Stage 1: Christchurch Appeal

What we collected and how it tallied up.

The name under which it was deposited to Red Cross Japan.

Friends

Friends

Friends

Yae-san's concert in Kamogawa.

The guys from Kamogawa City Office that helped make things possible!

Kamogawa City Mayor was impressed and donated himself.

The receipt.

What an amazing response!

With the help of friends we collected donations for the Red Cross Japan Christchurch Earthquake Appeal on Sunday, March 6th. We went to the Vitamin Walk Kamogawa event where Yae-san performed a live concert and announced to those in attendance what we were doing and although I had no personal connection with the majority, as they were visiting from Tokyo, they opened their hearts and gave generously. From there, we moved to Kamogawa Aeon (formerly Jusco) where friends from surfing, hula and work gathered to help. I met a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time who had read about our appeal in local newspapers and wanted to contribute. Again, people were extremely generous, from young to old, and I can't say thank you enough.

In total, we managed to collect ¥271,544 which equates to about $4,000 NZ. I've no doubt that the people of Christchurch will be very grateful for the kindness exhibited by all.

There are still collection boxes out in Kamogawa which can be found at all Surf shops and some restaurants/cafes/bars around town (a list can be found in an earlier post below). These will be collected on March 21st so don't delay.

If you wish to donate directly to the Red Cross Japan, that's possible too. Just go to there website and follow directions.

I'll keep you posted on what the final tally is. Fingers crossed we can get it up to $5,000NZ! Either way, it's already far exceeded any hopes I had when I started out on this project.

Arigatou/Thank you/Mahalo/Tēnā koutou

Newspaper reports can be seen at the following links:

Bonichi Newspaper

Yomiuri Newspaper

Mainichi Newspaper

 

Mum's a LEGEND!

Mum's an absolute LEGEND! I was so busy when I ws back in NZ that I didn't have time to step inside a shop other than to pay for gas, buy a pie, some coffee or beer. So she stopped by the supermarket on the way to the airport and gave me this just as we were checking in. It tastes sensational and goes great with almost anything. I had it on a chicken pizza I made last week and it 'broke da mouth'!

Twitpic - Share photos and videos on Twitter

Twitpic - Share photos and videos on Twitter

I NEED YOUR HELP!

(日本語は一番下を見てね）

As most of you know, there was a terrible earthquake in Christchurch, N.Z. on February 22nd. It was an absolute tragedy, with many unfortunate people, young and old, losing their lives. Among the dead are a number of Japanese that were in N.Z. studying English.

 As an English teacher here in Japan and as someone with close links to Christchurch, with a Grandmother and Uncle living close to the city center along with many friends, I felt an urge to do something to help those survivors through these tough times and their hardship.

(Kamogawa City Mayor, Mr. Katagiri, pledging his support)

With the support of the Kamogawa City Office and the City Mayor, We have arranged to collect donations this Sunday, March 6th. Donations will be collected at two points. The first is at the Community Center by the beach park where the 'Vitamin Walk' event will conclude with a live concert by Yae-san. This will take place from around 3:00pm -3:40pm. Following that we will be collecting donations at the entrance to AEON (previously Jusco) Department store/Supermarket from 4:00pm-6:00pm. All donations collected will go to the RED CROSS EARTHQUAKE APPEAL.

(L-R: Irie-san, City Mayor, myself, my wife)

We would love to see you down there in support. If there is anyone that would like to volunteer to assist us, they can contact me on my cell 090-9803-9831.

Further details of the donation collection will be available in the local Bounichi Newspaper on Saturday March 5th thanks to Mr. Ishii whom I did a quick interview with.

For those unable to make it on Sunday, collection boxes (see below picture) have been distributed to local businesses in Kamogawa. These donations will be collected until March 20th, so you'll have to act quick.

Below is a list of the businesses supporting the cause. Their help and cooperation is greatly appreciated.

BLOOM SURF SHOP

HEARTLAND DINING BAR

NONKEY SURF SHOP

NONKEY'S CAFE

DONYA RESTAURANT

GRACE SHOWROOM

KAWAI SURF GALLERY

RUPEE HOUSE

GURI GURI HAWAIIAN PLATE LUNCHES

KIDS RESTAURANT

WAICOCO SURF SHOP

TSF SURFBOARDS SHOP

GLASSEA SURF SHOP

DA NALU SURF SHOP
JUJU KAMOGAWA RESTAURANT
SHIZEN OKOKU (Yae-san)

上記の皆さんにご協力いただいて３月２０日（日）までそれぞれのお店に募金箱を設置させていただいております。また

鴨川市のご協力で

３月６日（日）１５：００〜１５：４０までビタミンウォークのイベント

（鴨川市民会館／前原海岸）前にて、

鴨川イーオン（ジャスコ鴨川駅西口）さんのご協力で

３月６日（日）同日１６：００〜１８：００までイーオン入り口にて、

鴨川市市民福祉部　市民交流課のみなさんとサーファー仲間にこちらもまたご協力いただいて救援金募金活動を行います。

これらの活動を通して集まった募金はすべてニュージーランド大地震救援金として日本赤十字 社へ送金します。

皆さんのご協力をお願いします！

Grab a seat

Grab a seat, kick back, relax and make yourself at home.

Fresh Fish

 These guys were dinner last night! The only thing about eating saba sashimi is that there is the rare chance that there may be some 'worms' (parasites) inside the fish that can then cause considerable pain as they latch on and eat away at your stomach. The only cure is a trip to the hospital where a doctor can insert a camera and vacuum down your throat and suck 'em out. Otherwise it takes about a week for the body to flush them out naturally. However, the dinner was good for me. I must have drowned any 'worms' with all the beer I drank.

From the balcony

 Fisherman have been busy!

 An outrigger canoe.

Out for a sunny Sunday ride.

20 Degrees!

This happened last year, too. Right when we wanted to go snowboarding! However, there were still some waves around so I hit the water again. It was good to make the most of the warm weather as it's forecast to drop back down to 9 degrees tomorrow.

Dave (Kamogawa Power) was down taking pictures and made my gangly, long limbed, uncoordinated self look not half bad. The man has a talent! I was riding my Mackerel board shaped by Junji Sonoda (he shaped it for himself and I begged him to sell it, hence the Volcom sticker). The board is so much fun!!

Thanks Dave and Junji! You guys ROCK!

Clearing my head

Reset, refresh, call it what you want, but I've had a lot going round in my head the last few days following the earthquake in Christchurch and I needed to clear my head. Best way to do that is to get in the water. I had a fun surf out front this morning and K-san from Grace Surfboards snapped this picture of me The result, a more calm and settled me.

Thanks for the photo K-san!

Christchurch

Christchurch was devastated by yet another earthquake today. And while it's magnitude may have been less than the one that struck last year, the relative depth (only 5km) and proximity shook buildings to the ground! My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the city and of course my close friends and family. When I was there in January, the city was still recovering from the last quake and many buildings in the central city were boarded up and undergoing repairs. It must be heart wrenching for those victims to have to go through it all again. As further news breaks, it paints a terrible terrible picture, one where fatalities are inevitable. It's so hard to fathom from afar, but our sympathy goes out to all that have suffered in these traumatic times.

 Me with my Nana and Uncle earlier this year. Hope you guys are OK!

 Damage to my Uncle's chimney from the first earthquake. I hope no-one was standing below it this time!

 Aiko, I and a friend's son standing in front of the Christchurch Cathedral, which was toppled in today's quake.

 Historic buildings damaged the first time around are in ruins now.

Punting on the Avon in more tranquil times.

DAVE YAMAYA BLOG: FRAME GRAB

DAVE YAMAYA BLOG: FRAME GRAB: "Grabbed a couple frames from the video I took during our snowboard trip... KEN... JAMES..."

Bevan Gooch

We surfed with this guy @ Hot Water Beach in NZ a week before this Australasian LQS contest @ Sandy Bay. He was super friendly and was pulling into a few tubes. He also had some complimentary words for Ken-san's surfing!! I guess his full name is Bevan Gooch, but all the locals out were just hooting 'Go Bev!'

Wednesday had waves

The sun was out, there was still some swell and there was a fun peak with just some friends. Thanks for the pics Dave!!

Snowboarding

It's been a packed couple of weeks with a trip back home to see family and the year coming to a close at school which means assessment, reports and self evaluation. But when the opportunity arose to go snowboarding for three days, I grabbed it with both hands as I usually only get to do it once, maybe twice a season if I'm lucky.

This year we went up to Nagano/Yamanashi prefectures and we scored some of the best conditions of the season thus far!

On Friday we got the 5:30am bus to Tokyo, trained to Shinjuku, then took the Azusa express train to our final destination (almost 6hrs of travel and the same returning). We were greeted by Umi who lead us to his dad, Ken, waiting in the car park and then went straight to Fujimi Panarama Ski Field. Conditions were a bit tough with decent snowfall and pretty lumpy trails, but it felt good to be up in the mountains. The following two days we drove about an hour to Koumi Re-Ex Ski Resort and scored some of the best snow conditions I've had! One of the great things about snowboarding in Japan is that there are so many ski fields that lift prices are very reasonable (we paid ¥3,000/NZ$45?) and queues at the lifts are basically non-existent (at least where we were). How good is that???!!!

 The 'Welcome to Kobuchisawa' sign that greeted us when we stepped off the train.

 Ken's homemade MAKI STOVE! For all your home heating and cooking needs.

 Tasty chicken Maki Stove style with wasabi and grated daikon for zest!

 Rina loading up.

 Brewing trouble or trouble brewing...

 Dave and I with Ken and a 'friend' (later in the evening).

 Driving first thing after snow all night.

 Feather-light powder snow balanced delicately.

 Sunrise @ Koumi Resort.

 Our crew: (L-R) Dave, Shinya, Ken, Umi and Rina (absent: Sa-chan) and me.

 Random cosplay family suiting up in the car park area.

 Icicles frozen on the car exterior.

 Icicles on the laminating shed's gutter.

 Rural Japan mid-winter.

 Building a snowman.

 Dave and I sitting with our proud creation, just like kids again.

 The majestic Mt. Fuji from Ken's deck.

Shinya and Dave swapping stories on the train in the only space we could find.

This whole trip wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the great hospitality of the whole Kitazawa family. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!

For more photos see

Dave's Blog

Ken's Blog

Rina's Blog

Soba

 While away snowboarding, we met a new friend who just so happens to have his own Soba Restaurant, Okina.

 (Okina set nicely amongst the trees: photo from Dave's blog)

We stopped by and ate at the restaurant on our final day before heading back home and it was a real nice Japanese experience! Great tranquil setting and free flowing drinks meant that a good time was had by all. I ate the 'Inaka' soba which was quickly renamed 'In-Da-Car' which was fantastic and cooked just right! Then as we left our friend presented us with some 'Sara' soba to take home. All of his soba is made fresh on the premises daily and went down a treat with my wife who was over the moon. If you're in the hood, you've got to try it!

 Thank you so much!

Soba (そば or 蕎麦) is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup.

The most famous Japanese soba noodles come from Nagano. Soba from Nagano is called Shinano Soba or Shinshu soba. Ni-hachi (二八, two-eight) soba, consists of two parts of wheat and eight of buckwheat; Juuwari (十割, 100%) soba, the finest (and usually most expensive) variety, consists entirely of buckwheat.

• Sarashina soba: thin, light-colored soba, made with refined buckwheat
• Inaka soba: "country soba", thick soba made with whole buckwheat

(SOURCED FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day here in Japan has a bit of unique twist to it in that only the women give gifts. But for all those women out there fretting, don't worry as the women get gifts returned, often with interest, a month later on March 14th, which is known as White Day. It's also common practice to give Valentine gifts to work colleagues, friends, etc, not just the 'special' someone in your life, and as such it's quite common for men to receive several chocolates. The news reported that some of the more famous baseball stars and TV celebs get up to a thousand chocolates or more from fans alone. Imagine how long their White Day shopping list must be!

Thank you to everyone that thought of me on Valentine's Day and for your very kind gifts! I might have to start jogging!

Snowboard trip!

(The mountainous terrain and winter wonderland scenery is breathtakingly beautiful in Japan. This photo was one I took on our trip last year.)

Tomorrow, Feb 11th, is Japan's Foundation Day. That means we have a long weekend! I'm off to Nagano to do a little snowboarding. The bags are packed and some friends and I will be on the first bus to Tokyo in the morning where we will connect up with the train service. The forecast is for tonnes of snow Friday which hopefully equates to lots of POWDER! We're going to stay with some friends up there that we had a great time and stayed with last year, too. Tanoshimi!

Wairenga/Bridal Veil Falls

A short drive out of Raglan and a short walk through the native bush lies Wairenga/Bridal Veil Falls. We couldn't have had nicer weather to see it in all it's glory as the recent cyclone rains meant there was plenty of water flowing.