Leaving downtown San Francisco behind as our ferry speeds toward Alcatraz.

Nothing ever goes quite the way you plan it. On the way home to New Jersey this year, we had a long layover in San Francisco – over 10 hours, in fact. I thought this would be a great chance to explore the city, but there were several delays at the airport, leaving us with no time for most of our planned activities. No Fisherman’s Wharf, no Lombard Street, no Golden Gate Bridge.

Oh, well. We still had just enough time to do one fun thing: a 3-hour tour of Alcatraz, the most famous prison in American history. It was a great way to spend the remainder of our day.

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Alcatraz, also known as The Rock, was an island prison that housed some of of the most infamous criminals in the U.S. until it was closed in 1963. The island is visible from the popular wharf area of San Francisco, and you can easily take a ferry from there.

The city offers official “tours,” which I had booked online a few weeks in advance. However, the tour is actually just a ferry ride. Once you get off the boat, you can roam around Alcatraz at your own pace.

There are several interesting areas to explore on the small island, but the main prison in the center is obviously the most important. Rusted steel bars, concrete walls, peeling paint – this is what I imagined, and what I had seen in movies. Many of the cells have old items and trinkets that the prisoners might have had, so you can imagine how they looked.

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There are lots of other structures around the main prison, and plenty of information about life on The Rock. One of the most interesting things I learned is that the prison was very expensive to operate because there is no fresh water on the island. Water had to be regularly brought in by boat – a very expensive process.

In addition, I was interested to learn about the Indians of All Tribes occupation of the island, which occurred a few years after the prison closed. Alcatraz is very closely tied to the Native American protest movement, so it’s an important part of the history there.

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If you have a chance to visit San Francisco, I highly suggest you leave more time for yourself than I did…but Alcatraz is definitely worth the trip!

2025 America trip: report 3

Aug 6 - Aug 12

MY boys and I took a 1-week road trip north from Pennsylvania to the New England region to visit family and friends. We traveled through the states of New Jersey and New York, and visited people in Connecticut, Massachusets and New Hampshire.

Aug 6

Pennsylvania to Connecticut

Me and the boys drove 6 hours from Quarryville to Connecticut to see 2 different cousins from both sides of my family.

From my mother’s side, we met Jessica, her husband Jared and son Quinn in Norwich, where they had just moved 2 days previously and were still waiting for their furniture to arrive. She was already getting great restaurant tips from her neighbors and we ate at a very authentic pizza place.

After lunch we drove to Kensington and went to my father’s side cousin Joanne’s house. She organized a dinner get together with her husband Mike, adult children Alexander and Stephanie, my uncle Jimmy and his partner Alita. We spent the night there.

Lots of great food and fantastic conversation all day long!

Aug 7

Hartford

The boys and I spent the day at the Connecticut Science Center, a kid’s science museum. They had a big Pixar exhibition with many interactive displays.

After the museum closed we drove the whole way up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to spend the night.

Aug 8

Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Needham, Massachusetts

In Portsmouth, my aunt Susan and her partner Ed took us on a harbor cruise tour where we learned some history of the area and saw lighthouses, forts, a naval yard and gorgeous homes and boats. It was perfect weather for a day out on the water.

My hometown and college friend Terra lives in the state of Maine but just 15 minutes from Portsmouth and so she joined us for lunch and a walk around the town.

I had a lobster roll (cold not hot!) for lunch. It was fabulous and was probably the best lobster roll I have ever had.

Portsmouth is a charming little port town with many local shops and restaurants. The brick architecture and flower gardens were spectacular.

In the evening, we drove southwest of Boston to meet with my cousin Aiko, her husband Anthony and daughters Stella and Allegra. We all had fun catching up with each other and talking about Japan with Aiko.

After dinner, we drove to a nearby town called Needham to stay at my college roommate’s house.

Aug 9

Needham, Massachusetts

Saturday was a reunion with friends from university. My old roommate Keith hosted the day, first at his local pool which was like a mini water park and later at his house, where he cooked up some “Wagyu” fajitas. My other old roommate Marc came out from Boston and another college friend Brian and his family drove up from Rhode Island.

There were 7 kids and 6 adults who all got together. The kids from ages 2 to 14 all had fun at the pool. My kids liked jumping off of the diving board. Back at Keith’s house, the kids all got along well and had fun playing together.

The four of us relived many old university stories during the evening while also talking about our lives nowadays. It was amazing to have these guys all in the same room again.

Aug 10

Needham to Sturbridge, Massachusetts

After waking up and having a delicious family breakfast, we got on the road to Sturbridge to see Shawn, Mai and Kai Read. Shawn is my oldest friend from Japan and we try to get together whenever I am in the States.

Sturbridge is a very quaint small town. It has a colonial village but we didn’t go there this time. Instead we used the extensive network of hiking trails around the town.

After a pleasant hike, Tatsuki and Satoshi had endless rounds of laser tag and water gun battles with Kai. Mai made Japanese style curry for dinner so the boys were happy to have an authentic taste of home.

We were also introduced to VR (virtual reality) gaming, which none of us had done before.

The boys all slept together in a huge tent that Shawn and I set up in the backyard.

Aug 11

Sturbridge, Massachusetts

The next day we had a very slow and relaxing day.

We did get out of the house for a short hike and also again later to fly Shawn’s drones around a park by a local lake. We all got a turn flying the drone, which was a new experience for us three and a lot of fun.

The boys slept out again in the tent and ended up sliding down to one side of the tent during the night.

Aug 12

The drive home

The bulk of the day was driving back to my hometown Quarryville in Pennsylvania. We had some good views of the Manhattan skyline after we went over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.

Our 1-week trip was do great! We got to see a lot of friends and family we haven’t seen for many years!

2025 America trip: report 2

August 3rd

On Sunday I went horse riding. I was really looking forward to doing this and my experience did not disappoint at all. This was not your “run-of-the-mill one-hour on a flat trail” ride. My old high school friend Randy and I went for a 4-hour ride that included steep elevation changes and numerous stream traverses.

Randy has a wonderful horse stable and pasture only about 20 minutes from my parents’ house. I told him I was interested in doing some riding and he enthusiastically offered to take me. His partner’s daughter Kate very generously allowed me to borrow her Tennessee walking horse named Chance and all her tack needed to ride. Randy rode his Kentucky mountain saddle horse named Honey. Both horses are beautiful animals and were very friendly as well.

I got out to their stable, named Timberail, at about 8 am and Randy took me through the whole process of getting the horses ready to ride.

Step one was feeding them some fruit to make friends. I brought some pears and apples for them. Randy gave them some horse feed and we washed and filled the water buckets. I learned that it’s better to ride horses if they have something in their stomachs.

Next we brushed the horses to get the dirt and dust off of them. This also gave me a bit of bonding time with Chance, who is a very gentle fellow.

We put halters (kind of a head wrap that doesn’t have a bit in the horse’s mouth) and led them outside to spray them down with anti-fly anti-tick spray and to rub some strong anti-fly cream around their faces. Having horses buck around after a horsefly bites them can be dangerous. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anti-bee spray (this is foreshadowing).

We then saddled up the horses which involves putting on a saddle pad and then the saddle. The saddle is held on by a big strap called a cinch and a few other straps called the buck strap (back cinch) and the breast collar straps.

Then we put on the bridle with the bit in the horse’s mouth and attach the brake chain underneath that. The reins are attached to all of that.

We walked the horses out of the stables and mounted up. It had been a few years since I had been on a horse but it felt pretty comfortable from the start and Chance was very responsive to me.

Around the Fishing Creek area there is an extensive network of riding trails. We set off and rode on many different types of terrain. The horses handled it all from jumping over downed logs to taking off-trail detours.

At one point we rode past an underground bee hive and Chance was getting harassed by the bees and started to buck around off the trail. He came under control quickly and we moved on, but somewhere along the way, my prescription sunglasses flew out of my shirt pocket. We went back and looked for them, but they were forever lost. It’s my own fault for not putting straps on them though.

Other than that mishap of my own creation, the ride was truly glorious. We got up on some ridgelines and had some fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. The horses also handled some steep inclines and declines like champions.

As we headed back after over 4 hours on the trails, the horses naturally picked up the pace as they were excited to get back home. They would change gait from a trot to a canter on their own.

A trot is probably the bumpiest ride on a hard western saddle. I’m not sure if we actually crossed from a canter to a full-on gallop, but the faster Chance went, the smoother the ride felt. We got up to a good speed on a nice stretch of meadow near the end of the ride.

Upon our return to the stable, we took off all of the tack, sprayed and squeegeed the horses down, and feed them with some more fruit and feed.

It was really pleasant weather on Sunday, and it was especially cool under the forest canopy where we spent most of our ride. Chance and Honey seemed in good condition even after the long ride.

After taking care of the horses, Randy and I went out for a late lunch and spent a nice time catching up with each other.

Last month I took my sons Tatsuki and Satoshi to America for a few weeks. Recently we have been going every summer so that my kids can spend time with their grandparents and other family members in the US. I will post about my trip in a series of blogs:

2025 America trip: report 1

July 30 - August 2

We flew out from Okayama on July 30. This year’s route was Okayama to Haneda in Tokyo to Chicago to Harrisburg. The final flight got delayed about 90 minutes due to a lot of bad weather around Chicago. Even with the delays and running around to 3 different gates in Chicago, it wasn’t a bad trip overall.

The first day in Quarryville we were hoping for some sunshine to help us adjust to the 13 hour time difference but we got a heavy squall and flash flooding instead. It rained about 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) in just a few hours. We were driving to the local library that my brother Anthony volunteers at and came across a flooded out road. We reversed back and took another route.

My mom signed the boys up for a summer reading challenge at the library and they got some prizes for reading enough books during the past month. They also borrowed some books from the library including Ta’s favorite “Calvin and Hobbes”.

On Friday we went out to the movies to see Fantastic Four, which was pretty good. We enjoyed bottomless popcorn and recliner lounge seating.

On Saturday, all my brothers got together at my parents’ house. My brother Chris brought his daughter Mia, and my younger Mike and his wife Amy brought their new dog Sammy, which was very cute. It was nice to hang out and catch up with everybody after a year.

At the end of my summer break I went to the music festival Monster Bash for two days, which is held every year in Manno Park in Kagawa. It is not the most famous music festival in Japan, but it has been around for a awhile now. This was my second time going. However, the first time I went was only for one day. This time I went for the whole weekend.   

Monster Bash is an outdoor music festival in late August, so of course it was extremely hot. We spent most of the time outside, and a lot of areas did not have any shade. We prepared a lot of cool goods to avoid any problems. I was surprised how well I survived in the 35+ degree weather for two days straight. Even if I did not stop sweating. I feel like I can survive any kind of hot day now.

During the music festival I got to see many kinds of musicians. Some were very famous and well known all over Japan. Some were groups that I like a lot that many people still do not know. There were even groups I did not know so well but I got the chance to hear their music. Some of the best performances I saw were by Sukima Switch, Rekishi, Kishidan and Man with a Mission. I also saw some smaller bands I really like such as Kroi and Raisan. There were also musicians who brought in huge crowds, for example Aimyon and Super Beaver. Most of the crowds would sing, chant and even dance along with the musicians, even if they were not their big fans. The atmosphere of the event was great, and it felt like a community of people sharing their love of live music. I hope I will get the chance to go there again and to many other music festivals in the future.