"Slowly Trying To See The World" tigerjapan's Profile

Home Away From Home

Japan really has become my home.

When I first arrived in Japan (after some backpacking in Asia) I thought i'd probably stay a year and then move on. Here I am 5 years later and I still love living here.

Japan is a fantastically diverse place and I love that it is so removed from my upbringing. I am by no means an expert on Japan or it's traditions, but i hope that as I build my pages, I can give some (personal) insights into this country.

One of the best things about living in Japan is that travel within the country has so much to offer. That being said, it is also very expensive. By way of parenthesis, we are very lucky to be able to get quite good discount flights to International destinations from Japan.

Please feel free to mail or message me should you have any questions. I hope I can get this page moving soon.

Lanterns

2007 = Year of the Wild Boar

In Japan the zodiac animal years receive more attention, and are more widely used in fortune-telling, than the zodiacal signs used in astrology. Like our star-signs the Chinese zodiac has 12 branches. In Japanese it is called Juunishi (literally 12 branches). For each of these branches an animal is assigned to each year (rather than month).

This year, 2007, is The Year of the Wild Boar, or "inoshishi" in Japanese.

The juunishi system is believed to have originated in China during the Yin Dynasty (c. 1600 - 1000 B.C.).

So ... enjoy The Year of the Wild Boar!!

Jess & Me - Waterfall Gully South Australia

Returning to Australia every year or so (for the past few years) has meant that I've started to see parts of the country I never had before.

Australia is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited and often taken for granted by Australians themselves. The landscape diverse and has so much to offer.

I am such a fan of the smaller cities and towns and must say Victoria and South Australia are two of my favourites. I am yet to explore much of the other states, but hope to soon.

I strongly recommend the following (lesser visited) places:

Clare

The Great Ocean Road

Grampians

Coonawarra / Penola

And for city folk: Sydney for the weather, Melbourne for "the scene", and Adelaide for the food and wine.

A Word On Baked Goods...

Aussie Chicken Pie (with sauce)

Australian pies... what can I say? You can't go past chicken pies or veggie pasties.

Australian bakeries are not to be missed and even worth using as a stopping off point on long trips... we found some amazing country bakeries and I've since considered writing a guide to country Australian bakeries... I wonder if a publisher would finance that research?

One can only dream!

Intro Updated Jan 7, 2007
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Personal Pages (1)

Written Jan 31, 2005

7 photos

Vietnam Scenes

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Comments (62)

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DaHongHua Oct 8, 2012 at 1:50 AM

Nice to meet you in today's birthday list. A warm happy birthday greeting to you from Malaysia. Wish you all the best to keep on your travelling interest. Cheers.
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machomikemd Dec 10, 2009 at 8:08 PM

hi, pls see my newly updated tokyo tips :-)
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Balam Nov 23, 2009 at 3:25 PM

Great pages, i will be back to see more soon...
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joiwatani Nov 18, 2008 at 8:09 PM

You made it to the front page today tigerjapan! Congrats!
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ani_istanbul Oct 8, 2008 at 8:26 AM

Happy birthday Tim.Nice Homepage
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a2lopes Oct 8, 2008 at 2:47 AM

Happy birthday Tim and many happy returns of the day. Greetings from Lisbon which is waiting for your visit next year for the Euromeeting
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Mr.Sparkle Sep 2, 2008 at 6:28 PM

hey there, wanted to check again with you about the October Shinjuku VT meet. Please send me an e-mail and tell me if you would like to go or not. Thanks :)
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WorldMeet2008 Jul 30, 2008 at 5:13 AM

Your next trip? Make it really unique! It's not too late to attend WM08 - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv & Dead- Sea on 25- 28th Sept (+Petra 29-30th). We want to double the num of attendees to 100! Click to learn where, when, what, how, how much! Avi [FruitLover].
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giampiero6 Mar 21, 2008 at 5:37 AM

What a beautiful homepage!
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PALLINA Mar 13, 2008 at 4:13 AM

very nice home page. where are you from originally?