I went to the JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) meeting in November to give a presentation. My presentation finished about 2 1/2 hours before my flight left from Osaka Itami airport, so things were a bit tight. I decided to pick up my bus tickets the day before to save me time. My good friend Myles joined me for a trip to get the ticket. We took the short walk from the station to the temple which houses a huge statue of the Buddha. Along the way there is a nice park with deer and lots of greenery. It should be a pleasant place to live, but, a few days before the conference, a young girl was brutally murdered on her way home from elementary school. I didn’t know any details about the news when I was there. Thinking back now, the whole town must have been on edge because of what had happened. May she rest in peace…

It’s not a great shot, but it was the best I could do. I was on my way to my sixth and last Institute at Nova via Haneda airport in Tokyo. It reminded me a lot of my first actual view of Japan in December, 1985 when I saw just the top of Mr. Fuji sticking through the clouds.