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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STORY 2023
This was a really difficult year for us and seemed to have a cloud over it from the beginning. I struggled with numerous health conditions, of which my rheumatoid arthritis was the worst. Not much changed though as I continued to put in full days working up at the mountain and playing at the beach. A few herbs we are growing, which I eat twice a day, began making a huge difference as the year continued. During August a strong typhoon wiped out over half of our banana trees at the farm we are using. This turned out to be a catalyst, pushing us to finally get out of the farm for good and focus all our efforts at our house and up in our mountain. A few months later, one of our dogs passed away. Akiko found out her Dad had pneumonia for almost a month.

The year had a few bright spots though. After years of indecision, I actually purchased a couple of fishing kayaks. This turned out to be a lot of fun and we caught plenty of fish. This was also the year when our middle son, now seven years old, began playing bass and electric guitar. He is now playing a lot of the music from back in day and has already performed at our house parties, up in our mountain, and even at a local community event. Our oldest son, now fourteen years old, began doing videography and photography. Our youngest son has not found his "thing" yet but is certainly enjoying being an energetic three year old.

STORY - JANUARY 2023
Happy New Year
Mountain camping, cutting the trees on the other side of the street from the campsite, and a really nice party with friends.
     
  • February 2023 - A lot of understory trees were cut to open up the view to the reservoir and for making hiking trails. (no pictures)
  • March 2023 - Moved the buses to their new spot and bought a fourth bus. (no pictures)
  • April 2023 - Put in a lot of seeds and turmeric in the forest farm. (no pictures)
  • May 2023 - The first time to go out on the kayaks. (no pictures)
  • June 2023 - Tons of beach camping and kayak fishing. (no pictures)
  • July 2023 - A lot of mountain camping trips including beach camping. (no pictures)
  • August 2023 - Began working on the corner of B as a potential new campsite. (no pictures)
  • September 2023 - The work on the corner of B continued and now the view was incredible. (no pictures)
  • October 2023 - More work was completed on B and now closer to moving the buses there. (no pictures)
  • November 2023 - Moved the buses to the new campsite. We were very sick up at the mountains. (no pictures)
  • December 2023 - The last mountain trip of the year and a trip to the grocery store for sushi and junk food. (no pictures)