Three more Shangri-la videos posted to my YouTube Channel. Satogaeri 2 (Sunday), Satogaeri 3A & 3B (Monday) These ones are mostly in Japanese with a little sprinkling of English.... http://www.youtube.com/camswitzer

The Ideal Summer Fling according to Japanese Women...

Check out #4.

 

Remember, these are Japanese WOMEN offering their idea of the perfect summer fling...

 

What would be your ideal summer fling?

 

TOKYO ―

Magazine website Ozmall (http://www.ozmall.co.jp/ol/honne/vol90/) recently surveyed office ladies (OLs) on what sort of a fling they fantasize about.

 

Here are some of the top answers from the women who responded.

 

1. With a Latin guy while I’m traveling abroad! I think he would give me an incredibly passionate trip!

2. He invites me to go for a drive one day, and I find out he’s booked a room at a seaside hotel. That would be the best!

3. Like in “Roman Holiday,” but the opposite―I’d go on a fantastic date with a celebrity that I’d never get to meet otherwise.

4. We’re at a fireworks festival when he bumps into me and my yukata gets dirty. He’s so nice, and our love progresses very sweetly; but when the summer ends he’s killed in a motor-bike accident.

5. A younger local guy pursues me passionately while I’m studying abroad for the summer.

6. A celebrity. It has to be someone I would definitely never see again, otherwise things would just drag on.

7. Love at first sight at the library or a bookstore.

8. We’ve each got a significant other, but we get caught up in a fiery love that makes us forget that for a moment. If it was at an exotic resort, I could feel totally separated from reality.

9. I’m on a trip, and he saves me from almost drowning in the ocean. So I fall in love with him.

 

This story originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

Music to my ears

Oh My God they've changed the canned music! I fear this is going to play over and over for the next fiscal year!!!!

Never Surrender
Walk Like an Egyptian
Like an Angel
Cuz I'm a Wonderland

And more!!!

Nooooooo!!!!!!!


..........

Hmmmmmmm........




I guess I'll get to practice even more active meditational focus on my muscles when I work out...

What a great opportunity!

Thanks Paletta crew for changing the music to an era that I dislike!

Cam

Get off your big, fat, cancerous ass!

I just read a medical report on "the increased risks of death by sitting" and thought I would share my thoughts.

Here is the link to my posterous posting, "Get off your big, fat, cancerous ass!" if you want to read what may just possibly be one of the dumbest studies I have ever read....

http://camswitzer.posterous.com/get-off-your-big-fat-cancerous-ass

I can't access Multiply from work, so I uploaded it to my Posterous domain which then transfers it to other locations (how I upload from my keitai when I write blog thoughts). Unfortunately, Multiply is not supported so I always have to repost to Multiply.

I love you!
Cam

P.S. I never use Posterous for anything other than broadcasting postings, so there is no need to comment over there.

Love Storms

I love it when the sky turns an ominous pink and grey. Then the wind picks up and suddenly goes quiet.

This storm is one of thos fast and furious ones that come when the atmosphere can't bear the heat and the high pressure system any longer.

It's going to be a glorious morning in Kobuchizawa tomorrow. We had this last night in Tokyo. I actually had to take down the sun curtain and close the balcony doors as the sudden wind drove the rain through the balcony and into my apartment.

I love summer storms...

Have a great day!

Cam

After leaving Mayu's place (I spent the day with her yesterday, and then stayed the night) early Sunday morning (8am), I rode the railroad to Daimon / Hamamatsu-cho Stations, and visited my sixth Serenity Spot in Tokyo: Kyu Shibarikyu Onshi Tei-en. But you already knew I was going to do that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcZgQ8HKzoc Here is the first of two vi...deos. You can see the continuation by following the link to my YouTube Channel if you like. Have a great Sunday. I love you!

On my way to another park to Serenely scope it out for Serenity. As Mr. Rogers might have said if he had ever made TV programs in Japan, "Can you say, ? Sure, I knew you could..."

Seeking Reliable, Safe, Cheap etc... Lodgings in San Francisco

Hi!

I need your help, cuz expedia, etc. doesn't do the job. Online searches don't provide reliability so looking on the net is not an option...

My partner at work asked me to help her find a hotel in San Fancisco for her husband with the following conditions:

* Long Stay (2-3 weeks at a time)
* Opportunity to return regularly on business (i.e. preferred client status perks)
* Within walking distance to Union Square
* Low Price
* Safe
* Clean and comfortable
* Food not necessary

Kyoko's husband goes to SF regularly and has the need to get a new base of operations but because the business is mostly sales-related travel for his custom product (see www.magicboxincusa.com) it needs to be low-cost operations (thus the price requirement above).

Can you or anyone you know living and/or working in the region help out with some direct experience and suggestions? Simply checking on the net doesn't really provide rliable info and in this case using a network of friends around the globe actually provides better, more trustworthy results.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!

I love you!
Cam

Best Quote EVAR: "We don't have proper oil cleanup materials, so our workers are wearing rubber gloves and using chopsticks," an official with the Jinshitan Golden Beach Administration Committee told the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper in apparent exasperation. (this said regarding China's apparently worst reported oil spill in history - a mere drop in the bucket compared to BP...)

I just uploaded 91 photos to my Flickr Site Here: http://tinyurl.com/myshangrilarevisited

I trust The Universe moreso than E.F. Hutton. Today The Universe spoke truth to us: "See their good. See nothing else. Do it for you." That applies to everyone in life. Everyone. I love you! (I also brought home 18kg [40lbs] of food on my back just now from the industrial supermarket. Now my freezer is overfull. I am happy. Life is good.)

In case you miss it I just uploaded a story of my weekend in Shangri-La, with photos; and it went into my photo album instead of the blog space. I guess you can read it from there if you like.

Shangri-La, Summer 2010

I'm at Komatsu Airport an hour and a half early. Its a teeeeny weeeeny airport (kinda like me) so that when you enter the building you are already checking in and when you go up the stairs you are already going through security and when you exit security you are in line and boarding the plane! But if you take one step to the left or the right you can avoid the boarding, sit down and gaze out on my beautiful mountains in Shangri-La and watch them slowly fade into darkness.

The weekend was fantastic! We cycled deep in the mountains all day Saturday after saving a woodsman who had collapsed on the side of the road and was suffering serious heat stroke. We rode all day Sunday in our Saturday riding place. We saw a ton of wild animals, big and small.

On the way home we visited Kamishii and saw that the house in which Mayu and I lived in for the last six years was unlived in and falling/rotting into disrepair. It was a pitiful jungle of despair.

We visited our old friends at the previous house and chatted them until they were smiling and laughing. I gave them some Tokyo gifts and in exchange received two huge boxes of freshly-dug (that afternoon) potatoes as well as about 50 onions, two giant heads of cabbage, a dozen or more cucumbers and a bunch of fresh eggplant! Wow! Talk about country friendliness!!

Then Sunday night out we went for a night run enjoying the cooler humidity and the heightened tension that goes with only seeing where the bike lamps light up. We lay on a bridge over a river in the middle of nowhere and gazed at the stars for 45 minutes as the heat from the concrete warmed and dried our soaking wet bodis.

Today we rode along the sea in the forest and then along the cliffs (met two gorgeous sisters and their family from Tokyo and chatted them until they were smiling and laughing). We stopped at our favourite coffee cabin by the sea and chatted the owner (as usual) until he was smiling and laughing.

We napped in the mountains, got lots of sun, enjoyed the heat, humidity and the sun. Saturday was the official end of the rainy season so the weather was hot, clear and perfect the entire three days.

We even went hiking in the mountains Sunday!

Talk about the perfect weekend in Shangri-La.

Now I am heading back to the concrete jungle, laden with omiyage for my coworkers and preparing to put on the monkey suit for days of sitting at the computer reading, typing, and more.
Over the next week or two I'll upload the myriad of photos of scenery that most of you will know because I have been shooting this scenery for 20 years. I NEVER get tired of it. NEVER!!! Also I will work on the video I took and probably end up processing and uploading five or six videos to my YouTube channel (some only in Japanese this time). That is going to take some time considering my busy Tokyo life, but I'll get it done.

It amazes me how Hokuriku and I speak the same soul language... Even the humidity which is way higher than tokyo just feels right.

Max and I had a three day weekend that felt just like any other extended weeknd as if I was still living here. And in a big way... I still am. Something tells me I'll be back...

I love you!!

Shangri-La la la!

It never ceases to amaze me how my back locks and is so stiff the morning after spending the night sleeping on a futon on the floor. And yet so many people swear by it, Japanese and aliens alike.

The air smells like earth... there is so much more humidity compared to Tokyo that the air really does feel wet; it maintains all the surrounding smells due to the heaviness.

Ahhhhh the sounds of a myriad of insects buzzing, humming, chitting, whirling and squealing tells me I. am. home.

Where is the constant traffic hum, I ask myself? Gone! Vanished! Self replies. The vehicles that do pass by are interruptions to the sound of peaceful nature, not the standard background noise of the city.

I miss the cicadas; to hear them everywhere around me... their meeee meeeeee meeeeeee songs have always been a pleasure to my senses, one of Mother Nature's perfectly tuned, always playing in harmony musical instruments.

The birdsongs are another instrument of life that I find mysteriously lacking in Tokyo. You actually have to go somewhere specific to find birdsong because in most cases they don't come to you.

The surroundings are tall, lush, green mountains instead of architectural wonders of concrete, steel and glass.

In the future years when I have moved on from Tokyo to the next great adventure, Tokyo will always have a place in my heart. But Hokuriku will always have my soul.

It's no wonder meditation came so easy to me here... Just being. Is. Being.

Enough newage mumbojumbo shit. Time to get some food in my gullet, fill my drinking bladder with water for a ride, slather on the necessary insect repellant with 100% deet (not needed in Tokyo as biting insects seem to be absent - except cockroaches of course) and then get some of Mother Nature's soap stuck between my teeth!

Have a goooooood weekend. Mine is long. And wonderful it is to be spending it in my Shangri-La.

I love you!

Cam

Theresh Alwayshroom for More, or...

Better & Better

... is how I would describe this day's progression.

I arrived at Kobuchizawa, enjoyed some sun and rain, caught the cab and had a good chat, arrived at work...

and one of the researchers gave me this delicious mushroom that she had just picked this morning in the surrounding area! She says it is like the italian portobello mushrooms.

I can hardly wait to cook up a great mushroom steak.

All the great things that happened today are a blessing. I am so grateful for each and every one of them!

I love You Universe!

Cam

Another Fantastic McUniversal Adventure

I KNEW there was a reason why I wanted to take lunch at McDonalds today! The reason eluded me but ithad to be there since only amazing things happen in my life on a daily basis.

As I was sitting and enjoying a half hour of A/C I saw a woman with her crying infant putting her finished tray of food in the appropriate place.

I knew she was going to have to carry her infant, and her bag and the child stroller down the stairs to leave... because she had to carry them up to find a place to eat (no tables or chairs on the main floor, no escalator nor elevator).

As soon as I saw the wheels of the stroller begin to move I jumped up, went over to her and offered to carry her stroller down to the exit for her.

She accepted with gratitude and appreciation. So I carried it down for her, made sure that she came down the stairs safely, and wished her a wonderful afternoon in the rain.

And then I went back and continued eating.

It was raining as I walked to the statioin entrance and I got wet but it sure felt good! I am so glad it is raining.

Off to Kobuchizawa so have a glorious day.

I love you!
Cam

Kasai Rinkai Koen, or Another Soaking Wet Fun Ride

I'm getting ready for riding in Fukui/Ishikawa next week. It is still the rainy season there and that means about five days a week it rains. It looks like it is going to rain all weekend, for that matter. So I will be "washing the grit and grime of humanity from me with Mother Nature's Soap". I'm looking forward to it.

Last Sunday I took Megumi for a ride on my bike. It was supposed to be an overcast day, with 0% chance of rain. That means, in Tokyo, it does. not. rain. But it poured on the way home.

Today was another 0% chance of rain. Well, that didn't hold out, either. So on the way home from Kasai Rinkai Park (see a little bit about the park by following that link) it poured. Luckily this time I was not riding on gravel, so rinsing my bike off was easy, drying it up nicely was a pleasure, and oiling everything was my dream come true.

It is the rainy season here in Japan, so the weather can change very quickly. And today it did. It was overcast during the day, but the humidity was low, the temperatures not hot, and rather pleasant.

When I arrived at the sea, the wind was frothing up waves, and the rain started to fall after about 15 minutes of sitting there, getting bit in strange places from an ant that got into my clothes.

I'm home now, and all squeaky clean and oiled up like my bike so I should be ready to go tomorrow to Kobuchizawa (rain all day there, too).

Ahh.... the rainy season. Everyone on Tokyo-side complains about the rain, but I love it. It keeps the dust down. And for a boy who comes from farm country, that's a big plus!

Have a great Sunday, a great week, and we will talk with you after Mother Nature has her way with me next week!

I love you!

Cam

I never thought I'd say this, but one of my seldom used yahoo.com accounts seems tp have been hacked & is being used by spammers to send korean junk spam. I don't use that address anymore so it's especially strange. Personal info has been deleted, name modified to something like, "this.email.has.been.hacked.sorry.if.you.get.spam.it's.not.me" & so forth. I will most likely try to delete the account in a little bit. Apologies go out to everyone who received or receives junk from that address!

India Ink

OK, here's a questian for all you Indian friends (India Indians) out there:

Tonight the really smelly (i.e. sour week old curry-sweat) Indian guy came into the bath just as I was heading out. Nice body, not overweight, shapely longer face, good teeth.

And... He had loosely tied around his waist two strings of differing hues of red.

I didn't bother to stop him and ask him face-to-face with both of us singing the theme song to "Free Willy" but nonetheless I am curious.

Can anyone out there enlarge my ... perspective on different cultures, please? After all there are all kinds of different strokes for different folks. Namaste.

I love you!

Cammywood

Summer Sunday Tokyo Ride 20100704

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnx4dNXSxjQ
I went for a ride in the city today.

Fundoshi - Traditional Japanese Gotch

Megumi works for a printing and design company. One of her clients makes undergarments. When she was visiting them a few weeks ago for a meeting she saw that they had a lot of garments on deep discount sale. She thought I might be interested in seeing what a fundoshi, or traditional gotch in Japan looks and feels like. She also thought I might like showing all of my friends "out there" in the blogs around the world who may not be familiar with "everything Japonais". So she picked me up three pairs of silk fundoshi (in different colours and patterns).

Here is a little information I culled from Wikipedia (I recall using this in a blog a few years ago...)

Fundoshi is the traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males, made from a length of cotton. Before World War II the fundoshi was the main form of underwear for Japanese adult males; however it went out of use quickly after the war with the advent of new underwear, such as briefs and trunks, on the Japanese market.

There are several varieties, and you can see more details on wikipedia.

The ones she got me are called "etchu fundoshi", , a design originating in the Toyama area (traditionally known as Etchu), just north of where I used to live in Fukui (traditionally known as Echizen)

Here is a little WikiKnowledge giving you a little more detail about the length and breadth of my.... fundoshi.

Etchū fundoshi is a length of cloth, however it has a strip of material at the waist to form a fastening or string. The dimensions are 14 inches width by about 40 inches length, and it is tied with the material strip in front of the body. Etchū fundoshi was the form of fundoshi most popular among Japanese adult males as underwear from early 1900s to the end of the World War II.

The samurai wore them under their armour, and in late 2008 the Japanese firm, Wacoal, began marketing fundoshi for women and have had greater than expected sales. The loincloths for women come in seven different colors and two designs—plain and chequered. Prices are about 1,260 yen ($13).

This fundoshi feels really quite nice! In fact, I think I may even test them out at work under my business suit. It is nice to feel like I'm not wearing anything at all! I kinda like that. (kinda... is an understatement).

So, there you have it: my first fundoshi!

Thanks, Megumi!

Have a great day.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Oh yeah... I almost forgot the links to the photos (as if!):

--> Fundoshi Front   <--
--> Fundoshi Side   <--