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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Spring has sprung in Berkshire. The weather was great Saturday. I riggged up a tractor back-blade on the tractor and it has become a formatible dozer. We took the llamas for nice hike outback. The woods were as beautiful as expected; the buds are getting green and you can still see through the woods. Nothing is hidden by the leaves as it will be in a few months. I got some more sand for the garden and will be turning that in soon. The chickens have been having a great time picking bugs from around the house and letting us have their eggs.

I went for a very nice plane ride a few days ago in a Cessna 172. The weather was near perfect. It was possibly one of my best flights ever. My interst in aviation is hightened lately; I was just reading about the DeHaviland Twin Otter aircraft. I am expecting to get a ride in one of these this year. They are 20 seat twin torboprops (Approx. 580 HP each) with a 12,000 lb takeoff weight. They seem to be very rugged and versatile. They are non-presurized and can be noisy compared to a commercial jet.

Today I am working on the conference for next weekend of which I am co-chair. Planning a meeting of 150 people requires planning in its purest form. It will be stressful if you want it to be stressful. It is that simple.

I also hope today to work on some 900 MHz radios (FM) that KB0VIW are planning on using for a simplex connection between our stations.

The pics are of Bob and DJ's emu chick. The chick is 8 days old when I took the pictures (hatched on April 7, when I was in Denver). The emu males sit on the nest and boy is he serious about protecting his chick. I wasn't interested in getting in the cage with him. He has making some weird growly noises. The chick makes a fairly loud peeping noise.



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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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