Kitami and Kushiro

My next host and city (Kitami) were patiently waiting for me. Unfortunately I didn’t stay long but I was very happy to have met my host. He is a kind man with great aspirations. I only spent two evenings with him but the evenings were filled with conversations of literature, astronomy, spirituality and travel.

My ride out of Kitami was a young Japanese man, Yusuke (pronounced Yuski). He delivered green tea to stores around the area and said would give me a ride to the next town over. As you’ve already figured out, without much knowledge of Japanese, I communicate quite well with locals who have very little knowledge of English. This ride was no different. We talked all the way to the drop off location and I even got a “lucky charm” as a present: a keychain of a cartoon action figure.


The following car picked me up within 10 minutes and a few hours later I was in Kushiro.

My host, Adam, arrived to our meeting location with a friend. His Japanese buddy, Jun, lived and studied in Kamchatka (north-eastern part of Russia) and spoke Russian fluently. The remainder of the day I spent with Jun, talking Russian.

I found it fascinating that I perceived Jun completely different from any other Japanese person I’ve met. He wasn’t distant and unknown. He was my buddy right away. When he spoke Russian, he used slang. I talked to him as if I was talking to a Russian friend. The cultural barrier no longer applied.

When Adam came back from work, Jun had to go home. It was time for me to find out the natural phenomena known as “Adam”. Adam is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. He is a confident, smart, sarcastic, powerful, energetic, non-conformant, handsome young man. His tongue is sharp and thoughts are clear. He loves individualism and hates patriotism. He can argue about anything even if he lacks knowledge on the subject (which is rare). If that becomes the case, he shall use the knowledge he does have and derive a proper argument to prove his point.

We spent the rest of the night and half of the following day talking about everything and then some. Discussing politics, human behavior, communication, literature, souls, predetermined destiny, religious punishment and so much more.

The following day Adam had to go a few towns over to give a private lesson to his friend’s 10 year old daughter. His friend happened to be in town and offered to drive us to his place and stay the night.

To be continued...