Yabusame Competition

Yabusame Competition

I’m back! This time around, I’ve got a rare treat for you. Yabusame or what I would call badass horseback archery. This is not something you can just find in some tourist guidebook on the internet. If it weren’t for Toshi’s many contacts and their good will, we wouldn’t have even heard of yabusame in…

Mammoth in Churui

Mammoth in Churui

Who would have expected a Mammoth? If you did, 10 points to Gryffindor! No but seriously, in 1969 they found a huge fossil as an agricultural road was being constructed. Soon a mammoth of type Naumann Elephant was excavated, a museum plus park were built, and Churui gained some prehistoric street cred. I found out…

Recycle Shop Hunter
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Recycle Shop Hunter

Are you perhaps looking for long lasting quality goods with a story to tell? Antiques, bargains, and the sweet feeling of a lingering treasure around each corner. All these things can be found in Japan’s recycle shops. While you wouldn’t even enter most western antique shops, because of hefty prices, Japanese recycle shops are different….

Sophia Farm Volunteer (1/3)

Sophia Farm Volunteer (1/3)

This time around I will give you a bunch of updates regarding my stay at Sophia Farm, a bio-dynamic farm in the mountains of east Hokkaido. Bio-dynamic farms are also called Demeter farms and follow the system, which was invented by Rudolph Steiner, the founding father of Anthroposophy. I set out to visit this particular…

Exploring Honbetsu

Exploring Honbetsu

After checking out two tiny houses there was still plenty of time to explore this small remote city. Since Kondo-san grew up here, he was happy to show us around. First he showed us where the best onsen (hot spring) and sentou (public bathhouse) were supposed to be – they were closed unfortunately. Next we…

Tiny Houses in Honbetsu

Tiny Houses in Honbetsu

Since I am working towards living a self-sufficient life in nature, I was surprised to hear that there was a tiny house company close by. The company is called KOYA Lab and it’s based in Honbetsu, only about a one-hour drive away from Memuro. Toshi and Kondo-san, whose parents actually live in Honbetsu, drove me…

A Night in Asahikawa

A Night in Asahikawa

Given the lucky opportunity to tag along to Asahikawa with my long time Hokkaido friend, Shiho-chan, and her dad, of course I would go. Asahikawa is Hokkaido’s second largest city, right behind Sapporo. So, this was a big chance for me to get lost in city life for once and also to do some shopping,…