Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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American Demographics

The weather has been good. However, it has rained everyday for a least two weeks.

I started a new regimen. One of the field service guys and I are carpooling. Every other day I am starting to drive the jeep to the back lot on the farm, then walking through greenwood park where he picks me up at 7:15 am. It is a half hour walk at a fast pace. I change my shoes in his car and off to work we go. Gas prices and my body weight being what they are definitely makes sense of the new procedure. The walk in the deep woods on great trails is really something everyone should experience more.

I made a commitment to the Susquehanna Toastmasters club. I will be president this year. I will build the club back up. We have lost many members for simple reasons and of course Tom Ichikawa died. It is my Toastmasters project for this coming year which starts July 1st. I will bring the club up to "Distinguished". Perhaps more appropriately stated, the club will bring itself up to distinguished.

Wednesday at about 10:00 AM (I can even put a time on it, weird) I felt myself move beyond where I was. I have "Moved out of a dark corner". It is pretty freaky. I can never remember being moved from two states like this before. I have purpose, a plan, a mission. Before, I was trapped, confined and subject to others. The only thing that has *really* changed is my outlook, attitude and vision.

It really made me think of the great quote:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

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Honshu and Okinawa

-
Image
I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the suicide cliffs of Okinawa. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
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