Summer fun

What a difference a week can make. Far away from my computer in a place where mobile reception was horrible at best, sand crept into the most sacred crevices and bugs the size of my big toe dined on my flesh with the kind of reckless abandon you only witness at Las Vegas all you can eat buffets and yet I loved every single minute of it!

My colleague turned close buddy Kai Neptune, invited a group of us to her hometown for Obon (a week long summer holiday in August where Japanese return to their hometown to pay homage to their ancestors (it's the closest thing they've got to Halloween minus the ghosts, goblins and costumes)) Kai is one of those rare gaijin who was actually born and raised in Japan. Her father is John Kaizan Neptune a Shakuhachi player/maker (Japanese Bamboo Flute) and until last week I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between a Shakuhachi and a basic recorder!

Kaizansan (Japanese for cool gaijin shakuhachi dude) was in the midst of making a NHK documentary in his mountain hideaway when we arrived but he was a fantastically gracious host amid the chaos and even took time to give us a few drum lessons on a bamboo drum called the Udubu that he invented!

Stepping foot into the Neptune's Pentagonal Dome house in the middle of the forests of the Japanese landscape is truly like visiting another planet. A peaceful, calming planet where monkeys tap your skylight as you sleep and spiderwebs act as natural mosquito netting. I must admit I spent much of the first half of the week getting over my fear of the bugs but surrendering to this slow life style was not at all difficult and time truly seemed to stand still on those mountains which is why I'm amazed and saddened that the week has ended so soon. Kai, if you're reading this honey, thanks for everything; I'm counting down the days till round 2!

Haven't seen enough of me and my pin-up friends. You can find more pics here.