Quarter of a Century Gone by...

This time last year I was sitting in a dimly-lit restaurant polishing off a large juicy steak making my final preparations for Japan.

This year I suddenly found myself in the mountains of Kyushu eating horse sashimi and tofu, having bathed in a mineral-rich onsen not one hour prior to consumption. I'm referring to the Kurokawa Onsen village - will report more on that later. It was one of my more noteworthy birthdays.

Interestingly enough, it also happened within a few days of Nintendo taking the lead in the console market. Ahhh... if I were 15 years younger or a hopeless otaku I might actually care about that. It still gives me a little joy.