February 2012
1 post
Why companies should be built to last →
Tomorrow Never Knows
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...
December 2010
1 post
4 x 4 = 12
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,...
August 2010
9 posts
From the Forge to the Sheath
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:...
Pictures of my last weeks in Japan →
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.
Blake and Will's Japan adventure →
This is a compilation of pictures from Blake’s visit to Japan. We traveled around Honshu and Hokkaido
A trip well done
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...
Kyoto
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...
Our last day in Hokkaido
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...
Sapporo
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...
We arrive at 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...
The Beach at Izu
Saturday night Blake and I took off on a very long adventure. We left Yokohama around 1030 pm bound for a station in Tokyo that we would not arrive at until around 145 AM. From there we met up with my friend and co-worker Kumiko who was going on a road trip with her friends to one of the most famous beaches in Japan, on the Peninsula Prefecture of Izu. It is located south of Tokyo and a very...
July 2010
6 posts
Blake comes to Japan
It’s official, my brother Blake Lyon is in Japan. I have been looking forward to this for some time and am ecstatic he is finally here. As my brother said when we say things we are going to do we do it. Blake and I had said he would come visit during my break and here he is during my break.
My last week preceding this weekend was tough and trying mainly because we had our first week...
My last months in Asia and my return to California
Things in Japan will soon be coming to an end for me so I think I need to give a update as to my plans in the next few months. The 31st of July through the 15th of August I will be on summer break from work. My brother, Blake, is coming to visit from California. We are planning on going on a trip with some of my good friends to the northern island of Hokkaido. I am looking forward to the great...
From past to present
Growing up my mom would tell me about times she remembered. She remembered when Kennedy was killed in 1963. She remembered Tiananmen Square in 1989. She remembered when the Berlin Wall came down in 1990. I was with her when September 11th happened. I was with her in 2005 when Pope John Paul II died. She would tell me when the wall came down you were just a baby, but I wanted to go to Germany,...
Off to Disney sea- retro active post from 6/27/10
I am sitting at the bus stop, it’s 650 am on Sunday. At kazoji park on the bench where I sit I see a pair of old men practicing technique with wooden katanas. The bugs are buzzing, finches chirping, the far off crow announces it’s presence. I am soon to get on the bus to head for Tokyo. Today I am going to Tokyo Disney with my friends and excited. Yesterday my school finally had sports day which...
Kamakura
There are some places that need to be visited. Yesterday I discovered one. In a country that is heavily influenced by materialism in contemporary times it is a breath of fresh air too be reminded of its deeply spiritual past. Kamakura was once the capital of Japan during the Kamakura period and in 1200 was even country’s largest city. It is a city by the sea. A very pretty place with a...
In the Lyon's Den
I have been sick for the past 4 or so days mainly cooped up in my airconditioned apartment. I believe as a result my brain should have thought of some rather interesting things to say or at least something more unique than what my mind usually creates. Oddly enough one of the things I do not feel at the moment in cabin fever. I have kept occupied with far too much Mad Men, I am now on season...
June 2010
7 posts
Pictures from Sports Day at Felice! →
3 months in....living in Japan
With my recent return to my blogging tendencies I think I am due for an update on Japan and how things are here across the pacific from my home on the west coast of America. First let me begin with my internship and then spiral out from there.
It is June 23rd, 2010 and I am essentially half way through my internship in Isesaki, Japan. My 3 stay in this nation of the rising sun has been...
Here + Now
I was just pondering the illusions we create in our minds. For me maybe coming to Japan was one of them. I have an active mind. Maybe too active for my own good. More often than not it creates romanticized visions, mainly a fantasized future. The longer I have been in Japan the more I have focused on the present moment and my life now, here, not what my mind projects. Plato taught the analogy...
A city by a river
To live in a city by a river is something unique. A city on the coast has something well worn in the physique of man. Seafaring ships: trading, fishing, connecting the city to the greater world through history’s well confirmed paths of development. However let us not forget the city by the river. Some are legendary, London, Rome, Paris but others are lesser known but charming in their own...
Economist article on the new PM. Go Japan! Go Kan!... →
Pictures from the land of the rising sun →
A post long delayed....
It has been quite some time since my last post and I am not quite certain why I have waited so long to write. I think it is a combination of having consistent contact with my family and being immersed by my internship. The internship is going well and I am quite busy. I am still spending my days from 9:30-1:00 with the Duck Kindergarten class. We have 12 or so students and just got a new one,...
May 2010
3 posts
Adapting to a new home
I have been in Japan since late March and I am finally in a state where I feel comfortable calling Isesaki my home. How do you come to this state? I think the only honest way is through time. There are many aspects of being in a new country that I believe are universally experienced. The key is to just be, let it happen, know that it is part of the experience. You need to get used to always...
How to have fun Japanese Style
They say Napoleon was able to sleep anytime, anywhere. Stories depict the famous general able to sleep a few hours even before a battle. When the time came to lead he was fully energized and ready for anything. There cannot be an over emphasis on the value of such a skill. Since the beginning of Golden week on Friday I have been on a fun marathon of sorts, with far too many cheering of...
Golden Week- A 5 day Japanese vacation
In Japan there is a yearly 5 day vacation known as golden week. The entire country literally comes alive as people take advantage of a much needed break to their normally endlessly busy lives. The big cities become bustling with couples and tourists and people simultaneously flock to more adventurous locations outside of the main metropolitan areas. This year Golden week started yesterday, on...
April 2010
15 posts
Ready for a break
It is Friday, the last day of work before I begin Golden week(a 5 day long vacation here in japan). My job has been difficult, the days have been long, I have been challenged in my work but I have enjoyed it. Today I will get my first pay check. I couldn’t be happier. I have depleted almost all my money and literally have about $50.
They say that around the month mark of living in another...
A look around Isesaki →
Tour of my Japanese Apartment :) →
Living in Japan
I have been in Japan for a little over 1 month. As a marker of such an occasion I believe it relevant to write a post about what it is like to live abroad, by yourself and in Japan. The first stage is one of settling in. You need to get all the basic necessities to survive and stay sane. In my case this was relatively simple. I live really close to a grocery store and also a Home Depot like...
A walk in Isesaki
I have been listening to 80s music lately. I don’t know why really, but tears for fears, the beastie boys, the police, the cars, Prince. Right now “head over heals” is playing, I’m wearing my $10 urban outfitters aviators, my San Diego Chargers plaid hat, my Felice school t-shirt, Jeans. I’m walking down the path by the kumagawa river. The grass is blowing in the...
Caught red handed!
My American tendencies have gotten me in a slight of trouble this evening. The most prominent of those tendencies being that I like music and I like to make noise at night, I guess to much. Now I have soon realized the reality of my thin Japanese walls.
So I am right in the middle of watching gilbert Grape when I pause, then while I am putting away my wet laundry am listening to the...
48 hours awake in Tokyo
Ladies and gentlemen boys and girls,
Sit down to hear a riveting story from your friend ol’ mr Will Lyon the rambunctious good timer from America. Let’s rewind to approximately 745 pm this evening on a train my home from a weekend in Tokyo. I am exhausted and feeling a bit sick, actually really, ok I’m going to vomit. I prematurely exit my train to go find a proper area which I can barf. I...
The silver lining
There comes a point in time when you get used to being somewhere well enough that u can tell the guy at the train station how long you are leaving your bike there. This is a momentous time, finally I can communicate like a semi-intelligent 2 year old and that is a start. I am getting used to japan one day at a time. Each train I take, each day I teach, every 3rd bowl of rice I eat a day I feel...
a hard day at work
Its 252 pm on Friday and I am sitting in the work room exhausted. I didn`t think a Friday could be this difficult. I was assigned to another class room this morning and I had to deal with a specific kid who we will call Damien primarily because if I were to rename him I think this name would be perfect. He punched, he didn`t listen, he screamed, he peed his paints, he drained my will to...
Settling in
Life is good
I am finally settling down getting used to work, living alone, making decently nutritious meals and setting aside time to learn Japanese. I must admit that last night I was a little down and did proceed to drink a few too many beers, but upon waking up this morning I decided to make the most of my day.
As a consequence I think I had a good day and a step in the right...
The Kindergarten class arrives
8:30 am, get to work after 200-foot walk from my apartment. It’s business time, today the kids come to class for the first time. Will Lyon, will be put through the paces. Can I make it as a kindergarten teacher? We’ll soon find out.
9 hours later…Kids crying, accidents, a few hours spent outside in the hot sun, a lot of no idea what I am doing. I can see this being a lot of work, but also...
The Internet Fiend
I have just returned from a rather hilarious exploit and as my room gives me no other entertainment other than Japanese variety hour shows on my Toshiba television, I have decided to indulge in my old friend, writing, the mistress of the lonely.
On an almost daily routine around 10:00 pm, I go over to my co-worker Aaron’s room in an attempt to attain some semblance of even a...
Sometimes nothing can be a cool hand
Tonight in the internet-less confines of my room I felt compelled to watch Cool Hand Luke, a film I had not seen for a few years. I couldn’t seem to remember the ending of the movie for the life of me. I normally do not forget the closing stages, as it is so crucial to understanding most well made film. In the process of watching, I realized why I hadn’t remembered the ending and this is precisely...
School begins at Felice
Internet is still a luxury to me. Supposedly it will be installed at my apartment on the 11th of this month. For now I am relegated to going to my neighbors to use his internet or using the school computers. I must say not to have internet is a cruel punishment when moving to a new country. It is my only lifeline to home and my friends not in Isesaki. But soon I will have it! Thank god.
This...
A Japanese cell phone and bank account- belated...
The time has come to blog! Far to many things have happened in the last two days to not have Internet. Yesterday was the first official day of work and long it was indeed. After a morning of introductions and scheduling I headed to Shinkjuku (in Tokyo) to get myself a cell phone and a bank account so my semblence of a normal life in Japan can be official minus Internet of course. The journey was...
March 2010
15 posts
Burnt rice, Spicy Korean Ramen and Beeru
At the moment I sit on my wooden table with my laptop out, eating Korean Ramen out of a mug (I have no bowls), drinking Asahi “super” dry (my grocery store doesn’t have Sapporo) and not eating the rice, which I somehow managed to burn (I am not renowned for my rice steaming). The sound track to Lost in Translation is playing. I think it serves as a reminder that I am actually in Japan and...
And so it begins
So what happens when you join some organization that claims to be the monster.com of the world for students and recent graduates? Certainly not a job in Japan, the opportunity of a life time and the warmest welcome imaginable….right? I mean that doesn’t just happen. Something like that doesn’t exist. Or if it did more people would know about it. Wrong….really...
phase 1....pictures from Japan →
Japan- my new home
12 hours. Long, arduos, ambien injected hours of semi-hibernation across the Pacific, on flight AA 169. One day later I sit in Japan, my new home country for the next six months. First let me just state that the welcome I received when I landed was nothing less than fantastic. Koujun, Muneyuki, Takuya you guys are incredibly sugoi (awesome, a fine example of one of my lowly Japanese...
Next guy up
You know that first person view in sky diving, where the camera is mounted on someones helmet? Imagine that view where everybody is lined up in the plane and now the green light is on, signaling for you to start jumping. It has been months of waiting. My plane has taken off, gotten to alttitude and it’s now time for me to jump. Honestly I cannot wait. All I can say is I have practiced,...
Friends
New York, San Diego, New Orleans, London, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Helsingborg, St. Andrews, Sacramento, Hawaii. This is a taste of my travels in the most recent months. For all my personal fortune in such opportunities, I unequivocally give far greater value to who I am with rather than where i am located. I have been so fortunate that I have many amazing friends in my life. They are not...
The Sands of Time
Today is March 17th 2010. A nice comfortable day in Sacramento California. Whisps of clouds sparsely populate the sky, the temperature is a balmy 70 degrees fahrenheit. There are nine days left before I board a plane at the San Francisco International Airport headed for Tokyo, Japan.
At about two in the afternoon today I finished reading a book entitled: Islands of the Damned, a story of...