Spencer Fern's blog

Buddhist prayer

2008-07-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Temple prayer from Spencer Fern on Vimeo.

Bob Sapp slams japanese bondage guy

2008-07-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bob Sapp slams bondage guy from Spencer Fern on Vimeo.

Hong-Choi Man, Korean giant, dances with little man in speedo

2008-07-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hong Choi Man dances from Spencer Fern on Vimeo.

I'm afraid I don't understand.

Mt. Taka-dake in Japan

2008-07-17T22:52:00.001-07:00

I almost made it.

Failing to climb Mt. Taka-dake from Spencer Fern on Vimeo.

The video doesn't show me getting lost twice due to the low visibility, nor does it show my encounter with the one other climber on the mountain that day; he came out of the clouds from behind me while I was pissing on a bush.

Japanese cops and drunks

2008-07-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here are two salary-men who were so drunk they couldn't get out of the street. The one in the dark suit could walk - somewhat - but I had to go out in the street and drag the other one to the sidewalk. I sat him down, and he then promptly stood up and tried to walk down the street into Roppongi. He made it about 20 feet before crashing into a light pole.

After this I suddenly realized that there were two cops who had been standing left of frame in the picture just watching this whole thing go down.

pantastic

2008-07-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm battling this time change. I've got to go through 3:45 of hd videos that I took as well as 364 photos.It's odd, half the time I didn't even have the camera with me, and if you asked me how many pictures I took, I would have guessed a hundred. There are some other good pictures of me that my friend Hitoro took, but I need to harrass him to send them.Anyhow, today I stitched together this one panorama I took, and it came out alright.Oh, and if you click through to picasa and download it, it is fucking huge. This is the beach in Beppu, Japan.

Japan photos

2008-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

Japan - Summer 08

goodbye japan

2008-07-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

I'm in Narita airport so it is officially over.

Up all night

2008-07-08T08:15:00.001-07:00

I'm staying up all night, to try to get adjusted to American time. I havent done the calculation to see if that makes sense, but my impromptu "wingmen" made me do it all weekend, so one more day isnt so hard. Hopefully I'll sleep on the plane.

Actually, hopefully I'll wake up for the food and drinks. As much as the Japanese people seem to dislike Koreans, Korean Airlines has some good food and free drinks.

I'm already three quarters packed, Ive figured out the train to the airport, and the Starbucks that looks down on Hachiko is open 24/7.

There is also a noodle shop open 24/7 very close to my hotel. Cold soba actually very good in the morning. Japanese breakfast is strange, and there are tons of french-style bakeries, so although continental breakfast is indeed the best in the world, Japanese breakfast is much better than Russian breakfast.

Oh, and the McDonalds nearby is 24/7 too, but I have avoided all fast food, KFC, McDs, Burger King, etc, except I got a Frosty one morning, which they call a "soft" in a horrible katakana way. I have also indulged in Starbucks, which is far better than the Japanese rip-off "Exelsior Coffee."

Well, getting ready to leave.

2008-07-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get my bags packed. The good news is, Ive got like 20gigs of pictures and hd video, so I can put some actual content on this stupid website. 24hrs or so left in Nihon.

The bad news is, I'll spend the rest of the summer studying math and looking for a place to live near Westwood. The good news is I had a great time.

Lessons learned:
1. Travelling is a necessity.
2. Make a plan that you cannot possibly accomplish, and do it. Failing gloriously is glorious.
3. I can drink any Japanese person under the table, and then legally drive him home.

I am alive and well.

2008-07-06T05:53:00.001-07:00

Enjoying lilliput. I made friends with some guys from San Francisco, one of them works for United as a mechanic, so they flew here first class free.

Had a great weekend in Tokyo. Oddly enough, I was helping them with my Japanese skills, so I think Im getting better.

They took off this morning though, but the weekend is almost over so I'll have to plan some sightseeing.

Japanese people

2008-07-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

Can't handle alcohol.

In tokyo

2008-07-03T03:00:00.001-07:00

yeah

Some pics from my hike

2008-06-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

These are snapshots from the videos I took on my hike. Unfortunately, there weren't many places that I could take my camera out safely.

Made it back from Kuju-san

2008-06-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

I left Beppu by bus at 2:30pm Saturday. Arrived at the trailhead in at a wide spot in the road called Chojo-baru. For most of the trip, I was the only one on the bus. Then two girls got on at a town that I think was called Yufuin.

I payed 1900 yen for the trip and got there at 4:00pm. I knew I had about two hours of hiking ahead of me, so I didn't linger at the visitor center. I just found the trailhead and headed in at the fastest pace I could maintain. I passed two hikers on the way up, a gaijin and his Japanese wife. The weather was nice, but you could tell it had been raining earlier in the day. My guidebook describes the scenery as "like Jurassic park" and I concur. The early part was steep and covered with old-growth forests, then I reached a valley covered in marshy meadows.

I arrived at the camp site - Bogatsuru Kyampu - at 6:00 pm on the dot.

There was a bathroom about 100m away from the hut with running water that appeared to be pumped up from groundwater using a solar panel.

The hut itself seemed crude but sound. There was a fire pit and firewood outside, but though it was covered it was all wet. I tried to get a fire started, and nearly had it, but it was warm so I didnt worry about it and went to bed. I slept well.

When I woke up, I realized that the hut leaked terribly. I had hung my socks on a rope that seemed to be put there for the purpose, and they were soaked. It was 6 am and I wanted to try to wait out the rain, so I occupied myself with the fire. This was futile because of the moisture.

So at 10 am I headed out. About the time I reached the trailhead for the main climb, the rain let up. This climb was very steep and difficult. The path was clearly marked, but was cut through dense vegetation. Additionaly, due to a rock slide, the path took a detour for an extended jaunt up the stream bed.

My shoes had great traction though, so it was worth the trouble to find them. After an exhausting two hours, I saw the sign post marking the fork in the path. To the right, Mt. Naka-Dake, the highed peak in Kyushu. To the left, Mt. Kuju, a climbers favorite for the views.

But as I approached the sign, I was hit head on with intense wind. Also visibility dropped to almost 0.

At this point I was at 1780m. I wanted to summit Naka-dake at 1791m, but I chose to pass. The wind was too bad, and I couldnt see the peak. Being unable to see the peak was problematic, because Naka-dake is an active volcano.

So, I decided to head straight. As it was, I got lost several times finding the path back to the terminus of my trip. Once, I found the fork which lead to the correct path, I stopped to take a leak. As soon as I got my fly up I turned around to see the only other climber on the mountain that day coming down from Kuju-san. Nice.

Anyhow, from the the path was well-marked and maintained, the wind and visibility slowly improved. I had to race a bit to make the 3:25 bus back to Beppu.

On the way back to Beppu I decided Id had enough wilderness, and once I got to Beppu I grabbed my second bag from the coin lockers and quickly jumped on the express train for Hakata/Fukuoka.

Ashita

2008-06-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will depart Beppu to climb Kuju-san. I will do a two day hike as described in Lonely Planet's "Hiking in Japan." There is a hut, two hours in to the hike, where I will probably sleep tomorrow night. The following day (Sunday here) it will probably rain, so I may stay and do some short hikes near the hut until Monday. There is an onsen (hot spring) there as well. I don't have any hotel reservations until the first, so I'm just sort of going to wing it.

If it doesn't rain much on Sunday, I may head back to Beppu.

Anyhow, if you don't hear from me by the first, a bear probably ate me (if japan has bears.)

Beppu

2008-06-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

I made it to Beppu.

After I transferred off the Shinkansen to the local express, I had to really pay attention to the station announcements.

On the Shinkansen they do the announcements in English, and they have a scrolling LED to tell you the station. On this line it was only an audio announcement in Japanese.

Looks like a nice town though, rainy right now though.

Get outta dodge

2008-06-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a bit fatigued. There are busses and subways here in Kyoto, but I've been doing a lot of walking, because I'm not a bus tour type, and the city is pretty spread out.

If you are old, vegetarian, or have kids, come to Kyoto. Otherwise, skip it.

I can't wait to be burried in sand in Beppu.

haikingu

2008-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today the plan was to go to Nara, the older capitol city, but first I wanted to pick up some things at the shopping mall attached to the train station.

First, as I was wandering around, I was stopped by someone with a badge his partner and questioned about my trip. Some lunatic went on a stabbing spree a while ago, so this is national fascism week in Japan. Some things never change, eh?

Well, then I got breakfast there. I had a bunch of pastries, including a donut with bean curd filling.

Then I went looking for hiking shoes. I found some that looked decent enough, and asked for my size, which I had figured out earlier. San-ju senji.

She mumbles something apologetically along the lines of "we dont have anything near that, clown man."

I head to the Kyoto prefecture tourism office, and ask him if he knows of anywhere that sells grown-man shoes. He stifles his laughter and shakes his head apologetically.

Then I went to the national tourism office, and asked them. They did not stifle their laughter. The woman went back to her supervisors and asked them. They laughed.

Anyone who tells you some shit about Japanese people not laughing or smiling is fucking with you or ignorant.

Anyhow, they directed me back to the city center.

So no Nara for me. I don't much care for temples and shrines anyhow. Yeah, their old. So is dirt. Older even.

Tomorrow Im going to Beppu on the South Island. It is known for two things, onsen (hot springs) and umm...whores...dunno the word for that. Geisha I guess.

Japan so far

2008-06-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

I ended up doing three days in Tokyo.

Barely scratched the surface, but I did meet some people and stay up all night on friday singing karaoke and playing pool next to some Japanese business men who were way too drunk. They were like walking stereotypes, they could have come out of central casting. So that is part of the essential Japanese experience.

However the young women that I met described the life of a salary-man (or women.)

You work from 6am-10pm. Sometimes Saturdays. Plus a commute of an hour or so in a sardine can. I guess Id drink too.

Anyhow, I took the N700 Shinkansen out to Kyoto today. It is a beautiful city.

Japan

2008-06-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

June 18 to July 9, I'll be in Japan.

Updates as possible.

Anyone want a postcard from Japan?

2008-06-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

I've got a whole list of relatives I'm sending postcards to.

If you want one, send me your address, and what kind of postcard you want.

If you don't specify, you may get unsettling manga. Just saying.

Japan time

2008-06-16T03:09:00.000-07:00

So, my brain has decided that I should switch to Japan time right now, rather than on Thursday.

Y'see, it may be 3:11AM here, but it is 7:11PM in Tokyo.

My circadian clock is amazing.

Old people

2008-06-13T00:33:00.001-07:00

I'm watching the Southpark about how old people are shitty drivers.

Anyhow, I'm the youngest son, of the youngest son, of the youngest son, so by the time I was old enough to have a conversation with my father's father, he was like 85.

So one day, he took my brother and I to the zoo or something.

He was a great story-telling Irishman, like my dad is. Also a great Irish drinker.

So as we are driving to the zoo he starts telling a joke.

A golfer hits a ball, and it lands right on top of an ant colony.

He lines up and swings, and hits about two inches in front of the ball, killing half the colony.

He lines up again...

As my grandfather is about to continue, my brother says from the back seat, "Grandpa, you're in the wrong lane."

I look up, and we are in the far LEFT lane of a four lane road, with a pickup truck bearing down on us.

Grandpa responds, "Oh, so I am." Swerves over into the correct lane, and continues the joke without missing a beat.

I could tell you the rest of the story if anyone cares, but after nearly dieing, the crescendo has been reached.

So, old people are shitty drivers, and if you've ever seen them buying cases of Charles Shaw at Trader Joe's, cognitive decay isn't the old reason -- it is good old alkyhol.

Housing in LA

2008-06-12T23:37:00.001-07:00

The only option UCLA housing offered me was a room with two roommates.

So I'm looking for an apartment up near Westwood. I'm probably gonna end up paying $1100-$1300, for shit.

Anyhow, I know about craigslist of course. This is this site which shows you where craigslist listings are on a google maps. A mashup it's called. Housingmaps.com.

I hear Westside rentals has the most listings, but you have to pay to see them.

Then I've heard you should just drive around in the neighborhood you want and look for signs -- nobody advertises a good deal.

Anyhow, I don't have my final fin. aid offer, so I'll wait and get really serious after I come back from Japan on July 9th. It is gonna be a PITA though.