Fox village (Kitsune Mura)

I From Fukushima we just hopped on the JR Tohoku line towards Sendai and in 30 minutes we arrived at Shiroishi station. 

There are only two buses a day that go to Kitsune Mura, one being 7:35am and the second one at 1:35pm. Look for the only colourful 'castle bus' with an anime girl on the side. ¥200 ticket bought on board the train. 

I was surprised that there wasn't any other tourists waiting at the bus stop or boarded at any other of the stops along the way. The bus driver doesn't speak any English nor was he 'genki' although his initial judgement was that we were mainland Chinese tourists. I only found out because I over heard him talking about us to the group of oka-sans at the front of the bus. 

After a misadventure up a steep hill that didn't want to be conquered....and a 20 minute delay we were picked up by a kind man who worked at Kitsune Mura. 

¥1000 per person and ¥100 per bag of treats (cut up hot dogs and/or carrots for the rabbits) we were in the 'village' greeted by Guinea pigs and captive foxes and rabbits. 

The rabbits' ears looked more than damaged, I wonder if it due to the abundance of foxes here. Midnight adventures or should I say hunt? 

The foxes in the cages made me really sad since the enclosures were smaller than I had imagined or near acceptable by my standards. (Mind you I always want all public animal enclosures to be free roaming) The website and YouTube videos portrayed that the whole place was a village of cute domesticated foxes running around.

After going through another set of doors, there they were the ones that were able to wander. My idea was that there would be a lot of them jumping around and none of them would be caged. I realized that they do fight and they are territorial wild creatures after all, living harmoniously might not be an option. Are they captured from the wild? 

They had a human feeding area encouraging tourists to feed the foxes from a safe distance above. 

The taxi back to Shiroishi station was about ¥4000. Remember if you try to walk back it will be a 13 hour trek *cough* sorry that's 13 kms :P 

Tokyo -> Sendai

This time I bought the Seishin 18 Kippu ticket (all you ride on Non Shinkansen JR rail, this is available three times a year) this time the final destination will be Sapporo, Hokkaido. Last time I bought this ticket it was New Years just to get out of Tokyo for a couple of days but I didn't go very far with it. 

We left early in the morning about 5am to ensure that we would arrive in Fukushima by lunch time. Today's main itinerary is the fox village near Zao mountain. I just learned about this place and rabbit village (near Hiroshima) this time around, I was only aware of the island with an abundance of cats (which we will hopefully get to visit) 

Let's see if we can manage this part of the journey without coming across any hiccups. 

Always make sure to hop off before the train starts to reverse. "Do what the Japanese do...?" luckily we noticed it quickly and it was only one stop. Just a quick track jump, back en route to find out we have already finished half of the train journey. So far it has been fairly painless with the sun out warming the interior of the train-cars as we passed large stand alone houses. Now it is really feeling like we have left metropolitan area. 

So many transfers I think we have done at least half a dozen today and so do  many more to come. 

The best part of this long train ride is the fact that I got to stare out of the window where mountains cascaded in the background. I really love riding trains sometimes, it kind of beats being a runaround tourist fighting endless lineups and large noisy crowds. Left alone with all your thoughts, a serene pastime of a wandering traveler. 

Cherry Blossoms, Hanami!!

As some of you may very well know I am in love with hanami (the cherry blossom season) I timed it in Taiwan so I could come back and celebrate this joyous occasion. Not only do I get to spend time with friends and family I happily get to soak in all the lovely spring feeling. The flowers aren't just a reminder of my time in Japan but much more than that, it holds a very calming feeling of freedom. 

I took some time this year and went to Hie Shrine to get my omikugi (written oracle, or a fortune) which gives you little tid-bits of advice and what the year will entail. I got a recommendations from one of my students to visit this shrine so I made a little video here. Don't mind the cheesy music. :P

The best part of this year's hanami is the fact that I got to spend it with some lovely friends. New and old together talking freely about whatever we like with open minds and happy faces surrounding us. I really felt like I was truly on vacation. Plus all the alcohol helps :) 

Return to Tokyo, Japan

You might be tired of reading this post again and again but here landed at Narita airport for the 5th time. Though I am fairly sure that this will be my last. 


Either way, I am always really excited to fly back in to Japan from wherever I am coming from. This was the only time where immigration was honestly cold and threatening. There is a possibility that I was a bit more apprehensive while standing at the gate. Seriously, come on! I've been here this many times and this is the time you decide to grill me about every detail I've written on my card? 

Anyways I wanted to try my hand at the airport limousine which is suppose to get you to Shinjuku station in 90 minutes which I found impressive. Or I have been miscalculating the distance this whole time, well it was ¥3100 for a ticket (¥2000 if you're under 25). Off to the trains, looks like I'm just in time to pop on the last rapid train out and hopefully still have time to transfer to the correct local line. 
I was quite pleased to find that my pasmo still works, actually I don't see any reason why not. After a delay on the Narita line towards Tokyo we were metropolitan bound again :)

Here I am again awaiting for the upcoming days where I can revisit all my favourite places and most of all catch up with my friends. 

The Castle in the Sky

Currently I have been wracking my brain to figure out how to accomplish this dream that I has found me. Most of all quiet down the fear within me so that I can push forward and reach this castle in the sky.

A lot of the time I sit back in my seat and I am overcome with a sense of certainty that I have been walking this unknown path to find out that this is my destiny. This is what I wanted out of life. It was never to chase money, love or work towards a pre-ordained design of what a 'perfect' life needs to be.

The past makes the present and most of all sets the intent for the future. I am going to finish this crowd funding project to travel around the world and help as many people I can along the way.

Do all the good you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the ways you can.
In all the places that you can.
At all the times that you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as you can.