Between May 2020 and June 2021 I moved my family to the remote island (ritĹŤ 離島) of Ikijima. To find out why, check the FAQ. Three months after leaving Japan and returning to Canada, I would like to reflect on that year. Real quick though, in case you don’t already know: What are Japan’s RemoteContinue reading “My year on Ikijima, a remote Japanese island”
Author Archives: Chad Kohalyk
Meditation stats snapshot
It has been a while, so I took a bit of a snapshot of my meditation tracker data on Insight Timer today, exporting it into Numbers for some visualization. Some quick stats: Timer 37% Guided meditations 63% Meditation 99% Chanting 1% Consecutive days best 132 Daily avg 19m 77 bookmarks on Insight Timer Looking atContinue reading “Meditation stats snapshot”
Antiracist baby in Japanese
In the community we lived in on Ikijima there is a kids club that meets every Friday after school. A local non-profit put together a small office out of bits of wood and corrugated plastic to do its work. It had a concrete floor and big table in the center for meetings. There were strategicContinue reading “Antiracist baby in Japanese”
A bumpy ride into the electric car future
So, we bought a thing. When I asked the dealer to take a photo he said “Do you want the big bow?” and I was like “Yes please sir I would very much like the big bow!” It is a Nissan LEAF, a fully electric vehicle. This is our first electric vehicle. In fact, itContinue reading “A bumpy ride into the electric car future”
A systematic culture of failure
Okay, what follows is a rant full of wild generalizations about Canadian “culture.” While on the one hand all I really want to do is vent about how terrible our experience was moving back to Canada (under both emergency and pandemic conditions), I also think the experience uncovered a fundamental truth about how society worksContinue reading “A systematic culture of failure”
Driving Iki: IndĹŤji to Hara-no-tsuji, the ancient Yayoi settlement
(This is the first of a video series driving around Ikijima. I will be uploading more vids as I edit them.) Iki is just a small island, only 17km long and 14km wide. Many of the attractions are outdoors, so when people visit, I would often take them on driving tours like this. On aContinue reading “Driving Iki: IndĹŤji to Hara-no-tsuji, the ancient Yayoi settlement”
Sudden Goodbyes
Our first summer spent on Iki in 2020 was a bit hectic. We had just arrived in May: new community, new house, new school, new life. We didn’t know the roads, weather, where the good beaches were, the best times to swim — we didn’t know anything about island life. So we were very muchContinue reading “Sudden Goodbyes”
Women adventurers
In my previous post on adventure travel I listed a number of adventure writers that have inspired me over the years. You may have noticed that they were almost exclusively men. The reason is because I wanted to do a separate post specifically highlighting women voices in the genre. (The reason I mentioned Gertrude BellContinue reading “Women adventurers”
On Adventuring
It was 1993, the beginning of the Clinton years. The Wall had come down and Yeltsin had gone up onto the tank. No longer impeded by a curtain of iron, there were now fifteen new “FSU” states strung along the old Silk Road joining China and Europe. It seemed more open than any time inContinue reading “On Adventuring”
Rural perspective — Review of “Inaka” on WiK
The Arashiyama bamboo grove is one of those must-go places when you visit. Located in the west of the city, at the foot of Mount Arashiyama, it is a major tourist area offering all the amenities you would expect of a trip to the “ancient” capital (including Rilakkuma pancakes!). Likely the most photographed sight inContinue reading “Rural perspective — Review of “Inaka” on WiK”
