#I have to reconnect with nature after that banger

[meifaism]

Waking up to oscars post race interview after sleeping to radio silence from him is actually gut wrenching, you are an absolute angel Oscar Piastri, never let anything in the world change you, you stand as a role model of character and maturity laced with nothing but race craft and talent. Never change Oscar, never change. And lando norris won too

[panda-rue]

Log 11

May 15 - Hiking Mt. Takao

Honestly, I was dreading today so bad. My legs have been really sore recently and on top of that we were gonna go on a mountain hike today. The process of getting to our hiking point was its own adventure as well. We took a long train ride to a beautiful little town called Takaomachi where we broke for lunch. We only had a short amount of time so I just stopped into one of the first restaurants I saw with Nau. We ended up being joined by a couple other friends too. I actually had a hella fire bowl of hot soba and tempura. After that I was determined to try some donuts that I saw on the walk up. I had this chocolate filled fried donut that was actually heavenly. Moving on from the banger food I had, we started getting up on the mountain. We got on a chair lift thats essentially like those ski lifts. Sammie was my seat buddy and it was such a beautiful experience. The foliage just looked so vibrant and the weather was also stunning at the time. Eventually we actually started to climb ourselves. One thing I will definitely NOT miss about Japan is the amount of stairs. My legs were killing me and I was constantly straining to catch my breath. We did end up passing by a couple shrines and cool places on our way up and I finally bought a stamp book ! Stamp books are essentially these little books that you can purchase and collect stamps from many different shrines/temples and other cultural sites in Japan. I'm a little late in starting mine but hopefully I'll still be able to collect some cool stamps. The site at the top was very pretty. Seeing the gradient of mountains that seemed to never end was honestly breathtaking. We were even able to see Mt. Fuji ! Dr. Smith set us free at the summit and a small group of us took some pictures before descending the mountain. Honestly, the trip down was even more impressive than the way up. The views just never seemed to end and the twisting and turning path was just so organic and fun to travel on. We rode the chair lift back down (just as fun as the first time) and I got another donut because I deserved it ! My day pretty much ended there since I was exhausted lol.

Academic Reflection

Our reading for today went over the deforestation issue in many areas of Japan. Japanese forest show a particular vitality. After the damages caused by WWII, the forests had to recover. Regenerative forestry was an important part of the recovery period of Japan and has allowed these luscious and vibrant forests to regain their footing.

On my journey, I couldn't stop swiveling my head around to look at all the foliage. The forest felt alive with a healthy ecosystem. I could always here a bird or rustling or hear the leaves shifting against each other. It made me happy to reconnect with nature. I'm happy that some pockets of the Earth are being protected and can to exist like this area due to conservation efforts like those in our readings.