihoku) to fukushima: 346.855 miles (558.2km)

for people who like analogies:
being worried about my safety when i live almost 400 miles from where the tragedies took place, is like worrying about my vegas friends' safety if a disaster struck san fransisco.


for people who like links:

• rational information: for a healthy dose of un-exaggerated scientific explanations of what is currently going on at the fukushima power plants: MIT nuclear information hub
• monetary contribution: for people who have extra money to spare towards disaster relief (note: you can request your donations go directly to japan for the earthquake and tsunami relief efforts): american red cross
• mood lightening: for people who need a break from the sobering news reports and who enjoy pointless ridiculousness: pointless ridiculousness

first and foremost: i am currently safe and not in any immediate danger. my heart goes out to those who actually were caught up in the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor failures, and to those who lost friends and family to these tragic events. please, if you can, donate time or money to help the rescue operations right now.

friday afternoon, after teaching 5 classes at one of my elementary schools, i sat in the teachers office preparing next weeks lessons. while making a worksheet for my 4th graders, i started to feel dizzy like i was half drunk or something. the feeling lasted a minute or so. while some teachers didnt even notice, others were looking around with the same confused looks i had. 地震だった (earthquake)? we turned on the tv and quickly found out that there had just been a massive earthquake off the eastern coast. the news broadcast immediately started projecting the size of the inevitable tsunami that would soon follow for each coastal prefecture. when the numbers climbed to 6+ meters we began to understand the seriousness of the situation. the teachers announced to the students to go home immediately. many of them even drove the kids home themselves.

though the earthquake was too far away to shake us, we were all quite worried about the approaching tsunami. at one point they were predicting waves as high as 3 meters to hit my prefecture. and since my little seaside town sits right on the water, it was nerve-racking to say the least. as the minutes flew by, the predictions slowly shrank down to a more-reasonable 2 meters or less. but watching entire towns get swallowed up on live tv did not help calm our fears.

one of the more sobering moments was when i began seeing some of the elderly people in my town slowly start making their way to our emergency shelter.

at some point i received a text from a worried friend in america asking if i was alright. i replied that i was fine, but the phone and internet connections began to act up. over the next several hours, many of my texts failed to send, making me resend them over and over again.

a little after 5pm the major tsunami warning was lifted for my town, making it safe enough for me to finally go home. i spent all of friday night watching japanese news and the live coverage on bbc's website. important local warnings and messages were broadcast to my emergency radio almost-hourly throughout the night. at one point they started playing the tsunami sirens over the radio, which was followed by a guy yelling at me in japanese. since i couldnt understand anything more than the tsunami sirens, i jumped up, packed an emergency bag, and ran out the door all while calling friends who could translate better than i. luckily, it turned out to be a false alarm. i fell asleep wearing all my clothes, with my emergency bag as a pillow, with the tv on, and my laptop by my side.

nerves where high all weekend. tsunami warnings/advisories were in effect until sunday, major aftershocks were - and still are - expected, and the nuclear reactor problems are still ongoing. that being said, there is no need for anyone to worry about me. i am indestructible, incredibly lucky, and a good swimmer to boot. ha, but seriously i appreciate the thoughts. i am fortunate enough to live far away from where the disasters took place. my thoughts go out to those who were less fortunate.