Exactly one year ago, I adventured out for my first solo hiking trip as a spontaneous birthday present for myself. This first foray into the Northern Alps remains in my top 5 memories of Japan, and I’ve wanted to do it again ever since! This year, the campground for Karamatsu-dake is by...
When I first came to Nagano, I immediately wanted to go hiking — easier said than done. Where I had imagined a wealth of information ended up just being fruitless internet searches and unhelpful tourism brochures. Some of them did mention hiking, but there were no details! Well, after...
Now solidly in rainy season, I find myself staring blankly out windows if the weather is nice. I was able to go on a single hike before the weather forced me inside though — Mt. Iizuna! This mountain is close to my house, and I’ve hiked it probably five times since I came here. It’s my...
Welcome to another edition of the Deskwarming Diaries, where an ALT is slowly acclimating back to school life. Today’s post features hiking, some school stuff, and masks from the government. Let’s jump in!
Welcome to another edition of the Deskwarming Diaries, where the best part of the day is most certainly lunch. Today’s post features bugs, birds, frogs, and the words ‘stranger’ and ‘chunky.’ Let’s jump in!
This sprawling park at the foot of Mt. Asama (an active volcano) lets you walk on winding trails through a field of igneous rock. I have visited Onioshidashi Park twice, once in October 2018 and again in January 2020; the beauty of the strangely-shaped rocks and the majesty of the still...
In America, I always celebrated the new year with platters of meat and cheese, sitting on the couch and watching the ball drop on TV. That’s a liiiitle bit hard to do in the middle-of-the-countryside Japan, so this year, I celebrated in traditional Japanese fashion: hatsumode and the...