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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Stellar Axis Art Project in Antarctica (Revisited)

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I just stumbled on this film (Stellar Axis link below) about an art project that I was involved with in Antarctica on the Solstice 2006. http://blog.theguysatwork.com/2006_12_17_archive.html

It was a moving experience watching the video for me. It really took me back there for an hour. Lita Albuquerque and I connected at some level when we met. I was one of the 51 volunteers at the end in the spiral. We rode out from McMurdo on "Ivan the Terrabus", (the only time I rode in Ivan). It probably took an hour to drive there out on the shelf. My memory of the participation was one of peace. When we started walking away from the center we were all quiet and the walking got a little awkward since all the stepping turned the ice shelf into irregular masses of granular snow and the hard bits of wind hardened shelf. At the end we all lied down and outstretched our arms. After a bit we started yelling "woos and woo-hoos" and such. There was laughter and good feelings.


Stellar Axis






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Honshu and Okinawa

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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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