The mountains (Yahiko, to be exact)!

On Thursday night, I went to Niigata station to pick up the lovely Shelby Kimmel, who was staying for a visit (she left last night). On Friday we co-taught at Iwamuro JHS about Hannukah, and then we had a fun yet busy weekend in Niigata city with some of my friends. Monday was the most exciting, though, because we decided to climb Mt. Yahiko, a beautiful big mountain near my house. We woke up at nine and, after a quick visit to Yahiko shrine, began the hike at around 10:30. Surprisingly, there were lots of people on the train, all looking very impressive with walking sticks and big boots. As we climbed higher, we realized why - it was very muddy and slippery, due to the snow all melting at the top (it was a very nice, sunny day). However, we made it up and back down in about 3 hours. It was pretty much straight up and then straight down, and we were exhausted by the end, but it was completely worth it. And we treated ourselves to a very long onsen visit afterwards. So, even though I missed mountain day in Williamstown, we still got to celebrate it (albeit in December) in Japan.

Why?

Can someone tell me why this guy is torching his field? Also, aren't the mountains pretty?

Nagaoka Mall

I don't know why they would try to translate a quote from English to Japanese to English. Why not just use the original English?

Also, this is a pants store. Apparently, they look best when bent over. 

Nagoya

Two weeks ago I went to Nagoya (and failed to post, sorry) to meet with a Professor from a program I'm interested in. He does research through the Institute of Religion and Culture at Nanzan University in Nagoya, so I went there and stayed in the Institute's residence. I didn't know too much about it before I went, but it turns out to be an amazing program that puts out a lot of the important research on Japanese philosophy. I talked with the professor I went to see and also with Jim Heisig, who wrote the book 'Remembering the Kanji' (which I'm now using) and is currently working on a sourcebook for Japanese philosophy. Basically, I was in academic heaven. On Sunday I walked around on my own and visited some temples and Nagoya castle, and felt like a proper tourist. Despite the absolutely horrible night train I took Friday night, I had a very good trip, and the bus back was amazingly comfortable. Here are some pictures of the beautiful day that greeted me on Sunday as I made my way around the city.