Ski Slopes, Spring Hopes, (insert tropes)

This will be a short enough one. There is not a whole lot occurring the last few weeks. People slowly crawling back from the winter vacation (author included). Back to the grind etc. Not a bad thing to have some occupation and fill ones time but one always thinks of the freedom of not working. I also do not like winter. There is a level of cold and darkness one can accept as a human and a combination of sweden, Ireland and now japan is the extent of it for this human. Snow is not that great really, it is fine for one day really when it is fresh, then it either goes icy and dangerously slippy or else it goes mushy and grey, disgusting to look at and wade through.

Takasu Ski Area

One thing the snow is good for however is skiing - skiing is a mighty fun activity. There is extreme risk to almost every joint in the bottom half of your body and you hurtle down a hill at unhealthy speeds until you risk a wipeout and do even more damage to your top half. Regardless of all this you end up with a smile on your face very time you eat a mouthful of snow and shame upon flipping over your own skis for the nth time on the beginner run. There is a special type of humbling that occurs after getting overtaken by god knows how many 5 year olds as you try to stick your foot back into your own ski halfway down a supposedly easy hill. Personal highlight: smacking oneself into the snow on what most would probably consider a normal hill which one ended up on purely by accident. One rolls over to find ones skis only to observe quite literally an amphitheatre of observers atop the hill having a good gander down at the whitey giving the snowplough a respectable go. Next highlight is spending the guts of 15 minutes trying to jam the boot into a ski while a similar onlooking crowd gathered to enjoy another spectacle of whitey not fully understanding what it is doing in the mountains on a cold january day, continually

view on the way home, mountains look unreal (poorly advised picture while driving, highly unadvised for everyone's safety)

vieattempting and missing the insertion of the boot into the ski - while slowly sliding down the hill at a pathetically slow pace. Massively grateful to a nice fellow who slid down and gave me a hand out, holding the ski in place (only for amateur bob to wipeout 3 minutes later on the same stretch of hill). I have no idea what the terminology or etiquette of skiing is or what the culture of it is anywhere but I am safe in the knowledge that it is fun to go fast, fall and nearly fleece a whole fleet of unsuspecting victims with your incompetence. One thing i did notice though is that people are obviously trained from a young age, both with the skis and the snowboard, it was the same in sverige. A particularly fun tidbit of the hwole day of course was the fact that i was meant to meet a friend there. There was no doubt of the intention to meet said person however the level of language incompetence inevitably lead to the author attending the wrong ski area 8D Quite the message exchange ; 'where are you''at the entrance''which entrance'eh the only entrance''you are probably in the wrong place''indeed i am - apologies'. proceed to fall down hills at a rapid pace.

Not to dog on winter or anything like that but it is by far the absolute worst season. the other three seasons all have their merits and qualities and yet the only benefit of winter is that it makes us more grateful for the qualities of the other seasons. 'oh the darkness is so cozy''oh the cold makes it so nice to be inside'' oh the snow is so beautiful'. Get out of here, winter apologists. You will be on the wring side of history.

Had the pleasure of joining a friend on a venture into the very bowels of the earth itself. Now what i did not understand about the 'great limestone caves', as the were called, was twofold - namely there was an art collection preceding it with sculptures and pieces from literally all across the world; chinese dragon motifs/drawers, dutch brandy holders, persian pieces of pottery and everything in between - from hundreds to even thousands of years ago in age. Apparently the gent who crawled through the mountain to find the cave system also had a penchant for antiquated art and somehow collected his own little gallery to confound the later generations that would walk through his discovery.

Next up of course - why the hell is there limestone caves on a volcanic island. Obviously I am not a geologist, but, i have done some research. Apparently the islands were not formed solely as a result of volcanic activity but there was of course massive amounts of ancient marine environments which also happened to form before the volcanoes (boring). Regardless, the rock structures and the intricacies of the limestone remind one of the burren in ireland. Seemingly delicate but also resilient, having formed over (literally) millions of years of erosion and deposition. Limestone is such a weak rock but it creates possibly the most beautiful impressions of itself when combined with water - pillars, columns, sheets, veins and of course tites and mites. Really interesting to go inside the earth itself to see the mechanisms at play beneath your own feet.

They have some really fucking solid food here, which I have not taken picture of because I am not an instagram whore (yet-god forbid). The level of care and attention ploughed into a simple starter is really admirable, appreciated and honestly undervalued. Every dish is served with not only an aesthetic element, but an attention to detail in the flavour itself, often delicate. The Japanese food does not seem to be spicy in itself as much as savoury, however there is an adoption of other ethnic foods of course and when undertaking such a mission, the spice is applied very nicely indeed. In stark contrast to the odd pleasure of dining out is of course the menial labour of feeding oneself. This is not a pleasure in as much s it is a chore - rice, onion, greens, chicken and salt/pepper/oil. Highly functional, massively lacking in flavour and highly convenient/cheap really. I have taken to calling it dog food for its appearance. recipe requires a pan and a pot - rice in the pot, everything else fried in the pan, salt and pepper to taste. when the rice is ready, drain it, toss it into the pan and fry it all up together. Bang. Dish of dog food for you. Enjoy (it is actually tasty despite the naming).

Ryujin Waterfalls

Driving is a real pleasure and a luxury. The roads are often terrible but there is untold amounts of freedom in just filling a tank (don't let them take your diesel) and setting off to nowhere in particular for no reason other than to burn rubber. This week I took off in hot pursuit for no reason in particular of a random waterfall. Truly a beautiful piece of nature. Crystal blue waters, absolute silence, not a swarm of tourists (ironic considering) and a very clear image of how the waterfall actually was formed. as you look up and down this small creek you can see the marks of the thousands of years of erosion, the many, many beatings the weak rick has taken in order to recede to the point it is at now and the grooves and channels within the streams flow that it is currently beating into this soft rock. the harder rock on either side, less relenting obviously, but still bearing testament to the absolute battering the water is giving to this paltry soft rock (probably limestone, not a geologist) and yet still feeling the impact as it is undercut and the water just continues carving and grooving and moving. When you look into a moving body of water it always maintains the same general appearance but it is constantly shifting and changing within that

the river has eroded it's way upstream - incredible resilience from all involved

general appearance or form, it is really fascinating. possibly stating the obvious here of course, the same is true for fire and probably air, but it seems very noticeable in water, particularly rivers. there is a constant struggle between the rock and the water, a constant erosions and reconstitution post erosion which is clealry visible - and yet we witeness just 30 minutes of a millennia ling battle between these contenders. We should be so lucky to witness any of it really, nature in it's rawest sense, just battering, carving, winding, diluting, eroding and figuring out, the same as any living creature or system. Mad altogether, Regardless, feels nice to put the foot to the floor for no reason other than to stare at a waterfall for a few minutes in the snow. I wonder did nature want us ti discover the power of diesel? Did Mother Earth want us to uncover the beauty of petrol and figure out how to burn it in the most efficient manner? Burn petrol, go fast 8) Hell yeah, if we are a part of nature.... then it is a natural progression that we will burn the remains of our ancestors to fuel our successors surely? Regardless, feels nice to fill up a tank with some fumey petrol and start banging away on potholey roads that are all new and never ending for you. I will try at a certain point (early may - golden week) to circumnavigate the southern portion of the islands by car with the beautiful, dutiful and powerful suzuki Cervo within 5 days. So stay tuned for that impending disaster.

Next up: some decent sunrises

I was truly lucky a few nights ago to see a beautiful clear night sky and witness three planets in procession - Mars, Venus and Jupiter. There is an element to being alive which is the recognition that you are just a speck on a rock witnessing everything else happen purely outside of you. That is pretty nice - nothing you think do or say really matters in the grand sense of it but it matters as much as anything else at the same time which is pretty nice.

Weather getting better (hopefully it stays improving), mood is up, blood is up, more to see and do. The bright mornings invigorate you to no end after weeks of dark, grey and cold.

fuck yeah.

I can tell you, either me or this website (almost certainly me, not arsed googling the answer) is retarded, i have spent 20 minutes fiddling with the two images here to make them side by side but alas, i have relented and the stupidity of the website has beaten me somehow. regardless here are a few banging sets and interviews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsPg7bjT1rM&t=2984s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY7M3pzXdUo&t=4223s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrIDSYpH4cM More to come on the interview front 0.0 Myself and my uncle are becoming increasingly amused with the online world and will rant (ineffectively) about some of it publicly soon.