On Jul 11, 8:49 pm, "John W." <worthj1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 11, 4:31 am, Declan Murphy <declan_mur...@hotmail.com> wrote:
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> > On Jul 11, 1:09 pm, mtfes...@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:
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> > > Just got done wathing another episode of Sawaya Shizen Hyakkei, and was
> > > reminded of how truly beautiful Japan is. For a land with so many people
> > > in such a small area to have so many essentially unspoiled areas is
> > > absolutely remarkable, and unappreciated by roughly 99% of the Japanese,
> > > much less tourists. It seems half the episodes deal with Hokkaido, but
> > > some of the shows dealing with areas just outside of Tokyo (well, Izu),
> > > not to mention Kochi really drive home to me some of the things I miss
> > > about the country (though my wife and the child units are solidly in the
> > > "If it's not a city, it doesn't exist" school of thought.)
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> > Even a highly urban area such as Aichi, has extensive areas of
> > mountainous terrain that is mostly devoid of people. Its one of the
> > best things about living here. The "unappreciated by roughly 99%..."
> > comment though, is pretty much spot on. I take students to a senmaida
> > not far from Toyokawa on a regular basis, beautiful place, but apart
> > from a handful of local farmers (average age 90?), never anybody
> > around.
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> The reason I love Kobe is that you can be at great restaurants or
> shopping within ten minutes, and can also be on hiking trails in some
> pretty deep forest in the same amount of time. Add to that the
> relative convenience of life in Japan (easy access to groceries/food/
> beverages/transportation/etc) and it's pretty ideal. Unfortunately my
> wife and son have no desire to live there unless I can make enough for
> her to not work and for him to go to one of the better international
> schools. Which is to say, we won't be going back. (I now refer you to
> the 'mid life crisis' thread).

I think I might have heard this story at least twice before. Once on a
bender in Himeji, and again in Okazaki, when you somehow managed to
end up in your hotel lobby sans key (and various items of clothing).