Archive for the 'Day-to-Day' Category

by Brendan
on Jul 29th, 2008

Mt. Fuji

After being in Japan for over 4 years, I have still yet to climb Mt. Fuji. That is all about to change come this weekend.

The plan is to climb from the Fujinomiya entrance on the south side (rather thank the Lake Kawaguchi on the North) in the morning and come down in the afternoon. This means that on the plus side it won’t get that cold but on the minus side, I won’t get to see a sun rise or a sun set from the peak. As a result, I can pack pretty light and all I really need to bring is a shell and food and water.

Really looking forward to it.

I was saddened to learn yesterday that Bill C-517, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (mandatory labelling for genetically modified foods) was not passed in Canadian government.

This is especially saddening because 88% of the Canadian population (Reference Here) want to have generic modification labelling on their food yet the bill was defeated 156-101. With a government that is supposed to represent the people and 88% of the people agreeing (and rarely does the population of a country so unanimously agree on something), one would think that that such a bill would be passed.

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by Brendan
on May 27th, 2008

1400km Cycling Trip (Shingu -> Akita)

Over the Golden Week holiday here in Japan, I took 2 weeks off and did another cycling trip in Japan. This time I took the train to the southern portion of the Kii Peninsula to a city called Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture. Its a good place to start bacause its only one change of trains away from Tokyo. From there I went North through the mountains of Nara, Wakayama and Mie Prefectures though Osaka (by train Osaka to Tsurga, about 100km) and then along the sea of Japan coast as far as I could which wound up being Akita City in Akita Prefecture. The total was 1400km in 16 days which is not too bad.

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by Brendan
on Jan 13th, 2008

Tour de Western Japan Presentation

Earlier this week, I did my first presentation of my 3000km cycling trip from earlier this year.

I prepared about 90 slides and presented to the Half Fast Cyling club on Wednesday and the Pink Cow near Shibuya.

Even though the entire presentation was in English, as it approached I got really nervous (and consequently had a beer right before the presentation) but it went really well. About 30 minutes of presentation from me and then about 30 minutes of presentation.

by Brendan
on Jan 3rd, 2008

Happy New Year

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

This year I spent the new year in Kansai with friends and just got back.

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