Like Jiji, like Mago: Admiring my father in law’s drawing style.

My wife’s father is always doodling on scraps of paper.
Check out the great expressions on the cats in the top right corner.

I told him I liked his drawing and he brought out a book he has had for almost 50 years.

It is like a dictionary with lots of drawings. It was one of his son’s preschool text books from the 1960’s.

It had over a hundred pages densely drawn with these cool line drawings.

 
My daughter overheard me complimenting him and wanted to show me that she can draw too.

I think she takes after him!

Climbing Mt. Fuji with Sunrise Tours: What you need to know

Climbing Mt Fuji has always sounded intimidating to me--physically, logistically, and economically. I read stories of water, noodles, and toilets costing upwards of $10 per bottle, cup, and leak. With rumors of mysterious “huts” that wouldn’t ruthlessly  wouldn’t let you in without paying astronomical feels no matter how cold, hungry, or weak you were.

You can only climb Fuji in July and August, and since I was going to Japan in August this year, this was my chance. I booked a 2 day tour with Sunrise Tours, which I thought was a good way to go. They pickup you up in Tokyo and drop you off the next day. They make it is easy as possible, but you don’t know what to expect until you get there.

If you read all of the fine print on the Sunrise Web site it will tell you most of what you need to know, and I’ve added my commentary to help my fellow climbers fill in the gaps.

ITINERARY

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Day 1: Tokyo - Mt.Fuji
7:10 a.m. Leave Keio Plaza Hotel. Shinjuku

You meet in the lobby of the Keio plaza hotel in Shinjuku and then you walk a few minutes to a parking lot where the buses are waiting. The Keio plaza hotel is pretty nice so it’s a good choice to stay there the night before since you have to meet at 7:00 am. The Keio plaza has Konbini (convenience store) in the basement so you can stock up on snacks and water. At the lobby you will meet your English speaking tour guide (who is Japanese) and about 20 other foreigners. When you get to the bus parking lot there will be about another 50-70 Japanese their waiting for the bus too. This is because you are part of a bigger Japanese tour and you all get on the bus and climb together.

They make all of the foreigners sit at the back of the bus, which some of the people did not like, but they do it to keep us all together so the tour guide can translate the announcements.

They don’t mention this on the itinerary but on the way to Mt Fuji they stop off at a rest stop where you can grab some more food and drinks before you get to the mountain.

11:30 a.m.
Arrive at Mt.Fuji Kawaguchiko 5th station.
Lunch on your own and prepare to climb.

You drive halfway up the mountain and they drop you off at this base, which looks kind of like a small ski resort. There are about 100 buses and it is totally packed with people. They said there are two kinds of people there, those with smiles on there faces who are about to go up. And those with frowns who just got down.

In one of the lodges the tour group has reserved a floor with tatami mats where you can change into your gear, eat, and leave your luggage. You have about 30 extra minutes to walk around and they have cafeterias where you can buy lunch. The prices are not that exorbitant here, but this is where where the pee pee tax begins, you have to pay 100 yen to use the restroom.

1:00 p.m.
Depart 5th Station and ascend route.

Now it’s time to start hiking (in the rain). It starts out pretty gradually

After about 30 minutes the path get’s narrower and steeper.

 At some points you have walk single file up the rocks.

I really liked the look of the colorful, coordinated rain gear that most people were wearing. For the first leg of the trip everything was pretty easy (because we were going pretty slow) and everyone was having a good time.

5:00 p.m.
Arrive at Toyokan lodge at 8th station. 
Short stay at Toyokan Hut (Dinner and rest until 11:00 p.m.)

To be continued…

Oslo, Norway, 2010 City Bike Tour

Oslo is a lot like Seattle, they have lots of green, water, and coffee shops—but its a lot more expensive, the weather seemed better, and they eat open face sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Flytoget train from the airport to downtown the fastest airport train in the world, with a top speed of 130 mph. Even though it is super fast as modern it still has nice nordic touches like wooden seats.

I was here on business so I grabbed lunch at the Microsoft Oslo cafeteria. This Microsoft cafeteria was unlike any I have ever seen and I had an excellent fish soup.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just Kidding. That is not the Microsoft cafeteria. That is the lovely Lofoten Fiskerestaurant in the Aker Brygge complex on waterfront.

This is the Microsoft Oslo cafeteria, where I had my first of many open face sandwiches. First, you pinch slice a loaf and the cracker of your choice. Then you head to the cold case and pick a dish of salmon, crab, shrimp, eggs, cheese, pickled herring, and about a dozen other things I could not recognize.

 
And voila, a Norwegian sandwich! Osloites are are very into pastes to put on their sandwiches. the cafeteria had baskets of funky Norwegian condiments like cod roe past, herring paste, bacon paste, and pates.

After business was done it was time to the streets. Oslo has a bike sharing system so you can check out a bike and ride it all around the city.

     
The last night I stayed at the Airport Comfort Hotel RunWay. You wouldn’t expect much from a Comfort Hotel at the airport, but this really nice. Very new and modern and the hottest sauna ever.

R.I.P. Alex Heaton

On Friday May 21, 2010 Alex Heaton was found dead in his home in New Orleans of an apparent suicide.

According to NOLA.com. “Former three-term state lawmaker Alexander "Alex" Heaton died inside his Carrollton area home from a single gunshot wound to the head, according to New Orleans authorities.”

For those who don't know the history of alexheaton.com, before I acquired the domain, it was owned by a group called BIGALCOHOL.COM that used this site to bash this very same Alex Heaton. The archive of this old site from 2004 is still available.

According these unnamed sources, “Heaton has become known as "coward kill heaton" due to the cowardly manner in which he helped killed an alcohol tax increase in 2002 that would pay to treat some of the 35,000 people who are turned away from treatment every year in Louisiana.” and “Once member of Louisiana's political delegation was heard saying that (Heaton)" has blood on his hands."

Both of these quotes are oddly prophetic as he most certainly did have blood on his hands (at least one) and some would say the nickname "coward kill heaton" is now more appropriate than ever.

Non-substantiated rumors aside, this is a great loss to the Alex Heaton community. And the world is a lesser plan now with one less Alex Heaton here.

Sakura Con 2010: Momo’s Ponyo Costume

On Easter Sunday Momo and I went to Sakura-Con in Seattle. Mari I and I dressed Momo up as Ponyo. We found a red dress at Old Navy and Mari orders the bloomers online. We found a green bucket and the costume was complete.

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Does she look like the real thing?

  This fox girl had the most awesome costume at the show.

 
There were a lot of good costumes. It reminded me of when I went to the Tokyo Game Show a few years ago.

  
See you next year!