i spent the last 3 weeks of my stay in japan traveling around and saying goodbye to my favorite people and places. this is the third part of a too-many-parted series describing my goodbye adventures in japan (heres part one and part two).

__nagano (長野)__
due to some heavy snow storms passing through northern honshu (本州), some of the trains were forced to stop running. luckily, we were able to ride a bus through the worst of it instead. the bus driver must have been half suicidal, half the-luckiest-driver-on-earth, and half driving-on-ice pro because he barreled down narrow icy roads with little-to-no visibility and snow walls packed taller than the bus and got us safely to a working train station in the same time it would have taken the snowed-in train to do it.

a small snowy town in between nagano (長野) and niigata (新潟)

outside our lodge in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

we stayed in a ski lodge in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬) that was only a block from the lift. if we wanted to, we could actually board down the mountain and stop directly in front of the lodge. it snowed the entire time we were up there, which made visibility pretty atrocious at times, but made the fresh snow a freaking delight to board. i seriously cant wait to do it again next year!

on one of the massive lifts in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

just two guys who are having a good time, having a good time. hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

after snowboarding we headed into matsumoto (松本) for the day. there we got to see matsumoto-jo (松本城), which is my second favorite castle in japan (himeji-jo (姫路城) is still the best).

matsumoto castle (松本城)

nagano (長野)

__osaka (大阪)__
we arrived in osaka (大阪) at night. and with the kind of city osaka is, the night time is the best time to be there. my friend and i quickly dropped off our stuff in a cheap hotel and headed directly to a highly recommended blow fish restaurant. blow fish, or fugu (河豚), is poisonous and even deadly if prepared wrong, so it was important to us to go to a reputable place. we both chose slightly expensive set courses consisting of 10 different ways to consume tiger blow fish including: sashimi, sushi, nabe, tempura, sake, and more. the meal was interesting, delicious, and judging by the fact we didnt die from it, well worth it!

tiger blow fish (トラ河豚) dinner set, osaka (大阪)

after dinner we met up with a really good friend from new england who currently lives in japan and wanted to have one last hurrah with me in osaka before i left. the rest of the weekend is a bit hazy, but i do remember there was waaaay too much drinking involved. the nights were awesome, but the mornings were tough for all of us. we eventually lost track of how many takoyaki (たこ焼き), or octopus balls, we ate that weekend. there was a castle (osaka-jo) in there somewhere. at one point we ended up at a spanish bar after they closed for the night and sat down with the owners and spoke japanese, spansih and english to them while they continuously and graciously filled our wine and sangria cups. my buddy ended up wearing a michael jackson hat somehow and moonwalked across the bar for everyone to see. ahhhh, osaka is always good times.

osaka castle (大阪城)

dressing up and playing the part, osaka castle (大阪城)

my next set of japan adventures started off with a bang when a good friend from LA came to japan to hang out with me, see some sights, and then escort me back to the states. before he arrived, i spent some time saying goodbye to friends in mie (三重), wakayama (和歌山), and tokushima (徳島). you can check the highlights from that trip in goodbye adventures: part one.

mt. fuji (富士山) from my shinkansen (新幹線) window

__tokyo (東京)__
immediately after picking up my friend at the airport, we headed out for some fun in the city that i currently called my home, tokyo (東京). in the span of just one day, we started drinking in a foreigner pub at 9am while watching the superbowl live, hung out in harajuku (原宿) and people watched, walked through the tranquil yoyogi park (代々木公園) to the meiji shrine (明治神宮), pet the statue of hachiko (ハチ公), one of japans most famously loyal dogs, and walked through one of the busiest intersections in tokyo, shibuya crossing.

walking through yoyogi park (代々木公園) to the meiji shrine (明治神宮)

petting japans most famously loyal dog, hachiko (ハチ公)

a five-story pagoda near senso-ji (浅草寺)

__nikko (日光)__
next we were off to nikko (日光). after eating at the best restaurant in town (for vegetarians, at least), hippari dako (ひっぱり・だこ), we took obligatory pictures if nikko's beautiful red "sacred bridge" called shinkyo (神橋). after that, we headed for the shoyo-en garden (逍遥園) to experience some nature. because we were there in the beginning of a cold february, the garden was covered in snow and the pond was half frosted over - which made it absolutely beautiful to explore.

curry udon (カレーうどん) at hippari dako (ひっぱり・だこ), nikko (日光)

standing in front of the "sacred bridge", shinkyo (神橋), in nikko (日光)

shoyo-en garden (逍遥園), nikko (日光)

we spent the rest of our day walking around tosho-gu (東照宮), where we got to check out various shrines, ornate buildings, and another five story pagoda. one of the more interesting parts of tosho-gu was the depiction the "three wise monkeys" (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). dating from the 17th century, its actually one of the first pictorial representations of confucius' code of conduct.

tosho-gu (東照宮), nikko (日光)

the three wise monkeys (三猿) in tosho-gu (東照宮). see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

a five story pagoda in tosho-gu (東照宮), nikko (日光)

japan has treated me very well. it makes me sad to think about how quickly my time here is disappearing, but at the same time, im getting pretty stoked about going back to boston and starting up where i left off. im excited to get back into some of the hobbies/interests i had to put on hold here in japan.

im looking forward to getting back into music. i havent been able to play guitar in my tokyo apartment because of the ultra-thin walls and ceilings between me and my neighbors. i seriously cant wait to start playing again! i want to get back into writing and recording music - and this time im serious about wanting to try performing in front of real, live people too.

call me an alcoholic if you must, but im also pretty excited to be moving to a country where non-crappy beer can be found in abundance. oh how i miss those precious porters, stouts, wheat beers, and any other type of beer that isnt made from rice. id even like to learn how to make some of those delicious beasts on my own too.

im looking forward to having the chance to do more outdoor activities as well. bike riding, kayaking, sailing, hiking, and snowboarding are all definitely possible to do in japan, of course, but not with the crazy salaryman hours ive been putting in here in tokyo.

im trying my hardest to get back into the start up scene as well. i want that excitement again. almost everyone ive worked with in start ups - or small companies that act like start ups - was so in to their jobs and felt appreciated by their coworkers. ive been skyping with a couple start ups already, and i hope to talk to more when i get back to the states.

in conclusion, even though japan is awesome and im going to miss it and the people ive met here like crazy, im stoked to be going back to the states.

my japan adventures are quickly coming to an end. i finally quit my job. fuck the salaryman life (サラリーマンの生活は残念だよ). im giving myself "two and a half" (a nickname from lives past) weeks to say goodbye to as many of the awesome people ive met in the last year and a half, and to visit as many of my favorite places i can one last time.

__kushimoto's fire festival (串本の火祭り)__
last weekend i traveled down to the southernmost tip of honshu (本州) to visit some good friends in mie-ken (三重県) and wakayama-ken (和歌山県). we all met up in kushimoto (串本) to check out the annual fire festival (火祭り). most of us had already seen the festival the year before, but its just so darned cool we had to see it again. after a bunch of dancing and some taiko drumming, kids lined up on top of a hill and shot flaming arrows into a grassy field. it felt like most of the town was there with us to watch the field burn. after a while, the firemen even help SPREAD the fire. and when i asked one of them politely, they even let me spread the fire around with a flaming ball of something very burnable. fire can be a lot of fun sometimes. just like last year, we brought sticks and marshmallows and roasted them on the [gigantic] open fire.

ready.. aim..

..fire!!

the field didnt even know what it had coming

throw in some fireworks for good measure

the field never stood a chance

__kiikatsura's camel onsen (紀伊勝浦のらくだの湯)__
the next day some of us went to kiikatsura (紀伊勝浦) for some relaxing in an outdoor onsen, or rotemburo (露天風呂). the onsen we wanted to check out, rakada-no-yu (らくだの湯) - literally "the camel spa" - was only accessible by boat so we had to wait at the harbor to get picked up. when we finally arrived, it quickly became apparent why it was called the camel spa (check out that picture below). we soaked in the natural, beautiful, extremely sulfur-smelling, onsen and gazed at the giant camel rocks chilling just a few feet away.

rakuda no yu (らくだの湯) - literally "the camel spa"

just chillin

__shingu's floating forest and mcdonald's "las vegas burger"__
on the last day, we visited a floating forest in the middle of a swamp called ukishima no mori (浮島の森) in shingu (新宮), and a nearby shrine.

during our last meal, i had the pleasure of watching a friend enjoy a "las vegas burger," which is the special that mcdonalds is running right now in japan. please note: there is nothing vegasy about this burger except, as my friend described, the regret that may come after experiencing it.

mcdonalds "las vegas burger"

does it taste as gross as it looks?

answer: yes

it was hard to leave such good friends and such beautiful scenery, but my first weekend of goodbyes had to eventually come to an end. ill miss you guys.

first, let me start this off by saying that i dont work nearly as many hours as most salarymen in japan. furthermore, im healthy, content, and actually like the job im doing. this post is not about me, but rather the hardcore salarymen out there and the japanese social structure that forces them into working more and more hours until their bodies just cant take it anymore.

dying from working too much is a real problem here in japan. seriously. its a common enough occurrence to have a word created just for it: karoshi (過労死), or "death from overwork." the first reported case happened in 1969 when a salaryman in his 20's with no major health problems suddenly died after working more than 40 days in a row. the number of reported karoshi victims per year has generally increased since then to almost two hundred confirmed deaths every year (the most recent official stats i could find: 189 deaths and 208 severely ill in 2007 wikipedia). the most common medical reasons for these deaths are heart attacks and strokes due to stress and fatigue. salarymen are literally working themselves to death.

im not trying to say this is the biggest problem in the world right now, cause in the whole scope of things, its really not. but it is still a tragedy nonetheless.

why are so many japanese people working themselves to death? i think the answer is much more complicated than what i, as a short-term foreigner, can determine. but im pretty sure it has something to do with the incredible number of hours they work. japanese people, on average, work more hours per year than any other industrialized country (international journal of health services). the companies and corporations that make their employees work these hours are only half of the problem though. the other half comes from the values found in japanese society that make salarymen think they should dedicate themselves completely to their job. i see it everyday from my coworkers. many of them work 12-14 hour days, 6 or sometimes even 7 days a week. they have been trained to put health, family, and leisure time second to their job. though most salarymen get away with this unhealthy lifestyle, every year a couple hundred of them are not so fortunate.

as an outsider to the system, i dont have any power to fix this problem. sadly, all i can do is write about it and hope that things eventually get better. ive got my fingers crossed for you, japan.