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.

ORD

I will always find it exciting to board a plane in Chicago ORD at noon, then arrive Tokyo the next day, late afternoon.

Disaster Tourism

Entrapped school bus in lava

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