Following the example of Sendaiben.org who in turn is following Derek Sivers, who incidentally it seems is living in my hometown, something I wouldn’t have known without this, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and set up my own now page.
Current Projects
I’m still working as an Assistant Professor at Tohoku University of Community Service and Science. This is my main job, but I have a large number of side gigs on the go, probably too much actually, but anyway. It just means I need to be more disciplined. Here are some of my projects:
The Yamabushido Project through Megurun Inc. aimed at providing transformative experiences on the mountains of Japan. This project involves me doing a whole lot of stuff, project management, customer relations, customer management, experience design, marketing, newsletter writing, and when the time comes, I’m hoping to do the thing we most set out to do, which is to provide Yamabushi training for speakers of English.
For the Yamabushido Project, I’m also working on translating Master Hoshino’s first book, looking for a publisher at the moment.
We are also a part of the Dewa Sanzan Monzenmachi Project team. As part of this, I am developing the Dewasanzan.com website, although I haven’t been able to do much in recent times.
However, I have been chosen as a content checker for a governmental project aimed at using native speakers to portray places in a more appealing light, meaning people will come here to create content for websites, brochures, signs etc., and my job is to oversee it, basically as a fact-checker.
I’m still doing freelance translation and interpretation when the jobs come up, nothing recently though.
I write a blog daily, like this one, to collect my thoughts and for a productive output. Since the start of 2021, I have been working on The 100 Mountains of Yamagata Project, and a list of the mountains can be found on this Notion page. This is the main thing I’m working on in my spare time as it gives me immense joy at exploring my background and discovering some amazing places I never would have thought to have gone to otherwise.
Through this project not only am I wanting to learn more about my backyard, but also to develop my content creation skills, mainly blog posts and YouTube videos. You can follow my progress with the Mountains of Wisdom mailer by hitting the subscribe button in the header, or the link below, I’m aiming to have at least monthly updates.
As it currently stands, I’ve climbed 29 of the famous mountains of Yamagata (Zao-san is two peaks):
- Exploring The Yamabushi Trails of Kinbo-zan
- Sakura Mountain: Arakura-yama
- Whetting your appetite for wetlands on Takadate-yama
- The Hidden Side of Haguro-san (Haguro Kodo)
- The Shogun and the Falcon, How I “Conquered” Japan: Nihon-koku
- Dancing in the Dawn Lillies: Shoga-dake and The Fuji of The North
- Bananas and Cokes, Leaches and Pit Vipers: Kumanonaga-mine
- Reaching Peak Tranquility on Atsumi-dake
- Sanze’s Little Helper: Fujikura-yama
- The Dewa Sanzan’s “Mountain of Death” — Gas-san
- The Dewa Sanzan’s “Mountain of Rebirth” — Yudono-san
- Womb Passes and Monkey Crossings: Kyogakura-yama — The Shugendo Peak of Sutras
- Mythical Beasts, Buddha’s Mother and Buried Yamabushi Treasure? Welcome to Maya-san
- The Widow’s Peak: Ubaga-take
- The Epitome of Autumn Leaves in North Japan: Taizo-san
- Mother. Hunter. Mountain. Hokari-yama
- Homer Simpson’s Heaven in North Japan: The Donut-shaped Yonetaihei-zan
- The Medieval Castle and Mighty River of Yamuki-yama
- Panoramas and picnics under the Sakura: Kita-yama
- Yozo-san: White Snakes, White Monkeys and Slimy Salamanders
- Abandoned Ski Field and Phantom Forest of Tsuchiyu-yama (Mt. Tsuchiyu)
- Turtles, Tigers, and a Legendary Japanese Character: Kamewari-yama
- Zao-san and Why We Climb Mountains (Jizo-dake and Kumano-dake)
- Japan Has Pyramids? — Yakushi-san and The OG Japan content creator
- Venerable Old Man Mountain — The Mist and Mystery of Okina-san
- Hiking Japan’s Forgotten Highway: Sabane-yama and Ushu-Kaido (Mt. Sabane)
- Why this mountain is EVERYWHERE in Japan – Murayama Ha-yama (Mt. Hayama (Murayama))
- The Mt. Fuji of North Japan: Chokai-san (Mt. Chokai)
Music
I’ve been listening to a lot of Alt-J, Chet Faker, Tom Misch, and Fat Freddy’s Drop. Also Six60 and Tiki Taane to get my NZ fix.
TV / Movies
Not much to report here. I haven’t been watching much. I’ve been trying to write and make more YouTube content. Looking forward to getting that out to you all soon.
Tim.