good morning. do you know what “bachi” means? my grandma taught me that word when i was a kid. it means “karma”. when i was in high school, we use to drive around waikiki after the honolulu marathon making fun of all the tourist that just finished the race. i had to admit it was pretty funny watching everybody walking and limping around with aching legs. i’ve never ran the marathon so i never knew that feeling. now i do. i could barely walk yesterday and my legs are killing me today. i hiked for a total of over 8 hours going up and down mt. fuji. if my grandma were here today, she would tell me “bachi” for making fun of the tourists all these years…. and i would say sorry grandma… i will never ever make fun of people anymore… i learned my lesson….

yesterday we all went sightseeing around toda-san’s town in shizuoka prefecture. this is an old japanese temple with the perfect view of mt. fuji.

inside, there were 3 buddha’s…. haha.. there’s never a dull moment with haru-san and toda-san…..

and last, BIG NEWS FOR GO-NAMINORI.COM. we will launch our first ever GO-NAMINORI WEB MAGAZINE really soon. stay tuned because you will be stoked!!! i’m already stoked thinking about it….
**CHECK BACK ON GO-NAMINORI.COM FOR MORE DETAILS….

oh my gosh!
itadakimasu…

good evening. all i have to say for today is that “my legs are hurting!!” or in japanese “ashi sugoi itai!!” i still can’t believe i climbed that mountain, and made it. wow…. i finally got to check some of my emails. sorry i’m falling so behind in photos i’ve taken and people i’ve met. but eventually, i’ll get back to all of you….
i usually don’t have a car when i’m in japan so i can’t go deep and explore. but thanks to toda-san, who was kind enough to let me borrow his car for a couple of weeks, i got to go pretty deep. i don’t take the highways, i take the back roads and stop at every thing that catches my eyes. then i get my camera and my broken japanese, and explore japan….

check this out. the cold fresh water from the river chilling fresh tomatoes and cucumbers…. so good…

this is old school rice cookers, or in japanese, kama meshi. you don’t find these rice cookers in Don Quijote….

and for all of you in hawaii that think wasabi grows in tubes, your wrong. don’t worry, i use to think the same.. haha… this is real wasabi…

and last, this is a small train station somewhere deep in japan. when the little train stopped by, i got chicken skin. this is as country as it gets. and if anybody could tell me where this is, i will send you a free go-naminori t-shirt and stickers. good luck…
*stay tuned for more deep in japan photos because i have so many that i can probably publish a book from this trip. from the city, to the country, to the ocean, to the mountains, to the people, and to the highest peak of japan, mount fuji…. stay tuned…