Once you accept something...

Well, I can't keep going on about India, as much as I would like to. But Japan is real and Japan is everyday and I'm back in Japan.

Ya know, I'm really starting to like Kiso valley. It's funny, when I first came the mountains looked so dreary - I've never been a nature person, and I would have described rolling mountains more as repetitive than as peaceful and refreshing. I wished that I could tear a few of them down so I could see a little farther, and perhaps have more time with the sun during my day. I felt a little trapped and a little claustrophobic. Japan is also a bit careless when it comes to their treatment of natural resources, you have two types of trees in these mountains, conifers and deciduous (I think deciduous, like evergreens), one being brown and one being green. These trees have been stripped and subsequently replanted, but not replanted in a natural way. While naturally they are mixed together, when they were replanted they kept trees of the same species together, so now, as my friend so aptly said, they look like tiger stripes of green and brown over the mountains. It's not as beautiful as it would look naturally, and you cannot front to yourself like they still have that pristine type of beauty. The other thing, since I'm on the topic, are that practically all the rivers are dammed, I think only 3 rivers in all of Japan are not dammed (is nuclear energy the future?) so the river that makes Kiso vallye is now just lots of rocks with a little bit of water streamig through. While it looks quite beautiful, you can imagine those rocky rivers, to me a full gushing river would look a lot better (especially since the rocky river isn't natural).

That being said, I'm starting to really appreciate it here. I think it's because the sun is finally coming up and the flowers are starting to bloom, so the mountains look a lot softer and the area feels a lot more alive and happy, but I look at these mountains now and instead of wishing for some sea or some grass or some tall buildings, I just...like what I see. It makes me feel good, kind of happy, like this is the way that the world is supposed to look and there's no reason to change it. I always liked it in a beautiful and mystical sense, in a sense that nature is grandeur and I like grandeur, but I actually never enjoyed it. Go for a hike? Why go for a hike? That's just walking. Walking is boring. And once you've seen one tree you've seen them all. Why would I want to go walk with some trees, I'd rather play soccer or do some kung fu.

But now...Sunday I was at a barbeque put on by some of my hoikkuen students' parents. It was fantastic. I was in front of this beautiful river (even if all the water is dammed up), with some people fishing, drinking Kirin and just grilling some yaki niku, kids playing on the side, guys talking about random things, beautiful sun and weather, trees starting to turn green, a camping tent and lots of laughing and joking, all in the middle of the mountains. I was having the best time of my life. All stress was gone, I had no complaints about being in Kiso, and this sure beat being in the middle of somebody's backyard.

Yesterday, someody asked me if I wanted to go kayaking. Heck yeah, I said. I remember hating it when I went in 8th grade, I hated the life vest and the stupid repetitive motion with your paddling, but i think I'm going to love it. I'm discovering all types of new things here, with huge ice falls buried somewhere deep in the mountains and plateu towns with nice soba restaurants. Scenic drives with spectacular views of some of Japan's tallest mountains cradling small parochial towns that lie in its foreground. I've also found historical towns like Tsumago that have been preserved in there original layout and windy mountain roads that make you feel like you're traveling to the sky. A lot of people complain about these woods, but sometimes I think all people ever do is complain. I'm starting to really like it here, the people are great and the environs are spectacular. I don't think I will ever stop being a city kid on the inside but this experience is teaching me to like something I never really would have forced myself to like. All my city friends (that's all I have actually), I don't expect you to feel what I'm saying! I couldn't have understood if I didn't actually live here. I never would have understood why people love nature. But there's a certain feeling out here when you get out and experience it, something that shows me just how simple happiness probably is.