Tigers?? No...

So my brother Skyped me last night and said my nephew Drew wanted to ask me a question.
The question... Do you have tigers in Japan? :)
He was apparently suddenly overcome with fear that I was going to be eaten by a tiger! How cute.
So he asked what kind of animals we have in Japan. And of course I said, "We've got big, scary tigers!" :) He said to his daddy, "See, I told you!!" and was jumping all over the room. So cute.
Seriously though, of course we don't have tigers. We do have monkeys though, which are apparently pretty dangerous. I've only seen them a couple of times, and not near my home, though I've heard they are around. They'll steal your food and anything shiny (like a camera)... so it's better just to stay clear. I've heard though that you are pretty likely to see them if you head up certain mountain roads.
So of course, I can't wait for the weather to warm up a little and take my bike up into the mountains! Surely I can outrun them if they start throwing rocks at me, right??

The Countryside...

Hirao really is country. I feel it the most when we venture to pass out fliers. Here in Japan, unlike America, it is legal to place advertisements in mailboxes. In fact, it's not abnormal to open the front door and just leave your paper sitting there on the floor! We try to stick to the mailboxes though :) Right now we are preparing to start some new English classes at the church in March, and so in addition to the ad we put in the paper, we're distributing flyers around the neighborhood.
There are 13,000 people in all of Hirao. Small, but not super small. Still, we have no train station, which is basically the marker of whether you are in the 'bush' or not. But here's the deal - and it's noticable when passing out fliers, because - there really aren't any neighborhoods. It's a house here and a house there, and one way over there. It makes passing out fliers pretty difficult. And tiring. Thankfully I am finally familiar enough with the area and all the little roads that I don't have to do too much backtracking to see if there's a house at the end of 'that' street or not... it's taken some time though. When you go out for several hours and only pass out a couple of hundred fliers, it's easy to get discouraged!
But we worked on it today, and will go back out tomorrow in the morning... before the rain comes in the afternoon. We should have a little time left next week, too. But even if just one person comes because of the fliers, it's worth it. We're praying for a bunch though - the more the better! Have to wait and see...

I think I'm in love...

I can't hardly believe how much fun I'm having on this bike! I mean, I enjoyed riding around at the driving school, but now that I'm out on the 'open road' it's just a whole different world. And seriously, it's just FUN! (Don't worry, safety always comes first...) I just wish now that I'd have taken my SRL camera instead of the dinky one...

Hirao makes up the western side of a peninsula that runs north and south. Even though I've lived here for 2 years and seen signs (well, a sign :))for the Murotsu Skyline running along the mountains down the center of the peninsula, I've never ventured out there before. You know, it's just like growing up outside of DC and not going into town to see the Smithsonian museums, the White House, the Monument or the memorials. Well, now that I have this bike, I've got a reason to run along the skyline... So that's what I did this afternoon. Man, it was so refreshing! The road winds around the mountains, up and down... and there's nobody else out there. It's mostly wooded, but there are some places where you can see out over the sea. Today it was hazy, so the view wasn't great... but it's always beautiful. I love the water here because there are so many islands everywhere. I decided to ride back along the coast... again, simply beautiful - just too quick! :) I can't believe I live less than a half hour from all these natural wonders. God is good!

The New Me

So my friend Colby saw the titles here and put a little picture together for me... I'm not sure about this one... what do you think??

Thanks Colby! See you soon :)

My New Toy

Perhaps I shouldn't call my new Honda VTR250 a toy... but I've been excited about it all week, just like I would feel in the days leading up to Christmas when I was a little boy. And it's as much fun as I was hoping for.

Last summer while in Okayama I was looking to do something a little, um, out of the ordinary. The result - I ended up going to driving school to get a motorcycle license (school is required here). It was a little expensive, and at first more stressful than fun... but in about a month's time I finished all the classes and even passed the final test. I exchanged my graduation papers for my new license when I returned to Hirao in September.

So in July I started saving up my money, and looking online and in magazines to find my bike... I decided on the Honda VTR250 pretty early on, but wasn't ready to put down the money until now. So a couple of weeks ago I went to Iwakuni with Shobu-san and we looked at the blue VTR we'd found online. No problems with the bike, and they promised to change the battery, tires, brakes, plugs, chain and just about everything else... so I bought it!

This Wednesday I hopped on the train and headed over to the bike shop to pick it up. I was a little nervous on the hour ride home, and the farther I went the more comfortable I felt, and whoa, I was having so much fun!

Each day I've gone out a bit, and I'm getting used to it. Now I've got to plan my first tour! :) There are plenty of great places to go around here with the water and all the mountains... To tell the truth, I'm just looking foward to going back and forth between here and Nijigaoka - following the water much of the way!