Donnerstag, 18. Februar 2010

u got it all!

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What an amazing country!? You can have it all … Just a couple weeks before I was surrounded by waves and now I got stack in 3m finest powder. I was swimming up to my chest in crystals.

Yamamoto, Takemasa, Yasui, Matsuno san & me went for a little powder session to Akakura Onsen – a ski & snowboard resort in Myoko-shi, Niigata prefecture.

I’ve seen lots of snow in my life, but this snow here in Japan is different. The amount was incredible; the consistent is so light and dry, fine and fluffy … very nice.



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We left Nagoya at 2.45 sharp. I seeped a bit in the car. When I woke up I couldn’t believe it golf ball sized snowflakes where twirling around us. I continually had that feeling in your stomach. The one you get when the surf starts picking up, your trying to sleep in your tent, all your hear are waves crashing and you know its going to be cranking in the morning.


We stayed in the little town Akakura Onsen in a real old school Japanese hotel. Tatami mat rooms, no beds just futons (jap. 布団, wörtlich: „Stoffkreis“), natural Onsen (温泉 ♨) and an amazing traditional dinner & breakfast. I got to say, the breakfast was a bit too traditional for me in the early morning hours just before heading up the mountain.


The skiing area is not so big and not very high, but it’s lots of fun especially when you dawning in the powder, surfing through the forest and listen to German Yodel-Hüttenmusik at the apres restaurant.



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I couldn’t help it …

I had to dive into the deep. Yamamoto told me afterwards that he just heard a crow then before I vanished in the woods. It was an amazing ride until I got stuck in a flat valley section. There was no other way then to unstrap the board and hike through the deep deep snow. It felt like an eternity … it started to snow.


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When I finally got back on track I realized that I just had 10 min. to catch up with the others in the hotel. The others where waiting for me. Yamamoto asked me if I heard the announcement he did from the rescue center!? To be honest I didn’t!!!


What a nice day … and it wasn’t over jet!


We went back to the hotel, took an Onsen, had dinner & headed down to the Dondon Yaki Festival to grill some Motchis (rice cake). You had to clamp the Motchi on the peak of an ultra long bamboo stick on a massive bonfire! Most of the rice cakes where black as a chunk of coal!



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We didn’t stay too long, because it snowed like crazy.


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The next day we had to del with the result!



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wild wild east & the Year of the Tiger

The year has started since a while now and I’m still catching up. But soon I'll join you in the present.





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There are some beautiful rituals in Japan you usually do in the beginning of the year.

One of them is to participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The other one is to go to a Shrine in the first three day of the New Year to pray & get an Omikuji (fortune telling paper slips). I went to different Shrines & Temples in Fuokoka (Kyushu) and the famous Ise Shrine (Mie prefecture).


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The traditional Japanese tea ceremony was an amazing slightly spiritual event. Yoshi a friend of mine invited me to come with him & his family. I think with out him I would have been lost in translation. You have to respect certain rules and follow different rituals. It takes several hours. First we had a very special and delicate lunch with sake. Then we went to a kind of waiting house where you can examine the different tools which have been used over decades in the ceremony. After one hour sitting in the traditional Japanese sitting position Seiza (正座, literally "proper sitting"), we moved on to the tea house. I only managed the Seiza position because of my previous sports I did long ago. It was still a bit painful to get back on my feet.

After a little waiting time we where in the middle of the ceremony. We had the thick green tea(濃茶 koicha). It’s a very strong thick tea made of green tea powder.
The tea was served with one special Mochi.

It was the strongest and best tea I ever had so far …


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°°°
The Ise Shrine in the Mie prefecture


It’s good to know about your future … it’s easy in Japan, just get your self an Omikuji.
Literally "sacred lottery".

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The Ise Shrine in the Mie prefecture is one of the most famous Shrines in Japan.


We, some of my Japanese friends, left Nagoya in the morning to be there at noon. Plans didn’t turn out as we expected … as so often in Japan ‘the traffic’ stopped in our tracks.

I expected that we would just go to the Shrine and wonder around and head back. But there is much more than just THE Shrine. The pedestrian rode leading through Uji, a community village which surrounds the Inner Shrine, was packed with people & lots of different shops and snack restaurants … we changed our purpose from visiting the Shrine to explore the Cockaigne (Schlaraffenland). We moved slowly brachiation from one deliciousness to the next! It took us a couple of hours until finally reach the breathtaking Grand Shrine (sorry no pictures cause it's a religious place).


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Fujisawa san, ???, Shoko san & Yamamoto san (Japanese way from right to the left)

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be aware of sharks in sheep's clothing ...


And always keep in mind ... keep on paddling!

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Montag, 8. Februar 2010

Gliding into the NEW.




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After Hiroko caught the Shinkansen back to Nagoya I started the next level of the trip on the 30-12-09 at Fukuoka Station.

I had only two days to go in this turbulent year 2009! So many things have happened …

I left the concrete labyrinth behind me with mixed feelings of freedom and loneliness. The winding Japanese country road got me back; now on my own heading towards freezing liquid. I was back on track searching for some waves. I checked the surf report along the Kyushu coastline. My first target was Hyuga & Miyazaki, according to the ‘magicseaweed’ forecasts these where the spots where waves would be. It took me hours to get there all the way from Fukuoka. I didn’t take the high way, because I wanted to explore the landscape. It is amazing scenery down there. And I arrived around 2 o’clock at the beach, set up my car for surviving mode in the cold coast wind ...


I woke up around 07:23 seeing him getting ready with the plank … I knew immediately that it must be smaller.



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the old man and the sea.



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I got out of my personal mobile capsule hotel and checked the swell. As I assumed; NOTHING smaller then small. But around 6 people in the line up. All of them with Longboards. So what to do?


I sat down in the sun freezing cold wind watching the acrobats riding the waves. It was very cold. Some Japanese guys sat down next to me smiling. I started to open up an conversation with my few Japanese I picked up so far. They told me that there where no waves since two weeks … and that there won’t be any for the next two. (!!!?!!!)

One guy stood up, went to the wending machine (which you can find anywhere in this country … nothing is easier to find than a dink in this country. It seems that any soft drink not further than 12.5 m away. Even in the most isolated countryside) and got back with three coffees one for him, his mate and the strange blond dude. So cool. Then he checked the waves on a Japanese forecast and showed me some places on the opposed side of Kyushu. I went to the car and grabbed my road map and he marked the spots I should check there.


So I made the decision and drove all the way across along beautiful rivers through green valleys until it started to snow and the landscape turned from green to white. I couldn’t believe it my searching for waves in the warmest region in Nippon and then SNOW!!! And it didn’t stop. I had to pass one mountain pass to get down to the shoreline. And the snow just got worse. When I rented the car, I didn’t take the winter tires, knowing that I’ll go down south and now I was in the middle of a snowstorm. I climbed the mountain pass, but then sliding through the curves. Finally I got stuck. I had to slow down because of another car, which was hanging there. The ride was over … at least uphill. I didn’t have any chance to make a u-turn so I had to go all the way in reversing gear. It was crazy.



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I had about two hours left in 2009 and I really didn’t want to celebrate my Japanese New Year in the middle of nowhere trapped in my car. I didn’t know where to go so I flipped a coin and took the most convincing track up into the dark forest. The road became narrower, the asphalt wound further into the dark.


Finally the peak!


DOWNHILL … and suddenly I saw the ocean right in front of me. And wild waves where crashing on to the rocks. Finally I found what I was looking for.

I parked the car, set up a board, opened the champagne to welcome the New Year.


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I surfed the spot on January first 2010 … welcome!


Mittwoch, 3. Februar 2010

the devil likes it hot – steam season PART SIX.

Kumamoto Castle (熊本城; -jō) is a castle in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, that has been opened to the public for tours.

But not for me! I came just one day too early to Kumamoto on the 30-12-09 to visit the enormous castle complex. They close the castle to prepare the New Year celebration, which takes place for three days in and around complex.


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The castle was besieged during the Satsuma Rebellion, and the Castle Tower and other parts were burned before the siege. Most parts of the complex had been reconstructed in the traditional style in the 60’s.

Dienstag, 2. Februar 2010

the devil likes it hot – steam season PART FIVE.


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I always wanted to see an active volcano! Now I did and it is an incredible experience. Better then any hot spring …

Sure we all learned in school or way before from superman comics that the inner earth's core consists mainly of iron & nickel; and also that the next layer with its 3500 km radius of liquid iron is just a few kilometer under our feet. But it just seems so unreal.


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I have to admit, that Aso san is not as active that you can see any lava, but when we arrived he gave us a little taste what he is capable to do. I was just on the edge of the crater when the smoke coming from the inner of the volcano got extremely dense and the warning signal went off. Everyone around me started to cough. At first I was confused. Seconds later I quickly escaped coughing from the volcanic crater.



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Because Aso san had just emit some of his poisonous gas. The security guards closed the area for a several minutes and I took that chance to check out the view that faces the other side of the valley.


That was the best decision ever cause I made one of my best friends on the way up there …


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Montag, 1. Februar 2010

the devil likes it hot – steam season PART FOUR.

Auf dem Weg nach Aso San dem aktiven Vulkan … the impressive landscape on the way to the active volcano Aso San.

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Tasty grilled DANGO by the sweetest grand mother ever.





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Mushroom plantation.



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