Life comes in tides. Sometimes the tide is high and the pillars of the pier are submerged, but when the tide recedes what lay on the sand beneath the waves can be seen. The secrets of the ocean are shown to us.The receded tide is our present but the future is forever beneath the waves.

 The happiness that the great masters of philosophy speak of I know not to be a destination but a path. We can never see beneath the waves but we can embrace the moment.  We are the perception we choose and I have chosen to have an extraordinary life. The path is embraced and the present is relished. And the end, unknown yes, but incredible no doubt.

I have started the life of a college graduate and I seek the greatest heights.

The possibilities are limitless

     Ayn Rand taught me that I need to listen to my own wants, Hemingway showed me that I don’t need to follow a conventional path, Twain made me laugh, Tolle showed me my spiritual center, and John Kennedy Toole well he let me see that life doesn’t always have to be so serious. Where am I headed as it comes to the point in my life when I say sayonara to the University of California, San Diego. My answer is…well, I just don’t exactly know. My stream is joining the big river, I can go downstream, upstream or even across if I want. Honestly I am not completely sure where it will take me. Remember Dustin Hoffman’s character in the Graduate when Mr. Robinson asks him what he is up to these days. Hoffman while lying on his inflatable raft, beer in hand, dark glasses on, replies, “O just takin’ it easy,” while smiling in the sunshine in full knowledge that he is sleeping with his wife. He seems to have post graduation figured out. that makes me chuckle. He had he been told at his graduation party that the key to the future was “plastics my boy, plastics,” and he seemed to be making use of them via his inflatable raft. 

     My graduation party is soon approaching, next Saturday to be exact, and I’m not sure whats next. I mean, I know I will apply for jobs, hopefully get one in San Diego and check out how that treats me, but what of William Lyon in a year from now? Will I be in the same city, same state state, the same country? Will I be the young Hemingway working as an ambulance driver in Italy, or Joseph Conrad piloting his steamboat into the heart of Africa, or Che on his motorcycle following the periphery of the South American continent, or Shackleton leading his men on the Antarctic continent. Adventure awaits no matter what the path.

     In Medieval Japan Samurai were the warrior elite of Japan.  They fought and lived by a strict code of ethics and conduct, Bushido. Central to their philosophy was their Katana, the Samurai’s sword. Bushido taught that the Katana was the soul of the Samurai and they treated them as such never letting them leave their side. 

    The time I spent in Japan has been one of growth: persistent, continuous and life changing. My soul has undergone a formative process to last the rest of my life. I will continue to evolve and develop but I know that what I have gained here is my Katana, the soul of the Samurai. The metal has been folded, the blade polished and it shall always be by my side.  Japan could not have given me a more meaningful gift. 

On the first of September I will be heading to South Korea for 17 days. I will have finished my internship and by the end of September I will be on my way to California. These are pictures from my last weeks in Japan. 

This is a compilation of pictures from Blake’s visit to Japan. We traveled around Honshu and Hokkaido 

     Blake’s time in japan has finally come to an end. We have had a fine adventure. From our trip to Izu to our last night at the Utsonomiya summer festival we have had far too much fun. Our last two days since Kyoto we have been a little less hectic in our travel schedule. Blake and I spent Friday night at my AIESEC friends’ house in Ikkebukaro. My friends who live at the house are a very interesting bunch. They all work together as EPs  programing for phones operating on google android. Their internship like mine is for 6 months. Ilian is from Bulgaria, Valay from India and Cleber from Brazil. So on Friday, Americans, a Brazilian, an Indian and a Bularian played drinking games together and by the end of the night we were having a G4 conference on international policy, culture, technological advancement, philosophy and economics. It was a intellectual adventure doused in liquor :) Where else would this happen on a Friday night with a deck of cards and Umeshu?

     On Saturday Blake and I headed to the Meiji shrine from Yoyogi station to check out the resting place of the famed emperor and the huge park surrounding it. After walking for quite some time and exploring we just laid in the grass and enjoyed the nice weather before leaving on a direct train from shinjuku to Utsonomiya. At 7 we arrived and checked into a business hotel but pretended there was only one of us as the other waited outside to get a less expensive room. After our sly maneuver we met Tatsuro and company to roam the streets of Utsonomiya during the festival. People dressed in Yukatas were everywhere and young and old people alike were enjoying street foods and treats. We saw mobile shrines being carried down the main streets while large drums were being beaten by drummers. The festival was fun and by 12 we were full, tired and ready to head for bed. Our adventure ended in a high note and was a great success. Now we head for the airport to send blake on his way home. 

     The 5th of July was a very long day. Blake, Tatsuro and I had just returned from Hokkaido the night before. Tatsuro was going to be busy writing an essay for school so Blake and I decided to go to Kyoto, the historic old capital of Japan. Blake told me he wanted to ride the bullet train and visit some temples so Kyoto was a perfect opportunity for both. We left very early, waking up at 5 to make a bullet train at 7 am. Blake and I were exhausted, with only a few hours asleep a piece, but also very excited. We arrived in Kyoto Station around 9 and knew the wisdom of using the rather expensive but fast Shinkansen.

     A group of two Buddhist temples and a nearby garden were first on our list to visit. One of the temples was huge. The largest wooden structure in the world. Inside a group of monks were chanting and we went in to sit on on the tatami mats and listen. The next temple we visited also had a group of monks in chanting and we were lucky enough to experience both within the intricately decorated places of worship. The garden connected to one of the temples was also on our list to visit and we enjoyed lazily walking through its grounds and seeing its large pond with koi. After the temples and garden we headed for Nijo castle, the Kyoto home of the Shogun. We saw ancient door panels with subjects of tigers, hawks, landscapes and trees. The floor of the main building had something called nightingale floors, which “sang” when you walked on them letting those inside know someone was coming. 

     We finished our day in Kyoto with a visit to the Bamboo path which is a pathway on the outskirts of the center of town lined with huge forests of bamboo. It was a relaxing way to spend the end of a very hot and busy day. By the time we got home that night we were beyond exhausted and I think this counts as our most ambitious day in Japan. We will see what we do on Friday but if time permits we might visit Lake Hakone. 

     Today we started our day slightly later than I had hoped. I had set our alarm to give us 8 hours of sleep so we woke up at 915. I got ready easily enough and so did Blake, but Tatsuro as usual took quite some time to wake up. After banging a hanger against metal in conjunction with yelling, he finally woke and by 1040 we were down stairs eating overpriced toast but were checked out and ready to go. We decided to leave Sapporo for the seaside town of Otaru. Tatsuro drove speedily and we got there within half an hour or so. We found parking in town by the famous old fish warehouses. We walked around in search of some food and came across of all things a brewery restaurant and one that looked rather promising. It honestly felt like we were in a Bavarian Beer Hall. The food was good and mainly German and the beer was better. We took a tour and found that it was founded and run by a German Brewmeister 15 years ago. All the brewing equipment was brought in from Germany and the beer was good European tasting and diverse. I had a good pilsner and Tatsuro a seasonal black beer. With this experience as our first in Otaru I already liked the place.

     Blake, Tatsuro and I spent our time in the town strolling the streets and enjoying the unique feeling of the town with it’s old European style buildings. The town is famous for it’s glass ware and is often compared to Venice in that sense. To top off the specialness of Otaru it even had a imported steam clock from Canada in front of a warehouse converted into a fine craft store. In the late afternoon we had some fresh urchin right from the sea and grilled oyster and clam. It was quite tasty. The afternoon was long and the time spent in Otaru was a nice respite from our hectic schedule. We were able to get to the airport in Sapporo without trouble and flew back on a JAL Boeing back to Haneda. The trip to Hokkaido was a great success and in store for tomorrow is a trip to Kyoto with my brother on the Shinkansen( bullet train) and I am looking forward to it. Now off to bed as I must wake up at 5 tomorrow morning! 

     The trip to Sapporo began this morning at 630 when we woke up to drive from Hakodate to Sapporo. We had a complementary Japanese breakfast and filled with rice, miso fish egg and the like we hoped in our Toyota and hit the road. A few hours into our drive we made it to a place called Lake Toya. We stopped here to walk around it’s shores for a bit. The water was a deep clear blue with a hint of aqua. It was beautiful and you could see mooring lines go down to some depth from the buoys dotting the shore. There were a few large islands in the lake and we found later that re squirrels and deer inhabit them. The lake was large and round and it was surrounded by dense deciduous forest.
      
     After our lake stroll we drove to a large nearby crater with smoke pilfering from cracks in it’s surface. We took a condola up the mountain slope to see the crater and also got a amazing view of the entirety of lake Toya below. The visit to the crater and lake was a pleasant detour and afterwords we got in our rental car to finish the journey to Sapporo. It only took us about an hour because our driving was rather speedy. Once we hit the large we could see larger buildings and big avenues. Our hotel was right in the center of town and we were able to check in and bring our luggage to our room. From our window we could see a nightly summer beer festival taking place below in the center city park and decided to give it a look. We got our 750 ml beers and enjoyed some various hot appetizers while we people watched and enjoyed the temperate climate. That night Blake and I decided to get Yukatas, traditional Japanese robe like clothing, because I had yet to have my own and Blake wanted one too. We were able to find inexpensive ones at the local discount shop and decided to wear them the rest of the night because it seemed like a great idea. 

We spent the rest of our night with our Yukatas and getting funny comments on our dress throughout the night and enjoying the center of Tokyo. We got to sleep around 1 to get sleep before our last day in Hokkaido. 

     The trip to Sapporo began this morning at 630 when we woke up to drive from Hakodate to Sapporo. We had a complementary Japanese breakfast and filled with rice, miso fish egg and the like we hoped in our Toyota and hit the road. A few hours into our drive we made it to a place called Lake Toya. We stopped here to walk around it’s shores for a bit. The water was a deep clear blue with a hint of aqua. It was beautiful and you could see mooring lines go down to some depth from the buoys dotting the shore. There were a few large islands in the lake and we found later that re squirrels and deer inhabit them. The lake was large and round and it was surrounded by dense deciduous forest.
      
     After our lake stroll we drove to a large nearby crater with smoke pilfering from cracks in it’s surface. We took a condola up the mountain slope to see the crater and also got a amazing view of the entirety of lake Toya below. The visit to the crater and lake was a pleasant detour and afterwords we got in our rental car to finish the journey to Sapporo. It only took us about an hour because our driving was rather speedy. Once we hit the large we could see larger buildings and big avenues. Our hotel was right in the center of town and we were able to check in and bring our luggage to our room. From our window we could see a nightly summer beer festival taking place below in the center city park and decided to give it a look. We got our 750 ml beers and enjoyed some various hot appetizers while we people watched and enjoyed the temperate climate. That night Blake and I decided to get Yukatas, traditional Japanese robe like clothing, because I had yet to have my own and Blake wanted one too. We were able to find inexpensive ones at the local discount shop and decided to wear them the rest of the night because it seemed like a great idea. 

We spent the rest of our night with our Yukatas and getting funny comments on our dress throughout the night and enjoying the center of Tokyo. We got to sleep around 1 to get sleep before our last day in Hokkaido.