This is the nicest moiontain scenery so far... not bad except for the high voltage powerline going through the valley .. this was from the top of the hill that i reached on the mountain bike ride...

Random Japanese English 1

Here is the first in a series of random Japanese English stuff.... we found this mug when we went out for dinner the other night.

Snowy Single Track

It was a nice chilly and dark day for an eerie ride outside the city ... there were wild dogs? or maybe mountain howler monkeys that kept up a nice spooky chorus all day. I rode for about 6 km of solid uphill climbing over progressively snowier trail. I turned back after the snow and ice got too sketchy, but am looking forward to finding out how far it goes. The trail had changed over to real dirt / hiking trail single track and looks real good. The mountains here are riduculously steep and densely forested!

The WagonR

So here is the TokyoMobile - it is 650cc of city driving power!! This van is real fun to drive and fits through very small spaces which is an important thing here... we'll have to put some ground effect lighting on it with some low pros so that it can drift. Today I took an adventure with the mountain bike and found some decent single track about 18 miles from the house....

Snowkyo

It was snowing today - it had mostly turned to rain in the video though. It only is suppsed to snow like this a couple of times a year here, so i'll keep count. Anyways, we made it to the embassy today to do some visa stuff and crossed this big intersection...

Can you find me?

We made it to Japan

Hello from Tokyo - time has been flying by here in the new place. Maya and I are doing well and adjusting to non-Colorado life. We are looking forward to a bed to sleep on since we've been sleeping on the floor/futon since we sold our bed on craigslist on 12/27? or so. Anyway, I have registered as an official gaijin and will get my ID card to prove it on Friday. I've been spending several mornings on bike ride adventures around the city and getting lost a couple of times. I learned that you don't always need sunglasses here the hard way - I crashed hard while squinting through a rainy cloudy day and tested out my skeletal integrity... which is good by the way. Maya's tummy is getting nice and round and the baby is up to 700 grams as of the last check. The afternoons have been spent setting up house keeping stuff and trying to master the public transportation system.... buses and trains surrounded by rushing people who seem to know where they're going while we are looking at signs and sorting it out. Pretty funny really.

We have had a pretty crazy and amazing last month getting rid of everything except for 5 boxes, 2 suitcases and our bikes and are going through setting up house again... it's a tough but healthful and mind clearing process. I reccomend throwing something "important" away to everyone or giving it away as a gift just to get a taster. Thanks to everyone who came to the party and everyone who came by to get some stuff.... hopefully you all will get some good use from them!

This is my first sighting of Mt. Fujisan on one of my rides.... hope to get some more naturetastic pix of it later, but seems appropriate from Tokyo