I can’t believe it’s been five months since I last posted! While no one thing warranted its own write-up over that time, there’s plenty to catch up on, so here it goes.

USA

At the end of August, I traveled from Okinawa back to the US. While I was stateside, I crashed with my parents and spent most of my time working as a Data Analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). It was my third stint with MDPH and the fourth time I’ve moved back in with my folks since college. Fortunately, they both keep taking me back! In October, I worked for the Boston Marathon in a new role for the first time in 20 years, assisting with the Para Athletics Program. I also spent a week taking a Wilderness First Responder course in Maine. Each day we’d learn how to treat different injuries, then go act out rescue scenarios outdoors and practice making splints. The first few days were overwhelming but it was an extremely rewarding experience. Conveniently, my sister and her family live near where the course was held so I stayed with them for the week. It was a great excuse to catch up and get in some overdue fun time in with my niece and nephews.

My brother and his girlfriend moved to Fort Collins, Colorado this past year, so I visited them as well while I was home. We spent the first few days hiking and paddle boarding in a local state park, as well as bar hopping through the postcard-perfect downtown area. The highlight of the trip, though, was a hike up to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park. On the day of the hike, Jack and I rolled out while it was still dark to make the two-hour drive to the trailhead. Approaching the park, the sun finally brought the surrounding peaks to life with alpenglow. The cold, dry mountain air shocked me awake as I got out of the car in the parking lot. After nearly a year away from proper winter weather it was a welcome and refreshing “Good morning” from Mother Nature. On the trail we quickly got into stride, though some slippery patches early on had us kicking ourselves for forgetting microspikes. It only got worse as we encountered a gnarly ice flow near the top of the trail. Cursing our lack of traction, we slowly picked our way through and made it safely to the other side, arriving at the alpine pond just before the sun crested the granite bowl. Within minutes, light morphed the cold, dark stone into a warm and vibrant backdrop framed by bluebird skies above and icy waters below. We sat there in quiet observance until the morning chill crept through our layers and prompted us to head back down. Overall, the trip was a powerful reminder to me of how special the mountain west, and especially the Rockies, really are.

For my return flight to Japan at the end of November, I booked a trip with a 20-hour layover in Hawaii. Having never been there before, I was determined to make the most of my brief stay. Shortly after arriving at the hotel I was back out the door for a walk along the famous Waikiki beach and a poke bowl for dinner. Before long though, I headed back to hit the sheets early. My eyes popped open at 3:30 the next morning - still set to eastern standard time. Mercifully, the Hawaiian god of coffee (Moka Moka*) placed a Starbucks right around the corner from me. With a Kona pour-over coursing through my veins, I caught an Uber and headed a few miles up the road to Diamond Head State Monument for the gate opening at 6:00am. Diamond Head is a massive crater on the O’ahu coast, home to US military forts in the early 1900s, and now a popular tourist attraction with hiking trails. There were plenty of early birds out there with me at o-dark-thirty, trudging up the steep inclines to the summit, hoping for a beautiful Hawaiian sunrise. Luckily, the day broke with brilliant pinks and oranges lighting up the scattered clouds above and golden rays shining on Honolulu below. It was a gorgeous morning, and I needed to stretch my legs before getting back on a plane for 12 more hours, so I walked all the way back to Waikiki. With my step count in the bag by 8:00am, a hearty breakfast of Spam musubi and pulled-pork loco moco were in order. A few hours later I was back at 30,000 feet en route to Tokyo.

Tokyo

For the second time in a year, I found myself mired in a two-week quarantine. This time, though, I was by myself. I whiled away the lonely days reading (polishing off most of the first three books in the Dune series), napping, and working on an online course. I also spent hours and hours assembling my annual end-of-year top 100 songs playlist on Spotify. The first ten days of isolation slipped by with relative ease, but the last four felt like an eternity. Fortunately, there was light at the end of the tunnel - Courtney was coming to visit!

Despite being in Japan for nearly a year, neither of us had spent any time in Tokyo outside of quarantine, so we planned to explore the city once I was free. Over the next few days, we bounced from neighborhood to neighborhood, eating, drinking, and taking in the sights. The first day we started off right with a fantastic bowl of miso ramen. After lunch, we navigated to teamLab Borderless, an ever-changing digital art museum near the seaport. While a few of the exhibits were underwhelming, others were visually stunning. On the whole, I’d recommend it for the unique experience… and the profile photo ops.

The next day, we stuck to the ramen theme for lunch with a massive bowl of Chinese-inspired wontonmen in a savory, oniony broth. It also happened to be Courtney’s birthday, so we splurged for a very high end (read: expensive) sushi omakase dinner. Over the course of the 3+ hour meal, the chef presented us with 20 or more dishes. Most were simple preparations, using the highest quality, in-season ingredients, handled with masterful technique. One dish he put in front of us was a weird brain-looking white thing that he identified as “cod intestine.” I had some reservations about what I was about to put in my mouth, but he hadn’t steered us wrong yet. Putting on a brave face, I gave it a go. I can’t explain the taste, other than that it was surprisingly light and clean, not overly fishy, and the texture was custardy smooth and almost airy on the tongue. Courtney and I both looked at each other, eyes wide in amazement. Our favorite dish yet! We later had the same item in another preparation, served over rice and liberally covered in freshly shaved white truffle - again fantastic. The next morning, as I mused over our unforgettable dinner, I had a lingering thought. “What if that oddly delicious white thing we ate the night before wasn’t what we were told?” I knew that fish sperm sac was “a thing” and had a sneaking suspicion maybe that’s what we had actually eaten. A quick Google image search confirmed my hunch. Whether the chef didn’t know the right word for it or held back, thinking we’d turn our noses up at it, we’ll never know. But now I do know that cod sperm sac is freaking delicious… go figure. 

After a few days of feasting on the Japanese classics, we needed a break. So began the hunt for pizza… but not any old pizza. Turns out that Tokyo has a reputation for having some of the best Neapolitan style pizzerias in the world outside of Naples itself. With bellies grumbling, we hopped a few trains to one of the OGs, Savoy, for their lunch special. For only ¥1000 (~$9) you get a phenomenal personal size marinara or margherita pizza with a small salad and an iced tea - a total steal. While that scratched our itch, we doubled-down and hit another famous spot, Pizza Strada, for dinner. Ever the chili-head, Courtney chose a special habañero pie, while I stuck with a more traditional tomato and basil. Both pizzerias lived up to the hype, but I think we preferred Savoy overall. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the excellent bars we visited while we were in town as well. At the dark, speakeasy Bar Tram, we had a nightcap of absinthe cocktails following our epic sushi dinner. I’d give the place very high marks if it weren’t for the indoor smoking - bleh! The following day, we had a reservation at Gen Yamamoto, a one-man operation that is reservation only and seats eight around a beautiful, but austere, Japanese oak bar. Here you choose how many drinks you’d like (3, 6, or 7) and Yamamoto-san makes you whatever he wants. Drinks are low ABV and largely rely on a backbone of freshly squeezed or macerated fruits and vegetables that pair perfectly with the alcohol of choice. It was a cool experience, though more expensive than I’d be willing to do again. It also got slightly awkward after a while since we were the only customers and the bartender wasn’t especially chatty. Later that evening (after our second round of pizza) we dabbled in some more high strength libations at The Bellwood. This unique bar specialized in creative tea and coffee infused cocktails, a nod to the old-school Japanese kissaten coffee houses. One of their outstanding bartenders suggested we walk around the corner to another bar called Liquid Factory, which had the most interesting drink menu I’ve ever encountered. We finished up the night another 100 yards down the road at Øl Tokyo, a Scandinavian/Japanese craft beer bar. On the beer front, we also had positive experiences at Wateringhole, focusing mainly on American and Japanese craft brews, as well as a cozy hole-in-the-wall Belgian beer bar, aptly named Belgo.

While I’m making it seem like we did nothing but eat and drink the entire trip, there was plenty of sightseeing as well. We visited a few Buddhist temples, including Zojoji, which stands in stark contrast to the modern Tokyo Tower, rising above the skyline only a block away. A pilgrimage to the famous Senso-ji temple and its bustling weekend market was also in order, as Courtney had never been. On the other end of town, we ventured to Takeshita Street in Harajuku, which put us smack dab in the middle of the fashion capital of the city. And no trip to Tokyo would be complete without doing the “Shibuya Scramble.”

We had an excellent trip, though we didn’t even scratch the surface of what Tokyo has to offer. For such a sprawling metropolis, it didn’t seem particularly intimidating, and it was incredibly easy to get around using their subway system. At first glance, a station map can be daunting, but the extreme thoughtfulness and simplicity makes it a breeze in reality. It certainly helps that just about everything is posted in English along with Japanese, and having Google Maps in your pocket doesn’t hurt either.

Okinawa

We arrived back in Okinawa in time for the holidays. Though celebrations here aren’t the same as at home, we enjoyed a few get-togethers with our friends here at OIST. For Christmas, I made Kenji’s kimchi-brined fried chicken sandwiches. Not quite the Japanese tradition of KFC for dinner, but close enough. New Year’s Eve was an equally low-key affair of good food and drink with wonderful friends. 

In a turn of events that I never expected, I donned a lab coat for the first time in 15 years to help Courtney with her research. She needed an intern to do some time-consuming DNA extractions for her coral samples. Since it’s fairly straightforward and I had nothing else going on, I got the job. I was to follow a “recipe” that she’d laid out where I’d start with coral tissue samples and end up with pure DNA and RNA that she would later analyze. To be honest, I was nervous and felt out-of-place being in a lab again - it had been a long time away. I made some silly mistakes the first week, but got more comfortable and made small improvements each day. Unfortunately, just as I was hitting my stride, Omicron spiked here and OIST made the call to close campus to all non-essential personnel. So my return to bench science was short-lived, but I think I now hold the title for the oldest intern at OIST. 

January is mild in Okinawa, with temperatures ranging from the high 50s to high 60s, so I’ve been enjoying the outdoors as much as possible when the dry days present themselves. A few weeks ago, Courtney and I beach camped with some friends, spending the starry night around a campfire, sharing grilled meat skewers and a fantastic bottle of sake. The next morning, the rising sun lit up our tent like a lantern. With the previous night’s drink still clouding my head, I got up and walked the empty beach with Chopper, observing the quiet beauty around us. In the span of a week, I also made separate trips to both the southernmost and northernmost parts of the island. Down south, I visited the Peace Memorial Park, which is filled with monuments to the thousands of lives lost in Okinawa during WWII. The park, though beautiful, serves as a sobering reminder of the horrors and the bloodshed that took place on this otherwise peaceful little island nearly 80 years ago. At the north of the island, Chopper and I hiked through a forest park with a primordial landscape of jagged limestone formations, groves of prehistoric looking cycads, and massive, tangled banyan trees. For such a small island, Okinawa has more than its fair share of sights and attractions.

My arrival on the island coincided with the appearance of Omicron, which has sent the prefecture back into a quasi-state of emergency. After months of low case counts while I was away, it seems like we’re headed back to square one. I’m starting to think I’m bad luck! I’m sure the people of Okinawa will rejoice to hear that I’m leaving again at the end of the month. This time, I’ll be heading to Antarctica to reprise my role as a Trip Specialist with the Marathon Tours and Travel Antarctica Marathon team. After that, I’ll be back in the US for a while to pursue some more work opportunities and travel. If the start of 2022 is any indication, it’s going to be an exciting year - here’s to hoping! 

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*There isn’t any actual Hawaiian god of coffee as far as I can tell, but it sounds like it fits, right?