The K Experience

Every year around spring time in Japan, the social phenomenon of Hanami (花見, flower watching) hits the nation. The weather forecasts around this time concentrate on Sakura sightings, and report on which parts of Japan are blooming, whether it's early or late, and predict which regions will have sakura sightings next. Millions of people take time out to enjoy nature and watch the blooming flowers. It may seem strange to many not familiar with the practice, but Hanami is not just concerned with the aesthetic nature of the Cherry Blossoms, but also its philosophical meaning behind it...

A few days before New Years Eve 2003, and I'm staring up at one of the magnificent Petronas Towers. This was the continuation of my crazy Christmas/New Years tour of Asia, my second stop, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

A worrying sign if you are desperately seeking medication at night, and this is the only place you can go! Well, at least they're honest...

Japan, the home of small cars, small streets, small people, small gadgets, small apartments, and small Jazz bars. While living in Takaoka, I was lucky enough to live about a minutes walk away from a great little jazz bar. Little being the operative word here. It was called the Jam House, and was by far the smallest jazz bar I had ever seen, and quite possibly the smallest in the world...

We've all seen cartoons right, and we all know that effect where the cartoon character runs off, but part of it takes time to catch up. And there's the one where the character runs off and kinda changes shape when it's moving. Just like this picture. Well Imagine a whole place like that. A cartoon country, as perfect as the drawings in a cartoon...

This is a picture of the beautiful house that I lived in most of the time I was in Ghana. It was at the end of a little village called Ashiye, in between Adenta and Oyibi...

Being a secondary school/highschool teacher is a tough job. One of the toughest jobs there is. Doesn't matter what country you're in, or what you teach, it's tough. Even though it's important to recognize those people that do such a job, more often than not, they go unmentioned. So here's to you guys. Wherever you are in the world...

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa, exporting well over 650,000 tonnes per year. It's products are consumed by hundreds of millions of people everyday in nearly every country in the world in its various forms. But how many people know what it looked like before it was made into their Mars bar, or their Starbucks hot cocoa? How many people care about what it took to make it, and indeed how much it cost to make? Is fair trade really fair? I want to make this a two part entry, the first explaining the ins and outs of the cocoa pod, and the second explaining the ins and outs of the cocoa industry...