A while ago I posted about my training for an Ekiden in February.  I’m happy to say that I’ve made steady progress without any injuries or set backs for the last two months so I should be ready to go in 4 weeks!  I am racing 9.3 km which is the last stage and is located in the far south of Ogaki.  I haven’t seen the course yet.  As for my training, as we get closer to the race I’m keeping my total distance around 50 to 60 km a week, but I’m adding lots of faster running like 5 km in 20 minutes or 6 to 8 300 meter sprints with 150 meter jog between each.  Then the last week I’ll just do easy jogging to rest up.  I’ll let you know the result in February!

Happy New Year!  It’s time to make and proclaim this year’s resolutions.  Last year, I had two goals: study Japanese and go running regularly. I definitely failed on the first goal, but I did manage to create and maintain a solid running schedule for all of 2018.  Now that I know I can keep a resolution, it’s time to challenge myself a little more.

For 2019, I want to stop buying bottled water.  I hate seeing the amount of PET bottles I create every day.  I know they get recycled, but I think my first step should be to reduce the number of bottles I create.  To this end, I have invested in a good, lightweight water bottle that I can carry with me everywhere.  I hope that having this refillable container will prevent me from purchasing drinks from the vending machine.  No more PET bottles for Molly Coyle!

What are your resolutions for 2019?

(Too many PET bottles!)

This past Sunday I visited a place I have never been to before throughout my almost 15 years of living here in Ogaki. My in-laws took my family and I to Myojorinji Temple in Akasaka. It was amazing, beautiful, and I was completely surprised that not only have I never been to such a fascinating place during all of my years here, but it made me start thinking about just how many more wonderful places are nearby that I still don’t know about.

While I was there, I learned that the temple is dedicated to not only those born in the year of the cow and the tiger, (hopefully you can see the tiger which is carved into the side of a limestone wall at the top of the mountain that I have attached to this blog post) but that it is also a very popular place for pregnant woman to visit to pray for healthy child birth because of the patron deity that is enshrined there. I was also very happy to learn that that temple is known locally as Kokuzo-san by local residents.

Behind the main hall of the temple, I also visited Iwasu Park. I was absolutely blown away by the natural beauty there and wished I had more time that day to fully take in, appreciate, and photograph more of the naturally carved and almost otherworldly shaped lime stones that have been carved by weathering throughout the ages. I am looking forward to finding the time to go there again in the near future to explore the grounds even further.

After visiting the temple I was lucky enough to be able to do a bit of research about the temple and learned that it was built in 684 by a monk named Ozune who is said to have personally carved the Kokuzo Bodhisattva at the temple, which is said to be one of the three great Bodhisattvas in Japan. I hope to do even more research about it and learn even more not only about this fascinating temple, but to keep learning even more about this entire wonderful area I am proud to call home.

John

みなさんはミュージカル映画は好きですか？

意味もなく急に歌いだしたり、踊りだしたりするので苦手だと思う方もいるかもしれません。

ただ、彼らは「意味もなく急に」そうしているのではなく、あふれ出る喜びや悲しみという感情を

表現するために歌をうたい、また言葉にできない感情をダンスによって表現しているのだと思います。

ミュージカル映画は、そんな日々の生活を超えた世界へと誘ってくれます。

去年はたくさんのミュージカル映画が日本で公開されました。

『グレイテスト・ショーマン』、『モアナと伝説の海』、『マンマ・ミーア！ヒア・ウィー・ゴー』、

広い意味でとらえれば、『ボヘミアン・ラプソディ』、『アリー／スター誕生』も挙げられるかも

しれません。どの作品もドラマチックな演出と音楽が効果的に組み合わさり、素晴らしかったです。

今年は『メリー・ポピンズ』(1964)の続編となる『メリー・ポピンズ　リターンズ』が公開されたり、

アニメ『アラジン』(1992)の実写化の公開が６月に控えています。どちらもディズニー映画らしい夢

のある世界を舞台にしたファンタジー映画ですが、一方で、日本公開は未定ですが、ゾンビと闘いな

がら歌って踊るミュージカル映画『アナ・アンド・ジ・アポカリプス（原題）』なんていう映画もあ

ります。これまでに見たことのないミュージカル映画になりそうで、公開が待ち遠しいです。

Back when my sister and her husband were visiting Japan, we wandered up a road that I had never traveled before. What prompted it was a sign pointing up hill to a mysterious pagoda. Even though I’ve been in countries that use the metric system as their preferred unit – and being in Japan for well more than a year – I still cannot judge how far a kilometer is when reading signs…

Anyways, we walked up this hill (which was quite an incline) and made it to this gorgeous scene that I had not known was so close to my neighborhood. We were tired, but the cool and refreshing air made the climb worth it. 

In the pagoda’s complex was this quaint water garden overgrown with miniature waterlilies. 

-Kyle