happy birthday emperor!

yesterday was my last day at work until jan. 5th. and tonight i begin my christmas traveling with different mit and japanese friends. the theme not surprisingly is as much snow and onsen as possible....plus a little buddhism.

on christmas eve i`ll be visiting kyoto temples, shrines, and imperial palace and spending the night with buddhist monks up in mt. koya... waking up christmas morning to buddhist prayers and zazen, then a tour of the holy mountain town. western kyoto for the rest of the day.

then i head back to tokyo on another overnight train and spend the morning at harajuku and meiji-jingu (famous shinto shrine) before i`m off again.

a few hours to the northwest of tokyo is a place called gunma home of 2 of the best onsen in all of japan supposedly. i`m sleeping over at chojukan, a beautiful traditional japanese inn famous for its large wooden indoor bath house, after spending the afternoon sampling the famous mixed large outdoor baths at takaragawa. and besides great hot springs there`s lots of snow on that side of japan!

after gunma i go back to hitachi and repack for a 2-day trip to okunikko for cross country skiing, (another japanese onsen ryokan with exquisite local cuisine), snoeshoeing, and more famous temples/shrines. then back home to hitachi in time for 4 days worth of traditional new year`s celebrations with my colleagues and their families. i really do like to keep busy! this time though i have to overcompensate a little because i`m not spending this holiday season with my family and friends back home.

merry christmas and happy new year!