[ Gallery | Resume | Bio/Interests |
See Jane run (video) | Watch some flower magic (animation)]

Jump to Family
Jump to Other Interesting Things

I grew up in the back woods of Northern California. And when I say "Northern California," I mean "Northern" California and not "Central" California such as San Francisco. San Francisco was the largest city anywhere near us but it was still four hours away by car.

After going through the California State University system (four times as it is turning out) and working on a teaching credential, one of my professors mentioned that anyone interested in teaching in Japan for one year should see so and so and blah, blah, blah. Well, I wanted to be a teacher in a California high school and I knew that experience would be good. A little travel and the experience of living in a foreign culture would also be good. My only reservation was the one-year contract. One year, after all, is a long time.

I asked if it was possible to go for only six months. No. And, they said, the program may not be offered the following year. I wasn't convinced but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it. Finally, I decided I would go for one year.

As my 17th year winds down I often find myself wondering, "What am I doing?" But it seems I'm in for the long haul. The good: Japanese beer, no Cuban embargo, Japanese beer, and Japanese beer. The bad: the crowds, the humidity (in the summer), five-dollar apples, and pretty much being stuck with crappy McDonald's if you want a hamburger.

Somehow, and don't ask me how, I met a wonderful woman, got married, and have two wonderful kids.

My son, Makoto or Mac, is seven and in the first grade of elementary school. (The school year here ends in March so from April he will be in the second grade.) He is an Ultraman fanatic and gets made when he has to correct me all the time because I don't know the difference between Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Cosmos.

My daughter, Megumi or Meg, is four and is in nursery school. He is a big fan of Ham-Taro (some cartoon hamster) and she just loves green tea ice cream. Must take after her mother.

My wife, Miwa, is a junior high school English teacher who works harder than anyone I have ever seen. She doesn't have much free time but when she does have a minute or two she likes to take the kids places.

We all live in a small house (the Japanese themselves like to call them "rabbit hutches," but the way I bump my head all of the time that title might be stretching it a little) in the countryside (again a misnomer: it is said that no one can drive for more than five minutes anywhere in Japan, including deep in the mountains, without seeing a house and towns of one million people are called rural) on the Pacific Ocean-side of the country about 150 miles South (although the Japanese call it East) of Tokyo. It takes me between one hour and one hour and a half to drive the 13 miles to work each morning. Yeah, you read that correctly.

Being in Japan has been good for me. Over the years I have developed a strong interest in travel and the study of the culture and history that goes along with it. Although my travels have curtailed quite a bit since I got married, I still have been fortunate to visit the following countries:

• Korea
• Thailand
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• China
• Taiwan
• India
• Pakistan
• Kenya
• Germany (Including East Germany when there still was one)
• Poland
• The then Soviet Union
• Mongolia
• Jamaica
• Peru

Some highlights:

• A three-hour taxi ride from Malacca, Malaysia, to Singapore. If you thought the movie "Speed" was exciting, try something like this!
• The Cigar Divan in the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Hong Kong Island.
• Riding the Star Ferry between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, back-and-forth and back-and-forth, especially at night, for about 30 cents US. And that was for first class!
• Watching the stewardess puking on the tarmac after our plane landed in Wuhan from Xian, China. How she could wait is beyond me as the rest of us just puked on the plane. Lesson learned: next time share a compartment with the chickens on the train.
• Cruising up the Yangtze River as bloated, dead human bodies bob by heading downstream.
• My first sight of the Taj Mahal.
• Paying a group of Masai people to keep watch over our camp at night. Waking up about 1:00 a.m. as a lion growls and brushes up against my tent and realizing that my pocket knife is all I have to defend myself. And then finally getting up in the morning to see no Masai and surprise, surprise: no beer left!!!
• Getting thrown off the train in Poland, somewhere, when my friend lost his passport.
• Standing in lines to buy food in Poland.
• Auschwitz.
• The Kremlin. Seeing Gorby's limo outside on the day he was chosen as president.
• The entire Trans-Siberian Express experience.
• Bob Marley's home and James Bond's waterfall in Jamaica.
• Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines in Peru.