Posted After the Quake.
Category: East Asia
After the Quake
September 20, 2018. The view from my seat on the turboprop from Central Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport summed up my hesitancy to visit Japan’s northernmost island. Below, I could see hills pockmarked by landslides. In some places roads were blocked. I was witnessing effects of Hokkaido’s massive earthquake exactly two weeks earlier. In the early…… Continue reading After the Quake
A Kind Person
At Kushiro Shitsugen National Park a woman stopped her car to give me an origami crane. I thanked her, and she drove on. After a hundred yards she stopped again, this time to offer me a ride to the train station. I thanked her and explained I love to walk.
View from a Plane
This weekend I plan to hike this caldera lake (Lake Mashu). Another caldera (Mount Kamui) rises out of the lake. I took this picture from a turboprop, today, on my way to Nemuro, the most easterly town in Hokkaido and Japan.
Clean Clothes Every Day
Landed in Hokkaido from Tokyo, late Wednesday evening. Washed my clothes: they’ll be dry in time for me to wear them on an early morning turboprop flight.
Japan 2018
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Disaster Tourism
School bus, trapped in lava. Hawaii Big Island, April 2009. My partner and I hiked across lava. A map on our GPS guided us along the invisible lines of streets buried beneath us. A school bus, trapped by lava, reminded us this is a disaster site where homes had once stood. Disaster Tourism can be…… Continue reading Disaster Tourism
In the Event of an Earthquake…
Posted In the Event of an Earthquake…
In the Event of an Earthquake…
I’ve just received a message from the the Air Terminal Hotel at Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, the main airport for Hokkaido, Japan: “Because of (the) big earthquake on September 6, the hotel has been heavily damaged and we cannot accept any customers … at this moment.” I had been expecting the message, as there was…… Continue reading In the Event of an Earthquake…
Unforgiven
Watched “Yurusarezaru mono” (“Unforgiven”) set in Japan’s brutal 19th century frontier, Hokkaido. It parallels America’s West: settlers (from Honshu), indigenous people (Ainu), and destitute Samurai rather than washed-up gunslingers. In 2013 I visited this 1870’s frontier home.