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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Beach Camping

- Camping and a crazy party.

This month was really fun. We went camping at Kumano beach, an absolutely beautiful beach with equally impressive rock formations. We camped out at the beach for one night and enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise. This is easily now one of our favorite beaches on the island.

Picture - Sunrise during our camping trip at Kumano beach.

The month ended with a crazy Halloween party which lasted until the early morning hours of the next day. Thanks to everyone for coming, especially those of you who traveled all the way from Nishinoomote up north.
Kumano Beach Camping Day 1

- We arrrived at Kumano beach in the afternoon. We quickly set up our campsite and enjoyed the afternoon playing on the beach. Me and Shai went wading for a few minutes but came out soon after because of the strong winds. We took the few minute walk to the onsen, showered up, and went back to the campsite.

Picture - A beautiful view of Kumano beach.

We spent the evening doing a BBQ and made a beach fire. Then I stayed up drinking and enjoying the beach while Shai and Akiko went to play in the tent and slept early. This was the pee in the tent and step on the hot coals trip....private joke....lol.

Picture - Kumano Beach - This is a fantastic beach.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Our campsite all set up.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Relaxing on the beach in the afternoon.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Moon rising at the beach.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Another picture of the moon rising.
- Facebook Post - A beautiful starry night and wifey and son sleeping in the tent and this dude is drinking wine in front of the campfire and waiting for the moon to rise tonight.
Kumano Beach Camping Day 2

- The morning at the beach was absolutely beautiful, albeit everything was a bit wet compliments of the morning dew which settled all over our stuff during the night. No worries though, the temps quickly warmed up and dried everything off.

Picture - Us at Kumano beach.

The highlight of the morning was a gorgeous sunrise which came up between a couple of rock formations. After breakfast we began some real fun. Me and Shai went in to ride the waves and even do a little snorkeling. This was actually the first time for me to really do this and I was able to see a lot of different fish. There was an incredibly huge school of kibinago, a small fish used for food and bait in Japan.

We spent quite awhile in the afternoon taking a huge fishing net out of the sand. This would later prove to be very useful for farming and sports projects.

Picture - Kumano Beach - Sun rising between the rocks.
Picture - Kumano Beach - An absolutely gorgeous sunrise.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Our campsite in the morning.
Picture - Kumano Beach - A few beautiful rock formations.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Found a huge fishing net on the beach.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Hawks going crazy over small river fish.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Small inlet between the rock formations.
Picture - Kumano Beach - Really enjoying our camping trip.
Picture - Kumano Beach - All packed up and ready to return home.
Anno Imo Potatoes

- This is all about growing and harvesting anno imo potatoes.

Picture - Home - A nice bed of anno imo potatoes growing in the farm.
Picture - Home - A lot of harvested anno imo potatoes.
- Facebook Post - Close to the campsite found this huge fishing net. Actually took about an hour to get it out of the sand.
Farm Stuff

- A couple of pictures of bananas and potatoes.

Picture - Home - A bunch of green bananas growing in the upper upper farm.
Picture - Home - A lot of harvested anno imo potatoes being stored in the shed.
- Facebook Post - BEAUTIFUL SKY - Today there was a conjunction of the Moon and the planet Venus. They were less than a degree from each other (approximately the diameter of the moon as seen from this planet) in the morning sky. At 4:30 am this was really a wonderful way to begin the day. If you missed this, several chances for other conjunctions are coming in the next few weeks. Visit this link for more information.
BBQ and Night With Friends

- We made a nice BBQ in the afternoon. Then at night we went to visit Oyabing and Yocci at their house.

Picture - Hanging out together at night.

Picture - Home - Enjoying a really nice afternoon barbecue.
Picture - Minamitane - Shai and Taiyo playing on a cool truck.
Picture - Minamitane - Shai is making music with a seashell.
Picture - Minamitane - Now I am making a bit of music.
Picture - Minamitane - A close up of Shai blowing the seashell.
Picture - Minamitane - Now Akiko is making music.
Picture - Minamitane - A nice picture of the group doing a jam session.
Picture - Minamitane - A group picture straight out of the sixties for sure.
Nice BBQ With Friends

- This time it was our turn to play hosts and we invited Oyabing and Yocci to our place for an afternoon barbecue. We were supposed to go camping together but the cool temperatures and strong winds changed our plans.

Picture - Home - Hanging out together again.
Picture - Home - This was a lot of fun.
Pepper Extravaganza

- Harvested a lot of bell peppers, chili peppers, and jalapeno peppers today.

Picture - Home - A lot of really nice peppers.
Doggies Playing

- The doggies were really enjoying playing at the beach today.

Picture - Maenohama Beach - The doggies playing at the beach.
Picture - Maenohama Beach - The doggies playing at the beach.
Coworker Visit

- Akiko got a visit from an Apple coworker today.

Picture - Home - Welcome to our home Atsumisan 1.
Picture - Home - Welcome to our home Atsumisan 1.
Wakasa Park

- This is a nice park in the city of Nishinoomote up north.

Picture - Wakasa Park - The map at the entrance to the park.
- Facebook Post - HANGING OUT - Spent an evening with friends at their place. HANGING OUT AGAIN - Then played around for awhile together the next day at our place.

- Facebook Post - HAPPY BACK TO THE FUTURE DAY - Yup this was actually the date they traveled to in the Back to the Future 2 movie.
Halloween Banner

- Decided to put up a Happy Halloween banner in the upper upper farm.

Picture - Home - This definitely made finding the house a lot easier.
Halloween Party

- Threw a pretty nice Halloween party this year again. A bunch of new folks showed up and the party went on into the early morning hours of the next day.

Picture - Crazy party at our house.

Picture - Home - This fish provided enough sashimi for everyone.
Picture - Home - This thing measured about 76 centimeters.
Picture - Home - Hey who invited this guy to the party?
Picture - Home - Guess who showed up....the Hayman family. lol.
Picture - Home - Another scary picture of this family.
Picture - Home - A couple of very skilled guests filleting this fish for sashimi.
Picture - Home - The early crazies.
Picture - Home - The early crazies getting even crazier.
Picture - Home - Who dat? Yup even famous folks came to this party.
Picture - Home - The late night crazies.
Picture - Home - And yup they got even crazier until the early morning.
Halloween Party Fish

This is a nice picture of the fish shown in the links of the above post. A neighbor brought this over before the party began. This fish was really huge and fed the entire crowd.

Picture - A nice fish for the party.

A bit of information about this fish.

Scientific name: Plectropomus leoparadus
English name: Leopard Grouper
Japanese name: Sujiara in Japan
Tanegashima name: Akajou

A couple of links for those of you who might be interested.

Fishbase - information about this fish in English
Zukan-bouz - information about this fish in Japanese
TANEGASHIMA HALLOWEEN PARTY

The following was the online party invitation.

Date

Time


Location
Home made nice barbecue using the new picnic tableCome Join Us

Hey put on a crazy costume and come out for some scary Halloween fun. This party is from the afternoon until late at night. Come anytime. Bring your family and friends and come and hang out with us.

仮装をして、ハロウィーンを楽しみましょう。夕方から夜までしていますので、都合の良い時間にいつきてもらっても大丈夫です。ファミリー、お友達も一緒にどうぞ。
Home made fresh yellowtail fish sashimiPot Luck Party

This is an American style pot luck party which means please make some food for everyone.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING PORK (PIG) in any of the food – This is a Kosher house….Thanks.

アメリカでよく行われるポットラックパーティー形式で行います。ポットラックパーティーとは食べ物をそれぞれが持ち寄ってパーティーをするパーティー形式です。お手数ですが、持ち寄りパーティーとなります。

あとお手数ですが、我が家では、豚肉を一切食べない、調理しないため(主人がユダヤ人のため豚肉を食べません)豚肉を使用したお料理は避けていただければ助かります。
Party Location

Click the following link for the house location.

我が家までの地図です。

https://goo.gl/maps/ZA05J

Turn on the street with the Happy Halloween tree. lol.

Happy Halloween の木をまがったところです。
Nodogoshi beer sale飲みましょう

Please bring alcohol if you want to drink.

またこちらもお手数ですが、お酒を飲まれるかたはお酒も持ってきてもらえれば助かります。
Maenohama beach hanging out and playing with dogs todayContact Us

Information in English contact Howie at 080-4395-6840
Information in Japanese contact Akiko at 080-4029-0486

英語の方はハウイまで;080-4395-6840
日本語の方はアキコまで;080-4029-0486

See you then.

お待ちしています
- Facebook Event - TANEGASHIMA HALLOWEEN PARTY - Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 4:00 PM