This is a story about an international couple raising and home educating three young boys on a small island in Japan, half living in buses, engaged in organic, self-sufficient farming in the middle of a mountain forest while dealing with climate, cultural, and personal challenges. These pages are about pretty much anything and everything all guided by our family motto, Taking Chances, Making Changes, Being Happy. Thank you very much for joining us on our ongoing crazy adventure.

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Home - Story - June 2015
Relaxing BBQ

June 2015 - Night BBQ and cool clouds.

The month began with a fishing trip including thunderstorms. Then a night BBQ and then during the middle of the month some beautiful lenticular clouds formed over Yakushima.

Picture - Uhura hanging out and miserable at Maenohama beach.
Cool Dude

June 1, 2015 - Shai was wearing his soccer clothes today.

Picture - Minamitane Town - Shai was wearing his soccer clothes today.
Mega Thunderstorms

June 3, 2015 - Today we were actually fishing from the rear of the car during a mega thunderstorm....crazy.

Picture - Shimama Port - We were fishing during a mega thunderstorm 1.
Picture - Shimama Port - We were fishing during a mega thunderstorm 2.
Happy Anniversary

June 4, 2015 - Today we celebrated our wedding anniversary.

Picture - Home - Us together celebrating our wedding anniversary 1.
Picture - Home - Us together celebrating our wedding anniversary 2.
Picture - Home - Shai picked a lot of cherry tomatoes today.
Beach Cat, Sashimi, and Night BBQ

June 6, 2015 - We took the entire family, including the dogs and the cat, to the beach today. Why take a cat to the beach? We decided to use a fogger from the old house to get rid of bugs at this house. We set this off under the house and were not sure if the fumes would make it into the rooms. The beach was like being in a huge litter box for her. lol.

Picture - A nice BBQ at night.

Yup I actually caught a yellowtail which we brought home and Akiko turned into a delicious plate of sashimi. This fish is known as hamachi when small and as buri for larger yellowtail. The shiso leaves came from our farm. Then we made a nice night barbecue.

Picture - Maenohama Beach - Uhura was miserable at the beach.
Picture - Maenohama Beach - She was looking for any place to hide.
Picture - Home - A nice plate of yellowtail sashimi.
Picture - Home - A new floodlight and made a nice BBQ at night.
Picture - Home - Shai was enjoying himself as usual.
Side Dish

June 7, 2015 - Made a fresh carrot, garlic, onion, parsley side dish today.

Picture - Home - Made a fresh carrot, garlic, onion, parsley side dish today.
Lenticular Clouds

June 11, 2015 - Today lenticular clouds formed over Yakushima in combination with a spectacular sunset.

Picture - A few really beautiful lenticular clouds.

This was the view from Minamitane West Coast Pier #6, in the Nishino district, on the west coast of Tanegashima, a few minutes walk from the house.

These clouds occasionally form over mountains and are frequently mistaken for UFOs.

Picture - Minamitane West Coast Pier #6 - Link to the same picture.
Salsa Side Dish

June 13, 2015 - Made a delicious salsa recipe today using fresh veggies from the farm. Serves 4. Can be served with cut carrots and cucumbers. Today we decided to prepare homemade tortillas. Then we put freshly caught white fish in the tortillas along with the salsa. We added hot sauce and came up with a very tasty meal.

Recipe

Ingredients

8 large tomatoes cut into small pieces
3 medium jalapeno peppers cut into small pieces
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 a large sweet onion cut into small pieces
4 sprigs of parsley finely chopped
4 basil leaves finely chopped
  • Process
  • Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Easy stuff.
Picture - Home - A picture of the prepared side dish.
June 13, 2015 - Facebook Post - TODAY IS SOUTH OF THE BORDER CUISINE DAY - Um south of the U.S. border. Anyway made a really tasty salsa with tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, garlic, parsley and basil, all from the farm, along with a sweet onion from a neighbor for lunch today. We ate this with fried potatoes. Then went fishing during a mega thunderstorm and caught a bunch of white fish. Menu for tonight is fish tacos with fresh fish and homemade tortillas along with a bunch of veggies from the farm. GREAT BALLS OF FIRE - Made a crazy fantastic salsa using jalapeno peppers from the farm today. Apparently did not wash the pepper juice off my hands well enough. I went pee and well….you can guess….great balls of fire. An eye opener for sure. lol.

June 15, 2015 - Facebook Post - LA LA LAND - Gave the wifey a lot of wine, put on some Norah Jones, her favorite, and watched her drift off into la la land.
New Unit

June 16, 2015 - Yup after all these years of marriage me and my wife Akiko decided to separate. Seems like using the same space was simply not working for us anymore. We always seem to be getting in each others way. Since moving to Tanegashima many things began to change. I began farming and fishing while Akiko spent her time working. I really needed a lot more space for all of my projects. I began to get into her space and she began to get irritated. We simply gave up trying to work this out. Pretty obvious it was time for a change. The solution was a new freezer unit. lol.

Picture - Home - We affectionately call our new 205 liter storage container "the unit" now.
Picture - Home - A nice picture of the unit.
Picture - Home - This unit is fantastic and will easily store a lot of fish and veggies for the cooler months.
An Abacus

June 17, 2015 - We went to purchase some fishing supplies and bait at Endou, the local fishing store. To calculate the total, the wife of the owner pulled out an abacus of all things. This is obviously not America. lol.

Picture - Minamitane Town - A very old style way to calculate a total.
June 21, 2015 - Facebook Post - HAPPY DADDY DAY TO UM….ME AGAIN - Now spending a really nice Daddy Day today. I went fishing with my son Shai and Akiko and we caught 35 fish putting us at over 500 for this season. Menu for tonight is a white fish called oyabitcha made into fish tacos, um tortillas actually, and salsa with fresh farm grown tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, basil, parsley, onions, and hot sauce. In addition serving a side dish of goma saba cooked in olive oil and wrapped in shiso leaves. Really enjoy my new hobby cooking. Yesterday Shai caught a yellowtail which was unbelievable. We ate this raw as sashimi. A special note to my wonderful daughter Valerie who I miss very much. Hopefully she will be coming to the island on a business trip this year. We are waiting to see her beautiful face again.
June 24, 2015 - Facebook Post - WTF WHEN IS THIS RAIN GOING TO FINISH???? - Hey enough tsuyu already. Wanna go bike riding and work on the farms again. lol.

June 24, 2015 - Facebook Post - FRESH YELLOWTAIL SASHIMI

June 25, 2015 - Facebook Post - PICKED UP MY WOMAN - Today was an unbelievable amount of rain. Needed to pick up Akiko who was on bidness in Kagoshima. The road turned into a river which was almost half way up the car doors and everyone turned around. Barely made it through but picked up wifey on time today. The things we do for love in this world. Pics coming.

June 27, 2015 - Facebook Post - ANOTHER POISONOUS SNAKE - Found this dude today in the upper farm, although not moving.

June 28, 2015 - Facebook Post - UPCOMING MUST SEE ASTRONOMICAL EVENT - July 1 - Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. A spectacular conjunction of Venus and Jupiter will be visible in the evening sky. The two bright planets will be extremely close, appearing only 0.3 degrees apart. Look for this impressive pairing in the western sky just after sunset. Hopefully the clouds of Tanegashima dissipate within the next few days.
Nodogoshi Tree

June 29, 2015 - Made a really funny nodogoshi tree in the farm.

Picture - Home - Made a really funny nodogoshi tree in the farm.