Okayama and Hiroshima

Miyajima, Hiroshima prefecture. A really beautiful place with

some nice hiking trails once you get away from the crowds.

Hiroshima yaki. The Hiroshima form of Okonomiyaki,

a Japanese pancake. Possible ingredients are limitless.

Wandering down another in a series of random alleys in Kurashiki, Okayama.

Akiko looks bemused by my insistence on always taking the path less traveled.

Kurashiki, Okayama

Okayama prefecture. We went down to Okayama and Hiroshima for Golden Week in May. Our first stop was Okayama city where we rented bikes and rode through the countryside to Kurashiki. It was kind of idyllic and quiet and the weather was great as well. It's hard to get away from the crowds during Golden Week in Japan but we succeeded at least for a few hours.

Summer 2010

Typhoon swell at Takoba; the surf spot closest to home. It often

looks surfable but is almost always bigger and heavier than it looks.

Getting ready to take my new sea kayak out on the lake for the first time

Sumo in Nagoya. There are six events a year and I always go to the one in Nagoya in July. This is the "Dohyo iri" when the top ranked wrestlers parade into the ring before the bouts of the day begin. It's always exciting but this year was a bit of a downer because two big names, Asashoryu and Kotomitsuki, have recently been kicked out of sumo due to scandals.

About to take my new kayak out for a spin in the lake. I bought it used from a friend

who has returned home. It's great to be on the water in the heat of midsummer!

Here's me pumping it up (with the foot pump I'm standing on.)

Arai fireworks festival. It seems that every neighborhood, village, town, city etc. has a fireworks festival sometime in summer. This is the one in Arai, Akiko's hometown just a few miles west of Hamamatsu. It's relatively low-key and less crowded than most of the others so we enjoy going every year. It may be hard to believe but those fire spewing tubes are each being held by one person. The fireworks explode out of the tubes spraying sparks and sometimes fire everywhere. Every year I go I'm amazed that no one ever seems to get seriously injured.